China Miéville/Bas-Lag megathread

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SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Still saving the last bit of The Scar for when my seasonal work is over. I started this book like 2 years ago. Yeah, that's how I roll.

And say what you want about anything in Kraken, there's some poo poo in there that I either would have wrote or just think about or know someone that would act/say things similar to instances in the novel. Not that it makes it brilliant or anything, but even now I find myself saying "And yet, eh? And loving yet," at a lot of things.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2012 06:44

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 06:52

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yes, that's more or less the feeling you'll probably get from his other books. It's more about the exploration of an idea at a time, but not the full DnD listing all the stats and history of it that most fantasy goes into. He just shotguns them into the book and you enjoy that sort of pace or don't.

(although each novel has one or two key crazy loving ideas that the plot/theme rides on, to be fair)

# ¿ Jul 4, 2012 05:23

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Jesus Christ, leave some for the rest of us, publishers! You'll burn out your talent, plus leave little for newcomers.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 03:55

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Oh no doubt China's still on the good end of the quality scale, but Reynolds is criticized for being quite same-y with the RS books.

It's worth noting that Erickson got a million for his series as well, which turned out to be nothing but bloat and wank, so it still depends on the author.

Paragon8 posted:

For a blockbuster book deal it doesn't seem too good though. Again I'm not sure how much royalties he'd be getting and if he has any alternative income sources.

You can bet your rear end it is. 8 years guaranteed payment if you meet the deadlines? Yeah. Most genre books make maybe ~20-25k for the author after all is said and done, being 2-3 years of work.

If he's got a decent royalty rate (15%), and does the same sales for a popular SFFH work for each book a year, he's doing just fine. Not a millionaire, but fine. That's in addition to the contract, and I doubt he has to earn out against that (maybe). With combined sales too, digital and everything, that might add another 50k gross per year.

*Not in the business, just read a lot about publishing.

# ¿ Aug 16, 2012 21:04

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

There's also stuff like Richard Morgan selling film rights for a million bucks, so that's a potential route too. It gives one hope (at selling out hurrrf)

# ¿ Aug 17, 2012 22:14

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yup. I thought it was in the paperback's author notes?

# ¿ Aug 19, 2012 09:21

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Since I read IC first, then The Scar, I pretty much flipped my poo poo when there was a throwaway line about Spiral Jacobs. I think he keeps little things like that in mind now and then, and adopts them into whatever new thing he's working on.

# ¿ Aug 24, 2012 20:42

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Unfortunately, that post was also about Neal Stephanson, and authored by Jerry loving Holkins, so take that with the biggest grain of salt. (the key here being the overwriting in the very snippet quoted)

If you can't stand a more academic form of genre fiction, then don't read Le Guin or Dick or whoever either, because 'oh man they used words you use in papers, ugghhhh' is a gently caress poor excuse for not liking a book.

That said, I found a hardcover copy of Embassytown at the local library sale poo poo yeah. Also time to get on Railsea.

# ¿ Sep 20, 2012 05:06

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Oh no doubt, he's an overly wordy, paper-writing Lovecraft-channelling mofo, and he seriously needs to learn to tone down some of it. But at least he knows what those words mean, and knows exactly how to construct his sentences/paragraphs/whatever to get his tone across. Reading Iron Council is like reading SF new wave from the '70s where people just wrote like crazy (while on drugs, but whatever).

# ¿ Sep 21, 2012 08:29

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

So I finally finished reading The Scar before new year's, and it was a good tale, but I just took so long to read it, partly from life-ADD, and partly because it is a detached sort of read, it's always about people going somewhere and getting ready to do... something. There were plenty of good ideas, of course, and none were really overused. The climax as such, was about as expected, really (I suppose you could say there were like 3 or 4, anyway). I like how he tries to defy normal plot convention as well, so that works. Hopefully he'll have another Bas Lag story some day.

Also, anytime I visualized Bellis, this is who I saw: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931404/

On to Embassytown!

# ¿ Jan 4, 2013 21:29

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

I don't remember that as much later on, but it's still there, and I have to wonder why it was published that way, since it's pretty much a big no in all writing lessons, for reasons that you mentioned.

# ¿ May 26, 2013 05:10

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

^^^^
Yeah don't worry, when you're ready, there's definitely replacements for him.

You know who I want more of? Bastard John. Or his ilk. Which will probably never happen.

As for other books that aren't anywhere near Mieville, Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is decent, even though it feels light at times, God's War is neat, Wind-Up Girl is supposed to be good (just started), and Ian McDonald's River of Gods, Brasyl, and Dervish House are all good takes on SF ideas.

# ¿ Jun 1, 2013 19:09

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

BigSkillet posted:

Felix Gilman's "The Half-Made World"

Haha, I've been sitting at about the halfway mark on this one and totally forgot about it. It's definitely not like any of those other authors, despite fantastical things happening.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2013 05:18

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yeah, it's like Tycho read it and was like 'huh, this is what it would be like if I was British and actually went to school instead of playing video games, SHUN.'

Gabe pretty much only reads Star Wars novels, so that's his explanation.

Meanwhile, China gets to go spar with Margaret Atwood on stage and dissect things like Gulliver's Travels, so yeah. His writing tics are annoying, but he's so damned earnest.

E: The very thought that the nerdiest of genres (SFF) would elaborate on political and philosophical thought and use big or archaic words so that it incenses so many nerds just tickles me somehow. The Wolfe comparison makes it even more dissonant.

SaviourX fucked around with this message at 05:12 on Jun 18, 2013

# ¿ Jun 18, 2013 05:08

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

That, and Tycho's been posting the frontpage for more than a decade, and he's posted about liking some pretty dumb fantasy poo poo, so it just doesn't make sense to me other than 'argh this is academic and not Stephenson'.

# ¿ Jun 19, 2013 21:19

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Would probably punch some babies to see China's take on The Prisoner. Number 6 1/2?

# ¿ Jul 28, 2013 07:52

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

SilkyP posted:

the "aesthetic" of the world

You most certainly can, and Bas-Lag and the works that influenced it do definitely fit that.

# ¿ Dec 20, 2013 07:23

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yeah, he's got a purpose, and his sword loving rules and all, but the payoff is way too long in the making.

But holy poo poo, when Bellis realizes why he was doing what he was doing... yes.

# ¿ Jan 31, 2014 10:52

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yeah, I read an interview where he was like 'Well it's absolutely part of the fundamental concerns of the magickal folk that they, you know, have a specific vernacular, a certain inclination towards classification and that, that impinges upon them this necessity of naming their manipulation of the fundamental esssences around them, having a common shared language for it. It's purposeful.'

And all I could think was nigga just call it magic and get the gently caress on.

# ¿ Feb 21, 2014 08:19

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Hedrigall posted:

^ Not a real Miéville interview quote.

Why ruin the puissance?

And yeah, the ending to IC was one of the legit most awesome things I've read in a long drat time.

# ¿ Feb 22, 2014 07:12

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

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...

# ¿ Mar 10, 2014 08:59

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Hedrigall posted:

Glad you like it

Actually here's an updated version.

I'll be adding terrain and rivers and stuff to it soon

Rad. Gonna get up on that vadaunk-adonk.

# ¿ May 14, 2014 22:06

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

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/

# ¿ May 15, 2014 07:47

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Thing One: I may have mentioned it before, but in some rare fantasy casting, this is only person I saw as Bellis: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0931404/?ref_=tt_cl_t3

Thing Two: I read through all of Dial H, thanks to the library, and it is the Mieville book you folks wanted but might not have read because it is a DC comic. A glorious mess, complete with characters that talk like retard infants because China has a wooden ear for dialogue. You can tell the last three or so issues had to speed things along, what with being cancelled. I still think he did a fine, madcap, Big Ideas sort of book, with his own flair and obsession with objects like dials and windows and things.

Also, I'm pretty sure he took the window jokes from the Batman origin edit: http://jaypinkerton.com/2005/01/05/batman-origin-comics/ and twisted it into a serious-faced character that actually worked.

# ¿ Dec 9, 2014 05:39

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Much as I didn't like TC&TC, thinking it through in that logic makes it a few steps better; I'd just rather go read some Lem or some other batshit Polish or Czech or whoever author that China was aping.

And I've said here several times that Iron Council is still my favorite (haven't read Embassytown or Railsea), even without knowing in-depth socialist/labourist history. It's just this crazy weird-western-final-fantasy-role-playing-campaign-gone-wrong aesthetic with all the failed revolution and politics and everything layered underneath it. That, and the way you could read the Tesh war as any of the attacks London has ever suffered (also, Spiral loving Jacobs).

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 04:50

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Alternately, I remember Goss and Subby, while I remember almost nothing from Neverwhere.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2015 03:58

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Babbie's first cover design entry, holy crap. Why is the font so fuzzy? Why is there even a background image? Why does this look like it belongs on an amazon thumbnail for authors that DIY?

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 07:26

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Who publishes that in the States? I'm going to ~~tear them a new one~~ write them about that and say that since I'm from :canada:

I'll just go with the UK version and tell them I'm suggesting people order the same from stores up here instead.

I mean don't judge and all, but even plain white would have been better.

# ¿ Jun 12, 2015 06:24

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Hedrigall posted:

ANOTHER NEW 2016 NOVEL??

THE LAST DAYS OF NEW PARIS is an intense and gripping tale set in an alternative universe: June 1940 following Paris’ fall to the Germans, the villa of Air-Bel in Marsailles, is filled with Trotskyists, anti-fascists, exiled artists, and surrealists. One Air-Bel dissident decides the best way to fight the Nazis is to construct a surrealist bomb. When the bomb is accidentally detonated, surrealist Cataclysm sweeps Paris and transforms it according to a violent, weaponized dream logic.

I started with 'great some more wwii alternate history, at least it might be weird' to 'holy gently caress that is an insane premise' within the span of a blurb. Good god drat, such envy.

# ¿ Aug 5, 2015 09:11

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Hedrigall posted:

Booooo anyone who puts Iron Council last. Booo, not cool!

1. IC
2. The Scar
3. Dial H (17 issues it sure counts)
4. PSS
5. Kraken
6. TC&TC (although thinking of it along the lines of a forced willful disassociation makes me want to re-read)

Prob should get on Embassytown and Railsea.

Also, Kraken was good because even though I love and adore Sandman and American Gods, Neverwhere is shite, and Kraken was a wilder, better version.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2015 07:25

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Sounds like a pretty good endorsement. I can always appreciate the more non-Hollywood, Gilliam-like tack he takes on every new novel.

# ¿ Nov 16, 2015 08:03

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Ask him what weight he squats.

E: It's not just that cover, it's all the new 'literatey' cover designs.

AUTHOR
NAME

portrait of an assgrabber

SaviourX fucked around with this message at 07:01 on Dec 18, 2015

# ¿ Dec 18, 2015 06:56

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

quote:

Lady Gagas now surround China, hundreds and hundreds of them.

This is a p good blog.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2016 08:11

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Yeah, I like the idea of taking crazy new wave type ideas and keeping the novella-short novel length to them to keep the ideas from ballooning out. Much hyped.

# ¿ Mar 5, 2016 07:33

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

(Re)Posting this here, because things have been dead and I agree about 80-85% on these depictions. Iron Council could have just been about that one Remade. :hellyeah:

# ¿ Apr 18, 2016 02:52

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Turdis McWordis posted:

I reread Kraken recently

"Turdis McWordis" Uhhh... huh.

Benson Cunningham posted:

Khepri are so engrossing

Fixed that up for ya.

# ¿ Apr 18, 2016 19:43

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Well, in that case, he sure is, and also Kraken is bad in the way that TCandTC is, which is to say, both written in haste aping other novels, but with that supercilious Mieville charm.

# ¿ Apr 20, 2016 08:50

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Dirty Frank posted:

What novel does TC&TC ape?

Not any specific one:
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/oct/26/crimes-grand-tour-european-detective-fiction

# ¿ Apr 27, 2016 06:24

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

Where was all this IC (P) love earlier?

You are all correct, though. Even if all 3 novels have excellent and imaginative portions.

Which has me thinking it's been like 6 years since I read it, so it's almost due for a re read...

# ¿ Jun 24, 2016 08:00

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 06:52

SaviourX: Sep 30, 2003; The only true Catwoman is Julie Newmar, Lee Meriwether, or Eartha Kitt.

"If more people just understood Kafka's work, they wouldn't bandy his name around so much."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEiOY4y15KI&t=18s

# ¿ Jan 24, 2017 16:53

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