this is like a year old but i forgot 2 post it then so ya get it Now. a comic 4 Borne! which everyone should read bc who doesnt like a post apocalyptic parenthood story
I consider myself an expert in the twisty, ambiguous narrative. I live for books that wash over you in a mess and require you to be an active participant in solving the puzzle. But that also means I’m fairly good at judging the tenuous balance between confusion and puzzle.
And Dead Astronauts by Jeff Vandermeer, a prequel/sequel to Borne (which I adored), left me very frustrated. The concepts are fascinating, as is the slow encroachment of nature, the question of whether a chaotic, wild natural world that takes over like a poison is itself a happy ending if you look far enough ahead.
I am lucky enough to have a special, collectors’ edition of this book that is absolutely beautiful. It also has a bonus at the end—the original, longer narrative of the Behemoth, which Vandermeer says they edited down. I was unpleasantly surprised to read it and get confirmation of some story details I wasn’t sure about. For me, that read as bad editing. Vandermeer and editors, wanting to make the book more accessible, actually removed key explanatory points that could have mediated the crashing wave of language and kept the reader moving with the current instead of flailing within it.
When I think about the book and its characters, I am awed by its scope and daring, and I find myself thinking about its turns, the images it gave me, the wash of “maybes” when it comes to these three astronauts trying to defeat the Company, the role of the Blue Fox, the terrifying killer duck, the scientist who engineered so much of this. The story has incredible potential, and when I remember it, it has that impact, but only after—in reading it, I felt often distracted by the form and trying to place where I was and whose voice I was hearing and what small creative tweaks in form were trying to tell me.
For me, this experience means that it is a wonderful story that couldn’t quite make its creativity in form work well enough to wow me—if the editors and Vandermeer had better allowed those small explanatory points to leak through, I would have been wowed.
Content warnings for animal cruelty and death, violence, body horror.
We are doing a Southern Reach trilogy re-read ahead of the Absolution release and my friend found this! !!!! !!!!!!!!
The moss and the fox . . . were composed of modified human cells. Where lies the strangling fruit that came from the hand of the sinner I shall bring forth the seeds of the dead . . .
Dead Astronauts was released 5 years later....
Is there such thing as coincidence in Jeff VanderMeer's writing??
PLEASE tag any spoilers for your fellow vandermeer fans
"Because dead things felt only love for the universe." A dreamy, doom fanmix dedicated to Jeff VanderMeer's Dead Astronauts.
i. ivixor b / phase inducer - electric wizard // ii. white stork - bossk // iii. ekpyrotic - the otolith // iv. the screen - yob // v. the shooting star - gojira // vi. souvlaki space station - slowdive // vii. moon in your mouth - goldfrapp // viii. ptolemaea - ethel cain // ix. evaporate - a.a. williams // x. feather - windhand // xi. fight like gods - chelsea wolfe // xii. marked for death - emma ruth rundle // xiii. drag me into the woods - holy fawn // xiv. the things they believe - loathe, john waug // xv. and, we disappear - alaskan tapes.
i. ivixor b / phase inducer - electric wizard : I chose an instrumental as the first song in this mix and this specific song because it emulates the feeling of traversing a desert wasteland, similar to the astronauts' odyssey heading toward the Company during the first part of the book. There are radio signals and warbbing-like sounds along with unintelligible speech in the background that remind me of the original Star Trek where there'd be random 'scifi' noises.
ii. white stork - bossk : Another instrumental track. While Ivixor B / Phase Inducer felt more passive to me, almost a song that would assist setting the vibe of the story's landscape, White Stork for me is the song of desert's active mystery and signs of hostility. It hasn't asserted itself yet, but there's a kind of danger lurking as the story progresses.
iii. ekpyrotic - the otolith : I consider this song to be the theme of all the living beings in either opposition to the Company or those separate from the dichotomy of friend and foe. The foxes are the first that came to mind when listening to this song. The subject of the song is the interconnectedness of all living beings and rebirth, along with the inherent power of being one's true self that cannot be contained. [Lyrics]
iv. the screen - yob : This song represents confrontation, violence between the astronauts and their other selves, the dark bird, the behemoth. An ancient battle forever taking place. It also makes me think of the horror Charlie X experienced during his time with the Company. It's his pain, the pain he inflicts, his need to please what he and the Company demand of him. There's almost this ancient rite he performs when constructing his creations. And of course, the violence done upon the foxes by man. [Lyrics]
v. the shooting star - gojira : This is thee theme for the astronauts - Grayson, Moss, and Chen -, the song that represents not only their mission or their struggles as they fight to succeed, but also their connection with one another. I think of the last four bars of the song: everlasting-love is ever-growing / hang on to what you have and let it grow / everlasting-love is ever-dying / it's in the past, you have to let it go. [Lyrics]
vi. souvlaki space station - slowdive : This song brings more of the dreamy, abstract imagery that I experienced when reading the book. it reflects more of the subdued moments in the story. There's a refusal in the song to confront someone. It feels like the disconnection between the astronauts and Charlie X. [Lyrics]
vii. moon in your mouth - goldfrapp : The astronauts love each other. Moss cares so much for Chen, Chen cares so much for Moss, Grayson cares so much for Moss and Chen, and they for her. I wanted to celebrate that while also moving away from the confrontational sounds and lyrics of the earlier tracks. Because of the lighter note, you can think of this song as something from the very beginning of their mission, before trials, before the violence really took hold. Maybe even when they still had Charlie X. [Lyrics]
viii. ptolemaea - ethel cain : We're back at the Company and Charlie X surviving his father. That's really what this is, it's the section of the book where we really learn what Charlie X has done and what has been done to him by his father, by the Company: you poor thing / sweet mourning lamb / there's nothing you can do / it's already been done. The one of the scariest parts of the story. [Lyrics]
ix. evaporate - a.a. williams : It's the general sense of despair. The despair in moments of fear, violence, pain. Uncertainty really. Might seem like a throwaway because I don't have that much to say about it, but I know it feels Right to include. A lot of characters harm themselves, either by their own hand or they put themselves in harm's way. [Lyrics]
x. feather - windhand : We're returning to sounds that remind me of the wasteland again. Could be viewed as despair but I see it as acceptance of what must be done. There's something about it that reminds me most of the blue fox. The sense of knowing that is to come, what has come. [Lyrics]
xi. fight like gods - chelsea wolfe : The closest songs I can find right now that reminds me of the foxes, but the blue fox specifically. The violence upon them frightening like the violence upon Charlie X - moreso even. Turned to retribution, to revolution, to revenge. Oh did they fight like gods. [Lyrics]
xii. marked for death - emma ruth rundle : Another love song, in all the ways to define love. For Moss and Chen. For Moss and Grayson. For Charlie X and the dark bird. For the blue fox and the foxes, the blue fox and perhaps the Strange Bird; for the Strange Bird and... Who will be there when you are dying, when you are dead, when you are going to die. [Lyrics]
xiii. drag me into the woods - holy fawn : I am reminded most of the transformations and changes and alterations the characters go through. Less of a violence and more of the enviably of it? The awareness of it. The changes that happen not so much out of violence but from a place of love or the natural order of things. [Lyrics]
xiv. the things they believe - loathe, john waug : The instrumentals have returned. Some loose ends aren't so loose anymore. Some things make some sense. It's that dreamy landscape again. The dust settling in its own way. A respite from what we've been through.
xv. and, we disappear - alaskan tapes : "We will always be there. Even before we know you. Even after we've known you. Even then. And, finally, she was free."
I'm happy with the progress of my Dead Astronauts playlist but still want to search for songs that are more representative of individual characters.
In the meantime I've read and finished The Strange Bird. What a sad, moving story. It's book 1.5 of the Borne series so you could read it before Dead Astronauts but it easily could be read as book 2.5.
Happy I finished that series and now I can move onto the rest of VanderMeer's backlist. Not sure if I'll read Hummingbird Salamander or City of Saints and Madmen first. Probably will start both and see which one pulls me in.
Prints of this image are now available at society6.com/kaylaharren
Inspired by Jeff VanderMeer’s book BORNE
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#illustration #illustrationartists #illustrationoftheday #society6 #artprints #design #scifi #scifiart #borne #digitalart #digitalpainting #mood #art #artist #artwork #botanical #botany #plants #flora #growth #nature #environment #science #sciencefiction #book #illustrator
Dead Astronauts is weird fiction, science fiction without much argument. But it stands apart from the others in my opinion because it deploys the use of a prose/poetic writing style.
I can't assume the reading habits of others but I am curious about the people who dislike the book maybe not liking poetry as well. Not a judgement at all. Just pondering if there's a possible tie-in. There's also the fact that VanderMeer wants you to get lost in the sauce as the story unfolds and I think he achieves that with this writing style. I think that's why the writing feels different from his other works.
This leads me to believe that if you approach the book with the mindset that you are reading poetry, maybe that might make the book more accessible and easier to engage with.
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