[Malaclypse]

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Number of downloads: 4

http://store.pspubli...revolvo_hc.html

Quote

In the fictitious country of Canada the arts scene is ruled by technocrats who thrive in a secret, nepotistic society of granting agencies, bursaries, awards and peer review boards, all designed to permit self-proclaimed artists to survive without an audience.

In Revolvo, self-proclaimed "hack genre writer" Steven Erikson provides a daring expose of creative skullduggery in the wilds of a country suffering an interminable identity crisis. The names of plenty of real people have been changed and all specific details of the setting have been messed with, so if anyone guesses a certain prairie city in the middle Canada, where the author used to live, well, you'd be plain wrong. Besides, it was a long time ago and his memory is not so good.

In short, this is SE at his best and the PS Publishing version is sweet as the winners of our GotM art contest will find out in the New Year. One of my favourites. The octopod storyline is hilarious, as is the Neandertal who hunts vegetarians, the suicide-bombing pigeons and the list goes on...Reminds me of Tom Robbins' best stuff (Another Roadside Attraction, Skinny Legs and All, Jitterbug Perfume)

[Malaclypse]

*bump* updated.

[Puck]

Brilliant. I love it. From the octopod to the pigeons and everything in-between, I love it.

[Corporal Nobbs]

Agreed. Never read anything even remotely resembling this before.


I'M AN ARTIST! AARRGGHHH! hehe

[Sir Thursday]

It was good fun, this. As others have said, some great veers to the absurd, be it the casual violence of bodyguards towards scout troops, humourous body size differences, ingenious condom-counting octopods or vegetarian eating Neanderthals. Having said that, it was incredibly polemic satire, and such things tend to work better when the audience knows about the object of mockery (in this case the Canadian arts scene). I can only assume that the various 'artists' we see are in fact caricatures of various influential figures, and I got the feeling that due to my lack of knowledge in the area, large amounts of this went over my head. Still, there are the humourous gems that Erikson is so good at scattered about to keep things on track.

I was reminded a little of Vandermeer in bits of it, but then that might just have been the Octopod.


ST

[Fid]

I have to agree with the assessments of Revolvo - I really enjoyed the quirky and colourful characters and am most grateful to Malaclypse for introducing me to the novella. As well as the amusing octopod I also found the hospital scene hilarious. Steve manages to create 3D word images in his descriptions of people - whether in the ostensibly real world of Canada or the that of the Malazan Empire.

[Overactive Imagination]

Revolvo is possibly the greatest book I've ever read!