April's Anticipated Ascent of Aspiringly Artful Words

[AE35Unit]

Started reading The Drowned World by J G Ballard. I read it years ago, its like an old friend revisited!

[Fried Egg]

While spending my free time during the day reading Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler", I will be terrifying myself in the evenings with stories from Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird Stories".

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

I'm curious myself - I read those recently so I might even remember what you'd be talking about.



You shouldn't be disappointed. Saw from the Hauls thread that you'd also picked up Silverberg's The Stochastic Man - very solid book. Sometimes Silverberg's books start great for me but don't always fulfill their promise. IIRC, that one held steady.

Having just finished my first S&S collection of Leiber i can see why he is so highly rated, why those characters,their series are such classics in the field. They reminded why i love certain different fantasy stories. The best stories were in that collection so imaginative,picturesque,witty and still have S&S hardcore feel. Made me think it was reading like if Vance or Zelazny Dying Earth or Amber was written in S&S subgenre.

Speaking about The Stochastic Man, it was an impulse buy because the book sounded like the smart SF i like. I have Downward book you read recently of Silverberg and the library has only his science fantasy series. I want to try Silverberg with a stand alone SF book. Convince who he is as a writer with this bookl

[Randy M.]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

While spending my free time during the day reading Italo Calvino's "If on a winter's night a traveler", I will be terrifying myself in the evenings with stories from Harlan Ellison's "Deathbird Stories".

Both in my TBR. I just recently reread Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" in an anthology. The first time I read it, over 30 years ago, I had such a visceral reaction to it, that I avoided Ellison's writing for years. And the reaction wasn't because it's a bad story, but because it's so powerful and angry.

Now I just find TWoWD powerful, the anger just and reasonable. I think it also echoes nicely off Fritz Leiber's "Smoke Ghost," as though the older story may have provided something of a template.


Randy M.

[Mangara]

Finnish Ark by Stephen Baxter, very gritty and dark. Now onto The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.

[Grunkins]

Finished up The Dirdir by Vance last night (sorry, Connavar, still have The Pnume to read before I can rank them for you).

On to Theft of Swords, Michael J. Sullivan's Ryria omnibus.

[ScottSF]

Finally Finished A Dance With Dragons after putting down for a few months. If you like the world martin created, you'll be happy. If you like ALL the characters, you'll be happy. If you liked the Story of ASOIAF then you might be a little frustrated as the momentum is still a bit defused. There's good stuff in there still it just feels like story lines need to regroup and consolidate.

[Fried Egg]

Originally Posted by Randy M.

Both in my TBR. I just recently reread Ellison's "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" in an anthology. The first time I read it, over 30 years ago, I had such a visceral reaction to it, that I avoided Ellison's writing for years. And the reaction wasn't because it's a bad story, but because it's so powerful and angry.

Now I just find TWoWD powerful, the anger just and reasonable.

It certainly is a powerful story. I've just finished it. He certainly put across his message clearly. I don't think I can say I enjoyed it, as it is not a story to be enjoyed, but it was very effective and well done.

[FireDragon-16]

I picked up Steel by Carrie Vaughn at the library. Not too far into it, but it's pretty interesting so far.

Also picked up Infamous by Sherilyn Kenyon. Haven't cracked it yet, but the rest of the series has been good, so I'm looking forward to it.

[j. d. worthington]

Originally Posted by Fried Egg

It certainly is a powerful story. I've just finished it. He certainly put across his message clearly. I don't think I can say I enjoyed it, as it is not a story to be enjoyed, but it was very effective and well done.

If you feel this way about "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" (not my favorite among Ellison's works, as I feel it has both great strengths and great weaknesses), I would imagine you'll really be able to sink your teeth into the rest of this collection....

[gully_foyle]

Finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute; thank god there were no sharp objects handy or I would be sending this from the sweet hereafter. Now starting The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon, having enjoyed most of The Yiddish Policemans' Union when I read it last year.

[Vertigo]

Originally Posted by gully_foyle

Finished On the Beach by Nevil Shute; thank god there were no sharp objects handy or I would be sending this from the sweet hereafter.

I'm curious Gully; was that because you hated the book, it was too depressing or (spoiler) because ultimately everything was completely futile?

[D_Davis]

The Queen's Gambit, by Walter Tevis

Beth Harmon is an orphan, an addict, and somewhat obsessive; she was also a child prodigy, and is the best chess player in the world. And, through the words written by Walter Tevis, she is also one of the most fascinating female protagonists I've ever encountered. Throughout this coming-of-age/sports narrative, Beth Harmon comes face-to-face with sexism and communism, blunders her way through awkward social interactions, and struggles through a series of very normal dramatic events. The book does not feature Lifetime-movie-of-the-week-sized peeks and valleys of human drama, but instead works on a smaller scale while still maintaining thrills and tension on almost every page.

Walter Tevis uses what is probably the most readable and transparent style I've ever read. Never once was I reminded that I was reading a book; it was as if the narrative was being broadcast directly from my brain. The pages vanished, and the words conveyed everything in a fashion not completely unlike osmosis. His prose is deceptively simple, straightforward, and direct; I absolutely love concrete language, and The Queen's Gambit is full of it.

What is most remarkable is how tense, exciting, and thrilling the story is. And what's most remarkable about that is that most of those moments come in the form of detailed descriptions of chess games. It is obvious that Walter Tevis knows the game of chess, and he writes about it in such a way that a simple move of a pawn to Queen's Bishop Four becomes as dramatic an event as a lone warrior standing his ground against an army of three-hundred.

I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being my favorite book of the year. I haven't enjoyed a book this much since reading Lonesome Dove in 2011. I'd recommend this book to just about anyone, especially anyone who has even the slightest interest in chess, game theory, and the spirit of competition.

[nomadman]

Originally Posted by J-Sun

In the early-middle of Zelazny's Dilvish, the Damned - this isn't my kind of thing, really, and I actually got it (and the companion novel) out of a free bin (luck!) just because it starts with a few stories from the 60s... and was free. But it's pretty good so far. It's kind of like a combination of a bit of the usual fantasy that I don't much like, but with dashes of Leiber and Moore that I do.

Christopher Priest would hate it, though - it has a talking horse. (Or a sort of horse - but it definitely talks.)

Not a bad series. Fun to pass the time with, but not up to the general standard of his best work. Gardens of Blood (I think that's what it's called) is a pretty good story, as is another involving a sentient city with shifting streets and so on. Kind of odd the rather faux-mythic style the early stories start with before settling into the standard Zelazny rhythm of prose.

[nomadman]

Finished M John Harrison's The Course of the Heart a few days ago. I have mixed feelings about Harrison. He's a writer of supreme skill, capable of eliciting more of less any emotion he desires from the reader, but his works always leave me feeling so depressed afterward -- a sort of residue of hopelessness that clings to me for a few days before evaporating. It's powerful stuff, and thoughtful stuff, but by God if it doesn't put you through the wringer.

Anyway, the book itself is recommended, less intensively dark than Light, more prone to tender moments of reflection and reminiscence, and very readable (a quality of Harrison's that tends to get overlooked). In a nutshell it's about a trio of friends who, sometime during their university years, engaged in an occult ritual that opened them up to another world known as the Pleroma. There's a bit of Crowley-esque "magick" involved, but the bulk of the novel is taken up with each of the three friends coming to grips with the effects of the experiment, and more pertinently with their lost dreams, their wasted lives.

There are some really tender moments here, and a sort of aching wistfulness for the past and for what might have been. Some very scatalogical moments too, as per Harrison. And some parts that make you feel empty inside. It's a book that demands a response, that's for sure.