Finally.

March 23, 2006 10:44 AM

"Spring." That was the complete text of an email I received from houseofleaves.com last night. It seems as if Mark Z Danielewski is getting the hype started early for his new novel. Not much is known about it beyond its (again) creatively colored title-- Only Revolutions -- and this enigmatic forum post from last August.
posted by empath (20 comments total)

huh...i wonder how he can followup HoL. and that post is a bit odd...
posted by cgs at 10:50 AM on March 23, 2006

I was a little dismayed with the HoL people for spamming our email. I thought better of them.
posted by Plinko at 10:53 AM on March 23, 2006

I finally read House of Leaves about six months ago after being intimidated (turned off?) by the postmodern stuff for years. I have to say, though, that it's absolutely the scariness thing I've ever read. I was freaked out for a solid week.
posted by lunalaguna at 10:54 AM on March 23, 2006

I was creeped out by it at first, but there was a particular bit of 'meta' cutesiness towards the end that kind of ruined the atmosphere for me. Still a good book, though, and incredibly thought provoking.
posted by empath at 10:57 AM on March 23, 2006

Looks more like "Late Summer/Early Fall" according to that Amazon page.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 10:57 AM on March 23, 2006

I'd love to see Charlie Kaufman take a shot at a screenplay for House of Leaves.
posted by empath at 10:58 AM on March 23, 2006

Fill me in...what's the genre/style here?
posted by sourwookie at 10:59 AM on March 23, 2006

I hear a number of authors have books coming out soon. I guess some of them have better hype machines than others.
posted by languagehat at 11:01 AM on March 23, 2006

The creepiest part was, while working out the coded messages in his mother's letters, coming across her description of her nightly rapes by the orderlies.
posted by cytherea at 11:03 AM on March 23, 2006

I wanted to like House of Leaves. Really I did. I like brain-teasers, I like literary horror, and I love me some metafiction. But dear lord, did I wish he'd just calmed down and told the fucking story.

Ah well. There's always next time. I suppose I'll give his new one a shot.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:10 AM on March 23, 2006

Sourwookie: I don't know about the new one, but House of Leaves was Post-Modern Horror/Metafiction. It's kind of hard to describe. If you're the kind of person who likes TV shows like "Lost" and Alternate Reality Games like Cloudmakers and "I luv Bees" then you'll probably love it. It's the kind of book that is both a good read and offers a lot of rewards if you're willing to dig a little deeper.

The thing that's actually most obviously unique about it is also I think it's biggest flaw. There's just far too much cutesy typesetting that, to me, distracted from it's real merit as literature, and too often pulled me out of the moment.

I really hope that MZD didn't just make the new one an exercise in can-you-top-this Xtreme Typography.
posted by empath at 11:13 AM on March 23, 2006

I thought HoL was overrated. It had me turning pages for a while but just disappointed in the end. It was a neat experiment, and very creative, but just didn't have the gas to make it a worthwhile read.
posted by notmydesk at 11:16 AM on March 23, 2006

The creepiest part was, while working out the coded messages in his mother's letters, coming across her description of her nightly rapes by the orderlies.

Don't forget the other one that calls into question everything that happens in the whole damn book.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 12:27 PM on March 23, 2006

I'm a sucker for puzzles, and anything you can describe using the prefix meta, loved House of Leaves and can't wait for this one, thanks for clueing me in!
posted by jrb223 at 12:50 PM on March 23, 2006

HOL would have been a lot better had it been handwritten and compiled w/tape, etc. - and then left at busstops throughout the country.
posted by iamck at 3:02 PM on March 23, 2006

HoL was good, but it was really two-books-in-one. The "Navidson Account" (?) was by far the strong part of the book, genuinely creepy and original. The hardcore hipster narrator, however, was uninteresting and long-winded. I probably could've skipped his parts altogether and enjoyed it on a meta-thriller level.
posted by zardoz at 4:59 PM on March 23, 2006

Long-winded, maybe-- but uninteresting? I think there were some really sparkling passages in the Johnny Truant parts of the book.
posted by empath at 6:10 PM on March 23, 2006

minotaur
posted by exlotuseater at 7:59 PM on March 23, 2006

MZD seemed to get a bit carried away with his formatting for HoL, but I found his ability to combine so many layers of story fascinating.

I wish there were some actual information out about this new book, though.
posted by Orrorin at 8:00 PM on March 23, 2006

I am really pissed that mefi strips font tags.
posted by rush at 3:41 PM on March 24, 2006