This analysis expertly navigates the friction between Banks’ phonetic experimentation and his grand existential themes, proving that narrative difficulty is often the price of true immersion. It is a sharp, necessary deep dive for those who value science fiction as a serious literary endeavor.
Install our extension to search inside any video instantly.
Hard Sci-Fi! Feersum Endjinn by Iain M.Banks, & more.
Added:something. There we go.
>> Oh, we are live. Well, welcome to my first live first live video on parts Bookspace. And of course, it couldn't be with anybody else but these amazing three people. Uh we read a book together. How many books have we read this year? It's been probably four or five maybe. Some missed out on a couple, but it's been quite a few.
>> Almost stuff, >> I think.
Yeah.
>> Anyway, anyway, so I'm super happy to uh to be live for the first I was a little bit nervous about this process. Hope it goes well and again I have the best people to support me and we're going to talk about an amazing book which was I think uh a surprise to all of us and that is Fearsome Engine by Ian M. Banks.
But before we talk about this book, we're gonna we're gonna just chat, do a little bit of a warm-up. Uh, and yeah, I think maybe we should start off. I feel like everyone knows you, but maybe a little introduction. Uh, starting maybe with Sam and going going down. Um, let's let's say hello to everybody.
>> All right. Hello. I am Sam from Sam Nots So Wise and I am your favorite British YouTuber who lives in Iceland.
[laughter] Definitely at the top of the list there.
I talk about sci-fi and fantasy and some other stuff as well. Uh people who know me may notice that I'm not in my usual place. I'm currently in the middle of bloody nowhere in the north north of Iceland. So you'll have to forgive me for the change there and maybe a bit of traffic going on. Um, and if I do this or it's because the midgetes are everywhere at the moment. I am being eaten alive. Like on my for my right forearm, I have 20 bites.
>> So, excuse me if that happens. But, um, yeah, I don't have anything else to say.
I'm a a YouTuber.
>> That's perfect. Just a quick question for you before we move on to Richard.
So, you're in the north of Iceland right now. Does the sun set at all? Do you have nightfall at all?
>> Uh, I'm usually asleep by the time that it might. So, I can't currently answer you like with a baby. I'm not sleeping um at 1 2 a.m. when it might, but >> I think it like because now it's a monthish after solstice. It's just about starting to set, but it's barely >> I was I was in I was in Warso on the solstice and I couldn't sleep because jet lag, you know, time change. I woke up at about 2:30 and I was on the terrace outside 3:00 am reading a book with no extra light. It was it was very strange. I um very strange experience I have to say. Insomnia in those parts would be definitely uh a thing for me.
But Richard, say hello to everyone.
>> Hi, I'm Richard. Uh I have a channel called Vintage SF and it's pretty much as you would think. It's about vintage science fiction, not San Francisco. And uh I'm been reading lots of books with these guys here and really enjoying it and they're the ones who uh got me into reading ENM Banks and some other books.
Actually, I was just going to mention uh some of you might know that Whitney gave me a box of books re recently and I'm going to get into the second one coming up now. So, uh I'm looking forward to that, too. And regarding the Arctic Circle and solstice, if things go right, I'm going to be in Norway for the next summer solstice. So, uh, stay tuned if you [laughter] want to hear more about that in a year's time.
>> Hello, Joanna. We'll say hi to Joanna, >> who happens to be my wife in case anybody's wondering.
[laughter] >> So, that's very nice of her to check in.
But Whitney, Whitney, my favorite.
I don't know about anybody's favorite. I mean, clearly. But yes. So, I'm Whitney from Secret Sauce of Storycraft. And um I mean, you guys did just such a good job of introduc introducing everything.
I don't know that I have a whole lot more to add other than this is one of our No, this is our second Ian Banks book that is outside of the culture.
>> Yeah, this is true.
>> Yeah, this is true. Yeah, >> I have read the first one that you did, which was the algebraist, right? I have it. I do have it right here. I have it handy. I thought it might >> cover. The best cover.
>> This cover is freaking awesome because you got the the giant in the back, right? The giant planet. Uh and you have Yeah. The amazing aliens. What were they called? The aliens on the do you remember the dwellers?
>> If these happen to be the dwellers, but anyway, it's very evocative and beautiful cover.
>> Yeah. So, let's see. We have we have constants in >> the chat saying hello as well and Jack Jack is uh >> hey Jack is awesome.
So very nice the chat is live. We are live. Uh and before we talk about uh Ian and Banks a little bit and about fearsome engine which was a very interesting book to discuss. Uh just to warm up a little bit I uh I'm wondering what you guys since it's half of the year is gone and it's going so quickly.
I'm curious if you've had any outstanding books any surprise other than the one we'll talk about today.
Anything you want to talk about? Maybe let's go back to some >> um this year has been kind of a middling year for me. Not >> too many kind of amazing books. Um, so there's not been too many that have stood out that well, but it's if I was to choose then it would probably be um to Ghana by Guy Gabriel K, which is a fantasy book which was really good. And even um you know it's it's one of his early books.
So people say he gets better as he gets uh further in his career. People said there was problems with it and like there's great stuff.
Did I drop out >> for a second? You did. Yeah.
>> Yeah. Sorry. That's also another thing I am in the countryside so that might happen. I apologize.
>> So I was very happy with um to Ghana.
Also, I read The Dubliners by James Joyce.
>> Um, which was a really big surprise. Um, and part of the reason I enjoyed it is because I studied it in school. So, we had like lots of discussions and >> uh they were just very very good, very deep. [clears throat] Um, >> there's these are short stories all centered around the city.
>> Yes, exactly.
>> Um, and I'm not usually the biggest fan of short stories, but I really loved this collection. So, uh, those would probably be the ones for me.
>> Okay.
So, no science fiction stand out, I guess.
>> Well, okay. [laughter] We'll talk about that in a minute. Let's go down to Richard then. Richard, any books that you want to mention that you've read in the first six, seven months of the year?
Actually, I have one that was recommended by another person from the UK who actually still lives in the UK.
So, maybe is your favorite UK person in the UK would be Steve the Outlaw book seller. He recommended The Essence by Dave Hutchinson. And uh this is a really really good book. That's why I'm mentioning it. It starts off as a spy novel. Basically, there's a forensic uh accountant who uh works with M M what is it? MI6.
>> Yeah. and and uh he's lost his wife and something tragic has happened and they're just slowly trying to bring him back into working with them and he's sent on what's supposed to be just a very easy assignment to go to the Netherlands to find out why there's a disconnect with Netherlands uh spy agency and theirs at the moment and he knows the people that he's got to go talk to but when he gets there things go crazy people try to uh abduct him and we find out that there's this science fiction element called the essence which has some sort of a a power on reality and uh it becomes into a bit of a uh it reminded me of North by Northwest by Alfred Hitchcock that movie where they're just continually being chased around and trying to figure out what's going on. And that's kind of happening here in this novel and it has a very unique ending to it as well. Uh it's definitely in the running for my best of the year in terms of uh really enjoying it. The spy elements for about the first half or so >> reminded me somewhat of uh Slow Horses by Mick Farren I think is his name. And there's also a TV series called Slow Horses. And that spy kind of feel to it with with some things not quite going as you expect and some interesting spy craft that's explored too. So, it's an interesting mashup of spy and science fiction.
>> Is it Is it a thriller? Would you say >> Oh, yeah. I would call it a thriller.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> With but with science fiction elements.
The essence.
>> That's right. Hey, did I get one that Whitney hasn't read?
>> I haven't read it. [laughter] >> I You're the second person actually to recommend that book to me. Um, not that you personally recommended it to me, but um the John from Sci-Fi Scavenger also loved that book.
>> You loved it, too. Yeah.
>> Must be a British thing.
>> Yep. He's been mentioning it. He's like, "You have to read it. You have to read it." So, >> and Slow Horses. I have not read Slow Horses, but the show is a lot of fun. I watched, I think, two seasons of it.
There's more. Uh, it's it's a lot of fun. It's a good show. So, I imagine the books are excellent as well. Um, yeah.
So, what about you, Whitney?
>> Yeah. So, um, I I was having a hard time earlier trying to figure out what to recommend as a surprising book, but there's some obvious ones that have apparently fled my brain thanks to pregnancy brain, I suppose. [laughter] Um, uh, one of the big ones for me is actually, um, Ammonites by Nicola Griffith.
>> Um, this book is considered a feminist science fiction book. um which is a tag that I have been straying from. Um you know kind of tend not to uh gravitate towards those books which is I know kind of surprising but um I picked that book up and a and a couple other books and it was so surprising to me and it was such a fun read better than what I expected that I ended up making a whole video about it >> and all of the surprising things about feminist science fiction I didn't expect. So >> interesting. Okay.
>> It's a It's a really interesting book that's very well done. It had It grabbed me from page one because the opening scene is a woman who is on a spaceship above a planet that's been quarantined for the last several centuries.
Um and this um you know there's there's like some kind of virus that has been killing a lot of people, but there are descendants of people who have survived the virus. Um, so they quarantine the planet and now they want to send this woman back down to the planet to discover how people have survived and what's what's been going on, right?
They're checking in with the people. And so she's having to make this decision on whether or not to take this very controversial vaccine that may or may not work, which is kind of super precient for today, right? Yeah.
>> Um but it was written a long time before the pandemic. So um no no like political agendas on this one. And um as she gets down to the planet, she figures out that there are no men. The virus has killed all men. So how have these generations of women reproduced? Nobody knows, right? So they have to solve this mystery as they're going through the story. And um it turned out to be like such a fun, imaginative, surprising read that [clears throat] um that was a that was really a good time. So >> that's great. So I'm I'm gonna add that to my long TBR. Uh Dubliners was already >> Yeah, it sounds good. Uh and the Essence sounds intriguing as well. Uh Jack Jack is saying that Gods of Mars favorite year. I have not read it. Have you guys >> Yeah. Have you guys read it?
>> Yep.
>> I can't remember if that's the second or third one in the uh John Carter series.
>> Okay.
>> Oh, Ammonite is a SF Masterworks as well. That's good.
>> It is. Yeah, >> I have it sitting back here. Is Griffith a UK author or American author?
>> I don't I don't know.
>> Oh, [laughter] okay.
>> I'm sorry. I should do my homework more.
Hey.
>> And Dale. Hammer Slammers. That's a great name for a book, isn't it?
>> Hammer Slammers.
>> Short stories about a group of mercenaries fighting on a different planet. Really cool. That sounds like a fun fun read. We know Dale likes to read sometimes Pulpy stuff. Dale is our oftentimes buddy reader. He missed out on Fearsome Engine, which I'm still a little bit upset about because I [laughter] would love to hear Dale's because in our buddy reads, the way we do it, we have a certain amount of pages that we read every day and then we uh we try to um send messages to each other voice messages in which we kind of describe our feelings, what had happened. Sam will often just go point by point and tell us everything that has happened in that day's reading, which can be very helpful. Uh, so it's a lot of fun, different ideas, different voices and and Dale definitely adds uh a voice of his own for sure. So I was I would have been very curious how Dale would have enjoyed especially one of the aspects of Fearsome Engine, but too bad.
Uh, but Hammer Slammer sounds like a lot of fun.
>> Dale, who's the author?
>> Who's the author?
>> Let us know in the in the comments author doesn't mind me answering this for him. I think it's um if I remember correctly because Amber Slimers is a very big classic of military sci-fi.
>> Yeah.
>> Um and I think it's David.
>> There you go. We got it back.
>> Yeah, >> there it is.
>> Oh, the Super Tanks. Okay.
>> And and Mike is talking about Slow Horses. A great read. Yeah. Uh I've watched I've watched the series. It was a lot of fun. I imagine the books are the books are probably probably better >> and they don't hurt the brain.
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. I will say just quickly, I've had quite a few amazing reads this uh this this year so far. Couple of stands out standouts. Definitely Michael Swanwick's I talked about this book couple of times. Stations of the Tide. A big surprise for me as I haven't heard too many people talk about it or really anyone. This was re-released as a tour essential. So, I could certainly recommend this one for sci-fi readers. A lot of interesting concepts. Uh, great ideas, good action. Uh, yeah. Yeah. A little bit of fantasy also mixed into it. Uh, so this was good. And also hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world. Haruki Moragami uh whom I read years ago and and took a long break, maybe 15 years or so. So, going back to his writing was also interesting. And this was a great uh great book. I really I really enjoyed uh this one. So uh yeah, let's see if we have any allstar cast.
>> I'm trying to think. I I'm very >> And Chris Chris is the person who recommended Chris is the person who recommended this book. So I have to say thank you. Thank you, Chris. This was this was awesome. This is really high up uh on my list of best books of the year so far. Fantastic. Weird. just the type of book you would imagine Chris would uh would like. We know as his channel suggests he likes the liinal, the weird and there's quite a bit of that. So, this is another one that I could recommend. Although, you know, maybe not for for everyone. Um but but a great book.
[laughter] >> Oh, yes. There you go. It is Chris's favorite book.
>> Engine. No, we were talking about Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World. This is a book that Chris from Liinal Spaces. Okay.
>> Talked about and I and I wanted to uh to give it a shot and I'm so happy that I that I did. I think >> I have a sneaking suspicion Chris might like this mention though.
>> Yes, I think so too.
>> Yeah, >> we have a book here I think you would like Chris.
>> Yeah. So, Chris, so maybe let's get into it guys. Let's not waste any more time.
We uh in case you're joining a little bit late, this is the book we're going to talk about today. Ian M Banks, known for the culture series. 10 books in the culture series. This is not culture.
This is kind of the opposite almost of culture in some ways. A little bit of a declining world. Uh we all thought this was an intriguing, interesting. We all were very positive on this book. So there goes that spoiler right off the bat. We all liked it to a to to a degree. Um, and let's talk about it. Who wants to talk about what this book is really about? And that's not an easy task, I will say. Um, anybody?
>> Actually, you got this. You got this, Richard.
>> Okay. [laughter] Well, you know what? In in short, there is a cloud, an interstellar cloud coming towards the solar system. And so, that is a threat to Earth and to the sun. Uh that's the big thing that's behind what we see. But we don't even really discover that right away at the beginning because we are thrust into four narratives happening at the same time. Each chapter has those four viewpoints, four protagonists. One is somebody, a woman who's just woken up.
She's been created um a as an adult. Her name is Assura.
and she's trying to figure out who she is and perhaps what her mission is in this world. Um, we don't even really understand what this world is at the beginning as well. Uh, the second is here. I think I have my notes here. Um, >> Gatfim got there's a female scientist named Gatfian who has been uh charged with trying to understand and this is where we find out about the cloud. the encroachment is what he calls it. Uh charged by the sort of the elites of her society to find out what this is and to see if there's something they can do about it. And then we have a person who has been just recently assassinated and is resurrected inside the crypt which is a virtual reality uh place adjacent to this world that's attached to this world. And in quick succession, he's being assassinated even as his uh what should we call it his uh being anyways within the virtual being.
And there's only eight lives available.
And he's down to his last eighth life.
And he's trying to find out who's been trying to assassinate him. Why is this going on? And what can he explore within the virtual reality that can help this situation? And then the last one, one that's probably the most memorable is a character who speaks uh and is written phonetically. Um I've heard some people call it I dialect. And this character um is describing their relationship.
They have a relationship with, believe it or not, an ant. And this ant is intelligent because it's a uh a form.
Some of the people who have gone into virtual reality can come back in the forms of animals. And this character volcan is his name.
>> Basu basu.
>> Bascule. Bascule. This character Bascule is somebody. He might be a savant of some sorts, but he is used sometimes to go into the virtual reality, assigned by somebody or hired by somebody to find one of their dead dead relatives, let's say, um or to connect with some people who are dead in there. And so he sort of has this in between the virtual reality and the reality here. and uh this fascinating relationship with uh this ant that we don't really understand who is the person behind the possession of this ant. And so we have these interesting characters as well. Chimera I think they would be called are animals that have uh human qualities or human beings that are in dwelling as well. So, we're bouncing around between the physical world and this virtual world and we have the encroachment coming at us and eventually these characters of course it's a sort of a braided plot characters start to meet each other and start to become involved in a bigger mission of what can we do about the encroachment and uh I'll just say about the character Bascule and his section being written phonetically if there's anybody out there who's read Ridley Walker. It's really that kind of ridley speak and it really and I think we're going to talk about this. It really slows you down in reading, but that has some positive effects. But I know that some people might also be turned off by it. I I've actually read somewhere about a person quit reading, DNFed it because they didn't like those kind of sections. But no, it's only >> that's why Dale didn't read it. Right.
>> Right. Right.
>> And so that's only a quarter of a chapter. So, it's at most a quarter of the book is written that way. Um, I think I should leave it off there. I think we may get into spoilers in the future, but that's the setup.
>> That's That's a good job. That's much better than I could have done.
>> Exactly. Much better than I could have done for sure. Nice breakdown. So, basically what we have is to me a book that has that that is doing two things.
Some science fiction books are really ideahheavy uh and the exploration of characters is very small. In this case we do at least with the one character with Bascule who is actually writing his section essentially to us in those in the phonetic style. We get quite a bit of character also. So this book for me worked really well because I enjoyed the exploration of characters uh Bascula most of all uh as well as I enjoyed all these concepts. There are quite a few science fiction concepts. I think many authors would have taken one concept and just ran with it. We have the encroachment, this cloud coming in, right? We have all this crazy technology uh that's so vivid in this book that Banks writes about. We have this mega structure which is like this castle that reaches so high. We talked about like an elevator like space elevator. We have the crypt where all the digital billions of digital lives dwell in the crypt. Uh that's where um Cassine spent seven out of his eight lives. Uh, so there's so many interesting ideas. The sliding stones that come in in the beginning of this story. Uh, he's just Ian Banks has a lot in his, you know, uh, arsenal and he's throwing it all at us, including the stellar engine, which is a maybe a bit of a spoiler for the end of the book, but some fascinating stuff. So, but we also get exploration of characters and written in in what we've learned from reading quite a few Ian Mangs books together and Sam has read uh I think most of them if not all of them at least on the science fiction side uh we do know that that he likes to explore also structure and in this book we have a very interesting structure where [clears throat] we're rotating between the four viewpoints including uh a quarter of the book written in a phonetic style and here maybe I'll throw I don't know if this will work. Here is an example um of what that looks like.
Uh so that can be a little bit daunting at first for me. It took a bit of time to get into it, but it was never and quick read. I was I was always slowing down when this section came up. Uh but it also gave me kind of the slang and the feel of the person that he was interacting with. And I thought this was amazing. But it isn't going to work for everyone. And I wonder with you guys, uh, maybe starting with Whitney now, what did you think about these phonetic parts and how did they influence uh, your enjoyment of the the the book, the reading experience, Whitney?
>> Well, as as we've all already talked about um, previously, you know, um, I called it, I think, a reading speed bump because it forces you to stop and slow down. And what Ian Banks does very well is, especially in the beginning parts of the book where you're still trying to get used to it, you can't just speed read your way through these because so many important aspects of the plot happen in at least the beginning part of Bascule's uh sections. So, you really have to slow down um and and spend time maybe reading or rereading or making sure you're understanding what's actually happening. Um I also thought this was a little bit different um because in Ridley Walker and also um another book that does this a little bit is Flowers for Aldron.
>> Um it's representative sometimes of intelligence. Um and a lot of people have you know that inherent um bias that if you can't uh spell correctly or speak correctly you you know you may not be intelligent. But Bascule is incredibly intelligent and he catches on to things very quickly, but you wouldn't know that because he's he's got this like lisp and the way that he writes is is so um is so different. It's almost the way that people would text because there's at symbols for at or like in the the passage you showed instead of saying the word half, he just writes one slash two, right? One half. Um, I half dropped it on you from above. Right. So, I I think that's like a really interesting um um combination I think to to see. Um, and it definitely gives him a little bit more character than a lot of the other um than a lot of the other uh main characters, I suppose.
>> Yeah. Um, >> but I I don't think it impacted. I think it was just like something fun that he played with that we never really got to learn like if there was a particular reason why. Like there is in Ridley Walker and there is in Flowers for Aldron, but um it definitely played a a fun role in this book.
>> Yeah, I think there was a mention maybe of dyslexia or of something that prevents him from being able to to write, but it wasn't really explained what it is exactly. Maybe it wasn't dyslexia, but there was a small mention, I think, at one point. I also like the fact that Bascul's section were quite funny. Uh he was a character. Uh and all the people that he would meet, the sloth, his friend ant that he's on a search for. Uh I loved. But what about you, Sam? How did you feel about this speed bump as Whitney calls it?
>> So you we were kind of talking about this in our buddy read. I I mean I love Basil. I think he's my favorite character in the book. And I'm wondering if it's partly because of this. Like I feel like his character was the most developed, but then I'm partially wondering if that's because it's done in the form of like a journal as well. So maybe would still know him more rather than the third person perspective.
But I feel like learning how he puts things down and how he spells things and how his you kind of learn how his brain works a little bit in that way. So I feel like that kind of adds to why his character is more developed than the others. So I really like that part of it. I think I was kind of questioning what's the point of it, not because I don't like it or I'm not enjoying it or anything, but kind of why is it there?
Um, and it just just gets me wondering if Banks is playing one of his little tricks where he gives you something but doesn't give you the full answers for them to leave you to question stuff because he really likes doing that.
>> He'll give you a lot of answers but he'll always leave something unanswered.
And he does a couple of things in this book and this is one of them. As you mentioned, Bart, this kind of this little mention of I think the words he said was I'm wired a bit differently.
Yeah, >> in the brain I've been told I'm wired a bit differently and we see throughout the book that he's kind of treated I mean he is a child but it's mentioned that he's an adolescent so maybe he's like 13 or 14 and people are always going around patting his head and like being a little bit condescending to him.
So, it does make me wonder if he has some kind of like Whitney was saying, I don't know, mental development issues or some kind of problem. And then that makes me wonder if people of his job type of uh they kind of go into the crypts and do services for people.
I don't know, maybe something like autism gives people extra abilities within the crypt or something. Do you know what I mean? This is me just completely speculating.
>> Yeah. But it it does just make me wonder why is it there because we don't really get a full answer.
>> So it's kind of one of those where it's like I really enjoyed the experience of reading it. I've read Train Spotting if you guys have read that book which is >> even more difficult because it's phonetic but written in a Scottish accent phonetic. So it's like that is a challenge.
>> Yeah. or Clockwork Orange as well, which can be difficult >> get into quite a few books.
>> And I'm reading a book now where the dialogue is phonetically written, so you kind of get their accent within it. And I just think it does have an interesting effect on the reader. So, I think it's a nice addition. And as you said, Bart, uh, Banks's comedy really comes out within this. His sense of humor really comes out. he's allowed the time the like the breathing space to show his own humor because of this the style it's written. So, it's got so much going for it, but I could see why potentially people may get um upset with it because we're not really told why it's put in there, never mind the reading speed and difficulty. But also I will say >> that you do get used to it because you you start off and it's difficult but then you kind of learn some of the the things that you repeat later down the line. So you do speed up reading it as well. So don't be too scared.
>> There is a key to it. Uh and I I really ended up enjoying it even though in the beginning um it it did take me a while.
It would have been great to hear from Yen Banks his reasons for putting uh this phonetic section into this book.
what was he hoping to achieve and how he hoped readers would react to it. Um I don't know if he talked about it anywhere but I have not seen any interviews. What about you Richard quickly? Do you have anything to add to this um to this part about the phonetics? Any thoughts?
>> Well, one of the things uh I was reading a few things about the book again when uh before we had this live stream and one of the things that someone said is that they got around that section by listening to the audio book. So if it's something that scares you, perhaps the audio book might be your way of enjoying this book, even if you don't want to read that phonetic writing. Now, for me, I would say Ian M. Banks, this is my theory. He did this because this is part of who this character is, and it's a part a deep part of who this character is and the way he sounds and the way you read it and the way you have to take your time. Some people speak really slowly and tell their yarns and tales and that's what this was like to me. And so uh I found it uh was something that made the character even more endearing to me because of the way you had to slow down and listen to their story and sometimes try to figure out what they're saying. And I think that people probably have run across people in their lives who perhaps have a very difficult accent or who speak really slowly, but it's really valuable to listen to them.
That's how I felt about this character and I think Ian M Banks really u dives into that in terms of this character and that's why so many of us like this character.
>> Yeah, I I agree. Well said. Uh Dale was talking about the fact that this type of writing is difficult reading it slowly.
Um and it can be it can become a little bit of a chore if you're not enjoying it. Uh I ended up liking it quite a bit.
I think uh I think listening to an audio book if ever there was a cheat it's with it's with this it's this section. Uh certainly >> yeah because the experience getting through this I think is part of reading the book. So it's almost difficult to say that you've read the book, if you've listened to it because I think Yian and Banks uh definitely wanted uh something to happen in in our brains, in our consciousness as we uh deciphered this language. So we had four points of view.
This was one of them. I quite like the whole book as far as the voices of the other ones. Assura, which was very interesting. uh that she is a construct kind of I guess engineered to be u no spoilers here but she's the kind of a key to the whole uh survival of the planet uh and the beginning when she awakes I think you talked about this Richard was very interesting how her consciousness comes and develops and she she kind of grows as a character so it's the certainly the section with bascul and the phonetics is the standout but I thought the book was written well overall uh any thoughts on the other characters or >> that's something that I was going to add too because while um there's a lot to be discussed on Bascule, I really think that the most impressive part of this story for me that really like really opened my eyes in the first probably two sections of this book. Um, I think I mentioned it to you guys when we were reading, but the way that he braids these together and at first you just kind of get an introduction of each and then all of a sudden in that very next section they start mentioning each other and you start seeing a little piece of what's happening in the other story in in all of the other perspectives and you start seeing more and more and more how they work together to tell a story. Um, and I felt like the way that the intricate nature with which he braids these stories together was like masterfully done. It wasn't like a regular braid. It was like very complex basket weaving situation. And it was it was it was a step above is what I would say. And I I do think that that was for me one of the biggest standouts of Ian Banks writing in this particular story.
regardless of what he does or does not answer, regardless of like who and and how we solve the climax, it was just like masterly put together. I just I really liked how he weaved those >> and it was very lean. Like this was a short book for Ian Banks and every situation, every um action of the characters, every revelation was very important and there wasn't really a lot of extra stuff there. Um, you learn about the characters. Um, but the plotting itself, wow. Uh, I [laughter] think I said once I wish that, uh, we had Oh, who is this guy here again?
>> H Neil Stevenson. I wish that Neil Stevenson could write a little leaner like that, too.
>> Well, I almost wish we had included more in this book because it was so lean that I was like, "Wait, wait. Did I miss something?" Like, [laughter] "Wait, wait, you guys, I have questions still."
But um >> I mean he has been accused of uh getting a bit long in the tooth in his later culture books.
>> So um he can get a bit wordy at times.
So I I definitely appreciated the length of this book. But I think like the four se the four sections, the four characters is really like how distinct they all are is a testament to his writing because they all felt like they had their very distinct flavor and you never I at least I never came to a section and thought ah not this person because it's interesting we talk about his structure and how he is a master of structure which he is but this book is predictable in its structure when you're reading it Right.
Because you know which character it's going to be. You're not going to be like, "Who's next?" You know who's going to be next.
>> But then his ability to weave and braid, like you said, within this predictable reading structure is masterful and all of the distinct characters.
I just thought it was a a brilliant reading experience and really just shows what he can do. and the complexity of the the story within a small book as well is it's just it's brilliant.
>> Yeah, he certainly packs I think more ideas in this book than he did in Algebra which was quite a bit quite a bit longer. There's so much here and we all liked Algebraist as well. Richard, you haven't read it yet?
>> No, I haven't.
>> Uh but the three of us did and and really enjoyed it last year. It was a standout book for me for sure. Uh, and Taozer SF says he was hesitant on picking up picking this book up, but the conversation is making him want to buy it now.
>> Very fascinating.
>> So, I would skip I have a few questions written out, but I would actually skip um, thanks to Tao for bringing this up.
Who do you think?
>> His name is Keith. He's from Calgary here in Canada.
>> Yes. Yes. Uh, hey Keith.
>> Calgary. Okay. How are the fires up there? Just Just is that that's in No, that's not the right province.
Uh are you guys affected at all? Because I feel >> we have some fires probably in the northern parts of our province. But uh the ones that are really bad are in northern Ontario, which is almost parallel to me, but our predominant winds are away from Winnipeg, Manitoba is where I live.
>> Um and there's some fires even in Minnesota area as well.
>> Okay. So your air quality is not too bad.
>> No, we don't have a problem right now.
>> Okay. Because I was flying out of uh JFK a few days ago and it was eerie. It was rusty. You could not see anything outside. It was really, really um really awful. So, >> we've definitely had that some years for our Winnipeg from our northern communities, the air blowing down.
>> Well, I hope everyone is uh is safe and that they'll get all these fires. I heard there's like hundred different fires in different pockets. But anyway, Keith um is thinking about picking up Fearsome Engine. And I wanted to ask you guys because this is a book that I really enjoyed, but it's not an easy recommendation. Who do you think would uh enjoy this book? Who is this book for?
>> Anybody?
>> I think about Whitney talking about hard science fiction versus hardto- read science fiction. I don't know, Whitney, what would you say about this one?
>> I I agree. I mean, I think um I think that this book is for people who enjoy their expectations being subverted. I I think that it's for people who enjoy weird sci-fi. I think Chris from Liinal Spaces would like it. Chris, I hope you don't mind me calling you out. Um I think that um I think that this book kind of has to hit you at at one of the right times because we all knew Ian Banks writing and then we were kind of thrown in this and all of a sudden all of us were like, "Whoa, what is this?
This is very different." even though we've read Ian Banks before. So, I would say um it's for people who like weird SF.
>> I think it's a challenging read in its own right, but there's rewards to the challenges. And so, I didn't I wasn't hesitant to get back into it to read the next section that we were reading because I wanted to find out what happened in these four different uh characters and and throughout the story.
>> I've got three answers.
>> Go. one um don't read it as your first SF book or even what your first 10 be like maybe a little bit of SF reading under your belt.
I wouldn't start with banks here. um wouldn't say it's particularly typical of him unless you think that this sounds like your thing. Like maybe I don't know if Chris has read any other ENM banks like I would recommend him start with ENM banks here but maybe not everyone.
And thirdly um what was I going to say?
Oh yeah um people who are fans of cyberpunk. Now we did have a conversation about this not really being cyberpunk but it feels cyberpunk adjacent at least. So, I think people who like cyberpunk would appreciate the kind of uh VR world type uh things that are in this book.
>> I I would I would caveat that because I think um if you're expecting neon worlds, drugs, um underbelly of a city and and terrible corporations, you're going to be terribly disappointed. So, I would definitely give you a very a strong warning on that because um it's more the kind of cyberpunk or virtual reality that um I think was featured in Permutation City by Greg Egan than maybe true cyberpunk.
>> It's a reality that's adjacent to us as what uh Sam had said. I like that idea.
>> Yeah.
>> And it's one that you can go in and out of.
>> Yeah. So it sounds like so it sounds like uh definitely one thing not for beginners right perhaps for if you're looking for a little bit of a reading challenge also at least because of the quarter of the book being written in a challenging way where you have to decide for some some words uh and also the reason why not for beginners probably because there are a lot of concepts that uh that that he throws into this fairly short read uh at you.
So, if you haven't read a lot of science fiction, you might really be lost uh trying to each one of these could be mind-blowing if you haven't read about them, you know, uh and and together it might be kind of overwhelming and you may end up like thinking is he pulling everything together. So, that's my question. Did you feel did you feel like all these concepts, you know, the mega structure, the crypt, the threat to humanity, uh the VR world, uh the I mean there's so much in this book. Does Banks deliver in the end without maybe any spoilers? Let's go. Spoiler light. We have some people who it seems like want to read this book. But did you like the ending? And do you feel he puts it together and ties a nice bow at the end?
>> Whitney, >> I will say what you were just talking about that um he doesn't baby us. It's not like we get these big explanations about what the world is. we have to discover it and decipher it as we see each of the characters and what's happening here.
And so you don't get long exposition passages. You get things that are happening to characters or things that characters are doing that you have to pick up what's going on in the world. So it's that type of a novel.
>> Uh and that's that's where some people may not like that type of uh science fiction novel. They like it just basically straightforward.
um I don't like to say spoonfed because that feels like you're a baby, right?
But that they want their novels uh linear, straightforward, uh easy to understand what this world is about. You have to figure things out as you go along. Uh I find that very fascinating and interesting to to read. And so that talks to what your question was, do these things come together? I think they did quite well. One of the benefits that we have though is that the four of us were reading this at the same time and each day commenting on a certain section of the novel. So even if there was something I was in doubt, maybe these other three here had figured it out or uh could help me understand a little bit more depth of what was going on. And so I I will say that that helped in terms of reading this book. And uh so a person on their own is going to have to go for it uh on their own. uh and I don't know depends what type of a reader it is. So I think it's really about that re the person and what they expect out of a book and the willingness to put in the the thought into uh deciphering what is happening. The lines the plot lines all do come together really well. And I had mentioned, and I don't think this is a spoiler, but I mentioned that it came down to the last few paragraphs of the book to really >> Yeah.
>> get an understanding of something that's very core to the book.
>> And uh I like that because then it kind of reframes what you're looking at for the whole book.
>> Can I get in before Whitney tears apart the ending? Um because like she always does with ENM Banks books. [laughter] every single Lean Men Banks book, she's like, "I love this book." But the ending, oh my god, come on. [laughter] >> I thought the the ending was um I think it was basically I think Bart said it was basically like a mic drop just like >> yeah, >> bang, here you go. Banks loves like eel or something to change your perspective or whatever. And he really does it, but he really does leave it till the very end as Richard was saying. Um, so you have to the very end to get this big explosion just like wow that was that was brilliant. Um, in terms of does everything come together?
I think so. If I think about all these parts, I don't think there's anything kind of missing. I think there's plenty that you could be confused about or not fully understand what's going on. And that is because of the no spoon feeding, the no handholding.
And I like that. I like the fact that I I don't have to know everything. Uh some people do. So pe who people who do might not like it as much as we did. Um because I think we all appreciate that.
Um, but this as we we were saying in our chat as well that this book has immense reread ability in it because >> there's so many things that would have been sprinkled in that we you don't understand but on reread you'd be like ah he was telling us from the start which he does really like to do. So it's a it's a tricky one. It just it depends on you and your experience.
>> Yeah, but that that's a great point about the reread. I think this book and quite a few other ENM Banks books, including a book like Use of Weapons, a second time you're reading it, knowing what you know is going to be a completely different experience and you're looking for different things. But let's get to Whitney.
>> What do you think, Whitney? The ending, does it all come together?
>> So, yes, I I do think that we were all satisfied with this story. Um, but we all separately, for different reasons, mentioned that we wanted to reread it.
So, it's satisfying and yet we all want to reread it. So, that's kind of a little bit of a justosition there. Like, um, so I do think that there's still so many little hints left in the text. And I I also think because we all know Ian Banks now, we've read many of his books, he doesn't ever wrap things up in a beautiful little bow. So, when we say satisfying, that doesn't necessarily mean it was all wrapped up in a nice tidy bow either. It just means that we I did feel like happy with the conclusion of the book. I didn't feel like I'm like, "Wait a minute, wait a minute.
This book doesn't feel ended." That's not that's not the case at all. It felt ended. Um, in particular, Ian Banks had my heart on this ending because he explained with that like last sentence the title of the story. And you know how I love that, Sam. You know how I love that. Um, >> yes, I do.
>> So, I I love that he has very clever titles and reasons for why he's naming things what he's naming them. So, I really I really did enjoy that. Um, drop the mic. This is why the book is named that. It was perfect. Yeah.
>> Um, but that being said, I I think that it was enough of a conclusion for all the characters that I was satisfied, but not enough that I feel like the story has ended. Not enough that I, as somebody who doesn't reread like any books, I wanted to reread this one. And I can't quite put my finger on why. It just it was satisfying and yet I felt like I missed some pieces. Mhm.
>> So, I am really glad that we did it as a buddy read because, you know, like even though Bart kind of poked Sam for for giving us a line by line point evaluation of what happened in the plot, it was really helpful.
>> I appreciate it.
>> Wait, what happened? I missed that.
What? Like, >> and it's only because it's only because I was always the first there. So, [laughter] like I was always first to finish.
>> I was I was not trying to I was not trying to be a jerk. I appreciated it, too.
>> No, it it was very helpful. So, um I I think that even if you wrote out the plot in a bullet point pattern with this whole book, I would still go back and be like, "Wait, what? What?" Like, [laughter] so I think that there's some like really unique genius elements in this story that just like feel so other and I don't know, like I really loved the experience of that. Um, so I think that's one of the reasons why this book isn't a good for beginners book. It's not just the concepts or the way that it's put together. It's that you get satisfaction but not resolution maybe.
>> Yeah. I think my biggest >> I think my biggest um want from this book was or I think both biggest want and biggest uh thing that was missing was the Cassine character the third out of the four >> I think he was the most underdeveloped and I felt like he got the least page time um so he was probably my least favorite character and I feel like his ending was the most confusing. Still not 100% sure what happened to him.
>> Okay, so not getting into spoilers, but he got the least page time, but then technically he got the most page time because of the double >> Oh, >> I think it was I felt fine with the explanation. Um, >> I think I get confused with like where he fits in the timeline because I felt like his story was concurrent with everyone else because I feel like we got news of his events from Gabfium for example of this happening >> but I feel like what happened to him should have happened in the past >> and there's things that could happen in different time speed within virtual reality.
This is what I mean by like me needing to reread that and me being the most confused about it and maybe had at least one spoon fed to me for that section.
>> Well, maybe a lot of these were a lot more a lot less linear than they had appeared because I think Surah was also a little bit out of sync with everyone else's timeline as well. So, I think all the timelines were a lot less linear than they initially appeared, which is also adding to the slight, oh, this is different than I thought it was.
>> Well, that's and it's also um I think of Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan, that film with three different time periods coming together towards the end. Uh, one is timed a day, one timed an hour. I don't know. I can't remember what the sections were exactly. And it that's what we had here because then you towards the end you start to go, okay, I think I see how this is pieced together, but it's certainly not chapter by chapter.
>> Yeah.
>> Uh we just get the pieces of the story that we need to know for each of the characters at this point.
>> Yeah.
>> Has anyone read Catch 22?
>> No.
>> No.
>> Oh boy. And it's a classic. We haven't.
>> That that goes everywhere. that that's the least linear book ever, but it's also >> amazing. Big recommend. Sorry.
>> Yeah, I just wanted to say that the time aspect was so interesting and the way Ian and Begs utilizes it. For example, there's a scene, again, no spoilers, but there's a scene in which the scientist Godfume uh there are two of her essentially. There's her in the real world and she's also in the crypt and the time flows at a much different rate in the crypt. so that she in the crypt has time to I don't want to get into spoilers, but something is happening to the real godf she's about to be assassinated. Uh and and and and the her construct in the crypt has time to maybe affect that or not. Uh but I I I really enjoyed those aspects of the book.
There's so many things to and this goes back to why a reread I think uh would not be a wasted time for sure. That that actually reminds me, Bart, don't forget that in the Ceil um time period, they also mentioned a couple times because he's in the crypt from almost the beginning. Um and they mention that um you know, just a couple of days in regular time was like 20 years inside the crypt and he had all this time to research his own murder um and solve all these problems. So maybe that's another area that if we reread we could pay more attention to that kind of timing of things because when things happen in the crypt it's actually like significantly faster.
>> Yeah.
>> So so maybe that's really like where he's playing with all the time. I don't know.
>> Yeah. And just just to comment Dale says he loves being spoonfed.
>> So that's that's good to know. That's something already. [laughter] >> Oh. Oh, yes. That's right.
>> He is on it. Thank you. Well, we hope we all hope you enjoy it, but you're in for uh for an interesting read. I think it's the type of book that I think if I even if I didn't enjoy it, I would be like, well, this was unique. This was different. This wasn't just another book that fell flat for me because the characters were meh or the story was something that I've read 10 times. I think there is originality, uniqueness.
I think there's good pacing in a short book like this, excellent pacing because I think each of the four story lines we get um gives gives it that pace. You know, I think Cine's uh story even though his timeline moves very quickly.
Uh but there were some very nice descriptions of the landscape that he's traversing, slow moments where he's talking around the fire camp with someone. So, I think Banks is really showing his mastery also with that with slowing things down and then speeding and explosive action and then some weirdness uh sprinkled in between. So, there's a lot in this book uh to enjoy if it connects with you and if it doesn't um well, I think you'll still say that this was at least uh something that I haven't read maybe before. Would you agree with that?
>> Yeah.
>> Yeah. There there are elements of thriller in there as well because there's a lot of kind of people being um chased and running away from persecutors, assassinators.
>> Yeah, >> there's even elements of horror in this book. Like this one particular um >> character, would you call it? I don't know. Or even this aspect of the book that was really quite >> horrifying. I don't know how to say that. Was that like gi [laughter] like what was that? Like I I'm gonna [snorts] hear that in my nightmares one day. I don't know.
>> Yeah. Oh my goodness. Yeah. Banks really goes for it with uh with with the with the writing, the structure. There's so much. And to me, I I definitely go back to the funny moments. There was some uh buddy humor and some funny stuff. I remember laughing out loud several times like when the smelly sloth is squeezing [laughter] by him. Oh my goodness. Have you ever had a smelly slope squeeze by you in a tight quarters? Uh, excellent stuff. So, I I really enjoyed it. I hope uh if we convinced anyone to pick this book up, they're not going to curse us out, but at least I'm happy uh with the three of you. Were pretty much on the same page in our enjoyment. Uh, and here another question. Uh, we've all read Banks more or fewer fewer books. Where would you rank this uh in the pantheon of the books that you've read from the author? I'm curious. Uh, and maybe let's start with Richard here. I think Richard, you read maybe fewer books than we have.
>> Yeah, I think I've read four maybe now.
>> Okay. So, that's a good amount.
>> Yeah. I Before I say that, I just want to say there's a lot of very interesting science fiction uh mysteries within here as well. Are we Where are we in Earth's history? What is this castle that's like a tower reaching uh so far into the sky that you can't see the end of it? Um and the encroachment coming here. What possibility is there that there could be any sort of solution to it? So the if you like those kind of science fiction questions, there's a lot to explore in here as well. Um I think I enjoyed this better than u inversion um use of weapons or player of games. I read those three other ones.
>> Um, they are strong books. They're all strong books. Uh, I haven't found a weak one so far.
I think I liked coming out of the culture and because I enjoyed really Walker so much by Russell Hoben. Um, that element intrigued me and and I was excited about it and I was excited about the mic drop at the end of the book and how it's a very satisfying one. science fictionally. So, [snorts] it's hard to it's really hard to choose that there are all some very good books here, but I think I do like this one the best.
>> So, you drank it very high. What about Whitney? What do you think?
>> Well, I I mean, it's it's a different mood and definitely a different tone as I think all of his books really are. So, it does depend on what kind of read you're really like in the mood for as far as the ranking of of his books go.
Um, but I like to rank books in terms of like memorability, like where like how well would I remember this book? How fondly do I look back on it? That kind of thing. Um, and I have to say I have to say it's probably up there for me, too. I I have lots of really strong memories about use of weapons because we had so many arguments about it. Um but I I I actually like think that that puts it a lot higher in my love of the book because I remember it so much more um emotionally I suppose. So I'm gonna say that use of weapons in this one is like pretty close. It would probably change day by day which one, but those are the one and two, which is very surprising for me to say.
>> What about you, Sam?
>> You've read more than any of us.
>> So, I've read 12 of his sci-fi books, five of his non-cified books. I've got two sci-fi left. Um, as you alluded to, Whitney, all of the books is so different, and that is one of the reasons why he is my favorite author is because I feel like he has such a huge range, and it makes it really hard to rank them. Um, but you guys know nothing's going to beat Use of Weapons for me. That is like a top 10 book of all time for me. So, it'll be pretty difficult to knock that off. just the the way the ending of that book played out was just mindblowing to me. Um Oh, [sighs] so out of the 17 books I've read, top five.
>> Top five.
>> Yeah, maybe four. Maybe top four. I'm not sure. Use of weapons. Uh oh my god, what's it called? Excession.
>> Sure.
>> The Algebraist, this and The Crow Road, which is one of his non-cified books, are like the top five, but I'm not sure what order it would be, apart from use of weapons at top.
>> Okay. Okay. So, yeah, everyone's ranking this one. I would agree. I I don't know.
It's difficult to because I like the culture so much as uh where the whole is maybe more than the sum of its parts almost. Uh I like going back to the culture books and just being in that uh in that world. I can almost imagine myself living in the culture. It's like my my my wet dream to live in the culture that [laughter] um so so culture has a special place in my heart. But uh but this was an outstanding read and I certainly um on its merits alone I certainly liked it more than than at least uh two or three culture books. So yeah, I would say top three, top four and algebra is also and I'm so excited that people talk about ENM banks typically in connection with the culture, but it seems like I mean so far two books that I've read that are outside the culture were both outstanding. Uh so there's also a couple more, right? There's the against the dark background, I think.
>> Yeah.
>> Have you read that one, Sam?
>> That's one of the two I haven't read.
There books I haven't read. Yeah.
>> Where's also this No, I was just going to say it sounds like we should pick that one up.
>> Yeah, against that.
>> That's the other one. Yeah, >> that's the So, this one this this my copy. This looks like a science fiction novel based on what happens or at least speculative fiction, but it's Ian Banks.
There is no M.
>> Yeah, this there's >> What happened?
>> Nobody knows how to uh put it on the shelves, >> but like I think he considered it a sci-fi book.
>> Yeah. Yeah, I mean parallel worlds right there. That that say no more.
>> I've never heard of that one. Looks interesting.
>> I found it. I found it in a used bookstore and of course I picked it up right away but I did not know anything about it. Uh eventually like Sam uh I will read all Yanm Banks books.
Unfortunately for those who don't know he is no longer with us past few years back. uh at a young age of only 57 uh cancer claimed him and um you know it's a shame because uh I which was the last book that he wrote Sam do you know what was the the last book he wrote? God, I can't remember what it's called, but it's it's one of his non-ci-fi books.
Um, and it's it's crazy because the story is about a man who has learned that he has terminal cancer >> and he found out he had terminal cancer whilst writing this book.
>> The Corey is what it says on >> Okay. Corey. So, so he would have he would have known at this point that he has cancer and presumably that he may not survive when he was writing this.
>> He was he was writing the book. He was halfway through he got his diagnosis.
>> Oh my god. Okay. Yeah.
>> It says he wrote 90% of the novel before he learned he was sick with cancer in real life.
>> Yeah.
>> How crazy is that?
>> Yeah.
>> So that's crazy.
>> That is insane. you would have thought that he had cancer and then got kind of okay now I'm going to write about my experience and but to be writing this and then to have that diagnosis uh that is strange. I I know I know this is like super random connection, but I have to say um Mozart is obviously a very famous composer and I don't know if any of you guys have ever seen the movie Amadeus, but his last work in real life was um like a reququum for a funeral >> and um he like pretty much died within days of finishing this reququum for a funeral. And it and it just kind of feels like these like super genius people who like write or compose music or whatever, if they if they get too deep into their work on a particular subject, it seems like that's when they they become the work and that's when they [laughter] die. I don't know. It reminds me of the ending of Amodus. Um well, you guys have to watch that movie.
It's incredible. But >> I saw it years ago. Yeah, it's a >> it's a great movie >> to watch also.
Yeah, that's so interesting about ENM Banks. I did not know that. I uh I I So you h you have not read that one, Sam?
>> No. No.
>> Okay.
>> So, do you think that creative people are in so in touch with their muse that they know it's coming?
>> Some kind of subconsciously, it seems.
>> I'm gonna write a book about becoming filthy rich. [laughter] >> You got to make it really convincing.
or yeah, I'm not sure I would call it wish fulfillment that they experienced, but [laughter] >> yeah, >> interesting. Okay, so that's so that's great. So that's that's banks that's fearsome engine. Uh any last thoughts on the book um that you guys have?
[snorts] Anything we didn't talk about?
>> Well, I think it's good that we didn't really I don't think that we really gave any big spoilers at all. Um because there I mean we could do a whole another hour if we wanted to talk about what the conclusion and actual action towards the end was about. So uh for those who are still watching or watching afterwards uh yeah there's a lot for you to still discover.
>> Yeah that's for sure. It's definitely a densely packed book with ideas with mysteries with reveals with interesting characters. Um, it's it's a it's a it's a good one. It's a good one.
>> It has a if you like kind of uh I'm thinking about the king, right? There's a king in this and I thought he was quite an interesting >> I forgot about the king as well >> and interestingly we get his perspective in another character's uh section.
I thought he was quite an interesting character as well. This kind of like >> blippantly evil bastard.
essentially >> and it gives you a feel of a little bit of a fantasy, but this is definitely a science fiction author novel.
>> Yeah, >> like I I agree. I agree.
>> I quite enjoyed his his perspectives and just like Yeah, he was kind of a an interestingly evil person in a way. a little bit mustache twirly in a way, but um I'd say a little bit grayer than that.
I agree. Okay, maybe shifting gears a little bit as we're slowly but very slowly uh wrapping up. I'm curious, you Richard uh mentioned a certain director who has a famous movie out now and I uh we were me and my wife were talking about actually seeing it today. I'm talking about null and of course with the Odyssey. Has anyone seen The Odyssey? And I'm also asking for anyone who's watching in the comment section.
Have you seen it? Is it worth seeing?
Because it's like three hours, I think.
Uh, which I don't usually like to spend in a movie theater. Have you guys seen The Odyssey is the question? Anyone?
>> Um, I have tickets to go see it on Wednesday. Oh, >> okay. So, you're gonna go see it? That's cool. What about you guys? Any plans?
>> I don't have time to go to the cinema.
>> I'll see it sometime because I've seen all the Nolan films. Yeah. Yeah. You talked about Momento, I think, Richard, a couple of times.
>> That's that's a pretty one. That's a great one.
>> Yeah. Momento's great. Inception, Interstellar. I mean, there's lots of lots of good stuff.
>> Prestige.
>> Yeah. The Prestige. Exactly. I love the book, too.
>> Yeah. Number of them are science fiction.
>> Yeah. Yeah.
>> I'm sorry. You want you wanted to say something, Whitney, I think.
>> Oh, no. I was just going to say I don't think you can go wrong with um a Nolan film. I mean, a lot of actors even compete to try to, you know, work with him. So, um, I think that it's gotten quite a lot of like negative press, which is interesting on some of the casting choices, but >> um, >> I don't know. Like, I'm I'm intrigued to see what he does with it. So, we'll see.
>> I think I know what that is. And it's one of those like depressing [snorts] uh things.
Yeah, there was quite quite a bit of before the movie came out, quite a bit about the casting uh of the black actress. I forget her name uh as Helena of Troy. Uh I think that's part of it.
Uh but u yeah, I don't want to get into that unless you guys have some some thoughts on it. I'm pretty sure we're all, you know, in agreement. uh that that that maybe that early backlash was uh had to do with not the movie itself or I always find that if you haven't watched the movie, you should not be, you know, uh making videos, you know, with with backlash and prior to seeing the the the movie play out. Uh in any case, >> I don't want to get into it. I'll get angry.
>> Yeah, it's pathetic.
Well, no need to get angry, Sam. You're in beautiful Iceland. You showed us before we came on live, you showed us the surroundings. You've got a tiny little church on a hill, greencape all around you. Beautiful mountain in the backdrop. Uh kind of an impressionist painting kind of a second. So, you just you're you're you're doing fine. And >> Chris says that prestige is his favorite. I imagine movie of Nolans, not the book. But if you haven't read the book, Chris, and if it's been a while um since uh since you've watched the movie, the book is excellent, too. Christopher Priest is the author of The Prestige, and I love that the the book, but the movie is excellent as well. And um and Chris is looking forward to the Odyssey.
So, that's [laughter] And he also wants to see we made >> I could show you, but I I might get uh dewified. Uh, I can give it a go.
>> If you want to try, let's do it. Can I Can I just Can I make Sam solo layout?
Let's see.
>> Uh, yeah, you can. There you go.
>> Before I get uh dewified, it's so ideal here. I live on a farm, right? And this is river down here and the the guy who runs the farm earlier was just like, "Oh, I'm just going to go get some trout from the river." And he just came with some trout and they cooked us some trout that you just caught. Bloody lovely.
>> Oh, don't stop there.
>> Oh, so sad. [laughter] >> Let's get another twisty bank ending.
[laughter] >> If you hear us, all we see is your face.
>> There's a little bit of a little bit of maybe not the best shot, but but we get an idea.
>> Oh, all right. You're back.
Sorry, GM.
>> Yeah, there. That works.
>> There we go.
>> There you go.
>> There's my car. There's my car.
>> Thankfully, you can't see the registration plate. [laughter] >> There's the church.
>> Very nice. Little hint.
>> No screens in the window. I guess uh those mites or whatever are too small.
>> Yeah. Oh god. Yeah. I'm gonna be eating alive.
>> You can take me on full screen now.
>> Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's true. [laughter] >> Well, the closeup was nice. Not only did you freeze, Sam, but you also froze in a kind of a funny facial position as always happens. So, that was that was cool. We appreciate the effort.
>> That was cool. [laughter] >> Definitely fun. Uh so, yep. Uh and uh Chris appreciates the effort as well. It is beautiful. Uh Iceland I'm going to have to visit at some point. Uh it's it's such a unique place. Um and how long have you been in Iceland?
>> Uh Sam, how many years has it been?
>> Yeah, >> five and a half.
>> Five and a half years. Okay.
>> Moved uh just at the end of 2020.
>> You mean that's not an Icelandic uh accent?
>> No. No. [laughter] >> It's Yeah. this a little like this place in Icelandic. The name of this place like where we are is called basically the the translation is pond.
>> How would it be in Icelandic? Say it with like a nice >> Oh my god.
>> It's it's a horrible word to say for anyone who's not Icelandic. It's >> You have to like swallow the N.
>> Yeah. So we're we're I guess we're we're now now now we're now at Travel Channel right now and we're in Iceland. This is this is fun.
>> We'll have to plan Samcon so that we can go out there.
>> Please >> more than welcome.
>> Let's do it under some volcano or or some beautiful [laughter] waterfall. Uh that would be amazing.
>> Underw you can go behind.
>> Yeah.
>> Cool. Excellent. What are you guys reading now as we're again wrapping up?
Uh we you guys we can talk about anything. I have a few more few more minutes for sure, but I'm curious. What are you reading right now? That's always a a good one. Let's start with maybe Whitney. Anything fun or you're probably reading more than one book.
>> Yeah, I am actually. Yes, >> of course. I knew it.
>> Oh, I am uh finishing up Learning the World by Ken Mloud.
um which is a generation ship book that kind of reminds me of children of time which is very interesting. There's no spiders in it though. Um they're little bat people.
>> Oh, >> so it's a generation ship that's on its way and there's like a little colony of bat people and I did not know this book existed but it's very um intriguing. So >> you said bat, right? Not fat.
>> Bat.
I thought you said fat.
>> I thought it was little fat people.
>> No, no, fat. Fat people. [laughter] >> Well, first first I heard fat. Then I thought you said fat like people like in a you know vats like like serve, but it was actual bats. Okay.
>> Yes. Yeah.
>> Well, bats are close to us. They're mammals. They're So, so that kind of makes sense. So, they're kind of like little vampires >> kind of. Yeah. They're very violent. Um [laughter] Yeah. I don't know. Oh, it's a very interesting book. I' I've been uh having a really good time with it.
>> Bye, Chris.
>> Snacks. Snacks for the road.
>> You going also, Richard? Is that >> I'm going there? Yep. I'll see him there. Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing a whole bunch of uh YouTube people there.
>> Yeah, I was hoping to go, but alas, not possible. But thank you, Chris, for stopping by. We definitely all appreciate >> uh that. And I again will just say that if anybody wants to read a good one, it disappeared on me somewhere, but hard-boiled wonderland and the end of the world. They're two different places, separate places in this title.
Excellent. Uh Richard, on to you. What are you reading now? What's what's good?
>> Well, I'll just say that I just finished uh A Fall of Moondust by Arthur C.
Clark.
>> How did you feel about it?
Um, I felt like I don't know, this is a very old movie, but there's a movie called Poseidon Adventure, and it's about a a ship that is sinking a big ship, and there's people trapped inside of it trying to get out. Yeah, >> similar feel to um a skimmer over a vast sea of moon dust that has an has something tragic happened to it and it gets below the moon dust and they don't know where it is and people trying to survive and trying to see if they can get them out. Uh I'm not sure if that's my favorite genre and so it's well done. I think it's pretty good hard science for 1961, but it wasn't my favorite read of Clark.
>> Yeah, I felt the same way.
>> Yeah. And then I got a book out of the book haul from uh >> Whitney here that she sent me a box of books. And so this is the second one I'm reading now. Vererie's uh Rainbow's End.
It kind of is good because now I've seen Verer Vinci with you guys. Uh, and I've read Fire Upon a Deep and now I'll get to see a little bit later VJI and see how that is.
>> Excellent. So, uh, Constance says, "I'm thinking about Hard-boiled Wonderland.
Best Murakami in my opinion." I agree.
It's I've only read three Murkami books, but I agree. It's It's my favorite as well. Sam, what are you reading? I uh I have gone classic and I am reading The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck.
>> I'm about just a little bit over halfway.
>> Okay. What are you [laughter] >> not depressed right now?
>> Oh, I'm really depressed. But I I I like depressing books. So, I'm having a great time. I'm [laughter] I'm sucked in. Like I am like I'm a part of this family now. I feel like um I just I'm just like hypnotized by it weirdly. Like >> yeah, >> there's so so many pages where nothing happens and it's just like a guy cleaning oil from a car or something and I'm just weirdly interested. It's it's so I I really like it. I'm having a great time. Um I'm also reading uh I'm doing this year I'm reading short story collections at the same time. uh and I'm reading uh the machine stops and other stories by Ian Foster and that the title story is kind of um considered as one of the earliest like dystopian stories and that was this very interesting collection actually so far. So those are the two books I'm reading at the moment.
>> Okay, interesting. Rapes of Wrath is one that I want to revisit because I think I read it in high school, but I don't remember anything and I didn't speak English well. Uh if I do now, I definitely didn't then. Uh so I don't remember much. Thank you. [laughter] But East of Eden is maybe my all-time favorite book by Steinbeck. So I definitely uh I definitely love his his writing, his uh kind of poetic slow but but easy to read also. Um, yeah, East of Eden was incredible. Fantastic characters also. So, Grapes of Wrath I'm definitely gonna read or reread, I guess, uh, at some point. But I'm currently reading just started this one, guys. I don't know if you've heard the corporate makers.
>> So, I mean, I'm just I don't know, four chapters in, but like from chapter one, I'm like hooked.
It's I mean too early to say that the book is good because like I said four chapters in but the carpet mkers by a German author Andreas >> I think it's great. So it sounds like you've read it Whitney.
>> Um so actually I I paused it because I'm trying to finish up uh quite a few videos for my channel before my my baby comes. Yes.
>> Um so I I didn't get to finish it but um I have started it but um I didn't DNF it. I just paused it, but I'm really excited to finish it and I'm really excited to chat with you about it.
>> Yeah, it's a it's a good one. Have you guys heard about this book at all?
>> I've heard of it, but I haven't read it.
Don't have it either.
>> I think again early on I could definitely say that it's got promise to be an amazing an amazing uh read. Um Jonathan from Words in Time actually talked about this book a couple of times. I think when I spoke to him, he recommended it. I finally got my hands on it and I could see why this is I think one of his favorite books. Uh really really strong world building early on. Fantastic imagination, well written, well translated also. So it's got everything there. And Constance is also chiming in. The Pose Adventure is a pretty good book by the way.
>> Okay. Okay. I remember seeing the movie.
I remember like when there there's a scene when they're in a big hole and the ship starts to flip, tilt, and everything is just sliding. I think that's the I'm thinking of the right movie. Anyway, so um all right guys, anything happening on your channels?
Anything exciting? We know Whitney is trying to finish up uh some some videos as she has a big event coming up pretty soon. Uh how many videos are you hoping to to to put out before or or finish not put out? Um, I I filmed the rest of the year.
>> Wow, >> you're impressive.
>> So, um, I I I um I I'm only going to have two videos per month.
>> Okay.
>> Um, uh, starting like from July on, uh, which is what I've been doing. And I have pre-f filmed every single one of them.
>> So, that's 12 videos. That's that's incredible.
>> Wow. That is diligence to the nth degree. Well, it's it's it's also a requirement because I'm I'm understanding that I'm going to have no time and no sleep. And I'm essentially taking maternity leave for my entire life. So, I didn't want my channel to die. So, I thought, well, I'll just I'll just preempt this and uh we'll see how that goes. So, >> well, I wonder I wonder if you're going to have time for any buddy reads.
>> I wonder if I am, too. I don't know. I mean, Sam, will I have time? I don't know.
>> I did a few. Right. I had a I missed a couple uh near the start of uh my baby's live. So, you'd probably definitely have to do that, I'm sure. Um but I don't know. [laughter] I I hope so.
>> I I won't stop reading. Got to say that.
So, >> yeah. Yeah. So, we have exciting stuff coming up from Whitney. 12 videos that are already done.
sealed and ready to be published. We'll be looking forward to that. Uh for sure.
Uh Richard, anything happening?
Anything? You're going to the Pulp Fest.
Are you going to be shooting at the Pulpf Fest? You going to do some videos there?
>> I will be. What I'm planning to do, I'm finishing up uh there's a group of us who do something called Rocket Summer.
>> And so I've been looking at science fiction over the decades in the early 1900s. and I got hijacked by looking at short stories of Murray Lster. Uh I think he's a sort of somebody that a lot of people forgotten because he didn't really write great novels, but he wrote great short stories and uh so I've been uncovering those and so I have a couple I'm going to be talking about him again on Monday. I have two videos that are prepared ahead and uh and then I'll talk about uh oh, a Clifford D.
that I read uh as well for that called The Goblin Reservation, which is a wild book.
>> I love that one.
>> Yeah. And so then, yeah, I plan to try to do some sort of a vlog while I'm uh actually going to Pulpfest and then at Pulpfest. And uh um there's a few surprises potentially after Pulpfest as well that I can share with you off air, but I'll I'll save for the fans for later. But I will be heading up to Toronto and seeing some people there, too.
>> Nice, nice, nice. Building some tension, some mystery around your trips.
[laughter] >> I like to I like to put those little hooks out there if I can.
>> Very smart. Well played, my friend. Sam, anything uh happening with you? I know you are supporting your wife right now on her tour, her music, and she's an amazing musician. She's in a band with two other uh friends, I suppose, or singers.
>> Uh and I've listened to quite a few of the songs. They're amazing. Any you want to talk about that or or or anything on your end as far as your um child?
>> Yeah. So, uh as Wney said, uh it's very difficult when you have a baby to uh do all these things. My boy is seven and a half months old now. So, my channel has kind of taken a quite a backseat this year and it really shows when I make videos now cuz no bugger watch anymore.
But that's fine. I'm going to continue.
Uh, so I am now in uh, parental leave again because Iceland does it really well and I get a lot of time that I can split. So I'm in the middle of some parental leave.
>> I've been looking after the baby while my wife has been touring in Iceland with her wonderful band.
>> Uh, if anyone wants to check them out, by the way, got to plug them, right?
They're called Mar M A R.
>> You'll find them on Instagram and Facebook and stuff. and they have uh like three songs >> on YouTube, too.
>> On YouTube, >> they have three songs released and they uh are working on an album. So, I've been doing that, but we're back home tomorrow and I'm going to get back onto the videos while I'm on leave.
And the only plan I currently have is, as I said, I've been reading a few more short stories this year. I'm going to make a video about the three short story collections I've read this year because they're all pretty different, very different. I read The Dubliners by James Joyce, classic very early 20th 20th 20th century. Um, and I read Dangerous Visions, >> uh, collected by Harlen Ellison. And I read a short story collection by Brandon Sanderson. So, you pretty much can't get much different between these. I want to talk about how I found those reading experiences. That's the next video. And then I'm not sure, whatever I feel like.
Okay. Well, James Joyce and Brendan Sanderson quite quite the range there for sure.
>> Exactly.
>> Morning. I'm kind Australia. Am I right?
>> Yes, that's from Australia.
>> Well, we're glad you made it even though it is the end of this live stream, but of course, you're more than welcome to rewind to the beginning and watch it from the beginning. It was, I think, a fabulous conversation. I really appreciate you guys first of all for allowing me to do this, for joining me in the body read, for supporting me in this live production that worked out quite well. Uh, and always I appreciate reading with you because it's so much fun. Uh, and I hope we do many more. Of course, Whitney may have to take a little bit of a break. We talked about that. Uh, but uh, but I'm looking forward to more of these and uh, and I'm sure we'll do more videos also as we read the books. Uh, next one. We'll see on whose channel that's going to be. Uh, but I'm looking forward to that. So, anyway, uh, that's it, I think, for us, unless you guys have something to add.
>> What's coming up on your channel?
>> Oh, what's coming up? I I could sense that you wanted to say something. See?
Uh, nothing. Absolutely. [laughter] I had >> I had a very busy week. Um, I put out uh a video where I talked about uh some of the the books uh that made an impression or did not make an impression in the first half of the year. And also um not too many people watched that one, but in the end at the end of that video and I I know you mentioned this, Richard, there were some interesting cover um book art from from books that I saw when while I was on a trip in Poland. The Polish cover art is interesting. There's a Polish school of posters which was very famous uh in the 80s when Poland was behind the Iron Curtain. Now Poland is like you know G20 uh different world but um but the book covers are different and I think they're interesting. So if anybody wants to check that video out, please do. So you don't even have to watch the whole video because it's just me talking about some some books that I've read. But the um the cover art is kind of just like the last minute and a half, maybe two minutes at the end of the the video. So check that out. Um, and I don't know. I do not have do not have 12 videos. I have zero videos in pre-shot and I have zero video ideas, but I always thrive under pressure. So, when I feel like, oh shoot, I always try to have a video Saturday or Sunday, and when it's like Wednesday or Thursday, I start thinking, wait a minute, got to do something. So, uh, I'm sure I'm sure I'll come up with with something. But no big plans for me. Busy at work. Um, enjoying enjoying the weather in Colorado. It's beautiful. And I got a got out of New York where the air quality was, as we established, we talked about this earlier, horrible. And here it's quite lovely. So, um, I'm enjoying it. Goblin might be one more.
Let's see. Why? Why can't I?
Goblin Reservation is one of the first two Simaxs I've ever read. Yeah, I I've only read two Simax, but it sounds like this one I I'll have to add to my TBR at some point. I read The City uh, and what's the other >> way station? Way station. Yeah, exactly.
But he's a he's a good author. So anyway, thank you guys for watching.
Thank you guys for joining in the chat, for watching it live, for watching it on the rerun, and thank the three of you, of course, as always, uh for being a for being friends. That's the the best thing about this this job. So, um I appreciate it. Thanks everyone.
>> Thank you, B. Thanks for having us.
Thanks.
Related Videos
30:22
Literature
15 Background Characters That Make Pride and Prejudice Amazing!
TudorSmith
52K views•2025-04-12
8:14
Literature
In The Chest Of A Woman | Book Review #
Adwoa.darkwah
5K views•2022-11-05
17:55
Literature
KUBLA KHAN BY SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE - SUMMARY
jayaspanorama5715
3K views•2019-11-21
27:22
Literature
1.18.18: Talking with Tracy Heather Strain about Lorraine Hansberry PBS doc
rolandsmartin
3K views•2018-01-19
11:44
Literature
Week 088 - Túrin Turambar Tuesday: No Lord or Loyalty
prancingponypod
108 views•2025-07-15
6:19
Literature
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day - Judith Viorst Illustrated by Ray Cruz
EnchantedStoryboat
18K views•2025-03-26
31:07
Literature
Love & Sex in the Time of Plague: Guido Ruggiero Book Talk
UMHumanities
165 views•2022-04-26
10:52
Literature
Genres - Explore Fictional Genres and Discover What Makes Each One Special
MiaLearningChannelK-12
1K views•2025-09-02
Trending
13:25
Business
Playstation NO DISC/NO BUY Fight Is Over...
DavidJaffeGames
4K views•2026-07-23
16:52
Anthropology
Americans Confused in Australia for 17 Minutes Straight
IWrocker
17K views•2026-07-23
7:38
Blockchain & Crypto
Bitcoin Social Interest: Dozens of us Left
benjaminjcowen
12K views•2026-07-23
11:32
Business
Tesla Profits Plunge & SpaceX Stock Continues Fall
TheJohnJohnstonLounge
6K views•2026-07-23