Cinnabar by Edward Bryant

Bryan wrote:

> Speaking of Cinnabar, is there anybody here that really liked it?
> I'm still waiting to see exactly what it was that I was supposed
> to be looking for while reading that novel. I still feel as though
> I missed the point entirely, and I'd love to know what was there
> that I couldn't "get".
>

I liked Cinnabar, but I think I know where your problem is with it. There's really no plot, no underlying theme; the writer Bryant seemed to use Cinnabar for a lot of imagery and emotions, but made it kind of a dumping ground for his imagination rather than try to tie it together into some kind of cohesive whole.

Anyone who owns the SF Resource Guide should check out the entry under "fabulism", of which Bryant is listed as one of its proponents. To paraphrase, fabulism is a story that challenges the two main assumptions of genre sf: that the world can be seen and that it can be told. So I guess you could say that either Cinnabar is a fine example of fabulism or that it's jumble of stories set in a timeless world that has no set rules. Or perhaps it's both.

Pete