IdleRich

IdleRich
Eco or Stephenson? I'm more interested in the former than the latter.
I mean the Stephenson... both of them. But Cryptonomicon should be up your street; a huge sprawling historical epic set in multiple eras and countries, tied together by code breaking and conspiracies and loads of nerdy stuff, with a bit of magic realism mixed in and loads of stuff to send you investigating in different directions - like Pynchon but much more so.
 

version

Well-known member
Ben Lerner pictured shattering the mirror with his metal fist. From TV he knew there might be people behind it in the dark, that they could see his metal fist. He believed he felt the pressure of their gaze on his face. In slow motion, a rain of glass, the presences revealed. He paused it, rewound, watched it fall again. He had a metal fist.
 

Mr. Tea

Let's Talk About Ceps
I mean the Stephenson... both of them. But Cryptonomicon should be up your street; a huge sprawling historical epic set in multiple eras and countries, tied together by code breaking and conspiracies and loads of nerdy stuff, with a bit of magic realism mixed in and loads of stuff to send you investigating in different directions - like Pynchon but much more so.
Yeah, all silliness aside, it is pretty good. Baroque Cycle was good too, although maybe a little too long. @droid is well into him.
 

sus

Well-known member
"The earlier era of paranoia in this country was based largely on violent events arid on the suspicions that spread concerning the true nature of the particular event, from Dallas to Memphis to Vietnam. Who was behind it, what led to it, what will flow from it? How many shots, how many gunmen, how many wounds on the President’s body? People believed, sometimes justifiably, that they were being lied to by the government or elements within the government. Today, it seems, the virus is self-generated. Distrust and disbelief are centered in a deep need to raise individual discontent to an art form, often with no basis in fact. In many cases, people choose to believe a clear falsehood, about President Obama, for instance, or September 11, or immigrants, or Muslims. These are often symbolic beliefs, usable kinds of fiction, a means of protest rising from political, economic, religious, or racial complaints, or just a lousy life in a dying suburb."
You have the Alan Pakula Political Paranoia trilogy (Klute, Parallax View, All The President's Men)—Inherent Vice is itself an homage to the JKF/Watergate era paranoia, the same era of the FBI motorcycle accidents Pynchon nods at—so if we're at the high-point in a swell, it's a swell that's constantly rising and ebbing.
 
Last edited:

version

Well-known member
I'd say the main thing hanging over Inherent Vice, moreso than JFK and Watergate, is the Manson Family.
I still haven't seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actually. Maybe I should watch that soon. I guess that's another for the conspiracy-ish list too.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sus

luka

Well-known member
Lakshaman lived because other men bled. His world, the gilded prison of Onghwe Khan’s menagerie, had been reduced to this axiomatic definition. He could no longer recall a life before the Khan’s arena—not that such a life mattered to him any more, anyway. He had seen the light go out of a man’s eyes more than a hundred times, and each time, the cessation of the other’s breath and heartbeat simply validated the primal truth of Lakshaman’s existence.

Did he secretly yearn for something else? Some life that was not filled with the torpid stickiness of blood or the putrefying stench of fear? Did he look at his hands and wonder if they were meant to hold something other than his cruel knives? When he was led into the dark tunnel that led to the arena, did he gaze into the darkness and wonder if, perhaps, there was no end to this tunnel? Maybe it went on forever, and eventually, he would stop and look back and not be able to see where he came from. There would be no point in continuing, and so he would sit down in the darkness. Maybe he would even lie down and rest. If the fundamental truth of his existence was no longer valid, would he close his eyes and simply stop breathing?

The islander had asked him questions like those, recently. The one who called himself Mountain of Skulls. After Zug’s defeat in the Circus, he had become oddly reflective and was prone to fits of introspection like this. As much as Zug’s questions seemed to be the addled nonsense spewed by an idiot, Lakshaman had found himself unable to simply ignore them, and so he said they were silly questions. There was always an end to the tunnel, he told Zug, and at the end, there would be a man waiting to die.
 

luka

Well-known member
The Khan’s stickmen surrounded him as he strode through the tunnel. They stank of fear, even though they were many and Lakshaman’s hands were bound. They walked stiffly, the tension in their arms and legs announcing their discomfort more loudly than a hungry baby’s wail. Lakshaman gave them as little thought as he had Zug’s philosophical questions. They were like the flies that swarmed horse shit.
https://subscribe.wired.com/subscri...PU_FAILSAFE_0_BUYING_GUIDES_TEST_SALE_2021_ZZ
He may even have said as much to the Flower Knight, Kim Alcheon, when the Korean had come to talk of rebellion. They are flies on shit, he may have said.
Does that make us the shit? Kim had enquired. He had been amused by Lakshaman’s words, and for a moment, Lakshaman had felt a twinge of something deep within his brain, an unfamiliar emotional response.
If you wish to think of yourself that way –certainly, he may have said to Kim, ignoring the man’s humorous query. The Korean had been spending too much time with Zug, and had picked up some of the Nipponese man’s annoying habits. They’re just flies. I can swat flies.
 

luka

Well-known member
The knight shuffled, shifting to keep Lakshaman in front of him. He held himself with an easy confidence, assured in the superiority of his weapons and armor. His reach was longer; he had no reason to attack first. Lakshaman would have to get in closer to use his knives, and during that time, the knight would have a chance to use the hammer and hatchet.

Arrogance is good, Lakshaman thought. It will make him slow.
 

IdleRich

IdleRich
I'd say the main thing hanging over Inherent Vice, moreso than JFK and Watergate, is the Manson Family.
I still haven't seen Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actually. Maybe I should watch that soon. I guess that's another for the conspiracy-ish list too.
Not really though it's worth a watch in its own right.
 
Top