Steven Poole (born 1972) is a British author, journalist, and video game theorist. He particularly concerns himself with the abuse of language and has written two books on the subject: Unspeak (2006) and Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower? (2013).
36-597: Iron Council (2004) is a weird fantasy novel by the British writer China Miéville , his third set in the Bas-Lag universe, following Perdido Street Station (2000) and The Scar (2002). In addition to the steampunk influences shared by its predecessors, Iron Council draws several elements from the Western genre . Iron Council is one of China Miéville's most overtly political novels, being strongly inspired by
72-518: A dark, destructive force into the midst of New Crobuzon. Here Judah, Ori, and Cutter unite to stop Jacobs with the help of Qurabin, who takes the Tesh ambassador with him 'into the domain of Tekke Vogu'. Ori is killed in the confrontation. In light of the collapse of the Collective, Judah sends Cutter to dissuade Iron Council from returning. He is unsuccessful, and Judah conjures a time-golem to freeze
108-512: A few recordings and beginning to learn their golemetric arts. Eventually, he returns to the railroad, which does indeed wipe out the Stiltspear. Shortly afterward, Judah, a prostitute named Ann-Hari, and a Remade named Uzman lead a revolution in which the rail workers drive the overseers away, free the Remade, and hijack the train, transforming it into a moving socialist dwelling. Iron Council,
144-403: A historical description for works through the 1930s, it experienced a resurgence in the 1980s and 1990s, under the label of New Weird , which continues into the 21st century. John Clute defines weird fiction as a term "used loosely to describe fantasy , supernatural fiction and horror tales embodying transgressive material". China Miéville defines it as "usually, roughly, conceived of as
180-488: A long obituary of Jean Baudrillard for The Guardian , and a critique of the work of Alain de Botton . In 2004, Poole presented a television documentary for BBC Four called Trigger Happy: The Invincible Rise of the Video Game , based on his book. He also appeared in the documentary Thumb Candy , and has guested on BBC Radio 4 and other outlets in numerous discussions about language, including an appearance on
216-426: A much larger universe populated by often malign powers and forces that greatly exceed the human capacities to understand or control them." Jeff and Ann VanderMeer describe weird fiction not as a genre of fiction, but rather as a mode of literature (i.e. a style or mood) usually appearing within the horror fiction genre. Although the term "weird fiction" did not appear until the 20th century, Edgar Allan Poe
252-446: A rather breathless and generically slippery macabre fiction, a dark fantastic ('horror' plus 'fantasy') often featuring nontraditional alien monsters (thus plus 'science fiction')". Discussing the "Old Weird Fiction" published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Jeffrey Andrew Weinstock says, "Old Weird fiction utilises elements of horror, science fiction and fantasy to showcase the impotence and insignificance of human beings within
288-413: A rebuke to the genre's medieval politics." Concluding "It was a good ride." The Washington Post review by Michael Dirda states that "[i]n myriad ways, China Miéville's New Crobuzon is an unweeded garden of unearthly delights, and Iron Council a work of both passionate conviction and the highest artistry." Weird fiction Weird fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction originating in
324-526: A rush, but it's a valuable glossary to corporate life and demonstrates the empty-headed arrogance of what passes for management style." Rethink: the Surprising History of Ideas was released in 2016 by. Among other subjects, it takes up the life-cycle of bad ideas and argues that retooling past ideas often leads to significant progress and innovation. Poole writes book reviews and literary and cultural essays for numerous publications, including
360-500: A seriousness and portentousness becoming its subject, of that most terrible conception of the human brain—a malign and particular suspension or defeat of those fixed laws of Nature which are our only safeguard against the assaults of chaos and the daemons of unplumbed space. S. T. Joshi describes several subdivisions of the weird tale: supernatural horror (or fantastique ), the ghost story , quasi science fiction , fantasy , and ambiguous horror fiction and argues that "the weird tale"
396-430: Is later revealed to be personal rather than political. During Ori's struggles with and against his new gang, an uprising by the Collective, a union of revolutionary groups, threatens to finally wrest New Crobuzon from the hands of its corrupt parliament and militia. After several days of fighting, however, the Collective is destroyed. Ori then learns that Spiral Jacobs is actually a powerful sorcerer sent by Tesh to introduce
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#1732797282284432-402: Is often regarded as the pioneering author of weird fiction. Poe was identified by Lovecraft as the first author of a distinct type of supernatural fiction different from traditional Gothic literature, and later commentators on the term have also suggested Poe was the first "weird fiction" writer. Sheridan Le Fanu is also seen as an early writer working in the sub-genre. Literary critics in
468-552: Is primarily the result of the philosophical and aesthetic predispositions of the authors associated with this type of fiction. Although Lovecraft was one of the few early 20th-century writers to describe his work as "weird fiction", the term has enjoyed a contemporary revival in New Weird fiction. Many horror writers have also situated themselves within the weird tradition, including Clive Barker , who describes his fiction as fantastique , and Ramsey Campbell , whose early work
504-569: Is trying to say.' Since publication of the book, the author has continued to discuss new examples of unspeak at the book's dedicated blog. Who Touched Base in My Thought Shower? was released in October 2013 by Sceptre , an imprint of Hodder & Stoughton . The book was expanded from an article written for The Guardian and ridicules workplace jargon. The Spectator thought it "does show occasional signs of having been written in
540-693: The anti-globalization movement , and tackling issues such as imperialism , corporatism , terrorism, racial hatred , homosexuality, culture shock , labour rights and war. The novel won the Arthur C. Clarke and Locus Awards in 2005, and was also nominated for the Hugo and World Fantasy Awards the same year. Iron Council follows three major narrative threads that join to form the novel's climax. Although Miéville weaves back and forth between narrative, time and space, this summary will follow each narrative individually, discussing their relation to each other toward
576-546: The Iron Council, having spread its word throughout New Crobuzon, intent on using his golemetry to protect it. Cutter, whom the reader joins at the novel's opening, was a friend, disciple, and lover to Judah during Judah's return to New Crobuzon. He leads a group consisting of other disciples of Judah in search of the Iron Council to warn of an impending attack by the New Crobuzon militia. After living and working with
612-677: The Saturday Guardian called Et Cetera, as well as regular longer book reviews, plus a monthly column in Edge magazine. Poole was invited to deliver the opening keynote address at the 2006 Sydney Writers' Festival , and also gave a keynote at the 2008 Future and Reality of Gaming conference in Vienna. Trigger Happy was published in 2000 by 4th Estate in the UK (with the subtitle 'The Inner Life of Videogames') and by Arcade Publishing in
648-555: The US (with the subtitle 'Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution'). Investigating the aesthetics of videogames, Poole notes similarities and differences to other artforms such as cinema, painting and literature, and finally offers a description of games as semiotic systems that may provoke 'aesthetic wonder'. In 2007, Poole released a PDF version of the book for free download on his website, calling it an 'experiment' in
684-421: The book for The Guardian and suggested that "in comparison with The Scar , such ideas are fewer and less indulgently elaborated. Iron Council feels more po-faced, more weighed down by its tonnage of political baggage ... Still, fantasy fiction is usually fabulously conservative, and Iron Council – with its implicit trade unionism, as well as the fact that many characters are casually bisexual – stands as
720-545: The council for a while, Cutter returns with Judah and others to New Crobuzon to inspire revolt with the news of Iron Council, which has decided to return to the city and confront the militia on its own turf. In the Iron Council's travels they meet Qurabin, a monk of the Moment of the Hidden and Lost, who continually trades aspects of themselves in return for whatever knowledge they need (having previously traded their gender, and over
756-403: The course of the novel, their native language, various memories, and finally their eyes to help the protagonists). Meanwhile, dissatisfied revolutionary Ori is led by a half-crazed old homeless man named Spiral Jacobs to join the militant gang of Toro. Committing robberies, raids, and even murder, Toro's group proceeds mercilessly on its quest to assassinate the mayor of New Crobuzon, a plan which
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#1732797282284792-410: The end. The novel is set in and around New Crobuzon , a sprawling London-esque city. New Crobuzon has for some unknown time been at war with Tesh, and is attempting to build a railroad across the outlying desert, partially as a new means of conducting this war. Against this backdrop, the novel follows the deeds of three main characters—Ori, Cutter and Judah Low. Judah's story begins some 20 years before
828-451: The late 19th and early 20th centuries. Weird fiction either eschews or radically reinterprets traditional antagonists of supernatural horror fiction , such as ghosts , vampires , and werewolves . Writers on the subject of weird fiction, such as China Miéville , sometimes use "the tentacle " to represent this type of writing. The tentacle is a limb-type absent from most of the monsters of European gothic fiction , but often attached to
864-427: The monstrous creatures created by weird fiction writers, such as William Hope Hodgson , M. R. James , Clark Ashton Smith , and H. P. Lovecraft . Weird fiction often attempts to inspire awe as well as fear in response to its fictional creations, causing commentators like Miéville to paraphrase Goethe in saying that weird fiction evokes a sense of the numinous . Although "weird fiction" has been chiefly used as
900-515: The nineteenth century would sometimes use the term "weird" to describe supernatural fiction. For instance, the Scottish Review in an 1859 article praised Poe, E. T. A. Hoffmann and Walter Scott by saying the three writers had the "power of weird imagination". The Irish magazine The Freeman's Journal , in an 1898 review of Dracula by Bram Stoker , described the novel as "wild and weird" and not Gothic. Weinstock has suggested there
936-419: The novel's opening. Judah was hired as a railroad scout for New Crobuzon, charged with mapping terrain and informing the land's inhabitants of the railroad's coming. While doing so, he spends time with the Stiltspear, a race of indescribable creatures who can conjure golems, living creatures made from unliving matter. Judah attempts to warn the Stiltspear away, but they will not listen and he must settle for making
972-427: The perpetual train, moves through the desert, gathering track from behind and laying it in whichever direction its citizens decide. The Council keeps moving to avoid the New Crobuzon militia, who are anxious to reclaim the train and destroy the rebellion-inspiring Council. Judah returns to New Crobuzon, where he immerses himself in esoteric golemetry literature, emerging as a master of the art. Eventually, Judah returns to
1008-467: The phenomenon, appear in the anthology The New Weird . Steven Poole Poole studied English at Emmanuel College, Cambridge , and has subsequently written for publications including The Independent , The Guardian , The Times Literary Supplement , The Sunday Times , and the New Statesman . He has published two books and currently writes a weekly nonfiction book-review column in
1044-460: The term "weird fiction" in his essays. In " Supernatural Horror in Literature ", Lovecraft gives his definition of weird fiction: The true weird tale has something more than secret murder, bloody bones, or a sheeted form clanking chains according to rule. A certain atmosphere of breathless and unexplainable dread of outer, unknown forces must be present; and there must be a hint, expressed with
1080-480: The term "weird fiction" to describe the type of material that the magazine published. The writers who wrote for the magazine Weird Tales are thus closely identified with the weird fiction subgenre, especially H. P. Lovecraft , Clark Ashton Smith, Fritz Leiber and Robert Bloch . Other pulp magazines that published weird fiction included Strange Tales (edited by Harry Bates ), and Unknown Worlds (edited by John W. Campbell ). H. P. Lovecraft popularised
1116-480: The tip-jar model for writers. In 2013, a collection of Poole's Edge columns was published as Trigger Happy 2.0 . Unspeak was published in 2006 by Little, Brown in the UK, and by Grove Press in the US. The second UK edition (2007) has the subtitle 'Words Are Weapons'. It is a book about language in contemporary politics, structured around buzzphrases , for which he names 'community', climate change / global warming , and ' war on terror ' as examples. The book
Iron Council - Misplaced Pages Continue
1152-441: The train in time to save its citizens. Ann-Hari murders Judah shortly thereafter for thwarting the attack. As the novel ends, Iron Council has become a public monument of sorts, poised on the verge of attacking New Crobuzon until the unknown moment when the time golem dissipates. Cutter re-immerses himself in New Crobuzon's underground resistance movements, revitalising the protest publication Runagate Rampant. Steven Poole reviewed
1188-488: Was a period of "Old Weird Fiction" that lasted from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. S. T. Joshi and Miéville have both argued that there was a period of "Haute Weird" between 1880 and 1940, when authors important to Weird Fiction, such as Arthur Machen and Clark Ashton Smith were publishing their work. In the late nineteenth century, a number of British writers associated with the Decadent movement wrote what
1224-451: Was influenced by Lovecraft. The following notable authors have been described as writers of weird fiction. They are listed alphabetically by last name, and organised by the time period when they began to publish weird fiction. Ann and Jeff VanderMeer and China Miéville have suggested that weird fiction has seen a recent resurgence, a phenomenon they term the New Weird . Tales which fit this category, as well as extensive discussion of
1260-537: Was later described as weird fiction. These writers included Machen, M. P. Shiel , Count Eric Stenbock , and R. Murray Gilchrist . Other pioneering British weird fiction writers included Algernon Blackwood , William Hope Hodgson , Lord Dunsany , Arthur Machen, and M. R. James . The American pulp magazine Weird Tales published many such stories in the United States from March 1923 to September 1954. The magazine's editor Farnsworth Wright often used
1296-481: Was shortlisted for Index on Censorship 's T.R. Fyvel Award in 2006. According to Poole, 'unspeak' is related to framing : it is a rhetorical way of naming an issue so as to avoid having to argue one's position, and to render the opposing position inexpressible. In a negative review of the book in the Guardian , former British government communications chief Alastair Campbell wrote, 'I am not quite sure what Poole
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