FHS Music hosts Haunted Halloween

Every two years the music students at Fortuna High go on a trip to LA to compete in The Heritage Music festival. While they are down there, they get to go to Disneyland, Medieval Times, etc. It is an amazing opportunity and trip for the music students. In order to pay for such an expensive trip, a lot of fundraising must be involved. One of the fundraisers is the annual Haunted House. If you are a music student, please get involved. If you are not a music student, come to the Haunted House for a scare!

Music Students in Haunted House: Time Change: Thurs Oct 29 - Dress Rehearsal at 6:00 pm, 140 Franklin Ave. Please come to this meeting with your costume (either with it on - or bring it with you) - if you plan to be in the Haunted House! Questions? See Ms. McClimon

The Haunted house will be Oct 30 and 31st (day of and day before Halloween), 140 Franklin Ave, 6:00-9:30 pm. Get ready to be frightened! $3.00 to get in.

Junior Layla enjoys chatting with senior Lupe during class.

Coraline provides a spooky look at courage

Children stories are loved by many, but Neil Gaiman can write a tale that's loved by all. Gaiman was born November 10, 1960 in Portchester, England. He's written many stories throughout his life, such as the Sandman comics, Miraclemen, Good Omens, and many more. His first professional story was published in 1984 and his latest in 2013. However Coraline is the only book that was animated (2009). He's also contributed to the production of Princess Mononoke, Beowulf, and the series Neverwhere.

The list of books Gaiman has written is a long one, and Coraline isn't the only popular tale. The Graveyard series was published in 2008 and is yet another well-written tale by Gaiman. This eccentric tale stars Bod from when he was just a toddler to 15 years old. In between all of that we get 3D and dynamic characters, life lessons, and adventures of every sort.

Even though Coraline's intended audience is pre-teen, people of every age should read this book. It starts off with Coraline, a young girl, living a normal and boring life. However things don't stay this way for long. It starts off with a door, which is a normal enough object except it’s not normal in this case. Its locked and when opened there is nothing but a brick wall on the other side. Until one day and instead of a wall it’s another flat that appears to look exactly like her own. Same parents, same neighbors, same cat. Except the parents are everything she’s ever wanted them to be, the neighbors are magnificent, and the cat can talk. There is also something small that puts her off a bit, everyone in the different world has buttons for eyes. At first, Coraline couldn't be happier about her discovery, but as her excitement starts disappear so does the magic of the different world.

This book targets a young audience, so the serious tone came to a surprise to me. Gaiman takes silly things, like a mouse circus, and gives them an evil twist.  But this novel isn't all horror. There is a very good reason why this book is directed towards such a young audience. Every book is built off of something, an idea, and this book was built off of bravery. Coraline conquers dangerous foes and saves the day. Which offers a good description of what courage looks like.

Any child who doesn't get scared easily would love this book. Although this story could be advertised to any age group, it is most adored by pre-teens. However the fact that it’s a children's story shouldn't stop you from cracking this book open and taking a peek inside.

Junior Melina enjoys being awkward.

Stephen King's Pet Sematery still a classic

Stephen King is a prominent figure in the horror and fantasy genres, and is a New York Times’ bestselling novelist. Some of his most popular works include The Shining, Carrie, and IT, and many of these works have been adapted into movies. King was born in Portland, Maine on September 21, 1947. He studied at the University of Maine, and later became a teacher while he began to establish himself as a writer. He has sold more than 350 million copies of his books worldwide, and has had them adapted into many successful movies.

King’s first novel, Carrie, was released in 1973 and became a huge success one year after being published. The novel tells the story of a teenaged girl who gets revenge on her peers. Another well known novel that King released was The Shining which was adapted into a movie in 1980 that stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall. In the novel the protagonist, Jack Torrance, and his family are trapped in a hotel that brings Jack to insanity from the dark past and isolated location of the hotel.

Pet Sematary begins with a family who moves to a house that is next to a highway frequented by speeding trucks. Louis Creed, the father and doctor, becomes good friends with his neighbor Jud Crandall and his wife. Jud takes Louis’ family on a hike to the town’s pet cemetery one day, which triggers bad memories and heated arguments between Louis and his wife, Rachel. After Louis has a traumatic experience with a patient in the hospital he begins to have nightmares about the cemetery. When his daughter’s favorite cat, Church, gets hit by a truck on the highway, Jud takes Louis to an ancient Micmac burial ground to bury him. The burial ground begins to bring horrors into his lives when they use the burial ground’s powers for the wrong reasons.

King uses a very consistent writing style that is present in all of his works. He describes the natural world in disturbing ways with things like “Dead fields under a November sky, scattered rose petals brown and turning up at the edges, empty pools scummed with algae, rot, decomposition, dust...” He also uses many existential themes in his books to add to the horror of what is already happening in the story and asks things like “...the most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.” In Pet Sematary one major theme is the acceptance of death, especially in Louis’ daughter Ellie, “Death was a vague idea; the Pet Sematary was real. In the texture of those rude markers were truths which even a child’s hands could feel.”

Anyone who is a fan of horror novels should consider reading this book. The book is dark and disturbing and full of the topic of death if you’re into that. Anyone who is a fan of other Stephen King novels should definitely consider reading this book as well, because it is similar to his other books.

Senior Codi likes his cat and reading.

Cheerleading: Now Being Considered a Sport

Clint Duey, principal at Fortuna High School, had a few thoughts about the new cheerleading rule decided by the State Legislature. His opinion on cheerleading being named as a sport is that he is very supportive of it and he thinks that is gives cheerleading the governance it needs.

The cheerleaders at Fortuna High do not travel to competitions and haven’t for a few years now, but he would be supportive of that idea if it ever came up. Duey believes that it will resolve issues and give cheerleading the legitimacy it deserves.

He said that, “Fortuna High has always tried their hardest to classify cheerleading as a sport.” He also doesn’t think this new rule will cause any conflict, but it is going to take steps for people to see that it is considered a sport now, and provide clarification of it.

Senior Kendall A. enjoys reporting and reading.

King's Wolves of the Calla mashes gunslinging and sci-fi time travel

Stephen Edwin King was raised by his mother in Portland, Maine. He studied to be a teacher and ended up being a very successful writer.

King is an author of 54 outstanding novels, many of which are closely entwined with one another and more than a few have been adapted into movies and comic books(Carrie and Salem’s Lot). He has an extensive writing career with fiction and nonfiction. He has written several bestselling books Salem’s lot and Firestarter. The book we are going to talk about today, Wolves of the Calla, has a Bram Stoker Award and is the 5th book in the series.

I’m not sure if King knew what he was getting into when he started writing the first book in the Dark Tower series. Starting as a western and ending as a post-apocalyptic time traveling sci fi extravaganza, this entry of the series is brilliant. Midworld has seen its handful of bad days, but when the thiney started slowly creeping closer to the border towns, and the lobstrosities that inhabit it’s oceans start romping through the beaches, Mid World, and all words, need a savior of light. Roland and his Ka-Tet wake in an unknown world, to come across the town Calla Bryn Sturgis that has been raided by The Wolves every generation for half a pair of twins. The gunslingers boldly walk into the face of terror, with only what's on their back to their name. To save the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis is to save the dark tower, that will save humanity and the dimension that it lives in, time.

I loved the book. Granted it’s the least plot progressive book in the series. The entire story takes place in Calla Bryn Sturgis and the few doors to New York. Only two major characters are introduced, one being a man named Peer Callahan and another called Mia. I’m a little disappointed that half of the last two books have been storytelling(This one being the story of Peer Callahan, and the last one being the story of Roland and his Ka-Tet of young). They are good additions to the story nonetheless. It’s pretty easy to get lost at this point in the series; the last four books have been filled plenty with very interesting plot and amazing conspiracies.

I recommend this book to anybody looking for a good read. Mainly teens who love the intensity of a gunslinger and the fantasy of  time traveling. Start with the first book and you'll fall in love with it for a different reason you're in love with it when you start the 5th.

A senior, Caleb enjoys reading, and writing, and wondering about his future.

Pullman reads like Clockwork

Philip Pullman was born October 19, 1946 in Norwich, United Kingdom. He is a British writer. He is an author of several bestselling books. He is also a fiction type of writer. He was named one of the 50 greatest British writers since 1945. He is a very passionate believer in the democracy of reading. As an author, he does not think that the task of an author is to tell the readers what the books means. He says that, “the meaning of a story emerges in the meeting between the words on the page and the thoughts that are in the reader's mind as they progress through the book they are reading.”

Philip Pullman has written a ton of books since he became an author. Some examples of the books he has written are, The Ruby in the Smoke, The Tiger in the Well, The Firework-Maker's Daughter, and also The Broken Bridge. As you can see, he has written various types of books in his time. His genre of books that he seems to be most interested is fantasy. For the most part he is a fictional writer with his most notable book, His Dark Materials. The reading level that he suggested for his books is eight years old and up.

The book  Clockwork  compares the plot of the book to mechanical parks on clocks. This book is related to real life issues to parts on the clock, which actually makes a lot of sense when you read it. This is a very suspenseful book as you progress through it. Clockwork is about a master who puts a new part on the town clock every time someone learns and masters his skill. Then Fritz has written a novel and was presenting it, when all of a sudden, a figure pops out of nowhere and is weirdly similar to the character in his novel. The story just gets odder as the book goes on.

Philip Pullman's writing style is known as informal writing. In this book, he is very detailed about everything that has to do with the town clock and his novel. You would honestly learn quite a few things by reading this book. I think that readers like this book because for so little of pages there is a great storyline to it. Once you progress through this book, it pulls you in more and more, because it is suspenseful and you want to know what is going to happen next.

I think the kind of people this would attract would be teenagers. I think it would fit best with them because most teenagers don’t want to sit down and read a huge book. So since this book is so short and has a lot of detail along with a suspenseful story I think they would enjoy reading it.

Kendall, a senior, enjoys reading and writing.

Scif romance readers have found their Matched

Ally Condie is the author of the Matched Trilogy, a #1 New York Times and international bestseller. She received a degree in English teaching from Brigham University and spent a number of years teaching high school English in Utah and in upstate New York.  Condie’s inspiration for writing this fiction dystopian romance novel came from traveling to many different places and experiencing new cultures and areas.

There are two other books in the trilogy, Crossed and Reached. Her most recent book is called Atlantia, published October 28, 2014. This book is about an underwater city which is served by citizens who are essentially sacrificed to work on land to support the city. All of Condie’s books look very interesting and all of the illustrations on the covers  really catch they eye.

Matched begins on Cassia Reyes’s seventeenth birthday as she rides a train to her Match Banquet. In the futuristic world she lives in, the government decides who you marry, who you love, where you work, and when you die. Leaders called officials are responsible for matching boys and girls to their perfect partners to ensure a happy marriage and a genetically well-based offspring. At the banquet each match receives a micro card containing information about his or her spouse.

Cassia has always trusted the society’s choices, now she is faced with the impossible decision between Xander and Ky. Cassia has to choose between the only life she has known and a  path no one dares to follow...between perfect and passion. “ I know which life is my real one now, no matter what happens. It’s the one with you”. Condie’s writing style is very suspenseful and romantic; it makes you never want to stop reading.

I would recommend this book for a teenage girl, this book tends to catch the eye of  mature teen girls. Matched provides an intense romantic journey that leaves you wondering and want to know more. The amount of suspense and romance really ties this book all together.

Junior Natalie enjoys bodybuilding and reading.