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Weiging A Pig: MIRROR
science fiction & fantasy reviews, mainly
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ANTARCTICA - Kim Stanley Robinson (1997)
Kim Stanley Robinson probably is my favorite author, as recurrent readers of this blog might know. I have now read all of his novels – except for what is generally perceived as his magnum opus, the Mars trilogy, and 2018’s Red Moon – which I started but did not finish.
Antarctica is – like all of his other novels – unique in his oeuvre: Robinson never writes the same book twice.
At first sight it…
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#1990s#analysis#Antarctica#CliFi#Ethics#Kim Stanley Robinson#Literature#Review#science as utopian praxis#Science Fiction
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GEHUWDE ROTSEN - Jan Lauwereyns (2021)
For now, a review in Dutch, about what translates as Married Rocks, a contemplative novel by Jan Lauwereyns, a Flemish neuroscientist & poet who lives and works in Japan. Next post should be a review about Kim Stanley Robinson’s Antartica.
Jan Lauwereyns (°1969) timmert al een kwarteeuw aan zijn literair oeuvre, ietwat in de marge. Hij is naast schrijver ook neurowetenschapper: hij doceerde…
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#2020s#Antwerpse schrijvers#Dutch literature#essay#Flemish literature#Gehuwde rotsen#Jan Lauwereyns#Literature#Literatuur#Nederlandstalige literatuur#poëzie#Recensie#Review#Vlaamse literatuur
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DUNE: PART TWO - Denis Villeneuve (2024)
Let me first repeat some stuff from the intro to my Dune: Part One review.
I’ve invested quite some time writing about Frank Herbert’s books, and my reread of the Dune series in particular, resulting in a series of long posts – if you’re interested, there are links at the end of this review.
I will refrain from comparing Villeneuve to David Lynch – I’ve seen the 1984 movie multiple times, but my…
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#2020s#Blockbuster#Book vs. movie#Denis Villeneuve#Dune#Dune: Part Two#Film#Film review#Frank Herbert#Movie#Movie review#Review#Science Fiction
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QUICK NOTE
It might be a few weeks before another review appears. Not that I’m in a reading slump or having blog fatigue – a few things simply got into the way. At moment I’m enjoying both Antarctica as Gehuwde Rotsen (a novel in Dutch), and I will review them both.
In the meantime, Kali Malone’s new record All Life Long just came out, and it is stellar. The first track – a beautiful piece for vocal…
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TOO LATE TO AWAKEN: STRANGE SUNDAYS IN HELL - Ballingrud, Schrauwen, Vikernes, Žižek (2023, 2024)
It seems that after the epic The Deluge – the last book I read in 2023, I needed to cleanse my palate. Markley’s book was old school immersive & cinematic to a degree I hadn’t encountered in quite some time, and as a result it took me a while to get into a proper vibe reading other books. It is possible my enjoyment of The Strange fell victim to that – everything is context, always.
Anyhow, I…
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#2020s#Autobiography#Black metal#Burzum#Comic#Comic book#Graphic novel#Literature#Metal#Nathan Ballingrud#Non-fiction#Non-SFF fiction#Olivier Schrauwen#Philosophy#Review#Science Fiction#Slavoj Žižek#Sunday#To Hell & Back Again#To Hell & Back Agian My Black Metal Story#Too Late to Awaken#Too Late to Awaken: What Lies Ahead When There Is No Future?#Varg Vikernes#Zondag
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THE DELUGE - Stephen Markley (2022)
Stephen Markley had high ambitions for his book: “emotionally reorient the reader around what’s happening, so we can actually feel in our hearts what the stakes of this moment actually are.”
This moment refers to the ongoing predicament of our biosphere: The Deluge is climate fiction.
As with any book, it won’t work for everyone. Especially if you don’t believe rapidly reducing our carbon…
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2023 FAVORITES
I started 39 titles in 2023. It seems like I found a good ratio of speculative fiction and other stuff – some Dutch, some non-fiction, some regular literature. We’ll see how it goes in 2024, but it’s safe to say Kim Stanley Robinson, M. John Harrison, Greg Egan, Stanisłav Lem and Flemish authors L.P. Boon & J.M.H. Berckmans will remain regulars on this blog.
Before I’ll get to 2023’s favorites,…
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EXCESSION - Iain M. Banks (1996)
People change. It must have been 2008 when I started reading fiction again, and Iain Banks’ Culture series became among the first things I devoured. Excession was my favorite of the series back then, and I decided it was time to reread it – hopefully to be entertained and awed again, and, at the very least, to take a long, hard look in the mirror of time.
For those unfamiliar with Banks & the…
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FAVORITE CLASSICAL MUSIC
It has been 7 years since I published a list on this blog – that of my favorite non-fiction, a list I do keep updated btw. Today I’ve finally mustered the courage to make my long overdue list of favorite Western classical music. Somewhere in the future, you still owe me a list of favorite metal albums, and a list of favorite philosophy books.
I’ve been listening to classical music for over 30…
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#Beethoven#Beginners guide to classical music#Classical music#Favorite#Johann Sebastian Bach#Lists#Music#Rachmaninov#Shostakovich#Western classical music
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INDEPENDENT PEOPLE - Halldór Laxness (1934-35)
“Some people grumble about monotony, – such complaints are the marks of immaturity, sensible people don’t like things happening.”
I have no idea how this book first showed up on my radar, but, speculative fiction aside, I do have a bit of a sweet spot for tales of rural epic loners taking on life, their farm or their craft. Marlen Haushofer The Wall falls in this category, as well as Felix…
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#1930s#Guðbjartur Jónsson#Halldór Laxness#Independent People#J.A. Thompson#Literature#Nobel Prize winner#Non-SFF fiction#Review#Sjálfstætt fólk
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SUCCESSION: SEASON ONE: THE COMPLETE SCRIPTS - Jesse Armstrong (2023)
I guess HBO’s TV series Succession doesn’t need a lot of introduction for those in the mainstream media loop. Its 4 seasons aired in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2023. Collectively the series so far has won 13 Emmys, 5 Golden Globes, 3 BAFTAs, a Grammy and a plethora of other awards.
Before unpacking some of the content, and discussing this 740 page tome with the complete scripts for the first season, a…
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#BAFTA winner#Dark Comedy#drama#Emmy winner#Golden Globe winner#Grammy winner#HBO#Jesse Armstrong#scripts#Succession#Succession Season One#Succession Season One The Complete Scripts#Television#TV series
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THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE - Philip K. Dick (1962)
Glad that I finally read this – the first PKD I truly liked. Reading it almost never happened, as after Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said I decided to stop seeking out more Philip K. Dick. But as I’m also slowly trying to read all big classics of scifi, I had to tackle it one day.
The Man in the High Castle got Dick a Hugo award, and is one of the stalwarts of alternative history. It is…
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#1960s#Hugo winner#Philip K. Dick#Review#Science Fiction#The Grasshopper Lies Heavy#The Man in the High Castle
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RALPH AZHAM - Lewis Trondheim (2010-2019)
Lewis Trondheim is no small name in the world of comics. In 2006 he won the Grand Prix de la ville d’Angoulême, a life time achievement award, and arguably the most prestigious award in the field. He has written or drawn more than a hundred titles in lots of genres, including The Fly, Kaput and Zösky and his breakthrough series Dungeon, created with Joann Sfar. He’s also one of the founding…
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#2010s#2020s#Black Are the Stars#Comic#Comic book#Comic strip#Fantasy#Graphic novel#Lewis Trondheim#Ralph Azham#The Dying Flame#The Land of the Blue Demons#You Can&039;t Stop a River
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THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES - Ray Bradbury (1950)
The Martian Chronicles is one of those titles I saw listed again and again as one of science fiction’s key texts – it ranks sixth on the aggregate list Classics of Science Fiction. But because I thought Fahrenheit 451 was so awfully preachy, it took me 8 years to pick up this other Bradbury title. The lesson here is: never judge an author by one book – The Martian Chronicles indeed is a deserved,…
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#1950s#Ray Bradbury#Review#Science Fiction#short fiction#short stories#The Martian Chronicles#The Silver Locusts
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THE CYBERIAD - Stanisłav Lem (1965)
Cyberiada is a short story collection by Stanisłav Lem. Michael Kandel’s outstanding translation appeared in 1974, but omits five stories that were in the Polish edition.
Lem writes about Trurl and Klapaucius, two brilliant constructors living in a far-future, galaxy spanning world that’s populated by robots and humans, in a setting that borrows heavily from medieval tropes: knights, dragons &…
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#1960s#Cyberiada#Daniel Mróz#Klapaucius#Michael Kandel#Review#Science Fiction#short fiction#short stories#Stanisław Lem#The Cyberiad#The Cyberiad: Fables for the Cybernetic Age#Trurl
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SCIENTISTS MAKING CONCEPTUAL MISTAKES: 'THE ENTANGLED BRAIN' (2022) & 'FROM MATTER TO LIFE: INFORMATION AND CAUSALITY' (2017)
One of my hobbies is reading academic non-fiction, mainly in the realm of biology, and it is frankly baffling how certain books are filled with conceptual mistakes that are even noticeable to non-specialists like me.
This is no small issue: the first book I present was published by the MIT Press, its author professor of psychology at the University of Maryland, and director of the Maryland…
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#2010s#2020s#Biology#Brain#Causality#Cognitive science#Evolution#From Matter to Life: Information and Causality#Luiz Pessoa#Neurobiology#Neuropsychology#Neuroscience#Non-fiction#Origin of Life#Paul CW Davies#Reductionism#Review#Sara Imari Walker#Science#The Entangled Brain#The Entangled Brain How Perception Cognition and Emotion Are Woven Together#the hard problem
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GLITTERATI - Oliver K. Langmead (2022)
Glitterati is a “influencer comedy of horrors billed as A Clockwork Orange meets RuPaul’s Drag Race“, according to New Scientist, who included it in their list of best speculative fiction of 2022.
Oliver Langmead also wrote Dark Star, “a sci-fi noir detective story told in verse” and Bird of Paradise, an “adult fantasy about the Biblical Adam recovering the lost pieces of the Garden of…
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