Cities and suburbs, real and imaginary.

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Creepy Book!

So, I was going for a walk to Starbucks this morning for a little bit of exercise and some caffeine. I shoved "The Scar" by China Mieville in the inside pocket of my jacket for reading material.

Creepy:

It had been sitting on the floor next to my desk, where it couldn't possibly acquire any heat. Within moments of walking, I had to pull it out of my jacket, because it was burning me. It was cool to the touch, when I pulled it out, but when placed against my ribs in my loose, cool, denim jacket, the book was like a hot battery burning me.

I know what you're thinking, and I checked for my cellphone, which was in my other pocket and wasn't causing any heat at all. I rummaged around in the book's pocket for anything that might cause heat. No luck. There was nothing inside.

The book, all by itself, was emanating heat, as if it contained within it a presence, or power, inexplicable by normal means.

I carried it in my hand, and it slowly cooled down. I put it back in my pocket, later, after I had coffee in one hand, and had spent an hour or so reading in the cafe, and the book was fine, as if the presence had burned off.

The only way to exorcise a book, after all, is to read it.

2 comments:

LisaBit said...

Have you read any other Mieville? The Scar is probably my favorite one of his, though it seems like heresy to put anything about Perdido Street Station.

J m mcdermott said...

I've read "Iron Council", "Perdido Street Station", and lots of short fiction.

He's not my favorite New Weird Author, though he does seem to be a defining voice.

He can't breathe without some thinly veiled socialist or political statement. I find it off-putting, even though his framing devices are wildly awesome and imaginative.

I think of him, for that reason, as "WeirdPunk" more than anything, and prefer VanderMeer and Ford.

Still, I am enjoying The Scar. I'm in a political mood. Maybe it's because I was just in San Francisco, and saw all those homeless folks with nowhere to go but down.