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threemonkeysMost authors who I have talked to profess that they like to try different things in their writing. Different ways of expressing themselves, different settings or modes of thought. If an author, particularly a genre author, becomes successful it can become difficult for them to indulge this desire. This is because publishers and their audience push them into keeping on with the same type of material that made them successful. If they want to eat, the author has to bow to that pressure to an extent.
However if such an author really does want to branch out, it is often through shorter works that this is most easily achieved. Therefore when a writer, whose work I like, has a collection of their shorter work published, I am keen to see just what their range is.
In Looking for Jake and Other Stories, China Mieville shows that he likes cityscapes and that he likes to occupy that unsettling part psychological, part scary monster place on the edge of the horror genre that Harlan Ellison has been so fond of. He does not write the way Harlan does but he manages to evoke that same sense of disquiet. There is a sense of intimate contact with the fears of the characters.
Going back to the first point, these stories show common themes but their execution varies. Some work better than others but you can see the Mieville does have quite some range and is not a one trick pony doomed to endlessly tell the stories of New Crobuzon forever. By the way, I never realised before how much New Crobuzon is a reflection of London. The comparison seems obvious after reading some of these stories.
However if such an author really does want to branch out, it is often through shorter works that this is most easily achieved. Therefore when a writer, whose work I like, has a collection of their shorter work published, I am keen to see just what their range is.
In Looking for Jake and Other Stories, China Mieville shows that he likes cityscapes and that he likes to occupy that unsettling part psychological, part scary monster place on the edge of the horror genre that Harlan Ellison has been so fond of. He does not write the way Harlan does but he manages to evoke that same sense of disquiet. There is a sense of intimate contact with the fears of the characters.
Going back to the first point, these stories show common themes but their execution varies. Some work better than others but you can see the Mieville does have quite some range and is not a one trick pony doomed to endlessly tell the stories of New Crobuzon forever. By the way, I never realised before how much New Crobuzon is a reflection of London. The comparison seems obvious after reading some of these stories.