i have really been enjoying 'The Pastel City' by M. John Harrison. it's beautifully written, sensitive, texturally rich. Harrison writes fantasy to expose the weirdness and beauty of the world, which aligns with my philosophy in many ways. i hear the second book has a city of bugs and am thrilled.
Sounds very interesting. Is it more fantasy than sci-fi? I def read more sci-fi but this might be an interesting gateway to fantasy for me
i think some people would describe it as science fantasy. it's set in far future earth, after countless high technology civilizations, and the current world has a very limited ability to make new tech (the ore is mined out, etc.) so it's largely preindustrial + some salvaged high technology.
it's on the internet archive if you'd like to give it a try! i think if the setting sounds appealing it's worth giving it a chance. the prose is pretty wonderful.
Prose is one of the main reasons I read anything honestly. Will give it a look on the archive!
Prose is one of the main reasons I read anything honestly. Will give it a look on the archive!
One of the ones I get recommended to me a lot. Haven't read yet!
ha one of the things i've been thinking the most often while reading this is "i wonder if Jason has read these".
whether this is true alignment or a widely distributed misconception remains a mystery, but clearly there's something there. some things i think you might like: the focus on texture and landscape, the /extremely/ purple, densely crafted prose.
oo and what a NAME
Yeah its really great! super weird mix of tech and magic and dreamlike logic. The Viriconium stuff in general was part of the inspiration behind the world of my last game.
it's aligned in a lot of ways with the setting for the game i'm making, and it's weird and joyous finding out this exists after years of world building!
And the cover is fantastic
i like this variant a lot, it matches the book well.
one of my favorites
this tracks. i would love to talk books with you some time!
I would love that, we definitely should