Post your after class summary of “Shambleau” and Monday’s class lecture in a comment to this blog entry. Remember, the first exam is on Monday! Good luck studying!
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Mike Paar
After Class Summery
2/29/16
For class today we read through “Shambleau,” a pulp science fiction short story written in 1933 by C.L. Moore. The story details the events surrounding the smuggler, Northwest Smith, as he takes sympathy on a humanoid alien in a martian outpost. At the start of the story, a female alien was chased by an angry mob bent on killing her. Smith stopped the mob from carrying out murder after making claim on her, declaring that she was his. This in turn revolted the mob, but this none the less dispersed them and went on their way. Smith took the woman, whom he noted had cat like features, back to his place for her protection. At his place he tried to get information from her, such as her name and why she was being chased. But she was not forthcoming with that information, making it seem that she had difficulty understanding his language.
The next day, Smith had to leave to attend business, making preparations for his partner coming in from Venus. Upon returning home, he was surprised to see that the female was still around. He offered food to eat, but she refused it, instead saying that she would eat very soon. That night he was awoken by her undoing the turban that she had been wearing the entire time only to reveal that her hair underneath was a mass of snakes, similar to that of a Gorgon of Greek myths. Terrified by her presence, he was unable to flee but instead was drawn to her against his will.
At that time, Smith’s partner, Yarol, dropped by, after having arrived from Venus. He witnessed Smith encapsulated by the mass of snakes and was told to leave, but Yarol was desperate to release Smith from his trance. Yarol saw the female creature reflected in a mirror and too was reminded of the Medusa myth. He refused to look at her but instead shot her by looking through the reflection, killing the alien instatnly. Smith eventually came too after being freed from the grasp of the alien. Yarol described the tale of the Shambleau, either an single alien or a race of aliens that feed off the life force of other beings, declaring that was what Smith had saved from the mob. The two contemplated the stories possible influence on the ancient myths, while Yarol pleaded with Smith to shoot the creature if he ever comes across another one.
In class we discussed the advent of pulp science fiction with the serialized stories of Hugo Gernsback in his publication of both “Modern Electrics” and “Amazing Stories” magazines. Pulp science fiction were largely formulaic in structure and aimed towards a more low-brow audience. But were crucial in bringing science fiction to a wider audience. It was crucial in influencing later producers of science fiction in setting up a distinct structure and setting in which future stories would be set around.
The short story “Shambleau” by C.L. Moore was a pretty interesting story. It base on a creature that people name her Shambleau from Mars. The main protagonist, Northwest Smith, found Shambleau being chase by a mob, Smith stop the mob and claim Shambleau as his own. The mobs felt disgust instead of hated toward Smith and went away. Smith took care of Shambleau and found that she wasn’t human. Instead of hair, she has worm-like appendages as hair, just like Medusa. Shambleau have Smith as a captive and soon feed on his life force while feeding ecstasy on Smith so he wouldn’t be able to escape. Smith’s Venusian partner, Yarol, knowing about the monster cam to rescue Smith. He used a mirror to reflect the gaze of Shambleau and able to shoot and kill it.
In class, we discussed about pulp fiction, an magazine like book that contains science fiction short stories. Is kind of like comic books back then or the Shonen Jump from Japan. We mostly talk about how Hugo Gernsback started his career in New York City. He began making money by publishing Modern Electrics where it can help sell electronic parts for him. Pulp magazine contains easy stories that goes for the lower brow audience. It’s only way to make money efficiently is with the low cost of production and a colorful attractive cover of the magazine.
“Shambleau” is a story by C.L Moore published in 1933 which takes place on the planet Mars. The story begins with Shableau being chased through the town by a mob. She finds safety from the mob by Northwest Smith a gun slinging smuggler. He rises to her defense and claims her as his own but the finds it a bit strange when the crowd seem to be disgusted that he claims Shambleau. The mob retreats and they both go back to his place as he takes a closer look of her he notices she isn’t human despite being attractive in a weird way.
The next day he leaves to take care of his business and prepare for his friend arriving from another planet. When he get home he realizes she is still there so he offers her some feed which she declines because she would eat soon. Later that night he awakes finds out that she didn’t have hair under her turban but snake like appendages. She placed Smith under a trance and was about to feed on his life force.
Before she could begin feeding his partner arrived. Avoiding her gaze he shot Shambleau killing her. The story resembles that of Perseus who killed Medusa the serpent haired monster. The class lecture was about pulp fiction and Hugo Gernsback.
He came to New York City and published a magazine called “Modern Electronics” in which he would sell electronic parts to people interested in radio technology. He would later include small stories which he would end with cliff hangers in order to sell more magazines. He would then move on to publish “Amazing Stories” in 1926 the first science fiction magazine.
The short story “Shambleau” by C.L. Moore is a story that peaked my interest it’s all about a young woman that isn’t human and of an unknown race of alien being chased by a mob down a street in a spaceport town on Mars. The mob is almost on top of her until she meets Northwest Smith, an infamous criminal; who get’s in the mix of her problem. He offers to shelter her, tells her she’s welcome to stay for the few days until the crowd gives up and leaves. Upon noticing her looks and she’s a different species, he sees she’s dressed only in a shift and a turban. Assuming that she might be bald at first and then later on sees he was mistaken he swore for a moment that a lock of hair somehow move all on its own but quickly dismisses it. As the story continues we know that sexual temptations don’t grab enough of Smith attention, he does find the young women attractive until he in her arms that she’s very repulsive; not understanding why the repulsion sort of feels primal in nature dismisses it and goes in town setting up his criminal venture until a few days later there’s a back and forth attraction and repulsion between the young women again; and he doesn’t know why. Yarol who is Smith’s partner shows up and helps out Smith so he can have a chance of escape from the young women hypnotizing gaze, though it’s not that easy; the young women come to find out is Shambleau a creature resembling the features of the Greece’s mythical gorgon creature aka Medusa with life like hair made of snakes and she’s strong; so to vanish this creature Yarol uses a mirror to reflect back her gaze to herself and was able to kill her in the end.
The message I found was that Moore is showing readers based on her experience what it means to be human, the struggle with what’s right and what’s useful; and it’s done in a exciting and weird way. In regards to Pulp Fiction this story is an prefect example of Hugo Gernsback who started it all back in the 1926 of the Amazing Stories Magazines; where he wanted to bring scientific entertainment and a lesson to what he wrote in his magazines to those people of that time.
Shambleau a short story written by C.L Moore is about an alien creature only known as the Shambleau that feeds on the life force of men by way of hypnotism and ecstasy. The main character Northwest Smith encounters the alien while it is being chased by a mob where he decides to intervene and save its life, unknowing of the creatures powers. The alien is described as cat like with green eyes with small sharp white teeth with a turban wrapped tightly around its head. He then brings her back to his place where he is staying for awhile until his friend Yarol arrives. He soon realizes an odd sense of terror and delight stemming from the alien, but he cant quite tell and begins to remember old stories such as medusa. When he is away from the creature the feelings seem to go away as smith goes about his normal routine, but the feelings return again when he returns to his room. He cant get the alien to eat anything claiming that it will eat soon and that human food is no good. When the Shambleau removes its turban snake like hair is released covering its body and wraps itself around smith, where he is helpless within a trance. Yarol comes in just in time and shoots the alien saving smith and explains what the creature was claiming the race may predate humanity and may have inspired tails such as Medusa, and that other creatures of legend may exist as well. In class we discussed the origins of science fiction magazines starting with its inception by Hugo Gernsback when he launched his magazine Modern Electronics in 1908. Then amazing stories where science fiction was the focus, he named it Scientifiction.
The short story “Shambleau” starts of with Northwest Smith protecting a creature called Shambleau. The Martian has the figure of a human girl/woman. A group of men, also Martians, were chasing her in order to kill her. Despite his reputation, Smith recuses the Shambleau because of her vulnerability. The men thought the Shambleau was Smith’s possession therefore let her go to his custody. Out of kindness Smith takes the Shambleau back to his quarters. She stated that she did not need any food. Once at his place, she seemed to be seductive in a sense. He goes to sleep where he had a dream/nightmare of a snake/worm tied to his neck. It caressed and softly applied pressure where he would feel paralyzing delight. He woke up from this dream a bit startled. He went out to do business and left her alone in the house. When returning he bought some groceries because he thought it has been a while since she has eaten. He opens his door and the lights are off. He asks her why the lights are off and she responds with she is indifferent to the light. He then gives her a selection of food to eat but she denies all of them. Once he is done eating, he asks her where she is from? She says from far, far away. She proceeds to reveal herself by taking off her headdress. A many snake/worm are revealed like Medusa. He is majorly hypnotized/ seduced by the unraveling that she was able to feed off of him. Yarol, Smith’s partner, came in time to possibly save Smith.
In class we discussed, Hugo Gernsback born and died on 1884-1967. He was interested in technology, electricity mainly in radios, therefore moved to NYC in 1904. Thereafter launched Modern Electronics Magazines. Inside would publish a story that would roll over 4 magazines “Ralph 124c 41+”. In the middle the story would have an instructional on how to make a radio. More importantly in April 1926 he launched Amazing Stories devoted to what we consider science fiction.
“Shambleau” by C. L. Moore it’s about a young woman is being chased by a mob down a street in a spaceport town on Mars. The mob is closing in on her when she runs into Northwest Smith, a notorious criminal. He intervenes on her behalf to the bafflement of the crowd. Smith takes her back to his room, tells her she’s welcome to stay for the few days until he gives up the room and leaves. This girl isn’t human, and Smith doesn’t recognize her race. She’s dressed only in a shift and a turban. Smith assumes she’s bald. He realizes later she’s not when he sees her tuck what he thinks is a lock of hair under her turban. He’s sure he saw the lock move on its own. But he must be mistaken. Smith eventually discovers firsthand that a Shambleau feeds on the life-force of others using the extensible, worm-like appendages it has instead of hair, while addicting its short-lived victims with pure ecstasy. Fortunately for Smith, his Venusian partner Yarol comes looking for him and finds him before it is too late. Unlike Smith, he knows what the creature is. Though he himself is drawn to the Shambleau, he manages to avert his gaze; then, using the Shambleau’s reflection in a mirror, Yarol is able to shoot and kill it. Later, he speculates that the story of Perseus and Medusa had its origins in the activities of a Shambleau on ancient Earth.
In today’s we talked about Pulp science fiction Magazine which was published in 1920 and1930. Pulp’s papers were thick and it destroys itself. Cover was brightly color but inside the magazine was black and white. This magazine always has an action and also has a happy ending. Then we talked about Hugo Gernsback (1884-1967) his from Luxemburg and in 1904 he moved to New York City in USA. He had interest into modern technology especially on radio because he wanted to attention for his Magazine called “Ralph14C41+” by radio. Later in 19026 he wrote “Amazing Stories” which now we called as a Science Fiction magazine.
Soshana Butiku
Shambleau starts off with a lady alien being chased down a road by a mob. She gets cornered supposedly by a man with a gun and falls and cries as if her life were over. Instead, the man pities her and defends her from the mob. The mob says she is Shambleau and that they never let her kind live and instead of asking why, the man claims her as his and the mob disperses confused and disgusted. He is introduced as Northwest Smith. She insists on going with him though he asks where he should drop her. He offers her food and she declines and he goes about her business. When he returns he again offers her food and she declines and he becomes suspicious. He goes to bed and has a dream both pleasurable and awful about something squeezing his neck. He awakens and forgets the dream and sets out again. He returns and really quizzes her about her food and she only says she is not a vampire. That night he watches here remove her head scarf and watches these scarlet worms fall from her head and envelope in her body she goes to him and he fights her but barely. Soon he’s on the floor, completely inside the mass of worms and to an extent he is content. We are now introduced to his partner who knows what he is looking at it returns him to his old religion. Praying his partner from Venus, Yarol drags him out of the wormy mass and uses a mirror to aim his gun and kill the shambleau. Smith is an incredibly weak man and asks his partner if there’s a way of finding that one or another one.
In class we talked about pulp fiction magazines which were cheaply produced and acidic and would destroy themselves. We also talked about serials and Hugo Gernsback who produced a magazine that had short stories broken up into shorter stories to help encourage people to buy the magazine every time it was produced.
The story of Shambleau starts with Northwest Smith on the Planet mars. While on the planet he encounters a woman named Shambleau. Northwest smith stops a mob of locales, which looked the harm or even kill the woman. Stating that the woman is his, the mob looks upon him with disgust, not knowing why, Northwest Smith is left confused as they leave the Shambleau alone. Analyzing the woman, Northwest realizes the woman is not human but a creature that has woman like feature in body shade and facial features. While accompanying the woman, Northwest soon realizes why the mob was so determine to harm her, he learns
That a Shambleau feeds off the life force of others using her worm-like hair to do so. Getting caught in the grips of the Shambleau Northwest is embraces with with pure ecstasy, which the Shambleau does to its short-lived victims while sucking their life force.
But fortunately for Northwest Smith his Venusian partner Yarol comes looking for him when he goes missing. Yarol finds NorthWest just before it was too late. Yarol having knowledge of what a Shambleau is , he is also drawn by the creature but is able to avert his gaze and able to use a Shambleau reflection in a mirror to shoot and kill the it. After the event they realize that the story of Perseus and Medusa had its origins in the activities of a Shambleau on Earth.
In class, we discussed the Pulp Science Fiction Magazines. We talked about the HugO Gernsback and how he launched the first magazine devoted to Science Fiction. He gave science fiction a named scientification. We also discussed 3 characteristics of scientification and the characteristics of pulp magazines.
The story “Shambleau” by C.L. Moore is about a man named Northwest Smith on the planet Mars. While on the planet Mars, he comes across a woman who is being chased by a raging mob. He rescues the woman, and the mob, although shocked and disappointed, they leave her alone. Smith learns that the woman is called Shambleau, and she seems very different, dressing different and even looking a bit strange in appearance. He brings her back to his room and lets her stay. Her presence brought weird experiences, as Smith had a dream of a serpent seductively, pleasurably, but tightly squeezing his neck. Later, he offers her food but she seems suspicious as she turns him down numerous times, and she tells him she is indifferent to the light in the room, so she likes it dark. As the story continues, Smith realizes the woman/alien feeds on her victims life, while feeding them a weird ecstasy at the same time. Yarol, Smith’s partner, is able to help Smith from the alien, and although drawn to the creature, slips away and uses a mirrored reflection of Shambleau to shoot her and kill her. The creature much resembles the Greek mythological creature Medusa, with her worm-like hair and temptation gazes that drew her victims in for the kill.
In class we talked about Pulp fiction magazines, and how they were made from wood pulp sheets. This was made for a lower class audience. We also talked about Flash Gordon: made in 1936, the main actor was Buster Crabbe (Olympic Gold medal winner), and the space opera genre. We also talked about Film Serials and the 4 characteristics to those:
1.they were shown weekly and right before a featured film
2.low cost of production
3.low production cost
4.heavily used cliff hangers
“Shambleau” by C.L. Moore starts with a human man named Northwest Smith on Mars. Smith encounters a woman that the locals call Shambleau. Her actual name is not pronounceable in Smith’s language. The locals are after Shambleau, who Smith saves by stating that she is his. This causes the locals to be disgusted by Smith’s actions. It is revealed that Shambleau is not human at all. She looks like a feline with her hair wrapped up. Smith provides his room to the Shambleau to stay in thinking she would leave. Later when he returns at night, he finds the Shambleau had stayed. Smith receives nightmares and Smith finds out the hard way that Shambleaus consumes people’s life using their worm like hair. Smith goes missing but was saved by his partner Yaro, who is a Venusian. Using the myth of Medusa as inspiration Yarol uses a mirror to shoot the Shambleau. Yarol explains to Smith the origins of Shambleaus which leads to the realization that Shambleau had been to Earth in ancient times. Yarol asks Smith to promise him that he would shoot Shambleaus on sight knowing that Smith never breaks his promises. Smith replies that he would try, implying that Smith is still under the influence of Shambleaus
The discussion of pulp fiction occurred. Pulp fiction got its named by the material on which it was printed on, which was pulp wood. This was intended for the poorer audiences. Hugo Gernsback launched the first magazine dedicated to science fiction named Amazing Stories. He referred to SF as scientification and said it has 3 characteristics: narrative, science, and prophecy.
ENG 2420
Kevin A. Gaul
05/25/16
After-Class Summary: Shambleau
“Shambleau”, written by female SF writer C. L. Moore, is about the story of Northwest Smith saving a human-like creature known as a Shambleau from a local lynch mob. Unaware of their reasoning behind chasing the feminine creature, Smith intervenes, claiming that the Shambleau belongs to him. Showing disgust, the mob decides to leave the Shambleau in his hands after her shows them that’s he’s ready to put up a fight, evidenced by him firing a warning shot at the mob’s feet. After the mob leaves, Smith observes the Shambleau he just saved, noticing her green eyes with feline-like pupils, brown skin, four digits on each hand and foot with retractable claws, pink, flat tongue, and turban on her head which he assumed covered baldness. After exchanging a few words since she can barely speak English, she tags along with Smith back to his temporary room he’s staying at while he waits for a friend. Every now and then, he would go out to do errands while Shambleau would wait for him in his room. During a moment where he embraced her, he remembered that she wasn’t human and pushed her away, causing her truban to slip and reveal a lock of red hair. The next day, Smith discovers that Shambleau feeds on humans and is almost devoured himself, while under a spell of pleasure, but luckily his friend that he has been waiting for arrives just in time to save him, but using a mirror to avoid her gaze and defeat her.
During the lecture on 02/29/16, we talked about SF pulp magazines, which were 10” x 7”, printed on cheap pulp, not made to last, and writers were paid 5 cents a word. The First SF magazine was called Amazing Stories and was created by Hugo Gernsback. He also coined the term “Scientifiction” which was 75% literature and 25% science, didactic, since it taught you something, and prophetic since they would predict the future.