I'm glad Paula (Jayhawk) was there so we can get an account from someone who actually took notes. I just have some random impressions that don't necessarily relate to his lecture topics.

Mieville's speech was as mind-numbingly eloquent as his writing. I don't mean mind-numbing in a bad way, but it's like reading his novels. You're confronted by new and unfamiliar language as often as he confronts you with new and unfamiliar creatures, subjects, and conceptual invention. The language itself can be used in such a way that it inspires awe, even confusion.

Even with an undergraduate English degree under my belt, I tended to not know the definition of about one word in every sentence. After the lecture during the questions period, most things asked were academic in nature, relating to the speech topics. Few if any people asked specifically about his own writing... my guess is that quite a few had not read his books yet, or simply didn't want to be qualified as "the other" or "the fan" (that person who enjoys SF and Fantasy simply as a good time waster, or escapism,and who never consider these genres in terms of literary academics regarding issues of ethics, race, gender, sex, sociology, government, etc. in fiction).

Also, he did the signing/reading the night before that I had missed and this lecture was a truly an academically prepared presentation. Questions regarding his own writing would be better suited for the reading event. (Thanks Paula, for your account).

Despite all the intellectual pomp (term used in the flattering way) of the lecture event itself, when Mieville sat down to sign books for people afterward he was casual, personable and very forthcoming about anything asked of him. Even for someone like myself, who simply wanted to ask if Perdido Street Station might ever have a screen adaptation. He said that he would be quite "skeptical" of that happening, that it would be difficult to really do it well. Even so, he said he was not opposed to the idea, nor to hearing proposals if he was ever approached on the subject. But he said honestly he didn't see it happening in the near future. I said I thought it might be best brought to life in a mini-series and joked that a couple friends of mine and I were in need of a project.

There was one other tidbit he mentioned to another person in regards to his new book. Kraken was not his choice for the title and there was disagreement and wrangling behind the scenes. It makes me wonder what his choice would have been...