Intro
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This document provides an introduction to Brendan, a 22-year old English major who has switched majors multiple times. It also discusses his favorite authors - Chuck Palahniuk, Richard Dawkins, Harlan Ellison, and Isaac Asimov. For Palahniuk, he enjoys the dark and colorful writing. For Dawkins, he appreciates the logical way Dawkins questions religion. Asimov and Ellison represent different ends of the science fiction spectrum, with Asimov constructing hopeful worlds and Ellison favoring dystopian worlds.
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Intro
- 2. About Me My name is Brendan and Im a 22-year-old senior. It has taken me quite a bit longer to get to this point than I would like to admit to, mostly due to indecisiveness regarding my major. Ive switched between Psychology and English numerous times and spent a year trying my hand at computer science for the obvious monetary reasons, only to find that harboring a love of consumer electronics does not equate a knack for actual coding talents. Finally, Im back as an English major, the thing I know I should have been pursuing all along. Other than that, I have a lovely little girl who is currently 9-monthsold named Charlotte and a wonderful fianc辿 named Lauren.
- 3. Favorite Authors Both shamefully and ironically for an English student, I must admit that I do not read anywhere near the amount I should as an English major. My main excuses are comorbid; I find myself at a loss for leisure time between school, part time work, and my daughter and I read excruciatingly slowly. These issue compound in fairly obvious ways but when I finally am presented with an opportunity to read for pure entertainment, I gravitate towards short stories so that I may be able to finish them quickly and not need to worry about coming back to something later. During these times, my favorite writers are as follows: -Chuck Palahniuk -Richard Dawkins -Harlan Ellison -Isaac Asimov
- 4. Chuck Palahniuk I am a naturally sarcastic, cynical, and analytical person. While Palahniuk may not always hit the latter nail on the head, he makes up for it by simply beating the former two into a fine, bloody pulp for the reader to bask in. His voice is so distinct and his verbiage simultaneously dark and colorful that I would be able to pick out his writing if it were wrapped in as a childrens book and read in such a tone. My interest began after viewing the film, Fight Club, and being entranced with its twisted-yet-reasonable ideology. As a fan of short stories, Haunted, was a natural fit whos images still compel me to use more enriched tones in my own writing.
- 5. Richard Dawkins Many will tell you, when asked the rational behind their choice of religion, that they were raised as such and leave it at that. To me, as a person who was raised Catholic, I prefer to use the (albeit loaded) term, Brainwashed. And I would say this to anyone, my deeply Christian fianc辿 and her parents included. At a young age, I began to question the logistics of all the famous Catholic tales and stories and before my 13th birthday, declared myself an atheist to my parents, much to their collective dismay. Dawkins, for me, is the writer who writes in a way similar to the way I tend to think. While reading The God Delusion (which I admittedly, have yet to complete) I find myself, on nearly every page, finding collections of words that appeared in my mind just as they were written before my eyes.
- 6. Asimov and Ellison I have decided to group these two men together for reasons other than simplicity and the fact that they are both as representative of science fiction as Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are representatives of the Electronics industry. To me, they represent the versatility of the genera and share nearly nothing in common outside of that. Asimov is a world-builder, a rational and analytical man, and a hopeful, yet cautious, futurist. He constructs worlds and laws as a baker constructs cookies. Ellison, conversely, is much more cynical and anything but a humanist. He thrives in dystopia and revels in the chaotic and unreasonable. Between these two men is contained the vast spectrum of science fiction that I find great love for as a person whos heart flutters with every technological advance and shutters as I see how humanity utilizes them. As such, I find myself longing to be as hopeful of the future as Asimov, but cannot shake my expectation of humanitys future, based entirely on our collective past.