Subject: (urth) Engine Summer

From: cilluff1 at optonline.net <cilluff1 at optonline.net>
Date: Tue, 06 May 2003 21:06:13 +0000

I know we have had an on-again, off-again discussion about other Lupinesque
authors that listers would recommend.  I just finished reading John
Crowley's "Engine Summer" and highly recommend it.  The Wolfean elements
include the far-future, post-apocalypse setting, but the real strength and
charm of the book have little to do with the far-future setting, the
interpersonal relationships and characters are what drive the work. 
Whereas, in the NS cycle, the dying sun really is integral to the plot, and
the plot drives the story, in Engine Summer the far-future earth happens to
be where the story takes place, it is the setting, but really the story is
much more universal IMHO.  As Rush that Speaks said, sometimes the
snakes-hands are the best parts of stories, and with Engine Summer that
certainly is the case -- there is nothing overly unique about the plot,
Crowley's magic is all in the telling.

Engine Summer is my first foray into Crowley but I just picked up Little,
Big which I know is supposed to be his masterpiece.  I can't wait! 

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From: William Ansley <wansley at warwick.net>
Date: Wed, 07 May 2003 17:29:17 +0000

At 05:06 PM 5/6/2003 -0400, cilluff1 at optonline.net wrote:
>As Rush that Speaks said, sometimes the

Even though it was as recently as April 21 that Alice Turner mentioned the 
new book on Crowley:

_Snake's-Hands: The Fiction of John Crowley_
Edited by Alice K. Turner & Michael Andre-Driussi

which was contributed to by four members of this discussion group, 
including myself, I will risk being charged with redundant posting and 
blowing my own horn because I received my own copy of this work (finally) 
this past Monday, so reading the passage I quote above was too tempting an 
opportunity to resist.

I will also supply a bit more purchasing info, for those so inclined:

The original, much shorter, chapbook or booklet is still available from 
Sirius Fiction. (The web site says on 17 copies are left.)

<http://siriusfiction.com>
<http://siriusfiction.com/snake.html>

The new, much expanded hardcover is available from Cosmos Books (a division 
of Wildside Press).

<http://cosmos-books.com/>
<http://www.cosmos-books.com/turner-crowley.html>

The above web site says that there is a trade paperback edition of the book 
as well, but only the hardcover is currently available for sale so perhaps 
the paperback is forthcoming.

Here is a list of the contributors:

Michael Andre-Driussi
William H. Ansley
Brian Attebery
Harold Bloom
John Clute
Matthew S. S. Davis
Thomas M. Disch
James Hynes
Don Riggs
Bill Sheehan
Graham Sleight
Adam Stephanides
Jennifer Stevenson
Sondra Ford Swift
Alice K. Turner

I hope the list members will forgive me for this rather lengthy posting, 
but I felt the book was of enough interest to the group to warrant it.

William Ansley

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