Why Is Fantasy So Often A Crucible Of Literary Sorrows? [100 Book Challenge #59-61]

[@jarltrippin]

I absolutely love how you cut through the bullshit with your videos. No intro, just right to the point.

[@helpfulcommenter]

The Goat Without Horns segment is one of the finest conglomeration of words you've ever committed to video.

[@meesalikeu]

what book that sounds like lol

[@jimmyraybob]

I've read almost all of Dick's novels. My favorite is A Scanner Darkly, which deals with a number of his major themes and also has some autobiographical undercurrents. What really sets it apart for me is the ending, which I was quite moved by. Dick is not famous for jerking your tears, but in this case he really got me. The Linklater movie of the book is remarkably faithful and well done and deserves more love.

[@sketcharmslong6289]

I agree, I read a Scanner Darkly first by chance and despite enjoying several others that one remains my favourite.

[@PabloSantos-bq9gf]

I just discovered your videos and now I can't stop watching all of them

[@adino20]

Starting to read again with 1984 as per your recommendation in your beginner books video and I just love it, particularly for its prose. I love the way you eloquently describe the core properties of books without spoiling them and love the lack of fluff in your videos. Still can't find another book related youtuber like you. Your "bookhaul" videos do nothing for me though lol, presumably because I don't get dopamine from collecting things.

[@etherscholar]

I'm completely loving these triple shot reviews

[@ralphmarrone3130]

The Midwich Cuckoos is one of my favorite books. Thanks for not giving away the big reveal. The title is perfect. By the way this is off topic but I want to thank you for introducing Peter Watts’ Blindsight a while back. Based on your review I purchased the Firefall omnibus that contains it. This book is fantastic. I’m not a big fan of hard sf but Blindsight is amazing. Thanks, again.

[@elisabethniinepuu8625]

I liked Ubik but not as much as some other PKDs such as Do Androids Dream, Three Stigmata, Man in the High Castle. My most recent PKD was A Scanner Darkly. I really liked it, would be very much interested to one day see your review.

[@MemphiStig]

Idk if I will always agree with you, but I definitely like your clarity of expressing how and why you feel like you do for each book and author. Safe journeys!

[@WordsinTime]

I had a similar experience with Ubik but I enjoyed the ending more so I gave it a 9/10. I don’t think I’ll be reading The Goat Without Horns but I enjoyed the experience vicariously through your review haha

[@KevinsDisobedience]

I remember really liking Ubik a lot when I read it in my twenties, but like so many of Dick’s books they fade in memory over time. Man in The High Castle and Scanner Darkly are probably my favorites.

[@PlaguedbyVisions]

I got bookpilled and squatchmaxed again after falling off watching any KZbin at all. I’m gonna embarrass you in front of the 30K viewers you have by getting super corny and saying that I really miss you, my friend, and I’m so happy and proud that you are shining and bookpilling the world straight from the Aztec promised land. ❤️🙏

[@Bookpilled]

Miss you too, Juan. Hope you're doing well and watching the woods.

[@willp2877]

Easiest 5 dollars a month i'll ever spend. I look forward to listening to your in-depth reviews!

[@ralphmarrone3130]

I read The Futurological Congress and Ubik years ago. I didn’t make the connection between the two. I have to dig them out and re-read them. Thanks!

[@rickkearn7100]

Finally, someone I respect in the YT SF universe has addressed this PKD novel (possibly also reviewed by that Outlaw in Wales but I was not able to find it in his archive). I read it in 1969 as soon as it hit the shelves, not because I was waiting for it, just because it was a new PKD. I wasn't disappointed but as you said, BP, I, too, "didn't walk away a changed person" but instead just noticeably more appreciative of what he brought to the stage. Thanks for this excellent channel, I'm sure it's a labor of love which makes it all the more endearing. Cheers.

[@xenobeers]

I've only read some short stories and A Scanner Darkly and have enjoyed everything but I don't feel the itch for more like I do with writers like Le Guin or Ballard

[@r0kus]

I liked hearing your overview of these three books. I have not yet read any of them, though. The one thing I didn't notice is a tie between what you discussed and the video title, "Why is fantasy so often a crucible of literary sorrows?"

[@majedal-baghl4917]

Midwich Cuckoos also entitled Village of the Damned . . .

[@BriarLeaf00]

I read Ubik when I was about 18 and felt really lost in the process. I'm pretty sure after reading all this time (a long time) I can approach this book in a different way. I'm officially putting it on the list. Thank you!!

[@orsino88]

Oh, Thomas Burnett Swann! A lingering guilty pleasure from my adolescence. His work is-just that-twee, cutesy, sexy, sentimental, sometimes surprisingly touching. I loved the *idea* of the many strange races and creatures sharing the world with us, and ever more quickly retreating. The execution…mixed.

[@orsino88]

I’m honored you read this, Bookpilled! Swann’s most controlled, least embarrassing book is *Tournament of Thorns*. Also important is that while he never came out publicly, it’s clear that Swann was gay, and wrote proto-gay characters into most of his books, as well as related themes of sexual liberation. So, there’s that.

[@vdr3846]

I'm a big PKD fan & Man in the High Castle is still my favorite too. The ambiguous ending really hits the mark for me.

[@YourQueerGreatAuntie]

I always listen to your positive recommendations, but I LOVE hearing your "bad" reviews!!! Absolutely hillarious! Great to hear some thoughts on Midwych Cuckoos. I was pleasantly surprised by how he tackled writing gender dynamics - after all, there's a scene in this book which is the male community leaders deciding *not* to inform their female counterparts about what's going on "for their own good". Having grown up in Vatican-ruled Ireland, I really appreciated those descriptions, and felt that Wyndham actually captured a lot of nuance and depth.

[@meesalikeu]

thats horrible :(

[@PieGuyBill]

I read “Day of the Triffids “ and really enjoyed it. Haven’t read “The Midwich Cuckoos” but saw the movie recently “Village of the Damned”(1960 Version) Pretty good actually. I still want to read the book.

[@vladimircar-cm1xr]

I read Midwich Cuckoos for the first time few months ago. I was especially taken with Zellaby character. The way Wyndham portrays him at the beggining (as a half-senile, sleepy, self- absorbed , pompous eccentric ) & then as the novel unfolds you progressively witness what kind of sharp intellect is really behind that demeanor. I also recommend Strugatsky bros " Beetle in the Anthill " 1979 , because it is their very well done hommage to this novel.

[@meesalikeu]

oh wow, if the strugatskys are into it then that sounds very interesting.

[@vladimircar-cm1xr]

@@meesalikeu This one is second in " Maxim Kamerer trilogy ". Each can be read separately, I recommend all three..

[@obscuracrimepodcast]

I much prefer The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch and Martian Time-Slip to Ubik. I've never understood why Ubik has become the go to for PKD fans to suggest.

[@bookjack]

I like how you use the mic as a secondary method of exposing chest hair 👌 Beautiful stuff Enjoyed the reviews too 😅

[@SciFiScavenger]

Focal points! ⛰️⛰️ 🐬 I love Wyndham, but I don't think I've read Midwich Cuckoos, must remedy that. 👍🇬🇧

[@alexp3462]

Ah, glad you liked Ubik! I think you're completely right on how its own influence has impacted it in the intervening years, but reading it as a teenager it was one of thing first times a book removed the floor from under me as I was reading so it's always close to my heart. I really need to read the Lems I have. Just so many books...

[@MrStereopathic]

Another funny and insightful batch of reviews from your survey.

[@doublestarships646]

Dude is reading books that were probably written in knee deep during an acid binge lol.

[@zetectic7968]

Glad you liked Midwich Cuckoos. Don't leave it too long until you read The Chrysalids. Ubik is on my list to get soon.

[@chocolatemonk]

I have read Do Androids and love it.. I just picked up a lot of PKD including Ubik, Man in the High Castle, Dr Bloodmoney and Valis. I am excited

[@ubxs113]

You’re going to love Scanner Darkly.

[@zdog34whatnow]

Gloomer the depressed Dolphin. Love it

[@TG-ld8hl]

Feels like we’re getting close to needing an updated top-15

[@raresaturn]

Now I have to seek out Goat Without Horns

[@seangriffey8669]

My favorite Wyndham is the Chrysalids by far. Midwich Cuckoos is good but did not have nearly as much of an impact on me as the Chrysalids did.

[@Warstub]

I just finished Ubik last night. It's one of my lesser-liked Dick books. 2-3/5. I found it difficult to get into over the years that I've had it in my book collection - I realise now that I disliked the character of Runciter and his first few scenes don't grab me. Joe Chip I liked, and I liked Pat Conley, but was ultimately disappointed with her role in the book which could have been much more. I pretty much agree with your comments about Ubik, but just have a different level of enjoyment about it. Your point about Dick's ideas becoming well-known, and we the modern readers unable to be shocked by it, was something that a Goodreads reviewer pointed out about The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch. He referred to it as the "Citizen Kane Syndrome". I also realise now that I prefer Dick's books that encompass metaphysical and theological explorations. And Ubik played out like a sort of who-done-it/what-is-happening story, and not much else.

[@Jared-qy1jh]

It's something I've found with his books that there is a big dividing line with people preferring his more straightforward books or those delving further into the metaphysical and theological. I have never really connected with "A Scanner Darkly" but I love the theological madness that is "Galactic Pot Healer," despite it having far less acclaim. I really feel he's best when the plot is laid out by his philosophical ramblings rather than the other way round.

[@Warstub]

@@Jared-qy1jh Likewise! I actually think A Scanner Darkly suffers from being partly written by his wife(?) - while the story may be authentic Dick, the sentences aren't. Previous to Ubik, I read The Cosmic Puppets, an early pulp novel about Zoroastrian Gods controlling a town. Not a long novel, but it worked, and there was no labouring over certain points (though there was a seriously cringey and dodgy scene...).

[@thekeywitness]

Now, that you’ve read UBIK, will you read Three Stigmata next or have you read it already? I read them back to back a few years ago and enjoyed them both. (No, they didn’t change my life 😂)

[@e.matthews]

So *that's* what that Simpsons episode was all about. Wow! Thanks for enlightening me!

[@tragicslip]

I think Wyndam is closer to Aldiss in style than Clarke. thanks for these reviews.

[@Snailslow69]

That Swann reminds me a bit of Squid by Kenneth McKenney.

[@OmnivorousReader]

... lol.... Mariana Trench lows... that is saying something! I love The Midwich Cuckoos and have been reading and re-reading it since I was a teenager. I have to say, I never noticed anything about gender dynamics. I guess I will just have to re-read it again soon and look for them.

[@antistition]

Liked Ubik quite a bit - not quite to the level Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep for me, but very close.

[@bsjeffrey]

pkd is one of my favorite authors, but i've often felt his endings were not that great.

[@elliotwalton6159]

"Lean over the bowl and then take a dive. All of you are dead. I am alive."

[@meesalikeu]

of course cukoos was adapted in the 1960s into a very creepy and popular movie that became even more popular as a saturday afternoon tv type movie, plus i guess alater remake, but i wont name the title. its also a recent series, which i have not seen. anyway, i see wyndham started to write a sequel, but gave it up. apparantly he did get thru a few chapters of it, which i would not mind reading out of curiosity if its available. i just wonder if it indicates what new direction the story might have gone.

[@RominaJones]

NGL, The Goat Without Horns premise, i.e viewed through the eyes of sentient dolphins, intrigues me but erotic fantasy is not my bag and will take your word for it on quality. I’d be up for that type of book though with no main human characters. Listening to another earth creature recount its evolutionary journey on this planet sounds like it would be an interesting read otherwise.

[@TheAzure4]

you might be interested in "The Idiot Gods" by David Zindell. I haven't gotten to it yet so I can't speak on quality but I'm pretty sure it's a SF/fantasy type thing from the perspective of an orca

[@unstopitable]

Yeah, we can't fully appreciate PKD because we're so unconsciously saturated in him. Calling him "pulp" is like judging the box your gift comes in more than the gift itself.

[@fanuluiciorannr1xd212]

I love how PKD took SF and parodided many elements into something more serious than may authors who took them seriously could ever hope to achieve. Lem had the best way of describing Dick's themes in his prime. I disliked the alternate history in the Man in the High castle. But some moments where very good. Like how the Italian discribes how he learned to appreciate manual labour. But we as the readers know you don't have to go through what that guy went to be able to appreciate that. He also drops the fact that the USSR was probably nowhere as strong as in the real world. Because Stalingrad is described as some small village. While in reality it was the opposite and one of the most important strategy points to be taken by the Germans if they wanted to win the campaign.

[@jamesyepyep]

The dolphins are sentient? So kind of like... regular dolphins in real life?

[@yelisieimurai]

Ubik and Man in the high castle for me are two giants of PKD, much better than other stuff I read of him. Sorry androids and Electric sheeps😢

[@personmcpersonperson2893]

I love your videos

[@plucas1]

THE MIDWICH CUCKOOS was adopted into a movie twice, both called VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED, one in 1960 and one in 1995. I'm surprised you were worried about spoilers for it because it's not really that obscure a work thanks to the movies.

[@fordprefect80]

Enormous breasted woman? I'll keep my eye out for The Goat Without Horns that's for sure.

[@D4n1t0o]

Sorry, but I have to know - You, man of old SFF, great prose writers, eccentric ideas... Have you ever read Brandon Sanderson? 😂 If so what did you think? Feel like the review would just be a sigh 😂

[@audio.visuals.atmosphere.]

I love PKD, Flow My Tears, Three Stigmata, Electric Sheep, High Castle, etc, but Ubik felt boring and dragging for me unfortunately…

[@darktower74]

I imagine fantasy writing attracts a larger crowd. I also would wager the Pareto Principle still stands. There is definitely gold in the fantasy genre, but there is simply MORE garbage. Science fiction is riddled with garbage, too. Garbage everywhere. Additionally, perhaps you have honed your sci-fi-shit-detector razor sharp and your fantasy radar is retarded by prejudice. Furthermore, perhaps it's just not your thing. I couldn't enjoy a K-pop song if you put a gun to my mother's head. It's horrendous and bankrupt of any value.... yet, still, since I'm stuck here, I will entertain the slim possibility that one day I will find a decent K-plop song. Maybe you should start with fantasy short stories. I believe that is where the qualities of literature you value in sci-fi may be easier to detect. Bloat is definitely a problem with fantasy (points a crooked finger at Robert Jordan's dusty remains).

[@mindok1572]

What would be your rating for "The Midwich Cuckoos"? Or is that for Patrons only?

[@timyo6288]

To get a intro to fantasy try Lord of the Rings trilogy.

[@PalimpsestProd]

Ubik sucks. She blatantly says she can't move physical objects through time and 2 pages later does exactly that to prove her power.