Sunday, 15 May 2011

d100 FTW!

I went to see China Mieville do a reading from his new book, Embassytown, along with a Q&A session, at a local bookshop on Friday evening. And a nice and interesting guy he was too. I was particularly impressed that he openly and merrily sang the praises of roleplaying games; even though I should have been expecting this, as it is something he is wont to do, it bears repeating just how rare and precious a thing this is: a respected writer on his way to becoming a giant in the field, and a genuine crossover success, who has absolutely no shame saying he likes D&D and RuneQuest.

Anyway, I duly queued up with the herd (which also included local fantasy/horror luminary Ramsay Campbell) and got my copy of Embassytown signed. I think this just about says it all:
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7 comments:

  1. thekelvingreen15 May 2011 at 23:18

    Ha! That made me smile. He's not wrong.

    Have you read the book yet? Any good?

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  2. NathanRyder16 May 2011 at 16:22

    It was a good event! A very thoughtful speaker. I'm about a third of the way through the book and enjoying it.

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  3. Anonymous16 May 2011 at 16:57

    awesome! Good point about role-playing too - I wonder if we'll see a whole slew of authors of Mieville's age who've grown up with the hobby beginning to sing its praises?

    I'm sensing a change in attitude towards Mieville on this blog. Be a shame if you come to like him more just as the quality of his work tanks. Speaking of which... how is EmbassyTown?

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  4. noisms16 May 2011 at 18:47

    Kelvin: No, I've still got a bit to get through with a backlog of unread books. I'll get on it once I've finished off Homicide.

    Zero_zero_one: Where does it rank amongst his others?

    Faustusnotes: I always liked his writing, just not the way he courted controversy in such a transparent way with all his anti-Tolkien posturing. He's grown up a bit now, though. You think the quality of his work is tanking? I haven't read any of his non-Bas Lag stuff so I can't really comment, but I've heard Kraken was great.

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  5. NathanRyder17 May 2011 at 15:59

    @noisms

    It's pretty good so far. Very interesting ideas, difficult to say where it ranks with the others because it is so different. Am just over halfway through.

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  6. Anonymous4 June 2011 at 10:06

    I'm late back to this, noisms (real life has stolen my comment facility) but my opinion of Kraken was that it was awesome but - too long, a bit overwrought, and confused at times. The core ideas were masterful, but it took too long to deliver them all in a story that was ultimately quite weak. I really liked The City and the City but I thought UnLundun was just a poor man's Neil Gaiman (i.e. Neverwhere). And you and I have previously disagreed about the quality of Iron Council, I think.

    I agree he's grown up a bit (I think he's older than both of us though, so that's a tad condescending isn't it?) But I still think his "wen on the arse of fantasy" had to be said by someone.

    And you should read his Bas-lag stuff, it's great.

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  7. Anonymous7 July 2011 at 08:39

    At a book signing, I asked Mieville sign a copy of Perdido Street Station with his ability scores and hit points - he laughed and noted his Charisma as "Declining".

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