Subject: (urth) difference engine

From: Stuart Hamm <hammstu at sbcglobal.net>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2008 23:39:36 +0000

Hmm...should I go back and re-read it?
I am a huge W Gibson fan...my 2nd CD was "Kings of Sleep",,,but I really didn't like DE and read a book by the co-author (Islands in the Net ??) and thought it was, as Roddy Doyle says.."A Gob of Shite"
Would really recommend "Pattern Recognition" by WG and lots of early Paul Auster..not exactly sci-fi...but there are some similarities with GW
"New York Trilogy"
"The Music of Chance"
"Leviathan"..about the uni bomber
"Timbuktu"..from a canine point of view..

Anyone else read them?

Stuart Hamm
  M  (415) 786-3624
Skype  stuart.hamm

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From: Jeff Eoff <jeffeoff at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 00:03:26 +0000

I enjoyed The Difference Engine, though it's been years since I read 
it.  It wasn't amazing, but it was by no means a regrettable read.  I 
recall the setting and atmosphere being stronger than the plot or the 
characters.

-Jeff Eoff

Stuart Hamm wrote:
> I am a huge W Gibson fan...my 2nd CD was "Kings of Sleep",,,but I 
> really didn't like DE and read a book by the co-author (Islands in the 
> Net ??) and thought it was, as Roddy Doyle says.."A Gob of Shite"
> Would really recommend "Pattern Recognition" by WG and lots of early 
> Paul Auster..not exactly sci-fi...but there are some similarities with GW
> "New York Trilogy"
> "The Music of Chance"
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> Urth Mailing List
> To post, write urth at urth.net
> Subscription/information: http://www.urth.net

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From: Russ Allbery <rra at stanford.edu>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 00:50:25 +0000

> I am a huge W Gibson fan...my 2nd CD was "Kings of Sleep",,,but I really
> didn't like DE and read a book by the co-author (Islands in the Net ??)
> and thought it was, as Roddy Doyle says.."A Gob of Shite"

I personally have not read it, but from having discussed SF quite a bit in
other places, my estimate is that about 95% of the people who have read it
didn't like it and only about 5% liked it.  So probably not.

The general consensus seems to be that it was a low point for both
authors.  I've read other things by Bruce Sterling that I quite enjoyed
(_Heavy Weather_, for example, although it's not what I'd call great
literature).

Sometimes the collaborations work and sometimes they just don't.

-- 
Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>

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From: Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 03:30:41 +0000

Sterling is a good writer; just not all the time!

I, too, liked Heavy Weather, but more for seeing my native land  
portrayed in fiction (not by Cormac McCarthy) and because it was a  
decent cyberpunk novel, but largely derivative.  His Schismatrix stuff  
is lightyears beyond the other books I've read by Sterling.

Lane

On May 13, 2008, at 7:50 PM, Russ Allbery wrote:
>> really
> Russ Allbery (rra at stanford.edu)             <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/ 
> >

Best,
Lane

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From: Robert Thornton <oblate777 at speakeasy.net>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 10:00:38 +0000

I agree about Schismatrix. It is a great book and his most ambitious  
work though later books are better written IMHO. As far as his later  
work, I am a big fan of Distraction but otherwise I'm not very fond of  
them. I think his short stories are better. Of course I like the older  
story where my hometown Rockville, Maryland becomes the center of  
global power thanks to biotech....

As for Difference Engine, I'd agree with the majority view. The ending  
was interesting but you had to slog through a lot of dreck to get there.

rob t.

On May 13, 2008, at 11:30 PM, Lane Haygood wrote:

> decent cyberpunk novel, but largely derivative.  His Schismatrix  
> stuff is lightyears beyond the other books I've read by Sterling.
>
> Lane
>

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From: Dave Lebling <dlebling at hyraxes.com>
Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 23:50:41 +0000

Rob, I grew up in Bethesda and Rockville, MD myself, and attended 
Richard Montgomery High School. I've lived in the Boston area for 
umpty-foo years now though, after being engulfed by MIT and never quite 
getting over it.

I find that many of the authors I really like have been mentioned 
previously. To those who found Crowley a tough read, I suggest trying 
"Engine Summer" as a starter, just as "The Crying of Lot 49" makes a 
good start on Pynchon (I recently reread "Gravity's Rainbow" and am 
working on "Against the Day").

I'm very partial to Bruce Sterling (his short stories are better than 
his novels, as a rule: try "Bicycle Repairman" and "Kalamantan"), 
William Gibson, Michael Swanwick ("The Iron Dragon's Daughter" is 
steam-elf-punk), Charlie Stross ("The Atrocity Archive" and "A Colder 
War" and several others), Ken McLeod ("The Execution Channel" is not his 
best; start with "The Cassini Division"), Iain Banks (I just finished 
"Matter" recently), Ian McDonald ("River of Gods"), Neal Stephenson (I 
am inordinately fond of "The Baroque Trilogy"), John Scalzi, Rudy 
Rucker, and even China Mieville (who seems to be less-than-favored 
locally). I wish Jack Vance were still writing (though I hear he is 
dictating an autobiography, which should be interesting).

My tastes in non-SF fiction are fairly pedestrian: Patrick O'Brian, 
Cormac McCarthy, Carl Hiaasen, Alexander McCall Smith, etc. I 
periodically reread George V. Higgins ("The Friends of Eddie Coyle" is 
one of those nearly perfect novels) and wish he was still around, but I 
console myself with Dennis Lehane.

I love history and have been reading up on my Byzantine and late Roman 
stuff, which is actually pretty useful if you want to reread the New Sun 
books.

-- Dave Lebling, aka Vizcacha