Friday Five: School Stories [Competition]
Friday, February 24, 2012
We're handing the reins over again this week. And the topic? Fictional schools.
There's some huge variety here, proving exactly how important those formative years are for authors, comic book creators and film-makers. Would you rather attend the den of debauchery from The Rules of Attraction or be one of Buffy's ill-fated classmates in Sunnydale? Would you rather try out for Quidditch with Harry Potter or learn military philosophy in Starship Troopers? Wizarding at Brakebills or alchemy in Mallorea? For all we know, your idea of "education" is being dropped on a desert island with a stack of weapons, a la Battle Royale.
One classic SF school? Scott Andrews' St. Mark's. After the apocalypse, this remote school becomes a hub of activity (not all good), with militarised schoolkids battling bandits, slavers, cultists and one another. The St. Mark's Trilogy is one of our favorite series, and the final volume, Children's Crusade, was a Kitschies finalist in 2010.
Accordingly, we've got a (brilliantly) signed copy of Children's Crusade to give away to the best answer (well, "best" in that we'll choose it randomly).
Our normal terms and conditions apply: you can't give an answer that already been taken, "schools" from all forms of media (books, tv, comics, games, etc) are valid, debate is encouraged (but play nice) and we'll choose the winner next Wednesday evening (29 February). In this case, we're shipping anywhere in the world, so everyone should take part (8 billion entries, please).