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

Alastair Reynolds was on radio 4 this morning after the 08:10 interview talking about the new Dune film.

... that he hasn't seen yet.

All the better to allow him to have an unbiased response.

i saw footage from the leicester square thing earlier this week (er, yesterday)

but yes, most of it was background - the book, the previous film and mini-series.

Enjoyed this oral history of the Marvel comics adaptation of the Lynch movie:

https://www.tcj.com/marvel-comics-1984-dune-movie-adaptation-an-oral-history/

Forgot about that! Lots of infotaining discussions here though: DUNE: c/d and of course some threads on ILE, my fave being the one about Jodorowsky's Dune, w artwork I hope is still on there.

I just finished my latest self-prescribed 1 story-per-night bedtime reading, the aforementioned Best From Fantasy and Science Fiction, Twelfth Series, (Avram Davidson ed., Doubleday, 1963): xpost "My Dear Emily" still the winner, but also James Blish's "Who's In Charge Here?" has the pre-Steely Dan Effect via withheld information x streetscape characters, Ron Goulart's "Please Stand By," Will Stanton's "The Gum Drop King," and Sasha Gilien's "Two's A Crowd" tight and bright w the wit, and undercurrents too, v. pleasing to middle-school minds, as recalled.
(Now I see that RG's investigation of a were-elephant on national holidays also incl. a couple known for paintings of "bug-eyed children" (as in Any Adams' fact-based Big Eyes(2014) and they've both taken the name Eando, from their initials (Eando Binder is a good olde science fiction pseudonym :https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/binder_eando). Stanton's shortie is kinda poignant, Gillien's kinda scary. Ditto deft ending of "Hop-Friend," by 24-yr.-old Terry Carr, otherwise known to my only as editor of the good old Universe series of anths.
(Vance Aaandahl, author of striking-to-ok "When Lilacs Last In The Dooryard Bloomed," was 19, and already had several stories published---SFE says he's done 30 in all, but never collected them.)
Edgar Pangborn's "Davy" kicks off a series about a somewhut twisted postnuclear "frontier" America, kind of an ancestor to Robinson's The Wild Shore, with the narrator being a bond servant who gets around, a pubescent Huck Finn, with even more ethical conundrums, incl. those resulting from conditioning and maybe nature (raised for instance to kill a "mue," a mutant, on sight, but also what id he himself is a brain mue, seemingly normal, 'til his true nature comes out.)
"A Kind of Artistry," by Aldiss, is like a Clarke story I read with mission to a convincingly developed situation in space, plus situation behind the assignment, but then spoiled by sour notes of misogyny and trick ending, like some others in here.
JG Ballard's "The Garden of Time" is a bit sentimental, unique in my non-expert knowledge of his work, but he earns it here.
A few other offerings are meh or a littlw worse.

Don’t know where to put this so:
https://roulette.org/event/scott-robinsons-higher-powers-a-richard-m-powers-centennial-concert/

finally found a copy of Mary Staton’s from the legend of biel. Had been looking for it ever since seeing it on this list which I think was linked to itt: https://lithub.com/10-great-reads-from-the-feminist-lesbian-sci-fi-boom-of-the-1970s

But the ultimate test was if we’d read From the Legend of Biel. It is an odd, obscure, not easily (or ever) understood novel that resonated with all of us hardcore fans. If there was a copy on your shelf, you were automatically way cool. I hope that still works.

Great list---where did you find Staton's book?!

this place in fullerton, California: https://hobrf.com/

Ah cool, thanks.

Sounds a little disappointing but I'd still like to check it out
https://thebedlamfiles.com/fiction/hellstroms-hive/

Project Hail Mary was probably the daftest 'hard' sf I've read, but quite fun. I can see how the endless 'problem! problem solved!' story style might work better in a slightly more realistic setting but I won't be rushing to read the martian as I don't think I can take a few more hundred pages of that narrator. (Though I understand the martian narrator is much swearier, this one limits himself to 'gosh darn' and 'dang' which is quite tiresome but i did lol (in a wtf sort of way) when someone follows another 'gosh darn it' with 'language!') Something very pollyanna and mary-sue (are there no derogatory terms for male protagonists?) about the belief, and its vindication in the story, that every problem can be solved with a little bit of thinking.

It's pretty handy how he manages to learn the language of a species with a completely different sensory modality with just a vocab primer, no worries about grammar, and he learns perfect pitch into the bargain. Lem would be spinning in his grave. And I'm not entirely clear how a species with apparently no knowledge of electromagnetic waves managed to detect the astrophages or navigate to another star. And one more thing... how did the taumoebi who burrowed into the xenonite then breed so that their adaptation could proliferate?

(on the plus side, you were worried about the size and yet it took you a week)

yeah, in the martian he was only ever talking to himself and all the problems were ones of survival and rooted in physics - "what if i take this laptop outside?" "how long can i live eating only potatoes?"

Something very pollyanna and mary-sue (are there no derogatory terms for male protagonists?)

― namaste darkness my old friend (ledge), Monday, October 25, 2021 9:17 AM

Gary Stu is the male equivalent that people use but I think there should be a better one. It mostly gets used for Wil Wheaton's character in Star Trek

Horace Walpole - The Castle Of Otranto

just started this (is ~90 pages and it's approaching hallowe'en and it was mentioned here recently, oh, by R.A.G.) except... it's not the gothic horror i had it pegged as, the castle is more like the setting of a fairy tale - young prince gets killed by [thing], evil king sees [thing], young princess escapes by [action]... (am at end of chapter 1, things might change, but the only creepy thing so far is the father's change of marriage plans)

I can see how the endless 'problem! problem solved!' story style might work better in a slightly more realistic setting but I won't be rushing to read the martian as I don't think I can take a few more hundred pages of that narrator.

the martian is much better for that reason, and it's also shorter. not saying you should prioritize it, but it's a fun few hours if you're stuck in a reading rut.

https://www.wordcraftoforegon.com/misha_redspiderwhiteweb.html

Wish I could get this but it only mails to american buyers

are you in the uk? can't promise it will be quick at this time of year i can forward if you can cover my costs by transfer to my old uk bank account.

I am but I've bought too much stuff recently. Thanks for the offer though

sure. let me know if you change your mind. i have to mail stuff to the uk every few weeks anyway so no bother.

Thankyou. I will keep it in mind

spent a month reading ada palmer's 'terra ignota' series

the only person to whom i could fully recommend it without caveats is our beloved max read, who loves political economy

nevertheless i really liked it

I am two thirds of the way into Shadow of the Torturer and I am suddenly VERY CONFUSED

I'm really eager for Palmer's series. She gives really great interviews and I like her so much it will be a big comedown if I don't like her books.

(The Martian on film4 at 18:15 tonight btw)

Jack Vance - Tales Of The Dying Earth

I had a Gollancz edition but some of the first printing had the text sinking towards the spine and made it difficult to read, so I bought the Orb edition, which has a spaceship which really poorly sells the contents, there are flying ships and space travel but no spaceships like this, a completely different aesthetic. This series is far more fantasy than science fiction.
Note that the first 3 novels have different titles in Vance's preferred Spatterlight editions.

The Dying Earth is made of loosely connected stories (this was a minor controversy when it came to awards categorization) following different characters who sometimes appear in each other's stories. It establishes an atmosphere for the series nicely and there's some beautiful scenery but I'll never understand why some people like this book best from the series or even from Vance's entire oeuvre. I wasn't immediately aware that this book was supposed to be be funny. Liane The Wayfarer is the best character.

The Eyes Of The Overworld makes an important shift in the series: the comedy is increased, the destination becomes less important than the journey, typical action/adventure is dialed down in favor of farce and now we have main characters we follow all the way. Cugel seems like a recycled but less sinister version of Liane, much of the comedy comes from his regular displays of outrage as he dishonestly tries to paint himself as the victim of wrongdoing in any situation he tries to take advantage of.

I thought Cugel's Saga retconned a bit of the previous novel's ending, it's the longest book in the series and by the end of it I was glad for a new bunch of characters in Rhialto The Marvellous. There's a scene in one of the earlier novels with wizards showing off to each other and I was happy that this has more of that; it's about a pompous group of wizards who are prone to backstabbing each other and the dialogue is more flamboyant than ever. It's even more questionable for the classification of novel than the first book, this is a collection of three stories and one is much longer than the other two.

I've got mixed feelings about the series, it did make me a Vance fan and I plan to read many more of his books but I found this really uneven at times, I lost interest in a lot of the situations eventually; the imagery is sometimes really lush but often uses generic fantasy imagery and there's too many gaping voids through lack of description, many of the creatures are left completely blank. Later on there's quite a lot of made up words that I didn't get the gist of. The spell names are wonderful, I love the long dialogue exchanges and the idea that one of the wizards has disturbingly expressive feet. All in all I don't think I can give it less than 4 stars.
I think Eyes Of The Overworld is probably the best of them but I maybe liked Rhialto The Marvellous just as much because it increased most of the best qualities of the series and Vance excels with arrogant characters.

After reading other reviews I'm amazed that some people don't seem to realize that Cugel, Rhialto and friends are supposed to be very unpleasant people.

The modern reader has a ton of trouble with the concept of the asshole protagonist

Dying Earth is not my favorite Vance (Vance is possibly my favorite writer) but I do love it and it will always loom large as the place where he staked out his territory and the secret soul of much early D&D

read 'the moon moth & other stories' by him gradually over the past year or two and thought they were great

“The New Moth” itself and “The New Prime” are both grebt. Been meaning to read the rest but, um, well…

Jon- which Dying Earth book do you think is the best? I think Rhialto The Marvellous is really underrated and it might have been the best if the overall shape of the stories was more satisfying. Eyes Of The Overworld is better structured and Cugel is probably the favorite character, so ultimately it wins.

I love it in the 3rd book when Cugel says "you may remove my shoes"

Probably Cugel’s Saga but in a very me type move I still haven’t read Rhialto! I’ve been “saving it for the right time” for about twenty years

http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/nonfiction/dlnw.htm

Speaking again ov xpost David Lindsay, here's a new post by Tolkien etc scholar Douglas A. Anderson:

Of the small number of books ever written on David Lindsay (1876-1945), author of A Voyage to Arcturus (1920), I wrote about the first one in Wormwood no. 36 (Spring 2021), "David Lindsay: The Forging of a Literary Reputation." This covers the multi-authored volume The Strange Genius of David Lindsay (1970), by Colin Wilson, E.H. Visiak and J.B. Pick.
The next important appraisal of Lindsay came out in 1981, The Life & Works of David Lindsay (Cambridge University Press), by Bernard Sellin, translated from the French by Kenneth Gunnell. This was a reworking of Sellin's thesis at the Sorbonne, David Lindsay (1878 [sic]-1945): sa vie, son oeuvre (1977). I learned of Sellin's book via a review by Humphrey Carpenter in the TLS of 19 June 1981. I was then in regular correspondence with Humphrey, and mentioned my interest in Lindsay in my next letter to him. By transatlantic return mail, came his review copy of the book (with a short presentation inscription, "Doug-- hope it's of interest! Humphrey"), and I was very grateful. If not the foundation of my forty-plus years of David Lindsay obsession, it was certainly a milestone, a bedrock book with lots of new information on Lindsay's life (and a rare photograph of Lindsay on the dust-wrapper), and an extensive analysis of his writings. In 1981, the book was priced £17.50, which seemed exorbitant, but it quickly went out of print and became a sought-after item in the rare books trade. Finally, in February 2007, a print-on-demand trade paperback facsimile (also priced high at £25.99) was made available.

I had some contact with Professor Sellin, beginning in 2005, when he had heard about the publication of Lindsay's "A Christmas Play" in my anthology Tales Before Tolkien* (2003), and wrote to me asking for details. We swapped books and articles over the next few months. Sadly, I just learned that he passed away in August of this year, so I post this as a small memorial to him for his work on Lindsay.
Posted by Douglas A. Andersonat 1:00 AM
graphics etc.:http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2021/11/bernard-sellin-and-david-lindsay.html
*excellent anthology!

Also:
Wormwood 37 has just been announced. This issue includes:

John Howard on the many dimensions of Fritz Leiber

Tom Sparrow on Henry Mercer, author of antiquarian ghost stories

Oliver Kerkdijk on Dutch fantasist Henri van Booven

Colin Insole on the modern ghost stories of Robert Westall

Adrian Eckerseley with a new view of Machen’s The Hill of Dreams

Mark Valentine on the figure of Arthur in the 1970s

In our review columns, Reggie Oliver discusses books where the past haunts the present, and John Howard looks at books with settings ranging from Atlantis to Zurich.
More info, links: http://wormwoodiana.blogspot.com/2021/11/wormwood-37.html

Just now noticed that local library has Cixin Liu's (The adults are dying. In one year, the children will be all that's left of humanity. And so begins the...) Supernova Era, translated by Joel Martinsen, who did the same for CL's Dark Forest---are they good??

I've read the trilogy and even at 500+ pages each they had almost too many ideas in them. maybe in the standalone novels he'll have calmed down and investigate a single idea more.

anyway, 1st December which means another Amazon (uk) kindle monthly deal list to wade through and this month's scifi list seems to be full of bangers. easily about a dozen things I'd buy if i didn't already have copies (and probably 5 i will buy / rebuy digital copies of)

specifically:

Neuromancer
Revelation Space
Wool
The Dispossessed
Rendezvous With Rama
The Forever War
Roadside Picnic
Doomsday Book
Inverted World
A Scanner Darkly
Mockingbird
and all the short afro futurism things i mentioned previously.

Doomsday Book and Mockingbird are Sci Fi Masterworks which i've not read. anyone?

Half of Doomsday book involves a time traveller struggling to survive during the black death and is quite moving, half of it is a farce set in a (not very) futuristic Oxford and is absolutely dreadful. If you want a taste of her style and her strange obsession with 'mufflers' try this, set in the same universe as Doomsday Book: http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/firewatch.htm

i've just seem how long that book is and am no longer interested 8)

ledge deeply otm

I'm halfway through Termination Shock and I've gotta say, so far it's mostly what I want from Neal Stephenson... in the vein of Cryptonomicon or the first half of Seveneves, a nerdy fun propulsive story with the dumb libertarian bullshit kept to reasonable levels.

Lavie Tidhar and Silvia Moreno-Garcia's choices
https://www.washingtonpost.com/arts-entertainment/2021/11/18/best-science-fiction-fantasy-horror-novels/

A whole load of people, but as you might expect, Tor's own books often get a lot of attention
https://www.tor.com/2021/12/07/tor-com-reviewers-choice-the-best-books-of-2021/

http://chomupress.com/uncategorized/farewell-from-and-to-chomu-press/

Not all of their books are still available (Cisco, Tem and Pulver), but they're all gone in two months. I bought 14.

Khlopenko & Hofer (ed) Best Of Three Crows: Year One

This magazine seems open to most kinds of speculative fiction, leaning darker than most that aren't exclusively horror magazines. I recently saw Khlopenko on social media complaining about the seeming non-existence of truly experimental speculative fiction these days, so I guess he wants submissions like that.
Every story had something of interest, some were pretty strong, but a few felt underdeveloped or like a chapter from a longer story.

Anna Smith Spark's "Stones" is the most satisfying, she has a knack for writing miserable old men. A selkie story.

Gerard Mullan's "The Necromancer's Garden" is a comeuppance story and I've seen too many of those (probably from so many horror comics and martial arts films) but I liked the style, it's like a goth tinged pre-raphaelite aesthetic. This seems to be Mullan's only story and I hope he gets more published.

One story is missing from the table of contents, but it is in the book.

I'll probably buy the second annual.

someone just snagged tau zero off me on slsk; felt compelled to tell them that it sucks

I like some Poul Anderson here and there. Don’t really remember liking that one from long ago but tried to read again because I thought maybe there was some cool trippy stuff as they approached the speed of light but I just couldn’t make a dent in it.

Lol the Hugo awards were sponsored by Raytheon this year and Twitter is filled with small time authors of dystopian science fiction taking about how it’s important to acknowledge the shades of gray in the arms trade. pic.twitter.com/jo6wAXXozT

— isi baehr-breen (its pronounced ‘izzy’) (@isaiah_bb) December 19, 2021