| |
|
Yes, I know his stuff. His web page is here.
Veniss Underground is a dark tale of biological experiment, grafting, genetic engineering etc. There are large talking meercats & small sentient blue Ganeshes all over the place. The climax is an orphean descent into horror.
City of Saints & Madmen is a collection of pieces about his strange city of Ambergris with its fungi, troglodytic indigenes & giant freshwater squid. It contains a lot of historical stuff which would possibly explain some of the more obscure references in Shriek. You'll find that there are a few different editions of City... earlier compilations, later ones, American ones etc. This can be confusing.
The funny diseases book is quite novel & entertaining but not a "sit down with a good book" like the others, IMHO.
I think that comparisons with Mieville are inevitable & not too left field, although style & format are quite different. In Vandermeer's books a picture of what heppened is slowly assembled in quite a modular, non linear sort of way. One minute you're in a narrative , the next you could be reading a guide book or a bit of artistic criticism. That said, it hangs together well.
BTW Mieville's Scar has to be one of my all time favourites. More so that Vandermeer, I'm afraid. |
|
|
