Stages

[threemonkeys]

I had plans. I had plans for my time away from work. Many have been achieved, but one goal has not been. I had planned to see a lot more films. The idea was to get into a regular habit of checking out the latest releases and get back into the big screen habit. This has just not happened. This morning, I thought I would try again. The idea was to go see Children of Men at the new cinema complex at Queensgate. It was as much a trial of the cinema as an attempt to see the movie. It didn't happen. I read The Children of the Company by Kage Baker instead. You get a hint there of why my cinema ambitions have come to nothing.

I love Baker's work and I love the "Company" stories. Truth be told, there isn't much difference. A part from a collection of very good short stories, all Baker's work is "Company". That raises the only real issue I have with this book because, as usual, it is superbly written and I did enjoy reading it. The issue is not restricted to The Company, but with and series of books written in a common universe with overlapping storylines. It is simply that as you go further and further into the series you have to hold so much in your head about the universe. The plot points that happened in book one become important in book five and if you don't notice that, then you can't really get to grips with what is happening. But it may be several years since you read book one. It makes each successive book more work than the previous one. It isn't impossibly hard but it isn't really welcome either. No doubt some people can handle this better than others. It probably helps to be obsessed. Sure, I understand that a reader needs to bring something to their appreciation of a work, but I'm not sure that a much more detailed than usual internal encyclopedia of the author's world is really what is intended by most.

I don't think that this problem is a widespread one even among authors who write a lot of books in a universe. Somebody like Iain Banks writes stories that are fairly independent of one another. Others, like most epic fantasy writers, tend to have fairly linear stories. You only need to remember the end of the previous book to continue. Even somebody like George R R Martin who has a huge number of threads, still keeps each thread linear and more or less parallel. Authors who I feel put this burden on their readers are Alastair Reynolds and China Mieville. I was very glad when Reynolds made the jump and left his common setting to make a new one. Much as I like "The Company" stories, I think it is time Baker wrapped them up and moved on.

Oh for the time to go back and re-read all the books in a series before embarking on the latest. When I was much younger, I did do that and it was worth the effort. No longer however.

Comments

[gillpolack.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to read some Mieville right now and had that problem exactly. I like his writing, but I'm not sure I want to expend quite that much energy on my light reading.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

I think Mieville makes it worse because his world building is always a step behind the rest of the story right from the beginning. You are always trying to interpolate to fill in gaps. Its possible to do but, as you say, it does not make for light reading. So far I have been willing to put that energy in because I like the rest of the writing but it gets harder the further you go.

[cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com]

Ah - I've been waiting for the next Company book to become affordable or hit the library. You enjoyed it, though?

You might also want to take a look at Anvil of the World, which is a self-contained fantasy novel. Or it might have started as three linked novellas that were later bound together; it's a little hard to say.

In any case, I adored it. It had a lot of the black humour that I like about Baker, with some very lavish and beautiful scenery and, while some downright serious themes become an important part of the book, she slips it past our guards nicely.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I enjoyed it a lot. It gets a bit boring to say that every time about her work, so I was looking for an angle and this aspect did stick out as I was reading it.

I forgot about Anvil of the World. Yes I have read it, and I'm pretty sure I saw one of the stories separately.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

You might also want to take a look at Anvil of the World, which is a self-contained fantasy novel.

*bouncebouncebounce*

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

I completely agree, with regard to Kage Baker. I adore the books, but just wish she hadn't brought everyone in together, and then told backstory, and everything got a bit late-Heinlein.

I remember when I read Sky Coyote, and was really happy that it was about a new time and place and character ... until Mendoza appeared.

I like the suspicious backstory, I just don't like how much it disrupts the glorious story-ness she can get going in each new book.

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

... until Mendoza appeared.

I was quite happy with that - as long as the focus stayed on Mendoza there wasn't so much effort required to keep story details in my head. In this book Mendoza is only mentioned in passing yet it wraps around her story.

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

I guess I felt Sky Coyote should have been Joseph's story, instead. Mendoza in Hollywood, on the other hand, felt like the focus was better handled.

I think I've read Children of the Company, but it all fell out of my head again. The only ones I haven't read are The Graveyard Game and Black Projects, White Nights.

aaanyway...

[russellk.livejournal.com]

Makes one wonder how we cope with *this* world ...

[threemonkeys.livejournal.com]

In my case, I just ignore stuff...and forget the rest. :-)