Author Archive: Sarah Hoyt

FROM DAVID BREITENBECK:  The Wisdom of Walt Disney: The Themes, Ethics, and Ideas of His Greatest Films.

Develop a new appreciation for the legendary storyteller as we explore the themes behind the timeless films of Walt Disney. From the triumphs and failures of civilization to the inseparable bond of parent and child, Disney plumbed the simplest, yet most important elements of the human experience and presented them in terms the whole world could understand. In The Wisdom of Walt Disney, we look past the bright colors and songs in search of the ideas behind twelve of the master storyteller’s greatest films. Here you’ll discover why Pinocchio turns into a donkey, what is behind the Pastoral Symphony in Fantasia, and how Bambi relates to terror of war. You’ll learn the real message of Song of the South, explore the tortured soul of Captain Nemo, and uncover the profound piety of Sleeping Beauty. Above all, you’ll never watch these films the same way again.

THE WAR BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN ISN’T ORGANIC:  Reading In Woman.

FROM CAROLINE FURLONG:  Contact: Angeles.

Contact: Angeles

While removing a prototype sensor from the prow of her new Alliance battleship, the Ausa, Captain Elizabeth Goodwin and her crew encounter a setback when one of the engineers sent to remove and stow the device is injured in an accident. Before the other engineer can help the man, the two are surrounded by amoeboid creatures which seem immune to the effects of vacuum.

Thought to be hallucinations experienced by early spacers who had been alone in deep space too long, these creatures – known as “angel fish” – startle the crew by their sudden appearance. Despite her misgivings, Goodwin allows three of the aliens to be taken aboard for study. But less than an hour after the aliens have been brought on the ship, one of Goodwin’s men is killed and another is seriously wounded.

Her search for both the murderer and the escaped “angels” soon leads to a disturbing revelation. Eventually, Goodwin must decide which threat is greater: an old enemy of the Alliance, or the fabled “angels” encountered by the first explorers from Terra.