Important note: I should have mentioned around 36:20 that Reefs of Earth very much portrays Oklahoman Native Americans as *contemporary* modern people, not some 'vanished race' or what have you. There is that sense of historical depth in the novel that Matt mentions but it's tied directly to living experience in the present day. You can see my episodes 11 & 12 if you want to hear me talk a little more about Lafferty and Native American storytelling and culture.
I forgot to mention at 49:32 that Space Chantey, while more 'silly' and 'cartoonish' than Reefs of Earth (in a great way), is also far more grotesque and violent (even outright gory), which is saying something! If Matt liked the frequent deaths in Aldiss's Hothouse, he should love that quality in Space Chantey (even though it's more comic).
I subscribed to Bookpilled the first time I watched because of his skillful use of language to articulate his concrete ideas of why he likes or dislikes a book.
Daniel while you’re a Patreon of bookpilled - watch his “Three body problem” review. It is one of the all time classic book reviews I’ve seen. He basically has COVID at the time , (which I know isn’t funny) but his anger at the book and his firing up about it , makes he get progressively sicker during his review. It’s like the book is so bad it’s making him physically sick. That and his Andy Weir reviews - omg he detests Weir and it’s hilarious to watch!
Reefs of Earth is very good but i do wonder how much traction a good review will get a book that's both hard to find and just not easy to categorize (correctly). still my favorite Lafferty
I never count on all that much traction with Lafferty.🤪 This one is widely available with the Locus edition though. (I don't love that one for format and typo reasons unfortunately.) Btw, how would you categorize it (correctly😁)?
@@forinthemorning0400 it’s always difficult to say what will work for different people. Some people find him first through one of his novels and love it, others his short stories. Some people bounce off him and some come back and are baffled how they missed how good it was the first time. See what you can find available and give it a try. I don’t think the Best Of Lafferty shows enough of his range and really only has a handful of his wildest stories - but if you get that I’d definitely not recommend reading it front to back. Maybe try this order: Nine Hundred Grandmothers, Seven-Day Terror, Thieving Bear Planet, Funnyfingers, and then jump around from there. Just a suggestion. Reefs of Earth is a good novel to start with. Space Chantey too if a sort of comic space western take on Homer’sOdyssey, with a strong dose of hyper violent but erudite Saturday morning cartoons sounds like a good time. But I’ve heard of people starting with later dense novels like Not To Mention Camels and being hooked. Ya never know. Would love to hear back from you and what you thought if you give something a try. :)
Whoever wants a Laferty at the used shop or eBay should jump now- because I think Matt (bookpilled) can increase the price by $100 if he loves an old of print book.
@@Doctor_RockterI bought one his fav finds A star of the unborn for $100 on eBay, and I think before his review it was about $5. It is not on digital anywhere so it was the only way to check it out. But one of bookpilled’s fans digitized it and then bookpilled posted the link so everyone can read it.
Great discussion! I also find myself disappointed, or possibly uninterested, in the "solutions" to Wolfe's work. I remember reading the big reveal in Urth for the first time, and thinking "are you kidding me? This zaniness is the answer??" Fortunately, Wolfe is such a wonderful stylist, and the atmosphere he creates is so great that I'm perfectly happy to largely just hold my attention at the experiential level and avoid a narrow focus on answers. I agree that Lafferty is the superior artist. For me his work is a near perfect use of literary fiction, in that it orients our attention toward transcendent truths that seem impossible to express or understand directly.
Important note: I should have mentioned around 36:20 that Reefs of Earth very much portrays Oklahoman Native Americans as *contemporary* modern people, not some 'vanished race' or what have you. There is that sense of historical depth in the novel that Matt mentions but it's tied directly to living experience in the present day. You can see my episodes 11 & 12 if you want to hear me talk a little more about Lafferty and Native American storytelling and culture.
I forgot to mention at 49:32 that Space Chantey, while more 'silly' and 'cartoonish' than Reefs of Earth (in a great way), is also far more grotesque and violent (even outright gory), which is saying something! If Matt liked the frequent deaths in Aldiss's Hothouse, he should love that quality in Space Chantey (even though it's more comic).
I will try and get to Lafferty soon. Great to see this level of enthusiasm
oooh, I'll look out for that! (Thanks!) :)
Been years since I read any Lafferty! Good-oh, another one for the long to read list :)
Nice! Hope you enjoy going back to some Lafferty. :)
I subscribed to Bookpilled the first time I watched because of his skillful use of language to articulate his concrete ideas of why he likes or dislikes a book.
I agree!
Great video! Glad to hear Bookpilled caught the Lafferty bug!
Rad, thanks for watching, Chris! :)
Daniel while you’re a Patreon of bookpilled - watch his “Three body problem” review. It is one of the all time classic book reviews I’ve seen. He basically has COVID at the time , (which I know isn’t funny) but his anger at the book and his firing up about it , makes he get progressively sicker during his review. It’s like the book is so bad it’s making him physically sick. That and his Andy Weir reviews - omg he detests Weir and it’s hilarious to watch!
@@dragonsandwarts5644 awesome tips, will watch these, thanks!😊
Reefs of Earth is very good but i do wonder how much traction a good review will get a book that's both hard to find and just not easy to categorize (correctly). still my favorite Lafferty
I never count on all that much traction with Lafferty.🤪 This one is widely available with the Locus edition though. (I don't love that one for format and typo reasons unfortunately.)
Btw, how would you categorize it (correctly😁)?
wats a good entry point for lafferty?
@@forinthemorning0400 it’s always difficult to say what will work for different people. Some people find him first through one of his novels and love it, others his short stories. Some people bounce off him and some come back and are baffled how they missed how good it was the first time. See what you can find available and give it a try. I don’t think the Best Of Lafferty shows enough of his range and really only has a handful of his wildest stories - but if you get that I’d definitely not recommend reading it front to back. Maybe try this order: Nine Hundred Grandmothers, Seven-Day Terror, Thieving Bear Planet, Funnyfingers, and then jump around from there. Just a suggestion. Reefs of Earth is a good novel to start with. Space Chantey too if a sort of comic space western take on Homer’sOdyssey, with a strong dose of hyper violent but erudite Saturday morning cartoons sounds like a good time. But I’ve heard of people starting with later dense novels like Not To Mention Camels and being hooked. Ya never know. Would love to hear back from you and what you thought if you give something a try. :)
Whoever wants a Laferty at the used shop or eBay should jump now- because I think Matt (bookpilled) can increase the price by $100 if he loves an old of print book.
very true!
@@Doctor_RockterI bought one his fav finds A star of the unborn for $100 on eBay, and I think before his review it was about $5. It is not on digital anywhere so it was the only way to check it out. But one of bookpilled’s fans digitized it and then bookpilled posted the link so everyone can read it.
@@dragonsandwarts5644 ah, I didn’t realise that about Star being digitised. Good to know, thanks.
Bookpilled’s Patreon is the best 5 bucks you could ever spend !!
I'm loving it! :)
Moid just promoted a new upcoming video with Alcibo Soup re Wolfe
oh cool, thanks, definitely gonna check that out!
Great discussion! I also find myself disappointed, or possibly uninterested, in the "solutions" to Wolfe's work. I remember reading the big reveal in Urth for the first time, and thinking "are you kidding me? This zaniness is the answer??"
Fortunately, Wolfe is such a wonderful stylist, and the atmosphere he creates is so great that I'm perfectly happy to largely just hold my attention at the experiential level and avoid a narrow focus on answers.
I agree that Lafferty is the superior artist. For me his work is a near perfect use of literary fiction, in that it orients our attention toward transcendent truths that seem impossible to express or understand directly.
@@istoner very well put on all fronts!
A video about a video I cant watch, now on a channel who releases only reboots of old videos on y.t.? no thanks
@@chocolatemonk 🤣 reboots of…??🤔🤪 I’ve made it. Pretty sure this is my first proper troll comment.🏆🧌