Mainspring

I've just finished reading the novel Mainspring, by local Portland author Jay Lake. It's an impressive science fantasy creation--a world, perhaps a whole universe, that physically runs on clockwork principals, the earth traveling around the sun on great brass gears. It's the idea of God as the "great clockmaker" taken literally and used as the basis of fabulous, grand scale world building. Lots of that sense of wonder readers of imaginative fiction crave. And Lake manages to wind up a breakneck roller coaster ride of a tour of his creation that kept me turning pages late into the night. Towards the end the plot relies too heavily upon a series of convenient and dream-like miracles for my taste...but I was still glad to have read the book.

Though full of elegant, evocative prose, this novel is all about the cool ride, the grand creation--rather than being deep psychologically or intellectually. In many ways, with a 16 year old protagonist and an emphasis on exploration and a character's growing in confidence and power, I felt Mainspring might especially appeal to a young adult audience--though to be published as YA, the love making on a page or two would have to be toned down.

Jay Lake is a phenomenon in science fiction: with over a hundred short stories in print, five or six small press volumes, winning the best new writer award, and now his first book from a big New York publisher. He lives here, in my home town of Portland, OR--yet the local press has taken no notice of his career, as far as I can tell. Powell's, our famous local monster-size bookstore, has given him very little attention. The Powell's branch here in Southeast Portland seems to have carried only one copy of his book on their shelves (and they now seem to have sold out what copies of the novel they had within the whole Powell's system of stores, with just one that can be mail ordered from their warehouse), with no recognition that he is a writer who lives within walking distance of the store! Shouldn't there have been a big party, a reading at least, or even a little note on the book shelf mentioning that this is a local author with a growing national reputation...certainly Powell's should have seen that with a little effort they could have sold a fairly large number of copies of a new local science fiction hero's first big time novel???

Additional note:

After writing this, I was at Powell's main store, checking out a reading, and I discovered they do have copies of Lake's novel there. It seems their website was either wrong, or I misunderstood it. Still my main point stands: that Powell's should have/could have given Lake a little promotion as an especially promising local writer--both as a community business and because it would make good professional business sense. To only carry one copy of his book in the store that's right in the heart of his own neighborhood is particularly sad.