Amal was a teacher at my university. I took a creative writing course and a poetry course with her and only afterwards read this book and fell in love with it 😂
I loaned this book to a friend who was sleeping over at my place and they burst into my room in the middle of the night crying when they finished it 10/10
I gave this book to my mom before having read it myself and without knowing much about it because she was really into Dr Who at the time and I went "ooh timy wimey book". That was certainly a choice I made
Hahaha well I would generally recommend this book to Doctor Who fans, but their ultimate enjoyment of it would depend on their personal reading tastes. People like Doctor Who for a bunch of different reasons, and it’s not always because of the timey wimey-ness
It's actually pretty close to the vibe of NuWho, especially the romantic plots with Ten and Eleven. If your mom liked all the love drama between Ten and Rose, she should like this book just fine!
I was one of the people who saw that tweet and bought the ebook the same day. I loved the book and was mesmerized by the style. When I was done I went out and bought a copy for my partner to read since I couldn't loan the ebook. I, too, am grateful to Bigolas Dickolas! ❤
I enjoyed reading it so much, but I can also see why so many people would not like, or even hate this book. It doesn't have any exposition, or details about what's going on, the character development is subtle and given the short length, there isn't much depth, and so much of it is sappy romantic. So I can clearly see why certain type of people would dislike this book. As a romantic at heart who loves writing letters and cards to friends and loved ones, this book felt like written for people like me. I just love the writing, each letter filled with emotions, the yearning. I probably even liked the fact that it was confusing at times. I will definitely be going back to this again a couple of times to enjoy it all over.
Definitely agree that it's not for everyone! No book can appeal to every reader, really. But I really enjoyed the romance and the glimpses of the super inventive sci-fi world.
My main problem with the book is that it has only one thing going for it, dramatic lyrical prose, and it's not very good at it. It's the level of writing for 13 year olds that just discovered a thesaurus, a lot of the descriptions don't even function because they clearly don't know what all the words mean. The metaphors become warped by their limited understanding of the things they're comparing and a lot of words are used in a context that makes it clear that the writers were misinformed of the definition.
I read this book back in 2020 or so, and it has really stuck with me as one of the most beautiful and clever books I've ever read. It's the kind of book that makes me want to go out and make all my friends read it, and it's the kind of book that makes me want to write something of my own. I had no idea it finally got its time in the spotlight, and I'm really glad that it did. It deserves it. Thanks, Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood.
I expected to be disappointed and confused by time travel that made no sense and was needlessly overcomplicated. I instead found one of the few 5-star books last year and bought myself a copy, and gifted it! I didn't know about the history of it, at all. It was excellent on audiobook too! I just loved it.
It helps that all the Sci-fi elements - the time travel, the war, the two factions- are just the backdrop for this intimate love story between two people.
I bought this years ago when it was on sale as a Kindle book, but didn't get around to reading it at the time. Last year (unaware of the book's apparently boosted popularity) I got the audiobook via Amazon matchmaker to listen to as I was walking my dog. Finally experiencing the book in this way, it was a lovely surprise. Highly recommended.
I read it when it first came out, and loved it. Thought, this will go on the Hugo best novella short list this year, and it did, and it won. I think this was the first time I read a novella and knew it was a novella, and I started looking for them specifically because the length worked perfect for me.
I read it because of the tweet. I don't use twitter, but trigun was also having a moment on tumblr so it got crossposted. I see book recommendations from fandom accounts a lot and this is the only I have ever actually read, trigun is just a specific sort of thing that makes me trust the taste of its fans over other stuff I like. I'm quite dyslexic so I had a hard time with the style of it, and Im still not sure i got everything going on, but it is good and i think that it and trigun have similar shit going on so the tweet was more impactful than most random recommendations would be. Some of the discussion around the tweet was like 'haha a funny named anime fan twitter got this book on the nyt bestsellers list, how random!', and all i could think was like yeah, if a fan account for a currently popular currently on hiatus scifi anime with a lot of themes™ reccomends a scifi book then people are going to check it out, that's probably the least weird thing going on here
That's such a great point! It's often easier to trust media recommendations from someone in the same fandom as you, because you know you probably have a similar taste in fiction.
I thought I’d picked this off the shelf at work to read at some point (work in a job where publishers send us books) but now can’t find it and after this I really want to read it.
I read the book in 2022 and was really amazed by it! The book is unlike anything I read before or after. And the story about it's skyrocketing success is just to good. Thank you for the bts facts!
So glad I could provide some fun facts! If you’re interested in short, lyrical speculative fiction books and want to read more, I would also recommend Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield 😄
I loved when this happened! As an avid lover of Trigun and a member of the audio fiction community, it blew my mind when I found out Bigolas got the book recommendation from a Q&A episode of The Silt Verses, an audio fiction horror-fantasy podcast. The world is so big and yet so small.
This was a definite five star book for me, though I can understand it not being for everyone. Didn’t know the story behind the explosion of people talking about it, but I love that a genuine ‘this changed me and you have to read it’ tweet had such a reaction.
My brother recommended it to me as did my friend L and when I finished it I immediately told my gf she needed to read it. We send letters to each other and have been for years, but after we both read the book they got better. I also really enjoy it because of the violence and passion in their relationship. As someone in a lesbian relationship I am also sick of this flowery nonsense. The letter where Blue speaks of wanting to use a felting needle to stab Red over and over again and leave her irrevocably changed - streaked with blue…that letter has been a continual inspiration.
Last year while touring through Ontario we stayed at the BnB of Amal El-Mothar's parents. I was reading scifi and they talked about the book their daughter wrote. So I bought and read it once I was home. Loved it.
I've been a big Gladstone fan since his first novel, and loved Amal's short stories, so I read Time War when it came out. This meant I experienced the saga of Bigolas Dickolas as so so much joy that authors who I love were having this moment of widespread commercial success. And it's still very funny 😂
I read it after the book hit the bestseller list... It had been on my "i really need to read this" list since Amal is friends with a number of my friends, but i hadn't actually read it yet... Seeing the sudden interest reminded me that i needed to read it, and I'm so glad that i followed up because i loved the heck out of it
I am enough of a sci-fi nerd that I knew of This is How You Lose the Time War before the tweet. The tweet made me buy the audiobook though. I adore the loveletters. While I saw the plot twist coming from a mile away, it didn't make it any less heartfelt or endearing. I am very grateful for that tweet.
I was also indifferent on it. The reason I can agree with the person mad at it for not including more world building and hard sci fi stuff is because the characters were pretty meh too. I'm fine with sci fi like that and think the "needs technological exploration" thing is pretentious in itself, but the characters weren't anything much and that's what I need. It's more like a fantasy focusing on romance than anything.
I came to this book from the BD tweet and really enjoyed it. It found it shared a common trait (at least for me anyway) of many sci-fi books - where early on I'm not what's happening, but I just keep reading and it end's up coming together.
All hail Bigolas Dickolas!! I find that sci-fi as a genre has a particular affinity for stories that can get really weird and experimental, and this book definitely fits into that tradition
I have always been tempted by this book, but every time I came to buy it, it always seemed too short, there was always something longer for the same money. Your vid has made up my mind to ignore the length and I will be reading it. A very interesting look into the back story of the book. Subscribed and about to sign up for the newsletter.
@@stevecarter8810if you’re referring to the accent, it’s Oxford-area English and Texan smashed up in a blender 😅 I do get a lot of people thinking I’m Scottish though
@@looseleafellie amazing! Yes I was getting east coast of Scotland. If I'm autistic (I think I am) then my special topic might be spotting accents. Yours is a gem, which I can now put in its own unique place in my collection. Thanks! Ps. Given the Texan element, I would now put the English element in the South West...?
I had a friend who got to meet Gladstone back in like I think 2013 and got into his craft sequence series which is not nearly as popular as TIHYLTTW so it was great seeing him get some recognition. I just want people to read craft sequence, its so much fun. So much world building and themes and I love a book that requires me to put in work on thinking. I have not read a glad stone book I haven't liked.
You cannot understand how much this recommendation means without understanding how much I **HATE** time travel stories, and I am actually contemplating buying this book.
I read it in 2019 and own it in Hardcover. I still bought the ebook during all the hype just to be part of that beautiful moment. It's a lovely, gnarly book and I'm glad it keeps finding new audiences.
I had given this one a skip but you’ve convinced me to give it a go. I’m shocked at how small your channel is. That was a well-presented and informative video and you’ve earned my subscription. Looking forward to more.
I bought this book on Amazon and it never came. I had them send me another copy instead of getting a refund. I got that book and then a few weeks later, the original one I bought came in the mail. Amazon told me to send one of them back or be charged. Anyway, now I own 2 copies of the book; sitting side-by-side on the shelf. I've never read it.
Thank you, I have read the book and love it, but didn't know anything about all this. One of the many aspects I like is how you can feel the authors having fun, latching on to details in eachothers letters and building the story with it. Cheers!
Just requested it from the library. I love unique storytelling ideas, like the interviews in "World War Z" (Max Brooks) and the diary-style entries of "Day by Day Armageddon" (JL Bourne). Looking forward to reading this.
I work in a bookstore so I had a friend recommend this to me in about 2022. Learning about all this is amazing and I hope this video convinces a few more people to read it
Read the book for the first time in June and so far it’s my book of the year. Really interesting video about how it became as popular as it did. I had no idea.
It's on my list, but I haven't read it yet. I learned about the book because in one of the follow-up interviews Bigolas Dickolas was asked if they had any other recommendations, and they recommended my favorite fiction podcast of all time, The Silt Verses, and probably tripled TSV's audience in the process, lol. So, I am convinced of their good taste. I will probably pick up Time War whenever I manage to finish House of Leaves.
That's so cool! It's always exciting to see book recs from someone who likes a lot of the same media as you, because you can be relatively confident that you have similar taste
This strikes me as a similar parallel that's on/off between two entities that I really haven't seen since Mark Danielewski's Only Revolutions. Will definitely give that one a look.
BD leveraging the attention to campaign for a Trigun reprint is hilarious and on brand. I have the book, I got it in one of those 99p Amazon sales before the tweet made it viral, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I might just shift it to the top of my TBR
Pretty sure it was a screenshot of that tweet that got me to read the book. I enjoyed it. Want to read it again soon, once I clear out my queue. Currently reading the Wondering Inn series.
It's so funny to have read this book before realizing the story surrounding this tweet. Like my reasons for finding it are also a bit embarrassing and niche (I was looking for aesthetic quotes and lyrics on tumblr for an OC and was stunned by the bit of prose from Time War), but, now knowing the power of sincerity as expressed on the internet, I don't feel so bad for my silly little path to this book.
i was the only person in our book club that was able to finish this book. the rest were too put off by the stream of consciousness that was the entire thing. i'll will be in me forever.
I had never heard of this book But now I am intrigued And your charming enthusiasm have encouraged me to pick it up when I get to the library in a few days to return my current book. Thank you for the recommendation.
Husband bought it for me on a recommendation by November Kelly (podcast host; Trash Future, Well There’s your Problem, etc). On her recommendation he also just bought Peter Watts’ Blindsight and Echopraxia for me too. Unique in their own ways
I first started listening to this as an audio book sometime in 2021, but had to run out and buy a copy to read halfway through. It's probably my favorite book of all time as well; I'm still kind of amazed by it, and as an author, I hope that I can someday create something on this level.
To be at opposite ends of the _visible light spectrum_ they'd be "Red" and "Violet" (or they'd both be called "Purple", because the human visual system kind of treats hue as a circle). And _perceptually,_ the opposite of red is actually cyan (i.e., half way between blue and green). The opposite of pure blue would be pure yellow. Maybe they're called Red and Blue because the authors loved RvB (the Halo-based machinima series). 😜
after watching this video, i expected this to be a much larger channel than you are. this video is great quality! thanks for sharing the story - its on my thrift list now
I read it in 2022 unaware of the fuss going on at Twitter. I was looking at all the awards it got when it came out and I wanted to know why. After I read it, I understood. But I didn't understand why a bunch ot other people seemed to be deciding to read this older book around the same time. Thanks for clearing that up.
I had not heard of this book before watching your video. It's great to get recommendations 😊 I have not actually read much science fiction, but I want that to change. The closest thing to "This is How You Lose the Time War" I have read is probably "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin despite this not being sci fi, in that both are about the intense relationship between two characters and have existential themes - at least according to my vicarious interpretation of the former from your description. I am particularly attracted to the idea of reading "This is How You Lose the Time War" because of your description of it (or someone else's - I don't recall) as having a carnal kind of sapphic love. Intensity of feeling, as a neurodivergent person, is something I find enjoyable and deeply comforting. I find that I am drawn to stories that have certain themes (like this) that I happen to find interesting rather than by placing them into genres per se. This may explain why I felt the instinct to compare it to "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". For example, another book that I have read that springs to mind is Doctor Zhivago: I remember being entranced by the visceral beauty of Pasternak's prose and the large scope of the plot! Maybe that will be similar to "This is How You Lose the Time War"? It will be interesting for me to discover! It was unclear to me if Red and Blue's relationship is sapphic given that you also said that they were representative of their two authors, who seem to be male and female. Regardless, I still think I will enjoy it! Thanks for another great video 😊
Red and Blue are both women! Sorry if that wasn't clear. The authors aren't necessarily representative of their characters in terms of identity, they just lend their distinctive writing voices to each one. And alas, I cannot claim credit for the description of This Is How You Lose the Time War as being about tender, carnal, violent sapphic love -- that was Bigolas Dickolas, who is quite the wordsmith himself, it seems.
Does anyone know about “Griffin and Sabine”? For people today, the Griffin and Sabine books are ancient history and yet are well worth checking out for anyone who loves the Time War.
I bought and read this in 2023 haha. Edit: thanks for the background! I can't remember how I came across it, but I think I was looking for newer scifi books and it had amazing Goodreads scores. I didn't realize I was seeing it everywhere because of a Trigun fan, very cool!
me, mostly a scifi-fantasy reader, never read any literary or flowery fiction my partner, mostly a literary fiction reader, english major, read like two scifi books before we both read this together and we both LOVED IT SO MUCH I can eat this book whole ugh, it's so good I think I would not have enjoyed the book if I did not relate to the emotions, the book gave those feelings words, and so gorgeous ones at that, that i could not have articulated myself I love EVERYTHING about the viral tweet story, the tweet the reaction the clueless authors, bigolas dickolas is my hero P.S. her first scifi book was Project Hail Mary and she _loved_ it; second (technically series) was Murderbot and much the same, loved it
I bought the book back in 2020 having heard of some good reviews and enjoy time travel novel and short stories. I didn't get that far into it until I put it aside. Maybe 1 day I'll give it another try. Interesting about Trigun - I've ordered the volumes mentioned a few months ago. Hopefully I'll enjoy them more or maybe I should reconsider the pre-order.
Good review! Unfortunately, if those quotes are what fans of this book consider highlights, or just typical examples of the quality of writing you can expect from this book, then there's no way I'll be reading this.
13:39 - Well, Bigolas Dickolas is certainly in good company here - Martha Wells, no less! (She did say that she amassed so many awards for her _Murderbot_ series that it is time to make room for younger authors.) BTW, _do_ read _Murderbot_ series!
I've been preaching the wonders of Murderbot to everyone who stays still near me for more than 5 seconds. Just reread it, and it destroyed me all over again. Guess it's time to get destroyed by TIHYLTTW again, too. The quality of sci-fi is so high right now. Best it's been in the 40 years I've been reading
@hive_indicator318 Well, Le Guin, Lem, PKD, Strugatskys are just a bit older than that. There's a lot of great classics. Read them all, in the unlikely case you haven't already. And Iain Banks and, from the current generation, Becky Chambers.
I'ma go buy it right now. If you haven't read the Cradle Series by Will Wight, you owe it to yourself to do so. It's only a bit over 750,000 words spread over twelve books. Piece of cake. (I've read it thrice, and am tempted to read it again.) (Look at the camera, not the screen.)
Unfortunately, I suspect the hardback rerelease of Trigun was most likely due to the release of the 2023 animated series, Trigun Stampede, rather than Mr. Dickolas's tweet, but who can say? I'm not going to complain either way. .... also, if anyone here hasn't listened to the OP for Trigun Stampede, please look up TOMBI by Kvi Baba. I watched the show in November 2023 and streamed the song so much, it was the #1 song on my Spotify wrap. It'll probably be #1 again this year. What can I say, it's a banger.
This has been in my audible queue since about the time it came out. Based on this, I am probably going to pull the trigger and get it with my next credit.
I've been wanting to read this for a while. I had no clue what the book was about, I just liked the title. The idea of a time travel war, and knowing in advance the plan is to lose that war, and that maybe by the end of the book I might want that? This prospect intrigued me. Clearly I need to actually go read it now instead of speculating!
My first experience with this book was my girlfriend reading it to me, which was a very amazing way to consume this book if I say so myself. I had no idea about all of the history behind it though and I loved learning about it.
I absolutely loved this book. It was such a good read. I never saw the tweet so now I'm trying to figure out when I actually picked it up. Did I simply find it or taken up in the wave?
There's one more way you missed by which an author will reach the top of the NYT list. As you mention it can supercharge an author's career, especially if your career path is actually "motivational speaker on the corporate circuit." It can be so career-boosting for a lower or middle tier speaker (e.g. a retired olympian or professional athlete) to become an NYT bestseller that they will invest in themselves by simply buying thousands of their own books. I know of one speaker (one-time Olympian who came dead last in a demonstration sport but gave a fun talk) who took a multi million dollar bank loan, bought his way onto the list, filled his garage with his mediocre motivational drivel, and then sold the now-bestsellers by the crate to whichever company was paying him to talk. His speaker fee was $25k per, not even including the book sales, and once he was a bestseller he would book 80 shows a year.
That does happen in nonfiction, but I’m talking about the fiction list in this video. Though there was an infamous incident in 2017 where a fantasy book author bought her way into being a number one NYT bestseller, and after all the shady details came out, they revised the list to remove the book
That does happen in nonfiction, but I’m talking about the fiction list in this video. Though there was an infamous incident in 2017 where a fantasy book author bought her way into being a number one NYT bestseller, and after all the shady details came out, they revised the list to remove the book
Love this book! I had no idea it had such an unusual rise to popularity. Great video :) also brb buying the pillow with the full text printed on it 🏃♀️💨
Definitely got the book because of Bigolas Dickolas’s tweet lmao. (Tho uh, it’s kinda lost in the tbr pile [cough]). It was one hell of a time to be on twitter and I’m glad nice things can happen on that shithole sometimes.
I didn't enjoy the book that much*, but I am happy for its success. The fiction community needs more innovation and interesting ideas, and while I didn't particularly enjoy this particular book, it is certainly very unique and special. * For those who want to know why, I felt the book didn't really "sell" me on the time travel and the two sides didn't feel well differentiated. This could be an issue with expectations, but the plot of the book seems like it could easily be told using regular, linear time and lose almost nothing about it. In short, the book doesn't really engage with the "time" part of the "time war" premise (at least, plot-wise. Time does show up in the letters as a thematic hook, but the time travel still feels incidental). As for the two factions, and this probably sounds harsh, but I feel like you could just search & replace "computer" with "tree" to swap between the two factions. For big "war" books, I prefer to understand *why* the two sides are at war, and I just couldn't get that from this book. The romance was my favorite part, though. I like the romance bits.
If you like correspondence based romance books with some sci-fi and art in the mix, Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence might be of interest. Also a NYT bestseller if I remember (it has been a long time).
Amal was a teacher at my university. I took a creative writing course and a poetry course with her and only afterwards read this book and fell in love with it 😂
That is SO COOL
@@looseleafellie it really is! Looking back, I see a lot of the writing exercise techniques she taught us in this book.
I loaned this book to a friend who was sleeping over at my place and they burst into my room in the middle of the night crying when they finished it 10/10
AMAZING
I lost it at the book-eating goblin sound effect and subsequent giggles. Now I have to read this even *more.* 😆
@@amessinger that was a very fun part to voice 😄
I gave this book to my mom before having read it myself and without knowing much about it because she was really into Dr Who at the time and I went "ooh timy wimey book". That was certainly a choice I made
Hahaha well I would generally recommend this book to Doctor Who fans, but their ultimate enjoyment of it would depend on their personal reading tastes. People like Doctor Who for a bunch of different reasons, and it’s not always because of the timey wimey-ness
It's actually pretty close to the vibe of NuWho, especially the romantic plots with Ten and Eleven. If your mom liked all the love drama between Ten and Rose, she should like this book just fine!
I was one of the people who saw that tweet and bought the ebook the same day. I loved the book and was mesmerized by the style. When I was done I went out and bought a copy for my partner to read since I couldn't loan the ebook. I, too, am grateful to Bigolas Dickolas! ❤
Are you also going get the Trigun reprint manga tho from Dark Horse? because that looks pretty amazing :D
That’s so lovely!!
This is one of my favorite books, I had no idea about the Bigolus Dickolus of it all 😂
Me neither but I love this!
Bigolas Dickolas
I enjoyed reading it so much, but I can also see why so many people would not like, or even hate this book. It doesn't have any exposition, or details about what's going on, the character development is subtle and given the short length, there isn't much depth, and so much of it is sappy romantic. So I can clearly see why certain type of people would dislike this book. As a romantic at heart who loves writing letters and cards to friends and loved ones, this book felt like written for people like me. I just love the writing, each letter filled with emotions, the yearning. I probably even liked the fact that it was confusing at times. I will definitely be going back to this again a couple of times to enjoy it all over.
Definitely agree that it's not for everyone! No book can appeal to every reader, really. But I really enjoyed the romance and the glimpses of the super inventive sci-fi world.
My main problem with the book is that it has only one thing going for it, dramatic lyrical prose, and it's not very good at it.
It's the level of writing for 13 year olds that just discovered a thesaurus, a lot of the descriptions don't even function because they clearly don't know what all the words mean. The metaphors become warped by their limited understanding of the things they're comparing and a lot of words are used in a context that makes it clear that the writers were misinformed of the definition.
I read this book back in 2020 or so, and it has really stuck with me as one of the most beautiful and clever books I've ever read. It's the kind of book that makes me want to go out and make all my friends read it, and it's the kind of book that makes me want to write something of my own. I had no idea it finally got its time in the spotlight, and I'm really glad that it did. It deserves it. Thanks, Bigolas Dickolas Wolfwood.
I expected to be disappointed and confused by time travel that made no sense and was needlessly overcomplicated. I instead found one of the few 5-star books last year and bought myself a copy, and gifted it! I didn't know about the history of it, at all. It was excellent on audiobook too! I just loved it.
It helps that all the Sci-fi elements - the time travel, the war, the two factions- are just the backdrop for this intimate love story between two people.
I bought this years ago when it was on sale as a Kindle book, but didn't get around to reading it at the time. Last year (unaware of the book's apparently boosted popularity) I got the audiobook via Amazon matchmaker to listen to as I was walking my dog. Finally experiencing the book in this way, it was a lovely surprise. Highly recommended.
That’s so awesome!
This was on my TBR in a casual 'I should read that' way, now it's gone to the top of the TBR for as soon as I finish my current reads. Thank you.
Yayyy, I hope you enjoy it!
I read it when it first came out, and loved it. Thought, this will go on the Hugo best novella short list this year, and it did, and it won. I think this was the first time I read a novella and knew it was a novella, and I started looking for them specifically because the length worked perfect for me.
This book also turned me into a novella fan!
I read it because of the tweet. I don't use twitter, but trigun was also having a moment on tumblr so it got crossposted. I see book recommendations from fandom accounts a lot and this is the only I have ever actually read, trigun is just a specific sort of thing that makes me trust the taste of its fans over other stuff I like. I'm quite dyslexic so I had a hard time with the style of it, and Im still not sure i got everything going on, but it is good and i think that it and trigun have similar shit going on so the tweet was more impactful than most random recommendations would be. Some of the discussion around the tweet was like 'haha a funny named anime fan twitter got this book on the nyt bestsellers list, how random!', and all i could think was like yeah, if a fan account for a currently popular currently on hiatus scifi anime with a lot of themes™ reccomends a scifi book then people are going to check it out, that's probably the least weird thing going on here
That's such a great point! It's often easier to trust media recommendations from someone in the same fandom as you, because you know you probably have a similar taste in fiction.
I thought I’d picked this off the shelf at work to read at some point (work in a job where publishers send us books) but now can’t find it and after this I really want to read it.
PROCURE A COPY AT ANY COST! Also I want your job lol
This premise reminded me of another literary opponent/buddy relationship - Crowley and Aziraphale.
I've got the book on hold at my local library.
I read the book in 2022 and was really amazed by it! The book is unlike anything I read before or after.
And the story about it's skyrocketing success is just to good.
Thank you for the bts facts!
So glad I could provide some fun facts! If you’re interested in short, lyrical speculative fiction books and want to read more, I would also recommend Our Wives Under the Sea by Julia Armfield 😄
I loved when this happened! As an avid lover of Trigun and a member of the audio fiction community, it blew my mind when I found out Bigolas got the book recommendation from a Q&A episode of The Silt Verses, an audio fiction horror-fantasy podcast. The world is so big and yet so small.
This was a definite five star book for me, though I can understand it not being for everyone. Didn’t know the story behind the explosion of people talking about it, but I love that a genuine ‘this changed me and you have to read it’ tweet had such a reaction.
My brother recommended it to me as did my friend L and when I finished it I immediately told my gf she needed to read it. We send letters to each other and have been for years, but after we both read the book they got better. I also really enjoy it because of the violence and passion in their relationship. As someone in a lesbian relationship I am also sick of this flowery nonsense. The letter where Blue speaks of wanting to use a felting needle to stab Red over and over again and leave her irrevocably changed - streaked with blue…that letter has been a continual inspiration.
That’s amazing!!
I read the tweet in the thumbnail, watched till minute 3 and then listened to the entire book before coming back
Good book
Last year while touring through Ontario we stayed at the BnB of Amal El-Mothar's parents. I was reading scifi and they talked about the book their daughter wrote. So I bought and read it once I was home. Loved it.
That’s so cool!
I actually read this as part of a book club like, a year before the tweet went out. It was wild seeing a book i loved go attention because of a tweet
I've been a big Gladstone fan since his first novel, and loved Amal's short stories, so I read Time War when it came out. This meant I experienced the saga of Bigolas Dickolas as so so much joy that authors who I love were having this moment of widespread commercial success. And it's still very funny 😂
I read it after the book hit the bestseller list... It had been on my "i really need to read this" list since Amal is friends with a number of my friends, but i hadn't actually read it yet... Seeing the sudden interest reminded me that i needed to read it, and I'm so glad that i followed up because i loved the heck out of it
I am enough of a sci-fi nerd that I knew of This is How You Lose the Time War before the tweet. The tweet made me buy the audiobook though.
I adore the loveletters. While I saw the plot twist coming from a mile away, it didn't make it any less heartfelt or endearing.
I am very grateful for that tweet.
I have this on audiobook and the two narrators do such a great job of bringing this story to life!!
I was also indifferent on it. The reason I can agree with the person mad at it for not including more world building and hard sci fi stuff is because the characters were pretty meh too. I'm fine with sci fi like that and think the "needs technological exploration" thing is pretentious in itself, but the characters weren't anything much and that's what I need.
It's more like a fantasy focusing on romance than anything.
I came to this book from the BD tweet and really enjoyed it. It found it shared a common trait (at least for me anyway) of many sci-fi books - where early on I'm not what's happening, but I just keep reading and it end's up coming together.
All hail Bigolas Dickolas!! I find that sci-fi as a genre has a particular affinity for stories that can get really weird and experimental, and this book definitely fits into that tradition
I have always been tempted by this book, but every time I came to buy it, it always seemed too short, there was always something longer for the same money. Your vid has made up my mind to ignore the length and I will be reading it. A very interesting look into the back story of the book. Subscribed and about to sign up for the newsletter.
Yayyy I’m so glad to hear that! The writing is so dense and gorgeous that you get a lot of bang for your buck
You are very well-spoken. It is a treat to watch a video by someone who talks like an adult.
I'm getting St Andrews...?
@@stevecarter8810if you’re referring to the accent, it’s Oxford-area English and Texan smashed up in a blender 😅 I do get a lot of people thinking I’m Scottish though
@@looseleafellie amazing! Yes I was getting east coast of Scotland. If I'm autistic (I think I am) then my special topic might be spotting accents. Yours is a gem, which I can now put in its own unique place in my collection. Thanks!
Ps. Given the Texan element, I would now put the English element in the South West...?
This book legitimately made me cry. I read it in the span of four hours, and I've been trying to get everyone to read it.
Same here! Luckily for us, Bigolas Dickolas is making sure that everyone WILL read it!
I had a friend who got to meet Gladstone back in like I think 2013 and got into his craft sequence series which is not nearly as popular as TIHYLTTW so it was great seeing him get some recognition. I just want people to read craft sequence, its so much fun. So much world building and themes and I love a book that requires me to put in work on thinking. I have not read a glad stone book I haven't liked.
I want to check out his other books too now! (And El-Mohtar’s - I think she has a solo book coming out next year)
I wasn't a fan of the book and DNF'd it around 30% in. You're making me consider giving it another go.
Me too
You cannot understand how much this recommendation means without understanding how much I **HATE** time travel stories, and I am actually contemplating buying this book.
Do it. The time travel isn't annoying, it's so lightly touched on that inconsistencies and contradictions don't distract.
I read it in 2019 and own it in Hardcover. I still bought the ebook during all the hype just to be part of that beautiful moment. It's a lovely, gnarly book and I'm glad it keeps finding new audiences.
I bought this a couple of years ago, fell in love, annotated the heck out of it, and lent it to a partner to read immediately.
This video randomly popped up in my feed, and the premise of the book alone ABSOLUTELY sold me on getting this book.
Yayyy, I hope you enjoy it!
I had given this one a skip but you’ve convinced me to give it a go.
I’m shocked at how small your channel is. That was a well-presented and informative video and you’ve earned my subscription. Looking forward to more.
That means so much to me, thank you! I love making video essays and I hope to create lots more in the future
Thanks for making this video. My friends and I will read the book now. It's just up our alley 😊
omg I can't believe Bigolas Dickcolas would resurface a whole ass year after it happened
I bought this book on Amazon and it never came. I had them send me another copy instead of getting a refund. I got that book and then a few weeks later, the original one I bought came in the mail. Amazon told me to send one of them back or be charged. Anyway, now I own 2 copies of the book; sitting side-by-side on the shelf. I've never read it.
Thank you, I have read the book and love it, but didn't know anything about all this. One of the many aspects I like is how you can feel the authors having fun, latching on to details in eachothers letters and building the story with it. Cheers!
Ordered it half way through the video! LOL.
Yay!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did :D
Just requested it from the library. I love unique storytelling ideas, like the interviews in "World War Z" (Max Brooks) and the diary-style entries of "Day by Day Armageddon" (JL Bourne). Looking forward to reading this.
I work in a bookstore so I had a friend recommend this to me in about 2022. Learning about all this is amazing and I hope this video convinces a few more people to read it
Bookstore employees give the best recs!
Thank you for reminding me that this book was on my To Read list!
Read the book for the first time in June and so far it’s my book of the year. Really interesting video about how it became as popular as it did. I had no idea.
Hated the book, but loved your video. Very interesting.
It's on my list, but I haven't read it yet.
I learned about the book because in one of the follow-up interviews Bigolas Dickolas was asked if they had any other recommendations, and they recommended my favorite fiction podcast of all time, The Silt Verses, and probably tripled TSV's audience in the process, lol. So, I am convinced of their good taste. I will probably pick up Time War whenever I manage to finish House of Leaves.
That's so cool! It's always exciting to see book recs from someone who likes a lot of the same media as you, because you can be relatively confident that you have similar taste
This strikes me as a similar parallel that's on/off between two entities that I really haven't seen since Mark Danielewski's Only Revolutions. Will definitely give that one a look.
BD leveraging the attention to campaign for a Trigun reprint is hilarious and on brand. I have the book, I got it in one of those 99p Amazon sales before the tweet made it viral, but I haven't gotten around to reading it yet. I might just shift it to the top of my TBR
Pretty sure it was a screenshot of that tweet that got me to read the book. I enjoyed it. Want to read it again soon, once I clear out my queue. Currently reading the Wondering Inn series.
That's it. I'm buying a copy. Bookstore, here I come!
The two authors' origin story is kinda adorable.
It's so funny to have read this book before realizing the story surrounding this tweet. Like my reasons for finding it are also a bit embarrassing and niche (I was looking for aesthetic quotes and lyrics on tumblr for an OC and was stunned by the bit of prose from Time War), but, now knowing the power of sincerity as expressed on the internet, I don't feel so bad for my silly little path to this book.
I was lucky to get this book (on audible) shortly after it posted. It's beautiful.
I just ordered this book in paperback. I don't Twitter. I'm new to your channel. I don't know how this video got recommended to me.
i was the only person in our book club that was able to finish this book. the rest were too put off by the stream of consciousness that was the entire thing.
i'll will be in me forever.
I had never heard of this book But now I am intrigued And your charming enthusiasm have encouraged me to pick it up when I get to the library in a few days to return my current book. Thank you for the recommendation.
Ahh yay, I hope you enjoy it!
I read it. Now I may reread it despite the tower of unread books I own
Husband bought it for me on a recommendation by November Kelly (podcast host; Trash Future, Well There’s your Problem, etc).
On her recommendation he also just bought Peter Watts’ Blindsight and Echopraxia for me too. Unique in their own ways
I first started listening to this as an audio book sometime in 2021, but had to run out and buy a copy to read halfway through. It's probably my favorite book of all time as well; I'm still kind of amazed by it, and as an author, I hope that I can someday create something on this level.
To be at opposite ends of the _visible light spectrum_ they'd be "Red" and "Violet" (or they'd both be called "Purple", because the human visual system kind of treats hue as a circle).
And _perceptually,_ the opposite of red is actually cyan (i.e., half way between blue and green). The opposite of pure blue would be pure yellow.
Maybe they're called Red and Blue because the authors loved RvB (the Halo-based machinima series). 😜
I just ordered the book due to this review. Thank you for the interesting history of this book blowing up.
after watching this video, i expected this to be a much larger channel than you are. this video is great quality! thanks for sharing the story - its on my thrift list now
Thank you so much - that means a lot to me! I’ve only posted three videos so far, but I hope to grow my channel and have tons of fun with it
I read it in 2022 unaware of the fuss going on at Twitter. I was looking at all the awards it got when it came out and I wanted to know why. After I read it, I understood. But I didn't understand why a bunch ot other people seemed to be deciding to read this older book around the same time. Thanks for clearing that up.
It's probably the most beautiful book I have read
This video has convinced me to read This Is How You Lose the Time War
I had not heard of this book before watching your video. It's great to get recommendations 😊
I have not actually read much science fiction, but I want that to change. The closest thing to "This is How You Lose the Time War" I have read is probably "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow" by Gabrielle Zevin despite this not being sci fi, in that both are about the intense relationship between two characters and have existential themes - at least according to my vicarious interpretation of the former from your description.
I am particularly attracted to the idea of reading "This is How You Lose the Time War" because of your description of it (or someone else's - I don't recall) as having a carnal kind of sapphic love. Intensity of feeling, as a neurodivergent person, is something I find enjoyable and deeply comforting.
I find that I am drawn to stories that have certain themes (like this) that I happen to find interesting rather than by placing them into genres per se. This may explain why I felt the instinct to compare it to "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow". For example, another book that I have read that springs to mind is Doctor Zhivago: I remember being entranced by the visceral beauty of Pasternak's prose and the large scope of the plot! Maybe that will be similar to "This is How You Lose the Time War"? It will be interesting for me to discover!
It was unclear to me if Red and Blue's relationship is sapphic given that you also said that they were representative of their two authors, who seem to be male and female. Regardless, I still think I will enjoy it!
Thanks for another great video 😊
Red and Blue are both women! Sorry if that wasn't clear. The authors aren't necessarily representative of their characters in terms of identity, they just lend their distinctive writing voices to each one. And alas, I cannot claim credit for the description of This Is How You Lose the Time War as being about tender, carnal, violent sapphic love -- that was Bigolas Dickolas, who is quite the wordsmith himself, it seems.
I love this book! Read it before Bigalos Dickalos brought it to the wider attention of the public but I’m so glad he did!!
Does anyone know about “Griffin and Sabine”? For people today, the Griffin and Sabine books are ancient history and yet are well worth checking out for anyone who loves the Time War.
I bought and read this in 2023 haha. Edit: thanks for the background! I can't remember how I came across it, but I think I was looking for newer scifi books and it had amazing Goodreads scores. I didn't realize I was seeing it everywhere because of a Trigun fan, very cool!
I’m interested in reading TIHYLTTW now. But I’ll especially mention it to my daughter, who is even more of a Dr. Who fanatic than me.😀
me, mostly a scifi-fantasy reader, never read any literary or flowery fiction
my partner, mostly a literary fiction reader, english major, read like two scifi books before
we both read this together and we both LOVED IT SO MUCH
I can eat this book whole ugh, it's so good
I think I would not have enjoyed the book if I did not relate to the emotions, the book gave those feelings words, and so gorgeous ones at that, that i could not have articulated myself
I love EVERYTHING about the viral tweet story, the tweet the reaction the clueless authors, bigolas dickolas is my hero
P.S. her first scifi book was Project Hail Mary and she _loved_ it; second (technically series) was Murderbot and much the same, loved it
@@thelastcube. that is SO COOL!
I bought the book back in 2020 having heard of some good reviews and enjoy time travel novel and short stories. I didn't get that far into it until I put it aside. Maybe 1 day I'll give it another try.
Interesting about Trigun - I've ordered the volumes mentioned a few months ago. Hopefully I'll enjoy them more or maybe I should reconsider the pre-order.
I am pretty sure I have read this, but it was a few years back at least. Yes,. winning a Hugo means it often ends up on my groups reading list.
Good review!
Unfortunately, if those quotes are what fans of this book consider highlights, or just typical examples of the quality of writing you can expect from this book, then there's no way I'll be reading this.
13:39 - Well, Bigolas Dickolas is certainly in good company here - Martha Wells, no less! (She did say that she amassed so many awards for her _Murderbot_ series that it is time to make room for younger authors.)
BTW, _do_ read _Murderbot_ series!
I've been preaching the wonders of Murderbot to everyone who stays still near me for more than 5 seconds. Just reread it, and it destroyed me all over again. Guess it's time to get destroyed by TIHYLTTW again, too.
The quality of sci-fi is so high right now. Best it's been in the 40 years I've been reading
@hive_indicator318 Well, Le Guin, Lem, PKD, Strugatskys are just a bit older than that. There's a lot of great classics.
Read them all, in the unlikely case you haven't already. And Iain Banks and, from the current generation, Becky Chambers.
I'ma go buy it right now.
If you haven't read the Cradle Series by Will Wight, you owe it to yourself to do so. It's only a bit over 750,000 words spread over twelve books. Piece of cake. (I've read it thrice, and am tempted to read it again.)
(Look at the camera, not the screen.)
I didn't know about this being a viral sensation last year, I read the book at the end of 2019, I guess I beat the rush 🤷♂️
Unfortunately, I suspect the hardback rerelease of Trigun was most likely due to the release of the 2023 animated series, Trigun Stampede, rather than Mr. Dickolas's tweet, but who can say? I'm not going to complain either way.
.... also, if anyone here hasn't listened to the OP for Trigun Stampede, please look up TOMBI by Kvi Baba. I watched the show in November 2023 and streamed the song so much, it was the #1 song on my Spotify wrap. It'll probably be #1 again this year. What can I say, it's a banger.
On the merit of this video, I have sought out my local independent book shop and emailed them to buy a copy. Thank you for the recommendation!
Yayyy, I hope you enjoy it! And great to support indie bookstores 😄
This has been in my audible queue since about the time it came out. Based on this, I am probably going to pull the trigger and get it with my next credit.
I've been wanting to read this for a while. I had no clue what the book was about, I just liked the title. The idea of a time travel war, and knowing in advance the plan is to lose that war, and that maybe by the end of the book I might want that? This prospect intrigued me. Clearly I need to actually go read it now instead of speculating!
My first experience with this book was my girlfriend reading it to me, which was a very amazing way to consume this book if I say so myself. I had no idea about all of the history behind it though and I loved learning about it.
Very comprehensive video! Has definitely convinced me to put it on my to-read list. Keep up the good work
I absolutely loved this book. It was such a good read. I never saw the tweet so now I'm trying to figure out when I actually picked it up. Did I simply find it or taken up in the wave?
This was a recommendation from my daughter, and I really need to follow more of the recommendations of my daguhters, because this was amazing.
There's one more way you missed by which an author will reach the top of the NYT list. As you mention it can supercharge an author's career, especially if your career path is actually "motivational speaker on the corporate circuit."
It can be so career-boosting for a lower or middle tier speaker (e.g. a retired olympian or professional athlete) to become an NYT bestseller that they will invest in themselves by simply buying thousands of their own books. I know of one speaker (one-time Olympian who came dead last in a demonstration sport but gave a fun talk) who took a multi million dollar bank loan, bought his way onto the list, filled his garage with his mediocre motivational drivel, and then sold the now-bestsellers by the crate to whichever company was paying him to talk. His speaker fee was $25k per, not even including the book sales, and once he was a bestseller he would book 80 shows a year.
That does happen in nonfiction, but I’m talking about the fiction list in this video. Though there was an infamous incident in 2017 where a fantasy book author bought her way into being a number one NYT bestseller, and after all the shady details came out, they revised the list to remove the book
That does happen in nonfiction, but I’m talking about the fiction list in this video. Though there was an infamous incident in 2017 where a fantasy book author bought her way into being a number one NYT bestseller, and after all the shady details came out, they revised the list to remove the book
Convinced. Ordered. Arriving today. Thx!
Yayyy, I hope you enjoy it!
Love this book! I had no idea it had such an unusual rise to popularity. Great video :)
also brb buying the pillow with the full text printed on it 🏃♀️💨
I bought it because of the tweet, and was absolutely enchanted by it.
This was such a charming video Ellie! And I just ordered the book LOL. Cant wait to read it!🎉❤
Definitely got the book because of Bigolas Dickolas’s tweet lmao. (Tho uh, it’s kinda lost in the tbr pile [cough]). It was one hell of a time to be on twitter and I’m glad nice things can happen on that shithole sometimes.
For all my love of Doctor Who and Back to the Future, I think this is the only "time travel war" book I've ever read. I loved it so much!
Yup. You got me. Buying the book now.
I found it in Walmart and remembered the tweet.
I didn't enjoy the book that much*, but I am happy for its success. The fiction community needs more innovation and interesting ideas, and while I didn't particularly enjoy this particular book, it is certainly very unique and special.
* For those who want to know why, I felt the book didn't really "sell" me on the time travel and the two sides didn't feel well differentiated. This could be an issue with expectations, but the plot of the book seems like it could easily be told using regular, linear time and lose almost nothing about it. In short, the book doesn't really engage with the "time" part of the "time war" premise (at least, plot-wise. Time does show up in the letters as a thematic hook, but the time travel still feels incidental). As for the two factions, and this probably sounds harsh, but I feel like you could just search & replace "computer" with "tree" to swap between the two factions. For big "war" books, I prefer to understand *why* the two sides are at war, and I just couldn't get that from this book. The romance was my favorite part, though. I like the romance bits.
I have read TIHYLTTW!
My fav wlw book is the Mercies by Kiran Millwood Hargrave
Ooo I’ll have to check that one out!
Thank you for the recommendation!
If you like correspondence based romance books with some sci-fi and art in the mix, Griffin and Sabine: An Extraordinary Correspondence might be of interest. Also a NYT bestseller if I remember (it has been a long time).