#317

i’ve read a few Gibson books and am always frustrated with how all the characters suddenly shack up right at the end. Like it’s always in the last 10 pages

1 Like
#318

lol that’s hilarious. …The characters themselves are pretty sexy though. He’s good at character creation but just drops the ball on their actual interactions WITHIN the point he’s trying to make with the story.

Having said that, his books would lend themselves well to being made into graphic novels!

3 Likes
#319

for sure! like he’s so close to those characters being super interesting. it’s a shame - i really love the worlds he builds.

and yes would 100% read a Peripheral graphic novel.

#320

I would imagine you are aware of Archangel, but if not:

Personally I’d love to see a proper attempt made at a film of Neuromancer.

4 Likes
#321

Books read in July: Hi. I somehow didn’t finish reading a single non-comic book this past month, despite having averaged a book per week every other month of the year thus far, and I only managed 10 graphic novels in July. I’m deep into a bunch of (non-comic) books, but not even near the end, and these below are the only ones I finished. I think that guitar practice is cutting into my leisure reading, and honestly I’m fine with that. Of these I especially recommend the ones that begin with the letter i (capitalized).

Runlovekill by Eric Canete and Jonathan Tsuei.

Doom Patrol, Volume 1: Brick by Brick by Gerard Way and Nick Derington.

Injection, Volume 1 by Warren Ellis, art by Jordie Bellaire and Declan Shalvey.

Injection, Volume 2 by Warren Ellis, art by Jordie Bellaire and Declan Shalvey.

Invisible Republic, Volume 1 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman.

Invisible Republic, Volume 2 by Corinna Bechko and Gabriel Hardman.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Volume 1: Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli.

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Volume 2 by Brian Michael Bendis and artist Sara Pichelli.

Snapshot by Andy Diggle and Jock.

ApocalyptiGirl: An Aria for the End Times by Andrew MacLean.

4 Likes
#322

From the Archangel description:

He and an expedition team of private military contractors travel to 1945 via The Splitter, a quantum teleportation device capable of creating tangent alternate timelines, to stop this reality—and ultimately shape the future in his own image.

This sounds exceedingly like the latest Neal Stephenson (& Nicole Galland) book, which I finished reading recently. Though I suspect the style will be very different.

It’s worth reading if you’re a big fan of Stephenson, but like the other books he has co-authored, it never quite hits the spot.

2 Likes
#323

Yeah, I greatly enjoyed vol1 of Injection. Need to get on the rest of that.

2 Likes
#324

I recently read :

  • The Three-Body problem, by Cixin Liu. Not as impressive or mind-blowing as some reviews made me expect but not bad either. I suppose most of my reservations about it might be addressed in the second volume…

  • The Fractured Europe Sequence (all 3 books), by Dave Hutchinson. Europe in Autumn, Europe at Midnight, Europe in Winter. I really liked these. They have a sort of Warren Ellis/China Mieville vibe to them. Not that surprising as I read it after a recommendation in Warren Ellis’ newsletter. He says it better than me :

“Turned out to be a near-future political fiction about a Europe splitting into independent states and The Coureurs Des Bois, a secret courier service rattling around the continent in determination to keep the Schengen dream of an open Europe alive. That had enough of a weird Thomas Pynchon kink - a secret postal service! - to keep me going. And then it gets a little weirder. And then there’s a bit probably inspired by those non-existent locations that pop up on Google Maps like mapmaker watermarks, brilliantly transposed to antique British mapmaking. And then it all suddenly goes a bit China Mieville. And then there’s a bit in the second book that’s pure “Laundry Files” Charlie Stross. By then you’ve already realised that Dave Hutchinson pulled a huge stunt on you and the conspiratorial poli-spy fiction you thought you were reading is actually something completely fucking mental.”

I also started re-reading something I read as a teenager (and in French), Jack Vance’s Tschai cycle. Well, I stopped at the end of the kindle free preview, as some things annoyed me a bit too much (generic/uninteresting/talented at everything hero character, etc.). The world is interesting though (at least from what I remember) so I might get the book later if I want some fantasy/sf that doesn’t make me think too much…

And I bought these too, I just started the VanderMeer.

  • Radiance, by Catherynne Valente
  • Borne, by Jeff VanderMeer
  • Norse Mythology, by Neil Gaiman
  • H is for Hawk, by Helen Macdonald (from recommendations here)
1 Like
#325

Currently reading the french translation of Terry Hayes’ I am Pilgrim…

#326

Thanks for this. My experience of Three-Body was like yours. I haven’t moved on to volume 2 yet.

And I appreciate the reminder about that Fractured Europe series.

#327

Has anyone read ‘Electric Sound: The Past and Promise of Electronic Music by Joel Chadabe’

Can’t seem to find it in the university libraries in Australia and tossing up buying a 2nd hand copy.

#328

Based on a tip from @infovore I’m working through the dreamlike Christopher Priest back catalogue: Inverted World is another obvious Inception influence, and The Adjacent is (so far) bigger and more epic. Apart from the increasingly predictable way that every single male-female meeting ends up in bed, I’m enjoying them a lot.

#329

I’ve read it a couple times and found it to be very good, especially helpful when I’m going to be teaching a seminar. It looks like there may be a cheaper copy or two on Alibris.com and Abe.com if you want to look there.

#330

Wow. That has really gone up in price! I guess it is out of print or something now?

It’s a pretty good book and covers some interesting ground.

But, I would not pay anywhere near what those sellers on Amazon think it is worth.

#331

Inverted World is quite the debut; it pombles along doing its YA/coming-of-age thing and then boom yaws out to some bigger, weirder pictures. I loved all the big reveals about what the hell was going on with the city. Not seen many people play with subjectivity like that.

Of the later ones, The Affirmation made the biggest mark on me, and I think A Separation might be the Best Actual Novel.

His couplings of men and women do get marginally less rubbish as it goes on, but once you’ve seen the trope, it’s hard to avoid…

#332

It’s a particularly good read for synth geeks because ////SPOILER ALERT///// it’s a novelisation of these two knobs:
image

3 Likes
#333

hahahahahahahahahaha

(in twenty characters and making a complete sentence)

#334

@tehn recommended Howard Zinn’s “People’s History of the United States” ages ago - finally got round to starting. About halfway through now, first dead-tree book for literally years.

Feel like this historical perspective can help contextualise & make sense of a lot of what is happening right now in US & world politics.

By the time you get to the turn of 20th century all todays important issues are in there - electoral politics as theatre to subdue a populace, thinly veiled imperialism, capital vs labour (well we don’t probably talk about that one as such these days), race & class division. Definitely recommend this to anyone lost in the wash of conflicting information & narratives we’re bombarded with. Paraphrasing Adam Curtis - ‘Oh dear’ isn’t good enough - we need to see the bigger picture, however difficult that seems…

5 Likes
#335

yeah I wouldn’t buy a new copy - but 2nd hand…

#336

great tip thank you!

2 Likes