Was very fortunate to recently catch the fact that not all versions of Simak's City contain the final story "Epilog". Not even the SF Masterworks version includes it.
Here are the ones that dohttp://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?92546
I bought the Methuen edition.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Monday, 27 May 2019 23:37 (five years ago) link
Bit shoddy of Gollancz: normally they're more careful than that.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Tuesday, 28 May 2019 00:39 (five years ago) link
Reading Ann Kavan’s “Ice”, wiki entry of author noted ref by “post-rock band Carta”, instantly recalled membership of ilxor akm, lattice of coincidence identified
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 28 May 2019 01:36 (five years ago) link
from Robert's "Epilog"-inclusive City link above, fave cover (if can't see it, is noir chien, paws in pocket)s:https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/71tH-EvL-vL.jpg
― dow, Tuesday, 28 May 2019 15:07 (five years ago) link
Waiting for Maigret.
― dow, Tuesday, 28 May 2019 15:09 (five years ago) link
Finally got the new Ted Chiang collection EXHALATION, which is predictably great. Sadly it only has 2 new stories in it which I haven't already read. Ah well, there'll be another book in the early 2030s.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 00:26 (five years ago) link
Which ones are new?
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 01:15 (five years ago) link
'Omphalos' and 'Anxiety is the Dizziness of Freedom'. All the others have been published online and in print in one place or another.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 01:56 (five years ago) link
Newly discovered (and translated) Stanisław Lem story:https://przekroj.pl/en/literature/the-hunt-stanislaw-lem
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 03:25 (five years ago) link
Sad!
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 07:18 (five years ago) link
As in bad?
― dow, Wednesday, 29 May 2019 14:36 (five years ago) link
As in ;_;It's fine, bit of a mood piece, not up there with his philosophical/speculative highs.
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 29 May 2019 15:08 (five years ago) link
I just received City in the mail. Simak says he has mixed feelings about including the story in the book but did so for the editor. It was written a long time after the other stories and perhaps some feel it spoils the book? But I've mostly heard that fans like it. Perhaps Gollancz wanted the original book as it was. The Gollancz introduction does note the existence of the last story, but from what I could find out from reviews, offers no explanation for leaving it out, so perhaps it was a mistake.
Also, if you're going for Cordwainer Smith, note that Rediscovery Of Man has been used as a title for both a Best Of and a Complete Stories collection.
Cant remember if I noted above but Strugatsky Bros' Snail On The Slope is getting a Masterworks entry. I presume it's a new translation because the earlier translation was said to be a disaster and the brothers hated it.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 31 May 2019 15:40 (five years ago) link
RIP Dennis Etchison
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 31 May 2019 21:40 (five years ago) link
On the subject of long delays between books. Evangeline Walton maybe holds record for biggest gap, with 36 years between two entries but I'm pretty sure she wasn't writing that whole time. But it really isn't that unusual for some to be stuck for 10-20 years. Sometimes due to poor sales, contracts or just having difficulties writing. Of course some begin with a clear arc in mind and some are open ended with each novel, just in case. Long comments thread about some of this.
https://www.tor.com/2019/05/29/hope-springs-eternal-five-unfinished-series-that-remain-a-joy-to-read/
I happened to buy Steerswoman's Road by Kirstein last week.
As for my favorites, I've only read the first of Somtow's Inquestor books so I don't know if the fourth book in 1985 was open ended but he started it again last year.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 June 2019 19:07 (five years ago) link
Another incompleteness spotted from a review. M John Harrison's Viriconium omnibus doesn't have these storieshttp://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?78184http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?42243http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?78183
but I'm guessing he just doesn't like them enough since the first one has only been printed twice.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 June 2019 22:17 (five years ago) link
What do you mean by the last? It has “In Viriconium.”
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 June 2019 22:24 (five years ago) link
In US at least.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Saturday, 1 June 2019 22:25 (five years ago) link
It might be a mistake but it's listed as a separate thing from the 3rd novel.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 1 June 2019 22:50 (five years ago) link
Opinions on D.G. Compton? I am not digging “The Continuous Catherine Mortenhoe” tbh, reads like a combo of Spinrad’s dumbest ideas + some heavy-handed moralizing.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 13 June 2019 02:35 (five years ago) link
I see there are some positive readings upthread but tbh I’m finding several aspects of the basic premise irritating, like he had a polemical point to make that superseded any pretenses of logic.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 13 June 2019 02:46 (five years ago) link
Really enjoyed The Silent Multitude, but then I also enjoyed Catherine Mortenhoe, so that probably doesn't help.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Thursday, 13 June 2019 03:57 (five years ago) link
Reading Ann Kavan’s “Ice”
Thoughts? I'm midway through and it's not doing much for me. It's techniques are almost identical to Kazuo Ishiguro's The Unconsoled, one of my all time favourites of all time; however the characters and setting here are too unsympathetic for my tastes.
― The Pingularity (ledge), Thursday, 13 June 2019 07:37 (five years ago) link
re: Catherine Mortenhoe - I'm not ready to give up yet (only 50 pages in) because honestly the writing is so good maybe it will get me past my quibbles with the premise
re: Ana Kavan's "Ice" - I really liked it and read it in two days. The repetitive, hallucinatory vibe is very well sustained, even though it's incredibly dark the dreamlike atmosphere just carried me along. Granted I haven't read Ishiguro.
― Οὖτις, Thursday, 13 June 2019 15:55 (five years ago) link
Bought Emma Bull's War For The Oaks today, taken note that Vernor Vinge and John Christopher are the two remaining in the Penguin Worlds line (did this just stop? There hasn't been any books since the initial bunch in 2016) I don't have. Then I had a dream Vinge, Christopher and I were all at a convention and had a diarrhea attack at the same time.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 June 2019 21:43 (five years ago) link
We three had a diarrhea attack in the dream. I didn't have a diarrhea attack during the dream.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Friday, 14 June 2019 21:44 (five years ago) link
http://www.egaeuspress.com/Of_One_Pure_Will.htmlLooking forward to this, just ordered.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Saturday, 15 June 2019 14:54 (five years ago) link
I asked Hari Kunzru if there were going to be more in that series, and he said he hoped so but it was up to the accountants. I guess the accountants said no.
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Sunday, 16 June 2019 00:58 (five years ago) link
Maybe the covers were just too retro.
― Robert Adam Gilmour, Sunday, 16 June 2019 08:36 (five years ago) link
Any cyberpunk recommendations from the last couple years?
― Shoegazi (Leee), Monday, 17 June 2019 20:10 (five years ago) link
I am not digging “The Continuous Catherine Mortenhoe” tbh, reads like a combo of Spinrad’s dumbest ideas + some heavy-handed moralizing.
so... I came around on this one, largely due to the excellence of Compton's prose and the depths of his characterizations. This is ultimately a character study wrapped around some old school Christian humanism, the sf elements largely being just background/window-dressing. Some of that is arbitrary and/or poorly defined but ultimately it doesn't matter much. He is definitely a much better writer than Spinrad. While the premise and general UK 70s malaise setting are, I guess, kind of Ballardian, Compton's overall approach and tone are nothing like Ballard's alternately cold or bemused detachment. Will read Synthajoy if I come across a copy.
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 June 2019 20:34 (five years ago) link
Wish Spinrad was a better writer.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 17 June 2019 20:57 (five years ago) link
I like some of his stuff quite a bit but he is even more hit or miss than, um, a lot of other writers in the field, and that’s saying something.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 17 June 2019 20:58 (five years ago) link
I've only read some of his short pieces (which were fine) and Bug Jack Barron (which was awful)
― Οὖτις, Monday, 17 June 2019 21:07 (five years ago) link
Finally gave away my copy of The Iron Dream, accepting peacefully I will never actually read it
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Monday, 17 June 2019 23:57 (five years ago) link
Liked it in high school, have been leery of rereading.One I really liked of his was The Void Captain’s Tale, which delivers on its provocative premise and doesn’t flag stylistically or at least doesn’t annoy, although I couldn’t get into its sequel, Child of Fortune, which is written in the same fashion.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 18 June 2019 02:01 (five years ago) link
has anyone read ada palmer's too like the lightning, and does it become less insufferable than the first 20 pages is?
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 13:41 (five years ago) link
objections: a grating 18th century prose style with frequent asides to the reader; copious chandleresque unexplained in-universe words and concepts; ridiculous names (martin guildbreaker, saneer-weeksbooth); frequent references to theology and theological concepts.
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 13:51 (five years ago) link
also, magic.
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 13:52 (five years ago) link
She had donned her boots too, tall, taut Humanist boots patterned with a flowing brush-pen landscape, the kind with winding banks and misty mountains that the eye gets lost in. Any Humanist transforms, grows stronger, prouder, when they don the Hive boots which stamp each Member’s signature into the dust of history, but if others change from house cat to regal tiger, Thisbe becomes something more extreme...kill me now
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 13:58 (five years ago) link
Jack Vance it ain’t.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 14:04 (five years ago) link
so i'm winding my banks, goin' to misty mountain
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 16:55 (five years ago) link
yeah I checked out at around that point ledge
seemed like it might be a cool concept but nah
― Number None, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 18:53 (five years ago) link
I LOVE COMMAS! This sentence I'm working on is SO BEAUTIFUL thanks to commas, and would be utterly incomprehensible without.now back to work. #writerslife— Ada Palmer (@Ada_Palmer) June 18, 2019
― mookieproof, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 19:10 (five years ago) link
sentence construction how do it wrok
― Οὖτις, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 19:21 (five years ago) link
There was a post or two by Martin S that I would read reasonably often about who could write and who couldn’t but I don’t recall her being mentioned there pro or con.
― TS The Students vs. The Regents (James Redd and the Blecchs), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
I'm reading the new Adrian Tchaikovsky, Children of Ruin. This time it's sentient octopuses!
Won't make any grand claims for the dude's writing, but I love 'uplift' as a concept in general and he clearly puts some work into figuring out the nuts and bolts
― Number None, Wednesday, 19 June 2019 20:55 (five years ago) link
I’ve been meaning to read that guy for years
― valet doberman (Jon not Jon), Thursday, 20 June 2019 00:41 (five years ago) link
Read his Walking to Aldebaran novella recently, which was not bad. Some very interesting ideas/concepts, but all deflated/undercut by the irritating bluff no-nonsense man's man narrator
― And according to some websites, there were “sexcapades.” (James Morrison), Thursday, 20 June 2019 01:23 (five years ago) link
― The Pingularity (ledge), Wednesday, 19 June 2019 13:51 (yesterday) Permalink
man from this description i was hyped for whatever this is but the sentences you quote afterwards did not live up it
She had donned her boots too, tall, taut Humanist boots patterned with a flowing brush-pen landscape, the kind with winding banks and misty mountains that the eye gets lost in. Any Humanist transforms, grows stronger, prouder, when they don the Hive boots which stamp each Member’s signature into the dust of history, but if others change from house cat to regal tiger, Thisbe becomes something more extreme...
idk if the punctuation of a definition as if it were an adverb in the first sentence is the worst thing or if the defining relative clause boner in the second is the worst thing. if you love commas set them free i guess
― the ghost of tom, choad (thomp), Thursday, 20 June 2019 02:04 (five years ago) link