The merits of this book were briefly discussed in this thread in '07, but I've got to post about the fact that I've just cracked the 20th anniversary edition of Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons.
I'd heard of Dan Simmons for years, mostly in sci-fi circles because of the success of Hyperion, but never read any of his stuff. The year that Manticora was announced for PPUSA and I jumped on the bandwagon with their discog, I picked up Hyperion to better understand their album. It was an interesting surprise reading the pilgrims' stories and recognizing Simmons' odd sense of creativity in a series of stories that didn't necessarily need to be in a sci-fi setting...but it worked.
When I went to look into his other works, I was surprised to find out that the guy wasn't JUST a sci-fi writer. Who knew? Likewise, I didn't even really know (until reading CC's intro last night) that the guy started out writing horror, then branched out. Anyway...since then, I've come to appreciate a lot of his books. I dig his Joe Kurtz crime trilogy (pretty lightweight stuff for Dan), I really like his King-ian Summer Of Night and the sequel even better. Darwin's Blade was cool. The Terror was a great ride, and, even though Drood frustrated me at times, I was glad I took that ride as well. I've got no real interest in his latest, and I've had The Crook Factory sitting around gathering dust for a while, but I figured I'd bust into the new version of Carrion Comfort.
I should have realized that I was in trouble when I started reading the introduction and it never seemed to end. It's 22 freakin' pages long...an introduction! Like most things that Dan writes, it's totally longer and more complex than it really needs to be, but I was glad to have read it. Even if the book doesn't pan out, I highly recommend the intro due to insight on Dan's history and the industry in general.
When I encounter crap like this, however, it makes me wonder if I'm truly ready to sit down and digest CC: [The concept of his main characters]..."may be an evolutionary example of arrested neocortal natal development combined with rare frontal-lobe overdevelopment that creates neuron spin axis perpendicular to physical polar magnetic field axis differenting their brains as a form of crude holographic generator rather than a mere wave-front collapsing interferometer, as is the case of the rest of us." Dude...really? Obviously, Dan is operating on a slightly different intellectual plane than the rest of us...just check out the guy's website...sheesh...how many hours are in a day where this guy lives?...astounding.
Anyway...50 pages into the actual story now and I'm totally on board. I can already tell that this will be overwritten like hell, but the trip will probably be worth it in the end. According to Dan's intro, his original final product was around 1,500 pages. If this densely typed 770-page version of CC in my hands is the judicially edited version, what must the "writer's cut" have been like?
Ah, well...looking forward to some good creepy moments ahead. I recently read Straub's Ghost Story for the first time as well, and that was a rich journey of creeps and chills...so I'm hoping for the same here...!
By the way...has anybody tackled Black Wind?
