Books: Pirate Cinema, Possession, RASL, Sea Kings

Cory Doctorow – Pirate Cinema

Nov. 12, 2013

Polemical YA that I actually found quite readable. Duder’s big political film that won the day at the end sounded HILARI-BAD, but I really enjoyed the parts about hanging out in a squat and making stuff.

A.S. Byatt – Possession: A Romance

June 29, 2013

I enjoyed this book a ton. I think I love it. I found parts of it almost too uncomfortable to read, but, worth it. IT’S COMPLICATED OKAY.

The mixture of high- and lowbrow was playful and delicious. I really enjoyed the language of the thing. I have complicated feelings about some of the things she did with narration. The hyper-virginal relationship between Roland and Maud was kind of hilarious, but also kind of sweet, shut up, I can’t help it, fuck off. There are at least three things about the title that make me want to laugh out loud. LITERARY DETECTIVES HURRAY. I will probably never ever tell you what I really feel about Ash and LaMotte.

BIZARRELY, they made this into a Gwyneth Paltrow movie in the early 00s. ANNOYINGLY, my paperback is the “hey let’s slap a movie poster on the front” edition.

Jeff Smith – RASL vol. 2: The Fire of St. George

Comics. Nov. 2013

I think the genre we’re working with here is “hard-boiled fever dream.” This thing is rattling down the highway at 90, held together by Juicy Fruit and dream logic and half-remembered daytime TV specials about the Bermuda Triangle. I really need to get ahold of the other two books of this and see what it looks like as it crosses the finish line.

Leigh Brackett – The Sword of Rhiannon

(Originally published as Sea Kings of Mars)

Aug 4, 2013

I have no idea what to think about Leigh Brackett at this point. What an oddball career! (exhibit a, exhibit b)

I wasn’t into this. Parts of it it had a certain appeal, but the writing didn’t crackle the way Corpse did, and the protag bored me—he wasn’t connected to anyone or anything, and it made it impossible to give a shit about him. Oh, and the plot, bleah. Sorry yo, I can’t root for reptoid genocide.

Also, insert something here about the unexamined colonial viewpoint in this variety of Mars fic, but I’m kind of just done thinking about this book. It was kind of a bummer after how good Corpse was.

Anyone know if Brackett’s other SF pulp was any good?