Comments on: Liminal States: tour-de-force horror novel is also a bleak western, a noir detective story, and a dystopian sf story

By: wildemar

wildemar — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 18:24:00 +0000

Sounds interesting. Let’s see if there’s a DRM-free EPub version available.
…

Nope, doesn’t look like it. That might have been a sale.

By: BillGlover

BillGlover — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 17:46:00 +0000

Safely purchased and stored on my kindle. I’m looking forward to reading it. Thanks for the reply.

By: Graham Klang

Graham Klang — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 15:09:00 +0000

My Tank is Fight! was his debut novel, not this one.

http://www.amazon.com/My-Tank-Fight-Zack-Parsons/dp/0806527587

By: Peter Payne

Peter Payne — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 09:16:00 +0000

I am the first person in history to read this book entirely while in a bath.

By: zackparsons

zackparsons — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:23:00 +0000

It should be back. Amazon was having a problem with Kindle versions of all titles for a couple hours.

By: brassrocket

brassrocket — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:41:00 +0000

Er, wait, not interdimensional. Got confused with the also-excellent That Insidious Beast series
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/news/insidious-beast-magnum.php

By: BillGlover

BillGlover — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:15:00 +0000

Sounds interesting. Any word on when the kindle version will be available in the U.S.?

http://www.amazon.com/Liminal-States-ebook/dp/B0063KB3B6/
“This title is not available for customers from:United States Shop titles available for United States”

By: brassrocket

brassrocket — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:01:00 +0000

Zack Parsons was responsible for the “Instructions for a Help” series on SomethingAwful which was then followed up by “The View From Below”. What appears at first to be a dadaist life manual written by a developmentally disabled person is revealed to be part of an sci-fi epic about the apocalypse and multidimensional beings … Highly recommended.

In order:
Instructions for a Help: http://www.somethingawful.com/series/34.php
View from Below: http://www.somethingawful.com/d/daily-dirt/instruction-for-america.php

By: EggyToast

EggyToast — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:44:00 +0000

Neat! Not that I’m a big fan (although I did read his books in high school), but he does a pretty good basic plotting for horror/terror/suspense.

By: EggyToast

EggyToast — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:43:00 +0000

Thanks for that — I didn’t want to jump in to a later chapter and end up spoiling something, since enjoying the twists and turns seems to be part of the fun. I noticed that the website is more clear about what’s discussed, which is great. I can understand the Old West with a focus on the harsh conditions of the time, but was hoping it wasn’t just “shock for shock’s sake.” That doesn’t appear to be the case.

By: Gord Slaw

Gord Slaw — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 16:12:00 +0000

It eventually takes that “more Stephen King-like approach” near the end. I don’t want to oversimplify the author’s intent, but each third of the book features some genre/theme, warped by the presence of the main plot device. A revenge story where death doesn’t work right. A murder mystery where identity doesn’t work right. A whole lot of things are going wrong by the time the pure horror part begins.

By: zackparsons

zackparsons — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:39:00 +0000

Publisher’s Weekly review:
http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-8065-3364-3 Kirkus also reviewed it (the review is paywalled unfortuantely) and it was mixed, but no mention of puke and blood as a reason, they were more confused by the structure. The book released today. If you would like more sample chapters and tons of other content related, head here:
http://liminalstates.com/

By: EggyToast

EggyToast — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:36:00 +0000

I’m intrigued, and like the premise, but am not sure about the use of “horror” and such, especially after checking out the first chapter. I’m hardly a shrinking violet when it comes to horror, suspense, and shock in books or movies, but my initial impression of the first chapter is that this novel is horrific in that it regularly mentions putrefaction, bodily fluids (urine, bile, etc.), rather than, I don’t know, a more Stephen King-like approach to horror.

I find that by keeping a narrative firmly grounded in descriptions of the gross and off-putting, I personally become desensitized to the usual ups & downs of a story. If everything is urine, vomit, and feces, when a scene is set up as ominous and hopeless, when something actually happens I simply assume the worst, most gross thing is going to happen. Which means when something horrific and gross does occur, I’m like “well, yep, that’s been telegraphed from page one, no surprise there.” I guess a good comparison is Iain Banks’ “The Wasp Factory,” which by the end of it I was bored with the constant mention of supposedly shocking things, or the torture scenes in “The Lies of Locke Lamora,” which started to feel tame by the end.

Has this book been out long enough to get a couple reviews? I’d like to read more as the premise seems very interesting, but don’t want to read 500 pages of trying to be shocked simply because it describes gross things in an attempt to be disturbing.

By: CG

CG — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:24:00 +0000

The description sounded awesome, so I tried the prologue; too opaque and bizarre. Skipped it and tried the first chapter; starts with a terrified little boy being mutilated by an untamed horse he’s forced to clean by his father who expected him to fail. Skipped the rest.

I’ll give this book a pass.

By: EvilTerran

EvilTerran — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:02:00 +0000

Sounds pretty par for the course for the 19th century. So it’s misogynistic — if the author had politically-correct-ified the period, people would only complain about it being anachronistic instead.

By: zackparsons

zackparsons — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 15:00:00 +0000

The 19th century was often unkind to the aspirations of women. That does not make the women in the book weak characters. Without giving away too much, I consider the book a feminist work and a woman to be the hero of the novel.

By: 50thomas

50thomas — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:31:00 +0000

Men have professions and names, women marry and die in childbirth…

By: Feargus Stewart

Feargus Stewart — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:29:00 +0000

Sounds pretty amazing.

By: Cory Doctorow

Cory Doctorow — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:27:00 +0000

TYVM.

By: Ultan

Ultan — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 14:24:00 +0000

“…debut novel from …”,
not
“…debit novel from”
(what, no credit?).