Wednesday, June 30, 2021

Liam Quane's Top Five Favorite Sci-Fi and Fantasy #SciFi #Fantasy

Usually people on the internet write their top fives or tens of everything but I value the media I enjoy to such an over the top degree that I can’t choose a preference. They’re all like my children and they’re not even my stories. I’m not a reviewer so I’m breaking no rules by doing this so without ado here is are ten SFF properties I love.




Your Name [君の名は。(2016)




This Japanese animated film directed by Makoto Shinkai changed everything when it was released in the winter of 2016. An energetic and playful film, the story follows Mitsuha and Taki, two teenage strangers who form a boundless bond after they find out that their consciousnesses have been crossing over when they sleep, causing the pair to live the life of the other for a period of time. Girl wakes up as Boy, boy wakes up as girl, high jinks ensue, but to call this particular film a “body-swap movie” would be like describing Hamlet as a domestic melodrama. It is so, so much more with its photo-realistic visuals, sweet and sad soundtrack and its impeccable, down-to-earth script penned by the director himself. Your Name balances the perfect line on the tightrope of drama and it is an absolute must-watch for everyone. And no, that last part wasn’t an overexaggeration, watch it.

 

The Prestige (2006)



Small in scale by titanic in imagination. The Prestige is a calm and quiet film that sits with you long after the credits have rolled. This adaptation of the Christopher Priest novel tells a story of two rival stage magicians, throughout the film each of the performers goes to extreme lengths to best the other, leading the audience down a maze of treachery and violence all in the name of entertainment. Directed by Christopher Nolan, who’s trademark self-awareness shines through the fourth wall with minimum effort. The film sets out to bamboozle the audience with its box of cinemagic tricks but don’t fret if you fall for its savvy techniques, you will be entertained.


Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole



My Lord of the Rings. Yes, I know that’s “high praise” but I was taken on an adventure with this film and then it just stopped. No sequel, no spin-off, no closure. I  lie awake at night staring at the moon, entranced by the thoughts of a possible future brightened by the news of a long-awaited follow-up to this animated owl quest. Directed by Zack Snyder (Yes, that one) The film sees a young owl named  Soren (Jim Sturgess) who, along with his two siblings is kidnapped and forced into the service of an evil owl army lead by Metal Beak played by Joel Edgerton. The film is a unique feature from parent company Dreamworks as its cast is majorly made up of Australian actors which gives the film a different feel amongst the usual American or English casts seen in almost all of the company’s other films. I love this film and hope for a future sequel to this underrated gem, or I can just read the books this movie is an adaptation of.

The Bone Clocks



The Bone Clocks is a 2016 science-fantasy novel written by David Mitchell. Like almost all of Mitchell’s previous works, The Bone Clocks takes place in the same universe as Cloud Atlas but where that title concerned a group of interconnected people existing in a connected world, this novel looks more into how the world itself operates as opposed to the character inside it. Holly Sykes is a working-class Essex girl who is lead on a journey over time to defeat a great evil that has plagued the world for hundreds of years. It’s the book that actually got me started on my book-writing journey and I will recommend this to anyone, even if you haven’t read Cloud Atlas, this is a must-read for those seeking be absorbed into a world that is similar to theirs, but differs magically. 

My Hero Academia ((ぼく)のヒーローアカデミア)


Ok, this is another anime, but this is a series and not a movie so it’s different enough I talk about it on a minutely basis and think about it non-stop. for me to include. As if I had a choice. I am obsessed with this show. Based on the popular Japanese Manga by artist and scribe Kohei Horikoshi, My Hero Academia is set in a world where a majority of the population is born with a heroic super power (called Quirks), Midorya Izuku is a shy, kind-hearted middle-school student who wishes to become the world’s #1 hero, taking after his idol, the great All-Might. All-Might is a hero who has it all: strength, influence, power and a smile that never fades, so there could be no better influence for a growing student in the world of quirks. The only problem is that Izuku was one of the few people not born with a quirk. 

One day, Izuku is minding his own business and is attacked by a small-time villain, only to be rescued by All-Might, who, after seeing Izuku’s passion and kind-hearted nature, transfers his own quirk to him, helping up the ladder he couldn’t climb. Izuku then enrols in All-Might’s Alma mater: UA High School and from there learns to better control his newly gifted quirk to attain his dream of becoming the #1 hero. Not only because of the amazing and unique characters, not only for the beautiful animation or the exciting plotlines, but politically, I genuinely believe that this show has the power to help heal the world. I’m actually being serious about that. It is a show of pure empathy, for the poor, for the greedy, for the selfish, for the fearful, My Hero Academia rises above all of the prejudices in its wake and takes the viewer to new heights with its capacity for caring. The show is pure love and I hope everyone watches it so it can do its job and help make the human race the kinder species it is supposed to have evolved into.

Road to Juneau
Liam Quane

Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
Date of Publication:  18 May 2021
ISBN Hardcover: 978-1-78645-473-7
ISBN Paperback: 978-1-78645-452-2
ISBN eBook: 978-1-78645-453-9
ASIN: B08V51WV9M
Number of pages: 330
Word Count: 109,038

Cover Artist: Holly Dunn

Tagline: How was God supposed to defend Earth from the Monster, when the Monster knew Earth better than God ever could?

Book Description: 

New York: two years after the Third World War. Humanity is rebuilding its cities brick by brick; the damage done to the people, however, is a lot harder to repair. 

Dan Hardacre is one of those people. An aspiring stage actor and experienced draft-dodger, Dan struggles to find his place within the Utopic rebuild of New York City. When he’s not caught up with the duties of work, Dan lives a quiet life in mourning for his mother, Dyani, who went missing when he was a teenager.

One night, Dan experiences a vivid, terrifying nightmare that puts him right on the front lines of the war for which he dodged the draft; it ends with him facing Death itself in the form of a metallic, faceless humanoid creature that calls itself the Valkyrie. To investigate the reason behind his haunting experience, Dan seeks out a meeting with his estranged father, who reveals the startling truth about Dan’s dream: it wasn’t a dream. 

With this newfound knowledge and the powers it brings, Dan makes it his mission to return to the scene of his nightmare. However, he soon comes to know that confronting the Valkyrie not only endangers him but the war-withstanding world he leaves behind.

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Excerpt Chapter 1

8:08 a.m. That’s what my clock says as I burst out of my covers. I must have fallen out of bed again. I know this because I’m staring at it from the other side of my room. There was luck to this particular tumble, however: I’m only sixteen minutes behind! I wheeze as I lift myself up, kicking the sheets from my ankles like a half-swaddled baby. The same old tapping returns, persistent and loud, and I walk over to my ground-floor window, lifting it dramatically in an effort to shoo the seagull pecking at the pane. The blunt-billed bird squawks as it flaps away. I slam the window closed, keeping the cold morning air off my skin for a few more minutes.

My shower was lukewarm and my breakfast fictional. This is the best I can hope for on Tribute day at my place of work: Montage Tower. The building may be taller than most, but the work is still lowly. I lock my bedroom door out of an irrational precaution; my roommate is still upstairs. It’s his third day off this week, and it’s silent, but I know he’s awake because his door is slightly ajar. If anything were to disappear from my room, he would be blamed for it regardless, as either a successful thief or a failing watchdog. I collect my earbuds, phone, and wallet combo and silently make for the exit. As my door card reaches the scanner, a magazine bricks the window, launched from the top of the stairs where Sam now stands.

“Almost hit you, Dan!” he shouts down to me in his usual
excitable manner.

“What is it this time? I’m already late.” I almost don’t reply.

“Page twelve—the blue chaise longue!” He points at the once airborne catalog, which now sits crumpled in my hands.

“I’m not dragging a chaise longue home for you!”

“It’s not for me, it’s for Shanty,” he says, partitioning himself
from the blame.

I spin the catalog around and read the cover. “Scratchwork
Furrrnishings.”

“It’s only small—twenty-five by sixteen.” He holds his hands out
like a puppeteer.

“Can’t your hamster just sleep in your bed with you?”

“No. He has an erratic sleeping pattern.”

A silence lingers.

“Fffffine,” I reluctantly sputter, throwing the catalog onto the
floor in a sulk.

Sam giggles and retreats back into his lair of aspen shavings and
lavender. I finally scan my door card, which sounds a cheery beep of
freedom.

Do you remember the colors of your life? How it used to feel before you became responsible and independent? Everyone does, I guess. Three shades usually cocoon themselves around the memories: the Blue Stage, the Purple Stage, and the Gray Stage. I am at Gray and dreading what comes after. The Blue Stage is the oldest. It consists of the memories of when you were a child. An only child. Not specifically you, but me. I forget how to separate myself from the situation sometimes, Sorry. Anyway, my childhood could only be described as glowing.

Mom and Dad were always here for me, breakfast table mornings and dinner table evenings. They both worked interesting jobs, each excelling in a separate creative field. My mother was a software programmer; a good one too. The start-up she worked at grew from a hole in 5 the wall to an admired business. Similarly, my father was successful in his career as an architect, not of towering superstructures but of small, respectable buildings in which families could live happy lives.

Those homes are gone now. I was around thirteen years old when I realized I’d never heard my parents fight. In fact, I hadn’t seen any anger from them at all. Not toward each other.

Not about work, or money—something which we were never without. Eventually, as my teenhood set in, I attributed their constant state of bliss to a secret drug habit, hoping to one day join the gang. But I was wrong. I found this out soon after Purple reared its ugly head. My life as a teenager was a lot slower than when I was a kid, and that aforementioned blissful family atmosphere quickly started to crack. Dad’s work hours increased. Taxes were the same, but he wasn’t, not with the stress he carried to keep the family “secure.” The same could be said for Mom. The company she originally worked for was poached and absorbed into a much larger company named Hourglass Industries—the place that now owns the building I work in. I think I repressed the name of the original, probably for the best.




About the Author:
 
Liam Quane is a British filmmaker and author from the working-class town of Skelmersdale, Lancashire. After gaining experience making short films, writing screenplays and editing music videos, Liam turned onto a different storytelling venture in the form of novels. And, after reading six of them, he wrote his own in a hectic hail of key presses and dicey guesses. This bullheaded effort morphed into what would later be called Road to Juneau. It may be his first book, but he has more ideas for further bookcentric ventures.



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