<![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online - io9 Comments]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> Sweet. A new addiction. I just need to finish the newest Greg Cook.

Tenno

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> The one where they defeat the Spiderians, and everyone gets $300 Tricky Dick Fun Bill refund. Kiff buys Amy a watch, which Mushu the whale swallows, so Leela makes him vomit, and Kiff swims around in it to get the watch back. Afterwards, the whale biologist has him arrested for being covered in precious ambergris.

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @braak: Which episode was that? I don't remember it! GAAAH, MY MEMORY IS SLIPPING AWAY!!!!

Bob_of_Mars

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Bob_of_Mars: It's a reference to an episode of Futurama (one of the best episodes, in my opinion), that features ambergris.

It's all I can think of any time the word "ambergris" comes up, now.

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @braak: HUH?? (I do like my hamburgers, though)

Bob_of_Mars

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Annalee Newitz: I agree. Uggh, "slipstream" is a terrible unnecessary term. What about, oh idon't know... "fiction"? It's been good enough for Borges, Calvino, Iain "Emmless" Banks, and other authors I like.
But speaking of pretentious -- I've been trying to read Shreik: an Afterword, also by Vandermeer but can't get into it. Maybe it's because the narrators are just really snobby obnoxious. Should I ditch it and try Veniss Underground. I'd really appreciate your advice on this.

Grey_Area

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> I love Vandermeer, his works are like a mix of Lovecraft, Borges, and Nabokov. Those interested in his more sci-fi work should read Veniss Underground, which feature intelligent Meercats and contains elements of Dante and Orpheus and Eurydice.
If you like Vandermeer, I also recommend Micheal Cisco and KJ Bishop, as well as the Leviathan collections of short stories.

golemnist

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Tim Faulkner: It's not annoying -- it's actually something I want to figure out. You'll be happy to know that Charlie and I debate this sometimes, and she thinks "slipstream" is a pretentious term.

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Annalee Newitz: (P.S. I know it gets annoying, but this is going to be my personal crusade.)

Tim Faulkner

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Annalee Newitz: Thanks, I figured with your background and almost always correct views you would. So can't io9 just kill it? Sterling doesn't need the pat on the back. You've posted on Speed Racer and Comics without need for explanation -- so why do we have to pretend that scifi writers created a mode of writing that has existed since the beginning of literary forms and already has a robust vocabulary of description and analysis for close to a hundred years without needing "steampunkiness."

I know it can be convenient, but it's annoying and does more harm than good.

Tim Faulkner

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Tim Faulkner: I hate it too. Hate it less than "urban fantasy," though.

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> Sounds cool. Still hate the term "slipstream." Yuck!

Tim Faulkner

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @braak: Ah my precious hamburgerz.

Annalee Newitz

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> @Bob_of_Mars: "Precious hamburgers?"

braak

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> Ambergris? Isn't that part of a whale?

Ah HA! I was right: "Ambra grisea, Ambre gris, ambergrease, or grey amber) is a solid, waxy, flammable substance of a dull gray or blackish color produced in the digestive system of sperm whales. Ambergris has a peculiar sweet, earthy odor (similar to isopropyl alcohol); though it has now been largely displaced by synthetics, the principal historical use of ambergris was as a fixative in perfumery." (www.wikipedia.org)

Bob_of_Mars

]]> <![CDATA[Slipstream Office Politics in Jeff VanderMeer's "The Situation," Free Online]]> i'm super cereal, scifi-lit-alt is real and it's coming to take over your productivity.

tetracycloide

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