I always kind of thought you could be either a "Stephenson" or "Gibson" person, but not both. <img goomoji="360" style="margin: 0pt 0.2ex; vertical-align: middle;" src="cid:360@goomoji.gmail"><br><br>I<br>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 2:02 PM, Larry Miller <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:decanus1284@gmail.com">decanus1284@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
Snow Crash is also good IMHO a better cyberpunk novel than any of<br>
Gibsons recent works. The Diamond Age is also a great book, probably<br>
my favorite book of his so far.<br>
<br>
On 12/19/11, Antonin Scriabin <<a href="mailto:kierkegaurdian@gmail.com">kierkegaurdian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> I have yet to read *Anathem *(sitting on my shelf as we speak), but I would<br>
> highly recommend his *Baroque Cycle* and the related book, *Cryptonomicon*.<br>
<div class="HOEnZb"><div class="h5">> He is a very snappy writer, and is one of the few I have come across who<br>
> can make a 1,000 page novel just whiz by. Lots of fireworks and<br>
> excitement; he said in an interview not too long ago that he is first and<br>
> foremost concerned with writing "a good yarn".<br>
><br>
> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <<a href="mailto:danldo@gmail.com">danldo@gmail.com</a>>wrote:<br>
><br>
>> Daniel, if you want to check out Stephenson, I would recommend<br>
>> starting with "Anathem," a book of deep secrets.<br>
>><br>
>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 10:40 AM, Daniel Petersen<br>
>> <<a href="mailto:danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com">danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> > Oh yes, Antonin: happens to me all the time. Dan Simmons, for example,<br>
>> > writes a very compelling yard in perfectly capable prose. But if I read<br>
>> him<br>
>> > too close to an immersive reading of Wolfe, I'll find myself distactedly<br>
>> > pining for Wolfean prose. And, as you say, once I'm into the swing of<br>
>> any<br>
>> > good writer's less-than-the-Wolfean-ideal prose, I thoroughly enjoy<br>
>> myself.<br>
>> > (I've been planning to check out Stephenson for some time.)<br>
>> ><br>
>> > -DOJP<br>
>> ><br>
>> ><br>
>> > On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:36 PM, Antonin Scriabin <<br>
>> <a href="mailto:kierkegaurdian@gmail.com">kierkegaurdian@gmail.com</a>><br>
>> > wrote:<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> Daniel, I understand what you mean about the prose being so good it<br>
>> >> kind<br>
>> >> of slips under the radar, and "does its job". I read Neal Stephenson's<br>
>> >> Quicksilver and absolutely loved it, then read Shadow and Claw, which I<br>
>> >> loved even more. Then I went back to read Stephenson's The Confusion,<br>
>> and<br>
>> >> it felt like I had really, really stepped down a notch. I didn't<br>
>> realize<br>
>> >> how good the prose in New Sun was until I read something else; then it<br>
>> hit<br>
>> >> me how incredibly well Wolfe can write.<br>
>> >><br>
>> >> P.S. I feel like I should mention that The Confusion, once I got back<br>
>> into<br>
>> >> the swing of that story, ended up being one of my favorite "adventure"<br>
>> >> novels. I highly recommend it!<br>
>> >><br>
>> >><br>
>> >> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:25 PM, Daniel Petersen<br>
>> >> <<a href="mailto:danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com">danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>> You know, it's funny. The first chapters of SotT did *not* terribly<br>
>> >>> impress me as to writing style when I first tackled BotNS over a<br>
>> decade ago.<br>
>> >>> There was nothing *wrong* with them at all - flawless grammar and<br>
>> syntax<br>
>> >>> and what have you. The story itself and its themes began to sweep me<br>
>> up as<br>
>> >>> the book really got going, but it wasn't until later in the book or<br>
>> series<br>
>> >>> that the writing itself began to leap out at me as really exquisite<br>
>> prose.<br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>> Plus, sometimes I wonder if even the writing style itself is 'hidden<br>
>> >>> in<br>
>> >>> plain sight' from the reader along with so much else. The writing is<br>
>> *so*<br>
>> >>> good (grammatical and graceful as Wolfe recommends to aspiring<br>
>> writers) that<br>
>> >>> it just ends up doing its job so effectively that you don't always<br>
>> notice it<br>
>> >>> until you're quite some way into a work.<br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>> Also, I'll here mention that I love the quality of prose in Long and<br>
>> >>> Short Suns just as much as New Sun. It's just doing something totally<br>
>> >>> different than Severian's baroque machinations.<br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>> -DOJP<br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>><br>
>> >>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 6:14 PM, Antonin Scriabin<br>
>> >>> <<a href="mailto:kierkegaurdian@gmail.com">kierkegaurdian@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> >>>><br>
>> >>>> Wolfe's writing is very beautiful, and he uses such vivid, unique<br>
>> >>>> language. I haven't memorized the passage, but the part in The<br>
>> Shadow of<br>
>> >>>> the Torturer where Ultan is describing the different books in the<br>
>> library;<br>
>> >>>> wonderful! That together with the nearby Book of Gold passage really<br>
>> made<br>
>> >>>> me fall in love with that book in particular and Wolfe in general.<br>
>> >>>><br>
>> >>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 1:08 PM, Daniel Petersen<br>
>> >>>> <<a href="mailto:danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com">danielottojackpetersen@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
>> >>>>><br>
>> >>>>> Yes, so many truly wonderful lines and passages. I remember loving<br>
>> the<br>
>> >>>>> really robust mountainous language at the beginning of SotL,<br>
>> starting with<br>
>> >>>>> the sentence: 'Thrax is a crooked dagger entering the heart of the<br>
>> >>>>> mountains.'<br>
>> >>>>><br>
>> >>>>> You know, I don't think I've ever seen Wolfe's writing (as in style<br>
>> or<br>
>> >>>>> tone or texture of prose, etc.) discussed on this list.<br>
>> >>>>><br>
>> >>>>> -DOJP<br>
>> >>>>><br>
>> >>>>><br>
>> >>>>> On Mon, Dec 19, 2011 at 3:58 AM, David Stockhoff<br>
>> >>>>> <<a href="mailto:dstockhoff@verizon.net">dstockhoff@verizon.net</a>> wrote:<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> On 12/18/2011 7:59 PM, Daniel Petersen wrote:<br>
>> >>>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>>> Thought people here might enjoy seeing that new readers are still<br>
>> >>>>>>> discovering Wolfe for the very first time and being instantly<br>
>> enchanted. A<br>
>> >>>>>>> friend of mine (an aspiring writer) who loves Tolkien and China<br>
>> Mieville<br>
>> >>>>>>> finally, at my persistent insistence, obtained BotNS and posted<br>
>> this to me<br>
>> >>>>>>> on Facebook just now about what he's read so far:<br>
>> >>>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>>> 'I love the languid, ivy-wrapped prose that Wolfe writes in. I've<br>
>> >>>>>>> been discovering that this is a style I find myself entranced by<br>
>> when I read<br>
>> >>>>>>> it. I was not long ago working through Titus Groan and found<br>
>> >>>>>>> myself<br>
>> >>>>>>> ensconced by many of the same elements that I'm loving in Wolfe's<br>
>> writing.<br>
>> >>>>>>> Mr. Wolfe seems much better at marrying plot and poesy than Mr.<br>
>> Peake,<br>
>> >>>>>>> however.<br>
>> >>>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>>> I'm very excited about what waits around the corner. BotNS seems<br>
>> like<br>
>> >>>>>>> the kind of novel I dream of writing.'<br>
>> >>>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>>> Some pretty apt comments, I thought.<br>
>> >>>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>>> -DOJP<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> Cool!<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> BNS has some of the most gorgeous lines I have ever read. There are<br>
>> >>>>>> many others, but I think most often of the description of lotuses<br>
>> on Gyoll<br>
>> >>>>>> in CotA immediately after Maxellindis's uncle's talk of what appear<br>
>> to be<br>
>> >>>>>> the legions of Erebus:<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> With that he fell silent, looking out over the nenuphars. We were<br>
>> well<br>
>> >>>>>> above that part of<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> Gyoll opposite the Citadel, but they were still packed more densely<br>
>> >>>>>> than wildflowers in<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> any meadow this side of paradise.<br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>><br>
>> >>>>>> This kind of mood/content juxtaposition enraptures me.<br>
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>><br>
>> --<br>
>> Dan'l Danehy-Oakes<br>
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</div></div></blockquote></div><br>