The Dervish House
by Ian McDonald · first published 2010
40% recommend60% neutral
Seven days, six characters, three interconnected story strands, one central common core--the eponymous dervish house, a character in itself--that pins all these players together in a weave of intrigue, conflict, drama and a ticking clock of a thriller.
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The first time I heard about this term and practice was in Ian McDonald's "the dervish house"[1]. It's definitely one of my favourite sci-fi books of the past couple of years. I'd suggest that you check it out if you're into this kind of stuff. 1. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dervish_House
on “Mellified man” ↗…House of Suns is a fantastic one-off. He's probably the closest to Ian Banks in creating galaxy-spanning civilisations across eons of time. Ian MacDonald is another good one. My favourite of his is The Dervish House, but his others are definitely worth reading. Charles Stross is good. Didn't get on with Accelerando, but his Laundry books are a fun mix of HP Lovecraft/Len Deighton/IT Crowd. Halting State and Rule…
on “What are your favourite sci-fi books?” ↗https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6993091-the-dervish-hous... The Dervish House from Ian McDonald has a plot thread based around that idea.
on “The Peculiar Blindness of Experts” ↗That is just amazing and insane at the same time. Relevant to this I think is the Mellified man [1]. First read about it in the novel The Dervish House by Ian McDonald which involved the search for one. The idea is that people would start eating and bathing only in honey, eventually die, and would be placed in a coffin filled with honey. Eventually the…
on “The Monks Who Spent Years Turning Themselves into Mummies–While Alive” ↗Reminds me of the bitbots in The Dervish House by Ian McDonald.
on “Metal Spheres Swarm Together to Create Freeform Modular Robots” ↗…post-2009 shortlists I think at least Anathem, Ninefox Gambit (and, frankly, both its sequels), The Goblin Emperor and Too Like the Lightning (even if the series ended poorly) were Hugo-winner-quality and The Dervish House was borderline (I appreciate that that that's two for 2015).
on “Glasgow 2024 Hugo Awards Statement – 22 July, 2024” ↗