The promised FINDER thread

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Okay, I'm officially starting a FINDER thread. Carla Speed McNeil, who writes and draws and publishes it herself, describes it as "aboriginal science fiction," which is a good way of putting it. It's wonderful.

In answer to Jordan's question in "Shipping This Week": There are totally trades available--six so far. I'd say start with "Dream Sequence" (premise: a man whose brain is a very popular VR environment is losing his mind) or "Talisman" (premise: a girl falls in love with a book, loses it, and in the process of trying to find it again becomes a writer herself). There's a particular character who's in all the books, and a lot of shared background, but you don't lose much if you don't read them in order.

The trade collection of "The Rescuers" should be out in a week or two; this one's sort of a crime story, but it's mostly about culture clash.

If your local store doesn't have 'em, you can buy all the trades directly from McNeil at http://www.lightspeedpress.com . She also always sells them at her table at Comic-Con.

― Douglas (Douglas), Friday, 8 July 2005 16:49 (twenty years ago)

Sweet. I'll ask my store if they can get the trades, otherwise I'll have to figure out my PayPal password yet again.

(I'll have to start with the first one btw, I'm a little OCD like that)

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 8 July 2005 17:20 (twenty years ago)

I've read "Talisman," and it is very good, though I had no idea that I could read them out of order. I have the first trade ("Sin Eater"?), but it was kind of dense w/ the words, so I haven't gotten to it yet.

― Leeeeeee (Leee), Saturday, 9 July 2005 05:03 (twenty years ago)

two weeks pass...

Hey it's actually kind of difficult to read the trades because there aren't any chapter/issue breaks. How long are the issues, 24+ pages? Also, CSM's art gets a LOT better after Sin Eater, yes?

― Leeeeeee (Leee), Monday, 25 July 2005 18:06 (twenty years ago)

Maddie bought Talisman at the sto'!

Looking forward to reading it.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 12:39 (twenty years ago)

Art does get a lot better after Sin-Eater, yes. And later volumes do tend to have some kind of at least pause in the action between chapters.

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 13:56 (twenty years ago)

re: chapter breaks

I actually noticed a couple nights ago that there are some signals that an issue has finished, usually a black panel at the end of the action, at least for Sin-Eater 1. I can't remember how it worked in Talisman, though.

I really should scan CSM's sketch of Q&C's Kate getting spanked.

― Leeeeeee (Leee), Wednesday, 27 July 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

I read Talisman last night. It was different than I expected, but great. It put me in a good mood before falling asleep. For some reason I didn't expect the cyberpunk trappings, although they didn't affect the story much anyway. It was also smaller in scope than I had imagined (certainly not a bad thing). I like writers-writing-about-writing too, which helps.

Are the other books centered around these characters or do they bounce around?

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 13:03 (twenty years ago)

This has nothing to do with the Emma Bull book of the same name...?

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

They bounce around. Marcie is a bit player in the first two books; Jaeger, the guy who reads to her early on, is the main character of the first three books and the new one ("The Rescuers"), and makes cameo appearances in "Dream Sequence" and "Mystery Date," too.

(Right: no connection to the Emma Bull book.)

― Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 14:40 (twenty years ago)

Have you read Bone Dance, Jocelyn? It's one of Maddie's favorites (and I like it a lot as well).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 14:45 (twenty years ago)

Yes I have! I seem to remember you or Maddie mentioning it somewhere. But my favorite of hers is War for the Oaks .

― jocelyn (Jocelyn), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 15:05 (twenty years ago)

Hah, I started on Sin-Eater vol. 2 last night after taking a CSM break for a while. The ILC coincidences continue...

― Leeeeeeee (Leee), Wednesday, 3 August 2005 18:15 (twenty years ago)

ILC wins again! As noted above I got Talisman recently, and found myself torn between appreciation for the storytelling and apathy toward the writer-writing-about-writing trope. But I loved the in media res (bet you wish I could italicize things right about now, eh?) plunge into plot and the obviously complex backstories behind the peripheral characters.

So Jordan and I met CSM at Wizard World Chicago yesterday and picked up Sin Eater volumes one and two. I haven't been able to put down volume 1. There's a clear evolution in style by Talisman, but I'm utterly absorbed by this comic. I only wish I'd bought the rest of the trades.

Thank you all for the recommendation; I'm a very happy reader right now.

― Madolan, Sunday, 7 August 2005 01:55 (twenty years ago)

Yep, I've read the first two trades as well now and I'm hooked.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 10 August 2005 13:28 (twenty years ago)

eleven months pass...

OMG! Mystery Date is soooo good.

― c('°c) (Leee), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 03:33 (nineteen years ago)

That one's actually probably my least favorite of the bunch, just because the art isn't quite there yet in some of the early stories... although I do love the bit in which Vary discovers what gratifies her teacher.

Did you get a copy of the new one (Five Crazy Women)?

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 12:27 (nineteen years ago)

I just read Five Crazy Women. I thought it was a little scattered compared to previous trades, but I liked it anyway.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

I can deal with the art in the early chapters (she did them in '98), but the writing is awesome. Dr. Z is awesome times two.

― c('°c) (Leee), Tuesday, 8 August 2006 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

two years pass...

http://www.lightspeedpress.com/ - everything 30% off until end of april! sadly i missed the one-day 50% off sale. on the other hand, i found the two volumes of sin eater for 52% off and 54% off at forbidden planet yesterday, so eh.

― thomp, Sunday, 5 April 2009 19:42 (sixteen years ago)

one year passes...

rereading a bunch of this in the new cheap digest. which has clearly marked issue breaks, for whoever was being ocd about it above

sin eater is really kind of awesome, mcneil's finding her feet art-wise and structure-wise aside. actually, not aside; those things are a part of the appeal, i guess.

― thomp, Thursday, 31 March 2011 13:08 (fourteen years ago)

i mean, you could tell this story 'efficiently' in a quarter of the space -- what's interesting about it is the mad tension engendered from having events happen, happen, continue to happen - flashbacks, side-lines, jaeger going off and doing odd things - while people are living in a state of fear somewhere off-panel.

'off-panel' is pretty key to the whole series, i guess

― thomp, Thursday, 31 March 2011 13:37 (fourteen years ago)

Has anyone read Voice yet?

― muus lääv? :D muus dut :( (Telephone thing), Thursday, 31 March 2011 19:43 (fourteen years ago)

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