The Kiwifarms Unofficial Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club

VeteranOfTheRetardWars said:
I’m not a Lovecraft Mythos expert, but it’s a really neat world to be exposed to and look at because my goodness there is a lot of history behind all that.
Click to expand...
You have August Derleth to blame thank for the transfiguration of The King's nature in literature. Lovecraft, like many of his contemporaries, had no qualms about outright lifting from the works of people who inspired him, but The King In Yellow wasn't called Hastur before Derleth. I personally deeply dislike Derleth's contributions, ESPECIALLY transforming TKIY into Hastur. He made the eldritch very organized when he codified categories like Outer Gods and Elder Gods and did dumb shit like making Nyarlathotep the main villain of the mythos. He singlehandedly started the de-mystification of Lovecraft's work in an effort to get his beloved friend's stories out to a wider audience.
 
Neverender said:
You have August Derleth to blame thank for the transfiguration of The King's nature in literature. Lovecraft, like many of his contemporaries, had no qualms about outright lifting from the works of people who inspired him, but The King In Yellow wasn't called Hastur before Derleth. I personally deeply dislike Derleth's contributions, ESPECIALLY transforming TKIY into Hastur. He made the eldritch very organized when he codified categories like Outer Gods and Elder Gods and did dumb shit like making Nyarlathotep the main villain of the mythos. He singlehandedly started the de-mystification of Lovecraft's work in an effort to get his beloved friend's stories out to a wider audience.
Click to expand...

It's weird. I get why he did it, and I can't hate him too much because his efforts did sorta work. But it's annoying how you have to figure out if something's in the spirit of the original Lovecraft Mythos or the Derleth version.
 
These stories are so focused on the aesthetic I struggle to critique them in my usual way. What can I say about stories so evocative of occult menace but light on plot and explanation? It makes me appreciate Lovecraft and (what little I've read of) Clark Ashton Smith more: their tales are more complex without losing much of the vague aura of menace they share with Chambers's work: my favorite examples from Lovecraft are At The Mountains of Madness and The Whisperer in Darkness.
 
Alright, the poll for April is up and the theme is RIP Dan Simmons, featuring a varied selection of works from one of the greats.
For those unaware, he passed on February 21st, 2026, at the age of 77. His works won many awards and he frequently blended genres and ideas in his writing, truly unique and respected because of it.
 
Is it okay if I only read one of the books? I've been buried in the Glass Bees recently and I'm going back to reread The book of the new sun again.
(The one being Hyperion and the follow-up because it's pretty much a part two.)
 
Safir said:
There's a poll. We vote for a book and then read the winner, one per month.
Click to expand...
Ah I was mistaken in the assumption that by having to make two votes we were trying for two books in a month. Looks like Hyperion is the popular choice by a mile though.

Thanks for the info.
 
FYI

If you’ve read Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson, you’re familiar with a character named Bobby Shaftoe. He seems to be named after a jazz tune:


It turns out that the GCHQ folks who were stationed on Saint Helena island, doing signals monitoring of the West African nations, had their own Saint Helena radio program. And it always began with a song from the same jazz band:

 
I love Hyperion just as the next guy. That being said, The Terror might be the best book I've ever read. It's not for everyone, but if you love a slow burning mystery, this long book paradoxically becomes a page turner you can't stop devouring.
 
The vote has closed, and Hyperion is the winner!
IMG_0011.jpeg
Not surprising considering how beloved Hyperion is, I’m sure we’re in for a treat.
 
Fuck, I forgot there was a bookclub. I'm a dumb nigger who forgets things as soon as they're leave my view. Please rate me dumb or autistic when you see this so Im reminded of it's existence. Thank you.
 
I did a little bit of background research, Hyperion is the name of an abandoned poem by John Keats about the war between the Titans and Olympians. It got to about 900 verses before he decided to drop it, and given Simmons being both an English teacher and clearly super fucking smart I am hyped for this book.
Hyperion himself was the Titan of the Sun, and here’s a scene with him in his palace from the poem:
That inlet to severe magnificence

Stood full blown, for the God to enter in.

He enter’d, but he enter’d full of wrath;

His flaming robes stream’d out beyond his heels,

And gave a roar, as if of earthly fire,

That scar’d away the meek ethereal Hours

And made their dove-wings tremble. On he flared,

From stately nave to nave, from vault to vault,

Through bowers of fragrant and enwreathed light,

And diamond-paved lustrous long arcades,

Until he reach’d the great main cupola;

There standing fierce beneath, he stampt his foot,

And from the basements deep to the high towers

Jarr’d his own golden region; and before

The quavering thunder thereupon had ceas’d,

His voice leapt out, despite of godlike curb,

To this result: “O dreams of day and night!

O monstrous forms! O effigies of pain! …

Fall!—No, by Tellus and her briny robes!

Over the fiery frontier of my realms

I will advance a terrible right arm

Shall scare that infant thunderer, rebel Jove,

And bid old Saturn take his throne again.—

… I will not be denied!”
Click to expand...
Oh yeah, that’s some good shit.
 
Hyperion is a great book. I enjoyed the sequel as well, though it explains away some of the mystery of the first book.
However, I do not recommend the following series, Endymion. It went way too far into mumbo jumbo land and tried to explain every facet of the previous books, in a way I didn't think was very satisfying. A lot of seething about Catholicism too (the author is an ex-Catholic).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom