i've had this little thing about fandom that i have asked several of you already, but i thought i'd put it here where perhaps people can take a little time to think about the answer
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just because there best work doesnt come out later doesnt mean there wont be future enjoyment.
Are we talking best work as in your favorite work, or widely regarded as their best?
I think that the Beastie Boys best work is "Hello Nasty" which came out when i was a fan of theirs. Cryptonomicon, as you said, although Im not certain its my favorite. I think Spook country and pattern recognition are Gibsons best. I dont know what Neil Gaimans best book is, but im pretty sure it happened after I became a fan (at neverwhere).
i agree that pattern recognition is gibson's best, but i was certainly not a fan going in. i don't know why i read idoru and johnny neumonic after i didn't like neuromancer, but pattern recognition impressed me. as for the beasties... i figured you would say that. and i guess i would ask is it clear that they made The Leap at Hello Nasty? or is it just slightly better than Paul's Boutique or whatever it is that you loved before that?
of course that we can still find enjoyment in their later work. it just won't have that white hot thing that made him Your Guy, you know? i can't imagine what it must have been like to be a john irving fan in the late 70s after he wrote Garp, and then to have him write Hotel New Hampshire, Ciderhouse and Owen Meany. I can think of so few circumstances when My Guy delivered on that kind of scale (and i understand that it's not fair to compare anything to my favorite books).
i think you can still consider yourself a fan if you like an artist's work, regardless of if you like all their work. i've been kind of disappointed by a favorite's work but that doesn't diminish the enjoyment i get from their earlier stuff.
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Are we talking best work as in your favorite work, or widely regarded as their best?
I think that the Beastie Boys best work is "Hello Nasty" which came out when i was a fan of theirs. Cryptonomicon, as you said, although Im not certain its my favorite. I think Spook country and pattern recognition are Gibsons best. I dont know what Neil Gaimans best book is, but im pretty sure it happened after I became a fan (at neverwhere).
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as for the beasties... i figured you would say that. and i guess i would ask is it clear that they made The Leap at Hello Nasty? or is it just slightly better than Paul's Boutique or whatever it is that you loved before that?
of course that we can still find enjoyment in their later work. it just won't have that white hot thing that made him Your Guy, you know? i can't imagine what it must have been like to be a john irving fan in the late 70s after he wrote Garp, and then to have him write Hotel New Hampshire, Ciderhouse and Owen Meany. I can think of so few circumstances when My Guy delivered on that kind of scale (and i understand that it's not fair to compare anything to my favorite books).
-jpz
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