As Others See Us Of The Day

[coalescent]

Noodling around on Amazon, I stumble upon the paperback of Lydia Millet's Oh Pure and Radiant Heart. It does not say "nominated for the Arthur C. Clarke Award" on the cover; instead, the uncredited "synopsis" concludes:

"Oh Pure and Radiant Heart" is no more a SF novel than "The Time-Traveller's Wife". Instead, it is a powerful and original fiction of responsibility and guilt, today's America, and the peculiar terrors of our nuclear world.

However, customers who bought this item also bought Gradisil, Nova Swing, and Hav (and the paperback for the latter carries an Ursula le Guin blurb, which suggests they're not ignoring the sf market, at least). Ha.

Comments

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

Ignore my nonsensical commitude ... there is no one behind this curtain.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Dammit! I was about to reply to that. :-)

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

In the like 15 seconds before I retracted? (You can comment on the general thought if you want - I started to write it up and then thought "hmmm I ought to be sure it the other is a romance/sf hybrid too and then accidentally posted when I meant to post to celia's blog because I was writing up another comment simultaneously.)

But I do stand by the thought that if you can appeal to a huge market or a small one (because the huge market will be offput by appeals to the large one the small market will read it anyway, you go for the big market - that's just sense.)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. I just think that if you marketed Oh Pure and Radiant Heart to romance readers they might get a bit of a shock. :)

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

appeals to the small one, not large one and stick an and in there.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

>"Oh Pure and Radiant Heart" is no more a SF novel than "The Time-Traveller's Wife".

So...it's an SF novel, then?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Heh, quite. It did occur to me that the writer might be trying to be extremely clever and subtle, nudge-nudge wink-wink, rather than just irritating, but if so I think they missed.

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

the time traveller's wife is romance novel, thank you very much.

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

Stop trampling on my pith!

[secritcrush.livejournal.com]

*skulks into a pithless corner*

[buymeaclue.livejournal.com]

You want I should pith you?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

It's a dessert topping and a floor wax!

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

Can I go slightly on record as saying right now that if I were a publisher looking at our sales figures right now I'd want to class anything as Sci-Fi (or crime, or romance or any genre) rather than general or literary fiction.

Because the latter two are not growing areas in sales...

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Can I go slightly on record

How very accomplished of you.

[nuttyxander.livejournal.com]

Hey, I even visited stores today.

(my ongoing project to use fewer needless qualifiers needs some work)

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Perhaps you could donate them to Graham? He seems to get through a lot.

-- tom

[grahamsleight.livejournal.com]

I think some have said that, perhaps.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

While it's clearly ludicrous to argue that Oh Pure and Radiant Heart isn't SF, I think that, much like The Time Traveler's Wife and Never Let Me Go and just about every other work of outsider SF, it isn't successful as a genre work.

Unlike TTTW and NLMG, however, it is freaking awesome.

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

Except that, of course, NLMG is indeed freaking awesome :-)

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I suspect that every single person reading this disagrees strongly with at least one of the value-judgements Abigail made in her comment ...

[veggiesu.livejournal.com]

Almost certainly :-) Although I'm probably in the minority over *which* of her value judgements I strongly disagree with :-p

[bibliolicious.livejournal.com]

I dunno. I think my co-blogger Vicky would agree.

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

I claim a hat-trick!

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

Actually, I suspect there are more NLMG-lovers than TTTW-lovers or OP&RH-lovers in this thread.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

My guess would actually be that TTTW is more loved than NLMG is more loved than OP&RH; But clearly this calls for a poll.

[abigail-n.livejournal.com]

I'm surprised there aren't more people who disagree with all three.

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

I think she's entirely right.

-- tom

[twic.myopenid.com (from livejournal.com)]

Although, to be fair, i'm not a single person.

-- tom

[i-ate-my-crusts.livejournal.com]

Can I go with freaking noisome, instead? I hated OP&RH with a passion that burns hotter than a really hot thing.

*cough*

[pigeonhed.livejournal.com]

There is now a customer review which highlights the ACCA shortlisting.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Wasn't this in Ansible two months ago? Slow, Harrison, slow.

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

You're just bitter than he made the poll before you did.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

That poll didn't even exist when I wrote this!

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

Two LJ blunders in as many days. This is what happens you read fragments of posts out of order.

Don't suppose I could swap you Vellum for Red Seas Under Red Skies?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Given that I won't be giving him Red Seas until Mr H's gig, I'm guessing that'll be tricky.

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

Oh. I thought he already had it. :(

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Do some bloody reviews yourself.

[talvalin.livejournal.com]

Well, I asked Niall about The Dreaming Void...

I may have meant Ink when I said Vellum. I recall offering it before and you said something about not wanting to reread Vellum again (which you did lend me and I need to return).

How about End Of The World Blues?

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

How about End Of The World Blues?

Pfft.

Have you got a paperback of Locke Lamora? I'll swap you that for the trade of it and lend you Red Skies at the same time.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Don't suppose I could swap you Vellum for Red Seas Under Red Skies?

What does this mean? I have both. Or did I lend you Vellum?

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

Wait, so I don't need to give you the Lynch after all? I'm confused.

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

No, no I don't have it yet. I was just baffled by what Lal thought he was bringing to the table. Nothing, it would appear. Worst barterer ever.

By the way, Theft is hands down the book of the year.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

By the way, Theft is hands down the book of the year.

Not the book of last year? :-p

[ninebelow.livejournal.com]

Not the book of last year? :-p

In my world it was published on the 7th June 2007.

[coalescent.livejournal.com]

I always forget you're on PST.