neko cam > Recent Status Updates

It feels very different to the other Ambergris stuff, but I'm not about to rule it out just for that. We'll see how it goes.

HOT DAMN 'Details' was good!

Awesome. They've all been solidly awesome. The titular story and 'Familiar' were both unique twists on general themes and ideas seen elsewhere in fiction. Mieville's writing style is delicious too. It's go a roughness to it despite its eloquence.

The front half of the novel had been less than amazing. There were a few awesome scenes sprinkled here and there, but for the most part it was (comparatively) bland. Thankfully the second half has really kicked itself in the ass and become amazing.

The stories set in Veniss and Ambergris are fucking great - even though a few of the latter are set post-'City of Saints and Madmen' and so I'm a little more lost in them than I'm even meant to be. A number of the others are set during the Conqistadors' invasion of the Incans. At first I was unimpressed and disinterested in them, but as I realized that they were actually interrelated their awesomeness dawned on me

The titular story was brilliant, and I enjoyed the stories set in Veniss and Ambergris, but most of the others have been meh. It's probably that I've come to expect a certain something from a Jeff Vandermeer story and I'm thrown when it isn't as I expect. They're not BAD per se - they're just not what I enjoy about Vandermeer's work.

Ehhhh, this is pretty sweet. It's like Moby Dick if the white whale were a conceptual shark. Yeah, you read that correctly.

Very, very enjoyable. The passages concerning themselves with describing the Ludovician are mind-bending, and I love it.

I'm digging it so far. The writing style is a little strange but the premise that's been presented so far is enthralling.

Hackworth is the shit. I just love the juxtaposition of the Vickys traipsing around in bowlers hats and vests while it's the FUCKING FUTURE going on around them.

All parts concerning Bud have been cool - fuck yeah, skullgun

The first chapter was brilliant. I think I'm going to enjoy this.

Poetry isn't really my thing, but a few of these are quite good. 'Lassie (the lost episode'), 'Gilligan's Island Revisited', 'The Ship at The End of The World', and the titular 'The Day Dali Died', were all particularly awesome.

They've been very hit-and-miss, but on the whole it's been a net profit. Only one more story to finish before the titular 'Deathbird' story

'O Ye of Little Faith' was nothing amazing. I spent the whole story wondering wtf was going on and by the time it was revealed the story ended. 'Neon' was similarly unimpressive. It was a little quirky and cool, but the ending was so unforeseen and just out-of-nowhere as to almost completely ruin the story.

First story: BRILLIANT! Second story: GREAT! Third story: Eeeeeh, nothing amazing.

First story shocked me. I've read a little bit of Ellison's other works, but this was crass and brutal and vulgar and really, really good.

The second-person perspective was a real bitch. I hope the next portion of the story returns to normal.

Who'd have thought that an appendix could be so enthralling? Heheh