woops
is not like other people
present
what are you reading now?
IdleRich
IdleRich
I googled that and you can read it all online. I have to agree, it's really very good. Just adopting one very strong idea which can be taken pretty far in loads of directions. The writing is simpoly the basic minimum to tell the story - you could call it taut I suppose, whatever it works for me - with the odd wryly witty observation. Also quite a few geeky little references which you're gonna like cos they make you feel smart eg
Notice it doesn't even see the name of the book to make you feel extra-good about yourself if you've read... whatever it is. Later a guy constructs a Foucault Pendulum which is not really vital to the story but I'm sure the writer just wanted to nod to Eco.
It also reminds me a little of that TV show Severance which I rather enjoyed (I think there is a second series now in fact but sinisterly that knowledge was deleted from my mind... or perhaps I just forgot but that seems way too much of a coincidence for me to accept it) in that there is a corporate environment and lots of memory erasure (sometimes deliberately done to oneself, sometimes not). Also, A Scanner Darkly or PKD in general is an obvious reference point.
Anyway, if you go here and read all the links from top to bottom you'll get the whole story I think.
Antimemetics Division Hub - SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation's 'top-secret' archives, declassified for your enjoyment.
scp-wiki.wikidot.com
What's interesting is that if you go back from that menu you realise that there is a whole library of similar (in structure) stories accessed from what it calls the "Tale Series Hub" and before that there is just a whole library of stand alone stories. The so-called Tales Hub
Tales Hub - SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation's 'top-secret' archives, declassified for your enjoyment.
scp-wiki.wikidot.com
Thing is, for me that seems like an utterly overwhelming mass of stuff - how can you possibly start to sift through that and find which are good? Are they all gonna be of the standard of this one, I doubt it somehow, but how do you know which are worth it? And really I'm reading this one cos it was recommended here and I guess ultimately it has some kind of higher profile cos there does exist an actual honest-to-goodness-book.
So I dunno what I'm saying here, just I find something almost depressing about this enormous undifferentiated mass of stories - I don't know if it makes it better or worse that there are likely a few precious gems in there. Just another example of how there is too much stuff everywhere clogging up systems and filling your mouth and nose and eyes so you can't breathe or see clearly and burying the good stuff deep underneath and inside huge lumps of pap.
Whatever, maybe I'm just old. This book is good fun anyhow.
william_kent
Well-known member
I googled that and you can read it all online. I have to agree, it's really very good. Just adopting one very strong idea which can be taken pretty far in loads of directions. The writing is simpoly the basic minimum to tell the story - you could call it taut I suppose, whatever it works for me - with the odd wryly witty observation. Also quite a few geeky little references which you're gonna like cos they make you feel smart eg
Notice it doesn't even see the name of the book to make you feel extra-good about yourself if you've read... whatever it is. Later a guy constructs a Foucault Pendulum which is not really vital to the story but I'm sure the writer just wanted to nod to Eco.
It also reminds me a little of that TV show Severance which I rather enjoyed (I think there is a second series now in fact, I must find a way to remember that and watch it sometime) in that there is a corporate environment and lots of memory erasure (sometimes deliberately done to oneself, sometimes not). Also, A Scanner Darkly.
Anyway, if you go here and read all the links from top to bottom you'll get the whole story I think.
Antimemetics Division Hub - SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation's 'top-secret' archives, declassified for your enjoyment.
What's interesting is that if you go back from that menu you realise that there is a whole library of similar (in structure) stories accessed from what it calls the "Tale Series Hub" and before that there is just a whole library of stand alone stories. The so-called Tales Hub
Tales Hub - SCP Foundation
The SCP Foundation's 'top-secret' archives, declassified for your enjoyment.
Thing is, for me that seems like an utterly overwhelming mass of stuff - how can you possibly start to sift through that and find which are good? Are they all gonna be of the standard of this one, I doubt it somehow, but how do you know which are worth it? And really I'm reading this one cos it was recommended here and I guess ultimately it has some kind of higher profile cos there does exist an actual honest-to-goodness-book.
So I dunno what I'm saying here, just I find something almost depressing about this enormous undifferentiated mass of stories - I don't know if it makes it better or worse that there are likely a few precious gems in there. Just another example of how there is too much stuff everywhere clogging up systems and filling your mouth and nose and eyes so you can't breathe or see clearly and burying the good stuff deep underneath and inside huge lumps of pap.
Whatever, maybe I'm just old. This book is good fun anyhow.
I've not read any of these but I've seen people recommending Ra and Fine Structure by the same author ( qntm )
IdleRich
IdleRich
I guess that a good way to start investigating these is to find one author who has written some good stuff, and then checking out some of their other stuff, and then seeing if there is anyone kinda affiliated to them.
What I mean is, on the antimemetics page there are millions of chapters and off-shoots and prequels and so on to the There is No Antimemetics Division, mostly by qntm of course, but
And
So I guess if you want more of the same kinda thing then you could explore those authors and who they in turn link to. But that is still a bit of a ghetto or something, just like following recommends on Spotify or whatever. It's kind of like when Game of Thrones came along and everyone liked it then tv producers all thought "the proles like swords and dragons and violence, let's give 'em more of that" but the point is people don't want the same thing but not as good, what they really (ought to) want is something just as good regardless of the setting. In other words people were responding to the quality rather than the immediate superficial trappings - but it's much easier to copy the surface of something than to match its quality.
And obviously what I said is way to simplistic cos people absolutely do enjoy certain types of book/film/whatever and I guess a lot of sci-fi nerds would rather read the shittest sf book than some acknowledged masterpiece such as Moby Dick or, say, Clarissa (and who can blame em?).
IdleRich
IdleRich
I mean maybe I'm being unfair. I haven't read any of the other stories at all so I can't really just assume they're all rubbish. Wikipedia says this...#
Now obviously a quote about the quality is fairly meaningless, but it has to be more authoritative than disparaging remarks from some twat (me) who has never read them.
I regret what I said before - well, ninety-nine percent of everything is rubbish and there is too much stuff, that's true in general but I shouldn't have interpolated that to a specific instance of which I had no real knowledge.
Now obviously a quote about the quality is fairly meaningless, but it has to be more authoritative than disparaging remarks from some twat (me) who has never read them.
I regret what I said before - well, ninety-nine percent of everything is rubbish and there is too much stuff, that's true in general but I shouldn't have interpolated that to a specific instance of which I had no real knowledge.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
version
Well-known member
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
We're all gonna read the Ticket that Exploded by the venerable William Seward Burroughs soon, so dig your copy out or get on Amazon
@kid charlemagne @luka @WashYourHands @IdleRich @Mr. Tea @craner @william_kent @Corpsey @jenks @woops @version @sufi @entertainment @linebaugh @sus
apologies to anyone I left out
@kid charlemagne @luka @WashYourHands @IdleRich @Mr. Tea @craner @william_kent @Corpsey @jenks @woops @version @sufi @entertainment @linebaugh @sus
apologies to anyone I left out
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
That's the one I've got
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Iggy Pop!
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Let's try to make sense of a book that doesn't make any sense.
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
I'm gonna start it in about 2 weeks, plenty of time for everyone to get a copy.
Beware the happy cloak
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
The Earth is dead... But life goes on!
Benny Bunter
Well-known member
Astounding Science Fiction
WashYourHands
Cat Malogen
two weeks time would be ideal due, post-summer break chaos landing all around
took it on holiday years ago but booze took first prize :/
be intrigued by ideas around the editing process - “how random is random?” - how such works feed out into later *spoken word readings and college presentations, how they bleed out as synchronicities in the minds and lives of different readers at different occasions
* ai software could surely capture the range of distinct Burroughs pronunciations as audiobooks in their entirety? can’t be that hard beyond stresses and emphasis on his distinctive drawl’s distribution points
have a few from this series - Rub Out the Words, The Yage Letters and the compendium of letters within The Joh
Mr. Tea
Let's Talk About Ceps
Nice idea. I've enjoyed most of the Burroughs I've read but that only amounts to three books, I think, and I've always intended to read more. Plus I'm coming to the end of a couple of books I'm reading at the moment.
