You ready to jack in? Never read Neuromancer! Well, I'll be curious what you make of it. Meanwhile, I have yet another book to add to my list, thank you very much!
Kavan’s book sounds fascinating, and not unlike something you might pen! Glad to hear the clouds are lifting and you’re feeling some spaciousness within your creative sphere. Hoping this continues so we can be the beneficiaries of your brilliance.:)
Interesting, I finished reading Ice a few weeks ago. It is indeed a strange book, and one that's difficult to describe without running into all sorts of diminishing attempts (which inevitably you do). The minute I finished it, I immediately thought that I will read it again, in due course. The same thought I had when I finished Clarice Lispector's Near To The Wild Heart, for example. Although we're talking about two completely different universes. I appreciate your mention of the other titles within the Penguin Classics Science Fiction collection, which I am not familiar with and will definitely check out (especially Lovecraft's). I will also get the Strugatskys' book. You got me intrigued. I usually take book recommendations with a grain of salt, but your appreciation of Anna Kavan tells me all I need to know to go ahead and "trust" your taste (AND subscribe to your substack). :)
Hey Silvio, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments, really appreciate it. (And thank you for the sub, that's very kind.)
I hadn't heard of Near To The Wild Heart, but reading the blurb has me intrigued so I will add it to my list! It sounds like my kind of thing. Have you read Solenoid? I read it a few months ago and it was all-consuming. Please feel no obligation to click on this, but I wrote some (non-spoiler; although how you'd spoil Solenoid I don't know) words on it here: https://slake.substack.com/p/wire-bound-words
I think The Colour Out Of Space is perhaps Lovecraft's best work. I hope you enjoy. It seems like one can't go wrong with the Penguin Classics SciFi collection. There aren't many books on the list, so their curation must have been quite stringent.
It's curious, you're the third person in a matter of days that mentions Solenoid to me. And at this point I shall not hesitate any further and get it. I read the article you kindly posted the link of, and I'm 100% sold (who wouldn't be, after that beautiful piece of yours). I particularly appreciated the Borges coincidence or occurrence (I wouldn't know what to call such a magical event). So, thank you for recommending Solenoid (btw, I've also ordered Lovecraft's). As for Clarice Lispector, she has nothing to do with SciFi, but, to me, she was a literary genius. Her work isn't the easiest to read, but it's so interesting and rich. It's got a kind of satisfying complexity that makes the reading experience powerful and delicate at the same time.
How funny! It is certainly a sign you must read it! Your description of Clarice sounds much like my experience of reading Mircea, which bodes well for us both.
These books look so good. Thanks for telling us about your experience with them.
15 years! Happy moving anniversary. I do find it odd the way the years away-from-home creep up on me as well. At one point, I was always 'coming back soon'...I'm not sure if that was the case with you? Years turn into almost decades, and then you wonder about the passing of time. When I was applying to jobs last autumn, the years were clear and frightening as I wrote them down on paper.
But it's also courageous and wonderful that you've been able to make yourself this life in Australia with all that you have there.
I can imagine what that must have been like in applying for jobs, looking back over your movements and achievements. Hopefully a lovely reflective moment. I do think it's good to stop and acknowledge all the things every now and again. 🤗
Shamefully I think I would have bought the Kavan book without even knowing what it was about because I love the cover so much (but now I've heard your take I'm getting it for more mature, intellectual reasons)
Neuromancer is great, although I have to read it again, it's been at least 20 years… I read almost all of Gibson’s books and I like his anarchist style.
Woot. Thanks Troy. "Left Hand of Darnkness" is a superb book. Read it some number of years ago but I've been eyeing it on my shelf and considering returning to it. I keep meaning to get to Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" too.
Very interesting! I hadn’t heard of either of these books, but Roadside Picnic sounds intriguing to me. Also Neuromancer. I haven’t read that one yet either.
Australia. I’ve wanted to visit ever since doing a research paper about the country/continent in the fourth grade. Someday, I’ll come for a visit.
Ice sounds intriguing! I’ll have to add it to the list. Happy 15 years! Starting a new life is an incredible thing, and wild whether it was a deliberate choice or something fallen into, or both.
Thanks for the lovely mention, my friend. I read a Romanian translation of Roadside Picnic in college, and hated it, lol. Though now I think of it, I didn’t like most of the books from that collection, including The Man in the High Castle, so it’s very possible that the translations were to blame. I should perhaps try the English translations as well.
Oh really? I guess it could be the translation, or maybe the time you read it, or maybe it's not your thing? Either way, totally fine. Everything is subjective 😁
I most pleased to have officially recommended A Good Read! That Penguin Science Fiction series is full of them, in fact. (Great covers too, as with the SF Mastworks.) You have written a great summary of Ice; I hope people are encouraged to read it. You have also highlighted my two favourites.
I expect readers of serialised fiction here would enjoy the way The Hair Carpet Weavers is structured, with each chapter often being self-contained, from a unique character’s perspective, but linked in some way to the preceding chapter to tell an ever-expanding story. Superb.
We is (are) also brilliant. It is rather like Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, but written a good couple of decades earlier, with a compelling delirious trajectory for the protagonist.
I have read a few others. There is even one by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, One Billion Years to the End of the World. The Cyberiad was rather amusing and really made me want to read Solaris—another link to Roadside Picnic and Stalker via Andrei Tarkovsky.
Solaris is next on the list after Neuromancer. Good link to Roadside Stalker! (Or "Stullker" as I learned from Boris in the afterword.)
The structure of The Hair Carpet Weavers really is amazing. It felt like a sort of constant zooming out as I was reading. Superb book. I've thought about it a lot since reading, which is always a sign of A Good Read.
Indeed; I was worried at some point that it would zoom out too far, lose perspective and end with a remote anticlimax, but this was not the case at all. Consistently brilliant with a satisfying ending. Need to read more by Andreas Eschbach too!
Thanks for the book recommendations, Nathan. I’ve not read either of them but will need to check them out
It’s a good time to read Neuromancer as it’s currently being adapted by Apple into a 10 part TV show. The book was huge when I was a teenager but, like yourself, never got around to reading it. Might give it a go 🤔
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend and I’m sure that guy from 15 years ago is still with you and proud of what you have achieved and become 👍🏼
This is the last day of our holiday in Sicily and I’m lying awake at 3.25am writing this as the couple in the hotel room next to us decided that tonight was a good time to play really loud music and then have a huge argument. I’m doing that British thing of tutting loudly and not calling reception like I should. I think I’m looking forward to going home. I’m meant to be up in 2 hours anyway so don’t think any more sleep is on the cards. I might try and do some writing 🤔🙄😆
Oh wow, did not know that about Apple tv adapting it. They've got their hands across many pies at the moment!
I've just sat and read a load of Neuromancer. It rips along at a fantastic pace and is full of much nuance and detail. I love the world (I already had an interest in cyberpunk/futurist SciFi) and it reads like a gritty noir story so far.
Sorry to hear of the troublesome neighbours in the hotel. I hope that the rest of the time in Sicily has been more relaxing and pleasant and you come home at least somewhat refreshed and inspired.
It’s been a good holiday. Just last night was too much craziness. Managed to do some writing whilst I was here including one story I’ll try and publish when I get home later today. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, time to get moving. The journey to the airport awaits ✈️ 🚗 🙂
You ready to jack in? Never read Neuromancer! Well, I'll be curious what you make of it. Meanwhile, I have yet another book to add to my list, thank you very much!
Yeah, it's just been one of those books that's always been there but for some reasons I never read. I'm excited and ready to jack in, though.
Which book did you add? Ice or Roadside? Or both, because we'd already discussed the former??
Roadside. I have Ice on my Kindle, will be a while until I get to it. Between W&P, BOTNS and 1984 recordings.
That's a lot of things!
Many things! I re-read Alice and Through the Looking Glass in one day recently too, for reasons...😅
😆
I read Neuromancer. That’s all I have to say.
PS I think you'd enjoy Ice, even if just to add to the CliFi pile (it sort of slots into that).
This one picked my interest. I’ll add it to next year’s reading list.
Bahaha. Something suggests you didn't like it.
😶
Kavan’s book sounds fascinating, and not unlike something you might pen! Glad to hear the clouds are lifting and you’re feeling some spaciousness within your creative sphere. Hoping this continues so we can be the beneficiaries of your brilliance.:)
Aw, thanks Kimberly. I hope so too!
Definitely a fascinating read.
Interesting, I finished reading Ice a few weeks ago. It is indeed a strange book, and one that's difficult to describe without running into all sorts of diminishing attempts (which inevitably you do). The minute I finished it, I immediately thought that I will read it again, in due course. The same thought I had when I finished Clarice Lispector's Near To The Wild Heart, for example. Although we're talking about two completely different universes. I appreciate your mention of the other titles within the Penguin Classics Science Fiction collection, which I am not familiar with and will definitely check out (especially Lovecraft's). I will also get the Strugatskys' book. You got me intrigued. I usually take book recommendations with a grain of salt, but your appreciation of Anna Kavan tells me all I need to know to go ahead and "trust" your taste (AND subscribe to your substack). :)
Hey Silvio, thanks so much for your thoughtful comments, really appreciate it. (And thank you for the sub, that's very kind.)
I hadn't heard of Near To The Wild Heart, but reading the blurb has me intrigued so I will add it to my list! It sounds like my kind of thing. Have you read Solenoid? I read it a few months ago and it was all-consuming. Please feel no obligation to click on this, but I wrote some (non-spoiler; although how you'd spoil Solenoid I don't know) words on it here: https://slake.substack.com/p/wire-bound-words
I think The Colour Out Of Space is perhaps Lovecraft's best work. I hope you enjoy. It seems like one can't go wrong with the Penguin Classics SciFi collection. There aren't many books on the list, so their curation must have been quite stringent.
It's curious, you're the third person in a matter of days that mentions Solenoid to me. And at this point I shall not hesitate any further and get it. I read the article you kindly posted the link of, and I'm 100% sold (who wouldn't be, after that beautiful piece of yours). I particularly appreciated the Borges coincidence or occurrence (I wouldn't know what to call such a magical event). So, thank you for recommending Solenoid (btw, I've also ordered Lovecraft's). As for Clarice Lispector, she has nothing to do with SciFi, but, to me, she was a literary genius. Her work isn't the easiest to read, but it's so interesting and rich. It's got a kind of satisfying complexity that makes the reading experience powerful and delicate at the same time.
How funny! It is certainly a sign you must read it! Your description of Clarice sounds much like my experience of reading Mircea, which bodes well for us both.
These books look so good. Thanks for telling us about your experience with them.
15 years! Happy moving anniversary. I do find it odd the way the years away-from-home creep up on me as well. At one point, I was always 'coming back soon'...I'm not sure if that was the case with you? Years turn into almost decades, and then you wonder about the passing of time. When I was applying to jobs last autumn, the years were clear and frightening as I wrote them down on paper.
But it's also courageous and wonderful that you've been able to make yourself this life in Australia with all that you have there.
Welcome, and thank you, Kate!
I can imagine what that must have been like in applying for jobs, looking back over your movements and achievements. Hopefully a lovely reflective moment. I do think it's good to stop and acknowledge all the things every now and again. 🤗
Love love love the interview. It's like two friends having a coffee break together.
NADIA YOU'RE BACK!! 😍 Yay.
Hectic day not had a chance to respond, but will get to your wonderful flurry of comments tomorrow. Hope everything with you is great!
Something like that! Haha! Missed ya, my friend! 💞
Missed you too! I hope there's a When Hope Writes email hitting our inboxes soon 🤗
Omg yes. Maybe even this week!
Yay!
Shamefully I think I would have bought the Kavan book without even knowing what it was about because I love the cover so much (but now I've heard your take I'm getting it for more mature, intellectual reasons)
No shame there ;) I think with some books you can trust the publishes have paired a cracking cover with a cracking book!
Neuromancer is great, although I have to read it again, it's been at least 20 years… I read almost all of Gibson’s books and I like his anarchist style.
Good to hear. I'm really enjoying it (closing in on the halfway mark).
Have fun with “Neuromancer,” I found it to be a fast read, not as fun as “Dune” though I’m sure!
Thanks Brian. I'm thoroughly enjoying the ride so far. Definitely a fast-paced read!
Great recs, Nathan - Anna Kavan's "Ice" is giving me serious "Left Hand of Darkness" vibes, including that cover, so that's a definite.
Woot. Thanks Troy. "Left Hand of Darnkness" is a superb book. Read it some number of years ago but I've been eyeing it on my shelf and considering returning to it. I keep meaning to get to Le Guin's "The Dispossessed" too.
I def need to read more Le Guin too. :)
I’ve not read either of these books Nathan, but I have Ice on my kindle also so will be diving in!
Especially as your write up is slightly reminiscent of another author I love - he wrote something called The Sernox!
Time passes doesn’t it, too fast when we think of in years… this is our twentieth in France! Unreal….
Great, I hope you enjoy! (If that's the correct term for such a book...)
And aw, you're too kind 🤗
Yeah, time... so strange. 20 years! Congratulations.
Very interesting! I hadn’t heard of either of these books, but Roadside Picnic sounds intriguing to me. Also Neuromancer. I haven’t read that one yet either.
Australia. I’ve wanted to visit ever since doing a research paper about the country/continent in the fourth grade. Someday, I’ll come for a visit.
Thanks David. Can definitely recommend both, especially if you're into anything speculative/SciFi.
And can definitely recommend Australia!
Ice sounds intriguing! I’ll have to add it to the list. Happy 15 years! Starting a new life is an incredible thing, and wild whether it was a deliberate choice or something fallen into, or both.
A little of column A, a little of column B ;)
Thanks Stephanie!
Thanks for the lovely mention, my friend. I read a Romanian translation of Roadside Picnic in college, and hated it, lol. Though now I think of it, I didn’t like most of the books from that collection, including The Man in the High Castle, so it’s very possible that the translations were to blame. I should perhaps try the English translations as well.
Oh really? I guess it could be the translation, or maybe the time you read it, or maybe it's not your thing? Either way, totally fine. Everything is subjective 😁
I most pleased to have officially recommended A Good Read! That Penguin Science Fiction series is full of them, in fact. (Great covers too, as with the SF Mastworks.) You have written a great summary of Ice; I hope people are encouraged to read it. You have also highlighted my two favourites.
I expect readers of serialised fiction here would enjoy the way The Hair Carpet Weavers is structured, with each chapter often being self-contained, from a unique character’s perspective, but linked in some way to the preceding chapter to tell an ever-expanding story. Superb.
We is (are) also brilliant. It is rather like Nineteen Eighty-Four and Brave New World, but written a good couple of decades earlier, with a compelling delirious trajectory for the protagonist.
I have read a few others. There is even one by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, One Billion Years to the End of the World. The Cyberiad was rather amusing and really made me want to read Solaris—another link to Roadside Picnic and Stalker via Andrei Tarkovsky.
Excellent thoughts as always.
Solaris is next on the list after Neuromancer. Good link to Roadside Stalker! (Or "Stullker" as I learned from Boris in the afterword.)
The structure of The Hair Carpet Weavers really is amazing. It felt like a sort of constant zooming out as I was reading. Superb book. I've thought about it a lot since reading, which is always a sign of A Good Read.
Indeed; I was worried at some point that it would zoom out too far, lose perspective and end with a remote anticlimax, but this was not the case at all. Consistently brilliant with a satisfying ending. Need to read more by Andreas Eschbach too!
Thanks for the book recommendations, Nathan. I’ve not read either of them but will need to check them out
It’s a good time to read Neuromancer as it’s currently being adapted by Apple into a 10 part TV show. The book was huge when I was a teenager but, like yourself, never got around to reading it. Might give it a go 🤔
Hope you’re enjoying your weekend and I’m sure that guy from 15 years ago is still with you and proud of what you have achieved and become 👍🏼
This is the last day of our holiday in Sicily and I’m lying awake at 3.25am writing this as the couple in the hotel room next to us decided that tonight was a good time to play really loud music and then have a huge argument. I’m doing that British thing of tutting loudly and not calling reception like I should. I think I’m looking forward to going home. I’m meant to be up in 2 hours anyway so don’t think any more sleep is on the cards. I might try and do some writing 🤔🙄😆
Thanks, Dan!
Oh wow, did not know that about Apple tv adapting it. They've got their hands across many pies at the moment!
I've just sat and read a load of Neuromancer. It rips along at a fantastic pace and is full of much nuance and detail. I love the world (I already had an interest in cyberpunk/futurist SciFi) and it reads like a gritty noir story so far.
Sorry to hear of the troublesome neighbours in the hotel. I hope that the rest of the time in Sicily has been more relaxing and pleasant and you come home at least somewhat refreshed and inspired.
It’s been a good holiday. Just last night was too much craziness. Managed to do some writing whilst I was here including one story I’ll try and publish when I get home later today. We’ll see how it goes. Anyway, time to get moving. The journey to the airport awaits ✈️ 🚗 🙂
Productive end with the writing, if nothing else ;)
Safe and swift travels!
Thanks Nathan 👍🏼