MaCleod, Mieville, Banks, Swann ~

[Tribune]

Any readers of?

[Mujer Libre]

I like Mieville- well, Perdido Street Station and Iron Council. I think I tried to read King Rat and found it a bit meh. Oh, and sometimes his politics annoy me- like his crude analogies about anarchism and the garuda.

[Hyacinth]

I'm a big fan of Iain M. Banks, especially the Culture series. And I've picked up a few books by Ken MacLeod as well, though I haven't had a chance to read them yet.

[Tribune]

I like Mieville- well, Perdido Street Station and Iron Council. I think I tried to read King Rat and found it a bit meh. Oh, and sometimes his politics annoy me- like his crude analogies about anarchism and the garuda.

Agreed, and agreed - and yet, as authors go, he has genuine talent, and the ability to express the desire for freedom within the scope of his own worldbuilding.

The Iron Council is, in his short career, his masterwork - or so I think.

[Tribune]

I'm a big fan of Iain M. Banks, especially the Culture series. And I've picked up a few books by Ken MacLeod as well, though I haven't had a chance to read them yet.

If I'm not mistaken, MacLeod and Banks share an approach, and deep friendship - and on occasion, a stage. Both are socialists, who attempt (Banks, more than MacLeod) to envision the "other side" or the "process" of social re-creation.

MacLeod, according to interviews, posits future capitalisms, in order to make them "terrifying."