Why The Clocks Have All Stopped

A long range reading project of mine is reading Steve Erickson's career from start to finish. I'm in no rush at all. Taking my sweet time (there really is no time, at least not time as we know it, here anyway), savoring the prose and phenomenal ideas of Steve Erickson. I'd previously read four of his novels. So far this year I've finished his first, Days Between Stations and am now about halfway through his second novel, Rubicon Beach, and loving it too. I hope to have gotten to These Dreams of You, Erickson's latest, just-released novel, second one in a row published by Europa editions, maybe a year from now. I'll occasionally chronicle my progress here. We'll see how the reading goes.

I know there's several travelers out there who know Erickson's unusual universe a lot better than I do, and I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts on his novels and non-fiction, Black Clock (the literary periodical he edits), and tweaked visions in general, and on Los Angeles too. In the meantime, I'll get some threads started on his first two novels soon ....

This is the first I have heard of Erickson, but since you didn't invite me to join the group, I have downloaded These Dreams of You and will begin reading forthwith. Just so you know, I am not inviting you to join my ashram.

As much as I was the one with the initial recommendation, not sure how much I'll be able to add to the discussion. Regardless, I'm here.

My reply is two and a half years late, but your Ericksonian observation regarding time makes this sentence pointless.
I'm working on a 90-100 page MA thesis on Erickson - who used to be my third or fourth favourite author until this summer, now he's number one. I have 200 more pages of Our Ecstatic Days to go and I'll be finished. I did the first four novels chronologically (highly recommended, just for the "oh wow it's ___ from ____" factor when characters re-appear). As far as I can tell, some of Erickson's books are part of a larger "novel", while others stand alone). Here's what I have so far:

Novel #1: Years Between Stations

Days Between Stations
Rubicon Beach
Tours of the Black Clock
Arc d'X

There's a piece in the Believer by Brian Evenson about how these four are pretty much one big book, and I really agree with him, especially since Amnesiascope is such a departure. RB is my all-time favourite (though I'm sure that will change).

Novel #2: Amnesiascope

On it's own. A good book but it's aggressive sexuality knocked me off guard at first. Still a gorgeous inner dream of Erickson's. The only continuity from the first four books is the ongoing apocalypse.

"Novel" #3: Looking for America

Leap Year
American Nomad

I know that these are supposed to be political memoirs, but both have a lot of daydreaming (a bizarre episode in Leap Year in which Erickson has sex with Tipper Gore, during which Al bursts into the hotel room and lectures him on responsibility, a weird car crash in American Nomad which may not have happened...). I really like both of these books. Nomad is much angrier (Erickson has recently written that the Iraq invasion made him angrier than Vietnam despite the fact that he was nearly drafted for the latter).

Novel #4: Under the Water and Dreaming

The Sea Came in at Midnight
Our Ecstatic Days

Kristen is the protagonist of both books, and OED was the first of Erickson's novels that he admits is a sequel. A lot of water going on, a lot of LA, a lot of musing on the meaning of America and time.
PS no not a Dave Matthew fan at all.

Novel #5: Keep on Dreamin in the Dream World

Zeroville
These Dreams of You

I lump these two together reluctantly. Maybe it's just the packaging that makes me think they are similar, because beyond the extremely short chapters, they have little else in common aside from being Erickson's two most accessible, linear novels. A passage in TDOY revisits a long passage from Arc d'X, but otherwise the novel is pretty straightforward. I nominate the last paragraph of TDOY as Erickson's greatest, worthy of other great American final paragraphs like the ones in The Great Gatsby and On the Road.

because beyond the extremely short chapters, they have little else in common aside from being Erickson's two most accessible, linear novels..

Really? I normally recommend Black Clock as the starting point. I could see the argument for both being more accessible, but... These Dreams of You is almost so accessible that it doesn't read like Erickson. It's definitely not my favorite of the lot by far.

And if I recall correctly (it's been awhile), Kristen is pretty explicitly tied to Black Clock, too, no?

4> Fascinating post. I'd say "better late than never," but you're right on time, of course, in the universe of Erickson's cosmology. I want to chew on what you wrote and will respond yesterday.

>6I think you might be thinking of Kara - the girl in the blue dress who arrives on Davenhall Island and vanishes, either Lauren's student or daughter...I think student but can't remember. I don't remember Kristen in TOTBC. Might be wrong though. I have a speadsheet somewhere of the character overlap, but it's far from definitive.

>5 Jesse_wiedinmyer: My least fav is Our Ecstatic Days, but I still like it. I tried to get a bookworm friend into Erickson and bought him Days Between Stations and he was pretty lukewarm about it, which made me sad. I turned angry when he referred to Lauren as "the crazy old cat lady". I think Tours is definitely a good one to start people on, but I'd also throw in Rubicon Beach or Zeroville. Maybe The Sea Came in at Midnight.

>7 absurdeist: I look backward to your reply! :)

I turned angry when he referred to Lauren as "the crazy old cat lady".

I actually think that's kind of good. Then again, the "cat whisperer" thing wasn't one of my favorites.

Between Kara and Kristen (and I may be wrong), I believe there's still some sort of overlap there. Mayhap not exactly the same person, but Davenhall figures in both books, methought. It's been a while, though.

And yeah, Tours and Rubicon are the two I push the most.