Damn you, [livejournal.com profile] robinbloke

17 May 2004 06:20 pm
karohemd: by LJ user gothindulgence (Default)
[personal profile] karohemd
I am now utterly hooked on Use of Weapons!

Date: 17/5/04 05:37 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toxicpixie.livejournal.com
Ian M. Banks?

Good stuff :)

Nathan, The Toxic Pixie

Date: 17/5/04 05:38 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
All of Banks' SF is pretty good, as is quite a lot of his general fiction; I particularly recommend The State of The Art ("I'm a fucking starship; I'm allowed to cheat">, The Player of Games, and Against a Dark Background in SF, Espedair Street and The Wasp Factory in non-SF.

Date: 17/5/04 05:41 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] ffutures.livejournal.com
Forgot to mention the thread on "The Culture (Banks) versus Civilisation (E.E. 'Doc' Smith)" fanfic plus discussion which ran on one of the SF wargaming groups for a while - ought to have a link to it somewhere...

http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?t=17812

Seems to have petered out towards the end of last year, which is a shame because it was quite fun.

Date: 17/5/04 05:50 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] karohemd.livejournal.com
I will certainly expand my wish list soon.
Thanks for the tips!

Date: 17/5/04 07:02 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deliberateblank.livejournal.com
The State of The Art is a mixture of Culture/non-Culture shorts - it's good but may be best appreciated after reading some of the other Culture stuff, in a vague sort of order.

Same goes for Inversions, which isn't *obviously* Culture unless you've read other stuff first. (That fact is very much incidental to the plot, but you may appreciate it more if you delay reading it for a while.)

Against a Dark Background and Feersum Endjinn are both fantastic, and non-Culture and standalone.

As for no-M Banks, I'd recommend The Crow Road or Walking On Glass, Song of Stone (thoroughly miserable in every way, but well done) and Dead Air (newer, and like The Business, much more lightweight than many of the others.)

Date: 17/5/04 07:10 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] omentide.livejournal.com
Crow Road, Whit, Espedair Street and Complicity. In approximately that order.

Date: 17/5/04 07:21 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deliberateblank.livejournal.com
I didn't much like Whit - I mean, it's well written of course, but the main character just annoys the hell out of me.

Date: 17/5/04 07:23 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] omentide.livejournal.com
And I can't read the SF.

I have tried.

Isn't she supposed to be annoying? (I was disappointed by Dead Air).

Date: 17/5/04 07:26 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deliberateblank.livejournal.com
Yes, but I prefer sympathetic leads, and my enjoyment of the book just couldn't get past her.

Dead Air is as I said very lightweight. Not as much as The Business perhaps, but still more throughaway than the earlier stuff. (If you prefer more serious stuff, then Song of Stone, which is very intense.)

Date: 17/5/04 07:27 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] deliberateblank.livejournal.com
OTOH I don't think reading Whit was a waste of time, whereas The Bridge was just so weird I don't think I would mind having not read it.

Date: 17/5/04 09:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com
In terms of unreadability...but you missed excession off the end of the list...

Now if you're talking player of games, use of weapons, and walking on glass, however.

Date: 17/5/04 10:31 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] davywavy.livejournal.com
In terms of unreadability, I'd agree. You just forgot to put 'Excession' at the top of the list.

Walking on glass is his only really good non-sci-fi (ish).

Date: 17/5/04 10:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] toxicpixie.livejournal.com
I've enjoyed his stuff that I've read, but the non sci-fi more. I just don't find the culture to be a very satisfactory setting, I think.

Feels wrong to me!

E.E. Doc. Smith is utterly ludicrous, but great fun. Here is my ulimate weapon! Here is my Super-Ultimate weapon! Ha, thats nothing - here is my Extra-Super-Ulimate Weapon! *repeat ad nauseum*

*grin*

Nathan, The Toxic Pixie

Date: 17/5/04 08:58 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] kathminchin.livejournal.com
I have solely read The Business which although not Sci Fi, is remarkably good

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