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Help - Spec. Fic. (1 Viewer)

Llyrai

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Okay, first off, sorry if this irritates anyone.

I'm pretty sure most people doing spec fic will find this tread useless, so ill get rid of it sooner or later.

Is anyone doing Cyteen? Can you tell me if it contains any references on homosexuality? characters or anything?

Im writing an article on the presentation of homosexuals in spec fic as one of the texts i have to compose for a assessment. But i havent read Cyteen, and it seems unlikly that I'll. So yeah, any help, greatly appreciated. If i can help in return with anything, i certainly will!

Thanks heaps.
Llyrai
 

tomorrows_angel

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Sorry if i'm too late to actually help you, but this might help in the hsc or your trials.

There are few references to homosexuality in Cyteen, but it should be noted that Justin and his azi, Grant, whilst genetically brothers (Grant is an exact replicate of Justin's father, Jordan), participate in sexually related activities together. There is little actual reference to this, and i woudln't know where to find it, but there is a very strong implication of its occurence.

I think Cherryh uses their homosexuality as a means of bonding - Grant often feels alienated and isolated, but when he does this with Justin it's more like he's being treated as an equal, not just an azi. Also as a means of reassurance, Grant is very insecure and Justin isnt' exactly very popular, so they take comfort in each other - it's the only relationship they really have with anyone.

Ummm that's about all i can figure out. I can't really remember, i read it in term 4 last year when we were first given it. I'm assuming you are likening it to the Lord of the Rings and the relationship with Frodo and Sam? correct me if i'm wrong.

I know the book is very long and very boring, but you should make an effort to read at least some of it after the trials. I started off hating the book, but ended up enjoying it (but i like books of that genre...) Oh, and if you're pressed for time or getting really bored, leave out the council meeting transcripts, they're even more boring! Don't think they helped advance the story much either... just establishes it more as a science fiction book...

hope that small bit helped and good luck!
 

Skillo

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Hey Llyrai,
As you know I'm doing Spec Fic and I'm sorry that I haven't been about more often to help. I'm afraid our class didn't do Cyteen, however I know that the supplementary material (I think its a commentary or sumthin???) is on the Board of Studies website and there are some notes for Cyteen there. It's hard to find some relevent and good info for Spec Fic isnt it?!?!? Lol.

My teacher gave us a practice exam question the other day...its nothing groundbreaking but I'll PM it to you once I copy up the notes...I was in absentia.

Have fun with Cyteen!
 

Llyrai

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Oh, im not doing cyteen either, my whole class hates it LOL
Miss just says that it'll be good for us to knwo what's it all about, so i figured id do a task on it, so id get a grasp of it at least.

I dont know if i hate or like this Spec Fic, i mean, its okay and all, but no ones done it before, so we havent really got anyone to compare to...eek

Next week, in class were doing a time line from the 1800's to the present on spec fic, so that'll be ultra useful in the 'the text as a result of the social influences' or something something part. So i'll give that to you as thanks!
 

cynical

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Homosexuality in Cyteen

Llyrai said:
Okay, first off, sorry if this irritates anyone.

I'm pretty sure most people doing spec fic will find this tread useless, so ill get rid of it sooner or later.

Is anyone doing Cyteen? Can you tell me if it contains any references on homosexuality? characters or anything?

Im writing an article on the presentation of homosexuals in spec fic as one of the texts i have to compose for a assessment. But i havent read Cyteen, and it seems unlikly that I'll. So yeah, any help, greatly appreciated. If i can help in return with anything, i certainly will!

Thanks heaps.
Llyrai
Haha, you have no idea how long it took to find these references.. and I know you're not even really doing Cyteen but I figured they could be useful for someone else.
Jordan, Paul, Justin and Grant all have homosexual tendencies. I'm not sure if your page numbers would be the same as mine, but these are the ones I have;

page 140 - " ... And lay there with just the sheet, too cold until Justin woke up midway through the night and got a blanket for him. And hugged him and cried on his shoulder, a long, long time.
"I need you so much," Justin had said.
Perhaps because he was azi, perhaps because he was human, he did not know - that was the most important thing anyone had ever said to him. He had wept too. He did not know why, except Justin was his life. Justin was everything to him. "I need you too," he had said. "I love you."
In the dark hours. In the hours before morning. When people could say things that were too real to say by daylight.
Justin had fallen to sleep by his side a second time. Grant had waked first, and lain there a long time, content to know Justin was there. Until Justin had waked and gotten up, apologizing for having slept there.
As if he had not wanted Justin there, all night. As if Justin was not the most important thing in the world to him, who made him feel safe. Who was the one he would do anything for.
Whom he loved, in a way that no woman and nothing he had ever longed for could matter to him."

page 515 - "He and Grant were lovesr. She knew that from gossip in the House. She couldn't imagine it.
Except at night, when she was lying in the dark looking at the cieling and wondering what made them that way and whether-
-whether he HAD any feelings about her, and whether it was all just worry about Security that made him want Grant there all the time."

page 548 - "She used to work with Jordan. They worked real well at first. But Jordan's upbringing made him a dominant, and she was, and the two of them had a lot of problems which bounced off a sexual encounter they had had when he was 17 and she was 92. That was his only heterosexual relationship, and what went wrong with it had more to do with the fact that he was not hetero to begin with and he had, at 17, begun working with Ari as a student - the whole pattern identical to what happened with Justin."

page 549 - "Anyway, that was Jordan Warrick - not to leave out his companion, Paul."
Also many references throughout the whole book referring to Paul and Jordan in the light of a 'couple'.

page 549 - "Things were pretty good between her and Jordan during that period, and she told Jordan a couple of years later that she had an Alpha test subject she wanted socialized, and would he like to do it and incidentally provide a playmate for his own son."


Hope that helped someone somewhere!
 
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stace212

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I agree that its hard to find notes on spec fiction that are relevent to what we're doing, however I found some and put them together, lots of easy to read/cram dot points, if anyone wants anything, let me know
 

Skillo

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Yo Spec Ficcers.

Just wondering how many supplementary/related texts you're preparing for the exam...?

Are you doing two or three? I'm only doing two...i mean, its a one unit subject, will they really expect three?
 

jellybeenz

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I'm doing 2 related texts... I don't know how good they are though. My teacher seems to think that we should have 2 and mention a 3rd one... but at this point I can't be fucked to do a 3rd.

Which of the prescribed texts is everyone doing?

I'm still not sure whether I should do Handmaids Tale or Dune... I did Dune in my half-yearly and got a good mark, I did Handmaids Tale in my Trial and got a shit mark...
 

stace212

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Most of this is cut and paste, so dnt worry if its out of order or doesnt make sense, its just quotes and stuff, quick stuff to cram before the exma... or at three in the morning wen we're all still up studyin! Anybody wants any more stuff on spec fic, coz that aint much but I cant b bothered uploading more, pm me and I'll c wat I can do.
 

jellybeenz

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Hey- I have a question, I know its a bit late but I was reading some stuff on the internet and I have found its really different from what my teacher told us- Would you class The Handmaids Tale as Science Fiction or as a Science-Fiction/Fantasy blend (therefore making it a subgenre)???
 

_dies_

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I personally class it as science fiction, as my definition of 'fantasy' includes 'mythical' elements, which, although THMT has religion, its not 'mythical' like LOTR for example. And due to it being "science fiction" although Atwood Prefers the term 'speculative fiction', it does fit under the speculative fiction genre due to its conventions used.. etc.... Hope its of some help. Im still cramming before the exam tomorrow! hehehe... Good Luck!
 

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