Jeff VanderMeer — Urth Net

JBarach at aol.com11 May 2010, 22:32as archived

Jeff VanderMeer

URTHers -- I glanced at a copy of Jeff VanderMeer's recent novel, Shriek -- An Afterword, and discovered that it has a blurb by Gene Wolfe: "Here is a desert island book, a tale you can lose yourself in for days, a novel of character in which the setting -- the magnificently gritty city-state named Ambergris -- proves as the light fails to be the finest character of all." _http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665_ (http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665) I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed.... John

Mo Holkar / UKG12 May 2010, 07:27as archived

↳ in reply to JBarach at aol.com

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At 23:32 11/05/2010, John wrote: I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed....

Maybe someone would like to start off such a page on the wiki? best, Mo # ~ # ~ # WolfeWiki -- a wiki about Gene Wolfe http://www.wolfewiki.com/pmwiki/

Mike Myers12 May 2010, 12:49as archived

↳ in reply to JBarach at aol.com

Shriek is a great book, one of my all time favorites. --- On Tue, 5/11/10, JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> wrote: From: JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> Subject: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer To: urth at lists.urth.net Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:32 PM URTHers -- I glanced at a copy of Jeff VanderMeer's recent novel, Shriek -- An Afterword, and discovered that it has a blurb by Gene Wolfe: "Here is a desert island book, a tale you can lose yourself in for days, a novel of character in which the setting -- the magnificently gritty city-state named Ambergris -- proves as the light fails to be the finest character of all." http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665 I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed.... John -----Inline Attachment Follows-----

Craig Brewer12 May 2010, 13:12as archived

↳ in reply to Mike Myers

I know this isn't the place for Vandermeer discussion...but for those interested, I'd have to say that Shriek is the least successful of Vandermeer's three Ambergris novels. The premise is a blast (a missing brother has left behind a book, found by his sister, who decides to write an afterward to it explaining their lives...but the sister is now missing and the brother has found the book and is now commenting on her afterward by inserting notes as she tells it). But the execution becomes bogged down a bit halfway through once we basically know the whole story. And the character examination to me became a bit repetitive rather than illuminating at the same point. The book that introduces the city of Ambergris, City of Saints and Madmen, though would I think be plenty interesting to Wolfe (and Crowley) fans for its variety of styles/mysteries/histories/wonders.

Jordon Flato15 May 2010, 00:24as archived

↳ in reply to Craig Brewer

Huh...I found it to be the most compelling of the three. I found FINCH to be the most underwhelming, mostly because if felt like a well written China Meiville story: nice and pretty but with not as much, what, soul? to it?

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On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:12 AM, Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com> wrote: I know this isn't the place for Vandermeer discussion...but for those interested, I'd have to say that Shriek is the least successful of Vandermeer's three Ambergris novels. The premise is a blast (a missing brother has left behind a book, found by his sister, who decides to write an afterward to it explaining their lives...but the sister is now missing and the brother has found the book and is now commenting on her afterward by inserting notes as she tells it). But the execution becomes bogged down a bit halfway through once we basically know the whole story. And the character examination to me became a bit repetitive rather than illuminating at the same point. The book that introduces the city of Ambergris, City of Saints and Madmen, though would I think be plenty interesting to Wolfe (and Crowley) fans for its variety of styles/mysteries/histories/wonders. ------------------------------ From: Mike Myers <mimyerspdt at yahoo.com> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net> Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 7:49:25 AM Subject: Re: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer Shriek is a great book, one of my all time favorites. --- On Tue, 5/11/10, JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> wrote: From: JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> Subject: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer To: urth at lists.urth.net Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:32 PM URTHers -- I glanced at a copy of Jeff VanderMeer's recent novel, Shriek -- An Afterword, and discovered that it has a blurb by Gene Wolfe: "Here is a desert island book, a tale you can lose yourself in for days, a novel of character in which the setting -- the magnificently gritty city-state named Ambergris -- proves as the light fails to be the finest character of all." http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665 I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed.... John -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________

Robert Thornton15 May 2010, 00:32as archived

↳ in reply to Jordon Flato

I am in mid-Finch and right now I agree with Jordan for somewhat different reasons. As I read Finch, Ambergris seems pretty dreary and doesn't fascinate me as it did in the other books. Rob

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On May 14, 2010, at 8:24 PM, Jordon Flato wrote: Huh...I found it to be the most compelling of the three. I found FINCH to be the most underwhelming, mostly because if felt like a well written China Meiville story: nice and pretty but with not as much, what, soul? to it? On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:12 AM, Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com> wrote: I know this isn't the place for Vandermeer discussion...but for those interested, I'd have to say that Shriek is the least successful of Vandermeer's three Ambergris novels. The premise is a blast (a missing brother has left behind a book, found by his sister, who decides to write an afterward to it explaining their lives...but the sister is now missing and the brother has found the book and is now commenting on her afterward by inserting notes as she tells it). But the execution becomes bogged down a bit halfway through once we basically know the whole story. And the character examination to me became a bit repetitive rather than illuminating at the same point. The book that introduces the city of Ambergris, City of Saints and Madmen, though would I think be plenty interesting to Wolfe (and Crowley) fans for its variety of styles/mysteries/histories/wonders. From: Mike Myers <mimyerspdt at yahoo.com> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net> Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 7:49:25 AM Subject: Re: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer Shriek is a great book, one of my all time favorites. --- On Tue, 5/11/10, JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> wrote: From: JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> Subject: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer To: urth at lists.urth.net Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:32 PM URTHers -- I glanced at a copy of Jeff VanderMeer's recent novel, Shriek -- An Afterword, and discovered that it has a blurb by Gene Wolfe: "Here is a desert island book, a tale you can lose yourself in for days, a novel of character in which the setting -- the magnificently gritty city-state named Ambergris -- proves as the light fails to be the finest character of all." http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665 I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed.... John -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________

James Crossley15 May 2010, 03:39as archived

↳ in reply to Jordon Flato

City of Saints and Madmen is certainly the flashiest of the three, with its myriad styles. It leaves a lot to the imagination, in the best possible way, and is probably the most purely enjoyable book in the Ambergris cycle. Shriek is also very rewarding, and I think the most accomplished of the set. The depth of characterization in the book is beyond almost anything else in genre. It’s quite different from its predecessor, which I find refreshing, although I can see where it wouldn’t push a reader’s buttons in the same way as CoS&M. Finch is yet another departure, a successful one in my opinion, but again not necessarily a likeable one. In many ways, it wraps up the mysteries that the previous books set up, which I think lends to the deflating feeling that some have described. James

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On 5/14/10 5:24 PM, "Jordon Flato" <jordonflato at gmail.com> wrote: Huh...I found it to be the most compelling of the three. I found FINCH to be the most underwhelming, mostly because if felt like a well written China Meiville story: nice and pretty but with not as much, what, soul? to it? On Wed, May 12, 2010 at 6:12 AM, Craig Brewer <cnbrewer at yahoo.com> wrote:

I know this isn't the place for Vandermeer discussion...but for those interested, I'd have to say that Shriek is the least successful of Vandermeer's three Ambergris novels. The premise is a blast (a missing brother has left behind a book, found by his sister, who decides to write an afterward to it explaining their lives...but the sister is now missing and the brother has found the book and is now commenting on her afterward by inserting notes as she tells it). But the execution becomes bogged down a bit halfway through once we basically know the whole story. And the character examination to me became a bit repetitive rather than illuminating at the same point. The book that introduces the city of Ambergris, City of Saints and Madmen, though would I think be plenty interesting to Wolfe (and Crowley) fans for its variety of styles/mysteries/histories/wonders. From: Mike Myers <mimyerspdt at yahoo.com> To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net> Sent: Wed, May 12, 2010 7:49:25 AM Subject: Re: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer Shriek is a great book, one of my all time favorites. --- On Tue, 5/11/10, JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> wrote:

From: JBarach at aol.com <JBarach at aol.com> Subject: (urth) Jeff VanderMeer To: urth at lists.urth.net Date: Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 3:32 PM URTHers -- I glanced at a copy of Jeff VanderMeer's recent novel, Shriek -- An Afterword, and discovered that it has a blurb by Gene Wolfe: "Here is a desert island book, a tale you can lose yourself in for days, a novel of character in which the setting -- the magnificently gritty city-state named Ambergris -- proves as the light fails to be the finest character of all." http://www.amazon.com/Shriek-Afterword-Jeff-VanderMeer/dp/0765314665 I wish someone were keeping track of all the books Wolfe has blurbed.... John -----Inline Attachment Follows----- _______________________________________________