The 9th Technique and The Rope is the World

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

"The 9th Technique" is very much in the tradition of Lovecraft, Bierce and Derleth. Lovecraftian horror often included artifacts of great evil that had been imbued with the essence of the evil done in their presence. That's what the 9th technique has done. I confess, well before the end of the story, I was yelling "break the glass!" But, then I've never really got horror. See "Säcken", later.

"The Rope is the World" is a really fascinating look at the pace of technological advance. He's absolutely right—it's probable that within a very few years we could build a space elevator; and it's probable that it will take quite a few years to build; and technological advances come SO fast now that the first space elevator probably WILL be obsolete when it's first built. I can really see this happening. So when you make a fortune selling short on the first space-elevator IPO, remember to send Miéville his royalties!

[Saski]

But maybe if she had broken the glass (I was yelling too), it would have devoured the world (and maybe it will yet).

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

I think it definitely will—it seems to have devoured everything from at least the immediate neighbourhood of her home—bund (I've been looking for a chance to use that!) maybe breaking the glass sooner was the only chance to prevent it. I also think she doesn't have a problem with destroying the world.

[Saski]

Yes, she sees it as a pretty dismal place. Maybe that is what she had in mind all along for her 'purchase'. Do I remember correctly that she never tells us what she wants to do with it?

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

I don't think so. The guy who sold it to her said "don't tell me."

[Derek, Miéville fan-boi]

D'oh! Of course we know.

"A complex ambition to reshape history, to tweak the development of the Mother of Parliaments, by nudging the date of a regicide's malarial death."

So, this could be just the reshaping of history.

[Cecily]

Having cast this aside after being disappointed by most of the first seven stories, I've just read these two.

What a change! The 9th Technique was SO much better: an uneasy sense of the familiar, but not quite right. Perfect for a short story. And the way it developed... I thought it was great. I've never read Lovecraft, so Kafka's Metamorphosis came more readily to mind.

The Rope was very different, but again, I enjoyed the way the ideas unfolded.

But I'm still waiting for a puissant palimsest in this collection, which I'll return to anon, feeling a little more optimistic.