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Enquiries
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Date:
Wed, 20 Oct 2004 19:40:40 +0100
Subject:
Re: [idm] fiction reading, writing
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Adam piontek wrote:
quoted 3 lines ...or "cyberpunk" in general. Always seemed too faddish, more style> ...or "cyberpunk" in general. Always seemed too faddish, more style > than substance - I mean, it always seemed too disconnected from possible > reality, more tech-fantasy than sci-fi.
You should try Neal Stephenson's Snowcrash, possibly very prescient stuff. Its successor, The Diamond Age focuses on nanotechnology, also pretty fascinating and perhaps better aligned to your predilection for steampunk. I found Cryptonomicon a bit disappointing. Bob Humid wrote:
quoted 3 lines if you want to dig deep into the soul of scifi and its substance you´ll> if you want to dig deep into the soul of scifi and its substance you´ll > have to read late american 50ies / 60ies scifi and the things that came > afterwards...
I'd suggest going back to HG Wells, Mary Shelley, Gustav Meyrink and Jules Verne in terms of precedent. And Wiliam S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard of course. Tim Walters wrote:
quoted 2 lines Bruce Sterling's SCHISMATRIX isn't on there, and probably should be. It's> Bruce Sterling's SCHISMATRIX isn't on there, and probably should be. It's > certainly my favorite cyberpunk novel.
I've always found Sterling disappointing though I haven't read Schismatrix. My own recommendations: Jorge Luis Borges - anything, but particularly the collection called Labyrinths, not sci-fi, but what the heck, deals with the infinite Thomas Pynchon - has to be Gravity's Rainbow really. Samuel R. Delaney - dhalgren, don't know where to start, just read it. Jeff Noon - the earlier ones, particularly Vurt and Pollen. Donald Barthelme - again not really sci-fi, but freaky enough to include. Cheers, Colin. --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: idm-unsubscribe@hyperreal.org For additional commands, e-mail: idm-help@hyperreal.org