Comments on: China MiÃ©ville (BSS #105)

By: China Mieville II (BSS #298) : The Bat Segundo Show

China Mieville II (BSS #298) : The Bat Segundo Show — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:35:21 +0000

[...] China Mieville is most recently the author of The City & The City. He previously appeared on The Bat Segundo Show #105. [...]

By: Is worldbuilding pointless? - Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums

Is worldbuilding pointless? - Science Fiction Fantasy Chronicles: forums — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 12:03:45 +0000

[...] “Miéville: There are different ways of world-building. When we say “world-building,” we tend to think of that D&D-esque kind, which is not a diss incidentally. It’s just a description. It’s sort of a consolidation between the geography and the history and the culture and so on before writing the story. At that’s one way of doing it. But then there are others, which are less rigid, less to do with internal coherence, in the same way. So in terms of something like Un Lun Dun or some of the short stories or even King Rat, and the book I’m working on the moment as well, it’s less to do with having a coherent back-narrative and more to do with having a coherent moral and emotional feeling. I know the whole question of world-building is quite controversial at the moment, because M. John Harrison just wrote his blistering attack on the idea. Which I thought was, characteristically for his stuff, was a brilliant provocation and full of a certain kind of angry integrity. I don’t agree with him exactly, but I think it would be a fool who dismissed his criticisms out of hand.” And, of course, the Big Question: “would Tolkien’s books have been nearly as enjoyable if he hadn’t described his world at length?” The Bat Segundo Show » Blog Archive » BSS #105: China MiÃ©ville And of course, there’s the Big Question: "would The Lord of the Rings have been nearly as enjoyable if Tolkien hadn’t passionately built his world?" [...]

By: The dough on China Mieville « The Antidote

The dough on China Mieville « The Antidote — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 08:20:55 +0000

[...] You can find podcast interviews here and here. [...]

By: Eliza Tucker >> Almost Hypergraphic » Tuesday Update: Nothingwrong

Eliza Tucker >> Almost Hypergraphic » Tuesday Update: Nothingwrong — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 20:24:44 +0000

[...] Today, I listened to the Bat Segundo show interview China MiÃ©ville.Â MiÃ©ville, a socialist, had some really interesting things to say about (CS) Lewis, from a perspective that is entirely different from mine.Â Might be of some interest to you, so I thought I’d pass it along. [...]

By: Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » Roundup and a Callout

Edward Champion’s Return of the Reluctant » Roundup and a Callout — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 17:23:22 +0000

[...] John Freeman writes: “How, after all, could one review ‘Slaughterhouse Five’ without commenting upon the novel’s deeply humanistic vision? How will critics talk about former NBCC winner Jim Crace’s upcoming apocalyptic novel ‘The Pesthouse’ (which is set in America) without engaging with the very real political undercurrents caused by his flip-flopping of our greatest migration myths (having people trying to leave the country, rather than enter it)? How does one review a book like William T. Vollmann’s ‘Poor People’ without pausing for more than an aside to marvel how infrequently this population winds up in a book at all?” Well, it’s very simple. In Vollmann’s case, you observe the level of scholarship and the degree to which the book succeeds or fails at personal journalism. In the case of the two novels, you remark upon how thematically effective the narrative is. This has very little to do with politics, although I can see how a politically conscious reader might pick up certain connections. China MiÃ©ville and I recently had an interesting conversation about how an author’s imagination does, in fact, dwell outside of his political sensibilities. In MiÃ©ville’s case, the monsters that MiÃ©ville creates have nothing to do with his Marxist leanings. [...]

By: Yatterings » China Mieville speaks

Yatterings » China Mieville speaks — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 12:12:18 +0000

[...] Just saw this link on the Bat SegundoÂ show for an interview with China Mieville. I’ve got Un Lun DunÂ on the to be read pile but China always has interesting things to say. Posted in Interviews, Authors, Books on April 12th, 2007 RSS 2.0 Trackback. [...]

[...] Top British fantasy author, the award-winning China MiÃ©ville, is interviewed on the always-excellent Bat Segundo show, where among many subjects covered is the important Fantasy genre topic of world building: [...]