Bifurcated Rivets
Eclectica for epopts

Comments

27 Oct 2005

Over at Boing Boing they are raving about some new SF book but the sample given seems to suffer from a large number of the faults that were on that list doing the rounds recently. Why would someone in the future be called Magister? Why do we need the little economics lesson? Why all the (unlikely) invented terminology? I suppose this is why I never read science fiction.



Because BoingBoing is shit and Corey is always talking about himself, who he thinks is god's gift to sci-fi, and his writing is appalling. So is his taste in fiction.

Chy

if you don't like the word magister, does that mean you never read 'the glass bead game' by Herman Hesse? (not that its such a specially good book mind you, I preferred 'narziss and goldmund') And while I found some of the pages inbetween the raunchy bits boring, I can't say Neal Stephensons 'system of the world' trilogy was boring because of the economics lessons, and you would have to class it in 'highly speculative fiction' if not SF -george

George

As a musician I loved "The Glass Bead Game" - the focus on baroque music as an ideal. Magister Ludi. And yes, Cory's SF self-promotion and CC crap that he posts indeed gets tiresome.

Patrick

Speaking of Cory, his attraction to all things Disney history verges on pathetic. Whatever, dude.

john Weeks

Well, he works for Disney. I think. I think he takes coin to promote them, IIRC.

Chy

I can;t abide Dusney and all his/their demonic works.<br><br>I tried to read one of Corey's things and I'm glad that there is at least one other person who thjinks he doesn't write very well.<br><br>I didn't say I didn't like the word Magister : I have read the GBG and it is a fantastic book, and Magister is entirely appropriate in that context. In a book about some future hi-tech culture, it seems highly unlikely that a word like Magister would have currency (unless there were lots of D&amp;Ders around I suppose) How many people today know that Magister means master in latin? Project that into the future....<br><br>As to Neal Stephenson - his first couple of books were OK (and I include Zodiac in that, which is not SF) but the rest are pompous, pretentious and just dire. Cryptonomicon made me want to tear my eyes out after page 2. Horrendous. He is so up himself it is not true.

Lindsay