Please do more of these Steve. It's this kind of recommendation that I absolutely love getting: helping me discover books that I would absolutely miss otherwise but definitely enrich and expand my reading of the genre. A shame you're not my local bookseller, but this is the next best thing 🙂
Thank you. You mean 'clickbait top/best/favourite' videos? Well, they're popular, but the reality is that a youtuber can't keep doing them - there are quite a few 'top' videos here- there's a playlist- but they basically don't allow for in depth analysis and examination of obscurity- if you watch the channel regularly, you will by default more books you would otherwise miss, as I tend to cover writers and works others don't- or I do them first, from a position of longterm knowledge and experience. The whole channel is aimed at the idea of recommending neglected books alongside famous ones, so if you watch regularly, you will simply discover more- but I will admit to not having done a 'top ten clickbait' video for ages, so I may do one soon....
I picked up recently a used copy of Arnott's The House of Rumour based on your recommendation. It's the edition you show in the video, and it's even signed by him, so I scored one. I read it, actually devoured it, and it is so rich and complex/confusing that I want to do a reread. Thanks again for the heads up. My SF reading has improved in quality from the usual space opera stuff.
Delighted you enjoyed it! One of my fave books from the last decade- I, too, love the indefinable mystery and nature of it, great stuff! Jake is a really good guy and I hope to see him again one day, we had two memorable meetings in the past, an under-appreciated writer.
just getting around to some of your backlog, steve. great recommendations. and i couldn't agree with you more, i.e. science fiction needs to keep breaking new bounds. that doesn't seem to be happening much lately so we need to celebrate those we find. cheers!
I found Atomised by Michel Houellebecq the blurb on the back sound intriguing, so I might start with that one while I track down others in his canon. Great recommendations. Ta
You are so right about the state of current sf. I have almost stopped reading new authors because so many are just writing space opera, and with the state of the world now, I am looking at the survival of the planet as a priority, not zapping around space to start new wars. SF should make you think and I shall be trying most of your recommendations. Strangely, I already own the Ings book but haven't got round to it yet. I liked Wolves and The Smoke very much and must reread them. I didn't know that Mercurio wrote fiction, and have only read early books by Arnott, so yet more purchases coming up. My shelves are full!
Yep, the genre is not in a good way currently, I feel. And I have to say I feel it's partly Iain M Banks' legacy - the New Wave guys put Space Opera to bed for a few years then he brings it back and because he had a way of grabbing the popular readerships, he dragged them back to the 1930s,, I feel, albeit inadvertently. You'll LOVE Mercurio - his best novel is "American Adulterer" which is almost Ballardian, but "Ascent" is a great read too. The Arnott book is simply sublime. Thanks for yr comment and get a subscription going if you've not done so already-cheers!
Another fantastic list. I'll definitely be tracking a couple of these down. Thanks! Btw Jack Parson's also shows up in China Mievilles Last Days in New Paris.
Love your stuff - always stimulating and eye opening. A pronunciation note you can do with what you will - Houellbecq is pronounced 'wellbeck'. Not sure I spelled his name right, mind.
Thanks mate. Yep, I know my French is diabolical - it's tough with a Welsh accent to pull off the Gallic. Also, I was admittedly 'In Lust' with my French teacher in school but focused too much on her charms and too little on the parlay. My bad. Tell me, have you read Huysmans? An understanding of 'Submission' is massively deepened by reading his work and about his life.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, I read the Huysmans but sadly when I was much too young to really understand or appreciate it - I must go back. I haven't read 'Submission' though - I did enjoy 'Atomised'' a lot, which I seem to remember had SF elements at the end. I had a suspicion that 'Submission' was just a piece of liberal-baiting to piss off certain folk in France and I avoided it, but your endorsement suggests I may have been too rash with that assessment. As to classroom lust - teenage dreams are so hard to beat... I came to you through Bookpilled and I must say I am incredibly glad to have done so - I used to love SF through my teens and 20s/30s but I had fallen out of the habit in the last decade. Inspired by both of you fellows though, I picked up 'Mockingbird' by Walter Tevis during the week and I am enjoying it hugely - I think my SF reading mojo is back, so thanks a lot for that.
@@michaeldaly1495 No worries. Yes, Matt is a solid man, gave me my first shout out and without that I'd probably have quit before hitting a year of activity, so I'll always be grateful to him. He has great taste, is a natural born critic and is very articulate, he should try writing really. In the lens of Huysman's work and life, "Submission" is more than what people suspected it was. MH is a bad boy though, but I find him quite bracing!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Have you seen 'The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq'? I thought it was hilarious! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kidnapping_of_Michel_Houellebecq
Lovely stuff as usual, more for the pile. A question - I just finished Le Tellier's 'The Anomaly' and really liked it. I know you spoke about it in one of your videos but damned if i can find it. Could you point me towards it if you remember which one it is please? Many thanks, keep on space truckin'.
An interesting selection & would like to read the Mercurio. Many years ago I read Down there by Huysman a volume in the Dennis Wheatley library of the occult. Regrettably I can recall a single thing about it but that it was a challenging read for a youngster who was a slow reader
Mercurio is great - his novel 'American Adulterer' is excellent too, a Ballard-type take on the health and sex life of JFK. As for Hysman's, I'd suggest tackling 'Against Nature' aka 'Against the Grain' as mentioned in this video. Thanks for yr comment.
I was enthralled by 'Market Forces' and was really disappointed that I didn't get more of that kind of book from Morgan. I tried his fantasy works but found them too obvious. I haven't tried 'Thin air'... sounds a bit like Heinlein (I loved 'The Moon is a harsh Mistress' when I read it as a young teenager and 'Citizen of the Galaxy' introduced me to the concept of "hegemony". All the 'Star Wars' you need?). Thank you for leading me to so much more fruitful reading... shame my eyes prefer a 'Kindle' these days! When I find a book I love I do find a good hard copy for the shelf though, and I do enjoy 2nd hand discoveries, recently been finding John Brunner books.
Yes, I wish Morgan had done more like MF. It's his most obscure book, but I sell lots of it. These days, the market seems to abhor singletons, but readers who know quality still love them!
Hi Megan - leave with this me, but message again to remind me- back in the early 90s a friend and I did a fanzine article about 'Horticult SF', so I'll dig it out and maybe make a video (I'm seeing him today and will ask if he still has a copy, as I'm uncertain if I do).
You're thinking of "Along the Scenic Route", right? Great story, loved it since I was a teen. But have you read the Morgan? The autoduel aspect of it is a very small part of the book and clearly a concept that would have partially powered the unfilmed version- as I may have said, 'Market Forces' started life as a screen treatment for a film that was never made. It's quite different to Ellison aside from that.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, but I think that , as you have yourself said, the inventiveness of writers like Ellison have become so pervasive in this culture, thru films like Mad Max not least, that current creators give it remould (aptly enough), perhaps subconsciously … I subscribed partly because your take on ‘A Boy and His Dog’ is note perfect, for me - the most excellent thing of its kind & unsurpassed, although I do wonder how you regard Riddley Walker, also ….
@@darklingeraeld-ridge7946 I have to agree that "A Boy and His Dog" is the finest post-apocalyptic narrative I've read - I've read Hoban, of course, and admire it more than like it if I'm honest, though I do need to re-read it as it's been so long. Give the Morgan a try, though, I'd say.
I always found him a little too obviously signalling his iconoclasm, but I used to sell TONS of his books back in the 80s. He's due a revival, I'd say.
As you could tell, I loved it too. I think there's a certain amount of ambiguity there (as you'd expect from a writer like MH), though I'm not sure I'd agree it's sympathetic, more that it partially explains why Islam appeals to some. Have you read Huysmans? They way his life and oeuvre are weaved into the text is significant in understanding the novel, I feel.
@@Bookpilled -An understanding of Huysman's writing and faith arc is vital to a full understanding of the book I'd say - and Huysman's is well worth reading. I;d suggest looking him up and in the context of the narrator's faith arc in "Submission", I'm sure you'd find this interesting.
Tell me the old, old story! SF used to be a wide ranging field, as you rightly say, Steve, but a lazy readership, lazy autjors and lazy publishers have kept it marking time since about the mid 1980s. No value is placed on originality or new ideas, so most of what gets published now is space opera which, as you know, is not SF at all but what I call techno-fantasy. Space opera isn't based on the possible, which real SF should be. I don't know if you've ever come across a series of anthologies published for academic use in the 1970s and early 80s, they had titles such as Anthropology Through Science Fiction and Sociology Through Science Fiction, and they demonstrated how SF was relevant to the real world and dealt with real world issues. Someone should update and reprint those. I've read three of your five books by the way.
I have to say I completely agree. I've been proclaiming the death of SF since the early 90s and increasingly I feel Dick's statement that 'space fiction' wasn't SF gathers weight. I have a lot of Sf reference/critical works etc, but not the ones you cite. Also, I agree that publishers have grown worse and worse at curating and developing the genre. It's sad!
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Please do more of these Steve. It's this kind of recommendation that I absolutely love getting: helping me discover books that I would absolutely miss otherwise but definitely enrich and expand my reading of the genre. A shame you're not my local bookseller, but this is the next best thing 🙂
Thank you. You mean 'clickbait top/best/favourite' videos? Well, they're popular, but the reality is that a youtuber can't keep doing them - there are quite a few 'top' videos here- there's a playlist- but they basically don't allow for in depth analysis and examination of obscurity- if you watch the channel regularly, you will by default more books you would otherwise miss, as I tend to cover writers and works others don't- or I do them first, from a position of longterm knowledge and experience. The whole channel is aimed at the idea of recommending neglected books alongside famous ones, so if you watch regularly, you will simply discover more- but I will admit to not having done a 'top ten clickbait' video for ages, so I may do one soon....
I picked up recently a used copy of Arnott's The House of Rumour based on your recommendation. It's the edition you show in the video, and it's even signed by him, so I scored one. I read it, actually devoured it, and it is so rich and complex/confusing that I want to do a reread. Thanks again for the heads up. My SF reading has improved in quality from the usual space opera stuff.
Delighted you enjoyed it! One of my fave books from the last decade- I, too, love the indefinable mystery and nature of it, great stuff! Jake is a really good guy and I hope to see him again one day, we had two memorable meetings in the past, an under-appreciated writer.
just getting around to some of your backlog, steve. great recommendations. and i couldn't agree with you more, i.e. science fiction needs to keep breaking new bounds. that doesn't seem to be happening much lately so we need to celebrate those we find. cheers!
I found Atomised by Michel Houellebecq the blurb on the back sound intriguing, so I might start with that one while I track down others in his canon.
Great recommendations. Ta
Great video. Subscribed. I completely agree with your take on the state of modern SF. I'll look forward to reading some of these.
Yeah, the best stuff is well away from the genre bestseller charts!
You are so right about the state of current sf. I have almost stopped reading new authors because so many are just writing space opera, and with the state of the world now, I am looking at the survival of the planet as a priority, not zapping around space to start new wars. SF should make you think and I shall be trying most of your recommendations. Strangely, I already own the Ings book but haven't got round to it yet. I liked Wolves and The Smoke very much and must reread them. I didn't know that Mercurio wrote fiction, and have only read early books by Arnott, so yet more purchases coming up. My shelves are full!
Yep, the genre is not in a good way currently, I feel. And I have to say I feel it's partly Iain M Banks' legacy - the New Wave guys put Space Opera to bed for a few years then he brings it back and because he had a way of grabbing the popular readerships, he dragged them back to the 1930s,, I feel, albeit inadvertently. You'll LOVE Mercurio - his best novel is "American Adulterer" which is almost Ballardian, but "Ascent" is a great read too. The Arnott book is simply sublime. Thanks for yr comment and get a subscription going if you've not done so already-cheers!
Another fantastic list. I'll definitely be tracking a couple of these down. Thanks! Btw Jack Parson's also shows up in China Mievilles Last Days in New Paris.
Really? Didn't know that, though I have read CM's stuff, but not for ages.
Stellar recommendation. I just bought THE HOUSE OF RUMOR after watching this video.
Let me know how you get on with it. Jake is a great guy.
great picks - thanks!
Well, it's good to look beyond the obvious, that's where the most radical SF always is, I find. Thank you too!
Love your stuff - always stimulating and eye opening. A pronunciation note you can do with what you will - Houellbecq is pronounced 'wellbeck'. Not sure I spelled his name right, mind.
Thanks mate. Yep, I know my French is diabolical - it's tough with a Welsh accent to pull off the Gallic. Also, I was admittedly 'In Lust' with my French teacher in school but focused too much on her charms and too little on the parlay. My bad. Tell me, have you read Huysmans? An understanding of 'Submission' is massively deepened by reading his work and about his life.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, I read the Huysmans but sadly when I was much too young to really understand or appreciate it - I must go back. I haven't read 'Submission' though - I did enjoy 'Atomised'' a lot, which I seem to remember had SF elements at the end. I had a suspicion that 'Submission' was just a piece of liberal-baiting to piss off certain folk in France and I avoided it, but your endorsement suggests I may have been too rash with that assessment. As to classroom lust - teenage dreams are so hard to beat...
I came to you through Bookpilled and I must say I am incredibly glad to have done so - I used to love SF through my teens and 20s/30s but I had fallen out of the habit in the last decade. Inspired by both of you fellows though, I picked up 'Mockingbird' by Walter Tevis during the week and I am enjoying it hugely - I think my SF reading mojo is back, so thanks a lot for that.
@@michaeldaly1495 No worries. Yes, Matt is a solid man, gave me my first shout out and without that I'd probably have quit before hitting a year of activity, so I'll always be grateful to him. He has great taste, is a natural born critic and is very articulate, he should try writing really.
In the lens of Huysman's work and life, "Submission" is more than what people suspected it was. MH is a bad boy though, but I find him quite bracing!
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Have you seen 'The Kidnapping of Michel Houellebecq'? I thought it was hilarious! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Kidnapping_of_Michel_Houellebecq
Lovely stuff as usual, more for the pile. A question - I just finished Le Tellier's 'The Anomaly' and really liked it. I know you spoke about it in one of your videos but damned if i can find it. Could you point me towards it if you remember which one it is please? Many thanks, keep on space truckin'.
Here you go Michael: studio.ua-cam.com/users/videoN7UQGBKOBfc/edit
An interesting selection & would like to read the Mercurio.
Many years ago I read Down there by Huysman a volume in the Dennis Wheatley library of the occult. Regrettably I can recall a single thing about it but that it was a challenging read for a youngster who was a slow reader
Mercurio is great - his novel 'American Adulterer' is excellent too, a Ballard-type take on the health and sex life of JFK. As for Hysman's, I'd suggest tackling 'Against Nature' aka 'Against the Grain' as mentioned in this video. Thanks for yr comment.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Thanks for the recommendations. Discovered you via Bookpilled, who I only found last month.
@@zetectic7968 -Bookpilled- my fave channel- Matt and I are good online friends, he has excellent taste and is a fine human being!
I was enthralled by 'Market Forces' and was really disappointed that I didn't get more of that kind of book from Morgan. I tried his fantasy works but found them too obvious. I haven't tried 'Thin air'... sounds a bit like Heinlein (I loved 'The Moon is a harsh Mistress' when I read it as a young teenager and 'Citizen of the Galaxy' introduced me to the concept of "hegemony". All the 'Star Wars' you need?). Thank you for leading me to so much more fruitful reading... shame my eyes prefer a 'Kindle' these days! When I find a book I love I do find a good hard copy for the shelf though, and I do enjoy 2nd hand discoveries, recently been finding John Brunner books.
Yes, I wish Morgan had done more like MF. It's his most obscure book, but I sell lots of it. These days, the market seems to abhor singletons, but readers who know quality still love them!
I'm always looking for botanical sf recommendations that are lesser known or impactful to the genre. Would you have any suggestions ?
Hi Megan - leave with this me, but message again to remind me- back in the early 90s a friend and I did a fanzine article about 'Horticult SF', so I'll dig it out and maybe make a video (I'm seeing him today and will ask if he still has a copy, as I'm uncertain if I do).
That Richard Morgan scenario of car duels is an idea nicked from Harlan Ellison, who made a short punchy story of it, and moved on
You're thinking of "Along the Scenic Route", right? Great story, loved it since I was a teen. But have you read the Morgan? The autoduel aspect of it is a very small part of the book and clearly a concept that would have partially powered the unfilmed version- as I may have said, 'Market Forces' started life as a screen treatment for a film that was never made. It's quite different to Ellison aside from that.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal Yes, but I think that , as you have yourself said, the inventiveness of writers like Ellison have become so pervasive in this culture, thru films like Mad Max not least, that current creators give it remould (aptly enough), perhaps subconsciously … I subscribed partly because your take on ‘A Boy and His Dog’ is note perfect, for me - the most excellent thing of its kind & unsurpassed, although I do wonder how you regard Riddley Walker, also ….
@@darklingeraeld-ridge7946 I have to agree that "A Boy and His Dog" is the finest post-apocalyptic narrative I've read - I've read Hoban, of course, and admire it more than like it if I'm honest, though I do need to re-read it as it's been so long. Give the Morgan a try, though, I'd say.
Have you read Glister by John Burnside? A kind of literary cosmic horror novel.
No, I know of Burnside but never read him. It'll go on the list for the title alone, thanks!
The House of Rumour sounds excellent 👍
It's a fantastic book. Jake is a fave of mine, I will admit.
Do you like Robert Anton Wilson's stuff?
I always found him a little too obviously signalling his iconoclasm, but I used to sell TONS of his books back in the 80s. He's due a revival, I'd say.
Love Submission. I thought it was a sympathetic portrayal of Islam, which took me by surprise coming from Houellebecq.
As you could tell, I loved it too. I think there's a certain amount of ambiguity there (as you'd expect from a writer like MH), though I'm not sure I'd agree it's sympathetic, more that it partially explains why Islam appeals to some. Have you read Huysmans? They way his life and oeuvre are weaved into the text is significant in understanding the novel, I feel.
@@outlawbookselleroriginal No, I have not read him, and realize I was flying blind on that front.
@@Bookpilled -An understanding of Huysman's writing and faith arc is vital to a full understanding of the book I'd say - and Huysman's is well worth reading. I;d suggest looking him up and in the context of the narrator's faith arc in "Submission", I'm sure you'd find this interesting.
Houellebecq isn´t a bad boy, he´s just bad.
Tell me the old, old story! SF used to be a wide ranging field, as you rightly say, Steve, but a lazy readership, lazy autjors and lazy publishers have kept it marking time since about the mid 1980s. No value is placed on originality or new ideas, so most of what gets published now is space opera which, as you know, is not SF at all but what I call techno-fantasy. Space opera isn't based on the possible, which real SF should be.
I don't know if you've ever come across a series of anthologies published for academic use in the 1970s and early 80s, they had titles such as Anthropology Through Science Fiction and Sociology Through Science Fiction, and they demonstrated how SF was relevant to the real world and dealt with real world issues. Someone should update and reprint those.
I've read three of your five books by the way.
I have to say I completely agree. I've been proclaiming the death of SF since the early 90s and increasingly I feel Dick's statement that 'space fiction' wasn't SF gathers weight. I have a lot of Sf reference/critical works etc, but not the ones you cite. Also, I agree that publishers have grown worse and worse at curating and developing the genre. It's sad!