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Books reminiscent of Fallen London

Bellum Posts: 3 4/3/2012	First one that comes to mind is Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman. Anyone else know of any good books that can remind you of the lore in Fallen London?
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Felix Merivel Posts: 20 12/16/2014	A Study in Emerald - another Neil Gaiman mention, not a book but a short story. Free for download from his website. And the graphic lay-out by Jouni Koponen is brilliant. -- Felix Merivel, an absent-minded soulless bastard. Frequent lodger in New Newgate. All manner of social interactions welcome. Even cats. I do so love cats. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/FelixMerivel
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Ren Posts: 11 7/22/2015	Reading through this thread, and being highly impressed by some of the reccomendations, Niel Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Mark Gatiss, China Mieville and of course Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves (how amazing that novel is...just the mention of it never fails to send shivers throughout my body), I began to compile the list for my own future use, but soon realised this list may be of help for others... Neil Gaiman -Neverwhere -American Gods -A Study in Emerald -(with Terry Pratchet) Good Omens Terry Pratchet -Watchmen series Gordon Dahlquist -Glass books of the Dream Eaters S.M. Peters -Whitechapel Gods Mervyn Peake -Titus Groan -Gormenghast Gail Carriger -The Parasol Protectorate: Soulless (1), Changeless (2), Blameless (3), Heartless (4), & Timeless (5) Brian Selznick -The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures China Mieville -Perdido Street Station Jeff Vandermeer -City of Saints and Madmen Jay Lake -Trial of Flowers Stephen Hunt -Jackelian books: Court of the Air, Kingdom Beyond the Waves, Rise of the Iron Moon, Secrets of the Fire Sea Tim Powers -The Anubis Gates Mark Z. Danielewski -House of Leaves Ted Naifeh -Courtney Crumrin and The Twilight Kingdom Holly Black (no specific title) Shaun Tan -The Arrival Laura Powell -The Game of Triumphs Dmitry Glukhovsky -Metro 2033 Kim Newman -Anno Dracula Catherynne M. Valente -Palimpsest Susanna Clarke -Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell Alan Moore -From Hell Barbara Hambly -Those who Hunt the Night Phil Foglio -Girl Genius Frederic Morton -Rotschilds Margery Allingham -Campion series M.John Harrison -In Viriconium -Viriconium Nights Peter Hopkirk -Foreign Devils on the Silk Road -The Great Game Chris Wooding -Haunting of Alaizabel Cray -Storm Thief H. P. Lovecraft -Beyond the Wall of Sleep Jonathan Stroud -Bartimaeus Sequence Clive Barker -Abarat series Cherie Priestt -The Clockwork Century Mark Gatiss -The Vesuvius Club Italo Calvino -Invisible Cities Jonathan L. Howard -Johannes Cabal the Necromancer -Johannes Cabal the Detective -Johannes Cabal and the Fear Institute -The Brothers Cabal George RR Martin -Fevre Dream Frances Hardinge -Cuckoo Song Jonathan Barnes -The Somnambulist and The Domino Men Jacques Tardi -(no specific titles) Dave Morris and Leo Hartas -Mirabilis: Year of Wonders Tony Ballantyne -Dream London Mike Mignollia -Books of the Drowned City Simon R. Green -Nightside series Lavie Tidhar -The Bookman edited by Ren on 7/22/2015 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Loren~Wimshurst
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Nigel Overstreet Posts: 1220 6/18/2013	If you haven't read Johnathan Strange & Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke, then stop what you are doing this instant and pick it up. It's ideal Fallen London pastiche ! -- The Romantic Egotist: Most Hedonistic Man in All of Fallen London Are you or someone you know Overgoated? Please, let me know! Cider Club
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Karaeir Posts: 90 12/13/2013	Yesterday I started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and while it's not exactly reminiscent of Fallen London there was this one fragment of it that had me staring at the page for a few minutes: "Go," said Wednesday, his voice a reasurring growl. "All is well, and all is well, and all shall be well." -- Karaeir, an inescapable, sagacious, midnight and sinister lady Social actions welcome, except for SMEN and Affluent Photographer.
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Branden Linton Posts: 391 8/15/2012	A book reminiscent of seeking the name. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Never have I read a book so intricately designed to portray ones subtle decent into madness. It's very experimental in its design with odd page layouts and ever jumping around notes and side-stories this gives the novel a manic feel unlike any other. I think its one of those underground classics that truly deserves its status. Go to your local bookstore I grantee they will have one copy, they always do. Flip trough the book if your not taken in by the rapid change of content I don't know what would convince you to read it. Seriously through best horror novel I've ever read. I have other books I'd suggest I just need to find a way to connect them to Fallen London first. =p edited by Cubethulhu on 8/15/2012 -- Brom Girvan: a man of shadows and secrets. http://echobazaar.failbettergames.com/Profile/Brom~Girvan
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Twoflower Posts: 264 7/18/2012	A lot of the City Watch books in the Discworld series remind me of Fallen London, especially the Velocipede Squad.
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Rupho Schartenhauer Posts: 787 4/8/2012	Oh, and then there's Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret: A Novel in Words and Pictures, of course. "Fallen Paris", if you will... Even if you're already familiar with the film, the book is worth a look for the illustrations alone! -- Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it. Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely. Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated. Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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WintersNight Posts: 65 4/9/2012	I sincerely recommend Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Watch a steampunk scientist (read: wizard) and his insectoid girlfriend hunt, what is essentially, The Vake. -- ~~alea iacta est~~ Twitter @wintersnight
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Rupho Schartenhauer Posts: 787 4/9/2012	WintersNight wrote: I sincerely recommend Perdido Street Station by China Mieville. Watch a steampunk scientist (read: wizard) and his insectoid girlfriend hunt, what is essentially, The Vake. China Miéville absolutely effing rules. I will say no more. -- Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it. Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely. Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated. Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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Lawrence Growe Posts: 96 12/18/2013	I happened upon the Parasol Protectorate "Soulless" just the other day and practically swallowed the book in one evening. It is beyond magnificent and is probably the best book I read in the whole of year of our Lord 2013. And let it be said that I read A LOT. I am still grinning and cannot stop. This book made me feel happy, warm and fuzzy inside. Few books do.
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Alexander Feld Posts: 348 12/13/2013	Four wrote: I'd forgotten about that. While on books not strongly reminiscent of FL but still bear mentioning, I feel tasked to bring up A Series of Unfortunate Events. If you've never read them, read them! If you read them while younger than you are now, read them again. There's little else more similar to FL as far as tone of writing and blackly comedic sense of paranoid dread. edited by Four on 12/13/2013 Frequenters of SMEN should appreciate the frequent and painstakingly tantalizing warnings not to continue. -- I am a star-gazer, story-eater, and a smelter of words. I filch hidden things from hidden places, to hide once more in my dark cabinet of curiosities Alexander Feld, the mad, damned, lord of seekers.
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Sackville Posts: 295 12/14/2013	Alexander Feld wrote: Frequenters of SMEN should appreciate the frequent and painstakingly tantalizing warnings not to continue. And who could forget the similar themes explored in this timeless classic?
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Spacemarine9 Posts: 2234 12/14/2013	I am incredibly disappointed that the pivotal plot twist of that literary masterpiece is spoiled right in the product description. You can't trust anyone these days. -- my rats will blot out the sun Ratgames FL lore/mechanics questions and answers #FallenLondon IRC (irc.synirc.net) Channel! Click to join via Mibbit. #SunlessSea IRC channel! Like the above, but zee-ier.
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zamothac Posts: 2 3/21/2017	There's something about Phillip Pullman's His Dark Materials trilogy that's been really striking a FL chord with me during a recent reread, particularly the first book (The Golden Compass). For those who've not read it or heard of it, Pullman essentially conceived of it as an atheist reply to C.S. Lewis's Narnia series. Lyra, a rash girl from a world where science has become entwined with religion and everyone's soul walks with them outside their body as an animal, embarks on a quest to save her friend from the mysterious Oblation Board, a shadowy organization said to kidnap children, take them North, and do something terrible to them. Of course, it becomes something much larger than that over the next two books, and alternate universes, terrible sacrifices, and literal battles with gods and angels alike ensue. It's EXTREMELY good, and very well-written, with flashes of dry humour and a singular atmosphere. Lyra and Pan's world of dirigibles and Northern Mysteries, full of mazelike streets, odd terminology, treacherous factions, lone scholars conducting perilous research, dangerous religious themes, and the threat of losing one's soul in a multitude of ways... yeah, there's definitely something Neathy there. They've even got a University (although admittedly one which is largely Summersetish rather than Benthicesque) with a thriving community of Urchins! And honestly, the Gyptians feel like a new faction just waiting to be discovered. Quite aside from all the twisted semi-Victoriana, there's just something ineffable about the writing which gives me the same kind of feeling as FL - like I'm exploring a living, breathing world, both wonderful and terribly dangerous, full of people with their own lives and agendas which just happen to intersect with mine. (And maybe I've just been reading too many journal entries from those who are Seeking, but some of the sacrifices Lyra, Pan, and Will have to undergo remind me of the trials which must be borne for the sake of The Name.) Good stuff. (Sidebar: wouldn't a Neath with daemons as well as demons be an interesting place?) -- Indecisive POSI. Open to all social actions!
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GabrielleBenoit Posts: 4 4/23/2015	Not sure if anyone has metioned it befor ebut the Johannes Cabal series are really really similar in writing and with a similar athmosphere. The books currently in the series are (in order): Johannes Cabal the Necromancer Johannes Cabal the Detective Johannes Cabal and the Fear Institute (this one actually has a warning very similar to the ones FL gives at the beginning) The Brothers Cabal -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Gabrielle~Benoit send anything, it's fine =D
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gronostaj Posts: 403 7/22/2017	I'd recommend Lies of Locke Lamora. It's not exactly victorian england (the city is actually reminescent of Italy and Venice), but it's like..... a better version of Oliver Twist. Plus, there are remnants of an older city from a different civilization over which the new city grew, orphan gangs and all sorts of criminals and thieves, and some elegantly subtle, but really peculiar supernatural things. And lot of high-quality stealing. Anyone who enjoyed thievery and heists in Flit, or Persuasively.... persuading Londoners to part with their riches, as well as the Watchmaker's Hill's and Docks' storylines, will certainly love it. Those who didn't will very probably also love it, because it's a rather good book. The author's debut book, actually. Some people (sighs). -- Gronostaj (pl. Ermine), a decadent duellist of mysterious and indistinct gender. Seeker. Willing to die- but not of boredom. Open to all social actions, including the harmful ones. Soft-Spoken Surgeon, a doctor who owes an onerous debt. Professor of medicine at the University by day, at criminal employ by night. Open to all non-harmful social actions.
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Cosette des Fleurs Posts: 11 8/19/2017	I know it's been mentioned before in connection with Fallen London, but I want to bump Rodger Zelazny's A Night in the Lonesome October. I've rarely had more fun with a book than this one, with it's mix of homage to classic monsters, humor, HPL, Victorian England, certain real and fictitious Victorian Englishmen, things in mirrors, talking animal companions, and moments of pure spookiness. If you squint hard enough, you might even notice a Waxwail Knife. -- Mlle Cosette des Fleurs: The-Not-Entirely-Canonical Monster Hunter. Delicious roleplaying relished.
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Shadowcthuhlu Posts: 1557 12/13/2017	I recommend reading the city of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer along with City of Flowers and Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake. Also my recommendations come without spam -- https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Dirae%20Erinyes. Closed to calling cards, but open for all other social action. I also love to roleplay.
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Erik Vimes Posts: 182 6/16/2013	The book isn't reminiscent of Echo Bazaar but just look at the title and cover -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Eric~Vimes
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Alexander Feld Posts: 348 12/14/2013	Sackville wrote: Alexander Feld wrote: Frequenters of SMEN should appreciate the frequent and painstakingly tantalizing warnings not to continue. And who could forget the similar themes explored in this timeless classic? My god.... Mr Eaten's name is Grover. That's it. You can all go home now, mystery solved. -- I am a star-gazer, story-eater, and a smelter of words. I filch hidden things from hidden places, to hide once more in my dark cabinet of curiosities Alexander Feld, the mad, damned, lord of seekers.
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adagio Posts: 15 1/25/2014	The anarchists from The Man Who Was Thursday are reminiscent of the Calendar Council in Fallen London. The story has a similar tone, but the plot is different. This quote makes me think of something that could be in Fallen London: “The sun in heaven denied it, the earth and sky denied it, all human wisdom denied it. And when I met you in the daylight I denied it myself.”
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Ridiculus Undarke Posts: 48 7/13/2014	Karaeir wrote: Yesterday I started reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and while it's not exactly reminiscent of Fallen London there was this one fragment of it that had me staring at the page for a few minutes: "Go," said Wednesday, his voice a reasurring growl. "All is well, and all is well, and all shall be well." But *T.S.Elliot (in Little Gidding)* wrote: A symbol perfected in death. And all shall be well and All manner of things shall be well By the purification of the motive In the ground of our beseeching. I think we can safely say that's the source of the famous saying from FL, and not Julian of Norwich whom Elliot took it from. Gaiman was always close to FL in... atmosphere? style? tone? approach to history and fantasy? I can't figure out what it is, but they indeed feel like literary cousins. And the reason for this is that they come from the same parents, obviously (Chesterton, for example, as one can see from the Gaiman quote above). Ryyme wrote: Sorry to disagree with the two of you, but I just finished Titus Groan last week, after hearing so much raving about it. I’d grant it a 1 ½ stars out of 5. It took me several months to get through this book (and this coming from a guy who read Dostoevsky's “The Idiot”). I would go several days without even touching the book, forgetting I even had it and can’t recall the last time I had such animosity towards a book. The first 100+ pages there is absolutely no plot other than establishing the many characters in the story, none of whom I ever cared about. Caution: This is not a book for everyone. Dostoyevsky is easy to read, Peake isn't. Obviously he isn't "for everyone", nor he is meant to be. He was like a painter who used words instead of colours and strokes (and indeed he was one). But that doesn't make him less worthy by default. -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Ridiculus
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steamwork Posts: 27 7/23/2015	I am here to recommend the Parasol Protectorate series featuring... -Vampires that don't sparkle -A great deal of LGBT diversity -One vampire in particular who while fabulously and openly gay still kicks ass,is incredibly clever,and of great importance -Werewolves that wear cravats as well as shirts (though sometimes said cravat will be in disarry) -A witty,stubborn,intelligent woman who can hold her own and also render the immortal mortal via touch -Witty writing -Romance of the intelligent variety -Delightful gadgets -Well written characters Edit: Moved to the reading recommendations thread. - Babel edited by babelfishwars on 7/23/2015 -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/steamwork
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steamwork Posts: 27 7/29/2015	Rupho Schartenhauer wrote: Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series! Soulless (1), Changeless (2), Blameless (3), Heartless (4), & Timeless (5). It's priceless. I don't usually quote press kits but in this case it's spot-on: "The Parasol Protectorate books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are Jane Austen doing urban fantasy meets PG Wodehouse doing steampunk." Actually, Carriger herself would be a perfect Fallen London character. Her real name is Tofa Borregaard and originally she's an archaeologist... edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015 I love that series! -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/steamwork
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Corentin Os Posts: 109 8/15/2012	Ria Byss wrote: the werks of Mervyn Peake. the Titus Groan books especially. I think that the Failbetter guys have cited him as an influence. mandatory! edited by Ria Byss on 4/7/2012 I could not agree more. Titus Groan and Gormenghast are two of my all-time favourite books; Mervyn Peake's writing is like nothing else, the language is exquisite. I'm always saddened by how few people have read them, even among bibliophiles. The world contained in these books is even stranger, darker, and moodier than Fallen London; such a host of wicked, sublime characters! Such delicious description! Forgotten acres of castle rooms, ridiculous poetry, odd traditions, murder, deceit, seduction, and insanity, these books have it all. -- Always delighted to make the acquaintance of delicious friends! Profile here - battles of flora (strength), interviews (LF), gently rustling parcels etc. etc. welcome
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Ria Byss Posts: 1 4/7/2012	the werks of Mervyn Peake. the Titus Groan books especially. I think that the Failbetter guys have cited him as an influence. mandatory! edited by Ria Byss on 4/7/2012
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Rupho Schartenhauer Posts: 787 4/7/2012	Gail Carriger's The Parasol Protectorate series! Soulless (1), Changeless (2), Blameless (3), Heartless (4), & Timeless (5). It's priceless. I don't usually quote press kits but in this case it's spot-on: "The Parasol Protectorate books are comedies of manners set in Victorian London: full of vampires, dirigibles, and tea. They are Jane Austen doing urban fantasy meets PG Wodehouse doing steampunk." Actually, Carriger herself would be a perfect Fallen London character. Her real name is Tofa Borregaard and originally she's an archaeologist... edited by Rupho Schartenhauer on 3/24/2015 -- Rupho Schartenhauer has killed a Master, well: most of it. Cortez the Killer has killed a Master, definitely. Deepdelver has become the progenitor of London's brightest star. It's... complicated. Dr. Kvirkvelia, gone NORTH on 23/12/1894.
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Nescio Posts: 1 5/18/2012	City of Saints and Madmen by Jeff Vandermeer and Trial of Flowers by Jay Lake.
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Cedric Appleby Posts: 121 8/25/2012	While the setting of Metro 2033 is more Sixth or perhaps Seventh City than London (i. e. subterranean post-apocalyptic Moscow), the tone is somewhat similar, I find; you have the same subterranean living space (including implied mushroom wine!), complete with otherworldly horrors. The writing is... well, it's not Failbetter quality, but it's decent all in all (if feeling a bit rushed at times). The ending is extremely bleak, but it's quite an enjoyable read, I'd say. edited by Cedric Appleby on 8/25/2012 -- That is, in fact, a beak. Tea is difficult. @21stCenturyBird on Twitter. -- In-game profile.
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Karis Fra Mauro Posts: 47 6/13/2013	Branden Linton wrote: A book reminiscent of seeking the name. House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski. Never have I read a book so intricately designed to portray ones subtle decent into madness. It's very experimental in its design with odd page layouts and ever jumping around notes and side-stories this gives the novel a manic feel unlike any other. I think its one of those underground classics that truly deserves its status. Go to your local bookstore I grantee they will have one copy, they always do. Flip trough the book if your not taken in by the rapid change of content I don't know what would convince you to read it. Seriously through best horror novel I've ever read. I have other books I'd suggest I just need to find a way to connect them to Fallen London first. =p edited by Cubethulhu on 8/15/2012 Funny you should mention that book, I was given a copy by a coworker when my company decided to reassign me elsewhere. Genuinely spooky and I'm still not entirely sure how the gift was intended... In any event I am reminded of the writings of Jack Vance (a name bound to resonate) with the flair of this game if not so much specifics. And do I detect a nod to the neglected master of aquatic horror (and Lovecraftian contemporary prior to his untimely demise in the great war), William Hope Hodgeson?
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Four Posts: 18 12/13/2013	I'd forgotten about that. While on books not strongly reminiscent of FL but still bear mentioning, I feel tasked to bring up A Series of Unfortunate Events. If you've never read them, read them! If you read them while younger than you are now, read them again. There's little else more similar to FL as far as tone of writing and blackly comedic sense of paranoid dread. One could do worse than to look into Mr Snicket's new series, All the Wrong Questions, as well. edited by Four on 12/14/2013
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Joy Phillip Posts: 177 7/24/2013	I personally haven't read any of these, but one "flavor" book that I found to be really good for getting me in the mindset is "Those who hunt the night" by Barbara Hambly. A Victorian detective and his wife who are working with vampires to find the people killing the vampires. It's interesting. Well before the Steampunk genre. Also, just for another flavor thing, Girl Genius by Phil Foglio is really steampunk and invention, so it's another for flavor and mood building. -- Profile: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Joy~Phillip
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dragonridingsorceress Posts: 622 12/9/2013	Twoflower wrote: A lot of the City Watch books in the Discworld series remind me of Fallen London, especially the Velocipede Squad. I second this suggestion! In Young Adult books, there's the Bartimaeus Sequence by Jonathan Stroud. Magicians summoning demons to do their dirty work and playing with politics? It is supposedly set in an alternate version of the "modern" world, but there was a rather Victorian/FL feel to it (at least to my mind), what with apprentice magicians, demons, and a rebellion with unclear motives and strange leaders beginning to form. I've only read the first one so far, but I enjoyed it. -- DragonRidingSorceress is an Author of good standing. Mostly good standing. She's happy to accept any social action except Photographer and Loitering, but requests warnings before duping/poisoning/etc. Seeker of Names is a... being with an obsession. They're willing to accept all invitations. One who seeks to know all that is and may be. One who dances in the silence of the void. One whose fantasies make the reality come alive.
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NinjaComedian Posts: 202 12/9/2013	Woogawoman wrote: I can't say it's exactly reminiscent of Fallen London, but I highly recommend Tim Powers' The Anubis Gates. Time travel, Egyptian Gods, body swapping werewolves, evil clowns and gypsies, urchins... how can it not be made of win? I came into this thread to post... pretty much exactly that. Anubis Gates is a kick ass novel.
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 3/12/2017	While not a book in any way, shape or form, and indeed revolving around gasp the French, I found the Cato-Jeunet film "The City of Lost Children" to be very reminiscent indeed. There's a number of Urchins in it, naturally. And a Docker. Also an inexplicably peckish child who eats candles, and an atmosphere that is...let us say, adjacent to steampunk, in the same ways that FL is. Much of the story is left teasingly unelucidated. More than all of this, it is profoundly visual, so if you ever wanted to spend a few hours just enjoying the spectacle of what a Fallen city might look like, there's your chance. (Yeah, it's in French. But no one on this forum minds a little extra reading, right?) Update: Definitely the City of Lost Children. Freudian slip. edited by Teaspoon on 3/13/2017* -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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Chubaka Posts: 15 3/13/2017	Teaspoon wrote: While not a book in any way, shape or form, and indeed revolving around gasp the French, I found the Cato-Jeunet film "The City of Fallen Children" to be very reminiscent indeed. Might You perchance mean "*The City of Lost* Children*"? The one which is called "La cité des enfants perdus"? It was quite an...interesting and enjoyable picture (with its flaws, of course). Yet it was made with the help of countries of two other languages of the Game, as well, thus it may be not that unknown.. Besides the works of Mr. Lovecraft, obviously, there was always a strange sense of déjà vu when I re-read "The Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov, and not because of the Devil(s). It was this weird...mixture of "Faust", Mr. Lewis style (see "The Screwtape Letters")* and a de- construction of the society at the time. And, well, the religious stuff, but that is only one aspect. (I also think that the allusions – here again – to Bradbury and Wells may be intended... But these are hardly unknown writers, so I digress..) If the underground-ish atmosphere is sought after, "The City of Ember" by Jeanne DuPrau may be an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic world (and society) where everyone fled un- derground and lives with a dooming sense of oblivion regarding knowlegde and trust. It was also adapted into film. And, continuing in that style, "Letter Bee" (translated title) by Hiroyuki Asada has a very similiar feel to it as the ember city, but it is mainly (and essentially only) in this aspect similiar to our Fifth City (and is also not the best series there is, generally speaking and in my humble opinion). Furthermore, it is a picture book from the 'Orient' (– and what a disgrace would it be to read picture books! I mean, picture books! That are books with pictures instead of long, well-written pages! How utterly outrageous! Our beloved writers would never approve of something like this!), so maybe I stand there alone. If someone is interested in books in a somewhat similiar style as "The Invisible Cities" by Italo Calvino (one of the books this very Fallen City is based on, among others), a quite well-written (but good-to-okay-translated, again, in my opinion, that is) series called "Kino's Journey" (translated title) by Keiichi Shigusawa. Yet, again, these are from the 'Orient', albeit not picture books. ...I reckon, this is enough for now. Hopefully, I did not cover my fellow citizens here over with rubble. Teaspoon wrote: (*Yeah, it's in French. But no one on this forum minds a little extra reading, right?) Delicious Friend, I reckon no-one here is this ill-mannered to be aghast at or irritated by some- one who is versed enough in the wor(l)d to dabble in the Game or societies..
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Diptych Administrator Posts: 3493 1/25/2014	Amoury De Domremy wrote: It felt sloppy & underdone, like he was trying to work on too many ideas at once & not fleshing out any of them sufficiently. Wow, yeah - big part of why I struggled with Mieville. I've only read Perdido and The Scar, but... a lot of it felt like he was just throwing in steampunk and urban fantasy elements, a mix of nonspecific historical fantasy language and modern English, and dashes of internet-style vulgarity and cynicism, and seeing what stuck. -- Sir Frederick, the Libertarian Esotericist. Lord Hubris, the Bloody Baron. Juniper Brown, the Ill-Fated Orphan. Esther Ellis-Hall, the Fashionable Fabian.
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Rook Crofton Posts: 83 12/17/2014	BelleauWoodsman wrote: Not so reminiscent of Fallen London, but relevant: The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk is worth checking out if you find the espionage side of Fallen London to be your thing. It's a (sort of narrative) history of the real life "Great Game" between England and Russia. Seconding, and recommending Hopkirk's Foreign Devils on the Silk Road even more! The author synthesized the travel accounts of archaeologists from colonial powers as they scrambled to navigate, map, and claim manuscripts and artifacts from Central Asia (~1890s-1930s). There's the discovery of manuscripts hidden in a secret room behind a plastered-up wall in a desert monastery, and the plundering of medieval Chinese murals from grotto-temples, all under the shadow of the Great Game. The tone is conversational, like an after-dinner chat by the fireplace, but the content is rigourous enough that this was used as a textbook in my undergraduate class on the Silk Road. Very readable (and picaresque) history! -- Rook Crofton: dreamer, antiquarian, mystic Now a Scarlet Saint. Happy to send anyone an invite to the Temple Club.
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Marianne Anders Posts: 127 4/7/2015	I just finished reading Invisible Cities, which was very evocative of Sunless Sea. and an interesting read, to boot. -- Not all who wander are lost. Sometimes, they are very lost. http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Marianne~Anders
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Korianne Finch Posts: 5 7/17/2014	If you wouldn't mind something semi-modern day, the first thing that came to mind was Simon R. Green's Nightside series. 13 books, but they go quickly, and they're wonderfully bizarre for urban fantasy. -- Ms. Korianne Finch, Retrieval Expert, Information Broker, Detective.
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BelleauWoodsman Posts: 4 7/21/2014	Not so reminiscent of Fallen London, but relevant: The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk is worth checking out if you find the espionage side of Fallen London to be your thing. It's a (sort of narrative) history of the real life "Great Game" between England and Russia. edited by BelleauWoodsman on 7/21/2014
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Four Posts: 18 12/14/2013	And increasingly surreal, near-meta diversions from the books themselves to that end in later novels of the series.
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Absalom Agenbite Posts: 13 2/7/2018	curtistruffle wrote: P.S. I read it in Russian as I am a native-speaker, and I don't know if it was translated to English (yet it b---dy should be, they are notable writers and notorious counter-Soviet authors and stuff) and I would be pleased to try reading a translation. If anyone go for it, could you PM me a link? Many thanks in forward. edited by curtistruffle on 1/22/2018 Looks like this publisher has translated five of their books into English, including The Doomed City. http://www.chicagoreviewpress.com/strugatsky--arkady-contributor-234678.php The recommendation of the later two M. John Harrison Viriconium novels is spot on (even thought I'd be the first to make it). Particular resonance with the ideas of the ruins of the previous Fallen Cities, layers of history mostly forgotten, and the more Baroque dream-like storylets. And I think the Calendar Council is a definite nod to The Man Who Was Thursday. -- Absalom Agenbite: The Melancholy Midnighter With The Alliterative Appellation. Available for Orphanages, Extraordinary Mind Patronage, and Enigma Hints, in-character or not.
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Clifton Royston Posts: 110 10/27/2017	Thanks to the commenters up-thread for the recommendation of Catherynne Valente's _Palimpsest_ which I'd been meaning to read anyway, but... Wow. Such dark. Much sex. So strange. Many wow. -- A person of little significance: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/cliftonr Currently accepting all non-harmful social actions, at least until I learn better.
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Amsfield Posts: 176 11/2/2017	It has taken me entirely too long to discover this thread. If you are comfortable with YA I recommend Robin Jarvis. Pretty much all his books have a fitting tone of bizarre, wonderful horror through out, but I'd especially recommend both The Deptford Mice Trilogy (and the prequel Deptford Histories) and Deathscent. (The Whitby Witches are also great books, but less London-y) The Deptford Mice stories are set largely in, and under, a London full of lurking menace (well, the middle book is set in the country with lurking menace)and certain thematic similarities to these childhood favorites might be part of why FL appeal so much to me. Deathscent is Elizabethan, rather than Victorian, and therefore less urban focused, but still has some similarities. There is plenty of steampunk oddness, with archaic scientific theories being realised, very complicated otherworldly presences and a sense of doom. Its effectively a story of Ascended England. (Minor SPOILERS) the premise is roughly the took the queen and her subjects up into space for largely unknown reasons and now they operate in an environment where certain natural laws are little different. Seem familiar? Outside Jarvis, I'd recommend Clark Ashton Smith to fans of Weird Fiction. A contemporary and friend of Lovecraft, his work covers broadly similar themes to H.P.'s but he has a little more beauty and wonder in amongst the grotesquery and horror, in contrast to the cold revulsion of Lovecraft. Speaking of, whilst there is some overlap, Lovecraft differs from FL in a fairly significant way, specifically inclusivity. I'm sure most people here are aware of his lack of female character and his truly horrendous racism, it worth pointing out his works should come with a huge trigger warning. My last recommendation is Bram Stoker's Lair of the White Worm. The aspect of FL most present here is the absurdity of English Society. This is a book in which (SPOILERS) the protagonists are unable to prevent or interfere with what is presented as possibly an actual psychic duel as it would appear rude, and must come up with a plan to defeat a centuries old monster in a way that won't harm their reputations. In many ways this is not a good horror, nor even really a good book, but it is possibly the only time I can think of where etiquette is placed alongside horror and scifi happenings in importance with absolute sincerity and a straight face. I found it funny, YMMV edited by Amsfield on 11/2/2017 -- Amsfield: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Amsfield A devotee of pleasures intellectual and fleshy. Always fabulously masked. Honoria Kastern: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Honoria%20Kastern A hunter, a shooter and a fisher. Also a patriotic busy body. Mildly corrupted. Maiser: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Maiser A young firebrand of obviously criminal intent. Venshik: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Venshik Not a nice person. Asmeria: http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Asmeria Quiet, thoughtful and possibly mad. Excellent listener though. Favours grey.
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galatine42 Posts: 3 12/8/2017	I recommend the writer Michael Cisco. His writing reminds me very much of the surreal, oblique style of Fallen London's recurring dreams. Here's an excerpt from his first novel, The Divinity Student, the beginning of which can be found online. "..quickly they bring him inside, lay him across two sawhorses and start cutting at him—they gut him like a fish, cut open from throat to waist, red hands pull his ribs apart, head and shoulders hanging down, his arms lying flat on the ground, tugged back and forth as they empty him out. They dump his contents cooked and steaming on the floor, and bring up stacks of books and manila folders, tearing out pages and shuffling out sheets of paper, all covered with writing, stuffing them inside, tamping them down behind his ribs and crushing them together in his abdomen. What pages they select and what books they tear are of little importance, only that he be completely filled up with writing, to bring him back, to set him to the task. Then they suture him shut again—drag him to the tub (his arms and legs dangling and catching on things overturning tables and chairs) and dump him in the water, slopping blue water on gray stone pavings, and together they draw breath and drop open their mouths, screaming noiselessly as they shove his face under the running tap and pushing him full under the water with their red hands, under their wings." -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Galatine42
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gronostaj Posts: 403 12/8/2017	you had me at sawhorses -- Gronostaj (pl. Ermine), a decadent duellist of mysterious and indistinct gender. Seeker. Willing to die- but not of boredom. Open to all social actions, including the harmful ones. Soft-Spoken Surgeon, a doctor who owes an onerous debt. Professor of medicine at the University by day, at criminal employ by night. Open to all non-harmful social actions.
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galatine42 Posts: 3 12/8/2017	gronostaj wrote: you had me at sawhorses I hope that's a good thing -- http://fallenlondon.storynexus.com/Profile/Galatine42
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 8/2/2017	I'd remembered that "Anne of Windy Willows" had gossipy scenes set in graveyards, and a school named Summerside, and whole paragraphs going on about winds and Storm. And yet, I had entirely forgotten about the cannibalistic subplot. edited by Teaspoon on 8/2/2017 -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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Catherine Raymond Posts: 2518 8/3/2017	gronostaj wrote: I'd recommend Lies of Locke Lamora. It's not exactly victorian england (the city is actually reminescent of Italy and Venice), but it's like..... a better version of Oliver Twist. Plus, there are remnants of an older city from a different civilization over which the new city grew, orphan gangs and all sorts of criminals and thieves, and some elegantly subtle, but really peculiar supernatural things. And lot of high-quality stealing. Anyone who enjoyed thievery and heists in Flit, or Persuasively.... persuading Londoners to part with their riches, as well as the Watchmaker's Hill's and Docks' storylines, will certainly love it. Those who didn't will very probably also love it, because it's a rather good book. The author's debut book, actually. Some people (sighs). I know the books well (it's a series) and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth one, "The Thorn of Emberlain" which was supposed to come out last September but was delayed. -- Cathy Raymond http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/cathyr19355 Catherine Raymond aka Mrs. Rykar Malkus http://fallenlondon.com/Profile/Catherine%20Raymond (Gone NORTH)
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gronostaj Posts: 403 8/3/2017	Catherine Raymond wrote: I know the books well (it's a series) and I'm eagerly awaiting the fourth one, "The Thorn of Emberlain" which was supposed to come out last September but was delayed. aha! One of my favourite things about the failbetter playerbase is that it has an unproportional amount of people who have impeccable tastes i'm waiting for Thorn too. I still remember the day I accidentally bought "republic of thieves" (which I couldn't even read back then, because I didn't speak English, but I'd've been damned if that stopped me from getting my useless unreadable ridiculously expensive hardcover book signed) when I ran into him signing books at some big London book-store. Seemed like a really swell guy in addition to being a good writer -- Gronostaj (pl. Ermine), a decadent duellist of mysterious and indistinct gender. Seeker. Willing to die- but not of boredom. Open to all social actions, including the harmful ones. Soft-Spoken Surgeon, a doctor who owes an onerous debt. Professor of medicine at the University by day, at criminal employ by night. Open to all non-harmful social actions.
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 8/18/2017	Oh look, double-posting. Graham Greene's "Travels with My Aunt". The Inconvenient Aunt in which makes Wodehouse's relatives seem like tame stuff, by comparison. -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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Lady Taimi Felix Posts: 202 7/18/2015	Snotra wrote: Is there a thread like this for music? There is! http://community.failbettergames.com/topic230-radio-neath--echo-bazaar-soundtracks.aspx -- Lady Taimi Felix: Devoted Wife. Invisible Eminence. Patron of the Shadowy Arts. Monster Hunter. Lady of Adventure. Exceptionally Lethal. Loves a Good Chat over Coffee.
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Zarrg Posts: 31 4/14/2017	I would recommend checking out Steven King's The Dark Tower series I have only just started it, but so far it seems to share themes with the Echo Bazaar-verce. The final two chapters of the first book are especially reminiscent of SMEN, with themes of obsession, sacrifice and terrible cosmic truths. edited by Zarrg on 4/22/2017
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Teaspoon Posts: 866 7/22/2017	Has anyone else read Judith Flanders? I'm very fond of her tomes on Victorian living. They're full of useful tidbits such as how many people walked across London every day for work (most of them, which justifies the Neath's apparent lack of public transport) and the ubiquity of takeaway. Great fun. -- Truth lies at the bottom of a well. https://www.fallenlondon.com/profile/Alt%20Ern
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Books reminiscent of Fallen London