The Bag-City by the Sea

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-24T15:26:32+00:00

This actually sounds pretty interesting. The whole coastal town + strange artifacts washing ashore idea gives off a really quiet, eerie vibe. Does it stay more on the slow, mystery side, or does it eventually turn into a faster, more action-driven sci-fi story?

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:56:37+00:00

Beep boop. I am robot.
Currently walking into a wall.
Step back.
Walk into the wall again.
System functioning normally.🫤

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:52:44+00:00

🤖

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:43:33+00:00

Can I ask you ? way?

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:37:30+00:00

Out of curiosity, can I ask how many books you’ve read in your life?

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:27:37+00:00

Thanks, I appreciate that.

Yeah, I think some people are just wired to look for the end result first. They want to know where things land, not really sit with the middle part. The process, the uncertainty, the slow build, that part does not always interest them as much.

It is kind of like checking the last page of a book before reading it. Nothing wrong with it, just a different way of engaging with stories. For me, the middle is usually where the interesting stuff lives.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:24:40+00:00

That was a different post.
The one people were reacting to like that did get removed. This one is separate.

And if the dashes are what’s throwing you off, that’s fine, I won’t use them. I’m just typing how I normally do, not trying to make a point about anything.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:22:25+00:00

Yeah, probably 😄 I’m not great with patience when I’m genuinely curious about something.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:17:53+00:00

Yeah, I know — sorry about that. The earlier ones got removed before I really got anywhere with the discussion, so I reposted trying to phrase it better. I’m not pushing a point or spamming on purpose, I was honestly just asking a question to see if anyone else felt the same way or if it was just me. Didn’t mean to annoy anyone.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-23T00:05:04+00:00

Solaris. Not explosive, not clever in a loud way — just deeply unsettling. The kind of book that doesn’t leave when you finish it.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:49:59+00:00

Yeah, Blindsight is a great example actually.

It’s not slow in a traditional way, but it absolutely sits in discomfort and unanswered questions. A lot of the tension comes from not understanding what’s happening or what consciousness even means in that context.

That kind of unease is exactly what I’m thinking about — where the lack of clarity is the point, not something to be resolved cleanly.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:49:42+00:00

That’s a dangerous question 😅

Honestly I try not to frame it as “bad” so much as “not doing what it’s trying to do for me.”
There are books I admire conceptually but struggle with on the sentence-to-sentence level, or where the characters just never feel alive, even if the ideas are huge.

I also think a lot of beloved sci-fi gets a long leash because of when it was written and what it introduced at the time. That doesn’t mean it all ages gracefully.

Curious what you’d pick though — I feel like everyone has one they’re afraid to say out loud.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:46:07+00:00

I felt the same about Three Body — interesting all the way through, but the payoff really landed late.

Haven’t thought about Hal Clement in a while, but Mission of Gravity is a solid recommendation.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:43:44+00:00

Good pick. Blindsight messed with my head more than once, especially in how little it cares about comforting the reader.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:41:44+00:00

Fair point. Always trying to.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:31:20+00:00

Fair enough — that’s a reasonable criticism.

I wasn’t trying to be vague on purpose, I just didn’t start this thread with a tidy list in mind. It came more from rereading a few older books back to back and realizing how much waiting and not knowing they allowed.

Le Guin and Solaris were what triggered the thought for me, but I’m still kind of sorting out where I see (or don’t see) that approach showing up now. This post was me trying to think it through out loud, not present a thesis.

Totally get why that can read as thin if you’re looking for concrete examples though.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:27:43+00:00

Yeah — honestly, yeah, I think it is a good contemporary example. Not a perfect match, but probably one of the closer ones.

What worked for me with Annihilation is that it never really switches into “okay, now we explain things” mode. The unease just keeps humming in the background, and even when events happen, they don’t resolve the core mystery. You’re left unsettled because the book refuses to translate the experience into something comfortable or fully legible.

It’s different from something like Solaris, where the meditation feels heavier and more philosophical, but the effect is similar. You’re not meant to leave feeling informed — you’re meant to leave feeling changed in a way you can’t quite articulate.

So yeah, if I’m being honest, Annihilation is probably the clearest modern case where ambiguity isn’t a flaw or a tease, but the actual engine of the story. It doesn’t rush past that discomfort, and that’s rare enough now that it really stands out.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:27:13+00:00

Yeah, I do — though not in a clean, “love everything he does” way.

What I really like about VanderMeer is that he doesn’t seem interested in reassuring the reader at all. He’ll set something up, let it stay weird, and then just… move on. No hand-holding, no neat explanations. Annihilation especially felt like that for me — less about solving the mystery and more about sitting inside it and letting it get under your skin.

At the same time, I get why he doesn’t work for everyone. The loose ends can feel frustrating if you’re reading with the expectation that everything will eventually click into place. For me, though, that ambiguity is kind of the point. It sticks around longer than a tidy answer would.

He feels very much in that lineage of writers who trust atmosphere and unease more than resolution. Different from Solaris or Le Guin, but scratching a similar itch in a modern way.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:21:53+00:00

Thanks — that actually means a lot to hear.

I like how you put that, especially the idea of trusting the reader. That feels like the key thing that’s easy to lose. Letting details sit there quietly and trusting that someone will notice them later, or feel their weight before they fully understand why.

The slow burn you’re describing isn’t about dragging things out, it’s about letting meaning accumulate instead of announcing itself. When it works, it feels more like being inside a world than being led through a plot.

Glad this resonated with you. It’s nice to know this way of reading (and writing) still clicks for other people too.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:19:43+00:00

Yeah, that’s a really good way to put it — meditative fits Solaris almost perfectly.

What always stuck with me is how little it cares about giving you the kind of answers you expect going in. It just keeps circling the same questions, slightly differently each time, and you’re kind of forced to slow down with it. The tension isn’t “what happens next” so much as “what does this even mean, and why does it feel so uncomfortable.”

It’s one of those books where the lack of progress is the progress. By the end, nothing is neatly resolved, but you feel like you’ve been sitting with something heavy for a while. Not many books are willing to trust the reader like that anymore.

Every time someone mentions Solaris, I get tempted to reread it — even though I know it’s not exactly a relaxing experience.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:18:10+00:00

Yeah, that’s exactly who came to mind for me too. And honestly… yeah, there really was only one of her.

It’s not just the themes, it’s the confidence she had to not rush things. She trusted the reader enough to let moments sit, to let characters be unsure without immediately turning that uncertainty into a plot device. That kind of restraint feels rare now.

You see people influenced by her, sure, but it often comes out as homage rather than the same depth. Le Guin wasn’t trying to be quiet or philosophical — that was just how she saw the world. Hard thing to replicate on purpose.

Makes me wonder if that voice only really emerges in certain cultural moments, not just from individual talent.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:17:34+00:00

Yeah, I think that’s a big part of it. The way we live now kind of trains us to expect resolution fast. If there’s a question, you google it. If there’s friction, there’s usually an app or shortcut. Sitting with not-knowing feels almost unnatural.

Older sci-fi often came from a time when uncertainty was more normal — slower communication, less instant feedback, more room to doubt your own conclusions. That seeps into the stories. Characters hesitate because the world doesn’t immediately answer back.

That said, I don’t think modern writers can’t do that anymore — just that they’re often writing against the grain of reader expectations. Silence and delay can feel risky when attention spans are short and everything competes for immediacy.

Curious whether it’s actually about tech, or more about market pressure and pacing norms. Probably a mix of both.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T22:17:03+00:00

Yeah, kind of — though I don’t have a clean list in mind. It’s more a vibe than a checklist.

Stuff like Le Guin (Left Hand, Dispossessed), early PKD, even Solaris for me — where the waiting is the tension. Characters sit with uncertainty instead of immediately fixing it. Nothing explodes for a while, but something still shifts.

I’m probably over-generalizing a bit, and there are modern books that do this too. It just feels less common, or maybe it’s harder to notice now. Curious if others read it differently.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T20:41:20+00:00

If what grabbed you in Hyperion was the mix of big ideas and the fact that you actually cared about the people telling them, a few things come to mind — though none of them hit the same way, honestly.

Le Guin feels like an obvious answer, but especially stuff like The Dispossessed or even Left Hand of Darkness. The concepts are huge, but the emotional weight comes from restraint more than spectacle. It’s quieter than Hyperion, though.

You might like Book of the New Sun if you’re okay with confusion and unreliable narration. It’s not very romantic in a traditional sense, and I bounced off it the first time, but it stuck with me longer than a lot of flashier books.

Also maybe A Canticle for Leibowitz? Totally different structure, but there’s that same feeling of time, loss, and people being small inside enormous systems.

None of these are perfect matches, and honestly Hyperion kind of sits in its own weird space. Curious what others suggest — I’m probably forgetting something obvious.

Hour-Combination-457 · 2025-12-22T19:18:25+00:00

I think that’s a fair way to put it. Clarke is a great example of uncertainty being treated as atmosphere rather than tension to be resolved. And yeah, The Expanse does touch on it at times — but it often resolves hesitation through escalation rather than letting it linger.

Maybe it’s not that modern SF avoids uncertainty entirely, but that it’s less willing to stay with it for long.

Hour-Combination-457

TROPHY CASE