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The Uprising of Mesopunk Books
- mock-possum 3y agoThis seems oddly sparse on details to me - what are the tropes that characterize the genre? Stepped pyramids? Chocolate? Obsidian blades? The only two recommendations for the genre are one novel, and one collection of short stories that includes other -punk genres Like does this feel like it’s making a mountain out of a molehill?
- svachalek 3y ago"Mesopunk builds on the sense of family, community, and the structure of society for the benefit of all." It seems pretty light though, although it's possible based on their examples that this is mostly a Spanish language genre.
- slowmovintarget 3y agoBy that definition The Fast and the Furious franchise entries qualify.
- dchung333 3y agoI genuinely thought this was satire when I clicked on it. Honestly the -punk genre itself to me doesn't really make any sense. There is little to no real connection between punk genres with the notable exception of Cyberpunk and Biopunk and even those don't necessarily have much in common. Personally I think it's great to see more american culture in novels but I feel like this is a stretch. It requires too much information for a writer to have knowledge of. There's a lot of faults and issues with modern day writing and the publishing industry as whole. But I just think it's getting ridiculous that we're expecting new and upcoming writers to be able to do all of these things in order to fit into possible niche genres that generate little to no profit. Honestly, a part of me is concerned this is a way for publishing companies to silo young and upcoming ethnic writers. I think it's great that we're trying to be more inclusionary but I don't think this is the way to do it.
- wolverine876 3y agoWhich books or authors have these problems? It's interesting that it's almost 'punk' to be anti-punk - anti-inclusionary, etc. People always have reasons, but I think we recognize the form, tone, and conclusions of so many of these arguments.
- rexpop 3y ago> it's almost 'punk' to be anti-punk - anti-inclusionary, etc. I see the most dull, buttoned-up conservatives claim this, but I think they're lying or delusional. Major hegemonic institutions have capitulated only superficially to the trappings and the suits of "punk," or liberalism, and certainly not in the slightest to the threads of Marxism/Socialism that demand a dictatorship of the proletariat, ie worker ownership, ie DIY.
- krapp 3y agoThe argument that conservatism is "punk," delusional as it is, is less based on any superficial capitulation to leftism but the premise that the mainstream power base of modern society (particularly American society) is leftist |"wokeist"|feminist|anti-white|anti-Christian, what have you, which they claim places them in the position of underdog rebels fighting against the establishment. It's a weird phenomenon I've noticed within the right of claiming the identity and language of oppressed and minority groups in order to subvert them and claim whatever political and cultural power they have for their own, despite they themselves still being the most politically powerful and culturally influential demographic by orders of magnitude.
- uoaei 3y agoI feel like this comment is focusing entirely on the aesthetic qualities of -punk cultures. In cyberpunk's heyday it was tacitly understood that the genre was about abuse and loss of power incentivized by the accessibility of incredible technologies, but today it has a more pop veneer of shiny holograms and cyborg badassery. Steampunk seems to focus entirely on what-if worldbuilding at the expense of developing critiques on say rapid modernization in the industrial era. I am not so familiar with mesopunk but I have a feeling it's about more than just slice-of-life narratives in a particular setting.
- krapp 3y ago>what are the tropes that characterize the genre? Stepped pyramids? Chocolate? Obsidian blades? I suspect that the goal of authorship within this genre is expression through authentic cultural identity rather than the employment of a reductionist stereotypes. I mean, cyberpunk is more than orientalist fetishism and 1980s technology, is it not? >The only two recommendations for the genre are one novel, and one collection of short stories that includes other -punk genres The article does specifically claim not to provide a comprehensive list of examples, and that the genre is relatively new. Also, I counted four recommendations: The Daughter of Doctor Moreau by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, A Memory Called Empire by Arkady Martine, The Jade Bones (Book 2 of the Age of the Seventh Sun) by Lani Forbes, The Witch Owl Parliament (Clockwork Curandera #1) by David Bowles and Raúl the Third, colour by Stacey Robinson, lettering by Damian Duffy and Once caras del punk: Antología de relatos by Okami Maresco, Dean Wyes, Hannelore Adler Gailwain, Diego J. Sañudo, Kimara Louise, Vianey Medina, and others. A couple of those are the first books in a series. Is that not enough?
- Barrin92 3y ago>what are the tropes that characterize the genre? One is the fusion of pre- and post-Christian religion and high culture, mix of folklore and myths and Catholicism that often has an occult feel to it. A preoccupation with death as a living thing, pagan themes in general. What immediately comes to mind is something like the first two seasons of Westworld. Heavy use of Mayan architecture via the Llyod textile block houses, heavy Christian symbolism contrasted with native and Mesoamerican tradition, and so on. The Shadowrun universe is pretty heavily influenced by Mesoamerican themes as well. It's not uncommon to show up in science fiction in particular.
- Apocryphon 3y agoTo some degree the -punk suffix is just branding. Maybe this genre would be as accurately called Mesofuturism, just as Afrofuturism could perhaps be renamed to Afropunk.
- corethree 3y agoWhat does the word punk even mean? What are each of it's meanings in different contexts?
- BizarroLand 3y agoThe dictionary isn't very helpful: 1a: of or relating to punk rock 1b: relating to or being a style (as of dress or hair) inspired by punk rock 2: very poor : inferior 3: being in poor health But it comes from how punk was attached to cyber, i.e. cyberpunk, and then sub-bastardized out from there, originally meant to be a way to describe future ruffian dissidents who almost never engaged in direct physical altercations but instead used the awesome power of information asymmetry in a digital age to act outside of the bounds of the law, often supplemented with drugs or mechanical enhancements (cyborgs) and the like. Matrix is Cyberpunk, then Steampunk is modern day technology in the 1800's BUT POWRERED BY STEAM!, Solarpunk is basically Slow Life Cottagecore, so now alternate histories are "MESOPUNK" because that sounds cooler I guess. Also: https://sorcereroftea.com/punkpunk-a-to-z-of-punk-genres/ https://sorcereroftea.com/punkpunk-a-to-z-of-punk-genres/
- alisonatwork 3y agoAnti-establishment, DIY, dirty, janky and angry.
- Apocryphon 3y agoStreet-level POV and adventures
- slim 3y agoit refers to the nihilistic attitude of the punk culture. "no future" futurism.
- themadturk 3y agoNot seeing from this article how "A Memory Called Empire" fits under Mesopunk at all -- Martine writes from the perspective of a historian of the Byzantine Empire. I would consider adding "The Actual Star" by Monica Byrne, which spans Mesoamerican history for thousands of years on either side of the present day.
- nepeckman 3y agoI'm honestly not sure how this was missed, the influence is obvious and the author's bio makes it explicit. By the way, if anyone reading this comment has not read the work in question I highly recommend it. "A Memory Called Empire" is one of the best sci fi books I've read in the past 5 years, and a very fresh take on the well established "galactic empire" trope.
- cwmma 3y agoThe language in memory called empire is very clearly inspired by Aztec
- SeenNotHeard 3y agoWould "Grim Fandango" qualify as an ur-Mesopunk video game? It's cut from a similar cloth.
- ribs 3y agoWell this is awesome for me; I’ve been studying Spanish for a few years, and want to read fiction, but jeez, A Hundred Years of Solitude sure is difficult. I love SF and generally want to read works original in the language. We’ll see how the genre pans out, but regardless, I’m happy with those offerings that debut in Spanish.
- ribs 3y agoAlthough the beautiful prose of Marquez comes through even to me, and I doubt such literary style will be found in Mesopunk.
- thaumasiotes 3y ago> I’ve been studying Spanish for a few years, and want to read fiction, but jeez, A Hundred Years of Solitude sure is difficult. Well, sure. Get a book with a plot.
- ribs 3y agoYeah, there’s that, stuff just keeps happening, repeating, but also, the magical realism, stuff happens, and I’m like “did I read that right”? Plus the vocab is really broad.
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- thedailymail 3y agoMaybe it's not dead center in the mesopunk genre, but Atomik Aztex by Sesshu Foster is a great and gritty fable of a protagonist/unreliable narrator shifting back and forth between life as an eagle warrior in Tenochtitlan and a migrant worker in a modern American meatpacking plant.
- Borrible 3y agoWhen did the meaning of the term 'punk' change from denoting an anti-establishment attitude to a 'buy me' trigger for certain customer segments,especially as suffix in the literary market? And how much was the overlap? Vivian Westwood? Blondie? And then Cyberpunk,right?