dead Iain Banks

[Death Impends 8,043]

Certainly of about all the people to have announced terminal illness in the past few months he seemed like having one of the best odds of seeing 2014. Funny thing, death.

[charon 4,943]

 

 

Regards the Ken MacLeod/Chris Brookmyre thing, while I'd agree that ken is by far the superior Sci-Fi writer, I think Chris is still the higher profile author.

 

Ken macleod? Not. Even. In. Fuckin. Jest.

[EGN 121]

I will take the above as an objection to Brookmyre being cast as more popular than MacLeod, apologies in advance if thats not what you meant.

 

From my perspective, they've been active around the same amount of time but Brookmyre has released a couple more books (14 to 16, according to wiki) and they've garnered similar amounts of awards for their respective genre 'awards' bodies but, to be perfectly commerical about it, as a habitual bookshop lurker I just see Brookmyre's product in more places than MacLeod's.

 

Brookmyre's main fayre is just geared towards a bigger, more widely read market and I feel that he is more widely known and read as a consequence. To be honest, i'm only aware of MacLeod's name from the 'Scottish Authors' section of Waterstones and on checking, I think I may have read 'Learning the World' in an airport some years ago, but he's pretty far from my own regular tastes.

 

I have no doubt that within the genre of Sci-Fi, MacLeod is better known and that you could chuck a dart in a West End pub and hit a more technically gifted writer than Brookmyre, but cross genre Chris has the numbers IMO.

 

Happy to be proved wrong if I am somehow missing MacLeod's true popularity.

[Phantom 2,552]

I've yet to get around to reading "Whit" and also "Complicity". Started to read them, got sidetracked after the first couple of chapters, then completely forgot where I was in the story.

[charon 4,943]

I will take the above as an objection to Brookmyre being cast as more popular than MacLeod, apologies in advance if thats not what you meant.

 

From my perspective, they've been active around the same amount of time but Brookmyre has released a couple more books (14 to 16, according to wiki) and they've garnered similar amounts of awards for their respective genre 'awards' bodies but, to be perfectly commerical about it, as a habitual bookshop lurker I just see Brookmyre's product in more places than MacLeod's.

 

Brookmyre's main fayre is just geared towards a bigger, more widely read market and I feel that he is more widely known and read as a consequence. To be honest, i'm only aware of MacLeod's name from the 'Scottish Authors' section of Waterstones and on checking, I think I may have read 'Learning the World' in an airport some years ago, but he's pretty far from my own regular tastes.

 

I have no doubt that within the genre of Sci-Fi, MacLeod is better known and that you could chuck a dart in a West End pub and hit a more technically gifted writer than Brookmyre, but cross genre Chris has the numbers IMO.

 

Happy to be proved wrong if I am somehow missing MacLeod's true popularity.

 

 

Wasn't being nippy

 

Macleod to me was a poor man's Banks in sci fi terms, and brookmyre was more akin to des dillon in style.

 

Macleod just never had "it" that elevated Banks.

[the_engineer 1,415]

Certainly of about all the people to have announced terminal illness in the past few months he seemed like having one of the best odds of seeing 2014. Funny thing, death.

 

Yea i can't believe bernie is still going . If she is still alive by october there is a good chance she will make 2014 .

[Paul Bearer 6,130]

If anybody gives a rats, his final interview will be shown on BBC2 now in England, Scotland and N.I. Wales get to see it at 11.20

[Bibliogryphon 9,645]

I've yet to get around to reading "Whit" and also "Complicity". Started to read them, got sidetracked after the first couple of chapters, then completely forgot where I was in the story.

 

If this is a problem then try Excession it doesn't matter where you pick it up it makes no sense at all.