Subject: (urth) More Mieville

From: Alice K. Turner <aturner6 at nyc.rr.com>
Date: Thu, 02 Dec 2004 19:30:40 +0000

Yes, The Scar is a lot better than PSS (though it completely falls apart at 
the end), and IC is hopeless (I think, though I've only ventured into it for 
three chapters). I plead guilty to using the term "hack," but I'll retract 
that. He's not exactly a hack, since that implies churning the stuff out 
mindlessly. Mieville, I think really believes in what he is doing, but 
unfortunately (from my point of view) what he loves is pulp horror, mainly 
taken from movies. You can tell that from the excerpted quotes that 
intrigued some of you. He has also been poorly edited, especially in PSS, 
which is nothing if not repetitive, with terribly clunky prose.

-alga

> Mieville is worth reading.  He is no hack, in my
> opinion, although he has clearly been influenced by
> hacks -- as has Gene Wolfe.  I recommend The Scar as
> the "purest" Mieville -- that's the book I feel has
> come closest to showcasing his strengths.  Perdido
> Street Station will also give a fair appreciation of
> his talents.  I would avoid Iron Council, his latest.
> He's not the tidiest of writers under the best of
> circumstances, but IC is just plain sloppy.
>
> Paul

---

From: Brian Lindenmuth <blindenmuth at jkharris.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 07:48:03 +0000

I am behind on my Mieville.  I have read PSS, started The Scar but not 
finished it yet (Edward Whittemore has been distracting me) and I bought IC 
but its not even on my radar screen yet in terms of reading it.  I done 
think he is a hack, but her is certainly a messy and unpolished writer. 
 Maybe he would benefit from better editing.  PSS was good though, if 
messy, a bit slow at times and too long.  It was what I like to call a 
kitchen sink novel.  He was bursting with images and ideas and wanted to 
get them all out without a certain amount of control or cohesiveness. 
 Again, not the best writer in the world, but definitely a good imagination 
and worth watching.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Alice K. Turner [SMTP:aturner6 at nyc.rr.com]
Sent:	Thursday, December 02, 2004 10:30 PM
To:	urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net
Subject:	(urth) More Mieville

the end), and IC is hopeless (I think, though I've only ventured into it 
for

-alga

> circumstances, but IC is just plain sloppy.

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From: Dan'l Danehy-Oakes <danldo at gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 08:42:35 +0000

A -

I think you're probably right; if I had read _The Scar_ first I might well 
have liked it better than _PSS_. Alas, the sheer grotesquerie which is
CM's primary stock in trade is really only good for about one book, so
I found _The Scar_ something of a slog, as it didn't have the "Wow!"
factor of the first encounter with CM.

Of course, for anyone who's read all this discussion, there will probably
be almost no "Wow!" factor no matter _which_ book they begin with,
because an expectation will have been built which won't be lived up to...

-- 
www.livejournal.com/users/sturgeonslawyer
Freedom has no barcode.
     --J.G. Ballard

---

From: Chris <rasputin_ at hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 10:08:18 +0000

I don't deny that Mieville is creative, but I don't think the wealth of 
ideas and images you're talking about is a sign of it... Mieville, by his 
own admission, borrows a lot of ideas from all over the place. The 
particular synthesis is unique to him and I would agree is rather creative.

---

From: Alice K. Turner <aturner6 at nyc.rr.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 12:34:00 +0000

Ah, but I read The Scar first, then went back to PSS. Which makes me 
completely agree with Dan'l about grotesquerie and the "wow" factor being 
only good for one book. We simply started with different books. Though I 
still applaud the Armada as a visual concept.

-alga

---

From: Brian Lindenmuth <blindenmuth at jkharris.com>
Date: Fri, 03 Dec 2004 12:41:26 +0000

No need to elaborate, but I agree with the "wow" factor lasting for 1 book.

-----Original Message-----
From:	Alice K. Turner [SMTP:aturner6 at nyc.rr.com]
Sent:	Friday, December 03, 2004 3:34 PM
To:	urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net
Subject:	(urth) More Mieville

-alga