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Relatedly, this is unironically the one of the best SF covers I've ever seen.
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Mar 9, 2014 22:19
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Yes, that's a fantastic minimalist cover, but... what type of book is it? WHAT ERA OF CLASSIC????
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Mar 9, 2014 22:21
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I like the cover for the US edition of The City and the City. It's a bit abstract, evocative of the theme once you get what that is, but not garish, stupid or spoilery.
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Mar 9, 2014 22:44
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I kind of want to buy that edition now just for the cover. A recent cover design I really like is for 1984 by George Orwell. It's the edition Penguin published for Banned Books week:  Here's a cool thread-related minimalist cover: the Bulgarian cover for The City & the City 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 23:29 on Mar 9, 2014 |
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Mar 9, 2014 23:26
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That Bulgarian cover is amazing.
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Mar 10, 2014 02:24
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Her body was a city I just couldn't let go of, streets and alleys, glass highrises and hot dog vendors, the smells making me hungry... for love...
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Mar 10, 2014 08:59
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John Charity Spring posted:One note about the Embassytown posts: 'Pharotekton' is also mentioned as Christ Pharotekton, and the Church of Christ Pharotekton seems to be one of the main versions of Christianity in Mieville's future. It's an adaptation of existing religion rather than something made up out of whole cloth or a joke. That's not how I saw it. "Pharaoh" means "great house" and "tekton" mean "builder". They have all kinds of constructs scattered throughout the universe that literally predate the universe. When you are religious and encounter something like that you can either say, "Yeah, but that doesn't exist/isn't real!" or figure out a way to incorporate that into the current belief system. We're unlikely to see the former and I imagine floakers would gravitate towards the latter, if they were raised religious and wanted to keep that in place. I thought it was a nod to the Church of Jesus Christ, Cosmonaut from the whatchamafuckit series, the one by Arthur C Clark and Dickbag with the space station. Edit: I get the criticism of his prose, but to me it is just sort of a Brechtian response to Tolkein's "Epic Pooh". You'll note that is also where he is at his most flowery. He did a striking Dashiell Hammett impersonation for The City & The City. Prose is one of the tools he uses and I really think he uses it well. Edit 2: I mean, compare Kraken with Bas Lag. The latter is his rebuttal to "Tolkein is a fascist, I write Communist fantasy" while the former is "Harry Potter is Booj as gently caress and hosed up! Here is a similarly accessible story for children without that poo poo!". Note also within Kraken that while it is undeniably a fantasy setting, the reader is primed to be in awe of the natural world first and the supernatural world second. Death of the author all you want, but China Mieville is no fun to read if the author is dead. He's alive and he is actively telling you something. And I like that political manifesto-as-novel approach. Shbobdb fucked around with this message at 06:37 on Mar 11, 2014 |
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Mar 11, 2014 06:18
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Shbobdb posted:That's not how I saw it. "Pharaoh" means "great house" and "tekton" mean "builder". They have all kinds of constructs scattered throughout the universe that literally predate the universe. When you are religious and encounter something like that you can either say, "Yeah, but that doesn't exist/isn't real!" or figure out a way to incorporate that into the current belief system. We're unlikely to see the former and I imagine floakers would gravitate towards the latter, if they were raised religious and wanted to keep that in place. I thought it was a nod to the Church of Jesus Christ, Cosmonaut from the whatchamafuckit series, the one by Arthur C Clark and Dickbag with the space station. I don't think you're actually disagreeing with what I posted at all - that's pretty much what I meant. One thing, though - the 'pharos' refers to the fact that the immer-markers are used as 'lighthouses', it's not derived from Pharaoh.
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Mar 11, 2014 10:40
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If you enjoyed seeing all the international PSS covers, check out the ones for The Scar.
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Mar 11, 2014 10:40
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John Charity Spring posted:I don't think you're actually disagreeing with what I posted at all - that's pretty much what I meant. D'oh, I knew that. What I get for drunkposting and half-remembering. Thanks for the correction.
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Mar 11, 2014 18:38
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I'm still reviewing Dial H issue by issue. Hooray for finding something to do to make the inter-Miéville-publication wait bearable  Issue 3: http://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2014/03/14/dial-h-review-3-come-here-i-need-you/ Issue 4: http://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2014/03/19/dial-h-review-4-into-you/ spooiiiilers
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Mar 19, 2014 07:11
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Hedrigall posted:I'm still reviewing Dial H issue by issue. Hooray for finding something to do to make the inter-Miéville-publication wait bearable Issue 13 of Dial H is one of my favorite comics ever. Can't wait til you get to it.
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Mar 19, 2014 19:14
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Hedrigall posted:I'm still reviewing Dial H issue by issue. Hooray for finding something to do to make the inter-Miéville-publication wait bearable So the Dial H is no longer, right? I have the 2 Dial H comic collections, and if I understand correctly there will be no more? Too bad, since I'm a sucker for Mievilles works. As for the series, the story line was not revolutionary, what made it stand out was his crazy heroes.
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Mar 20, 2014 15:19
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http://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2014/03/31/bas-lag-illustrations-and-maps-by-china-mieville-in-this-wfc2013-souvenir-book/ I'm going to cry now. EDIT: see two posts down. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 08:43 on May 14, 2014 |
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Mar 31, 2014 03:50
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In happier news, a fellow blogger sent me a copy of Miéville's Apology Chapbook from the World Fantasy Convention, and I've written a blog post about the book and its contents here: http://outtherebooks.wordpress.com/2014/04/01/the-mieville-rarities-the-apology-chapbook-featuring-the-9th-technique/
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Apr 1, 2014 11:51
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Oh god I hope this thread doesn't die. Going on 2 years since the last book  Anyway, I hope you all like official maps of Bas-Lag drawn by China Miéville, because I sure do. 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 08:46 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 08:35
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Awesome. And that drawing of an inchman is properly horrible (though the vodyanoi is hilarious).
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May 14, 2014 09:10
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The people demand more books.
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May 14, 2014 16:31
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I spent way too long on this tonight.
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 17:12 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 16:38
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That's brilliant! I wasn't expecting to ever see it, given how rare the copies of it were. Congrats on getting your hands on it, and thanks for sharing it with us. I've been trying to work my way through China Mieville's books as slowly as I can to savour each one, then I totally blew it recently with Embassytown, which I couldn't help devouring in a couple of sittings. It's just so good! Language is wonderful and I loved how integral it felt to the entire story and world: it felt like a sci-fi creation but a wholly imagined world that Mieville had tapped. I think that's my favorite thing about his writing; these worlds he makes like living places despite utterly weird. The plot of Embassytown is significantly more straightforward than the other Mieville books I've read so far, which nice. I think it'd make an excellent film, if done right: it's so visual, and all the detail of the Hosts, Language and the world largely happens through actions, rather than exposition. The Supreme Court fucked around with this message at 16:58 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 16:54
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Hedrigall posted:I spent way too long on this tonight. Yeah, well done mate. I'll use this to refer to when reading the Bas-Lag books again.
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May 14, 2014 17:24
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Glad you like it  Actually here's an updated version.  I'll be adding terrain and rivers and stuff to it soon 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 17:52 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 17:44
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Hedrigall posted:Oh god I hope this thread doesn't die. Going on 2 years since the last book Hey, awesome! Thank you for seeking this out, getting the permissions, etc, and for the clean map you created/are creating below.
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May 14, 2014 18:26
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I'm thinking about picking up Mieville because I'm increasingly exhausted with gibbering right-wingers taking up all the space on the SF&F shelf. I'm looking at you Baen publishing. Should I start with Perdido Street Station?
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May 14, 2014 18:41
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ZorajitZorajit posted:I'm thinking about picking up Mieville because I'm increasingly exhausted with gibbering right-wingers taking up all the space on the SF&F shelf. I'm looking at you Baen publishing. Should I start with Perdido Street Station? Yes.
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May 14, 2014 18:44
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ZorajitZorajit posted:I'm thinking about picking up Mieville because I'm increasingly exhausted with gibbering right-wingers taking up all the space on the SF&F shelf. I'm looking at you Baen publishing. Should I start with Perdido Street Station? Sure, go for it. They're pretty independent in terms of storylines. Perdido Street Station was my first Mieville book and I hold it in very high regard.
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May 14, 2014 18:48
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Wow, thanks for both going through the trouble to get permission and putting the map in to a more legible form!The Supreme Court posted:I've been trying to work my way through China Mieville's books as slowly as I can to savour each one, then I totally blew it recently with Embassytown, which I couldn't help devouring in a couple of sittings. It's just so good! Language is wonderful and I loved how integral it felt to the entire story and world: it felt like a sci-fi creation but a wholly imagined world that Mieville had tapped. I think that's my favorite thing about his writing; these worlds he makes like living places despite utterly weird. The plot of Embassytown is significantly more straightforward than the other Mieville books I've read so far, which nice. I didn't want to bump the thread just to post this, but a little while back I stumbled across a little group called The Bookshop Band who have a couple Embassytown-inspired songs on one of their albums: http://thebookshopband.bandcamp.com/album/and-other-dystopias They're quite pretty.
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May 14, 2014 18:54
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The Supreme Court posted:That's brilliant! I wasn't expecting to ever see it, given how rare the copies of it were. Congrats on getting your hands on it, and thanks for sharing it with us. You think so? I feel like Embassytown is, if anything, the most heavily embedded into the written word of all of Miéville's works. It's very deliberately written with a vocabulary that starts off as alienating and gradually becomes less so as you understand the world. I think Un Lun Dun and Railsea would make great adventure movies, though.
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May 14, 2014 19:31
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I don't really understand the comments regarding the Bas Lag map, i gather there is a problem with maps in fantasy novels?
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May 14, 2014 19:46
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BigSkillet posted:I didn't want to bump the thread just to post this, but a little while back I stumbled across a little group called The Bookshop Band who have a couple Embassytown-inspired songs on one of their albums: http://thebookshopband.bandcamp.com/album/and-other-dystopias They're quite pretty. I quite like these! Also great work with the map, Hedrigall. That rules.
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May 14, 2014 21:33
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Hedrigall posted:Glad you like it Rad. Gonna get up on that vadaunk-adonk.
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May 14, 2014 22:06
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ZorajitZorajit posted:I'm thinking about picking up Mieville because I'm increasingly exhausted with gibbering right-wingers taking up all the space on the SF&F shelf. I'm looking at you Baen publishing. Should I start with Perdido Street Station? While I think Embassytown is Miéville's best book I just loving love New Crobuzon. Go ahead with Perdido Street Station and if you enjoy it do the rest of Bas Lag. MeLKoR fucked around with this message at 23:04 on May 14, 2014 |
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May 14, 2014 22:57
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Personally I'd recommend The Scar as a starting point. It's the first Miéville I read, and you don't need to know too much from PSS to read it. Pretty much all you need is explained in the text. Hey, let's compare the size of Rohagi with our own world: 
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May 15, 2014 03:28
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^^Why don't you have a cactus-guy avatar?Oasx posted:I don't really understand the comments regarding the Bas Lag map, i gather there is a problem with maps in fantasy novels? Terry Pratchett at least argues (argued? does he still make this claim?) that maps stunt the imagination of the reader in the same way that pictures of characters of scenes or characters do.
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May 15, 2014 04:03
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Grand Prize Winner posted:^^Why don't you have a cactus-guy avatar? Because Grunt  Grand Prize Winner posted:Terry Pratchett at least argues (argued? does he still make this claim?) that maps stunt the imagination of the reader in the same way that pictures of characters of scenes or characters do. Yeah but... maps and artwork are awesome. 
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May 15, 2014 04:04
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Hedrigall posted:Yeah but... maps and artwork are awesome. Absolutely, how'd you do those ones, I'd love to use the same thing for the things I'm writing!
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May 15, 2014 04:55
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I did them in photoshop with pretty much just the polygonal lasso and bucket tools. Later on I used some brush effects to do mountains, as below: Aaaand I think I'm done. I can't waste time on this forever.
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May 15, 2014 05:05
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ZorajitZorajit posted:I'm thinking about picking up Mieville because I'm increasingly exhausted with gibbering right-wingers taking up all the space on the SF&F shelf. I'm looking at you Baen publishing. Should I start with Perdido Street Station? You should read Mieville, since he is a great author despite being a communist. The Scar or Perdido Street Station are the good ones to start with. The Bas-Lag series that they are a part of is actually only 3 books, and is only a small portion of his work.
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May 15, 2014 07:42
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TG-Chrono posted:Absolutely, how'd you do those ones, I'd love to use the same thing for the things I'm writing! There's also a whole subset of nerds on the internet that get really into this; there's preset brushes and icon packs and everything: http://www.cartographersguild.com/content/
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May 15, 2014 07:47
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Cardiac posted:You should read Mieville, since he is a great author despite being a communist. Actually part of why he's a great author is because he's a communist
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May 15, 2014 09:32
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