Looking for Jake (with spoliers)

[Oxman]

Well, here's my brief opinions on the stories I've read.

Looking for Jake
My very first experience of this writer, so I was unsure what to expect. The lack of quotation marks immediately irked me, but the storytelling won me over. I was curious about the situation and what had caused it (which never became apparent). I wanted the narrator to feel more afraid, and to share this with the reader, but his loneliness and inquisitive nature were the predominant emotions. A good opener, from which you can invent a thousand different conclusions of your own imaginination.

Foundation
Fantastic. I've loved the idea of "eternal punishment" ever since I read some of the Greek myths as a child. Sinister and desperate, I literally couldn't tear my eyes away from this.

The Ball Room
Solid for its conveying of the human character and personal feelings. The events take a back seat, but remain ever present in a mystifying and slightly chilling way. I've been to IKEA recently too and don't think I'll look ath the children's area in quite the same way again.

Reports of certain events in London
Totally original. Takes some getting into, but worth it. As Knivesout has previously mentioned, Mieville incorporates himself into the story very cleverly and, while the subject matter is probably too bizarre to find uncomfortable, the authour does a very good job.

Familiar
I like the POV and the development, but the concept itself is a little bland. At least it's concise

Entry taken from a medical encyclopædia
Intersting, once you remove this piece of work away from it's surrounding story. I liked it, but found my self scanning through bits of it, rather than actually reading it.

Details
I liked this. A lot. Horror concealed amongst normality, showing how people can be desperate for things and how far they will go to get them. The direction of this tale didn't quite go as I expected either, so I was pleasantly (or should I say unpleasantly) surprised by the outcome.

Go Between
This has an Intriguing premise. The should he/shouldn't he aspect is very well done, prompting a would you/wouldn't you discussion inside your own head. the justification that the central character gives for whatever action he takes is always counterbalanced by a niggling doubt, which is a great for the reader. Kept me hooked and the open ending once again leaves you to draw your own conclusions.

I'm looking forward to exploring the rest of the book.

[Nesacat]

I just finished with all the stories bu the novella. It's the Mieville I've read and I have GOLLUM to blame/thank for this.

Looking For Jake
I loved the tale, especially the way it was written. It's a quiet melancholy sort of tale and it has a gentle rhythm. he paints a clear picture of the city from the roof and the loneliness as well as ultimate curiousity of the narrrator is tangible. The story ends well and yet offers the reader many alternatives.

Foundation
One of my favourites since it struck a very deep chord. It is an old belief that blood in the foundations of structures will give it strength and in many places this is unfortunately still a practise. And even when it is not bloody accidents seem to happen on construction sites claiming lives and spilling blood. This tale brought to the fore all the memories of such tales and in the end I found myself as unnerved and shaken as the protagonist and greatly sympathised with his plight. How terrible to come up against such a thing, that wants nothing.

"They are not there to taunt or punish or teach him, or to exact revenge or blood-price, they are not enraged or restless. They are the foundation of everything around him. Without them it would crumble. They have seen him, and taught him to see and they want nothing from him."

The Ball Room
You know I've always thought there was something not quite right about those glass rooms filled with coloured balls. They lie there in drifts and piles and you can't see below them or through them. Children come and they go spilling their joy into the room and then they go, leaving the room and all those balls alone. Who knows what it feels then and what it might do to keep the laughter and the bright playfulness. For me this tale definitely has the creep factor and preys on old fears perhaps.

Reports Of Certain Events In London
I liked the idea of Mieville being in the tale. Gives it an odd spin but I do believe it could have been a much deeper, more enigmatic story. It was too disjointed in places and in the end you're left not quite knowing what is happening though the photos do give some idea. It's a good premise and could certainly have been developed further. I liked the idea of renegade streets wandering across the world fighting each other for some strange kind of dominance and I really liked that the people did not notice. It had me looking around carefully in the streets as i walked wandering what I'd been missing.

Familiar
I like the way the story grows and the tight structure. But it's probably one of the weakest stories and is really rather bland and pointless. What I liked best were the descriptions of the creature and the uses it put things too. All in all i was glad it was as short as it was.

Entry Taken From A Medical Enclyclopaedia
An interesting way to tell a tale and it proffers a short sharp shock. I find myself skipping through some portions but on the whole it read pretty well.

Details
Definitely one of my favourites. The horror concealed among mudane, everyday things. Waiting and watching but going unoticed in turn. Very Lovecraftian in that here is someone who has looked perhaps too closely at the underlying details of the universe and has seen the terrible truth. And it brings out that old truth. Sometimes we never notice a thing but when you finally do it, you realise with a deepening dread that it's really everywhere. The story is built well and the feeling of horrow grows in tandem. I could see the faces in the trees, in the wave of cloth, in the cement between the bricks of the garden wall. Funny how they've always been there and been taken for granted. And yes, I too found myself paying more attention to the details of my surroundings.

Go Between
A very intriguing tale and very fitting the times we live in. Should he do it or should he not. And if he does what then? Or perhaps it's better not to? It's very real the emotions and the swing between the delusions of importance and grandeur and the sheer fear of not knowing but always, suspecting, always fearing what might or might not be. Far easier to believe in the existence of fire-breathing dragons and fairies at the bottom of the garden than to exist in this state of perpetual doubt.

Different Skies
I loved this tale for the resemblance to Lovecraft. A window that looks out upon a different place and time. And yet it is a time and place that is also somehow not only able to see us but encroach upon our world as home. The old man's home is no longer his sanctuary. It's familiar walls and angles hide a menace. The window draws out long forgotten fears and hurts. The characters are well developed and alive. I wish he'd not ended it the way he did though. It seemed terribly abrubt somehow and out of character for the old man. But perhaps in the end it was all he could do or perhaps it was something he felt he simply had to do to somehow wrest his home and life back.

An End To Hunger
The premise was a good one and I personally distrust such online organisations. However I felt that the story rambled on for far too long and much of the colourful language was really unnecessary. The language gave the story a very disjointed broken feel and while I understand that it gave shape to the character of Aykan, a great deal could have been trimmed. The ending was pretty vague but that does work in the sense that anything the reader imagine is probably going to be so much more terrible.

'Tis The Season
We may not be there yet but if the speed at which commercialisation is moving keeps up, we might end up having to own stock before we can celebrate Christmas. I like the tonhue in cheek manner in which the tale is told and found it an entirely believeable tale. A fun read this one though rather scary to think about.

Jack
More of an idea than a story I think and it carries itself on it's very descriptive language. Feels like it is a part of a bigger whole and got cut out and turned into a short story. What caught me was the acknowledgement that "people need something, you know, to escape. They need something to make them feel free. It's good for us, it's necessary. The city needs it. But there comes a time when it has to end."
I sometimes feel that this is indeed frighteningly true.

On The Way To The Front
I like the artwork but I'm not quite sure what's going on. Will give it another read and see.

Am going to read Tain tonight.

[j. d. worthington]

Very nice capsule views of the stories, Nesa... And I agree wholeheartedly with most... I did like "Jack", but I held off reading that particular story until I'd read PSS, so it had more impact for me. But some of your own phrasing of things here is rather impressive, as well. Keep the reviews coming... they are always insightful, intriguing, and quite beautifully written. As Gollum once said to me: "Post often, and post long".....

[the smiling weirwood]

As for "Go Between", all I can say is, WHY DID HE NOT OPEN THE PACKAGE?!?!?

[GOLLUM]

Hey Nesa, that's a very good review of this Mieville compilation you've created.

You seem to have a natural flair for this kind of thing, keep up the good work I'm sure it's appreciated by many members here.

I'm glad you liked my recommendation to read Mieville. Now if you have not read anything by Gene Wolfe, there's a master of the SFF Genre you will very much want to become accquaunted with.

[Nesacat]

The Tain
I' glad this tale is as short as it is. It's impact is tremendous for being pared down to the essentials. There are no surplus words or sentences or paragraphs. Everything that was said was essential and mattered. I could imagine Mieville sitting there and paring it down until it was lean and hit hard.

I started this novella and didn't stop until the end. Again, my love for this story stems from old memories and beliefs. The Borges references aside, mirrors play a big role in Eastern myth and superstition. Many won't sleep with beds facing mirrors and if there is no choice, then the mirrors are covered at night. It is said that mirrors are doorways and at night, all that lives behind the mirror may slip out and use your sleeping body if it can see and get to you. Mirrors are hung above doorways of homes and shops to ward away evil spirits. It is believed that they do not care to see themselves as they can be trapped by the mirror.

And for the longest time, I've been fascinated by mirrors. They show us everything in opposites and sometimes out of the corner of your eye, you are sure there's something else. Something not quite right, that was maybe a second off in timing. Bathroom mirrors especially. The space of time when you bend down to the sink and cannot see the mirror. Who knows what might be happening.

Reflections, like shadows, are something we all take for granted. It's there. It's always there. It's a slave almost with no mind of its own. It can only mimic. Terror, horror; those things come from elsewhere. The mugger on the street, the terrorist on a plane, the drunk driver; the cat burglar, the rapist or killer. We know how to watch for those. In one way or another we are attuned to these terrors. But our reflections? Those are never unexpected, never shocking. It is there is every shiny surface, in every sliver of glass. It's a constant anywhere in the world. Faithful and familiar to the point of perhaps being totally ignored.

And perhaps this is where the true terror lies. That something so mundane should actually have a life of it own and hate us with all it's heart. That it would spend all the years of human civilisation nursing that hatred, waiting to break out and revenge itself upon us, its unknowing torturers. They have been compelled to do or suffer whatever we have done when we have looked at our reflections. It was a humiliation and a punishment for them, and became infinitely worse once humanity discovered the tain, the silvering on the back of mirrors.

"Every house became Versailles. Every house a hall of mirrors."

Mass-production of the source of their pain made the last few centuries a source of particular bitterness for them, and so they found a way to break free from their mirror-world into our own, where they created the havoc which engulfs London.

The familiar now becomes a fearful thing. Fear becomes an almost physical thing in a city stripped of all that made it a home and a sanctuary. I was constantly aware of how watchful Sholl has to be, how much his few possessions mattered, and how much has been stripped away from everyday life since the cataclysm which changed everything.

There's the striking image of a city where nothing reflects - not the Thames, not shop windows, not even puddles on the pavement. There are brief, surreal glimpses of disembodied hands or lips, partial reflections given autonomous life.

The imagos reminded me of how much there is around us all the time that we forget to give any attention. They say that the observer shapes the world around her. By observing a particle, we can force it to collapse to a particular location, but that doesn't mean we actually care where it is.

We collectively reshape the world around us, but how rarely do any of us stop to see what we've created. But what if the world is observing us? If the woman in the mirror could talk, how wanting would she tell me I am?

Then again, if I look closely at her, what do I see? She is empty, a shell without substance. But isn't she just like me? According to The Tain, she started out free, but was cursed to abandon her own nature to conform to human society. Which side of the mirror am I on?

Thank you kindly GOLLUM and j.d.

I'm reading Ramsey Campbell's Cold Print now among other things but I do have Mieville's Scar and was wondering if that could be read without having read Perdido Street Station.

[j. d. worthington]

Again, a lovely review of one of Mieville's tales... I can't say how happy I am that you've started doing this sort of thing, Nesa... Gollum's right, you have a real flair for this, and bring your own thoughts about the meanings behind what you read.... Very refreshing, and I owe you much for bringing my attention to several books either through these reviews, or other comments you've provided... Thank you.

[GOLLUM]

Originally Posted by Nesacat

I'm reading Ramsey Campbell's Cold Print now among other things but I do have Mieville's Scar and was wondering if that could be read without having read Perdido Street Station.

In a way but I would still recommend reading PSS first as you'll have a better grounding of the urban landscape. My advice is to read the 3 novels in the order of publication.

[Nesacat]

Perdido Street Station is on the way and I already have Scar. I'm going to go look for Iron Council as soon as I am out and about again. I hope Borders has it. Am slao waiting on the Malazan books.

You mentioned Gene Wolfe GOLLUM. I have read only two books and that a long time ago. The Fifth Head of Cerberus and There Are Doors. Any suggestions for reading Gene Wolfe?

[j. d. worthington]

I'll jump in here, Nesa... First, I'd strongly suggest Wolfe's multi-volume Book of the New Sun: The Shadow of the Torturer, The Claw of the Conciliator, The Sword of the Lictor and Citadel of the Autarch; these are among the richest modern fantasy writings... Also, for a rather odd but fascinating collection of stories, The Island of Doctor Death and Other Stories and Other Stories, as well as the novel Soldier of the Mist and so on... There's some good stuff on Wolfe here to help...

The Book of the New Sun has been collected together into two volumes, as I recall, as part of the Fantasy Masterworks series...

[GOLLUM]

Yes JD is right. Book of the New Sun is my favourite Wolfe work and it is available from Masterworks in 2 volumes (2 books/volume). Highly recommended Science Fantasy that made it into my top 10 Chronicles list at No. 2 behind Erikson's Memories Of Ice.

The Soldier reference JD makes is part of the duolgoy entitled Latro In The Mist. Really good fantasy tale set in Ancient times about a man who loses his memory the following morning and is therefore forced to write down his experiences at the end of every day. Gene is due to publish the third Soldier book in the next month or so. The "Island Of" is a good collection but his other collection Tales From The Old Hotel of lesser known works Gene has a particular fondness for is worth seeking out.

I don't want to derial this thread any further so can I suggest you check out the Wolfe subforum where I and other members have comments about all of these books....

[rune]

Ive finally got my hands on this book, it seemed to be out of stock for ages, but at last Ive got it