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Mix. posted:This might be kind of a weird question, but does anybody have any youtube channel recs for people who talk about sci fi stuff and are, like, actually worth watching/listening to? I follow a couple of book youtubers that I like but their focus leans a lot more towards general fiction (thriller, romance, genre agnostic stories, etc) and while they do sometimes hit fantasy (usually urban) sci fi is basically nonexistent besides occasionally going 'and then i learned X book used to be reylo fic' Steve Shives talks about Star Trek a lot and is a good egg.
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May 24, 2024 02:13
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| # ? May 25, 2024 03:48 |
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Never really heard of Harrison or the Virconium books. Sounds pretty cool though. Should one start with The Pastel City?
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May 24, 2024 13:17
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A Proper Uppercut posted:Never really heard of Harrison or the Virconium books. Sounds pretty cool though. Should one start with The Pastel City? Don't think it matters. It's more variations on a theme than story continuity genericnick fucked around with this message at 14:35 on May 24, 2024 |
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May 24, 2024 13:41
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Just bought this edition: so I can get on this Viriconium train
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May 24, 2024 14:13
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Start with The Pastel City yeah They're not directly connected but it's a lighter read that eases you into his style and is really good and funny too.
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May 24, 2024 14:34
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I'd absolutely start with The Pastel City because it'll give you a foundation that 2nd book builds from. And it's also really good all on its own I'm onto In Viriconium (book 3) and it's good but way different. It again feels like a direct response to the previous book, only this time in the opposite direction. It is much more grounded, to the point where you could set it in London or Paris with very few edits The weirdness is still there but in the periphery. I get the sense Harrison didn't want to be pigeonholed in a particular style StrixNebulosa posted:Just bought this edition: This is the copy I have. imo you should skip the Neil Gaiman foreward. It's longwinded and honestly not that great of an intro, and it kinda put me off of continuing on when I read it.
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May 24, 2024 18:42
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I just started the audiobook for Eversion. Going in pretty much blind, but I was not expecting the main character being something like a time traveling Dr. Maturin? That's probably not correct but it's a strong start.
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May 24, 2024 19:04
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WarpDogs posted:This is the copy I have. imo you should skip the Neil Gaiman foreward. It's longwinded and honestly not that great of an intro, and it kinda put me off of continuing on when I read it. Don't worry, I won't be reading anything by Neil Gaiman - I've yet to forgive him for his Sandman crimes
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May 24, 2024 19:16
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Finally getting into Light after having it on my list for years. Main takeaway so far is man, this guy loves tusks.
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May 24, 2024 19:21
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A Proper Uppercut posted:I just started the audiobook for Eversion. It's a good one. When the story all comes together it was satisfying, Reynolds is hit or miss there and this one's a hit. There's some great imagery throughout and it just keeps getting better til the end. Solid book. OptionalPirate posted:Finally getting into Light after having it on my list for years. Main takeaway so far is man, this guy loves tusks. There are so many weird little worldbuildy details like that sprinkled throughout. It's a great vision of the future. I plan to read the next one soon, after my Viriconium reread binge. I have all three Viriconium books in old paperback form and love them dearly. Glad the thread is on a Harrison kick. What a master he is.
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May 24, 2024 20:12
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While the Viriconium intro by Gaiman is not great and yeah I’m with Strix on Sandman Crimes (assuming she’s talking about the TV adaptation), we do have to acknowledge that he’s pretty much single-handedly responsible for bringing Harrison back into the public eye, along with thread favorites like Hope Mirrlees. Whatever we may say of him now, he did English genre lit a great service with his period where he went super hard on dragging obscure but brilliant writers back into the light.
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May 24, 2024 21:12
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Kestral posted:While the Viriconium intro by Gaiman is not great and yeah I’m with Strix on Sandman Crimes (assuming she’s talking about the TV adaptation), we do have to acknowledge that he’s pretty much single-handedly responsible for bringing Harrison back into the public eye, along with thread favorites like Hope Mirrlees. Whatever we may say of him now, he did English genre lit a great service with his period where he went super hard on dragging obscure but brilliant writers back into the light. No, Neil Gaiman sucks for the final volume of his sandman comic. I've never done a 180 so hard on liking something before - went from a classic and a favorite to a total piece of poo poo. I'm using extreme language, but I haven't read the comic in over five years and just thinking about it makes me furious.
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May 24, 2024 21:19
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Kestral posted:While the Viriconium intro by Gaiman is not great and yeah I’m with Strix on Sandman Crimes (assuming she’s talking about the TV adaptation), we do have to acknowledge that he’s pretty much single-handedly responsible for bringing Harrison back into the public eye, along with thread favorites like Hope Mirrlees. Whatever we may say of him now, he did English genre lit a great service with his period where he went super hard on dragging obscure but brilliant writers back into the light. It wasn't all Gaiman. I first started reading Harrison because Michael Moorcock raved about how brilliant he was in Wizardry and Wild Romance.
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May 24, 2024 21:49
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Selachian posted:It wasn't all Gaiman. I first started reading Harrison because Michael Moorcock raved about how brilliant he was in Wizardry and Wild Romance. That came out in ‘87, the Gaiman revival thing was in the early 2000s after he’d kind of fallen into obscurity again. Props to Moorcock for having great taste in science-fantasy, his being a Viriconium fan makes a lot of sense.
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May 24, 2024 21:52
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I just ordered the Virconium omnibus too. This thread costs me nearly as much money as the Fresh Releases thread in Games.
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May 24, 2024 21:59
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That title keeps loving with me every time I scroll through new posts, there is a paralytic called "vecuronium" that we thankfully don't use anymore in my clinical setting and I get flashbacks to some pretty dicey situations.
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May 24, 2024 23:24
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WarpDogs posted:This is the copy I have. imo you should skip the Neil Gaiman foreward. It's longwinded and honestly not that great of an intro, and it kinda put me off of continuing on when I read it. Retroactively add this as a Pre-Foreword to every Gaiman Foreword. They're all loving terrible.
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May 24, 2024 23:31
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Gaimans intros are his most interesting writings. His own work is terrible and can be safely discarded, the intros are a fascinating look into the mind of someone who has objectively good taste but no seeming ability to comprehend why he or anyone else loves the stories he prefaces or what the contents of the stories contained even mean.
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May 24, 2024 23:37
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Kestral posted:While the Viriconium intro by Gaiman is not great and yeah I’m with Strix on Sandman Crimes (assuming she’s talking about the TV adaptation), we do have to acknowledge that he’s pretty much single-handedly responsible for bringing Harrison back into the public eye, along with thread favorites like Hope Mirrlees. Whatever we may say of him now, he did English genre lit a great service with his period where he went super hard on dragging obscure but brilliant writers back into the light. I really do not like Gaiman's narrative voice or his ideas, but I have heard he's done this type of thing with a lot of authors and I think it's great
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May 24, 2024 23:42
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Gaius Marius posted:Gaimans intros are his most interesting writings. His own work is terrible and can be safely discarded, the intros are a fascinating look into the mind of someone who has objectively good taste but no seeming ability to comprehend why he or anyone else loves the stories he prefaces or what the contents of the stories contained even mean. Are you saying gods literally representing things and being moody and at war with new gods who are moody and literally... I did think there might something in writing the "belief creates gods" thing, and the seeming failure (as far as I know (I know very little)) in relation to current belief. Specifically a fat man with sauce stains on his band t-shirt, wearing a pink tutu; The Woods Porn Fairy. fake edit: also putting money on the word objective getting a new dictionary entry within about a decade as "Objective: Literally means subjective."
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May 24, 2024 23:53
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I liked American Gods and Neverwhere and the Good Omens TV show ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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May 25, 2024 00:07
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Good Omens is amazing and a delightful book I also remember reading somewhere that both authors had a lot of fun writing it together and that makes me really happy 
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May 25, 2024 00:12
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Mrenda posted:Are you saying gods literally representing things and being moody and at war with new gods who are moody and literally... did gaiman use literally too much? been a long time since I read American Gods
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May 25, 2024 00:17
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I think Neverwhere was pretty cool. I liked Good Omens but the TV show came out decades later and I have no interest in it. The Neverwhere TV show is decent in a kind of grown up Dr. Who way. The book with the gods, Thorsday and all that was the first of his I read. I enjoyed it at the time. I don't connect to him as much as Pratchett, or some other authors. That's a high bar though. He's fine. I think Neverwhere would stand up as a single modern "creation" I've engaged with personally, and seriously, across most media; three in comic book, TV show, and book. I haven't done that with Hitchhiker's to me that's a book no matter what you say. Asterix and Discworld as a body of work across most media. Lucifer, from what I can recall, is Gaiman's best work and he wasn't really involved. Just as a quick response within SFF, which does endear itself to multi-media. I think I tried reading Anansi Boys a few years after my main Gaiman engagement and didn't finish it. Only now I am I getting any association with the term "Nancy Boy." (good placebo song.) Reading back I think Gaiman is very Dr. Who style British from a later establishing point.
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May 25, 2024 00:28
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The only Gaiman thing that I really enjoyed was American Gods. That was an awesome book, or at least I thought so when I last read it ~15 years ago. I tried to watch the Good Omens show but it just felt way too pleased with itself and I gave up after a few episodes.
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May 25, 2024 00:37
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StrixNebulosa posted:No, Neil Gaiman sucks for the final volume of his sandman comic. I've never done a 180 so hard on liking something before - went from a classic and a favorite to a total piece of poo poo. I'm using extreme language, but I haven't read the comic in over five years and just thinking about it makes me furious.
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May 25, 2024 00:57
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StrixNebulosa posted:No, Neil Gaiman sucks for the final volume of his sandman comic. I've never done a 180 so hard on liking something before - went from a classic and a favorite to a total piece of poo poo. I'm using extreme language, but I haven't read the comic in over five years and just thinking about it makes me furious. it's been a long time since I last read sandman so I can't remember, what put you off so bad in the final volume?
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May 25, 2024 00:59
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I like Gaiman's stuff, mostly.
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May 25, 2024 01:01
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StrixNebulosa posted:No, Neil Gaiman sucks for the final volume of his sandman comic. I've never done a 180 so hard on liking something before - went from a classic and a favorite to a total piece of poo poo. I'm using extreme language, but I haven't read the comic in over five years and just thinking about it makes me furious. Wait like from the original run? I'm fascinated, what made you hate it so much if you don't mind ? Edit: lol beaten but I generally align with strix's taste in things so I'm genuinely interested to see what she hated. Its been a few years since I read it but I don't recall the ending swerving much from the main run in tone.
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May 25, 2024 01:46
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StrixNebulosa posted:Good Omens is amazing and a delightful book My college roommate and I used to read it out loud to each other taking the parts of Aziriphale and Crowley respectively and would just laugh and laugh. Such fun writing.
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May 25, 2024 01:49
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