{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/3929", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 3929, "subject": "Other authors", "messages": 8, "voices": 8, "first": "2003-04-13T07:49:48+00:00", "last": "2003-04-19T10:38:40+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jason Ingram", "address": "j_ingram at mac.com" }, "date": "2003-04-13T07:49:48+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) RE: Other authors", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Perennial favorite 'other' author on the list seems to be John Crowley\n\nJonathan Carroll's last two novels (_White Apples_ and _The Wooden \nSea_) are worth checking out.\n\nI'm not sure I would call Jack Vance \"brilliant,\" but he fits your \nother criteria. However, some people seem to have heard of him . . .\n\nAnother thought, albeit out-of-genre, is Lawrence Durrell's _Alexandria \nQuartet_; but only if you have considerable patience.\n\nBest,\n\nSepia" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On Saturday, April 12, 2003, at 11:28 PM, Steve Case wrote:\n I want to buy a book no one’s ever heard of that is incredibly \ngood. So I’m coming to you. I know lots of Wolfe-like authors have \nbeen discussed on the list before. Tell me what book I should \nbuy. (And by something like Wolfe I mean something well-written, \nthought-provoking, brilliant, and relatively clean.) " } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "silk tree", "address": "albizia at feafaroth.org" }, "date": "2003-04-13T16:06:34+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) RE: Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Richard Powers. Here is an interview:\nhttp://eserver.org/clogic/2-2/williams.html\nI think my favorite is _Gold Bug Variations_,\nbut it is very hard to decide.\n\nFirst thing I read by John Crowley was _Little, Big_.\nIt is linked in my mind with Mark Helprin's New York\nbook, _Winter's Tale_ (maybe it's the New York setting\nand the strange magic). Mark Helprin is another author\nI will read on sight.\n\nThis page recommends John Crowley, and even though\nit hasn't been update in a while, I appreciate the page for\nalso recommending some other authors.\nhttp://home.att.net/~Storytellers/jcrowley.html\nand then back up to\nhttp://home.att.net/~Storytellers/autpicks.html\n(describes _Winter's Tale_ as \"a brilliant failure\" :))\n\nThere is this fantasy writer that wrote Virconium, but\nI haven't finished it and don't remember his name.\nHe is someone I don't hear people talk about a lot. google\nwill pull up more info for you.\n\nOh, for some reason I am thinking of Russel Hoban because\nof _Riddley Walker_. It is because I recently saw a web\npage where people were talking about how much better\nhis other books were in comparison and that one just blew\nme away.\n\nThomas Disch too.\n\nI'm getting off topic thought. I think for Wolfean\nintricacy that Richard Powers is one to recommend.\nI am assuming you will find reviews and skim the books\nbefore buying them, due to the vaguely out of genre\nexperience they would cause.\n\nmimosa" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "William Ansley", "address": "wansley at warwick.net" }, "date": "2003-04-13T16:55:26+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) RE: Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "First thing I read by John Crowley was _Little, Big_.\nIt is linked in my mind with Mark Helprin's New York\nbook, _Winter's Tale_ (maybe it's the New York setting\nand the strange magic). Mark Helprin is another author\nI will read on sight." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "How interesting. LB and WT are linked in my mind as well, probably \nfor the same reasons. I don't know if I will ever read anything else \nby Helprin, but I would definitely recommend Crowley, especially LB." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "There is this fantasy writer that wrote Virconium, but\nI haven't finished it and don't remember his name.\nHe is someone I don't hear people talk about a lot. google\nwill pull up more info for you." }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "M. John Harrison is the name and I didn't even need Google for this one. " }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "William Ansley\n\n-- " } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "2003-04-13T22:16:37+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) RE: Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "William Ansley, first quoting mimosa:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "First thing I read by John Crowley was _Little, Big_.\nIt is linked in my mind with Mark Helprin's New York\nbook, _Winter's Tale_ (maybe it's the New York setting\nand the strange magic). Mark Helprin is another author\nI will read on sight." }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "How interesting. LB and WT are linked in my mind as well, probably\nfor the same reasons. I don't know if I will ever read anything else\nby Helprin, but I would definitely recommend Crowley, especially LB.<<" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "---------------------------------\n\nInteresting, indeed: I thought it was just me. The books share similar\ngeography (NYC and a mysterious, rural, upstate New York) and almost\nidentical time periods (late 19th - very early 21st centuries). They are\nalso easily each author's best book. LITTLE, BIG is the best fantasy novel\nI've ever read and WINTER'S TALE is the best novel I've ever read --\nperiod --regardless of genre, \"classic\" or otherwise. William, you should\nread Helprin's other novels; they are well worth it.\n\n-Roy" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "James Wynn", "address": "crushtv at hotpop.com" }, "date": "2003-04-14T12:31:53+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Walter Wangerin's \"Book of the Dun Cow\" sits on my shelves near to Wolfe's\nbooks. It consists of a Wolfean mixture of myth and theology (Wangerin is,\nor was, a Lutheran minister) in an \"Animal Farm\" stew.\n\nJames Tiptree Jr.'s short story, \"A Momentary Taste of Being\" takes on the\nWolfean theme of identity in a sci-fi story about the purpose of life and\nspace travel.\n\nI add my endorsement of Helprin's \"Winter's Tale\". Like Wolfe (and Wangerin\nand Tiptree) Helprin's works are as worthwhile for their beautiful writing\nas for the story. Incidentally, Helprin was enlisted as Bob Dole's speech\nwriter during the summer of the 1996 Presidential campaign. He wrote the\n\"this is where I touch ground\" speech that reinvigorated the Dole campaign.\nHe shortly quit however because he got disgusted with Dole's insistence on\nediting his speeches until they sounded like the speeches Dole was giving\nbefore they hired him. Then the Dole campaign returned to its drifting death\nby mediocrity.\n\n\n---\nOutgoing mail is certified Virus Free." } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jonathan Laidlow", "address": "ultan01 at yahoo.co.uk" }, "date": "2003-04-15T09:36:18+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re:Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: Malco \nSubject: Re: (urth) RE: Digest from urth at urth.net" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Lanark by Alasdair Gray" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Can I just second this? and third it? An amazing book\nby a little-known Scottish author. I also recommend\nhis 'Poor Things'. Both are illustrated by the author\nand available to all via amazon.co.uk\n\nJonathan Laidlow\nwww.ultan.co.uk" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Malco", "address": "nastler at yahoo.dk" }, "date": "2003-04-15T09:43:06+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Re:Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Breathlessly mounting his hobby horse Malco adds;\nAnd please also consider \"Unlikely stories, mostly\"\nEVERYONE should own a copy of \"The book of prefaces\"\n\n\n --- Jonathan Laidlow wrote: > >" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "From: Malco \nSubject: Re: (urth) RE: Digest from urth at urth.net" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": "Lanark by Alasdair Gray" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Can I just second this? and third it? An amazing\nbook\nby a little-known Scottish author. I also recommend\nhis 'Poor Things'. Both are illustrated by the\nauthor\nand available to all via amazon.co.uk\n\nJonathan Laidlow\nwww.ultan.co.uk\n\n__________________________________________________\nYahoo! Plus\nFor a better Internet experience\nhttp://www.yahoo.co.uk/btoffer\n\n-- \nhttp://www.urth.net/\nTo unsubscribe: send \"unsubscribe\" to" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "urth-request at urth.net " } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Ed Cooke", "address": "edbucks at cantab.net" }, "date": "2003-04-19T10:38:40+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Other authors", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Good to see Goethe and Iain M. Banks cropping up in this thread. To complete\nthe triangle, I've always assumed Banks took the title of 'Against A Dark\nBackground' from the following passage of Goethe:\n\n\"Spring had come in all its glory. An untimely storm that had been looming\nall day thundered down from the mountains, rain swept across the landscape,\nthe sun returned and a rainbow shone forth from the greyness. Wilhelm rode\ntowards it and was deeply moved. \"Oh!\" he said to himself. \"Do life's most\nbeautiful colours only make themselves clear to us against a dark\nbackground? Must raindrops fall for our delight? A clear day is no different\nfrom a cloudy one, if we look at it unmoved, and what can move us but the\nsilent hope that our hearts' natural inclination will not go unrequited? We\nare moved by the account of a good deed, the contemplation of an aesthetic\nobject; they make us feel as though we are not complete strangers here, and\ngive us intimations of a homeland towards which our highest and innermost\nfeelings impatiently strive.\" --'Wilhelm Meisters Lehrjahre', Bk VII Ch I\n\nTBotNS is the best Bildungsroman I've ever read, mainly because it ends\nsatisfactorily. Wieland spent thirty years rewriting his 'Agathon',\neventually resorting to a further argument between the eponymous hero and\nthe Sophist Hippias in the afterlife, and Goethe churned out a sequel in his\ndotage that loaded the characters with so much symbolism that no-one could\nreally care about them anymore; but Wolfe ties up enough loose ends for a\nsense of closure but not so many as to preclude another two novel cycles.\nBravo!" } ] } ] }