Guest Book

What's New Page:
THE CHRYSALIDS by John WyndhamBook Summary:
The Chrysalids is a science-fiction novel based on religion. The author John Wyndham "takes the reader into the anguished heart of a community where the chances of breeding true are less than 50 percent"The narrator, David, dreams of a city that he doesn't know where it is, or if it even exists. David's family and community are a very religious culture and believe that people must be in God's image, the only true image, and the animals must be in a true image, as well. Someone is a Deviant if they are not in the true image. The Deviants must be castrated, and move out of their community to a place called the Fringes or they will be punished for the offenses against the religion. The Fringes is the only place that the community knows that will let Deviants in and accept them.Any animals that are not the way they are suppose to be, according to the law, are killed by David's father, Joseph Strorm.David realizes that his ability to thought shape with other young people is also considered a deviation but is not noticed except by the children and adults that can thought shape too. David joins a group of people that can thought shape and becomes friends with them.David does not just meet other thought shapers but also meets other Deviants, like Sophie. Sophie is a girl he meets on early in life that has six toes. David begins to realize the dangers of being a Deviant when he finds out about Sophie's deviation. His friendship with Sophie grows stronger as time goes on, until a local boy, Alan, finds out about her deformed foot. Then, Sophie is sent to the Fringes, where all Deviants are sent to fend for themselves. As this happens, we find that David's bond with his uncle Axel is a strong one. David tells his uncle about his dreams, Sophie, and the thought shapers. As the story progresses, David gets a little sister, by the name of Petra. We find out that Petra is very strong with this thought shaping when she commands the other thought shapers to come to her in times of emergency. David and the others must try to teach Petra this skill. One of the thought shapers, Anne, marries Alan, who is later killed. Before his death, Anne herself commits suicide, leaving behind an incriminating letter about the thought shapers, including young Petra. This letter is immediately destroyed. As we find out later in the novel, it was Uncle Axel who killed Alan, to protect David and the other thought shapers, for he believes that Anne must have told Alan about them. David and Rosalind, his half-uncle's daughter, are developing a strong love for each other, which strengthens throughout all the happenings in the novel. Soon, David, Rosalind, Petra, and two other thought shapers are found out by the Inspector, and must leave the community. Two of the thought shapers, Katherine and Sally, are interrogated by the Inspector, and are tortured until they told him and others about thought shaping. In an effort to help save David, Petra, and Rosalind, they make up lies about things, like the maximum range for thought shaping is 5 kilometers, and stuff like that. Rosalind, David, and his sister manage to go to the Fringes, and escape their community, for a short while. David finds out that Sophie has managed to live, and that another Deviant, the "Spiderman" is his father's brother. As it turns out, Sophie is in love with this "Spiderman," and that she can't have children. Michael, a thought shaper, is in one of the search parties that are hunting the three thought shapers, and tries to keep them off of the thought shaper's trail. Unfortunately, they find them anyway. Petra managed to communicate with a woman from "Sealand" which, according to this woman, is actually "Zealand." This "Sealand" woman comes to rescue the thought shapers from the Fringes, and from David's father, and the rest of the community. When David's father and the rest of the community find the three in the Fringes, there is a big fight, in which Sophie and the "Spiderman," as well as many others, including David's father, are killed. The "Sealand" woman saves them all by coming in on a helicopter, and spraying a plastic, threadlike, substance, which contracts on contact. This contraction kills instantly, and almost painlessly. After the "Sealand" woman manages to destroy everybody that wants to kill the thought shapers, she takes David, Rosalind and Petra back to her land in her helicopter, where everybody think shapes. Michael volunteers to stay behind with Rachel, the last thought shaper alive, and continues to live in the community. David and the other two thought shapers are now safe, although, we don't know what happened to Michael and Rachel, though we hope that they will be soon transported to "Sealand" to live with other people of their kind.

The Darkness
By Michael "Midnight Falcon" Platts

I sit alone in my darkened room.
It is midnight, and I begin to dwell upon the past.
My soul drifts on a tide of emotion, memories long past begin to surface from the historic waves.

Memories of how I suffered as a child at the fists of brutes.
The loss of a friend, her mind, body and soul ravaged beyond all hope of repair.

The scene changes.

I stand alone outside a strange new house in a strange new town, those I know and love left behind.

I stand along outside a strange new school, with strange new clothes and strange new rules, and fear wells up in my heart.

All of sudden, a beacon shines out from the mists of time, a happy memory.
I have a friend in this strange new world, Mark, my companion, protector and confidant to this day.

Again the beacon shines
A party for another new friend, Emma.
It is her twelfth birthday, and mine was soon to follow.
But this party, this celebration of life, was to be the beginning of my decent into darkness.
Here, at the party, I met the one, a year younger then me almost to the day.

The scene changes.

I stand surrounded in a now familiar schoolyard.
I hold the throat of a boy 2 years younger in a vice like grip.
Adrenalin courses through my veins, fires of hatred burn within my eyes.
Revenge is my intent, and I shall have my pound of flesh.

I lie surrounded in a familiar schoolyard, my uniform bloody and torn.
The sibling of the boy I had beaten stands astride me.
I feel the wetness of his saliva dripping down my face, the stickiness of my blood drenched clothes, and the life slowly seeping away.

Time waits for no man, and neither do the emotions it brings.
It was many moons sine I had first met her, the one, and I valued her more then my very soul.
We stood alone outside the gates of the schoolyard, saying our goodbyes as I moved on to the next stage of my life.
I took her hand, and I spoke my feelings

"I love you"

The one merely stared, she spoke to me that my love was both undeserved and unwanted.

Out in the ocean, my soul slowly drifts towards a whirlpool, an abyss that hungers for me.

I crouch alone in a woodland glade, only the beasts of the night to keep me company. They do not know I am there, but every creature, man or beast, hears my cry

I shout, I scream, I rage, I destroy everything within my reach.

The one has forsaken me

Still I rage at that which Gaia has created, until I fall, trembling, to the ground, and sob my self to sleep among the leaves.

The abyss howls.
It grows hungry, and it's prey draws near

I stand alone in the nocturnal wilderness, the southern heavens laid out for all to see.
I lose myself in the glint of far off suns, and I feel peace.

I sit alone in front of a flickering screen.
Words appear, and the one leaves her old body for this new one, the body of the girl I thought I loved

The abyss screams in rage.
It's prey escapes it's grasp, but will soon return.

I sit still in front of the flickering screen, and once again words appear
"I feel nothing for you"

The abyss tears at my soul, fragments it into a thousand crystal shards.
I try to scream, but my cries are muffled as I am torn apart.

I am alone, I am defeated, and once again I know sadness.

I lay back, and once again, begin my decent into darkness