Robert Aickman

catalog

Well-known member
in case it's not clear @suspended we are not looking for anything to do with joel lane, mr james, or robert aickman.

we are after a novel which addresses "the loneliness of connection, the anxiety of the scroll"
 

catalog

Well-known member
Cos that's the other noticeable, somewhat eyebrow raising bit of Aickman, which perversely makes him quite enoyable to read, the casual sexism and also racism. feels very true to the time and one of the things i like about reading an ld book of its time cos you get these frissions which you don't see elsewhere
 

catalog

Well-known member
in answer to @you's question, maybe tao lin and chris kraus come closest? altho maybe not chris kraus, she's some other generation. you could throw jarett kobek in, specifically 'i hate the internet', but it's not quite right, cos he's still writing from outside that culture, looking inside with horror. tao lin i've only read 'trip' which i thought was excellent, but i've tried and failed with his other books.

but i would like to read a good novel about how the internet has impacted our lives for better or worse, one where the author is inside it, not someone like me who can remember an analogue age.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
in answer to @you's question, maybe tao lin and chris kraus come closest? altho maybe not chris kraus, she's some other generation. you could throw jarett kobek in, specifically 'i hate the internet', but it's not quite right, cos he's still writing from outside that culture, looking inside with horror. tao lin i've only read 'trip' which i thought was excellent, but i've tried and failed with his other books.

but i would like to read a good novel about how the internet has impacted our lives for better or worse, one where the author is inside it, not someone like me who can remember an analogue age p
 

catalog

Well-known member
ok fuck it spendo, i'm gonna order one from you, i'll cover the requisite additional postage costs, will pm you now with the details
 

you

Well-known member
@catalog yes, I used to recommend Tao Lin a lot on this forum. Taipei was recommended to my by someone everyone knows, it really left an impression on me, a great book about dissociation, depression, apathy. Prose was really effective, I tried to mimic it for a while. I also enjoyed Eeeee Eee Eeee and Bed. Torpor by Kraus explores some similar themes (unsurprisingly) but there's not much technology in the narrative.

The Sunken Land Begins to Rise Again by M. John Harrison also springs to mind, typically awry, lost, and held together by a series of missed emails, forgotten text messages etc. And also partly based in Kinver—yes we are back in the midlands—which I always find odd. Rock houses and aspirational dog owners.
 
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catalog

Well-known member
Talk of devil look what just arrived from library forgot I ordered it

oDr8Hw3.jpg
 
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catalog

Well-known member
@you haveyou read leave society? I think I had a go with shoplifting from American apparel on my phone but couldn't stick it
 

you

Well-known member
@you haveyou read leave society? I think I had a go with shoplifting from American apparel on my phone but couldn't stick it

No, I've not. And since life has changed I am less drawn to Lin.

I was so looking forward to his new books but by the time they came around I was in a different place.

I read Taipei, Bed, and Eeeee during a period of semi-busy metropolitan activity. I was using smartphones, aiming to show a somewhat apathetic enthusiasm, conversing distractedly in a series of non-sequiturs, and generally navigating the world with vertiginous apprehension. I was preoccupied with avatars, grins... the view was reversed, like a grey reflection in a shop window, the sterility of colour could be imagined but its memory felt proxied.
 
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catalog

Well-known member
what so you are no longer navigating the world with vertiginous apprehension?

do you think your suspicion about online has upticked in last 5 years?

mine has
 

you

Well-known member
like cacti, passively committed to not moving, a crystalline stasis

suspicion requires a minimum level of credence
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
Not sure what yer getting at rich please explain
That bit where I just selected and added nothing to it? I think I must have just sat on the keyboard or something or just drifted off with the laptop in my hands cos I didn't go to bed at all last night. I've only just seen that (sort of) post in fact.
 
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