Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > rec.arts.sf.written > #491684

Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books"

Show all headers | View raw

On 04/05/18 17:44, D B Davis wrote:
> Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>> On 04/05/18 15:08, D B Davis wrote: snip
>>> 
>>> _Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said_ (PKD) appears on the list. It
>>> was recently read by me. It was my fondest hope for it to be The
>>> One, the most dystopic of them all, according to me.
>> 
>> Was the real world as described in "A Scanner Darkly" a contender?
>> 
>>> Alas, it turns out that _Cloud Atlas_ (Mitchell) is actually the 
>>> worst of them all. It's meta-dystopic with a crapsack
>>> supernatural. Even after you die its dystopic claws don't let
>>> loose. It makes Alice Sheldon look positively Pollyannish in
>>> comparison.
>> 
>> David Mitchell is one of my all time favourites. I have read all
>> his novels and most are five stars. The "crapsack supernatural"
>> continues. It doesn't impose or dominate but has still upset some
>> of his literary critics. It was hardly mentioned at all in "The
>> Thousand Autumns...." and arrived late in "The Bone Clocks" about
>> which I read the criticism. "Slade House" is all horror in
>> "crapsack supernatural" but is a much shorter book. (Although the
>> novels all stand alone, I think they would be better appreciated if
>> read in publication order.)
> 
> _A Scanner Darkly_ (PKD) isn't mentioned in the OP's linked list of
> 96 Dystopian Science Fiction Books. Perhaps my followup confuses you?
> Allow me to explain. Sometimes "bad" means "good:"
> 
> In slang usage, the adjective "bad" means "good," as we mentioned in
> a post we wrote some time ago about the influence of African-American
> slang on English.
> 
> The surprising thing about this use of "bad"-apart from the reversed
> meaning-is that it's not recent. It dates back to the 19th century,
> as we'll explain later. ...
> 
> https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2015/12/bad.html
> 
> So "bad" means "good" and "worst" means "best" in my followup.

Yes, that was my understanding when I read your post. Sorry for my 
confusing reply. That was an attempt at humour in the sense that for 
Dick, the protagonist in Scanner, there could be no worse (or best :-)), 
dystopia, than his own paranoia.

  And
> "crapsack" is a superlative. :0)

Yes, that is how I interpreted it. And I think that the later Mitchell's 
can be read and enjoyed by those who enjoy nonsensical crapstack 
supernatural as well as those seeking Lit er Hateur. The "The Thousand 
Autumns....." qualifies for many genres.

Back to rec.arts.sf.written | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

"19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2018-05-02 17:28 -0500
  "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Jack Bohn <jack.bohn64@gmail.com> - 2018-05-02 16:40 -0700
    Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-05-03 03:21 +0000
  Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2018-05-02 16:45 -0700
  Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" "artyw2@yahoo.com" <artyw2@yahoo.com> - 2018-05-02 18:42 -0700
  Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" David DeLaney <daviddelaney@earthlink.net> - 2018-05-03 05:22 -0500
  Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2018-05-03 13:56 +0000
    Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2018-05-03 16:40 -0500
      Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2018-05-03 14:53 -0700
        Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2018-05-03 17:07 -0500
        Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Moriarty <blues95@ivillage.com> - 2018-05-03 15:10 -0700
          Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2018-05-03 19:04 -0500
            Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-05-04 04:49 -0700
          Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lynn McGuire <lynnmcguire5@gmail.com> - 2018-05-03 19:46 -0500
            Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-05-04 03:08 +0000
              Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2018-05-04 15:56 +1200
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-05-04 05:44 +0000
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> - 2018-05-04 19:38 +1200
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-05-04 19:41 +0000
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Lawrence Watt-Evans <misenchantedpress@gmail.com> - 2018-05-04 23:51 -0400
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-05-05 14:12 +0000
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Kevrob <kevrob@my-deja.com> - 2018-05-05 10:09 -0700
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" "Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> - 2018-05-07 14:23 -0500
                Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Peter Trei <petertrei@gmail.com> - 2018-05-04 06:47 -0700
        Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-05-03 22:07 +0000
          Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> - 2018-05-05 14:11 -0700
        Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" Juho Julkunen <giaotanj@hotmail.com> - 2018-05-04 16:48 +0300
    Re: "19 Best Science Fiction Horror Books" David Johnston <davidjohnston29@yahoo.com> - 2018-05-03 20:21 -0600

csiph-web