ZVWS FICTION: China Miéville [October 6th 2016]

[@TheGrimjerk]

I want to see an episode of Doctor Who written by Mieville.

[@sampagano205]

This was excellent. Fun to know my favorite of his books are all the ones he'd want in his coffin.

[@vollsticks]

I can listen to China talk for hours. Kind of like how his books are on the whole utterly "unputdownable". And he's been totally killing it with his recent works...New Paris, This Census Taker...holy crap, so good. As much as I love the Bas-Lag Trilogy, Embassytown, Kraken, Railsea etc, there's something almost pared-down and elegiac about those two novellas...New Paris knocked my tits off, then This Census Taker just blew my head off...strange, timeless and incredibly haunting. It seems like Mieville is allowing much more of a sense of mystery in his work. Whilst I love insurrectionist anarchist gangs led by thaumaturgic bull-helmeted (SPOILIERS) ReMade; scissor-legged spider-gods, monstrous consciousness-eating moths, Uther FUCKING Doul!!!, rogue socialist trains and radical politics within the setting of a totalitarian city-state that literally makes deals with Hell...this "quiet" yet shocking mutation of his writing is fucking dope as fuck. And yet still as shocking. China Meiville is one of the best writers of his generation. In any genre.

[@WanderingWombat]

... I now no longer feel like I'm smart enough to write fiction. :D

[@Daybed4448]

46:25 Good question and excellent answer about socialism in fiction, and socialism in general

[@HereIsMyStuff35]

China Mieville will break a reader's heart with his beautiful fiction and surreal imagination. Not all of his stuff is great, esp. his short stories have truly disturbing themes. But for sheer grace and fantasy his stuff can't be beat. Seems to be a nice guy, too.

[@LoftyAssertions]

What stories do you find truly disturbing?

[@qasimansari7540]

Not a huge fan of his writing but as a person he's very fascinating and a genuine nice guy. Had the pleasure of meeting him at book signing and he gave me great advice and was really down to earth.

[@nikeetaslade2793]

Such an erudite guy.. Mieville mentions that he gave a keynote the day prior to this discussion. Will that be uploaded as well?

[@Mrjoshlyon]

I second this! Would love to watch this if it was recorded :)

[@joshuahext9236]

Third-ed

[@Altruismisreal27]

Interesting talk. Sapir-Whorf hypothesis isn’t entirely wrong. The place of language in fueling imagination and shaping our worldview is undeniable. And not all social scientists deny the power of language in shaping our understanding of our environment.

[@nab267]

Did he say the remade were in the 2nd - 4th books? I there were only 3 Bas-Lag books

[@NZAnimeManga]

Perdido Street Station (2000), The Scar (2002), and Iron Council (2004) were his 2nd - 4th novels (by publication order). King Rat (1998) was his first, Un Lun Dun (2007) his fifth.

[@sosimple3585]

For such an imaginative writer to call a post-capitalist world 'undepictable' in answer to the question at 46:25, and to meander around the subject so unconvincingly seems...odd. It almost seems like an admission of socialism's inadequacies when it bumps into living human animals.

[@selfpreservationsociety]

How middle class

[@nikolaidante3571]

One of the things I don't like about Mieville is he also tries to cover all of his bases. As if he has considered and countered all criticisms before they've been made. It's really quite cowardly not to pin your colours to the mast.