|
Here's Dragon magazine's interpretation. Around New Crobuzon:  Rohagi (which they spell Komagi for some reason???):  These feel wrong to me. The cacotopos should be further out, and the Cymek desert should be enormous, continent-sized. I have scans of the issue but I'm not sure if providing the whole thing (it's 40+pages of Bas-Laggy goodness) would be considered 
Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 08:45 on May 8, 2010 |
#
?
May 8, 2010 08:41
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 19:44 |
|
|
Crazy! You dug it up. I was just going through my portable drives trying to find it and can stop now. That's strange, because the first map looks really familiar to me. Went into the bookstore today and preordered Kraken. Clerk there is also a Mieville fan and I guess I made her day when I placed it. She recommended Cherie Priest's Boneshaker for me. Alternative history 1800s steampunk themed Seattle, replete with zombies? It's not Bas-Lag, but it'll do. Really wish I followed this thread more...I picked up Court of the Air a while ago and it was trash, just as some folks said in here. Hopefully this one's better.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2010 11:22
|
|
|
Perdido posted:Crazy! You dug it up. I thought Court of the Air wwas weak, but really, really liked Boneshaker, so hopefully it will work for you, too.
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2010 15:23
|
|
|
Just bought Kraken (last copy in the shop)  This is going to be good...
|
|
#
?
May 8, 2010 16:22
|
|
|
Anybody finished Kraken yet? I'm still waiting for my copy to arrive. I fear the Icelandic volcano fiasco has delayed its shipment  Anyway, for those of you who, like me, adore every single word that that handsome man produces, here's a really good interview with Mr. Miéville: http://spaniardintheworks.blogspot.com/2010/05/knowing-how-world-isnt-conversation.html Contains no Kraken spoilers, but does have lots for his other books. No mention of any forthcoming novels, but the interview is nonetheless fascinating.
|
|
#
?
May 11, 2010 11:09
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Anyway, for those of you who, like me, adore every single word that that handsome man produces, here's a really good interview with Mr. Miéville: Ah, thanks. Managed to avoid reading the City&City spoilers. Need to actually read that book soon. Rest of it was plenty interesting - he's an impressively self-aware writer. edit: VVV yes, I am glad. onefish fucked around with this message at 16:48 on May 13, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 11, 2010 18:04
|
|
|
Aren't you glad I obsessively search the term "China Mieville", as well as related terms, on Google and Twitter and other places on pretty much a daily basis? I now present to you an interview... http://scyfilove.com/2201/china-mieville-exclusive-interview-monsters-method-bas-lag-and-kraken/ In which there is revealed...  BRAND NEW BOOK INFORMATION!!! "However he revealed his next book is already with his editor – ’science fiction, aliens and spaceships, but I don’t want to give too much away’ – and should be out next year, while adding he has a bunch of books in mind that he wants to write in the future."  Whoever wanted it earlier in this thread, you're getting your wish: a Miéville space opera! Edit: there's also some talk of Bas-Lag: “I’m certainly not bored of Bas-Lag or anything like that and it would be easy for me to go back there,” he said. “But the books I wrote about Bas Lag had an arc to them and matter a lot to me. “I don’t want to undermine that, so my argument would be it would have to be a story that really needed to be in that setting. “We can all think of franchises that milked themselves dry too and can end up killing the thing you love by doing that. So I will be staying away for a while yet, although I do have a long term idea in mind,” he added, with just the right air of mystery. Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 11:46 on May 13, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 11:42
|
|
|
I have mixed feelings about a Mieville Space Opera. I really don't like sci-fi in that sort of traditional setting, so part of me is sad he isn't writing I'm more traditionally interested in. That said, if anyone was going to change my opinion on the genre it would be China. On Kraken. If you've read the blurb, this isn't really a spoiler The old man and the young boy mentioned....gently caress me they're good....still only about a quarter into it, but they just do....argh...its amazing. That said, there are some lengths of prose that are, not so much badly written, as strangely written. It is taking me a while to read because of this, but still, the plot and characters are amazing so far.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 13:22
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:"However he revealed his next book is already with his editor – ’science fiction, aliens and spaceships, but I don’t want to give too much away’ – and should be out next year, while adding he has a bunch of books in mind that he wants to write in the future." Hahaha, I loving called it! (for once) Looking forward to this one.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 18:16
|
|
|
Truly Atwood was onto something when she said that science fiction was just talking squids in space.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 21:21
|
|
|
I just finished The Scar and as it is the first novel-length work I have read by Mieville, I am skipping the rest of the thread because spoilers. Jesus gently caress this was an awesome book. I will be the first to admit that I have some deep primordial fear of water, and it utterly surfaced all those emotions in me. I don't in any way believe it was meant to be a horror novel (at least not in that aspect), but I had a nightmare about the grindylow coming out of the avanc's wound. And it was great, except for the fact that I really never need to see the words "puissant" or "opaque" again. Bellis was a great, atypical protagonist. I'd read his short fiction years ago, but I will now be after the novels hardcore.
|
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 22:00
|
|
|
I think I'm going to be at the Nebula book-signing thingie in Cocoa Beach tomorrow (it also coincides with a shuttle launch, so the two are probably going to be enough to drag me the two hours each way), which Mieville will be at. Anyone have a quick question they'd like me to try asking him?
Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 22:37 on May 13, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 22:12
|
|
|
Met him at a reading he did up in Liverpool earlier this week (actually before the reading at the pub but mostly he was talking politics with the event organizers and I drat well wasn't making him talk shop over dinner). He read from City&City, Kraken, and also a short story that I think he said was uncollected, one about space elevators (The Rope Is The World, I believe). Answered questions for a good long time, very discursive and willing to talk through even those things I'm sure he's been asked a thousand times. I don't remember them all but he definitely confirmed there's a new book that will be out next year, and I don't think he'll be running out of ideas any time soon. He's very nice and approachable, and it was one of the better events of that sort I've been to, especially since at 30-40 people in a small room it felt very cozy and intimate. elentar fucked around with this message at 22:21 on May 13, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 13, 2010 22:17
|
|
|
Pompous Rhombus posted:I think I'm going to be at the Nebula book-signing thingie in Cocoa Beach tomorrow (it also coincides with a shuttle launch, so the two are probably going to be enough to drag me the two hours each way), which Mieville will be at. Anyone have a quick question they'd like me to try asking him? Ask him something about his sci-fi book 
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2010 02:51
|
|
|
StealthStealth posted:I just finished The Scar and as it is the first novel-length work I have read by Mieville, I am skipping the rest of the thread because spoilers. Yes, I was very sick of "puissant" after awhile. Really what was he thinking using that word so much.
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2010 20:18
|
|
|
StealthStealth posted:Bellis was a great, atypical protagonist. I rather liked Bellis. Well, 'liked' is stretching it a bit. Meiville created a character there who is cold and selfish but, at the same time, an innocent victim: she's done nothing to deserve the situation that she finds herself in and all her actions stem from her desperate and single-minded urge to preserve her own life and dignity. Finished Kraken, by the way. Was Meiville's purpose in writing this book to out-Gaiman Neil Gaiman, or what? He set himself a really awkward task here: to present a setting that's absolutely been done to death by other writers in a fresh and original way and he pretty much succeeds but, I did feel that he was handicapping himself with his subject matter. His originality and imagination still manage to burn through on every page, to an extent that no other writer in the field could manage. I think though, that the plot could easily have been transferred into a truly original setting of his own creation and this would have made the novel as a whole stand out much more strongly than it does. Have to say, Goss and Subby rule though. Ye gods, what creepy recesses of his mind did they crawl from? Also loved the origami of physical objects, like the cash register. And the Chaos Nazis! Forget Moorcock, blatant WH40K reference there?
|
|
#
?
May 14, 2010 21:49
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:Ask him something about his sci-fi book I would of, but didn't really get the chance. He showed up almost an hour and a half late, after almost everyone had left. I'd gone out to my car to grab my film camera (and deposited the unsigned "The Scar"  ), when I got back he was there and looking a bit rushed, trying to talk with a group of middle/high school aged girls and the Barnes and Noble people who were coordinating the thing at the same time. I did get to overhear a funny quote: they B&N people were I guess trying to get him a room to give some kind of talk/lecture, and they said it was going to be kind of small, because Kevin J. Anderson/Brian Herbert were going to have the big room. China said something like "Well, it'd be lovely if I got Kevin J. Anderson amounts of people..."I did get him to pose for a picture, I'll develop/scan it this weekend and post it if it came out. I said "just act natural" and he reverted to his author photo pose. You know the one. It was really small/intimate overall though, I'd guess maybe 50 fans there (for like 15 authors) tops. Joe Haldeman seemed kinda sad, his wife was really nice though. John Scalzi was witty and quite personable. Edit: hell yeah, picture came out. Pompous Rhombus fucked around with this message at 04:55 on May 15, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 15, 2010 03:20
|
|
|
Well the icelandic volcano gods have finally permitted me to receive my copy of Kraken today. I'm now about 60 pages in and enjoying it so far. It's very much a dark comedy like I expected, and things have just gotten very dark indeed with the introduction of Goss and Subby. One part in the first few chapters made me realy laugh out loud: "What's this got to do with anything?" "It has the following to do with what for." Just that little exhange lets you know exactly what Baron is like. It's perfect. 
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2010 15:37
|
|
|
Eh, didn't come out as sharp as I thought, but looks okay small:
|
|
#
?
May 15, 2010 22:02
|
|
|
As authors go, Miéville is surprisingly attractive.  And dammit, by the time Kraken comes out in the States, I'll be over in France. Goddammit. Are there any good English-language bookstores in Paris? Would French bookstores carry English fantasy?
|
|
#
?
May 16, 2010 07:39
|
|
|
I'm just over 100 pages of my copy of Kraken - I ordered it from the UK on release day and it got here yesterday, which I think is pretty nice turn-around - and I keep upsetting my partner because I'm laughing at little exchanges and refusing to explain them. He gets it second. Perhaps I should be grateful I can't rush through Mieville. Something about his writing style slows me down. I appreciate it and am frustrated by it at the same time. Thankfully, I'm not running to the dictionary like I was the first time; I think my brain woke up and remembered all my Latin from the time I read PSS to now.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2010 02:31
|
|
|
NEW BOOK TITLE AND RELEASE DATE (?) @Paul_C_Smith is tweeting that he has a newsletter from Pan Macmillan, China's UK publisher, which says the new book will be out in May 2011 and is called Embassytown. And that Michael Moorcock has given it the thumbs up. This is so far unconfirmed, I jumped and subscribed myself to every single newsletter-resembling thing on Pan's website, so hopefully I'll have more info soon. It may be some industry newsletter thing that the public can't access though. (AFAIK publishers send those things out to sellers like Amazon which is how Amazon etc list future books so early) Edit: confirmed! http://booktionary.blogspot.com/2010/05/news-china-mieville-has-released-kraken.html
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2010 16:02
|
|
|
This is why I am so glad I came across China! I was so excited about Kraken and now I have it and I'm already getting excited about his next book! It spurns me on to read Kraken because it's like working towards his next.
|
|
#
?
May 19, 2010 16:33
|
|
|
I love the title Embassytown, it's so evocative. I can picture it now: some huge spaceport full of the embassies of every alien race. It feels like it could be another murder mystery, only this time in a space opera setting. I hope it's a big chunky 800 page epic, or the first part of a trilogy, or something. Mainly because I want him to have written a lot of space opera.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2010 08:00
|
|
|
http://stevesfantasybookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/05/interview-with-china-mieville-about.html A 1-hour podcast interview, mostly about The City & The City, but with some other discussion about China's explorations of genre. He mentions he's planning to write a historical novel.
|
|
#
?
May 20, 2010 13:09
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:I love the title Embassytown, it's so evocative. I can picture it now: some huge spaceport full of the embassies of every alien race. It feels like it could be another murder mystery, only this time in a space opera setting. I hope it's a big chunky 800 page epic, or the first part of a trilogy, or something. Mainly because I want him to have written a lot of space opera. So Babylon 5, really.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2010 03:13
|
|
|
SaviourX posted:So Babylon 5, really. Well I imagine it'll be more like an Iain Banks novel, except carefully and thoughtfully written and with a genuinely unexpected twist at the end.
|
|
#
?
May 21, 2010 19:51
|
|
|
I am proceeding quite slowly through Kraken due to having a ton of uni work. I'm on page 174 now. I just read the chapter (number 31) where the Tattoo gathers all of London's magical bounty hunters. It was totally awesome. China's creativity has absolutely no limits. edit: quotin dis from the bad sex scene thread: stupid ugly retard posted:China meiville does it ok. One time a dude almost has sex witha retarded girl with a beetle for a head and another time he talk about how hard it is to gently caress a chick bolted to a steam engine Hedrigall fucked around with this message at 12:26 on May 22, 2010 |
|
#
?
May 22, 2010 12:14
|
|
|
just finished iron council, it owned! the lie about the "toil theory of worth" was hilarious. my one problem with it was he didn't talk nearly enough about the fighting dolly-boys, they werefuckin awesome. hopefully the next bas-lag book will feature them more prominently, maybe a riot at the Rockbarrier inn
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2010 16:46
|
|
|
Kraken is one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters are cartoons, the story is derivative and boring and the writing is horrible. Here is some of it.quote:"Vardy, you reading lolcats?" She peered over the edge of his computer screen. He looked at her without warmth. "I can has squid back?" she said. "Nooooo! They be stealin my squid!" quote:Ornerily, it was not the fantasies that inspired most knackers, not Buffy, Angel, American Gothic or Supernatural. It was the science fiction. Time travel was out, the universe not having fixed lines, but sorcerer fans of Dr. Who made untraditional wands, disdaining willow for carefully lathed metal and calling them sonic screwdrivers. Soothsayer admirers of Blake's 7 called themselves Children of Orac. London's fourth-best shapeshifter changed her name by deed-poll to Maya, and her surname to Space1999. quote:You actually said "toerags", Collingswood said. "Are you auditioning for something?" quote:"Alright, I'm going back to the museum," Vardy said. "See if I can make a little more sense of this. Just once," he said with abrupt savagery, "in a goddrat while, it would really be a pleasure if the goddamn world worked the way it's supposed to. I am tired of the universe being such a bloody aleatory frenzy all, the bloody time." quote:There were a few pedestrians on the street, but far too few for what was still not yet night. Those out moved like what they were - people in a regime at war. There was police tape around the building. Armed officers waving them back, cauterising the area.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2010 18:49
|
|
|
Saerdna posted:Kraken is one of the worst books I've ever read. The characters are cartoons, the story is derivative and boring and the writing is horrible. Here is some of it. Might I suggest to you George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire instead?
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2010 20:45
|
|
|
1 is dreadful, 2 is meh, 3 is great, 4 is awkward, 5 is good. I mean, I don't even like Mieville very much but if that's the worst the book has to offer then I'll probably library it up when it hits my local.
|
|
#
?
May 22, 2010 21:47
|
|
|
well, it's pretty obvious what happened here. cory doctorow and china mieville switched manuscripts! authors used to do this all the time as a prank on the literary establishment. fun fact, the entire cthulhu mythos attributed to hp lovecraft was actually the work of bertrand russel. hp lovecraft wrote the principia mathematica.
|
|
#
?
May 23, 2010 01:39
|
|
|
I just finished Kraken. Holy gently caress it was amazing. There were some pretty great, shattering twists in the last 100 or so pages. Yes, what people are saying is true, it was a lot like Neverwhere... but with the sheer unrestrained imagination that China Miéville has in bucketloads over Neil Gaiman. I'm not entirely sure yet but this could be my favourite Miéville book...
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2010 07:51
|
|
|
Hedrigall posted:I just finished Kraken. Holy gently caress it was amazing. There were some pretty great, shattering twists in the last 100 or so pages. Yes, what people are saying is true, it was a lot like Neverwhere... but with the sheer unrestrained imagination that China Miéville has in bucketloads over Neil Gaiman. were those quotes seriously in it?
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2010 06:29
|
|
|
It's a lot like Neverwhere, but, aside from publications dates, I could see Neil Gaiman and China Mieville being handed the assignment of "make a gritty Urban Fantasy about London" simultaneously. Not sure if it's my favorite, though I'll have to read it again. Ending spiolers -- The ending sort of chafes though. The 'amnesia/removed from history' ending is sort of frustrating to me. While we have seen all this development in the characters, they forget all about it and just stand around being confused when the kraken is burnt out from reality. I wanted some tangible ramifications of the story other than people going "well, I've really matured, but I can't remember why" stupid ugly retard posted:were those quotes seriously in it? Yes, but one of them leads to the Trekkie becoming possessed by dozens of ghosts of himself because each time he beams himself down to a new place he (in essence) kills himself and forms a new him at the end location, so it's okay. One thing I really liked about Kraken is how China explains everything in this book. Sure, it sometimes slows down the pace of the narrative, and blah blah, but it's great to read something like EVEN THE CHAOS NAZIS WERE THERE and later on get a run down of what they actually do.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2010 09:41
|
|
|
elentar posted:Met him at a reading he did up in Liverpool earlier this week (actually before the reading at the pub but mostly he was talking politics with the event organizers and I drat well wasn't making him talk shop over dinner). Ahh drat, I live in Liverpool and never seem to hear about these things!
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2010 22:20
|
|
|
http://www.bleedingcool.com/2010/06/01/china-mieville-swamp-thing-vertigo-series-binned/ Some minor news, for people who care about comics (I don't really): China was writing a Swamp Thing series, but it's just been scrapped. Hopefully this'll free up more time for him to write more Bas-Lag books!
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2010 07:55
|
|
|
I'm hoping he finds the time to do an illustrated book of the monsters/races/locations of bas-lag, I recall reading an interview with him where he says he'd really like to do that. Well, I'd really like to buy it and read it so go for it! 
|
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2010 19:24
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 23, 2024 19:44 |
|
|
priznat posted:I'm hoping he finds the time to do an illustrated book of the monsters/races/locations of bas-lag, I recall reading an interview with him where he says he'd really like to do that. Adamant Entertainment has been working on a Bas Lag RPG book for about 2 loving years now. Mieville's been involved with it and will be contributing information, maps and artwork. Perdido fucked around with this message at 23:09 on Jun 2, 2010 |
|
#
?
Jun 2, 2010 23:06
|
|