"My hands are full of snow."

[greygirlbeast]

Here we go with the higgledy-piggledy again. It's a coolish day here in Providence, but sunny. After the anticlimax of Hurricane Earl, summer collapsed like a leaky balloon. Now it's sweater weather again

Comments

Neal Stephenson

[spank_an_elf]

Neal Stephenson's books leave me cold for the reason you describe; his characters are bloodless. He builds these fantastic, ornate creations and by the time he's finished placing the last speck of paint on the windowsills, he realizes he forgot to breathe life into the rooms. Characters feel secondary to the jammed-packed, elaborate bells and whistles worlds he spins. I swear the critics fawn over him (especially Anathem) since they have no fucking idea what he's talking about therefore he must be amazing. Pfffth.

Re: Neal Stephenson

[greygirlbeast]

I can't disagree with this. In a way, I'm just glad it's not only me seeing it. I almost feel like, the worldbuilding in The Diamond Age is so good, I wish I could go back through and introduce actual characters into the mix.

[andsaca369]

RP has been my therapy. I know there are legions out there who would decry it, but it's been amazing, the bits of me I've had to examine, face, face down, pass over and through and finally be okay with, all through pretending to be someone else dealing with those darknesses.

I'm glad I'm not alone.

*edit*

Also- I nearly forgot to say this, but I'm incredibly pleased and proud to have the opportunity to have something I've scribbled appear in a book with your story (Lambshead). Granted, I only contributed about seventy words of microfic, but still. It gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling.

[greygirlbeast]

RP has been my therapy.

It's been part of mine for years, well before I found SL.

[miakodadreams]

it's been amazing, the bits of me I've had to examine, face, face down, pass over and through and finally be okay with, all through pretending to be someone else dealing with those darknesses

So very true...

And congratulations on having your microfic published! You're entitled to feel both warm and fuzzy, I'm pretty sure.

[kurtmulgrew]

I read a sf book in high school called "Otherland" that I thought was such a great story. Some people didn't like it because it was so drawn out or too detailed or whatever. But it had such developed, unique characters that played so well with or against each other that it made them seem so real and that their course through the story could actully be something to care about. It's sorta like how Star Trek: Voyager did so well due to it's amazing cast but then the next series bombed cause all the characters were so similar and boring and one dimensional. Anyway, I just got "To Charles Fort, with Love" in the mail. Many thanks again. Now I can die happily.

[ulffriend]

The last sci fi that I made it all the way through was Stephen Donaldson's Gap cycle. Everything that I've attempted other than that has left me with feelings similiar to what you describe re: Stephenson's work. If someone asked me to describe it, I'd say that it was technically proficient (both in the science and the writing) but emotionally distant

[greygirlbeast]

Genre is just the outfit your work wears, right?

Well said, I think.

Everything that I've attempted other than that has left me with feelings similar to what you describe re: Stephenson's work. If someone asked me to describe it, I'd say that it was technically proficient (both in the science and the writing) but emotionally distant.

And, here, in part, we come back to that which is labeled "mundane sf" (which, by my understanding, is waning as an sf school in vogue, perhaps because the practitioners realized that "mundane" was a polite word for "dull," and dull is the last thing sf should be). Also, far too many sf writers are wannabe scientists, or, more commonly, engineers. And it shows.

Perhaps, as others have suggested you are bridging a gap that many readers don't even realize is there - those who are more fantasy-oriented are afraid of "hard sci fi" (and you are a scientist by training, so it's not unreasonable to expect real science in your work) versus "real" sci fi fans who are afraid that your work will be too "soft"

[lady_theadora]

If sf is supposed to be devoid of human emotion, then Ray Bradbury is not an sf writer.

Also, the curiosity sounds wonderful!

[greygirlbeast]

If sf is supposed to be devoid of human emotion, then Ray Bradbury is not an sf writer.

I fear many, many contemporary sf writers would tell you Ray Bradbury never was a science-fiction writer.