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jeregenestHere's the fiction that is currently informining me as I work on tantaene animis caelestibus irae.
Crowley, John. Aegypt Quartet (Aegypt, Love & Sleep, and Daemonomania). The motifs of alternate lives, worlds and world-views pulse through these novels, whose matter are the secret histories of the world, the old notions of science, religion and philosophy that have survived in astrology, myths and superstition. These three books (the projected fourth isn’t out yet, I think) contribute many stylistic flourishes that can be learned from, and adapted, into this sort of game.
Eco, Umberto. Foucault’s Pendulum. I don’t believe I’m including this. It’s a given, read it already.
Hand, Elizabeth. Waking the Moon, Black Light and Mortal Love, together with various of her short stories. These gloomy novels of the uncanny, finding magic in artists' colonies and the Andy Warhol Factory, in archaeology, and rock-and-roll (amongst other things). Her novels are powerfully lyrical, suffused with visionary agony and dreamlike eroticism; in her hands, myth reattains the nightmare energy of its origins, staining the present and the future with atavistic hues of blood.
Holdstock, Robert. Celtika and The Iron Grail, books I and II of the Merlin Codex. Jason and the Argonauts, Merlin, Uther, the land of the dead and a dream-like magic space. The layered complexities of Holdstock's work can make it hard reading at times - after a few exhilarating pages you have to take a break. So many incidents are alluded to, mentioned in passing to form a complex depths of plot and allusion and time and place.
Moore, Alan. Promethea. Promethea weaves Moore's trademark scholarly mysticism with wild, fun swipes at post-everything culture in a complex tale based on the importance of story. Promethea, with its feeling of initiation on every page and its cosmic scale captures much of the intended spirit of this game.
Powers, Tim. Stress of Her Regard. One could (and should) probably recommend any of Powers’ works, but I choose this carefully blended mix of history and mythology that is deep, dark, heavily layered with horror. In many ways Declare is the only other novel that comes close in this area (which explains why its my second favorite). Read them both and thank me.
So what would you recommend that is like these books? Please don’t recommend American Gods, I’m not a huge fan. But I’d like to hear what other books folks think are similar to these.
I purposely didn’t include works like Ken Hite’s "Suppressed Transmission" columns (or collections) and Matthew Rossi’s Things that Never Were. Assume them as a given. Similarly I haven’t tackled a nonfiction list of inspirations because it’s too much of a pain in the neck.
Crowley, John. Aegypt Quartet (Aegypt, Love & Sleep, and Daemonomania). The motifs of alternate lives, worlds and world-views pulse through these novels, whose matter are the secret histories of the world, the old notions of science, religion and philosophy that have survived in astrology, myths and superstition. These three books (the projected fourth isn’t out yet, I think) contribute many stylistic flourishes that can be learned from, and adapted, into this sort of game.
Eco, Umberto. Foucault’s Pendulum. I don’t believe I’m including this. It’s a given, read it already.
Hand, Elizabeth. Waking the Moon, Black Light and Mortal Love, together with various of her short stories. These gloomy novels of the uncanny, finding magic in artists' colonies and the Andy Warhol Factory, in archaeology, and rock-and-roll (amongst other things). Her novels are powerfully lyrical, suffused with visionary agony and dreamlike eroticism; in her hands, myth reattains the nightmare energy of its origins, staining the present and the future with atavistic hues of blood.
Holdstock, Robert. Celtika and The Iron Grail, books I and II of the Merlin Codex. Jason and the Argonauts, Merlin, Uther, the land of the dead and a dream-like magic space. The layered complexities of Holdstock's work can make it hard reading at times - after a few exhilarating pages you have to take a break. So many incidents are alluded to, mentioned in passing to form a complex depths of plot and allusion and time and place.
Moore, Alan. Promethea. Promethea weaves Moore's trademark scholarly mysticism with wild, fun swipes at post-everything culture in a complex tale based on the importance of story. Promethea, with its feeling of initiation on every page and its cosmic scale captures much of the intended spirit of this game.
Powers, Tim. Stress of Her Regard. One could (and should) probably recommend any of Powers’ works, but I choose this carefully blended mix of history and mythology that is deep, dark, heavily layered with horror. In many ways Declare is the only other novel that comes close in this area (which explains why its my second favorite). Read them both and thank me.
So what would you recommend that is like these books? Please don’t recommend American Gods, I’m not a huge fan. But I’d like to hear what other books folks think are similar to these.
I purposely didn’t include works like Ken Hite’s "Suppressed Transmission" columns (or collections) and Matthew Rossi’s Things that Never Were. Assume them as a given. Similarly I haven’t tackled a nonfiction list of inspirations because it’s too much of a pain in the neck.
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no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 11:36 am (UTC)I feel like there should be other prose stuff that is in the neighborhood, but I'm drawing a blank. Maybe Wilton barnhart's Gospel although I haven't read that in ages.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 11:48 am (UTC)And I've never read Wilton Barnhardt, and one of the references I easily found via Google is to "If you like the The Da Vinci Code", which doesn't fill me with hope. But you'd recommend it?
no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 11:52 am (UTC)I read Gospel about 8 or 10 years ago and loved it. I don't know how it would stand up now. Can't recall if that was before or after I first read Foucault's Pendulum. I'll bring it over for you on Wednesday if you'd like.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 11:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 11:59 am (UTC)Films
Date: 2005-02-20 02:09 pm (UTC)Re: Films
Date: 2005-02-20 03:52 pm (UTC)As much as I hate to say it, Matrix Reloaded (esp the 10 minute Architect monologue)?
Spirited Away. Probably a bunch of other anime I don't know about too.
Re: Films
Date: 2005-02-21 06:08 am (UTC)Spirited Away (and other Miyazki work) I'll have to think about. The mood might be wrong.
no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 12:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 12:25 pm (UTC)(Do you have the David J recording of This Vicious Cabaret from V for Vendetta? he wrote the music that appears in the series, and I hope they keep the song for the movie. But it will probably be re-recorded by Matchbox 20 or Alicia Keys or something horrible like that.)
no subject
Date: 2005-02-20 12:43 pm (UTC)RPG.net fishing expedition
Date: 2005-02-20 12:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-22 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-02-23 04:33 pm (UTC)