The Sword and Laser discussion

Currently about 20% of the way in. This book is awesome.

About 25 % in and am enjoying it way more than I thought I would (not a horror fan, so only have a passing knowledge of Lovecraft).

I'm really enjoying it.

This book was mentioned several times on panels I attended this past weekend at CapClave 2018.

I've listened to S&L for a couple of years now, but never took the plunge into reading along. I'm glad I did on this one. So far, I'm really liking the writing style, and all of the literary references.

What a wonderful pick. I read it last year and was fundamentally gripped by it - such a great mix of Genres and such a wonderful take on AND answer to Lovecraft, the old racist.

I'm about 25% in and I'm enjoying it but it's a difficult read, for sure. Matt Ruff does not shy away from the racism Atticus, George, and Letitia face on a day-to-day basis. Simple things like finding a bathroom or a place to eat is a hazard to their well-being. I've always known that things were like that (and to be frank, still are in parts of the country) but it's an entirely different thing to read about it in such a direct way.

I was really enjoying this to start with, but I got a bit wrong-footed by how quickly the initial situation was resolved and then we move into a completely different story.

However the new story is pretty interesting too, and I’m hopeful that we might revisit the previous plot threads. And I guess the style of narrative is quite Lovecraftian (though not a Lovecraftian writing style, thank god, I can’t stand his OTT prose).

Ruth wrote: "I was really enjoying this to start with, but I got a bit wrong-footed by how quickly the initial situation was resolved and then we move into a completely different story.

However the new story i..."

I feel exactly the same way Ruth! I was totally vibing on the initial story, but then another story started. I'm really hoping everything ties together at the end.

Each chapter is a different character's story but they're all connected and they all get tied together at the end. I certainly enjoyed some more than others. Hippolyta's was probably my favorite.

I didn't like it at all. I found the history fascinating and the fight against racism awesome.

The horror/fantasy/sci-fi thing? Predictable. Uninteresting. I zoned out a lot. I'm disappointed that an S&L sword pick was wasted with this.

I thought it was fine, though not really my thing.

I agree with Phil, that Hippolyta's was one of the more interesting parts of the book for me. My least favorite by far was Horace's, because (view spoiler)[evil, animated toys. Yuck. (hide spoiler)]

I'm loving this book so far. I can't wait to see how Jordan Peele treats it as a TV series.

I liken the magic more toward magical realism, sort of like Among Others.

The real horror is the racism. I think that's the true point of the book.

Yes, the depiction of Jim Crowe hit very hard. It actually made me look up how true those references where, like the Guide and the Sundown Counties. And it is all much too true. And horrifiying on a completely different Level than the Cosmic Horror of Lovecraft.
That is the powerful combination here - the strange, outer space and incomprehensible Horror of the Old Ones vs. the very down to earth, very real Horror of racism.

Just hit 20% and I'm gripped, being a white Welshman born in the late in the 20th century i was woeful uneducated about Jim Crowe and the black experience of that era, I knew about the larger story but I'd never even considered such (to someone like me) seemingly simple things as taking a cross country journey could be such a terrifying and dangerous undertaking for black Americans.

Daniel wrote: "I'd never even considered such (to someone like me) seemingly simple things as taking a cross country journey could be such a terrifying and dangerous undertaking for black Americans."

It still is, sadly. It’s not quite as bad, but it is definitely not anything like the typical road trip most white Americans think of.

Comedian Bill Burr’s wife is black, so when his brother-in-law was moving cross-country Burr was like, “you gotta see this place and you oughta check out that thing” and all the stuff we usually say to people making that journey. To white people making that trip. In contrast, Burr’s mother-in-law was upset by the prospect. She told her son to stick to the highway and obey the speed limit and call her every chance he got. Two completely different experiences. In modern America.

One person’s normal day is another’s horror story. One person’s utopia is another’s dystopia.

Now finished! The different stories all came together in the end in a satisfying way.
Definitely a 5* read for me.

I've never read any Lovecraft. I'm beginning to wonder if I wouldn't appreciate this story more if I was more familiar with his work. Are there significant references I'm missing? Do people who are more familiar with Lovecraft seem to like this book more than people who aren't?

Also, early on, the overall structure kind of reminded me of something Ray Bradbury might have written, and it got me thinking about whether that might have been intentional, and whether parts of the story might be a bit of an homage these early sci-fi authors referenced at the beginning. Or am I maybe trying to find a pattern where there isn't one?

Kurt wrote: "I've never read any Lovecraft. I'm beginning to wonder if I wouldn't appreciate this story more if I was more familiar with his work. Are there significant references I'm missing?.."

I’ve read only a few Lovecraft stories and I’m passingly familiar with the general mythos. I think that level of knowledge helped me appreciate the background, but I wouldn’t worry too much - a bit of clicking around on the Lovecraft wiki should be enough http://lovecraft.wikia.com/wiki/Main_...

I’m going to go through it again because I feel like I missed something but it was a fun read as a huge lovecraft fan. Sometimes audio books during work aren’t the best idea! I love the premise

Kurt wrote: "I've never read any Lovecraft. I'm beginning to wonder if I wouldn't appreciate this story more if I was more familiar with his work. Are there significant references I'm missing? Do people who are..."

personally, if you understand the basic Lovecraft premises (Old Ones, secrets man was not meant to know, etc) I think you've got enough

I'm struggling a bit, because I read and enjoyed the 100 page (or so) first section but I feel done. Yet I see there are another 200 pages....

But my brain is like, that was good, solid, complete. No need to continue while not disliking it. I see the next one starts with Letitia but my brain is being stubborn at the moment.

^That...actually wouldn't be a bad place to stop. The book takes on an anthology feel after that and every character gets their own weird tale. They aren't bad, but none reach the level of the first part. The ending is kinda tacked on, like the author said "dang, I've got to wrap this up somehow!"

John (Taloni) wrote: "^That...actually wouldn't be a bad place to stop. The book takes on an anthology feel after that and every character gets their own weird tale. They aren't bad, but none reach the level of the firs..."

Agreed.

I was surprised at the jump in narrative when the first chapter came to an end, but then I ended up liking quite a few of the other chapters quite a bit better than the first one. Letitia, Ruby, Hypolytta, and Montrose's stories I thought were all pretty great. I think you would be missing out by not reading on.

Then the last chapter pulls all the different threads together and wraps it all up nicely.

There were parts of this book that very much put me in mind of a first person puzzler adventure game, such as Myst, along with many others the names of which I can't think of off the top of my head at the moment. Like finding someone's notebook with a code (view spoiler)[ and then later finding a suspended doorway in an observatory with a control pad on which to enter the code and create a path to another world; or walking into a day from the past suspended in time and conversing with ghosts. (hide spoiler)]. Very cool atmosphere to some of these stories!

I enjoyed this first as an audiobook, and the narration was fantastic! But I did find I wanted to go back and re-read some stories, and the Kindle Old Ones agreed and put the ebook on sale, so I'm doing a re-read of most of the stories.

I love connected short stories!

John (Taloni) wrote: "^That...actually wouldn't be a bad place to stop. The book takes on an anthology feel after that and every character gets their own weird tale. They aren't bad, but none reach the level of the firs..."

I loved the Hippolyta story just as much as the Atticus one, and I loved how Letitia dealt with (view spoiler)[the ghost in Winthrop House: “If you kill me, I’m going to come back and haunt YOU!” And he knew she was telling the truth. So great.😂 (hide spoiler)] I’ve just started the one after Hippolyta.

Leesa wrote: "I love connected short stories!
."

Yes! ^5 for old school intertwining awesomeness!