ThReads Must Roll: the new, improved rolling fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction &c. thread

No Solar Shoe Salesman, no credibility

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Her Smoke Rose up Forever: a heady cocktail of love and misery, sex and death. Stellar stuff, pretty much, a couple of misfires aside; not necessarily recommended for those trying to avoid encouraging their natural tendencies towards misanthropy, misandry and a keen sense of futility.

Kim Stanley Robinson's new one, Aurora, which was very entertaining: slightly odd authorial voice explained by the book being written by an AI learning to to be conscious and to write -- I really liked it, but if you don't like KSR this one won't change your mind

Louisa Hall: Speak -- a David-Mitchell-nested-narratives story about the creation of AI, which had lots of good bits, but didn't entirely work for me; the 5 layers of story are too carefully, literarily intertwined and cross-referential, and some stuff atributed to Alan Turing is a bit on the nose (such as when talking about social mores, he talks about how awful it is to "break codes", or the way one shortish made-up letter will just happen to reference machine intelligence, Snow White, his homosexuality, code-breaking, and more)

Reading the grauniad sf round up and we have 'a masterpiece', a 'tour de force', 'a gripping read', a book with a 'brilliant creation' of a character and a 'brilliant twist', 'a stunning double finale', and one superlative free review. Maybe things are that great in current sf but i somehow doubt that if I were to enthusiastically pick all these up I wouldn't be disappointed two or three or four times over. Tempted to give at least one a go though, maybe the tour de force.

(In order: Chrid Beckett, Mother of Eden; Becky Chambers, The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet; Stephen Palmer, Beautiful Intelligence; Ian Sales, All That Outer Space Allows; SL Grey, Under Ground; and Alex Lamb, Roboteer. I'd discount the first, third and last for genre considerations, and the last for not being superlative.)

Been reading a lot of the awards/puppy controversy on Black Gate blog. Initially I wanted to avoid it because I find most outrages really boring and annoying but I've really enjoyed reading about this one, though I still don't completely understand the whole situation. Very refreshing to see different sides of the argument discussing things civilly in the comments thread.
But really taken aback by some of the views of the most conservative "puppy" writers, like "is this a joke, are you really saying these things that would have sounded nuts to many people several decades ago and definitely sound nuts to most conservatives today?", I had no idea there were still fairly popular writers quite like that.

James, a friend of mine recommended the KSR just last night. I have read a few short stories that I liked but haven't made it through any of his big novels yet, daunted by the length, perhaps will try this one.

ledge, that grauniad roundup is little too conspicuously upbeat, a classic 'win-win' situation. Hope springs eternal though. As you may know that Ian Sales book is the fourth in a series which is probably best read in order.

Thanks for that blog reference, Robert, although I too have steered clear of these controversies thus far,

You neglected to pull this cherce nugget from the graunaid, ledge;

It’s JG Ballard meets Agatha Christie, with a soupcon of Patricia Highsmith thrown in.

Well that Guardian reviewer is an SF writer so might not be that reliable. It's not unheard of for them to be totally honest but more often they are very complimentary.

You think?

Related subject
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXUKjn40l6Q

Tbh was afraid to click on that but I am now glad I did, it was kind of awesome.

Internet has actually made this situation far worse. With genre forums of mostly writers and some authors attacking negative reviewers. The horror forums I have frequented are always 90% writers/editors/illustrators and someday when I finally read a lot of these guys I'd be hesitant to write a negative or even lukewarm review, so probably wouldn't write a review at all.

Video left me wanting more info about Harlan Ellison's haircut decisions.

Went back over a couple more grauniad round ups, all the reviews were positive but not quite as unreservedly enthusiastic as this month.

Not sure what KSR short stories I've read but I haven't read any long ones. Aurora seems like a good place to start... I think I said this this upthread already.

Intriguing review of Neal Stephenson's Seveneves and Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora, with cogent, concise comments on their relationship to the present era:
http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/the-warm-equations

― dow, Sunday, June 28, 2015 2:31 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Only thing: the reviewer limits himself *so much* by abstention from all spoilers. But he says why.

― dow, Sunday, June 28, 2015 2:38 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Also check the links below the review, like Matthew Snyder on Hieroglyph:
http://lareviewofbooks.org/review/saving-spaceship-earth

― dow, Sunday, June 28, 2015 3:07 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Writers can now send that youtube link to each other when they don't want to blurb each others weaker books.

Don't be like Bill Pronzini or Stephen King!

Only thing: the reviewer limits himself *so much* by abstention from all spoilers. But he says why.

He emphasised it so much that I wanted to read Aurora just to see what he was going on about. But looking upthread I think James has blown that one already and might just have saved me 500 pages.

Er, sorry about that... It comes early on in the book, about 30p in

There are a couple of other big surprises i didnt describe

oh 30pp in doesn't count! Damn, back on the pile

> about 30p in

i read that as pence. total number of pages divided by cost of book ie 10 pages into a £3 book.

i finished Algernon and then had a confusing conversation with someone who didn't know that it was a novel-length thing (me not knowing it was originally a short story).

Some free KSR stories here: http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/1597801844/1597801844_toc.htm allegedly his 'best' but I don't how how representative they are - I was expecting a few more bangs and whistles than there are in these short character sketches of alternate histories or near futures. Serves me right for being a cheapskate, maybe.

I think I liked most of his early stories in Asimov's etc., later collected for Down and Out In The Year 2000. The only ones I half-way remember at the moment: a scientist who is depressed about the accumulating evidence of eco-decline, and its already problematic effects, like drought, he keeps slogging along, duty-bound, periodically treated for depression via massive doses of electric light: sits in a room facing a sun of many bulbs--that was a thing then (sad irony of the enviro dosed by artificial light---do you see--I was impressed by the lower-case way he presented it, though). The other was about a homeless guy in DC---no science fiction content at all, other than it was maybe the title story, thus set in the future, but seemed very much of its time; as in the depressed scientist's accumulating narrative. Seemed like he'd learned from Orwell about uncrowded density of imagery; he earned the O-ref of Down and Out...(or so I thought in days of yore).
Also enjoyed The Wild Shore,concerning the travels of a post-eco-collapse Huck Finn in the Great Northwest. But I never did read the rest of that trilogy (involving different characters), Gold Coast and Pacific Rim.

pretty excited by that r.a. lafferty omnibus linked upthread. anyone familiar enough with his work to name some can't-miss stories in there? i'm kind of just reading them at random, mostly the late 60s/early 70s ones, my favorite one i've encountered so far is "Ginny Wrapped in the Sun"

it took me a long time to finish KSR's Mars trilogy but i'm glad i did it. it felt like an accomplishment. i have a bunch of his other books at home that i still haven't gotten around to. kinda hard to top the Mars books.

Kinda like this Shirley Jackson story--starts out just sub-Kafka, and ends resonantly, evocatively---sub-Kafka still, you might say, but that's less relevant than the folkoid ballad quality, and what I infer as social commentary, on a personal note I almost heard
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/28/the-man-in-the-woods

reading the review of the new shirley jackson collection and apparently tons of the stories in it have never been published before? i might have to splurge on it.

"As we approach the centenary of her birth comes this astonishing compilation of fifty-six pieces—more than forty of which have never been published before. Two of Jackson’s children co-edited this volume, culling through the vast archives of their mother’s papers at the Library of Congress, selecting only the very best for inclusion."

40+ things!

yeah, i gotta get that.

like the space she leaves, and the breadcrumbs--in this one, but the other one on thenewyorker, "Paranoia," is not that hot. Yeah, I'd like to check the collection. Both stories were linked below this short non-fiction, also in the collection:
http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/memory-and-delusion?mbid=rss

Just watched Under The Skin, rec. to fans of Ballard, Roeg, and Cronenberg,though the long unblinking solemn alien gazes at toddlin' Scottish streetlife and wide open spaces give me time to nurture my own niggling degrees of detachment and doubts. A "distillation" of a much more elaborately spelled-out script, director Jonathan Glazer explains, and that does seem right, if a little generous with the flow---there's def no sense of being force-fed gobs of exposition and bright twirling objects while accountants time the whole thing, as with so many bigger-budgeted items (Wonder how the Michael Faber novel is.) Certainly committed to show-not-tell---though could have used more bursts of hellish imagery, the overall arc is no prob---and,since the alien gazer is Scarlett Johansson....
Not as good as Her, but they could make a satisfying SJ SF double feature (how's Lucy?)

Re: puppies/awards conversation, I think those words "badthink" and "wrongfun" are hilarious.

Eyes Of The Overworld (2/4 in Dying Earth sequence) by Jack Vance.

This is a huge improvement over the previous book, a better adventure and so much more happens.
It's not a continuation although one character from Dying Earth is mentioned a few times. Eyes Of The Overworld has humour as a major component whereas Dying Earth only had several funny moments. Dying Earth was partially linked short stories about different characters but this is just one long story following one man.

Cugel The Clever seems to me a clear replacement for Liane The Wayfarer (easily the most fun character in the previous book); initially I thought Cugel was an anti-hero but he's every bit the horrible villain Liane was; I was genuinely shocked at how nasty Cugel could be, especially when he murders someone for a harmless prank, and shows he's probably not above sexual harassment.
The main pleasure of the book for me was the showy conversations (it's hard not to want to talk like this and start referring to food as "viands") and Cugel's hilariously pompous indignation and claims to innocence when he is accused of crimes he has actually committed. He wrongs so many people in a spectacular fashion.

A couple of problems though:
(1) The scene in which Voynod assumes Cugel killed one of the pilgrims made no sense, and then immediately after Cugel unconvincingly succeeds in lying to Voynod that the salve he is trading is magic. It's a weak setup for later scenes to happen.
(2) Vance is well known for his impressive visual descriptions (particularly good at countryside and skies) but just like in the previous book, I found a lot of the descriptions confusing, awkward or ill fitting.
When the disembodied legs that support Derwe Coreme's boat are first mentioned, there is no mention of their arms, but when the arms grab at people they are jarringly introduced as if we already knew about them.
Cugel's rope climb down from the huge pillar was seemingly impossible to visualise correctly from the text.
Many of the clothes, furnishings, creatures and various other things are described in a frustratingly plain or unsatisfying manner when compared to the often lovely settings, sights and generally extravagant manner of the story. This is my biggest complaint.

But I generally had a good time with this book and the strengths outweigh my disappointments.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/09/books/review/ursula-k-le-guin-by-the-book.html?hpw&rref=books&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well

"I tend to avoid fiction about dysfunctional urban middle-class people written in the present tense. This makes it hard to find a new novel, sometimes."

this right here is why started reading so much SF 8 or 9 years ago. got so sick of the writing workshop white people angst. no offense to white people. i have some friends who are white.

Otm. A pretty half-assed stab at the "my favourite things" game though. Either play it for fun or do a drew daniel 12 page essay on why it sucks, or don't play it.

http://bookriot.com/2015/07/22/9-diverse-fantasy-books-will-challenge-idea-fantasy-fiction/

A list of fantasy with diversity and fresh viewpoints.

yeah, i like when people just name a ton of random writers they enjoy or are enjoying currently. doesn't have to be the BEST or GOAT or anything. would love a reading list from her. already pretty familiar with jane austen and the like...

x-post

although she does mention some people i've never read/heard of: harry roberts, kij johnson, helen phillips, colin thubron.

incidentally i finished 'the lathe of heaven' recently. a fairly decent potboiler that read more like a k dick than a le guin, with its fractured realities and coded messages. wouldn't rank it amongst her best.

did you know that UKL and PKD went to high school together and were in the same class and they didn't even know each other at all? you can't make that stuff up.

JP: Were you thinking about Philip K. Dick while writing Lathe of Heaven?

UL: Oh yeah. It’s sort of an homage to him.

JP: Was it something you shared with him and discussed with him?

UL: We wrote letters back and forth some. We never met. I was rather scared of Phil. He was very heavily into drugs, and drugs do scare me. I had three kids at home, and was not enthusiastic about having a real—not a pothead but a heavy drug user around. Phil went off the rails periodically, and so I was not really looking to meet him. But we did correspond, very friendly, for some while. We seemed to respect each other’s writing, were interested in what each other was trying to do.

JP: I read you had gone to high school together. That’s not true?

UL: That is so weird. Yes, we were complete contemporaries at Berkeley High School, but he’s not in the yearbook. His name is in the yearbook, but there is no photograph. I think Phil dropped out before graduation.
I don’t know many people anymore that were at Berkeley High with me. When there were more of us alive we tried to find out anything about him. Nobody remembers him. Not one person in this group remembered him physically. He worked at a store where I bought records when I had the money, so I might have met him there. But what he looked like then, as a teenager? [Shrugs.] He is absolutely the invisible man at Berkeley High.

that is so wild

wow!

Yes, terrific.

Speaking of weird Berkeley connections, PKD at 19 also lived in a warehouse loft with Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan for a while: http://www.strangehorizons.com/2009/20090323/cheney-c.shtml

I read somewhere that moving from the rainy world of his native Berkeley to the artificial paradise of Southern Cali was a revelation, maybe even before Disneyland opened, and there he became fascinated with, for instance, families' familial concern when the Abraham Lincoln simulacrum started seeing a little off, like it wasn't feeling well. (Also wrote some stories as by as A. Lincoln-Simulacrum.)
The Bay Area seems not to have turned him on so much, although the acerbic non-SF Mary And The Giant is v. readable, and unmistakably young PKD.

"turned him on in so many ways" might be a better way of putting it; he copped some inspiration there, anyway. (Speaking of the record store, he owned or managed his own for a while, and even had his own radio show---classical, I think.)

Great piece, one way street! I'll have to check out more Spicer. The affinities of SF and Beat (-era) poetry, h'mmm....

That record store or something like it, fictionalized, figures prominently in Radio Free Albemuth, iirc. You should definitely check out Spicer! Even with the Spicer revival of the last several years (i.e. since the bulk of his poetry came back into print in 2008), he deserves to be read much more widely.

I'm obliged to link to his 1965 lectures on poetics, since his notion of composition as dictation from the Outside gets fairly Dickian: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/learning/essay/238196?page=1

It’s impossible for the source of energy to come to you in Martian or North Korean or Tamil or any language you don’t know. It’s impossible for the source of energy to use images you don’t have, or at least don’t have something of. It’s as if a Martian comes into a room with children’s blocks with A, B, C, D, E which are in English and he tries to convey a message. This is the way the source of energy goes. But the blocks, on the other hand, are always resisting it.