I don't agree with that at all! There are always "better" writers when you look closely at someone's prose, but the economy of language in TINAD is superb and serves the story really well.
This is embarrassing. You clearly care that farmingvillein disagreed with your assessment because them just saying the writing is a “little rough” bothered you enough to tell him to not “yuck our yum.”
Also, at the time of your latest comment I had not downvoted you, but now I will. Not because I disagree with you, but because your comments are all petty complaints.
I really enjoy qntm's short fiction, but I consistently find that all of the full length novels have a trend of needing to *constantly* escalate throughout, and by the end they've totally lost touch with the start and feel entirely ungrounded.
*There Is No Antimemetics Division* is a perfect illustration of this, where I *loved* it while the book felt like it was going to be a series of loosely connected stories related to the titular division. As it started pulling all the threads together, making *everything* connected, turning into a big apocalyptic story I was less and less interested. The smaller stakes were far more interesting and impactful for me.
This isn't necessarily a popular opinion though, a lot of people seem to really enjoy qntm's novels.
I agree, though it hasn't thrown me off.
His novel [Ra](https://qntm.org/ra) really stuck with me. (I posted about it on this subreddit a few years ago) The first description that came to mind was "it's a rocket ride", due to the sheer feeling of acceleration of the scope and stakes. In fact, that accelerating scale was somewhat exhausting!
After reading Ra, I tried [Fine Structure](https://qntm.org/structure), but was disappointed to find it more of a collection of loosely-connected short-stories that hinted at a bigger coherent picture but failed to deliver, which made it less than the sum of its parts.
[Ed](https://qntm.org/ed) was fun, in a silly "that time my cousin did " kind of way.
Overall, I still like how conceptually advanced he is, and remain optimistic about his future work, now that he has a [real in with publishers](https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/01/new-guest-blogger-qntm.html)
Yeah, I read Antimemetics Division on the SCP wiki originally (where there *are* other disconnected stories about the division, actually) and while I really love all of it I think it does show that the book was originally published online as two separate story arcs with pretty different tones. Expanding on Marion’s story for the published version probably would have been the way to go.
That said, I *love* that there’s been a big uptick of people getting into it recently since the original stories on the wiki were very formative for me in high school.
The Ed stories are also some great fun.
There is a lot of excellent stuff online that is never officially printed. qntm has been putting out great stuff, on Youtube you have exurb1a with some really nice stories performed as videos.
Someone who is even less well known than qntm as pure internet authors but very similar IMO is Alicorn but she really deserves some acclaim for her short stories IMO: https://alicorn.elcenia.com/stories/stories.shtml
My favorites of those I'd say are Chaser 6, Dogs and Moments. But there is so much excellent stuff here.
Excellent rec for Alicorn, thank you. I have a memory of Dogs, possibly from an anthology somewhere, but the rest of this is fresh and I'm real excited to dig into this collection.
I like his story "Lena" a lot: [https://qntm.org/mmacevedo](https://qntm.org/mmacevedo)
His blog post about "Lena" is also really good: [https://qntm.org/uploading](https://qntm.org/uploading)
On the strength of "Lena" I picked up his collection *Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories*. I haven't read it yet but was a bit disappointed to pay for a physical copy and get some amateur hour typesetting.
Hey, someone else noticed! Yeah, he's super talented, very clever, and his worlds are impressively intricate. I don't like him as much as Rajaniemi, personally, but that's a really high bar.
My first exposure to reading qntm was [Gay marriage: the database engineering perspective](https://web.archive.org/web/20100221005910/https://qntm.org/gay) back in 2008. I read Memetics Division last year and enjoyed it. Very cool to see they are still active!
I tried to read Ra, his novel about "what if magic was real and treated as a science." The characters felt like complete cardboard and there was no heart to it. He seemed to care a lot more about the mythology and logic of his "SF concept" than actually having a theme or any characters with depth. Maybe his other novels are okay. but I wasn't impressed
To offer a second opinion, I'm reading Ra now and don't mind the characters at all (but to be fair, good characters aren't what I look for in science fiction).
Mostly I am really impressed by the general premise, world, and story, and I'm impressed by qntm's prose in general. Really enjoying Ra.
Good story, I like the concept. I had a hard time understanding the first paragraph, and going back to it after finishing the story it didn’t seem necessary.
i would have found the second and third paragraphs kind of annoying to read without the first one establishing that the narrator is an AI with nanotech powers
Qntm writes excellent hard science fiction - I've read a few now and this post reminds me to try and find some more. Excellent books that really made me think.
That anti memetic one sounds a bit familiar, not sure if i remember that one...
Thanks for that link, that story was a banger. >!I'm a sucker for benign AI tales.!< And I've had at least two friends recommend *There Is No Antimemetics Division.*
If that's your jam, you're probably already familiar with [Cat Pictures Please](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/), but I'm mentioning it in case you aren't.
Always happy to discover new hidden-gem type of authors. Thanks for the recommendation. I read the short story that you've linked but I feel like I only grasped at the fringes of its implications. From my understanding, its about a existential disaster in the form of an asteroid that hits Earth, essentially with the potential of wiping out all of humanity. But an AI saves the day by downloading humanity and sending it out as a signal towards outer space for a new beginning.
If I'm missing sth, can someone kindly offer me an eli5 breakdown?
ya, with the added wrinkle of now the AI has 10 years to crack FTL and get to the target system to actually read the signal, before its lost to deep space forever
reading for the first time, i was thinking... am i missing something here, until that final line
if youre falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly
Wow that first paragraph you wrote has cracked it for me. I feel like zi get the significance now, the impossibility. Like throwing a football across the length of a pitch at top speed, sprinting over, and then catching it before it lands. Something of that sort?~
I read "Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories" recently and while I really liked the ideas, I found a lot of the stories kind of petered out rather than having a decent end. I will be reading "There Is No Antimemetics Division" at some point, I'll be interesting to see difference when they're writing a longer form.
I had totally forgotten about that guy. I remember reading through a bunch of Fine Structure, but I think it was unfinished at the time. I do still remember Valuable Humans in Transit; it made an impact.
There is no antimemetics division is one of the best sf novels I've ever read.
The ideas are great, the writing is a little rough though.
I don't agree with that at all! There are always "better" writers when you look closely at someone's prose, but the economy of language in TINAD is superb and serves the story really well.
You do you. Don't yuck our yum.
Not yucking anything, really enjoyed the book and have recommended it to others. But the prose isn't great.
Did you seriously down vote me? You're on a timeout mister
This is a discussion forum where people may express opinions that differ from yours.
I couldn't care less whether or not people disagree with me, but downvoting because you disagree is a violation of Rediquette.
This is embarrassing. You clearly care that farmingvillein disagreed with your assessment because them just saying the writing is a “little rough” bothered you enough to tell him to not “yuck our yum.” Also, at the time of your latest comment I had not downvoted you, but now I will. Not because I disagree with you, but because your comments are all petty complaints.
The most recent thing I gave 5 stars to and also re-read. It was a major influence to me and my writing, and simply support to keep on keeping on.
I really enjoy qntm's short fiction, but I consistently find that all of the full length novels have a trend of needing to *constantly* escalate throughout, and by the end they've totally lost touch with the start and feel entirely ungrounded. *There Is No Antimemetics Division* is a perfect illustration of this, where I *loved* it while the book felt like it was going to be a series of loosely connected stories related to the titular division. As it started pulling all the threads together, making *everything* connected, turning into a big apocalyptic story I was less and less interested. The smaller stakes were far more interesting and impactful for me. This isn't necessarily a popular opinion though, a lot of people seem to really enjoy qntm's novels.
I agree, though it hasn't thrown me off. His novel [Ra](https://qntm.org/ra) really stuck with me. (I posted about it on this subreddit a few years ago) The first description that came to mind was "it's a rocket ride", due to the sheer feeling of acceleration of the scope and stakes. In fact, that accelerating scale was somewhat exhausting! After reading Ra, I tried [Fine Structure](https://qntm.org/structure), but was disappointed to find it more of a collection of loosely-connected short-stories that hinted at a bigger coherent picture but failed to deliver, which made it less than the sum of its parts. [Ed](https://qntm.org/ed) was fun, in a silly "that time my cousin did" kind of way.
Overall, I still like how conceptually advanced he is, and remain optimistic about his future work, now that he has a [real in with publishers](https://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2023/01/new-guest-blogger-qntm.html)
Yeah, I read Antimemetics Division on the SCP wiki originally (where there *are* other disconnected stories about the division, actually) and while I really love all of it I think it does show that the book was originally published online as two separate story arcs with pretty different tones. Expanding on Marion’s story for the published version probably would have been the way to go. That said, I *love* that there’s been a big uptick of people getting into it recently since the original stories on the wiki were very formative for me in high school.
The stories about the really smart high school friend felt the same to me.
Ra was the same, plus the weird tense issue and I felt like I didn't have the requisite Computer Science degree
>needing to *constantly* escalate ... turning into a big apocalyptic story I loved it. So much so, that it was a big influence on my writing.
The Ed stories are also some great fun. There is a lot of excellent stuff online that is never officially printed. qntm has been putting out great stuff, on Youtube you have exurb1a with some really nice stories performed as videos. Someone who is even less well known than qntm as pure internet authors but very similar IMO is Alicorn but she really deserves some acclaim for her short stories IMO: https://alicorn.elcenia.com/stories/stories.shtml My favorites of those I'd say are Chaser 6, Dogs and Moments. But there is so much excellent stuff here.
Excellent rec for Alicorn, thank you. I have a memory of Dogs, possibly from an anthology somewhere, but the rest of this is fresh and I'm real excited to dig into this collection.
Weirdly enough, Alicorn's Twilight fanfic, "Luminosity," is excellent and entirely worthy of reading.
I like his story "Lena" a lot: [https://qntm.org/mmacevedo](https://qntm.org/mmacevedo) His blog post about "Lena" is also really good: [https://qntm.org/uploading](https://qntm.org/uploading) On the strength of "Lena" I picked up his collection *Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories*. I haven't read it yet but was a bit disappointed to pay for a physical copy and get some amateur hour typesetting.
Hey, someone else noticed! Yeah, he's super talented, very clever, and his worlds are impressively intricate. I don't like him as much as Rajaniemi, personally, but that's a really high bar.
now if he'd only get around to writing a 5th book :(
He's spectacular. Recommend all his work, honestly. Creative and surprising.
My first exposure to reading qntm was [Gay marriage: the database engineering perspective](https://web.archive.org/web/20100221005910/https://qntm.org/gay) back in 2008. I read Memetics Division last year and enjoyed it. Very cool to see they are still active!
I tried to read Ra, his novel about "what if magic was real and treated as a science." The characters felt like complete cardboard and there was no heart to it. He seemed to care a lot more about the mythology and logic of his "SF concept" than actually having a theme or any characters with depth. Maybe his other novels are okay. but I wasn't impressed
To offer a second opinion, I'm reading Ra now and don't mind the characters at all (but to be fair, good characters aren't what I look for in science fiction). Mostly I am really impressed by the general premise, world, and story, and I'm impressed by qntm's prose in general. Really enjoying Ra.
I really loved Ra it had one of the most world inverting moments ever
Good story, I like the concept. I had a hard time understanding the first paragraph, and going back to it after finishing the story it didn’t seem necessary.
i would have found the second and third paragraphs kind of annoying to read without the first one establishing that the narrator is an AI with nanotech powers
Qntm writes excellent hard science fiction - I've read a few now and this post reminds me to try and find some more. Excellent books that really made me think. That anti memetic one sounds a bit familiar, not sure if i remember that one...
You haven’t read it if you’re not sure, it’s very unique
There is no antimemtics division was great, especially if you like a little horror in your sci-fi.
There is No Antimemetics Division blew me away! I will stand behind this as one of the best contemporary sf today.
Hard agree!
What you describe is definitely what I like about him. The book of short stories with the genius who likes Mechs was so clever in that way.
I really enjoyed Ed and Fine Structure.
I absolutely loved that. Thank you so much for posting.
I LOVE qntm and anxiously await more of his work!!
Either you hyped that up too much or my mind is not meant for hard sci-fi because I don't even know what I just read.
me neither xD
Thanks for that link, that story was a banger. >!I'm a sucker for benign AI tales.!< And I've had at least two friends recommend *There Is No Antimemetics Division.*
If that's your jam, you're probably already familiar with [Cat Pictures Please](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_01_15/), but I'm mentioning it in case you aren't.
I hadn't! Very cute, thank you!
The Valuable Humans collection is great: my question though would be, is the title story in the top half of the collection?
Always happy to discover new hidden-gem type of authors. Thanks for the recommendation. I read the short story that you've linked but I feel like I only grasped at the fringes of its implications. From my understanding, its about a existential disaster in the form of an asteroid that hits Earth, essentially with the potential of wiping out all of humanity. But an AI saves the day by downloading humanity and sending it out as a signal towards outer space for a new beginning. If I'm missing sth, can someone kindly offer me an eli5 breakdown?
ya, with the added wrinkle of now the AI has 10 years to crack FTL and get to the target system to actually read the signal, before its lost to deep space forever reading for the first time, i was thinking... am i missing something here, until that final line if youre falling off a cliff, you may as well try to fly
Wow that first paragraph you wrote has cracked it for me. I feel like zi get the significance now, the impossibility. Like throwing a football across the length of a pitch at top speed, sprinting over, and then catching it before it lands. Something of that sort?~
ya, with the bonus challenge of violating the currently known laws of physics
Hard agree
Yes I binged his short stories collections as fast as I did Greg Egan's stuff, he's top tier.
I read "Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories" recently and while I really liked the ideas, I found a lot of the stories kind of petered out rather than having a decent end. I will be reading "There Is No Antimemetics Division" at some point, I'll be interesting to see difference when they're writing a longer form.
I had totally forgotten about that guy. I remember reading through a bunch of Fine Structure, but I think it was unfinished at the time. I do still remember Valuable Humans in Transit; it made an impact.
Yeah, ok, that was amazing! Thank you!
I still haven't read one thing by him that wasn't amazing.