Ryzom

larwood wrote:holy smoke, could someone please translate this...

I don't speak intellectual.

He read it off the back of the book...don't worry

zarozina wrote:Bah! Larry Niven was never any good anyways. Give moe some o' that good ol' modern post-cyberpunk stuff any day!

*sob* Ffi-ffi! How can you say such a thing? Next thing you know you will be saying you find Heinlein boring!

grimjim wrote:John Courtney Grimwood?

Ohh i liked Stamping Butterflies, the other 2 i read were a bit weird so i moved on. Currently addicted to anything from Charles Stross, very very very very good stuff

aardnebb wrote:*sob* Ffi-ffi! How can you say such a thing? Next thing you know you will be saying you find Heinlein boring!

Jayney is sat here rocking....may have to open a bottle of wine now
(At least I'm not getting told off for talking here like I always do in the uni chat!!!)

larwood wrote:holy smoke, could someone please translate this...

I don't speak intellectual.

Socialism - A political movement that describes a government model based upon 'the needs of the many' and a strong social contract with the fortunate helping and 'lifting up' the less fortunate for the betterment of all. China Mieville as well as being an author is a political activist and speaker on the far left of the political spectrum and this comes through in his novels, particularly the Bas-Lag books (Perdidot Street Station, The Scar, Iron Council).

Steampunk - A minor literary and stylistic movement transposing the elements of the Cyberpunk movement to an imagined alternative victorian age of higher technology and pulp science fiction trappings. The most well known example would be The Difference Engine by, IIRC, Bill Gibson and Bruce Stirling.

Cyberpunk - A literary science fiction movement of the 80's and 90's (though it goes back further somewhat) whose elements include near, rather than far-future settings, dystopian politics, street level concepts, crime, internet concepts and runaway technology and cybernetics. Frequently they ask 'what is human' and criticise runaway capitalism and corporate culture. Neuromancer would be the key novel and Bladerunner the key film for the genre.

Surreal - Dream like, odd, out of place, weird. Salvador Dali's paintings being one example. Mieville's work has a similar peculiar and dreamlike quality mixing and matching weird ideas and language but somehow making sense. Personally I found King Rat to be more dream like than the Bas-Lag books which are more out-and-out weird and akin to stepping into a Hieronymous Bosch painting.

Which probably hasn't helped explain but it killed some time didn't it? *prods server*

grimjim wrote:John Courtney Grimwood?

Have you read any China Mieville, his socialist steampunkish novels show a cyberpunk sensibility in surreal fantasy.

Lovely! China Meville is very good... I'm very surprised that, speaking of cyberpunk, China Mevilla was named before Neal Stephenson.

I think China is better, but some books from Stephenson are nice (Criptonomicon sucks)

EDIT: I think that China Meville is more Marxist than socialist.

amisja wrote:He read it off the back of the book...don't worry

Well excuse me all to hell for being literate!

In the millions of years of human evolution we've gone from cave-painting pictographs to hieroglyphics to the roman alphabet, now we're back to pictographs for computer icons...

...unfortunate.

grimjim wrote:John Courtney Grimwood?

Have you read any China Mieville, his socialist steampunkish novels show a cyberpunk sensibility in surreal fantasy.

ofc! one of my favs, as is China. Perdido St Station is imho one of the finest pieces of SF ever penned - see also Neal Asher's The Skinner, Peter Hamiltons Reality Dysfuncion series, Ken McLeod, Dan Simmons, Neal Stephenson, Alastair Reynoldds and Michael Marshal Smith.

Did I miss any?

Oh, Iain Banks! *smacks head on side of bath again*

mithur wrote:Lovely! China Meville is very good... I'm very surprised that, speaking of cyberpunk, China Mevilla was named before Neal Stephenson.

I think China is better, but some books from Stephenson are nice (Criptonomicon sucks)

EDIT: I think that China Meville is more Marxist than socialist.

I was trying to keep things simple

Stephenson... yeah, he's cyberpunky, but Snow Crash was the only really cyberpunky book he's done.

Hiro Protaganist.

Brilliant

Why do you think I named my vampire sword 'Reason'?

grimjim wrote:Well excuse me all to hell for being literate!

In the millions of years of human evolution we've gone from cave-painting pictographs to hieroglyphics to the roman alphabet, now we're back to pictographs for computer icons...

...unfortunate.

OOOOOO don't get yer knickers in a twist, I'm literate just not interested in Sci Fi stuff...its boy's stuff...like cars and football and listening to the same CD over and over again. I'm an old lady and very well read..just rarely read fiction!