December's Diabolical Deviations (what are you currently reading?)

I'm continuing to read Stanford's The Ulysses Theme, which has now moved on to an overview of Ulysses' slow shift to a more or less loathed figure symbolising deceit and cowardice in the post-Periclean era.

Also dipping into Penguin's volume of Victorian Poetry , an interesting anthology that makes the case that Eliot & co.'s dismissal of many of the stalwarts of the era obscures a clear picture of the poetical achievements of the time, while the editor's own assessment does exclude the more sentimental and conventional material that was produced. A good chance to revisit old favourites like 'Dover Beach' and make some new discoveries and re-discoveries, both minor and major.
 
Now I've finally finished with Tanith Lee's "Forests of the Night" and Robert Aickman's "Cold Hand in Mine", I have finally started Robert Holdstock's "Mythago Wood".
 
Reading The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombe. Heard a lot of hype about his work and so far it's living up to it very nicely. Especially enjoying the character of Inquisitor Glokta and his practicals. Really good stuff.
 
Just finished re reading Greg Bear's The Forge of God. Brilliant as usual. Need to reread the Anvil of Stars.

Now on to John Ajvide Lindquist's Let the Right one in.
 
AE35Unit said:
Ah so Vathek is a gothic tale written by an english author but published in french for some reason! I wonder if its on PG...
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Indeed it is:

The History of Caliph Vathek by William Beckford - Project Gutenberg

You may at some point want to look up some of the others in this list as well:

List of Gothic Fiction works - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

And I have begun (am nearly halfway through) that odd "posthumous novel", Doctor Grimshawe's Secret, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. I say odd because Hawthorne never quite had it in finished form to be published; even though he wrote it many years before his death, he kept tinkering ith it for a long period thereafter. It is also, apparently, one of the most autobiographical of his works. Despite Hawthorne's instructions that this (along with some of his other unfinished manuscripts) be destroyed following his death, his son Julian published this version several years later, and it has earned considerable censure from various literary historians; yet for all its faults, it also has some fine aspects. The problem is that one will have a portion which reads almost like Hawthorne at his best, then run into a section which sounds quite amateurish... much more like Julian at his worst rather than his father. Still, it's proving an interesting read so far, and I'm finding several points of note, especially in light of its possible influence on HPL....

For those interested in some of this background:

http://www.eldritchpress.org/nh/ehd.html
 
That's interesting. Hawthorne of course took elements of the Gothic genre and adapted it to his own concerns and settings, and I'd planned to take up The Marble Faun as part of my Gothic overview earlier this year. Hopefully I'll get around to it in 2011!

I'm almost done with The Ulysses Theme and have started on The Lurker At The Threshold by 'H.P. Lovecraft with August Derleth'. I plan to take up the Ryman book again in the semi-vacation I have planned for next week (only semi- because I can't actually spare the time for a complete break from work, worse luck!).
 
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy said:
That's interesting. Hawthorne of course took elements of the Gothic genre and adapted it to his own concerns and settings, and I'd planned to take up The Marble Faun as part of my Gothic overview earlier this year. Hopefully I'll get around to it in 2011!
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Oddly, that is one of the things by Hawthorne I never have got around to reading... though I expect that will change fairly soon, as I'll be going through all of his material I have at hand (the story -- and sketch -- collections, novels, notebooks, several volumes of his letters, as well as other of his unfinished works, such as the "Elixir of Life" manuscripts and the like....)

I am into the second portion of Doctor Grimshawe's Secret now, and I can see what Julian meant when he claimed that this was most likely either written first or that the first part was heavily rewritten after this portion was completed, as the writing here is much more assured and even. Some portions of it are beautiful in the extreme, and some of his images, uses of metaphor, etc., are very striking indeed. For all its faults, I, for one, am glad that this was not destroyed but rather made available to future generations. I generally prefer following a writer's wishes, but there are times when I do think they are in the wrong, and posterity may lose out on some wonderful material as a result....
 
Let me know when you plan to read The Marble Faun, or indeed any of Hawthorne's other novels, maybe I'll read one of them around the same time. It would be interesting (and useful to me, undoubtedly) to compare notes!

I've finished the first third of The Lurker On The Threshold. However skilled a writer Derleth may normally have been, he is sometimes staggeringly inept in these Lovecraftian works, and this is no exception. Awkwardly phrased sentences, extraneous details for padding and a lack of characterisation abound - and yet, as I've noted before, purely as a conscious wallowing in Mythos Lite, these concoctions do entertain. Still, the many limitations of these tales, both in form and content, remind me what a master Lovecraft was of his chosen style and subject-matter.
 
Jayaprakash Satyamurthy said:
Let me know when you plan to read The Marble Faun, or indeed any of Hawthorne's other novels, maybe I'll read one of them around the same time. It would be interesting (and useful to me, undoubtedly) to compare notes!
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At the moment, I'm not certain whether I'll go straight from this into his first novel (Fanshawe), or take a slight deviation into a small collection of Alcott's "thrillers"... but either way, it will probably be some time this weekend.

I've finished the first third of The Lurker On The Threshold. However skilled a writer Derleth may normally have been, he is sometimes staggeringly inept in these Lovecraftian works, and this is no exception. Awkwardly phrased sentences, extraneous details for padding and a lack of characterisation abound - and yet, as I've noted before, purely as a conscious wallowing in Mythos Lite, these concoctions do entertain. Still, the many limitations of these tales, both in form and content, remind me what a master Lovecraft was of his chosen style and subject-matter.
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And that (Lurker, that is), save for "The Lamp of Alhazred", is the best of them. I still retain a strong fondness for this one, and yes, it can be very entertaining, and even rather atmospheric in spots. But oi! Derleth's horrendously anachronistic use of supposed dialect of the earlier periods... dialect which is almost two centuries off! And those indigestible encyclopedic lists (in what one supposes is intended to be imitation of the hints in, say, "The Whisperer in Darkness")... Still, he does throw out some fascinating concepts and images now and again, things which really deserved much better treatment. (And yes, when it came to his regional writing -- at least his earlier work in that field -- Derleth was very good indeed....)
 
I finished Blood of Elves by Andrezj Sapkowski, it was not half as good as The Last Wish. It turned the story of Geralt from a different,eastern,new take on an old story to Blood of Elves that was so typical epic fantasy like million others. Not fun when a book you had high hopes for dissapoint.

The Last Call by Tim Powers is next. I have a new PS3 game to spend little time on before later tonight i try The Last Call.
 
About 3/4 the way through Greg Bear's new one, Hull Zero-Three. Generation-ship-gone-wrong tale. Pretty decent, Bear is on my "must read" list.

I read the comments above about The Lurker At The Threshold.... I read that years ago down in the country with whipporwills and bullfrogs as accompaniment. Notched the effectiveness up rather nicely.
 
Connavar said:
I finished Blood of Elves by Andrezj Sapkowski, it was not half as good as The Last Wish. It turned the story of Geralt from a different,eastern,new take on an old story to Blood of Elves that was so typical epic fantasy like million others. Not fun when a book you had high hopes for dissapoint.

The Last Call by Tim Powers is next. I have a new PS3 game to spend little time on before later tonight i try The Last Call.
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I liked the Last Wish a lot, but completely agree... Blood of Elves was a big letdown. I didn't even finish it. Which game are you playing?

I finished Altered Carbon last night. It was a lot of fun with some fascinating ideas, though I felt there were some plot holes that kind of detracted from the whole. Some questions went unanswered and some plot/character points only seemed inserted out of obligation. But the overall excitement and blending of sci-fi and hard-boiled was enjoyable.

Now I'm reading the Last Good Kiss by James Crumley. Christmas present that has jumped my to read list since I'm looking for something lighter while home for the holidays.
 
soulsinging said:
I liked the Last Wish a lot, but completely agree... Blood of Elves was a big letdown. I didn't even finish it. Which game are you playing?

I finished Altered Carbon last night. It was a lot of fun with some fascinating ideas, though I felt there were some plot holes that kind of detracted from the whole. Some questions went unanswered and some plot/character points only seemed inserted out of obligation. But the overall excitement and blending of sci-fi and hard-boiled was enjoyable.

Now I'm reading the Last Good Kiss by James Crumley. Christmas present that has jumped my to read list since I'm looking for something lighter while home for the holidays.
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I was playing Bayonetta an extreme action alà Devil May Cry until my tv stopped working for some reason.

Atleast The Last Call seems like a top level Tim Powers work.

Altered Carbon was alot of fun to me, i dont remember plotholes i was impressed by the great blend of hardboiled,SF. The sick,unnatural look that world had on death,travel,changing bodies. The last book of the 3 is almost stronger than Altered Carbon. Still by far my fav contemporary SF series. Takeshi Kovacs is fascinating.
 
Chatting about The Lies of Locke Lamora with No One has rekindled my love for it, so I'm reading it again for the umpteenth time. Also dipped into The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. I've had it ageees so it's about time it got read.
 
Connavar said:
Atleast The Last Call seems like a top level Tim Powers work.
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It is indeed one of his better ones. If you like it, you should also enjoy the next two in the series.

To cleanse my palate from The Blood Of Elves, I'm now embarked on Probability Moon by Nancy Kress. Looks like a winner.
 
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