rolling fantasy, science fiction, speculative fiction &c. thread

possibly my favorite living+working writer

that one's not in English yet unfortunately

B-b-but what about Michael Moorcock?

Awesome obviously but age has slowed him. I did enjoy modem times.

Some of you might be interested in ebook of Elizabeth Hand's "Waking The Moon" for $1.99 at Amazon today.

From Toronto Comic-Com: Lego Batman lookin satisfied with the fare (plenty back-bacon and Molson's in The Great White North)

http://images.thezooom.com/uploads/2014/04/Lego-Batman-Costume-at-Toronto-Comic-Con-2014.jpg

But still on duty!

So I read that Vandermeer Time Traveller's Almanac. Pretty disappointing, didn't have the same stamp of class or quality that their Weird anthology did. I daresay that's partly because it's a much more limiting genre - certainly reading 65 such stories in a row underlined the ridiculousness of the whole concept - but really it seemed as though their selection actually went out of its way to confirm Sturgeon's law. So many mundane stories of using time travel to rescue a relationship. A handful of stories with at best an extremely oblique link to time travel, e.g. The Gernsback Continuum (it's great, it's not time travel) and a Douglas Adams story with a one line reference to TT and a really lame punchline. What rankled most of all was the inclusion of two 50+ page stories by Harry Turtledove, a diptych of the same idiotic and boring story told from two points of view (the narrator travelled back into his own past - to fix his relationship! by trying to pass as his 20 year younger self and sleep with his old girlfriend now ex wife! - so we got the traveller's version and his younger self's). Once was bad enough, when I realised the whole story was basically getting repeated I nearly ate my ereader. I have to quote some of its facepalming attempts to get into the mind of a 90s college student:

“What’s the story, morning glory?” Justin said – Megan was wild for Oasis. He liked British pop, too, though he preferred Pulp, as someone of his parents’ generation might have liked the Stones more than the Beatles.

They both eyed the deejay’s booth, which was as yet uninhabited. “Who’s it supposed to be tonight?” Megan asked. Before Justin could answer, she went on, “I hope it’s Helen. She plays the best mix of anybody, and she’s not afraid to spin things you don’t hear every day.”
“I dunno,” Justin said. “I like Douglas better, I think. He won’t scramble tempos the way Helen does sometimes. You can really dance when he’s playing things. [...] She and Justin analyzed and second-guessed deejays the way football fans played Monday-morning quarterback. Their arguments got just as abstruse and sometimes just as heated, too. Megan didn’t drop it cold here: she said, “As long as it’s not Michael.”

100 pages wasted that could have been filled with The Merchant and The Alchemist's Gate or The Great Work of Time, to name but two.

It wasn't all bad, there were maybe four great stories including a classic Le Guin, and a handful of others I would save from the flames. The rest can burn.

“What’s the story, morning glory?” Justin said – Megan was wild for Oasis. He liked British pop, too, though he preferred Pulp, as someone of his parents’ generation might have liked the Stones more than the Beatles.

hahahaha this sentence

Harry Turtledove is 65 so he's basically writing that sentence for his own benefit.

I prefer "She plays the best mix of anybody, and she’s not afraid to spin things you don’t hear every day." though.

My sympathies, definitely. Haven't read that one, but same experience with other anths. Re Chaing and Crowley, you might also like Vandana Singh's "Infinities":
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/singh_02_14_reprint/

*Chiang*, that is! Respect!

Good call. Just finished DFW's Everything and More, that was a nice & pertinent little palate cleanser.

finished Malzberg's Breakfast in the Ruins (def a must-read critical overview of the genre), moving through R.A. Lafferty's "Strange Doings" which is pretty high quality. He's got a very unusual authorial voice, it strikes me as very Twilight Zone-ish, there seems to be a lot of nudging-and-winking going on about human follies and foibles; also some very strangely bleak and nasty undertones. "World Abounding" is the most overtly sci-fi entry so far.

After that I have a Damon Knight collection coming to me from the library. Also started to try hunting down some specific short fiction Malzberg rhapsodizes about in BitR - Silverberg, Kuttners, Kornbluth (I've never read any Kornbluth apart from his Pohl collabs)

“What’s the story, morning glory?” Justin said – Megan was wild for Oasis. He liked British pop, too, though he preferred Pulp, as someone of his parents’ generation might have liked the Stones more than the Beatles.

oh man this reminds me of the one iain banks novel i read

B-b-but that Almanac has our favorite story, "Vintage Season"! At least the favorite of some of us. But yeah, other selections looked lackluster, glad I passed on it.

Well my top four by some distance are another story or a fisherman of the inland sea - ursula le guin; palimpsest - charlie stross; under siege - george rr martin; and the lost pilgrim - gene wolfe. (The gernsback continuum disqualified on a technicality.) I'd save seven or eight others including vintage season.

Recent time travel story I enjoyed was "The King and The Dollmaker" by Wolfgang Jeschke, which can be found in David G. Hartwell's Science Fiction Century, a gaslight melodrama featuring secretive scientists, a regal succession struggle and eighteenth century automata. Rave reviews from Franz Rottensteiner. Not much of the guy's stuff is translated into English, may check out The Cusanus Game.

I prefer /"She plays the best mix of anybody, and she’s not afraid to spin things you don’t hear every day."/ though.

The Best Time Travel Stories of The 20th Century, edit by um, Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg has got some good things in it but not sure if the collection lives up to its title.

Οὖτις,you might find various upthread discussions of Knight and Lafferty useful. The Grail is Lafferty In Orbit, collecting his stories from Knight's standard-setting series (DK also writes the intro). It's also in the same price range as the Grail (Lafferty's stuff is all or mostly out of print and usually expensive).

I've been cherry-picking Lafferty stories from some anthologies, will report back later on where they can be found.

As stated upthread, big fan of Kuttner and Kornbluth as well the Silverberg/Malzberg -and Delany for that matter - curation/narration of a Golden Age SF history. Silverberg famously realized something was amiss in 1958 when both Kuttner and Kornbluth "died of writing science fiction."

Kornbluth in fact had worn out his heart hauling heavy artillery around in The Battle of The Bulge and ignored doctor's orders to stop smoking and drinking and watch his diet. The day he died he had an appointment with Robert P. Mills about an editing job, perhaps to succeed Horace Gold, another WWII casualty. There had been a huge snowstorm the night before, so after shoving out his car he drove over to the LIRR station, where he died running for the train.

Shakey's description of Lafferty style very evocative and otm

Lafferty and Kornbluth two peas in the pod of grumpy taciturn loner witty misanthropes although styles are different. Kuttner kind of journeyman craftsman who knows how to turn a phrase and turn genre materials into art. Useful to think of him analogous to a film auteur, like Allan Dwan, or compare his collabo with C L Moore to Hitch and Alma. Also mentor to other authors, such as Ray Bradbury.

From Becoming Ray Bradbury, by Jonathan R. Eller:

Bradbury also learned a valuable lesson about focus from Kuttner, a rather elementary lesson in behavior modification that removed one of the last aspects of immaturity from his writing habits. Thirty years later, Bradbury could still recall Kuttner’s words: “You give away all your steam. No wonder you never finish your stories. You talk them all out. Shut up.”2 He soon locked into the habit of writing a first draft in a single burst of creativity—no more self-conscious discussions with other writers, no more second-guessing himself. His writing habit became a quotidian fever, rising each day without interruption from any other voices.

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2010/07/five-short-stories-with-useless-time-travel

am currently struggling through Ancillary Justice thinking that iain 'm' banks would've done it a million times better (if he hasn't before)

odd writer's tick in it as well, keeps saying 'he paused for 4 seconds' or 6 or whatever. maybe this'll be explained as a character thing later but at the moment it's jarring.

i think i like that one of the races is called the Rrrrrr.

Anthologized Lafferty, all available as ebooks:
"Eurema's Dam" (Hugo Winner, Best Short Story) can be found in Masterpieces: The Best Science Fiction of the Century edited by Orson Scott Card
"Thus We Frustrate Charlemagne" can be found in Sense of Wonder: A Century of Science Fiction, edited by Leigh Ronald Grossman
"Rainbird" can be found in The Best Time Travel Stories of the Twentietth Century, edited by Harry Turtledove with Martin H. Greenberg.
"Nine Hundred Grandmothers" can be found in Explorers: SF Adventures to Far Horizons, edited by Gardner Dozois.

Also look here: http://www.philsp.com/homeville/isfac/s146.htm

Also check this out , from Der letzte Tag der Schöpfung, by Wolfgang Jeschke

»Und bisher haben wir noch nicht einmal den Aloysius-Effekt in Erwägung gezogen«, warf Sam Fleissiger ein. »Den was?«, wollte der Admiral wissen. »Den Aloysius-Effekt«, wiederholte Fleissiger und sah Francis mit tadelndem Blick über den Brillenrand hinweg an. »So genannt nach Raphael Aloysius Lafferty, dem Erfinder der phänomenalen Ktistec-Maschine.« »Ein Science-Fiction-Autor der Sechziger- und Siebzigerjahre«, fügte Kafu erläuternd hinzu, als er den irritierten Blick des Admirals bemerkte, den dieser den beiden NASA-Wissenschaftlern zuwarf. »Lafferty hat sich unter anderem eingehend mit dem Phänomen der Zeitreise und den Konsequenzen von Zeitfrakturen befasst.«

two here too: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/25720

Oh yeah, forgot about those two.

The guy was named after an archangel and a Jesuit, which seems to have some significance.

Jesuit saint, I meant to say

perhaps to succeed Horace Gold, another WWII casualty.
Guess not. It was for F&SF, not Galaxy.

One of those from upthread:
I recently came across Lafferty's "Encased In Ancient Rind" in Quark/3, from 1971: A Quarterly of Speculative Fiction, edited by Samuel R. Delany and Marilyn Hacker. Thought I'd read this before, and that it was mostly terribly dated, but don't remember Lafferty at all, so I better check the whole thing, because Lafferty's tale seemed dated for a second, but quickly spun me through something lighthearted but not not lightheaded; too much commitment to deft detail; but not really lighthearted either (except he and his readers don't have to live through what his characters do, so hey!)(not yet anyway, so hey). Kind of an outlier inspiration to some New Wavers like Delany, according to this intriguing profile:
http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/lafferty_r_a

― dow, Friday, 6 September 2013 19:11 (10 months ago) Permalink

I found another Lafferty: "Narrow Valley", in Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder, compiled by D.G. Hartwell, with some assistance from Kathryn Cramer. Haven't encountered any Masterpieces yet, but doesn't seem as erratic as other H-K compilations (yet). This one is def more open air than xpost "Encased In Rind", and the topographical capers around weightier matters (incl. munchies for turf, Injuns vs. Homesteaders, but in 1966) seem like they might've influenced/encouraged young Rudy Rucker.Just a whiff of anger, scorn, but also of inventive thrill-seeking. It's sandwiched between a good shadowy no-nonsense buffalo ballet presented by L. Frank Baum (also way out West, not Oz) and Tiptree's "Beyond the Dead Reef", which is eco-gothic in the Tropics (and private parts)--somewhat Conradian structurally, also unmistakably late-period Tiptree. More well-behaved than, say, xpost "The Man Who Wouldn't Do Horrible Things To Rats", but nasty where, when, and how it counts.

― dow, Tuesday, October 1, 2013 5:17 PM (10 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

(That eventually proved to be a fairly fine anth, btw.)

Just reread three Lafferty stories. Will report later.

I'm enjoying Ancillary Justice. It's different from Banks - obviously not as whizz-bang, more about thinking than doing. Ambling towards its conclusion rather than accelerating in a heart stopping fashion. And I'm ok with that, although I am hoping for (and expecting) a decently dramatic conclusion. The ancillary idea is fine and nicely done, some of the world building is less accomplished - e.g. the gloves thing is a bit lame, so far (two thirds in) there's still only one major species/civilisation on the stage (plus one offstage serving as plot device). Outrageous! How dare anyone write space opera without a robust galactic menagerie!

And yeah some strange stylistic quirks, the characters seems to have an inexhaustible array of expressive gestures - they gesture acknowledgement, indifference, assent, agreement, agreement (perfunctory), approval, "halfway between not my problem and not relevant", helplessness, acquiescence, conciliation, "it is as it is", doubt, "lack of concern or sympathy", uncertainty, ambivalence, apology (slight, deferential), ambiguity, obviousness. (Thanks ereader search function!) I sometimes wonder they bother to speak at all.

The most recent Ancilble talked about the endless eyebrows in Ancillary Justice:

'Strigan held the icon out, raised a steel-gray eyebrow.' 'She raised an eyebrow, tilted her head slightly.' 'Strigan said nothing, only twitched one gray eyebrow.' '... she walked into the main living space, stopped, folded her arms, and cocked an eyebrow.' 'Anaander Mianaai turned to her, eyebrow raised.' 'The eyebrow rose farther.' 'Strigan raised an eyebrow ...' 'Strigan raised one skeptical eyebrow.' '... the siren elicited no more than an upward glance and a raised eyebrow.' 'The Lord of the Radch raised one graying eyebrow.' 'Anaander Mianaai [...] raised one grayed eyebrow.' 'Strigan cocked one gray eyebrow ...' 'She raised one eyebrow, and then another, disbelieving.' 'It was my turn to raise a skeptical eyebrow.' 'Lieutenant Issaaia raised an eyebrow.' 'She raised an eyebrow.' 'Moments later, at the mention of Ime, eyebrows twitched.' 'Her eyebrows twitched just slightly.' 'She lifted an eyebrow.' 'It was guaranteed to lift Radchaai eyebrows ...' 'Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat raised an eyebrow ...' 'I raised an eyebrow.' 'I raised one eyebrow and a shoulder ...' 'At Inspector Supervisor Skaaiat's raised eyebrow Seivarden added ...' 'People had stared and whispered, or just raised their eyebrows.' 'Seivarden lifted an eyebrow briefly.' 'I raised an eyebrow, incredulous.' 'I raised an eyebrow ...' 'Seivarden raised an eyebrow, sardonic.' 'I stopped and turned to look at Seivarden, raised an eyebrow.' 'This security officer did not even twitch an eyebrow.' 'The right-hand Mianaai lifted an eyebrow.' 'Mianaai lifted an eyebrow.' 'Anaander Mianaai raised an eyebrow ...' 'I didn't answer, didn't even raise an eyebrow.' 'I turned my head ... and raised an eyebrow.'

With some of the same appeal as Lafferty: leave us not forget some prev. discussion of Avram Davidson (and that Vandameer I still should check, among others here)
Having avoided Jeff Vandermeer for years (something always gave me the impression of forced whimsical surrealness of the 'I'm so ZANY!' variety), I'm enjoying his new one, Annihilation, about a group of four women exploring a sort of Roadside-Picnic-style zone of weirdness.

― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Wednesday, February 12, 2014 7:32 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

His publishing company being called 'Cheeky frawg' didn't help

― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Wednesday, February 12, 2014 7:33 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, I kinda had the same impression of Avram Davidson--based on what, I dunno; prob haven't read him since middle school---revived by the opening of "The Woman Who Thought She Could Read." But it's a set-up for pathos, somewhat scarey (irony in there too,one of life's cruel joeks). It's no masterpiece, but what other Davidson should I check?

This is included in the previously mentioned Masterpieces of Fantasy and Wonder (yadda-yadda)

― dow, Thursday, February 13, 2014 11:51 AM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I've heard good things about, and so bought, The Adventures Of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson -- it sounds as though it's meant to be a Hungarian novel, which is my kind of thing anyway. Not yet read, though.

― ornamental cabbage (James Morrison), Thursday, February 13, 2014 5:03 PM (5 months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

TOR did an avram Davidson treasury a few years back, he's a short story/novella man so that ought to be a good rx

― grape is the flavor of my true love's hair (Jon Lewis), Thursday, February 13, 2014 6:25 PM (5 months ago)

Aaaaand I still haven't got around to The Adventures Of Doctor Eszterhazy by Avram Davidson

Also from the xpost August online issue of Ansible: recently expired writers, appealingly mentioned. Anybody read 'em? (I read and saw the worthy and imaginativeLittle Big Man long ago, but none of his with sf themes.)
• Ana María Matute (1925-2014), distinguished Spanish author whose novels often included fantasy/supernatural elements, died on 25 June aged 88. Her many awards include the Cervantes Prize, the Spanish-speaking world's highest literary honour.[JCo]
Thomas Berger (1924-2014), US author best known for the quasi-Western Little Big Man (1964), several of whose novels explored sf themes – from cryonics in Vital Parts (1960) to androids in Adventures of the Artificial Woman (2004) – died on 13 July. He was 89. [AIP]
• Late notice: Isidore Haiblum (1935-2012), US author of The Wilk Are Among Us (1975) and other comic sf infused with Yiddish humour, died on 25 October 2012 aged 77. [WGC]
• Late notice: Louise Lawrence (Elizabeth Holden, 1943-2013), UK author of much tough-minded YA genre fiction including the 'Wyndcliffe' and 'Llandor' fantasy series plus several standalone sf novels with varied settings, died on 6 December 2013; she was 70.

Also from Aug, Ansible:

Man Booker Prize. Titles of genre interest on the 13-book longlist: Karen Joy Fowler,We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves; Howard Jacobson, J; David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks; Richard Powers, Orfeo.
World Fantasy Awards. Novel shortlist: Richard Bowes, Dust Devil on a Quiet Street; Marie Brennan, A Natural History of Dragons; Neil Gaiman, The Ocean at the End of the Lane; Sofia Samatar, A Stranger in Olondria; Helene Wecker, The Golem and the Jinni; Gene Wolfe, The Land Across. More at worldfantasy.org/awards/2014.html.
Would like to check the Fowler first; enjoyed her short stories, though the only novel I've read is Sarah Canary, about somebody who may be an alien or just a space cadet (socially, anyway) in the Wild Pacific Northwest. Remember it as alternating chapters of deft wry Chaplinesque body language with chunks of historical lectures, but it was her debut. Those opening chapters of the Wolfe, excerpted on NPR, were really clunky first-person tourist in Kafkaland, 'til maybe the last few grafs; got kinda good there.

re-reading Ballard's "Hello America" (for lack of anything else available). This is a good 'un, better than I remembered it.

It'll probably be a long time before I read any of this but...

- a bunch of new Dunsany stuff has been found at his castle, mainly plays I think.

- Hanns Heinz Ewers (a Nazi who was controversial among other Nazis and made an outcast because he was openly bisexual and thought Jews were ideal supermen!) is going into a rediscovery period, lots of his work being translated for ebooks. Alraune (several films based on it) and some short stories are quite well known but most of this has never been available in English.

- there's a huge ebook of all Abraham Merritt's fantasy stories.

Can anyone point me to a story which explores the parallels between nostalgia and time travel? Like, has there ever been a story about a machine that lets you take a holiday back to the old house you used to live in in 1995, or a particular holiday you went on once or whatever?

someone must have done this but I am drawing a blank