Shawn > Recent Status Updates

besides from dated (even for its time) frat boy stereotypes, it quickly gets to the good stuff and has tons of funky weird and over the top shit to be highly entertaining

I adored Zombies and Shit - the really fucking dumb fanboy stuff, the over the top cliffhanger comic book style, the at times deep and sympathetic characters all added up to a light, but invigorating story. Well, I think I've allowed enough time to recover and see if Mr. Mellick can deliver again (I really hope so)

So far it's a witty, sharp, and observant book on murder, I should expect little less from the French in the early 1900's

2nd story not as strong as the first, read like if there was a weird subterranean creature subplot in "Bonfire of the Vanities" meaning it is very forward in saying that minorities bring down neighborhoods and love looting. Racist undertones? Probably?*said in squeaky pseudo voice*

The more one reads of science fiction, especially short stories, the more one realizes how many ideas have been essentially "recycled" and retold via each author's unique voice. Ballard falls into this trap sometimes, but more often then others, especially with his "Vermilion Sands" stories, had delved up something new and led the way into our modern era of sci fi moral fictions.

The first story, "Petey", is a wonderfully macabre tale of affluent middle class couples at a housewarming party in a grandiose country house that harbors some dreadful secret its former owner was seemingly attempting to keep shut away...

this book. THIS BOOK. Hand it over, geniuses of prose. sultans of syntax. elites of elegories. Smackers of smacking. Phisters of truth. Stand aside and let this trip seep into your unconscious. this is post Bradbury levels of no bullshit sci-fi and why i personally love the genre. Complex world building, consumate dread, evil intentions, beacons of rebirth...truly worth your fucking while you classical consuming shil

More stories about sound. The power and influence of the human voice in face of an acoustic oblivion. It tickles me down deep, these morsels of fear.

ACK post apocalypse colloquial dialect! Shit takes me twice as long to read and puts me asleep just as quickly. don't know if I'll make it through this one

Don't know where I found the suggestion to read this one but I am going in pretty much blind though I remember hearing it was p. funny.

GOD DAMN I LOVE THIS MAN'S WRITINGS - sorry for yelling but that is how I feel.

Finally we get a break in the action as Severian beds another woman and finds out the vaguest truth possible about what is actually happening to him. I like this slowdown in the plotting and it really makes me only wonder as to where the story is going at this point.

J.G. Ballard, in just a few books, has rapidly ascended my list of favorite authors, so know I am looking to see the merits of his shorter pieces and let's say he leads off with a beautiful naked woman with spiders for eyes who unwillingly entices a singing plant to eat her...wait a minute was "Little Shop of Horrors" based on this? FUCK THIS GUY IS THE BEST

Holy bath salts everything has gone of the fucking rails with this one. The plot moves along at breakneck speed with almost no rumination by Severian which I miss. The big mystery here is the ship itself and while it's neat, it feels flimsy to me in a way like everything else. I am used to Sev going from one seemingly random encounter to the next, but this is getting a little out of control.

useful and engaging but maybe stretching itself a bit thin now

this last bit is wildly entertaining. I never knew Kissinger ran the most successful cocaine cartel from 92-94

Finally, Kissy baby has started entering his own book, talking of his relations with Adenauer. I can't wait to read more things from his personal anecdotes

These guys like to name drop post modern authors a lot. DFW and Pynchon both got mentioned twice among a slew of others...hmmmm

Severian....IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE

I actually applied the 37% rule during a game and felt like a real smartass for it. So far this is entertaining, informative, and useful

book begins with a mother fucking story-off and if that story about the fighting rooster doesn't win then fuck Gene Wolfe he's a fucking hack

Severian being Severian with Severian is top notch comfy

Severian gets told a fable as foreplay. They need to add a sixth star option in the review section

I think I'm going all the way with this one till it's finished. I'll still get some Kissinger time in between, so don't worry my crunchy special K, papa hasn't forgotten about you.

After a head scratching start, it wastes no time getting back on track, that is to say, off the rails, adding tons of new possible elements to be incorporated in the story. Basically anything is possible now, and I love it for all its pulpy goodness

I'm going to put the Brooke-Rose Omnibus on hold as the first work didn't really do it for me. Diplomacy is all gravy, but I want to get back to this series while it stays fresh

All that's missing is what the major diplomatic players had for breakfast before every big conference

So yeah finished Out and that was definitely something that someone definitely wrote. I can tell you that much. As to the weird disease poisoning melanin deficient people, the landscapes described as giant spiders, a fascination with gruel, what may be a schizophrenic narrator, some droll funny bits and many, many head scratching moments, I give it three of what may be described as shacks out of five garden hoses.

Okay there is some sort of disease killing white people or "colourless", some sort of imaginary country/conflict with said country, an illicit affair going on, and giant spiders rule the skies. I think. Maybe.

I found Kissinger's diagnosis of Bismarck and Napoleon III to be engaging, insightful and informative. But was that lengthy play by play description of the debauched weekends he spent with a one legged prostitute with a heart of gold worth spending 30 pages on? I guess the metaphor went over my head...