Three Moments of an Explosion

China Mieville

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"Three Moments of an Explosion" by China Mieville is a collection of twenty-eight short stories that showcase the author's uniquely textured style in smaller doses. The stories cover a wide range of genres, from science fiction to ghost stories, with some politically colored fantasies that may not hit the mark for all readers. The book is praised for its innovative storytelling, weirdness, and the ability to entertain and haunt readers with its unresolved endings.

Characters:

Characters vary between ordinary and eccentric, with development contingent on individual stories. Many narratives prioritize the response to events over character growth, sometimes using characters as symbols for broader philosophical or social concepts.

Writing/Prose:

The writing style is imaginative and original, characterized by complex language and an intricate weave of ideas and themes. It often possesses a density that can affect clarity and cohesiveness.

Plot/Storyline:

The plot features an eclectic mix of varied and inventive premises that explore fantastical conceits, often blending the absurd with the mundane. The stories delve into human reactions to unexplained phenomena, although some narratives can feel incomplete or more like sketches.

Setting:

The settings typically range from contemporary to near-future environments, often featuring surreal elements that enhance the mood and atmosphere of each story.

Pacing:

Pacing is inconsistent, with stories varying from briskly paced short pieces that feel rushed to narratives allowing for greater depth and reflection.

When cold masses first started to congeal above London, they did not show up on radar. By the time they started to, perhaps two hours later, hundreds of thousands of people were already out in the str...

Notes:

'Three Moments of an Explosion' is a collection of short stories by China Mieville.

The stories range across various genres including science fiction, horror, and speculative fiction.

One story, 'Polynia', features icebergs suddenly appearing over London, which serves as a metaphor for environmental issues.

'The Dowager of Bees' introduces a world where rogue playing cards disrupt professional gamblers.

'Keep' explores a near-future epidemic that causes infected individuals to create moats around themselves.

The collection includes stories written in screenplay format, showcasing Mieville's creativity in storytelling.

Some stories are described as philosophical explorations, such as 'The Condition of New Death'.

Mieville's work is often compared to authors like Zadie Smith and David Mitchell, highlighting his unique style within fantasy.

'S cken' is noted as a disturbing ghost story set in a German lake house, showcasing Mieville's horror elements.

The themes often reflect societal concerns, including political critique and existential dilemmas.

Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings

Content warnings include themes of body horror, death, and supernatural elements, which may be unsettling to some readers.

From The Publisher:

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Washington Post

NPR

The Guardian

Kirkus Reviews

The fiction of multiple award-winning author China Miéville is powered by intelligence and imagination. Like George Saunders, Karen Russell, and David Mitchell, he pulls from a variety of genres with equal facility, employing the fantastic not to escape from reality but instead to interrogate it in provocative, unexpected ways.

London awakes one morning to find itself besieged by a sky full of floating icebergs. Destroyed oil rigs, mysteriously reborn, clamber from the sea and onto the land, driven by an obscure purpose. An anatomy student cuts open a cadaver to discover impossibly intricate designs carved into a corpse's bones-designs clearly present from birth, bearing mute testimony to . . . what?

Of such concepts and unforgettable images are made the twenty-eight stories in this collection-many published here for the first time. By turns speculative, satirical, and heart-wrenching, fresh in form and language, and featuring a cast of damaged yet hopeful seekers who come face-to-face with the deep weirdness of the world-and at times the deeper weirdness of themselves-Three Moments of an Explosion is a fitting showcase for one of literature's most original voices.

Praise for Three Moments of an Explosion

"China Miéville is dazzling. His latest collection of short stories, Three Moments of an Explosion, crowds virtuosity into every sentence."-The New York Times

"You can't talk about [China] Miéville without using the word 'brilliant.' . . . His wit dazzles, his humour is lively, and the pure vitality of his imagination is astonishing."-Ursula K. Le Guin, The Guardian

"[A] gripping collection . . . Miéville expertly mixes science fiction, fantasy and surrealism. . . . Amid the longer stories are more cerebral, poetic flash pieces that will haunt the reader beyond the pages of this exceptional book."-The Washington Post

"The stories shine . . . with a winking brilliance."-The Seattle Times

"Mind-bending excursions into the fantastic."-NPR

"Bradbury meets Borges, with Lovecraft gibbering tumultuously just out of hearing."-Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Three Moments of an Explosion is a book filled with fabulous oddities."-Entertainment Weekly

"Miéville moves effortlessly among realism, fantasy, and surrealism. . . . His characters, whether ordinary witnesses to extraordinary events or lunatics operating out of inexplicable compulsions, are invariably well drawn and compelling."-Publishers Weekly (starred review)

Ratings (2)

Incredible (1)
Loved It (1)

Reader Stats (6):

Read It (2)
Want To Read (3)
Not Interested (1)

1 comment(s)

ehanut203

Loved It

5 months

To be clear, the only reason this collection of stories isn't getting five stars is that a very few of them were too dense for me. I know Mieville has some radical politics, and I couldn't tell you what they are (besides extremely left), but he uses fantasy and horror to interpret them in a way I found very confusing. Those were the only stories I didn't like. Other than that, there are so many moments in this book that made me gasp out of surprise, sheer terror, or honest admiration at the prose. Mieville writes in many different formats, using different points of view and verb tense to manipulate his audience. And I was happy to be manipulated. He never overexplains, which makes everything about the stories heightened and exciting.

Sacken would make a great horror movie.

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About the Author:

China Miéville is the author of numerous books, including The City & The City, Embassytown, Railsea, and Perdido Street Station. His works have won the World Fantasy Award, the Hugo Award, and the Arthur C. Clarke Award (three times). He lives and works in London.

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