"Now, in 1971, it isn't possible to look the other way. It is the daytime, suburban side of our existence that has become our nightmare...These are not catastrophes of the imagination - they are what's happening...I get the feeling I'm playing Russian roulette: each passing month that the Worst hasn't happened is an empty chamber of the revolver. But one of them, sure as hell, *is* loaded."
- Introduction, Thomas M. Disch
I fancied some scifi, and this 1973 collection of stories came to mind as I've just finished reading about the ruins of ancient Athens. Some of the Greats contribute to the anthology.
I started reading this in 1981 and paused it, but it's fair to say at this point that I'm starting it anew!
The cover blurb is sad from the current historical perspective, as we continue to head in the direction predicted in these tales of ecological apocalypse.
We're recording this right before Thanksgiving, giving us a chance to stand up for Thanksgiving food! After praising pies and casseroles, we discuss some recent books we've been reading on the side and giving out some gift ideas for the holidays. Finally, we pick our November book. It's a jammed pack episode this week and we hope you enjoyed your holidays with food and books!
https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wlWajOpFuRIRltTssd1VU
pick(1980) The best stories in this collection feature rich imagery, complex characters, and ambiguous realities. My favorites were "The Death of Doctor Island," set in a psychiatric treatment facility in orbit around Jupiter; and "Tracking Song," whose amnesiac hero navigates a wilderness of violence and maybe cannibalism as he tries to return to the flying transport from which he may have fallen. This was my #DoubleSpin for April.
Winter comes to water as well as land, though there are no leaves to fall.
#FirstLineFridays
@ShyBookOwl
Rule 5 for how to read Gene Wolfe.
😂🤣😂 “Gene is throwing the knives.” 😂🤣😂
#NeilGaiman #TheViewFromTheCheapSeats #GeneWolfe
pickEven though it was the standard Gene Wolfian nigh-impenetrable mystery box, I felt a bit more prepared for the narrative shenanigans of In Green‘s Jungles than I was with On Blue‘s Waters.
Have Horn and Silk merged personalities which was alluded to in the previous book? Decidedly yes. How? Eh, says Wolfe, it‘s really not that important.
Reptilian space vampires! Oreb is back! Dream teleportation! New Sun references!!! One more book to go.
While his plots are obscure, Wolfe always writes about spiritual matters with brilliant clarity.
Just as Severian investigated & evaluated his relationships with the Increate and the Conciliator (roughly God & Jesus) in the Book of the New Sun, Patera Silk casts off the false gods of Mainframe to follow the one true God, the Outsider, in the Book of the Long Sun.
Horn, his protégé, continues that relationship here in the Book of the Short Sun.
My students asked me what this is about.
*deep breath*
Horn (in-universe author of the previous 4 books) set out to find Silk (who the 4 books were about). Silk and Horn merge minds in a vague way.
Now he‘s Incanto (or Rajan in the previous book) & is writing about things that are happening to him as well as what happened to him in the past while sometimes skipping ahead to mention things he will be telling us about later.
Also space vampires.
