I started reading Jhereg by Steven Brust last night as part of my recent determination to create some air between my brain and various digital and social medias (streaming services including YouTube, mass-social media, news sites, video games, & etc.). I am annoyed with myself now that it has taken so long to read his writing aside from Freedom and Necessity.
I hope that no one is offended when I say Jhereg is just the kind of pulp fiction I was looking for. It is not high literature, nor does it pretend to be. The novel is a fantasy tale of an assassin and mobster, Vlad Taltos, who happens to be a second-class citizen (because he is human) in a fantasy city full of thievery, deception and double-crossings. Plus, he has magic and a reptilian familiar.
And, so far, it works — as a bit of a hard-boiled noir and fantasy crossover. A movie with similar DNA (except set in a futuristic Earth instead of a medieval fantasy world) might be Blade Runner.
Like The Witcher books I’ve been re-reading, it has an easy flow to the storytelling that I think might be missing from a lot of the more recent writing out there. Even some of books I’ve enjoyed that have been written in the past 25 years seem to be trying real hard to be “good literature” when they are, at their base, pulp novels. Or, maybe, I’m just more tuned into penny dreadfuls, pulp fiction, and weird tales and would prefer to read that birdcage liner stuff.
Sometimes I wonder if we put too much emphasis on structure, formulae and erudition, and not enough on merely telling a “ripping yarn”. I certainly don’t know. But I’m sure there are tons of opinions about the matter.
19 responses to “Half-penny thoughts — 10sep25”
I think sitting down with some fantasy and sci fi would be good for me.
Anything catching your eye? [notetaking pencil at the read…]
The last fantasy I read was the His Dark Materials series. Which I couldn’t put down. I really like the Gnostic tones in it. If you know of anything like that, let me know.
I can probably think of something, but it’s been a while. You may find some mileage with the Mistborn series. At least Sanderson’s magic logic was fun to get into (“burning” metals for superpowers). It has some of that ancient knowledge element, although not particularly gnostic.
That said, there are some valid criticisms of his books, especially the second trilogy, which was a a slog to read.
Let me think… I might be able to come up with something closer to HDM than that if I put my mind to it.
Cool. Thanks.
Sometimes you’ve just gotta go for what’s readable. Highbrow stuff can be a chore.
Both to read and to write at times, agreed.
BTW, I opened up the private site you had requested access to and made it public. It’s just a bunch of quotes from years ago, but you are welcome to look through them.
Oh ok, sounds like a glitchy wordpress tech thing. Highbrow writing is hard, but simplicity is harder (for me). I’ve been looking at syntax lately. Hard, Very hard.
Indeed. I am prone to experimenting with seeing just how much I can discard.
That’s something I aspire to 😅
I’m looking forward to seeing the results. 🙂
There’s a zen inflected piece coming out tomorrow. I see you like the zen poets, Red Pine has done some great translations from the Chinese: Stonehouse and others. Also the Heart Sutra.
Yes, he has done some great translations. I haven’t looked at what he’s done recently, but i enjoyed his efforts with Cold Mountain.
Interested to see what comes up in your feed tomorrow.
Yes, I loved Cold Mountain too. ‘The Clouds Should Know Me By Now’ was a great collection from the Pine
Nothing wrong with a bit of pulp fiction on occasions, and given the amount of it out there and its popularity you’re not the only one who craves it on occasion. Sometimes we don’t need the hard work that ‘high’ literature requires in reading. Enjoy! 😊
Sometimes, we just want distraction, right?
🙂
Absolutely. More and more in these weird times. 🙁
Story always triumphs over writing style; the best ones have both.
Yeah, I think what I’m seeing more of is a movement away from story in favor of style. I’ve seen more well-written pieces in recent years that are lacking in story.