File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2004/anarchy-list.0412, message 72


From: "Kevin Carson" <kevin_carson-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: RE: Lib-Caps are Dumb.
Date: Mon, 20 Dec 2004 17:29:37 +0000


I'm also a big fan of Ken MacLeod's work.  He's one of the best near-future 
scenarists in the trade.  Every time I read the Fall Revolution series, I 
find something new in it.  I recently stumbled across Cosmonaut Keep, so 
that's got me started on another series.

>From: Ali Kazmi <thekazmis2001-AT-yahoo.com>
>Reply-To: Ali Kazmi <thekazmis2001-AT-yahoo.com>
>To: anarchy-list-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu
>Subject: Lib-Caps are Dumb.
>Date: Sun, 19 Dec 2004 17:08:07 -0800 (PST)
>
>--- Andrew 'Wes' Weston <ghost-AT-mnsi.net> wrote:
>
> > > (For american sf fans, if you haven't read Ken
> > Kcleod,
> > > please do, one of the better scottish exports)
> >
> > <de-lurk>
> >
> > Strange you should mention that. I am currently
> > reading the second novel in
> > MacLeod's "Engines of Light" trilogy, a book called
> > "Dark Light". Good
> > stuff. MacLeod is quite consciously adding elements
> > of socialist politics to
> > his books, and I like that. Makes for a nice change
> > from a lot of older
> > scifi which has always seemed to have a serious
> > hard-on for capitalism IMO.
> >
>Engines of Light is ok, though he gets a bit lost in
>the end (sorry), the fall revolution ones are much
>better, "Star Fraction", "the Stone Canal" "Cassini
>Division" and I have forgotten the forth one's title.
>
> > Have you read any Iain M. Banks? He's another Scot
> > and indeed is a good
> > friend of MacLeod's. I think Banks is probably the
> > better known of the two,
> > at least in the UK. I had a hard time finding both
> > writers and ended up
> > having a British friend mail me some of Banks'
> > books, an expensive way to
> > read...
>
>I have read Banks, and even though his Culture is an
>anarchy, it is a utopia, (i.e. technology gives
>endless supply so no want)and therefore fantasy,
>McLeod is more into near future, social revolution,
>and makes a much more interesting read from political
>point of view. The best Banks book, politicswise,
>would be "The Player of Games".
>
> > Another explicitly socialist writer, that many
> > people seem to like right
> > now, is China Mieville. I read his Perdido Street
> > Station and found it a
> > little too busy and chaotic for my tastes, but he
> > definitely seems to have a
> > lot of fans. He's sort of a cross between horror,
> > scifi and fantasy, though
> > usually filed under fantasy.
>
>China has much more socio/political theme in his new
>book "The Iron Council", But a bit of a tough read as
>his prose has become more convoluted and flowery, and
>at times you wish some editor had taken a savage
>blanko to the manuscript.
>
>Kim Stanley Robinson and something Hendrix are also
>writers with an anarchist bent.
>
>
>But you are right, different political/social themes
>are creeping into sf.
>
>Cheers
>
>Ali
>
>(Of course, you have read "The Dispossessed" by Ursala
>Le Guin?)
>
>
>
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