I hear he's also getting his tonsils out.

I hear he's also getting his tonsils out.

It might be a weakness — depending on whether you want to write SF for scientists or SF for the rest of us.

It might be a weakness — depending on whether you want to write SF for scientists or SF for the rest of us.

The "Clarke camp"? Clarke and Bradbury (and those who love them) aren't opposites or opponents or anything like that. I love the big-idea writers too. It's not an either/or kind of thing. There's the same amount of exploration going on; it's all a matter of where that exploration is happening.

The "Clarke camp"? Clarke and Bradbury (and those who love them) aren't opposites or opponents or anything like that. I love the big-idea writers too. It's not an either/or kind of thing. There's the same amount of exploration going on; it's all a matter of where that exploration is happening.

Not sure what happened there; I am indeed talking about "The Rocket," and that's how it reads in my original draft. I'll get that fixed, thanks.

Not sure what happened there; I am indeed talking about "The Rocket," and that's how it reads in my original draft. I'll get that fixed, thanks.

Yes, I was counting "Going' Home" off of Are You Passionate when I came up with that nine-year figure. If you'll note above, the context was: How long has it been since Crazy Horse have been represented on a Neil Young album. Having a song on an album is representation. (Of course, if I had written that Crazy Horse…

Yes, I was counting "Going' Home" off of Are You Passionate when I came up with that nine-year figure. If you'll note above, the context was: How long has it been since Crazy Horse have been represented on a Neil Young album. Having a song on an album is representation. (Of course, if I had written that Crazy Horse…

Sorry about that — I should have written "resident," not "citizen," It'll be changed shortly, thanks.

Sorry about that — I should have written "resident," not "citizen," It'll be changed shortly, thanks.

I hear you. That could have been a novel all its own.

Iron Council is a big floater (uh, so to speak) for me. I've read it twice. Once I hated it, once I loved it. My recollection of it wanders accordingly.

For whatever it's worth, here's my admittedly reductive, subjective, and subject-to-change ranking of Mieville's novels:

Perdido is my favorite book of his. To me, the mad rush of ideas and imagination and enthusiasm and subversion completely make up for the (relatively negligible) deficiency in orthodox plot-and-character. Not only is it a great book, it's one that will be looked back upon as a pivotal text in the genre(s).

Understood. It's a weird kind of spoiler, though… It doesn't spoil the plot. Just the subtext. Or the overtext. Or the intratext. Or whatever.

Kraken works beautifully for me, mostly because Mieville maintains a consistent pitch of inconsistency throughout the whole thing. Neverwhere is a touchstone, for sure, but it's only one of many. It's a multifaceted pastiche, and it's meant to be, and it succeeds as such.

Mieville has some interesting things to say about Iron Council (and sundry other things) in the interview I did with him a couple years ago: http://www.avclub.com/artic…

I will respectfully disagree here. Although Perdido was my introduction to Mieville, I think The City & The City is his best introduction to a general reader. It's also one of his top three novels, by my estimation.