April's Anticipated Ascent of Aspiringly Artful Words

[nomadman]

The Face by Jack Vance. Demon Princes book 4.

Going from Henry Kuttner's workman like prose to stylist prose of Vance, his weird far future worlds takes time to get used to. I plan to finish this novel and the last Demon Princes novel thanks to Easter holiday giving me a week free time from the University.

I like shout praise Jesus for much needed holiday but i wonder if thats blasphemous since he is holy to muslims too heh....

I love The Demon Princes series most of all of Vance's works, and The Face is one of the best books in the series. It's a perfectly crafted SF thriller filled with Vance's superlative and believable worldbuilding. The last book is another great one, with one of Vance's most sinister and downright weird villains ever.

 

[nomadman]

Have decided to re-read The Hobbit for the first time in... a long while. I'm delighted to find that it's still one of the most enjoyable fantasy novels I've ever read, wonderfully rich and fun and jaunty, but with that Nordic touch of darkness that has remained with me all these years. The peasant-like woodcuts only add to the atmosphere of the tale, giving it a close-knit fairytale feel which the more stentorian LOTR lacks.

Have also begun to reread the whole of Lovecraft's oeuvre via Joshi's definitive texts in the three excellent Penguin collections. I'm only three stories in, but already the spell is once again upon me.

 

[Connavar]

I love The Demon Princes series most of all of Vance's works, and The Face is one of the best books in the series. It's a perfectly crafted SF thriller filled with Vance's superlative and believable worldbuilding. The last book is another great one, with one of Vance's most sinister and downright weird villains ever.

I love Demon Princes because Gersen is awesome, the weird alien human cultures,planets in every book is so Vancean plus the great villains. Vance does alot with Edmond Dantes in space story that is his own style.

The Killing Machine is my fav so far and Palace of Love was good, Star King weak for Vance SF series. Face is looking like the best in the series already. Larque is wonderfuly weird villain. In another great author this series would have been my fav because of the characters and the writing. My fav SF series of his Planet of Adventures because of its weird alien cultures. Dirdir,Pnume for the win.

Why Vance is my fav author, he has so many quality series. You can only choose the fav if you prefer weird science fantasy ala Dying Earth,Planet of Adventure or more SF ala Demon Princes.

 

[Extollager]

Have decided to re-read The Hobbit for the first time in... a long while. I'm delighted to find that it's still one of the most enjoyable fantasy novels I've ever read, wonderfully rich and fun and jaunty, but with that Nordic touch of darkness that has remained with me all these years. The peasant-like woodcuts only add to the atmosphere of the tale, giving it a close-knit fairytale feel which the more stentorian LOTR lacks.

Have also begun to reread the whole of Lovecraft's oeuvre via Joshi's definitive texts in the three excellent Penguin collections. I'm only three stories in, but already the spell is once again upon me.

Tolkien and Lovecraft were two authors who captivated me back in the day. Tolkien still does, while I have kind of a sentimental fondness for Lovecraft that prompts me to reread something(s) or other by him every year. I'm glad that you enjoy Tolkien's drawings for Hobbit (I assume that's what you are referring to). In 1987 I got to see most, at least, of Tolkien's originals, on display at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You would probably enjoy The Art of The Hobbit by Scull and Hammond, which was published in the UK late last year. (It doesn't have an American publisher.)

Your remarks about that "touch of Northern darkness" and the "closeknit" feel of The Hobbit ring true to me!

 

[anivid]

"A Journey to the Centre of the Earth" - as a child I "read" that in the form of a comic strip book (somebody went into troubles publishing the Classics as Comic Strips - a splendid idea ;-) - going down into the interior of a volcano, awesome, just awesome ;-)

 

[D_Davis]

Man, reading William Hope Hodgson right after reading Walter Tevis was like smacking my face against a brick-wall of prose. Tevis writes in the most readable style I've ever experienced. His prose is concise, clear, concrete, threadbare, and natural; Hodgson is pretty much the opposite of that. I like both (but I definitely like the Tevis book more), and it was interesting to read two completely different styles back to back.

 

[Grunkins]

Vance

Ok, think I'm ready to give you my order of preference from Planet of Adventure.

1. Dirdir
2. Pnume
3. Chasch
4. Wankh

I have to put Servants of the Wankh last even though I really enjoyed the travelogue aspect of it. It had the least amount of stuff going on. City of the Chasch had the most stuff going on, but I put it behind books 3 and 4 because they tie together so nicely to make one great story.

Also the Phung are the coolest damned race/species I think I've ever read.

Long Live Jack Vance!

 

[thatollie]

I am now dipping in and out of Dreamsongs by George R.R. Martin.

 

[Connavar]

Man, reading William Hope Hodgson right after reading Walter Tevis was like smacking my face against a brick-wall of prose. Tevis writes in the most readable style I've ever experienced. His prose is concise, clear, concrete, threadbare, and natural; Hodgson is pretty much the opposite of that. I like both (but I definitely like the Tevis book more), and it was interesting to read two completely different styles back to back.

Have your read much Hodgson? He is one of those dense prose styles you have to get used and forgot leaner prose style you read before him.

Of course there is good dense prose by him and bad. House on the Borderland at times knocked me out like i hit a brick wall at full speed. I have just gotten his complete collection volume 1 by Nightshade and thought after 2 years without reading his stories and thought was his prose style this different.

 

[D_Davis]

Have your read much Hodgson? He is one of those dense prose styles you have to get used and forgot leaner prose style you read before him.

Of course there is good dense prose by him and bad. House on the Borderland at times knocked me out like i hit a brick wall at full speed. I have just gotten his complete collection volume 1 by Nightshade and thought after 2 years without reading his stories and thought was his prose style this different.

Oh yeah - I like his stuff quite a bit. Although I like it more in smaller doses. I have the complete Nightshade Collection.

 

[nomadman]

Tolkien and Lovecraft were two authors who captivated me back in the day. Tolkien still does, while I have kind of a sentimental fondness for Lovecraft that prompts me to reread something(s) or other by him every year. I'm glad that you enjoy Tolkien's drawings for Hobbit (I assume that's what you are referring to).

Yes, I was referring to the original illustrations, those highly stylized pen and ink drawings where mountains have contour lines and trees look like pillars in some ancient hall.

Part of my lingering love of the Hobbit, quite a large part I would guess, is rooted in those drawings which, to a child of seven, exerted a wonderfully strange spell on me. I still remember the thrill of fear when I first spotted the trolls hiding among the trees in the illustration to Roast Mutton (in hindsight not terribly difficult to spot but hey...)

In a way I'm rather sad that the film adaptation of The Hobbit is going to be given the LOTR treatment: big bucks, CGI, two part 'epic' etc. It demands a different storytelling style IMO. Darker, weirder, more akin to that old Jim Henson series The Storyteller with John Hurt, or even the Metz Judderman commercial from the late nineties (anyone remember that?).

In 1987 I got to see most, at least, of Tolkien's originals, on display at Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. You would probably enjoy The Art of The Hobbit by Scull and Hammond, which was published in the UK late last year. (It doesn't have an American publisher.)

Thanks for the recommendation. I think I'm going to pick that up come payday.

 

[nomadman]

Have your read much Hodgson? He is one of those dense prose styles you have to get used and forgot leaner prose style you read before him.

Of course there is good dense prose by him and bad. House on the Borderland at times knocked me out like i hit a brick wall at full speed. I have just gotten his complete collection volume 1 by Nightshade and thought after 2 years without reading his stories and thought was his prose style this different.

Hodgson is an author whose prose style can be pretty flawed from a technical point of view, but who writes with such passion and seriousness that after a while you can't help but be captivated. The House on the Borderland, The Boats of the Glen Carrig and part of The Night Land have an almost hypnotic effect on the reader (on this reader at any rate) and many of his shorter nautical stories conjure up a feeling of desolation and loneliness that in my opinion is unmatched.

Would hate to read him straight after Hemingway, or McCarthy or someone like that, though. That would be a bit too jarring.

 

[D_Davis]

Would hate to read him straight after Hemingway, or McCarthy or someone like that, though. That would be a bit too jarring.

That's how it was coming right after Tevis; Tevis's style is even more threadbare than Hemingway's or McCarthy's. It is the most direct and concrete style I've ever read. To say that reading WHH after that was jarring would be an understatement.

 

[J-Sun]

Ok, think I'm ready to give you my order of preference from Planet of Adventure.

1. Dirdir
2. Pnume
3. Chasch
4. Wankh

Wow. That's exactly the order I'd put them in, though I'm kind of torn between Dirdir and Pnume. I thought both were definitely a notch above Chasch and Wankh was at least a notch below.

 

[elvet]

I've finally got the time to do my Malazan re-read of the first 8 books (3rd time) before getting to the unread ones (Dust of Dreams, Crippled God, Stonewielder, Orb Sceptre Throne). I'm looking forward to a few months of the Bridgeburners, Kruppe, Karsa, Icarium........ et al. I'm a quarter through Deadhouse Gates.

 

[Extollager]

In a way I'm rather sad that the film adaptation of The Hobbit is going to be given the LOTR treatment: big bucks, CGI, two part 'epic' etc. It demands a different storytelling style IMO. Darker, weirder, more akin to that old Jim Henson series The Storyteller with John Hurt, or even the Metz Judderman commercial from the late nineties (anyone remember that?).

I had never heard of the Metz Judderman commercial. For others who haven't, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUOPeNJCK8

This is almost uncanny, because before I looked this up, I had been thinking of how to reply to you and thinking: the Hobbit movie I would like to see might even be in black and white, with an old "European" look to it (rather than Hollywood-cinema look). This commercial is a bit too surrealistic-scary for me -- could be genuinely nightmarish for children -- but I think I do see what you were getting at.

 

[Grunkins]

Wow. That's exactly the order I'd put them in, though I'm kind of torn between Dirdir and Pnume. I thought both were definitely a notch above Chasch and Wankh was at least a notch below.

I could comfortably flip Dirdir and Pnume.

What I really want is for 95 year old Vance to bust out a The Phung novel.

 

[Connavar]

I could comfortably flip Dirdir and Pnume.

What I really want is for 95 year old Vance to bust out a The Phung novel.

I rank the books in the same order as you and J-Sun too. 1. Dirdir 2. Pnume 3. Chasch 4. Wankh. I wouldnt change Dirdir for Pnume though as fav in the series. Dirdir book stood out to me, they were the most freaky,interesting aliens to me, most challenging adventure of Adam Reith.

City of Chasch was the most action,adventure wise where most happened, quest like adventure when Adam Reith travels around that world for the first time. Dirdir and Pnume worked well together and most interesting Vancean world building,storytelling.

I thought wow what a small world my ranking of the books same as you but to be same as J-Sun too! In Jack Vance message board in Yuku most fans agree on Dirdir book but also many rated Wankh book,those aliens as their fav in the series.

 

[nomadman]

I had never heard of the Metz Judderman commercial. For others who haven't, here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TUOPeNJCK8

This is almost uncanny, because before I looked this up, I had been thinking of how to reply to you and thinking: the Hobbit movie I would like to see might even be in black and white, with an old "European" look to it (rather than Hollywood-cinema look). This commercial is a bit too surrealistic-scary for me -- could be genuinely nightmarish for children -- but I think I do see what you were getting at.

True the commercial is rather nightmarish, and The Hobbit, though possessing dark and somewhat scary elements, is ultimately a children's book, with an appeal to the cosy and the safe and the small when all is said and done.

I supose my love would be to see an independent filmic adaptation of The Hobbit which, whilst not exactly a silent film, uses techniques that more or less died out with the silent era: fixed camera shots, surrealistic backgrounds, iris in/out and so on. I'm a huge fan of The Cabinet of Dr Caligari and The Golem, both of which have elements which I would love to see in certain modern movies today. There's something inherently eerie about films with no audible dialogue, which almost voyeuristically follow the protagonist around without ever giving them vent to spoken sounds. The image attains a far stronger impression in the viewer.

The Hobbit, of course, rests rather heavily on spoken dialogue, but it's not entirely a modern story either. It's something of an amalgam of old storytelling techniques and new. Visually and atmospherically powerful, with a clearly developed plot and coherent world structure.

 

[Grunkins]

many rated Wankh book,those aliens as their fav in the series.

That's a little surprising to me because we saw so little of the Wankh in their book. It was largely about getting there. I'm with you in the Dirdir being the most interesting of the big species, though my love for the Phung will never die.

Here's my favorite passage regarding the Phung:

Traz made a sudden motion, pointed. In one of the crevices, between two vanes of rock, stood a tall dark shadow. "Phung!"
Reith looked through the scanscope and saw the shadow to be a Phung indeed. From where it had come he could not guess.
It was over eight feet in height, in its soft black hat and black cloak, like a giant grasshopper in magisterial vestments.
Reith studied the face, watching the slow working of chitinous plates around the blunt lower section of the face. It watched the Green Chasch with brooding detachment, though they crouched over their pots not ten yards away.
"A mad thing," whispered Traz, his eyes glittering. "Look, now it plays tricks!"
The Phung reached down its long thin arms, raised a small boulder which it heaved high into the air. The rock dropped among the Chasch, falling squarely upon a hulking back.
The Green Chasch sprang up, to glare toward the top of the butte. The Phung stood quietly, lost among the shadows. The Chasch which had been struck lay flat on its face, making convulsive swimming motions with arms and legs.
The Phung craftily lifted another great rock, once more heaved it high, but this time the Chasch saw the movement. Venting squeals of fury they seized their swords and flung themselves forward. The Phung took a stately step aside, then leaping in a great flutter of cloak snatched a sword, which it wielded as if it were a toothpick, hacking, dancing, whirling, cutting wildly, apparently without aim or direction. The Chasch scattered; some lay on the ground, and the Phung jumped here and there, slashing and slicing, without discrimination, the Green Chasch, the fire, the air, like a mechanical toy running out of control.
Crouching and shifting, the Green Chasch hulked forward. They chopped, cut; the Phung threw away the sword as if it were hot, and was hacked into pieces. The head spun off the torso, landed on the ground ten feet from one of the fires, with the soft black hat still in place. Reith watched it through the scanscope.
The head seemed conscious, untroubled. The eyes watched the fire; the mouth parts worked slowly.
"It will live for days, until it dries out," said Traz huskily. "Gradually it will go stiff."