Ryan Berger’s Reviews > The Secret History of Science Fiction > Status Update
Ryan Berger
is on page 267 of 380
"The Hardened Criminals" by Jonathan Lethem - I'm mainlining Lethem lately mostly by accident.
This is in the running for the most disturbing story I've ever read: A prison story where the walls are literally made out of the inmates. Stomach turning, inventive (obv) and some pretty incredible plotting in such a short space. Think I'll have a good vomit-cry.
"Bricks only face one way."
— Aug 15, 2024 11:20AM
This is in the running for the most disturbing story I've ever read: A prison story where the walls are literally made out of the inmates. Stomach turning, inventive (obv) and some pretty incredible plotting in such a short space. Think I'll have a good vomit-cry.
"Bricks only face one way."
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Ryan’s Previous Updates
Ryan Berger
is on page 109 of 380
"Interlocking Pieces" by Molly Gloss - A completely devastating typo in my copy sent me off looking for the books of "Molly Glass" for the last ten minutes.
A somber story about an upcoming brain transplant. Over far too soon.
— Jul 30, 2024 10:14AM
A somber story about an upcoming brain transplant. Over far too soon.
Ryan Berger
is on page 73 of 380
"Descent of Man" by T.C Boyle - A big step down after a few moonshot stories but still solid. Very funny, exceedingly gross. Weak shades of Barthelme.
— Jul 27, 2024 04:07PM
Ryan Berger
is on page 61 of 380
"Ladies and Gentleman, This Is Your Crisis" by Kate Wilhelm - Another story I'm blown away by. Skewers those "survival" reality TV shows years before they existed. Parasocial relationships with streamers and sports teams and the all-consuming black hole of cramming all the media you can into the weekends between shifts at your shit-ass job.
How many great SF stories are we neglecting because they don't READ like SF?
— Jul 25, 2024 12:40PM
How many great SF stories are we neglecting because they don't READ like SF?
Ryan Berger
is on page 47 of 380
"Angouleme" by Thomas Disch - This is a 23~ page short story that compelled Sam Delany to write a 270 page essay analyzing the story as a piece of SF.
I must admit, I'm fascinated. The story is fantastic, like if Nabokov wrote A Clockwork Orange-- but the speculative element appears thin (even if takes place on August 2nd, 2024(!!)). But that's no doubt why it spearheads this anthology.
Disch was a master.
— Jul 23, 2024 09:49AM
I must admit, I'm fascinated. The story is fantastic, like if Nabokov wrote A Clockwork Orange-- but the speculative element appears thin (even if takes place on August 2nd, 2024(!!)). But that's no doubt why it spearheads this anthology.
Disch was a master.
Ryan Berger
is starting
Rarely do I ever start a book the moment I acquire it but I find this maybe misleadingly named anthology fascinating.
Does Science Fiction have to behave a certain way? Must it be written in a specific style? Why do both aisles of the Genre-fic and Literature divide bristle when we call Gravity's Rainbow and The Handmaid's Tale Science Fiction?
I don't think these are insignificant questions.
— Jul 22, 2024 08:07AM
Does Science Fiction have to behave a certain way? Must it be written in a specific style? Why do both aisles of the Genre-fic and Literature divide bristle when we call Gravity's Rainbow and The Handmaid's Tale Science Fiction?
I don't think these are insignificant questions.
