Self is one of those writers of very clever and pointy literary satire who always seems to be walking a super-fine line between "possibly almost brilliant" and "dude, get over yourself". The WTF is often in the subject matter (Wikipedia descriptions):
* Cock and Bull (1992) — the stories of a man and a woman who develop sexual organs of the opposite sex.
* My Idea of Fun (1993) — a lonely boy grows up just outside Brighton in a caravan park with his over-sexual mother and Mr Broadhurst who takes the boy on a disturbing and often violent journey.
* Great Apes (1997) — a man wakes up in a world where chimpanzees evolved to be the species with self-awareness, while humans are the equivalent of chimps in our world.
* How the Dead Live (2000) — an old lady dies, only to be moved to a London suburb where the dead have taken residence.
* The Book of Dave (2006) — The story of a London cab driver who suffers a mental breakdown due to failed relationships, estrangement from his son and an obsession with The Knowledge. He writes a book of rantings which he buries, that is discovered 500 years later and used as the sacred text for a religion that has taken hold in the flooded remnants of London.
{{{{{Drew, PixK and family}}}}} You all were on my mind all day. I'm glad things went as well as they did. This is, indeed, a Monday-ist of Monday's.
Great Apes (1997) — a man wakes up in a world where chimpanzees evolved to be the species with self-awareness, while humans are the equivalent of chimps in our world.
Isn't that ...
Planet of the Apes
?
Isn't that ... Planet of the Apes ?
Pretty much. Only it's also
Metamorphosis,
because the dude wakes up as a chimp one day. And he's bitchy about his shrink in all his books, or some such. Erm, whatev.
* The Book of Dave (2006) — The story of a London cab driver who suffers a mental breakdown due to failed relationships, estrangement from his son and an obsession with The Knowledge. He writes a book of rantings which he buries, that is discovered 500 years later and used as the sacred text for a religion that has taken hold in the flooded remnants of London.
The Knowledge?
Oh puh-leeze. *sigh* Yet-- I shouldn't talk-- he sells and I,well... don't.
I wonder if that's part of some viral marketing thing? There're ads at bus stops all over Chicago for some blood-based energy drink marketed at vampires. I keep meaning to poke around and find out what that's all about.
Those are for the upcoming HBO series that's based off of the Sookie Stackhouse books.
I thought they'd hit the vampire limit with the Jane Austen as vampire story, but apparently, I was wrong.
There is no such thing as a vampire limit. There are those of us who LIKE vampire fiction and yet cringe at most of it that is out there.
I didn't mean vampire fiction in general, because that's been around forever and I don't see it going anywhere (nor should it) but more in terms of where the genre has gone.
The suffragette one COULD definitely be interesting if written well, but I stand firm that turning Jane Austen into a vampire was just wrong.
I didn't mean vampire fiction in general, because that's been around forever and I don't see it going anywhere (nor should it) but more in terms of where the genre has gone.
Oh, I get quite cranky about where the genre has gone. I l like fluffy vampire novels (which is why I read a lot of YA ones), but most paranormal/vampire "romance" novels make me roll my eyes and start ranting about how today's vampires lack a true menacing edge. It usually devolves into me cursing White Wolf Games, for I am nothing if not predictable.
Jilli, were you the one that mentioned the Vampire Kisses series recently? I picked one up the other day and they are so darn cute that I had to go back for the rest. I'm on the third one now.
