147 replies to this topic

[Suttree]

Felix Gilman starting with the "Half Made World". Interesting premise and fairly good quality writing.

[RedEyedGhost]

Suttree, on 08 April 2013 - 09:17 PM, said:

Felix Gilman starting with the "Half Made World". Interesting premise and fairly good quality writing.

Obscure?  Come on!

[peterbound]

RedEyedGhost, on 08 April 2013 - 11:25 PM, said:

Obscure?  Come on!

Indeed.  Why do we even have this thread?  So far I've been pointed towards King, Gilman, Friedman, and my favorite: Robinson.  We should just nuke this thing and keep the 'series' thread.  These folks obviously have a hard time grasping the concept of 'obscure'.  

Although Suttree /is/ a Lit Major, so maybe he understands the term better than we do.

[RedEyedGhost]

peterbound, on 09 April 2013 - 09:33 PM, said:

Indeed.  Why do we even have this thread?  So far I've been pointed towards King, Gilman, Friedman, and my favorite: Robinson.  We should just nuke this thing and keep the 'series' thread.  These folks obviously have a hard time grasping the concept of 'obscure'.  

Although Suttree /is/ a Lit Major, so maybe he understands the term better than we do.

I totally agree, outside of the first two pages it's pretty much non-obscure books being recommended and people (mostly Grack and his alts) saying that those don't belong.

I am always happy to see Gilman recommended though.  He's one of my favorite authors, and is definitely under-read, but not obscure.

[buff daddy]

An obscure book that I love is Theodore Judson's Fitzpatrick's War. It's an alternate history type of tale set in a post apocalyptic world, told in the form of an army officer/engineer's journal. The officer is a member of the titular Fitzpatrick's inner circle and is a key contributor to Fitzpatrick's Alexander-like conquest of the world, although he has mixed feelings about his role. I love the way the book is set up as one man's version of historical events and how it has a modern scholar in that world providing a forward and footnotes to dispute things in it and push his own agenda, along with the official government stance. This type of format always makes the world feel so more real and lived in to me and I'm always a sucker for it.

[thecryptile]

William Hope Hodgson the Night Lands- far future fantasy world like Vance's the Dying Earth, only the Sun has finally gone out. Mankind is living in a giant pyramid called the Last Redoubt surrounded by monsters and "abhumans" I got turned on to the series from Jon C. Wrights short story "Awake in the Night". Its from the 1930s so expect that turgid overblown prose like James Branch Cabell and HP Lovecraft.

[Bronson]

thecryptile, on 25 April 2013 - 11:13 PM, said:

William Hope Hodgson the Night Lands- far future fantasy world like Vance's the Dying Earth, only the Sun has finally gone out. Mankind is living in a giant pyramid called the Last Redoubt surrounded by monsters and "abhumans" I got turned on to the series from Jon C. Wrights short story "Awake in the Night". Its from the 1930s so expect that turgid overblown prose like James Branch Cabell and HP Lovecraft.

Cabell the man who gave us Jurgen,  Turgin?  Not at all . At one time he and his novels were widely read and celebrated  ,He's one of the great writers of all time. Hodgson's House on the Borderland is considered to be one of the greatest horror novel  of all time. The Nightlands biggest problem is its archaic  prose style, which makes it a bit of slog .  As for Lovecraft ,much of his stuff is quite good.

Edited by Bronson, 04 May 2013 - 10:40 PM.

[thecryptile]

Bronson, on 04 May 2013 - 10:39 PM, said:

The Nightlands biggest problem is its archaic  prose style, which makes it a bit of slog .  

Thats what I meant by "turgid". I don't think anyone is saying that Call of Cthulhu is a fast-paced easy read, for instance. Not that its bad, its just slow for modern tastes.