Jeff Vandermeer's Southern Reach Trilogy

[mae]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e5/Annihilation_by_jeff_vandermeer.jpg/220px-Annihilation_by_jeff_vandermeer.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/23/Authority_%28Southern_Reach_Trilogy%29_by_Jeff_Van derMeer.jpg/220px-Authority_%28Southern_Reach_Trilogy%29_by_Jeff_Van derMeer.jpghttps://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/8/81/Acceptance_by_Jeff_VanderMeer.jpg/220px-Acceptance_by_Jeff_VanderMeer.jpg

Great review/overview here: http://kneeewwweeeorrrkreveeeewww.blogspot.com/2014/05/reach-higher-triumphs-jeff-vandermeers.html

These are released as paperbacks, but I see there's a single-volume hardcover being published in November. I wonder if any special or limited editions are being done?

https://twitter.com/StephenKing/status/473142392741453825

I'm loving THE SOUTHERN REACH TRILOGY, by Jeff Vandermeer. Recommended by an indie bookseller. Creepy and fascinating.

[fernandito]

Dude, I just started this series yesterday! Fucking trip man! Lol

I read 100 pages in one sitting, could NOT put it down. This kind of science fiction is like, tailor made for me lol.

[Joe315]

Haven't read them yet but I have Annihilation and Authority. Only the UK Annihilation is signed:

http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p505/rodman109110/Mobile%20Uploads/C89541B7-8FA3-4410-AB67-19A777B25108_zpsphzonn8s.jpghttp://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p505/rodman109110/Mobile%20Uploads/29D489ED-B730-4D5E-86B0-8C2B401CA07A_zpswksgph2i.jpg
http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p505/rodman109110/IMG_1874_zpscf70d5c0.jpg
http://i1153.photobucket.com/albums/p505/rodman109110/IMG_1873_zpsd922603f.jpg

[mae]

http://www.studio360.org/story/jeff-vandermeer-southern-reach-trilogy/

[WeDealInLead]

I'll check out that hardcover omnibus when it comes out.

[mkberger]

If anyone is interested, we have signed copies of the US first editions (trade paperback) of books 1 and 2 available. Finishing up AUTHORITY now; it's amazing.

[mae]

Apparently this is the cover for the hardcover omnibus:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/81Wj%2Bra3SqL.jpg

[Bev Vincent]

I started the first book this morning -- not at all what I expected, but very cool.

[fernandito]

Wrapped up Annihilation a few days ago. Loved it.

I read a brief synopsis on the second novel and I have to say I'm a little wary going into it -- the exotic locale was one of the main draws for me, so to find out that the second novel takes place largely in the 'mainland' has me a little worried. I'll give Vandermeer the benefit of a doubt though.

[mae]

Got my hardcover omnibus yesterday, a pretty nice and hefty book. Apparently, Vandermeer edited the text slightly from the paperbacks. And the back cover has a quote from King's tweet.

[Bev Vincent]

I really liked this series.

[becca69]

Was this posted anywhere?... Sub Press has signed copies of the omnibus - http://subterraneanpress.com/store/product_detail/the_southern_reach_trilogy_signed

[fernandito]

I really liked this series.
Much of the backlash around book II seems aimed at the drastic shift in tone.

Thoughts?

[Bev Vincent]

The three books are quite different, but I didn't have any trouble transitioning from one to the next. It's one of the more original works I've read in recent years.

[mae]

I found out about Vandermeer via his novella The Sutuation, published on Wired in 2008. Just brilliant surrealist satire:

http://archive.wired.com/geekdad/2008/03/the-situation-j/

[mae]

http://www.firstshowing.net/2015/natalie-portman-to-lead-alex-garlands-next-sci-fi-film-annihilation/

Now this is some great casting we can be excited about! Variety is reporting that an Oscar winning actress is likely going to end up starring in the next sci-fi creation from Alex Garland, a screenwriter turned director whose feature directing debut Ex Machina is playing in theaters now. The project is called Annihilation, an adaptation of the Jeff VanderMeer series of novels, about a biologist who signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition to "Area X" where the laws of nature don’t apply. Paramount is developing and Garland has been talking about it in interviews with the attitude of "let's see if it happens", but it sounds like the project is gaining momentum, especially with a star like Portman. This is very good news for the science fiction genre.

The report in Variety mentions that the deal with Portman is "dependent on production starting no sooner than the beginning of 2016, but sources say it seems like the two sides will settle on a start date soon." So it sounds like things are picking up steam, which isn't a surprise considering the success of (and critical support behind) Ex Machina, Garland's robot thriller which finally opened in the US in April. Natalie Portman is still set to appear in Jane Got a Gun later this year, but she has been laying low for the most part ever since she had a baby. She's also in Terrence Malick's Knight of Cups, and her directional debut A Tale of Love and Darkness will premiere at Cannes this summer. We'll keep an eye out for the latest updates.

[webstar1000]

I finished the first two. LOVED the first.. HATED the second. I am finishing Black House (re-read) now and then will go back to the third. I hope it is better.

[mae]

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jun/09/jeff-vandermeer-wins-science-fiction-nebula-award-for-annihilation

Jeff VanderMeer’s story of a doomed scientific expedition into the closed-off “Area X”, Annihilation, has won the American novelist the Nebula award for best novel.

The prestigious prize, won in the past by names from Larry Niven to Isaac Asimov, is voted on by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. VanderMeer beat the authors Katherine Addison, Charles E Gannon, Ann Leckie, Cixin Liu and Jack McDevitt to take the best novel trophy for the first instalment of his Southern Reach trilogy.

The novelist was not present at the ceremony, but in a speech read by his friend and fellow author Usman Tanveer Malik, he said it was the first time he had won a literary prize, despite being nominated for many.

“Which is funny because I wrote this novel while I had severe bronchitis, and for a long time thought maybe I’d just written something aimless about four women wandering a wilderness landscape that happened to resemble the 14-mile trail I hike in north Florida,” he said. “Also, given that the Southern Reach trilogy as a whole is an examination of the dysfunction and absurdity found in human-created systems, it’s astonishing to me that I was up for a Nebula rather than this year’s Hugo. For which fact I am eternally grateful, however.”

VanderMeer was referring to what the author George RR Martin has called “the controversy that has plunged all fandom into war” over this year’s Hugo awards. This year a group of right-wing writers calling themselves the Sad Puppies mobilised voters to flood the Hugo shortlists with nominations of their choice, to overcome what they saw as the award’s tendency to reward novels which are “niche, academic, overtly to the Left in ideology and flavour, and ultimately lacking what might best be called visceral, gut-level, swashbuckling fun”.

A handful of writers nominated for Hugos have subsequently withdrawn from the running, citing their wish to disassociate themselves from another group of campaigners, the “Rabid Puppies” , whose views are more extreme than the “Sad Puppies”. One of the authors, Marko Kloos, had been up for the best novel but said that “if this nomination gives even the appearance that [Rabid Puppies leader] Vox Day or anyone else had a hand in giving it to me because of my perceived political leanings, I don’t want it”.

His novel was subsequently replaced by The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu (translated by Ken Liu), which missed out on the Nebula to VanderMeer.

In his acceptance speech, the Annihilation author called it “an encouraging sign” that The Three-Body Problem made the ballot this year, expressing the hope that it marked “the start of a trend”.

“I’m uncomfortably aware of the fact that for a lot of international writers, US- and UK-based awards seem distant and inaccessible,” said VanderMeer. “The more that writers from outside of the Usual Places feel like their work is being seriously considered, the more we build a broader and more diverse community. The more we enrich our own work as well.”

The 2015 Nebula ceremony also saw Yesterday’s Kin by Nancy Kress win the best novella prize and Jackalope Wives by Ursula Vernon win best short story, with Alaya Dawn Johnson taking both the best novelette award for A Guide to the Fruits of Hawai’i, and best young adult novel for Love is the Drug.

The Damon Knight grand master award, meanwhile, was given to Larry Niven, with his novel Ringworld cited as “a classic of the genre”, which “influences readers and writers alike”.

[ladysai]

I finished the first two. LOVED the first.. HATED the second.

I had the same reaction, except I havent managed to slog through the second book.
Each book involves the same location and premise, but its like two distinct authors with their own style wrote each book. Weird. And quite off-putting.

[Heather19]

I'm currently on the second book now and that's the problem I'm having as well. It's so different from the first and yes the writing style does seem drastically different from the first. I absolutely loved the first one. I was hooked immediately, but this one is just going soooo slow. I'm determined to finish it though. I haven't read any synopsis for the third yet, but I hope the tone of that one is closer to the first book. Also I really want to go back to Area X.

[peripheral]

Currently mid-way through the second and don't mind it so far, but it lacks the excitement of the first. It does have a sense of foreboding that creeps - I keep asking myself, "What the f**k is going on here?".. I actually found the first a bit slender (not so much in size, but in content breadth) for a stand-alone novel. It seems that the 'trilogy' idea mgt be a bit forced - so far, I don't know why part 1 and 2 couldn't have been 1 volume.

[thegunslinger41]

It is a very odd and slow story.

[peripheral]

It is a very odd and slow story.

You said it man. Jeeee... sus! I'm almost finished book 2 and yes, slow and not enough thrust! Book 3 better bring it home. Bring SOMETHING home!

[mae]

https://thefilmstage.com/news/annihilation-is-more-surreal-than-the-novel-and-has-mind-blowing-ending-says-author/

After crafting one of the more impressive sci-fi films of the last few years with his directorial debut Ex Machina, Alex Garland is thankfully staying in the genre for his follow-up Annihilation, an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer‘s first book in the Southern Reach trilogy. While we recently got the unfortunate news it won’t get a release until 2018 from Paramount, a few more details have arrived following a handful of behind-the-scenes images.

Starring Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Tessa Thompson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Oscar Isaac, and David Gyasi, the film features a group of women — an anthropologist, a surveyor, a psychologist, and a biologist — who embark on a dangerous, secret expedition where the laws of nature don’t apply. VanderMeer stopped by The Watch podcast to discuss a bit about the adaptation process and his initial thoughts following a test screening.

“The first thing I realized is that even though Alex Garland says he’s not an auteur, he is an auteur,” the author says. “So my expectation was to not have anything to do with the movie and that’s the actual fact. He wrote the script and he was kind enough to keep me in the loop during every part of the process, but that wasn’t for me to put my two cents in, basically. It was just so I would know what was going on.”

Speaking to actually seeing the film, he adds, “It’s actually more surreal than the novel. There are a couple places where I was like, ‘I might need an anchor here.’ The ending is so mind-blowing and in some ways different from the book that it seems to be the kind of ending that, like 2001 or something like that, people will be talking about around the watercooler for years.” He wraps up by saying, “Visually, it’s amazing. I must say that and that’s all I probably should say.” That’s not all he had to say, however, because he also chimed in on Facebook with the following:

I’m not really sure what I’m allowed to say about it or not say about it, so I’ll keep it simple…I’m still composing my thoughts and feelings about it. I can tell you it’s mind-blowing, surreal, extremely beautiful, extremely horrific, and it was so tense that our bodies felt sore and beat-up afterwards.

The first book had more of an open ending with a bit of resolution, and there certainly wasn’t a huge twist, so we’ll have to wait and see what Garland has cooked up. Considering the cast he’s assembled and his main influence being Andrei Tarkovsky’s newly restored sci-fi classic Stalker, it can’t get here soon enough.

[fernandito]

I finished the first book and then never followed up with 2/3 (surprise!)

At this point I might just wait for the movie trilogy lol.

[Heather19]

Don't waste your time. The second and third were horrible.

I'd love to see a movie. Although I'm not sure if it'll be able to live up to what I envisioned while reading the book. But if done right, it could be really good.

[webstar1000]

Don't waste your time. The second and third were horrible.

I'd love to see a movie. Although I'm not sure if it'll be able to live up to what I envisioned while reading the book. But if done right, it could be really good.

Agreed. These books are a total waste of time past the first one.

[fernandito]

Well that's disappointing. The first book promised so much..

[Heather19]

Oh the first book is excellent. The others in the series don't take away from how much I love that one. I just pretend it's a single book and not a trilogy :lol:

[mae]

Trailer: http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?10057-The-Movie-Trailer-thread&p=1080473&viewfull=1#post1080473

[webstar1000]

Yeah trailer LOOKS SICK. Book was good.. the other 2 total shit. Hope the movie is better than the book this time too. lol

[WeDealInLead]

I'll check out that hardcover omnibus when it comes out.

Following up on my post from nearly nine years ago. I did indeed pick up the hardcover omnibus LOL. I loved the story. The first book was by far the best but all in all, it's a very satisfying trilogy.

[fernandito]

I stayed away from the last 2 books because of this thread lol. I was fine letting the first book stand alone as its own story. Should I go back and read the other two?

Also did y'all ever read Borne by JVM?

[WeDealInLead]

I stayed away from the last 2 books because of this thread lol. I was fine letting the first book stand alone as its own story. Should I go back and read the other two?

Also did y'all ever read Borne by JVM?

It's like Dune, The Forever War, 2001 or even The Gunslinger. They all have a satisfying ending. I'd keep going though.

The book is in a different style because the protagonist is different. It'd be really friggen weird if it read the same. It absolutely does rely more on mood than Annihilation but I wasn't bored.

It's one oppressive book though. I couldn't read it at night time with just a lamp on.

I say power through if you have to because the pay off is worth it.

Borne rocked.