tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post7001815880134300494..comments2024-01-19T13:24:15.734+00:00Comments on ::Acquired Taste: Tim Strettonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-24044984342158097572010-06-10T21:04:04.046+01:002010-06-10T21:04:04.046+01:00Whenever I think of coincidence in literature, I t...Whenever I think of coincidence in literature, I think of <i>Bleak House</i>, in which, in a London of hundreds of thousands if not millions of people, the same handful of characters keep running into each other over and over again for no apparent reason. It's so pervasive, I think it becomes something regarding which a reader must suspend disbelief, at which point it ceases to matter. One "character X meets character Y who just happens to be her long-lost mother" would be a bit much to take, but when <i>every</i> character is the long-lost something-or-other of some other character, it becomes part of the scenery.Chuckhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08011708240656896110noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-40004744612878120982010-06-01T10:32:59.046+01:002010-06-01T10:32:59.046+01:00Let's hope so. The ready availability of used...Let's hope so. The ready availability of used books on the internet gives older works a half-life which twenty years ago would not have happened.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-80040023155704212372010-05-30T20:35:39.742+01:002010-05-30T20:35:39.742+01:00Actually, I purchased Swordspoint in a hardback re...Actually, I purchased Swordspoint in a hardback reissue that includes the sequel (Privilege of the Sword) and a pair of short storeis featuring St Vier and Alec. So there's some evidence that the book is being rediscovered.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-11071463126972891402010-05-26T07:52:35.535+01:002010-05-26T07:52:35.535+01:00Considering Swordspoint is only about 20 years old...Considering Swordspoint is only about 20 years old, it's sobering to think how rapidly it's vanished from sight.<br /><br />I can see why it's not a huge seller--as you suggest, a measured opening doesn't help, and it's a quiet pleasure--but it deserves a cult following. Maybe the gay protagonist was ahead of his time (in Richard Morgan's The Steel Remains, only a couple of years old, the same trick is regarded as fresh and original).<br /><br />It probably doesn't help that Kushner hasn't written much other novel-length fiction.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-76952821920867753422010-05-25T21:29:27.919+01:002010-05-25T21:29:27.919+01:00Lawrence Block compared reading overly twisty stor...Lawrence Block compared reading overly twisty stories to watching somebody do card tricks--and described some of William Goldman's stuff as being like watching somebody do card tricks in the dark.<br /><br />On another tangent entirely, I just finished reading <i>Swordspoint</i>. My thanks to you for the recommendation; once she gets it rolling, it's thoroughly engrossing, and one of those world's you are reluctant to leave when the book ends.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-69145236283172097342010-05-25T09:20:03.873+01:002010-05-25T09:20:03.873+01:00Unfortunately the twist was so pervasive as to und...Unfortunately the twist was so pervasive as to undercut everything which had gone before. (It was also not particularly original - I'd considered and rejected it at an earlier point).<br /><br />I agree with you on the overuse of twists. Sometimes they work wonderfully (most often in comedy) but as often they are ingenuity for its own sake (Jeffrey Deaver, I'm talking to you...). The natural home of the twist is the short story, I think.Tim Strettonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08598897603628943741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21671128.post-38120541960100007452010-05-24T21:24:42.527+01:002010-05-24T21:24:42.527+01:00Ack! Sorry to hear this--I, too, was a fan of Fing...Ack! Sorry to hear this--I, too, was a fan of <i>Fingerpost</i>.<br /><br />I have to say I think "twists" have become too highly valued in the mystery/thriller field anyhow.David Isaakhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04928598446742324391noreply@blogger.com