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.

Butcher

I was recently sucked deep into the audio book Storm Front, first in The Dresden Files series, by author Jim Butcher. The audio version is wonderfully narrated by James Marsters (best known as Spike in Buffy). I know there's a cable tv series of The Dresden Files already in existence; but right now I can't picture any one else but Marsters as wizard/detective hero Harry Dresden. The simplest description of the book would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer (and maybe Harry Potter) crossed with Raymond Chandler. The book's description--a book about a wizard detective in modern day Chicago--didn't sound very promising to me. I also tend to be suspicious of books that are part of a long series--especially ones about a "hard-boiled" detective.

I didn't believe my friend--even though I know she has great taste in fiction--that The Dresden Files was worth reading. Still it was easy enough to test out her recommendation with the audio version from the library--listen to it while doing chores around the house--and then be able to say I gave it a try, even though I knew I wouldn't get sucked into a series of light cookie cutter books.

Very soon I was looking for more and more chores to do and going for long walks so that I could listen to it on my iPod. Now I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in the series.

The hard boiled genre is so familiar that I'm always taken by surprised when the formula works yet again. Somehow it is a great engine for creating an addictive reading experience. The jaded, loner hero is going to be reluctantly caught up in a case where he's also a suspect, he's going to get beat up a couple of times, he's going to meet a variety of decadent high society types and other seamy characters during the course of his investigation, including a large number of fallen women and an even greater level of corruption is going to be revealed at the climax. At the end the hero is even more jaded and bitter, although he's also proved that he's somehow more pure and innocent than the ugly world he is forced to inhabit. How can this same plot work over and over? It has spread out from the mystery genre into all the other genres. It seems so obvious and predictable--surely it's a sign of authors creating the lightest and least challenging pieces of fluff entertainment.

I can't be sucked into this obvious formula after all these years as a reader! Yet Butcher (see him laughing in the picture) translates the formula perfectly into the urban fantasy setting and uses it to slowly peel the onion of his fantasy creation, seducing us, leaving us wanting more details (both about the world and about many of his intriquing characters). In the end I suppose the hard-boiled formula is a perfect bridge between our real world and a fun, if dark, fantasy vision.

Fantasy novels

Any review or essay by the thoughtful and intelligent Adam Roberts is worth reading (if you enjoy thinking about SF and Fantasy). I thought this one, (on the Strange Horizons website) reviewing two much hyped recent "high fantasy" novels, was particularly insightful. In particular it addresses the kinds of language used in high fantasy.