Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club

Not So Maddening

The reaction to Robert W. Chambers' The King in Yellow at the OBC might be described as lukewarm at best; no one really loved it but no one really disliked it either. Maybe because of the present hype about this evil, mysterious entity (that was presumably instigated by it being mentioned in the first season of the great crime series "True Detective") the expectations were a little higher than they should be - which is fatal for any book.

The King in Yellow consists of ten short stories that focus on mainly decadent, avantgarde characters who either live in Paris or in New York and usually study art - five of the stories involve the sinister presence called the King in Yellow or the play with the same name which drives its readers mad. Although it is a very powerful concept that can in a metaphorical sense show the impact of literature on readers, Chambers just doesn't carry out this theme as effective as he maybe might have. He always merely hints at the uncanny nature of things without elaborating them, which of course can be used to achieve a vigorous impression - but not here. This being said, this book is a whooping 122 years old and in a cultural environment in which the horror genre wasn't as drained and washed-out as in our present day, it must have been received with more enthusiasm than the amount of excitement we in the Otherland book club have experienced. Still, even in our horror engulfed times the yellow king perfectly works in some respects.

The King in Yellow is Waiting for Yooouuu... At the Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club

The days are dark and darker is our current book; The King in Yellow by Robert W. Chambers.

Important: We can't provide this book but it's available here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8492

Our discussion takes place on Friday, November 10th at 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop.
Admission is free, no registration is required, just read the book and come!

More Than Lightning

by Inci German

I still cannot believe some of the things I have heard at the last book club discussion on Ada Palmer's Too Like The Lightning! Here are some comments that stuck with me:

"I hate this book"
"Like a a slog through the wilderness..."
"If this was a slog through the wilderness then I DIED along the way!"
"Time will show if it is a glorious failure."

Folks...No.

Let me start with stating that Too Like The Lightning blew.my.mind! I haven't had so much fun reading a book in the last year, and here I want to discuss why I think Ada Palmer is the best thing that happened to speculative fiction in the last decade.

Be warned, reader, for there will be spoilers.

Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club

Book clubbers!

Have you devoured this tremendous work of art yet?

If no - Hurry up, our discussion is next week, October 13, 7.30 pm at the Otherland bookshop!

If yes - You may want to indulge in further material while preparing for our discussion.
For instance, take a look at these:

http://crookedtimber.org/category/ada-palmer-seminar/
By Max Gladstone on religion:
http://crookedtimber.org/2017/03/10/the-old-dragon-but-slept-terra-ignota-the-sensayer-system-and-faith/
By Ruthanna Emrys on identity:
http://crookedtimber.org/2017/03/13/falling-into-the-cracks-of-identity/
And Palmer's response to both:
http://crookedtimber.org/2017/04/11/the-dystopian-question-and-minorities-of-one/
And more interesting stuff from Ada's blog:
https://www.exurbe.com/?p=4041

(Thank you Marc for the references!)

Horror Revisited

On Chainsaws and Massacres

Remembering Tobe Hooper

by Inci German

The recently deceased Tobe Hooper will without doubt be remembered firstly as the director of the staggeringly nasty, terrifying and one of the most difficult to watch horror classic The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974). In only an hour and a half he awoke the revolsion, agony, dread and deepest fears of a whole generation while bordering on hilarity and insanity through utmost exageration and bluntness, concluding in the deepest of reliefs. Didn't you too get uneasy at the gas station scene or shout in disbelief "Oh no, don't do that!" when they entered the crazy butcher family's house or cried in shock and firmly closed your eyes when Leatherface first appeared and grabbed Jerry, shutting the door - panicked and yet relieved because you didn't see what he's doing to him? And yet wasn't Leatherface's lipsticky face for special dinner occasions in the slightest sense somewhat cute? Did you laugh incredulously at that insane scene where the ancient Grandpa tried to suck Sally's blood out of her finger or tried to hit her on the head with the sledge hammer, missing repeatedly, leaving you repeatedly aghast? Hooper surely knew his craft.

There are arguably few other directors, even in the genre, who can grab you as tight as Hooper can. Above all, he contrives to confront his spectator with the major anxieties and fears of his time - something especially the horror genre can achieve in a uniquely metaphorical way. The coming oil crisis and the American fear of running out of gas, the mass murderer Ed Gein who made lampshades and seat covers from the skin of his victims (and whose legend was told to many baby boomers as children to keep them in order) and even his personal aversion against family gatherings... He takes all these elements and meshes them in an extreme way into a distinctive work. I would argue that Hooper's prime achievement was to create a true work of art that appealed and still appeals to the masses, despite initial rejection and banishment.

Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club

"One of the major works of fantasy in this century", says The Observer about Ursula K. Le Guin's Earthsea Quartet and equally major will be our discussion at the book club this Friday!

Don't miss it; 7.30 pm at the Otherland Bookshop!

Otherland Speculative Fiction Book Club Reminder and Miscellaneous

Anne Leckie and Marko Kloos... With headspinning guests, exciting talks and cheery dinners, last week was one of the Otherland's highlights of the year!
But we don't stop there, there is more to come - such as the role playing evening tomorrow evening and our upcoming book club discussion next Friday.

Ever imagined what the world would be like if everybody (or most of them) died? In Station Eleven Emily St John Mandel gives us her own post-apocalyptic vision with wandering theater groups performing Shakespeare, an airport used to preserve the last remaining artifacts of human civilization and a doomsday prophet with a much unusual source of inspiration for his religion. Copies available in abundance at the Otherland as always!
Mark your calendar: Friday August 11, 7.30 pm at the bookstore as usual.

Coming soon: More reviews of both books and movies - sorry for the irreguarities. I know the blog has turned into a kind of messsage board lately but that will change and we'll have plenty of OBC writeups and articles on here, so hang on!