Random observation

[hmpf]

Most of the fictions I'm fascinated with at the moment are concerned to some degree with religion. Even some of the music I'm listening to at the moment is. I find that vaguely... weird. Somebody trying to tell me something?

The evidence:

- It's Walky! (webcomic): has a main character who starts out very religious, then goes through a non-religious phase, then rediscovers her faith, struggles with it, but ultimately holds on to it.

- The Book of the New Sun (novel): has all kinds of religious motifs/themes. The Urth mailing list is debating religious stuff a lot.

- Battlestar Galactica (the 2004 series): the Cylons, especially Six, have this thing about God...

- Angel's Egg (movie): mysterious Japanese animation movie that may or may not be a religious parable. Cross-like objects and insubstantial fish abound.

- BE (Pain of Salvation album): seems to deal with religion, as well.

I was drawn to none of these things due to their religious content; in each of these cases I only discovered the subtext while reading/watching/listening to the 'text' in question.

Comments

[enlight-bystand.livejournal.com]

Okay, that's scary. I read that the book of the new sun is a good piece of background on Exalted, then move to the laptop and see you talking about it!!

What is Exalted?

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Heh. Maybe someone is trying to tell *you* something, too! ;-)

In the Book of the New Sun there's Exultants - maybe that's the connection? Of course, I have no idea what Exalted is - book, movie, video game? Anyway, the Book of the New Sun is definitely worth checking out, so maybe you should take that hint... ;-)

Re: What is Exalted?

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Exalted, if I'm right, is an RPG by White Wolf (who do the World of Darkness). Well, that's the one I know, and WW always recommend books to read as reference material.

Correct me if I'm wrong :)

Re: What is Exalted?

[enlight-bystand.livejournal.com]

That's the one. Basically it's an oriental-esque setting with extremely powerful beings. There's also some ancient advanced tecnology lying around, giving it a bit of sci-fi. New Sun's mixture of sci-fi and magic is one of their influences apparently.

Re: What is Exalted?

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure, really, that you could say that there is magic in BotNS. Mostly, it seems to be misunderstood old or alien technology.
Well, actually, yes, there is *some* magic, I just remembered. But it doesn't play a major role in society, in fact, the protagonist doesn't seem to believe in it until he encounters it.
There are frequent miracles throughout the books, though, but that's not quite magic after my definition.

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Sobody stole the first book of the New Sun from the library, so I can't read it!! I have been scanning the flea (read: cheap) markets for a copy though, as I managed to pick up the first Wheel of Time book for 50p about a month ago.

The stupid library does, however, have the second book of the New Sun, and it's been staring right back at me for several months. But since you said the plot's complex, I have left it alone. I did get another Gene Wolfe out though, called Peace. Have you read it? Did I tell you I'd read There Are Doors???

You don't have to answer. Hehehe.

*shuts up and sits down in the corner*

Meg!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Nice to see you :-)))

See, it *has* to be a good book - at least one person loved it enough to steal it! *g*

Yeah, it's a good idea to start at the beginning with that book. Have you considered trying to find it used on amazon or ebay or abebooks? I just bought the German version second-hand on zvab.com for my mom.

I'm not sure if you told me to read There Are Doors, because I've been planning to read all I can find by Gene Wolfe, anyway. Peace is supposed to be very good, though complicated, as well. You may want to check out the Urth mailing list for enlightening and sometimes mind-bending comments and essays on all his writing (linked in one of my recent posts - they have a wonderful archive you can access even if you're not a member). I haven't read anything but The Book of the New Sun and The Urth of the New Sun so far, but I have The Fifth Head of Cerberus, and I'm about to get a one volume edition of the Book of the Short Sun from a friend who doesn't like Wolfe much. :-)

Re: Meg!

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

*me glomps Hmpf*

So I didn't scare you off back in May then? ;) *g*

I didn't think about looking online because I don't think I can afford to at the moment (am off work ill, and so am on less money). But I shall bear it in mind. I suppose I don't really think about it, as I still don't trust buying online. Heh.

There Are Doors is, well, weird, but I liked it once I got into it. Think I may well read it again. I could definitely tell what you meant about Neil Gaiman's writing style being similar to Gene Wolfe's. I got definite hints of that in there. I'll let you know what I make of Peace, when I *finally* get around to reading it.

And thank you v muchly for posting the list of the New Sun books! I'm going to make mum look for the one with the first two volumes in, but if it's not there, it's back to the book sales. LOL.

:)

Re: Meg!

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

Scared me off? Hell, no!

Really.

As for Neil Gaiman and Gene Wolfe... I wouldn't say their writing style is similar, really. Gene Wolfe's style is much more baroque and deliberate than Gaiman's, I think. But in some of Neil Gaiman's stuff it's pretty obvious that he's read Gene Wolfe. There's a definite influence there. I forget... have you read Sandman? If yes, then you may remember the story about the Necropolis Litharge. That, to me, was very 'wolfean'. (Because that word looks and sounds so strange, Wolfe fans have coined the term 'lupine'. So, that story feels very lupine to me.)

Re: Meg!

[jazzymegster.livejournal.com]

Yay for non-scaring! Tis always good!

What I meant about Gene Wolfe's style was that the similarities I see are because I've read Neil Gaiman's stuff (and obviously Wolfe's stuff was written first in most cases), and I can see where he's picked up Wolfe's style. Does that make sense? That was more what I meant than that they were similar...brain is not working.

And talking of Gene Wolfe, I followed up what you said about looking on eBay, and I managed to pick up all four books of the New Sun for a tenner (dirt cheap, and second hand, obviously). A guy in mid-Wales is sending them to me.

Also, a bookshop near me is having a sale for Xmas, and I went trawling through there on Thursday, and managed to pick up a Gene Wolfe book called Soldier of the Mist, about a Greek soldier who can speak to the Gods. Sounds interesting. Still haven't read Peace yet. LOL!

:)

Oh, and make sure...

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

that you get all the volumes. There are actually four (five, if you count The Urth of the New Sun, as well) of them, and they've been published as single volumes as well as in two collected volumes. The titles of the single volumes are

- The Shadow of the Torturer
- The Claw of the Conciliator
- The Sword of the Lictor
- The Citadel of the Autarch

The collected volumes are called

- Shadow and Claw
- Sword and Citadel

And The Urth of the New Sun is a single volume in either case.