Thread of Wonder, the next 5000 posts: science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction 2021 and beyond

Speaking of that "Through The Looking Glass Darkly," recently on Alice In Wonderland:
https://4columns.org/sinker-mark/alice-curiouser-and-curiouser
covers looking glass also (which as a child i preferred, perhaps bcz i am a massive NERD)

― mark s, Thursday, June 17, 2021 9:36 AM

And much discussion ensued, incl. of Alice on TV and film, and a link to another Mark piece on same in Sight And Sound (also pix)

Horace Walpole - The Castle Of Otranto

I had mainly heard this referred to as a dull piece of homework for horror fans, literary historical context. But was really surprised to find it's quite fun, brisk, and the writing is often really beautiful (I seem to be a minority on this one). An audio version with the right actors could be great.

There seems to be a lot of confusion about how to take the drama, is it all really comedy? One of my least favorite aspects was the absurd outpourings about family duties, morals and honor but they're taken to such an extreme that it must be intentionally absurd how forgiving and unquestioningly loyal so many of the characters are to Manfred. And what one of the characters says when they are stabbed to death.

I am a little sad that Walpole is more interested in action than atmosphere and that the imagery of the giant knight wasn't exploited more but there's plenty of other gothic castle books going for atmosphere and Castlevania taken the giant knight.

This really isn't a chore, it has more energy than most horror stories today.

Mills Of Silence by Charles Wilkinson, Egaeus Press

― dow, Sunday, June 27, 2021 10:44 PM

Got that one recently in the mail.

Also got Terry Dowling's 3 volume Complete Rynosseros in the mail today and it looks fantastic.

https://www.vox.com/the-highlight/22543858/isabel-fall-attack-helicopter

I do wish this essay held certain people’s feet to the fire—I feel like some folks have gotten off super-easy re: this nightmare and that frustrates the hell out of me. But I am glad to hear Isabel’s own words.

— Carmen Maria Machado 👻 (@carmenmmachado) June 30, 2021

Meaning Jemisin and Yang and probably others who talk a good deal about bullying and gatekeeping yet act the very same way

That's an upsetting read. Curious about this distinction between paranoid and reparative readings; just from the description in the article they seem to me kind of two sides of the same coin of wanting fiction to be socially empowering on some level, just with a glass half empty/glass half full perspective change?

yeah i did not know about that whole affair and it's damn dispiriting

i changed phones a couple of months ago and still haven't reinstalled twitter on my new one and probably never will tbh

The ludicrous thing about that whole shitshow was that the story was printed in Clarkesworld, which is one of (if not THE) most respected short fiction publishers in the SF world. The idea that Neil Clarke would have been taken in by some bad actor is nonsensical, and anyone who convinced themselves it was the case (and then felt the need to pontificate about it on Twitter) needs to take a long hard look at themselves. Not that I'd actually say this on Twitter itself, as the place is a haven for bullies and careerists and who needs to stick their head above that particular parapet?

The other ludicrous thing about it is the very idea that a transphobic crypto-fascist would choose to express their transphobia through a complex, challenging SF short story. Right-wing memes are one-liners for a reason.

This is all terribly sad to read about. That poor woman.

I think it was "rumoured" to be a Sad/Rabid Puppy type. Then again none of those people can write for toffee, so it was probably one of those rumours that generates itself organically during histrionic tweetstorms.

Some apologies are coming in but so far they've been bad

https://t.co/B4mWRiA74u pic.twitter.com/ljtmO6Il1t

— Tweet Y'Self Fitter (@WokeSexPest) July 1, 2021

But I'm glad more people are taking a stand about this and against the idea that writers are responsible for the worst reactions readers can have.

I think this is possibly of more consequence than any of the puppygate stuff because there's surely going to be a lot more discomfort and writers looking askance at each other at conventions.

The number of people shocked and appalled at what happened to Isabel Fall while implying that they reserve the right to do the same to any author whom they perceive as less vulnerable or marginalized is a sight to behold.

— Nick Disband the Police Mamatas 🤼‍♂️🏴 (@NMamatas) July 2, 2021

https://www.tor.com/2021/06/29/the-history-and-politics-of-wuxia/

Really great article, mostly focuses on a few examples. I wonder if Ng will write her own wuxia.

Fun interview
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Um_2Vf2BAE

Leonora Carrington - The Debutante And Other Stories

Was quite pleased and surprised to find that Carrington, Leonor Fini and Remedios Varo have written as well as painted. I found this okay, the things I liked best were what reminded me of her paintings, unusual looking characters, some images crowded with strange details. The stories are funny sometimes, there's a nice disregard for convention but much of it didn't stick for me or make any lasting impression. I wish they had the thicker atmosphere of her paintings.

I'll read Hearing Trumpet someday and Stone Door if I can find it.

Forgot to mention one of the stories has something just like garmonbozia from Twin Peaks

Fun, this is really stuffed full
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gbr_TstnNeM

Started watching Counterpart, as mentioned on this thread and on I come in peace... three times a night -- FOR ALL MANKIND (Apple TV Plus) by VG and others. Seems to be just what the doctor ordered.

read two of the three 'imperium' books by keith laumer -- alternate history, via the multiverse, from the 60s

they're garbage, but i guess i was briefly in the mood for that

A corollary of Clarke's famous law is that any SF novel featuring sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magical realism. That certainly applies to Hannu Rajaniemi's The Quantum Thief, not that it wasn't enjoyable. If I have any gripes it's that the number of terms and concepts that are introduced but not explained till the third or fourth time they're used, and the structure of parallel narrators with flashback interludes, means that it's only every going to make complete sense, if at all, on a re-read. I'll probably never do that, but I will read the sequels.

giving starfish by peter watts a try. ok so far. any thoughts on his stuff?

i read that hannu rajaniemi series last winter -- about all i can remember is that i liked it but was not convinced that it actually made sense. so, cosign

feel like peter watts has been discussed, perhaps on previous threads? among the hardest of scifis, iirc. i've only read blindsight, which was weird and good but had one kind of outlandish plot point that i don't think was strictly necessary

Yeah, people loved Blindsight, which I never could quite get into.

Don’t know if I should have added /pvmic to that, figured mookie would if need be.

Also started and couldn't get into Blindsight

Tried another one or two as well, but I couldn’t quite get into his style.

The Freeze-Frame Revolution

among the hardest of scifis, iirc plus vampires

Yes, exactly

yeah, that was the outlandishness

William Beckford - Vathek

Like Walpole's Otranto, this is nothing like what I expected and it sits even more oddly as a foundational gothic novel. It's wild and comedic more often than gloomy. One of the main characters is kicked around like a soccer ball by a crowd of people at one point, Vathek can kill people with an angry stare, he and his mother Carathis drive people to death and misery everywhere they go.

The style is odd, most of the time everything is moving so quickly across different locations that you rarely get a clear image of any place and it has the odd effect of everything seeming to blend together, places that are miles away somehow almost overlap. I was a little disappointed that we didn't get clearer and richer visions of all the extravagant places, but it is at its best when it refuses to settle anywhere for long.

Although the punishment in hell is one of the best parts of the book, the comeuppance seemed to me like a cop-out or compromise, I think Vathek and Carathis should have kept destroying everything around them, undaunted by hell. Beckford didn't use his own name on the first publication but I wonder if this was some case of ass covering?

I can't say exactly what else gave me problems (I went in knowing this is really racist, Beckford inherited his father's slave plantation), maybe the slower parts, maybe the travelling back and forth gets tiring, maybe it needed a bit more variety. There's a lot of parts I glazed over and just wouldn't sink in. I would have liked more of Carathis's formidable camel.

I read this in preparation for reading Clark Ashton Smith's sequel and it's clear how big an influence Vathek was on him, although there's some huge differences in style.

Definitely worth reading at least once for the chaos, extravagance and silliness.

_among the hardest of scifis, iirc_ plus vampires

finished the peter watts and did not like it. he seems like a creep.

Why?

the book seems to revel to an unnecessary degree in repulsive characters (pedophiles, misogynists, etc.). felt like tarantino without a sense of humour at times.

the best bits reminded me of annihalation, and the premise was great

That's odd because he's really funny in interviews

Oh hi, I created this thread for centralized convenience:
COUNTERPART: Alternate History w/ Creepy Cold War Vibe

blackfish city, sam j. miller: cool vibe and some nice images but doesn't really hold together and a lot of things are glossed over. (ah, nanites.) overall kind of meh, imo

author is a community organizer in NYC and fucking *hates* landlords, though -- i will definitely give him that

lol i just saw a book referred to as cli-fi

(i am probably years late on this but still)

Hate that term even more than hopepunk

This year's purchases so far

Albert Power - Azerbaijan Tales
Ilana C Meyer - Last Song Before Night
Brian Stableford - The Blind Worm
Gretchen Felker-Martin - Ego Homini Lupus
James Worrad - The Scalpel
Jennifer Giesbrecht - The Monster of Elendhaven
Rjurik Davidson - Unwrapped Sky
Cassandra Khaw - Hammers On Bone
Yeatts & Phillips (ed) - Nasty: Fetish Fights Back (mostly SFF authors)
Seth Dickinson - The Traitor
Susann Cokal - Mermaid Moon
SP Somtow - Starship & Haiku
SP Somtow - Jasmine Nights
Jeffrey E Barlough - Dark Sleeper
PC Hodgell - The Godstalker Chronicles
Ricardo Pinto - The Masters
Lianyu Tan - Captive In The Underworld
Sterling E Lanier - Hiero Desteen
Fitzpatrick (ed) -Salacious Tales
Lilith Lorraine - Time Grows Thin
Silvia Moreno-Garcia - Return Of The Sorceress
Richard Grant - Saraband Of Lost Time
Bullington & Tanzer (ed) - Swords V Cthulhu

rabbits, terry miles: there is a vast conspiracy underlying reality, if you can believe it. it takes the form of a game in which one follows discrepancies -- suddenly everyone is calling sandy kaufax the yankees' greatest-ever pitcher, but you're pretty sure he actually played for the dodgers? -- and clues toward some never-quite-defined goal. but now the game -- and maybe reality? -- is falling apart!

this was silly and didn't really make sense and no story of this sort can possibly end adequately, but i enjoyed it as a summer beach thriller type of thing. fast-paced and decently written on a sentence level for a first-timer

not unlike ian banks' the business -- another 'vast conspiracy' novel -- this book likes to namedrop musical artists/songs. neither author is anywhere near as cool as he'd like to think, but those bits were at least better deployed here than in 'the business', which sucked

Did you ever read the Lewis Shiner novel about great unfinished rock albums? Also not as cool as it wanted to be but memorable

hmm, i will check it out. thanks!

surely we need a novel in which the plot is presaged by fall lyrics

blackfish city, sam j. miller

― mookieproof, Sunday, August 1, 2021 10:56 PM

I was interested because someone said it has really cool animal stuff. Somebody riding a dolphin or polar bear or something?

surely we need a novel in which the plot is presaged by fall lyrics

An archive of an acclaimed radio show
https://archive.org/details/MindWebs_201410/026Test-TheodoreThomas_and_theNineBillionNamesOfGod-ArthurC.Clarke.wav

Ooh, Best Of Greg Egan is on there now, don't have to bother with the expensive hardcover edition now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SF_Masterworks#Softcover_editions_(2010%E2%80%93present)