China Mieville on D&D

[Stormrunner]

Well, I've read all three Bas-Lag books, and CM's earlier work, King Rat (fairly interesting take on wererats, BTW).
I found them somewhat mixed. There were a lot of cool ideas - and some scenes that just dragged. Hopefully this is "new writer-itis" and he'll learn more consistency as he matures as a writer. But if nothing else, they're a great source of monster and adventure ideas.
CM's politics do show a little, in that his heroes are all working-class stiffs who generally get screwed over by the corrupt politicians/corporations. But it's far less preachy than, say Larry Niven's Footfall (to give a conservative example). I'd say it's about equivalent to Shadowrun, or cyberpunk in general - if you find "little guys against The System" disgustingly liberal, then you won't enjoy the books.

And, for what it's worth, aren't the various Bigby's Hand spells quite visible?
(Yes, I know the original quote was a reference to the "invisible hand of market forces" - which doesn't really apply to a single person's purchasing decision anyway, it's a mass statistical idea.)

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Wulf's line of reasoning is perfectly sound. In fact, I am using the same line of reasoning to justify my decision never to purchase anything written by Wulf Ratbane, because of a series of comments he made a few weeks ago (in which he, among other things, made a blanket statement insulting the continent of Europe and all its inhabitants). Yup. Works both ways.

Now, be fair. I don't remember what I said, but surely I didn't insult Great Britain.

 

[scourger]

The more important thing to me is whether the books are avialable in hardback as opposed to paperback. I just don't favor paperbacks anymore with their yellow, pulpy paper and small font.

 

[Banshee16]

Of course it would be different.

But he didn't draw that distinction. What he did was equate "capitalist" with "bastard, murderer, and exploiter."

So basically I assume he's an , or an idiot, or both, and he doesn't need my money or my time.

Right, so a minor aspect of the book, which can easily be bypassed by looking at other very cool elements of the story, since they really aren't as front and center as you may think, would result in your not reading the book.

If that's the reason, then it's your loss

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

Huh, I must have had a rather strange experience with PSS- I enjoyed the heck out of it for the first couple hundred pages, and then just got completely lost in his action scenes. Just like Neil Stephenson, he's awesome until his characters pull out a weapon. Then you aren't going to understand a thing that's going on until the guns are back in their holsters. (Honestly, most fantasy and sci-fi writers can't do action scenes too well, and the ones who write decent ones tend to be the pulpiest- Robert Jordan and R.A. Salvatore, for instance)

In general, I just found it a messed-up mixture of Charles Dickens and Michael Moorcock... which is an interesting combination in of itself, but I found the incoherence of his created world just a bit jarring- too much thrown in just because it seemed like a "kewl" idea, not enough coherence- Moorcock does this too, but his style is much more minimalist. So I have mixed feelings about Mieville- I think he still needs to mature a bit as a writer, but he could be amazing when he does. Of course, I haven't read his two newer books...

As for his politics... well, that's part of the charm. If I wanted to read fellow liberal-libertarians all the time, I'd read nothing but David Brin. But I like reading socialists (Mieville), anarcho-libertarians (Moorcock), conservative romantics (Tolkien), and the rest of the spectrum, provided they know how to spin a good yarn...

(And if you don't think Tolkien's work was political, well, read Norman Spinrad's take on it some time- "The Iron Dream"- or read David Brin's essay on Lord of the Rings at www.davidbrin.com)

Tolkien's work was absolutely political. And yet it was a great story. But it was about the rampant rise of capitalism, the drive of industrialization, and a whole whack of other things.

I think it was also on EN World, or on G.R.R. Martin's message board that I saw someone else end up refusing to read his novels, because the author openly supported a different political party. I just don't understand it. In Canada, we just don't think that way.

If we only read the writings of people who think exactly like us, it would be pretty boring.

Personally, in Mieville's New Crobuzon, I see the novel less as a political novel, than one set in a city which is going through a variety of industrial revolution where events and political ideas inspired during Earth's own industrial revolution and recent history are taking place. I didn't find the books preachy at all, because the way that the class conflicts occurred in the book were reminiscent of the types of conflicts that occurred in our own history. They *fit* the place and time, if that makes any sense. I actually didn't know about Mieville's political leanings until *after* I'd read PSS. It could have been simply the story he wanted to tell, rather than a textbook on political science.

Same as how if you read Tad Williams' "War of Flowers", which I finished a few weeks ago, there are some pretty open, politically oriented aspects of the book. One might think that tells something about the author's views. But then you read his other series like Otherlands and Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn, and nothing of the sort comes out.

Note: I just noticed the moderator's post, as I've been reading through the thread. If my response is considered "too political" I will edit it. I believe that I've kept it respectable, and non-offensive, but if not, I'll remove it.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

The more important thing to me is whether the books are avialable in hardback as opposed to paperback. I just don't favor paperbacks anymore with their yellow, pulpy paper and small font.

I read through some of them so quick, I'd go broke if I purchased everything in hardcover

Personally, I haven't read Iron Council yet, as I'm waiting for the paperback publication to come out.

Banshee

 

[Banshee16]

On the topic of China Mieville, there was a thread a few months ago wherein some EN Worlders were trying to create stats for slake moths. For some reason, the Search feature doesn't work for me....not sure if I have to be a member or something to use it. Does anyone have a link to that thread?

I'd also be very interested if there have been any threads on the Possibility Sword.

Banshee

 

[Ryltar]

scourger: I got IC as a hardcover, and I'm in love with it .

 

[mythusmage]

"Bob was a Jew. Bob was a killer. Many thought the former fact made the latter worse."

(Yes, I am being sardonic. )

 

[S'mon]

Now, be fair. I don't remember what I said, but surely I didn't insult Great Britain.

We're an offshore island though, I'm definitely not on the continent of Europe.