I forgot that Sterling was fuh-nee! The Leggy Starlitz stories are f*cking hilarious. I love them. Even though they’re out of date, pointing back to some bygone moment just after the Russians tore down the wall, they’re still the most up to the moment thing Sterling’s ever written. There’s lots more to say on this. The Shaper/Mechanist stuff is a hipper version of Baxter’s Xeelee stuff, but out of date. Gone daddy, gone. “Dori Bangs”, though, will never date. Nor will the fantasy stuff. And, how did I miss that “Taklamakan” was what brought it all full circle? Suddenly, there is it is: Leggy Starlitz meets the Shaper/Mechanists. A Russian scam about star travel buried deep under some crazy-ass Asian steppe. Awesome stuff. More on this soon, but (a) you need to buy this book when it comes out – the collections are no substitute; (b) you have to read from the beginning to the end – no skipping; and (c) I need to write the goddamn flap copy.
Oh, and anyone got ideas for the title for an original antho series? It’s getting ridiculous.
PS: I love the interwebs when proofing. Sterling refers to ‘kawai’ as Japanese cuteness in a story. Google says 3.8 million hits, if you spell it ‘kawaii’. Neat. You need to be cautious, but how useful is that?
Looking forward to it a lot. And looking forward to reading it from the beginning to the end, without skipping.
Dori Bangs is such atypical Sterling, and so perfect. One of the few stories I cannot read without being emotionally effected. Stands on its own perfectly.
Most of Sterlings stuff works better in context, though. Crystal Express is one of my favourite collections, because apart from one fantasy story I don’t like much, the whole thing works perfectly as exporations of the same themes in different directions.
I doubt there’ll be anything in the book you won’t have read already, but there’s something about reading through from 1980 to 2006 that gives you a different perspective on the stories.
I’ll be looking forward to this one also – I’m still moderately new to short fiction, but Sterling pushes all the right buttons for me. I assume you’ll announce here when we can pre-order?
Can’t wait to read the Bruce Sterling collection… I was not crazy about the whole Shaper/Mechanist sequence, but the stuff he wrote since, say, 1997… awesome! Definitely a must buy!
Original anthology series title: NEW MILLENNIUM? or something with MILLENNIUM in it? I think it has a nice ring to it…