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scary ghost dog posted:Wrong In a perfect world Mieville would have the desire and ability to put out atleast one Bas-lag book a year, but if he doesn't have that then I would rather not have a subpar book.
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Mar 31, 2021 21:25
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Embassytown is my absolute favourite. Possibly because I am a delicate flower and really don't deal well with the ending of PSS. pseudanonymous posted:A puissant post that might cause a ruction with ersatz outrage violating the lassitudinous bathos the palimpsestic thread usually exhibits, it rather chivvies the bonce in it's lack of elasticity in accepting the alterity of posting about Mieville's sesquipedalian tendencies. This post drools clots of accreted brute pugnacity.
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Apr 1, 2021 00:31
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Tree Bucket posted:Embassytown is my absolute favourite. Possibly because I am a delicate flower and really don't deal well with the ending of PSS. I think my favorite Kraken: An Anatomy Tree Bucket posted:This post drools clots of accreted brute pugnacity. Nuh uh
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Apr 1, 2021 01:18
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Happened to think about this guy and wonder what he’s been up, and found he’s just put a book out this week (or maybe it’s been out longer idk). It’s nonfiction (boo!) but at least he’s not dead: https://www.bookdepository.com/Spectre-Haunting-China-Mieville/9781786692030 Anyway, it’s been more than a year since anyone posted about him, so I thought I’d bump this thread. Hope he someday returns to writing fun stuff to read.
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May 31, 2022 16:37
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Eh
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Jun 1, 2022 00:14
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woah i wonder when he got into communism
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Jun 1, 2022 00:35
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spectre haunting is a great title
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Jun 1, 2022 01:00
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I predict that the Spectre Haunting book will be sorely lacking in puissance.
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Jun 1, 2022 03:14
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withak posted:I predict that the Spectre Haunting book will be sorely lacking in puissance. Puissaint
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Jun 1, 2022 06:23
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FART BOSS posted:Happened to think about this guy and wonder what he’s been up, and found he’s just put a book out this week (or maybe it’s been out longer idk). It’s nonfiction (boo!) but at least he’s not dead: https://www.bookdepository.com/Spectre-Haunting-China-Mieville/9781786692030 Might as well be. From the commentators I recognise (malm, klein) it is kinda obvious he is writing for a certain clique. Although I like that a sci-fi/fantasy writer writes about communism, since both areas are quite remote from reality.
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Jun 1, 2022 20:55
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blurb posted:Its ideas animate in different ways the work of writers like Yanis Varoufakis, Adam Tooze, Naomi Klein and the journalist Owen Jones. lol But seriously, I'm pretty disappointed. I was hoping for a history of the pamphlet over the years of its existence, its relative prominence in comparison with other propaganda texts, and judging whether it was successful at convincing people who read it. Instead it's just a reading of the manifesto. FPyat fucked around with this message at 02:00 on Jun 2, 2022 |
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Jun 2, 2022 01:57
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OK. I officially give up and accept that China Miéville is effectively retired from writing fiction. Dammit. 
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Jun 2, 2022 02:39
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It's like if my DM stopped running the really awesome D&D campaign we'd been doing for years and just started inviting me to socialist meetings I don't want to go to those, I just want to keep playing the campaign I was enjoying with you, man
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Jun 2, 2022 02:49
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Hedrigall posted:It's like if my DM stopped running the really awesome D&D campaign we'd been doing for years and just started inviting me to socialist meetings Agreed, and I say that as a pretty hardcore socialist who even likes reading about socialism.
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Jun 2, 2022 03:17
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Combed Thunderclap posted:OK. I officially give up and accept that China Miéville is effectively retired from writing fiction. Dammit. I see no reason to think that he has stopped doing fiction, but he is obviously just doing the stuff he wants, instead of making quick money by pumping out Bas-Lag books.
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Jun 2, 2022 04:49
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Oasx posted:I see no reason to think that he has stopped doing fiction, but he is obviously just doing the stuff he wants, instead of making quick money by pumping out Bas-Lag books. drat it if only he was a capitalist 
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Jun 2, 2022 05:15
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Hedrigall posted:drat it if only he was a capitalist Look he has writing ability so his commie rear end can each to my need and give me some horror stories.
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Jun 2, 2022 05:36
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I liked October, but this sounds pretty dry. I also read the original book back in highschool, not sure I need the unauthorized sequel.
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Jun 3, 2022 00:02
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Oasx posted:I see no reason to think that he has stopped doing fiction, but he is obviously just doing the stuff he wants, instead of making quick money by pumping out Bas-Lag books. He last published a Bas-Lag book in 2004, and he last published a piece of fiction in 2016. The stuff he wants to do is clearly not fiction writing and I accept this and am at peace with it. If I tell myself this enough times, eventually it will be true.
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Jun 4, 2022 07:24
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I honestly don't have much interest in more Bas-Lag books. It's a great setting, but he's done it already. Mieville has always been great at doing fresh unexpected things really well. Embassytown and The City and the City are my favorites of his. I wish he would just write whatever crazy creative thing he wants. Musing about communism is nice and all, but it's not exactly imaginative. Edit: Though I will say, if This Census Taker was in fact a stealth Bas-Lag book, I wouldn't mind more like that. I just want to see new perspectives.
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Jun 5, 2022 04:37
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I agree with the above posts - his essays and nonfiction are good (London's Overthrow was particularly puissant for me when I first read it) but I want a nice chunky brain-scrambling novel. I've found I'm rationing the remaining books of his I haven't got to yet.
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Jun 6, 2022 14:08
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Gertrude Perkins posted:I agree with the above posts - his essays and nonfiction are good (London's Overthrow was particularly puissant for me when I first read it) but I want a nice chunky brain-scrambling novel. I've found I'm rationing the remaining books of his I haven't got to yet. Yeah, these days there's a thousand options for Marxist takes on whatever you want at whatever depth you want, but next to nobody writing Mieville style fiction.
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Jun 10, 2022 22:27
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I just finished TC&TC earlier today, I loved it. China does a unique creative setting like no one else. Here’s the issue. I’ve read Embassytown, TC&TC (both unbelievably good & fun books) and Last Days of New Paris and Three Moments of an Explosion (also good books but with way way more bullshit to slog through) - where do I go next? I’ve heard Looking for Jake is much better short fiction than Three Moments. I am interested in Bas-Lag but PSS is too long for me to jump into immediately, but I’m thinking that will have to be next?
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Jun 26, 2022 20:23
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perdido street station is great and doesnt feel as long as it is
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Jun 26, 2022 20:39
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Honestly I highly recommend The Scar, one of my favorite fantasy books and it certainly goes places while being a little less intense compared to PSS. All the Bas-Lag books rock however The Scar is the only one that I've been able to get non fantasy readers into.
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Jun 26, 2022 22:16
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Sandwolf posted:I just finished TC&TC earlier today, I loved it. China does a unique creative setting like no one else. Looking for Jake is great, Report of Certain Events in London is an amazing short, Jake has a bas-lag story in it. I also adore Kraken: an anatomy.
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Jun 26, 2022 23:55
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What’s the benefit of reading PSS before The Scar? And maybe vice versa?
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Jun 27, 2022 00:14
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Sandwolf posted:What’s the benefit of reading PSS before The Scar? And maybe vice versa? PSS does a good job of introducing you to the major races and one of the most powerful nations in the world (That's currently in steep decline). Some of the characters in The Scar are mentioned first in PSS but that's not really anything big since they're loose affiliations. The main character of PSS was once in a long-term relationship with the main character of The Scar and in The Scar, several of the locations mentioned pop up in The Iron Council. If you appreciate seeing connections, it's worth reading them sequentially.
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Jun 27, 2022 00:37
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Sandwolf posted:What’s the benefit of reading PSS before The Scar? And maybe vice versa? There's the tiniest amount of overlap between the stories (literally, one character mentions the first book happened off screen, once) and there's a certain amount of assuming you already know stuff about the setting, but it's pretty mild. (Fake, toy example to give you an idea but with all the specifics made up : A character says that in City Name things were getting freaky this one summer where everything got weird about [5 words of specifics]. And instead of describing elves the first time they're in the narrative, elves just show up.). In terms of continuity though, it doesn't matter because those are things he does about stuff he's never elaborated on either ; you'll be able to follow the story totally fine, you just will be technically missing out on some details for a bit. I recommend starting with Perdito over The Scar because it''s got some more high-level introductions to the setting that I think are helpful and I think the style just serves you better, but I know I'm a minority in this thread and seriously it doesn't matter : it's like arguing if you should eat soup before salad or the other way around and at the end of the day soup and salad are both tasty things that you should eat so who really cares. Both books don't feel anywhere near as long as they look, cause once they get going, they really, really get going. Perdito has about a 100 pages at the front end where it's doing a promissory note slow burn as it introduces the setting and gets things going, then the engine starts running and it powers through to the end and it's great the whole way. The Scar doesn't spend as much time warming up, but (I find that) it overstays its welcome just the itty bitty tiniest amount too long and could've stuck landing better. If I was going to recommend one thing about Perdito that I loving loved that's not in The Scar, it's gonna be the spoilers below. This isn't a giant spoiler or nothing, it's literally just that a specific character exists and how they're introduced, but I'm putting it in spoiler tags just to be polite. About 200 pages into the book, there are some giant evil monster things that are attacking the city and eating people's brains. The city government has no idea how to fight these monsters, so they think of two things that might be able to help them : 1) The Weaver, a giant extra-dimensional spider who is alien and strange in every way you can imagine or 2) The no-poo poo literal ambassador from Hell, as in like he has diplomatic papers for being a demon. They unanimously decide that talking to the god drat Devil is the safer and saner decision. gently caress that spider, it's weird.
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Jun 27, 2022 00:41
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Sandwolf posted:I just finished TC&TC earlier today, I loved it. China does a unique creative setting like no one else. I would go with Railsea, it's YA but still has that Mieville weirdness.
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Jun 27, 2022 05:00
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Perdido is great but The Scar is a masterpiece, it's still my favourite fantasy novel of all time. A fever dream of a setting with the most intruiguing twisting turning plot. It's like if Pirates of the Caribbean was way weirder, had way more horror, had as many weird monster races as a D&D setting, and was set on another planet
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Jun 27, 2022 07:35
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gently caress I'm going to read The Scar again Or get the audiobook, yeah
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Jun 27, 2022 07:35
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Sandwolf posted:I just finished TC&TC earlier today, I loved it. China does a unique creative setting like no one else. This Census-Taker is pretty good too. If you really want to read The Scar before Perdito Street Station I don't think you'd be too lost or anything. But you'll definitely want to get PSS to introduce you to New Crobuzon before you go for Iron Council, which is also about that city but isn't as descriptive.
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Jun 27, 2022 07:55
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I'm a fan of all his stuff, some more than others; however I find that the romance plot in PSS turns off a pile of people who are not super ready to read about pseudo-explicit xenophilia in the start of their new fantasy series. I rolled with it without a blink but I have several friends who just said nope.
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Jun 27, 2022 08:13
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Hedrigall posted:Perdido is great but The Scar is a masterpiece, I think The Scar is great, but it’s my least favorite Bas-Lag book by far, mostly because I really hate the ending.
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Jun 27, 2022 08:17
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I complained about it years ago but Uther Doul is probably Mieville's weakest character. #TeamBrucolac
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Jun 27, 2022 08:30
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I feel like the three books each had their own sort of progression in their endings. Perdido ends in a complete horrific loss for everyone, The Scar sets up an uncertain future for everyone, "are we really here?" kinda poo poo and it finally ends with the Iron Council saying "I don't know if we can make it better or if we know what to do but you can see hope right there." The Scar is more what I like, uncertainty and a mystery that can't really be solved but it was all about getting away from it all and seeing what else there is out there. Sometimes you get somewhere and things just don't work out but damned if you didn't get a story out of it Also I love how much Uther Doul sucks, he is such a terrible character and I love it. He's the most perfect incredible person ever with magic super powers a mysterious back story and an Indiana Jones meets the hottest dude ever vibe and it just never goes anywhere. He is the protagonist of another book and he just happens to be in this book about a depressed person trying to start a new life. It's kinda why I love the Scar, it's not about him in the slightest, he's just a prop. Also #TeamGrindylowe TGG fucked around with this message at 08:40 on Jun 27, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 08:34
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I agree about the endings - Iron Council is my favourite of the three but it wouldn't have meant nearly as much, thematically, without PSS and The Scar before it. I might have posted about this when I first read it, but taking the concept of a Permanent Revolution and making it text really got to me. The collision is always imminent, the vision of a better world is always visible. After 2,000 pages of strife and failure and torment, peppered with smaller victories, it felt like the most fitting way to wrap things up. I do wonder what a hypothetical fourth Bas-Lag book would look like, and even where/when it would take place. I don't think Miéville would be satisfied with another side story set during the events of the trilogy, but I don't know how far into the "future" a sequel might be set. Dieselpunk with crisis engines? Whatever warped form of hyper-globalism emanates from New Crobuzon or one of its rival city-states? A feel-good road trip with a plucky band of misfit teens exploring the ruins of the fallen empires? Gertrude Perkins fucked around with this message at 07:51 on Sep 29, 2022 |
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Jun 27, 2022 09:29
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TGG posted:I'm a fan of all his stuff, some more than others; however I find that the romance plot in PSS turns off a pile of people who are not super ready to read about pseudo-explicit xenophilia in the start of their new fantasy series. I rolled with it without a blink but I have several friends who just said nope. For other people that's a huge draw
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Jun 27, 2022 10:10
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Xiahou Dun posted:
It also shows how evil and brutal the city government is. They have relations with Hell and no one there thinks that's kinda weird.
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Jun 27, 2022 20:39
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