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God, I still can't get through Iron Council. I enjoyed Perdido for its atmosphere but agree that the ending was messy. The Scar was amazingly good, tighter. This thread is making me want to read it again. But Iron Council... it's the same problem I had with Perdido. Mieville is more of an idea-driven author than a character-driven one. Some of his characters are great, but it's more about the sense of wonder and awe. A lot of his characters seem like mouthpieces for his ideas than actual, breathing people (or garudas) with real lives. The chapter about Lin creating her art, for example. Iron Council just has so much political stuff in it, just so unsubtle, I couldn't even care about the characters or the plot. But I really loved The City & The City. Fascinating main characters, mysterious, suspenseful plot, and containing a lot of trademark Mieville weirdness, but much more focused. Can't wait for Kraken in May. Between that and the new Ian McDonald in July, I predict some great reading this summer.
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Jan 31, 2010 21:30
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I don't get how it's weak to not enjoy one-note characters. I didn't like them in PSS and I didn't like them in IC. There were just more characters like that in IC. What I liked about The City & The City was that is was different in tone from the three very sprawling novels before it. It was a quick, weird read. I liked the main character and his counterpart in the other city. I didn't find it pretentious, I thought it was similar in themes to things he touched on in PSS and IC, but was more allegorical, so it felt more natural.
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Feb 8, 2010 05:44
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I went to China's author spotlight panel at San Diego Comic-Con last weekend. Room was packed. He read a short story about a space elevator that will be appearing somewhere soon. He talked about how Kraken was his "shaggy dog" story and just about how embarrassing it is when two apocalypses show up at the same time. He especially enjoyed writing Collingswood. (And I liked her character a lot, too.) The language of the book overall was a bit tough to decipher sometimes, but you can tell he was having fun. It was a funny book in places. His publicist made his editor, who was moderating the panel, mention this write-up on the front page of the NY Times Arts section: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/books/24mieville.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1 It's funny how broody and mean he looks in publicity shots, but I had the pleasure of talking with him later on and he's really super friendly, funny, and just really, really humble. My coworker who wasn't familiar with him had this idea in his head that he might be a snob or something, but was pleasantly surprised. ETA On the panel, he also said he falls in love with certain characters when he's writing a book, but then he goes back and flips through his old work and suddenly he feels like they weren't as cool as he remembered. Like King Rat was from when he was going to drum n' bass clubs and young and Bellis was kind of... I'm trying to remember the exact words, but it was like she was self-absorbed or something. Also he wants to write interconnected short stories and he's completed a space opera novel. Trying to keep things interesting for himself. nixar55 fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Jul 29, 2010 |
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Jul 29, 2010 02:56
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Hedrigall posted:http://handshakemag.com/interview-with-china-mieville/ From what I understand, he's always working on multiple projects at once. So if he gets stuck on one, he switches to another for a bit. I believe he handed in the manuscript for Kraken when he handed in TC&TC. I'm reading a proof of Embassytown and it's just so full of ideas. I have to read paragraphs a few times just to make sure I'm really absorbing everything. He's doing a five-city American tour this summer, too. Love to hear him read and he's just such a nice guy to chat with. Very excited to see him again.
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Apr 2, 2011 07:23
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Yeah, those are the cities. I'll post actual dates once I get them from his publicist, hopefully next week, but I already know he'll be in NYC June 1st. It's a ticketed event sponsored by WORD bookstore. http://www.wordbrooklyn.com/event/china-mieville Tickets are $25, but you get a copy of Embassytown included, signing to follow. Kind of odd to have a reading at a club, but Mieville's a rock star, so it fits. Hedrigall- I'm jealous of your ARC! Del Rey's is really plain with just the logo on the front. So I'm probably going to end up getting the UK edition anyway because the cover is superior to the American one. I love my U.K. first edition of Kraken. ETA: If you've never seen him read, you really should. I've been to every NY reading since PSS and he's just extremely charming and funny and so well-spoken. He takes all of the questions about Bas-Lag in stride, even though he gets asked the same ones every drat tour. He just seems really appreciative of his fans. I've been in publishing a long time and know who has a bad reputation. No one has ever, ever had a single bad thing to say about him. It's pretty astounding. nixar55 fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Apr 3, 2011 |
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Apr 3, 2011 20:23
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Yeah, I've seen ticketed events for authors before, but usually really huge ones like Jonathan Franzen or Michael Chabon. My guess is because WORD's a smaller bookstore and couldn't hold a Mieville-sized audience. Don't know why an indie would get him instead of a B&N. But it should be interesting. Apparently the bar will have a specialty cocktail and a dance party afterward. Which fills my boyfriend with dread. But makes me excited because China loves dancing! I will just dance with China instead. I work for Tor, who published King Rat. So I can say I've really been a fan of his before he got all famous. His first editor pulled me into her office and said I had to read him. I've seen his audience grow with every book. I remember the reading he did for The Scar had about 80 people, tops. The only scoop I feel comfortable sharing is that I think the  was invented for him.
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Apr 4, 2011 17:18
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Calico Noose posted:Consider China Miéville, now think about that sentance. Well, there's that, but he's read at a progressively larger B&N every other time he's come to NY. They're just able to hold a bigger audience. Authors don't get a huge choice in where their publicists pitch them for a national tour. I don't believe he was hoping his NY fans would have to pay $25 to see him read. I like thinking of him as the anti-GRRM. It's weird to have gone from reading A Feast for Crows to Embassytown. There needs to be some sort of literary palette cleanser. My head nearly blew up. A lot of fantasy writers have reputations for being creepy towards female fans. I think it's because without their fame, they'd be getting a lot less feminine attention and they know it. Or they're just plain awkward. So, yeah, China is neither of those things, so... good reputation!
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Apr 6, 2011 04:39
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Hedrigall posted:My best friend managed to get a kiss on the cheek out of him when he came to Sydney for Kraken. I was super jealous. She's a bit of a cool-fantasy-author/illustrator slut, having been kissed by China, Neil Gaiman and Shaun Tan. Neil Gaiman has a reputation for being free with his kisses. Very free. China doesn't kiss everyone's cheeks. She should be flattered. (My friend didn't get one while other people I know got kissed on both cheeks.) I don't know about Shaun. Just that it's awesome he's got an Oscar now. I love the Facebook letter. I think he's one of the few authors without a Twitter account. It'd be cool if he had one, but his blog is interesting. Wish he talked a bit more about his writing process in it. That's the stuff I find most interesting.
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Apr 6, 2011 06:16
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Embassytown is so good! It's very high-concept and really loving melancholy. The complete opposite of Kraken. I'm still processing the ending (normally not a fan of many of his endings, barring TC&TC.) Can't say Avice is my favorite protagonist ever, but it's not a bad thing. She's just as alien to me as the Hosts. I think people stuck in love with Bas-Lag will probably enjoy this one more than TC&TC and Kraken. The world is huge and each planet could probably house a different novel.
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Apr 13, 2011 02:58
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Writing reviews is really tough. Because you want to tell everyone what you liked, but you don't want to spoil. But there's so many ideas going on, the io9 review didn't even really hint at the things I liked best. I don't think they even accurately explained the nature of the Hosts or the Ambassadors. But you've got to give some plot description. Personally, I don't even read reviews of authors I like a lot because I know I'm going to buy the book anyway and want to go in clean. Then I return to reviews to see what other people said. As an aside, I really want to re-read The Scar, but don't have a lot of time for re-reads of old favorites. So I thought I'd give an audiobook a try, to listen to as I'm going about my soul-crushing office work. But there's no audio! drat. Had to "settle" for PSS and the reviews say the recording skips chapters later on, despite being unabridged. What a shame. You'd think Random House would want to fix that somehow. However, I kind of like the narrator. Almost sounds like China.
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Apr 16, 2011 03:53
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Tour dates: Tues., 5/24 – Harvard Bookstore,* Cambridge, MA @ 6:00pm Note: Event will be held at the Brattle Theater Wed., 5/25 - Toadstool Bookshop, Lorden Plaza, Milford, NH @ 7:00pm Thurs., 5/26 - World's Biggest Bookstore, Toronto, CA @7:00pm Sat. 5/28 – University Bookstore, Seattle, WA @ 7:00pm Sun., 5/29 – Powell's Bookstore, Portland, OR @ 4:00pm Tues., 5/31 – Barnes & Noble, Roseville, MN @ 7:00pm Wed., 6/1 – WORD Bookstore,* Brooklyn, NY @ 8:00pm *Note: This is a ticketed event held at Public Assembly. Purchase tickets here: http://www.wordbrooklyn.com/event/china-mieville
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Apr 22, 2011 04:32
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Mrs. Badcrumble posted:Only weeknights on the East Coast? What's a guy who lives in Connecticut to do Well, if you live in CT, I assume you have a car, right? Boston or NYC isn't that far of a drive right? (Says the person who takes the subway everyday.)
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Apr 22, 2011 19:23
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^^^I think sometimes it's just random things photos and stuff people send him. I also think his blog is more for himself than his fans, just a way to keep track of random interesting things that happen across his desk. Here's Tor.com's review of Embassytown. A bit sad that Martin and Jordan re-reads get a hundred comments each, but "smaller" books become lost in the shuffle. I mean, Mieville is hardly small, but, you know what I mean. http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/05/a-new-world-for-author-and-tale-embassytown-by-china-mieville
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May 13, 2011 20:00
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Mostly the latter, from what I understand. Some of the pictures he takes himself, others are things people send to him. Some of the illustrations are his own, too. I'm probably aging myself here, but I love those random captions. It reminds me of this old recurring skit on Liquid Television (when MTV had good shows.) There'd be old-timey postcards and a sinister British voiceover would narrate tales of violence and government experiments. etc. "Dear Mum..."
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May 14, 2011 03:29
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Mrs. Badcrumble posted:Did anyone else go to the event in Brooklyn last night? So this was like almost two weeks ago, but I went. It was a fun reading in an interesting space. He's very adept at answering awkward, meandering audience member questions. However, the venue forgot to hire DJs or something so there was no dancing as promised. China would've danced, too. Boo. The specialty cocktail was a dark n' stormy made with Kraken rum. Nice touch. The turn-out was decent for Brooklyn and a not cheap ticketed event. They would've pulled more numbers at B&N Union Square but the publicist promised WORD China as a thank you for selling their books at NY Comic-Con. Lev Grossman moderates about 80% of NY sci-fi readings. Good gig for him, I guess. I never read The Magicians.
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Jun 12, 2011 15:45
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Mrs. Badcrumble posted:I asked the question about octopuses; I wasn't meandering!!!! but he didn't really answer it because there wasn't enough time to give a good answer. Aw, it wasn't your question I was referring to! It was more the first one. China really like octopodes! Did you see his new tattoo?
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Jun 15, 2011 02:24
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Hedrigall posted:Furthermore there are now audiobooks of The Scar and Iron Council!! gently caress, I may have to sign up to Audible for these... Awesome news! Thanks! Going to get The Scar immediately. But I don't want to hear a PSS without John Lee's Yagharek voice. gently caress that. I've been rereading Felix Gilman's The Half-Made World. It's a Weird Western, pretty enjoyable, definitely Miéville-ian in places. In other China news, he just handed in the second draft of his new YA novel this week. It's not set in the world of Un Lun Dun.
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Sep 24, 2011 05:10
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