(urth) instant new fan

Mon Dec 19 11:02:02 PST 2011

Snow Crash is also good IMHO a better cyberpunk novel than any of
Gibsons recent works.  The Diamond Age is also a great book, probably
my favorite book of his so far.

On 12/19/11, Antonin Scriabin <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
> I have yet to read *Anathem *(sitting on my shelf as we speak), but I would
> highly recommend his *Baroque Cycle* and the related book, *Cryptonomicon*.
> He is a very snappy writer, and is one of the few I have come across who
> can make a 1,000 page novel just whiz by.  Lots of fireworks and
> excitement; he said in an interview not too long ago that he is first and
> foremost concerned with writing "a good yarn".
>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> Daniel, if you want to check out Stephenson, I would recommend
>> starting with "Anathem," a book of deep secrets.
>>
>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 10:40 AM, Daniel Petersen
>> <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> > Oh yes, Antonin: happens to me all the time.  Dan Simmons, for example,
>> > writes a very compelling yard in perfectly capable prose.  But if I read
>> him
>> > too close to an immersive reading of Wolfe, I'll find myself distactedly
>> > pining for Wolfean prose.  And, as you say, once I'm into the swing of
>> any
>> > good writer's less-than-the-Wolfean-ideal prose, I thoroughly enjoy
>> myself.
>> >  (I've been planning to check out Stephenson for some time.)
>> >
>> > -DOJP
>> >
>> >
>> > On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Antonin Scriabin <
>> kierkegaurdian at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> Daniel, I understand what you mean about the prose being so good it
>> >> kind
>> >> of slips under the radar, and "does its job".  I read Neal Stephenson's
>> >> Quicksilver and absolutely loved it, then read Shadow and Claw, which I
>> >> loved even more.  Then I went back to read Stephenson's The Confusion,
>> and
>> >> it felt like I had really, really stepped down a notch.  I didn't
>> realize
>> >> how good the prose in New Sun was until I read something else; then it
>> hit
>> >> me how incredibly well Wolfe can write.
>> >>
>> >> P.S. I feel like I should mention that The Confusion, once I got back
>> into
>> >> the swing of that story, ended up being one of my favorite "adventure"
>> >> novels.  I highly recommend it!
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Daniel Petersen
>> >> <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> You know, it's funny.  The first chapters of SotT did *not* terribly
>> >>> impress me as to writing style when I first tackled BotNS over a
>> decade ago.
>> >>>  There was nothing *wrong* with them at all - flawless grammar and
>> syntax
>> >>> and what have you.  The story itself and its themes began to sweep me
>> up as
>> >>> the book really got going, but it wasn't until later in the book or
>> series
>> >>> that the writing itself began to leap out at me as really exquisite
>> prose.
>> >>>
>> >>> Plus, sometimes I wonder if even the writing style itself is 'hidden
>> >>> in
>> >>> plain sight' from the reader along with so much else.  The writing is
>> *so*
>> >>> good (grammatical and graceful as Wolfe recommends to aspiring
>> writers) that
>> >>> it just ends up doing its job so effectively that you don't always
>> notice it
>> >>> until you're quite some way into a work.
>> >>>
>> >>> Also, I'll here mention that I love the quality of prose in Long and
>> >>> Short Suns just as much as New Sun.  It's just doing something totally
>> >>> different than Severian's baroque machinations.
>> >>>
>> >>> -DOJP
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Antonin Scriabin
>> >>> <kierkegaurdian at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Wolfe's writing is very beautiful, and he uses such vivid, unique
>> >>>> language.  I haven't memorized the passage, but the part in The
>> Shadow of
>> >>>> the Torturer where Ultan is describing the different books in the
>> library;
>> >>>> wonderful!  That together with the nearby Book of Gold passage really
>> made
>> >>>> me fall in love with that book in particular and Wolfe in general.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Daniel Petersen
>> >>>> <danielottojackpetersen at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Yes, so many truly wonderful lines and passages.  I remember loving
>> the
>> >>>>> really robust mountainous language at the beginning of SotL,
>> starting with
>> >>>>> the sentence:  'Thrax is a crooked dagger entering the heart of the
>> >>>>> mountains.'
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> You know, I don't think I've ever seen Wolfe's writing (as in style
>> or
>> >>>>> tone or texture of prose, etc.) discussed on this list.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> -DOJP
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 3:58 AM, David Stockhoff
>> >>>>> <dstockhoff at verizon.net> wrote:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> On 12/18/2011 7:59 PM, Daniel Petersen wrote:
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Thought people here might enjoy seeing that new readers are still
>> >>>>>>> discovering Wolfe for the very first time and being instantly
>> enchanted.  A
>> >>>>>>> friend of mine (an aspiring writer) who loves Tolkien and China
>> Mieville
>> >>>>>>> finally, at my persistent insistence, obtained BotNS and posted
>> this to me
>> >>>>>>> on Facebook just now about what he's read so far:
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> 'I love the languid, ivy-wrapped prose that Wolfe writes in. I've
>> >>>>>>> been discovering that this is a style I find myself entranced by
>> when I read
>> >>>>>>> it. I was not long ago working through Titus Groan and found
>> >>>>>>> myself
>> >>>>>>> ensconced by many of the same elements that I'm loving in Wolfe's
>> writing.
>> >>>>>>> Mr. Wolfe seems much better at marrying plot and poesy than Mr.
>> Peake,
>> >>>>>>> however.
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> I'm very excited about what waits around the corner. BotNS seems
>> like
>> >>>>>>> the kind of novel I dream of writing.'
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> Some pretty apt comments, I thought.
>> >>>>>>>
>> >>>>>>> -DOJP
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Cool!
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> BNS has some of the most gorgeous lines I have ever read. There are
>> >>>>>> many others, but I think most often of the description of lotuses
>> on Gyoll
>> >>>>>> in CotA immediately after Maxellindis's uncle's talk of what appear
>> to be
>> >>>>>> the legions of Erebus:
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> With that he fell silent, looking out over the nenuphars. We were
>> well
>> >>>>>> above that part of
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> Gyoll opposite the Citadel, but they were still packed more densely
>> >>>>>> than wildflowers in
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> any meadow this side of paradise.
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>>
>> >>>>>> This kind of mood/content juxtaposition enraptures me.
>> >>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >>
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>>
>> --
>> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes
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>