Science Fiction and Fantasy

           The genre that first interested me the most in reading was, without a doubt, sci-fi/fantasy.  As a kid, I ate it up with a silver spoon and continue that obsession to this day.  The wonderful thing about fantasy books is that they allow the authors to generate entire worlds.  We as readers can simply dive in and be immersed by something new, something exciting, and yet nostalgic and real at the same time.  I don’t mean real in the sense that Daenerys Targaryen is real and we should all be on the lookout for dragons.  I mean real in the sense that the characters can become so visceral, so well-developed that their emotions and reactions to circumstances remind us of everyday life.  We have shared experiences, even though we will never actually have a ring of power or ride a hippogriff, as much as we may want to.

I think that this is the thing about fantasy or science fiction that is so enticing: it is still reality, still humanity, that we are dealing with, it’s just an altered reality that takes us outside of ourselves.  In this way, it is an escape from reality, but not one that we use as a way to completely avoid our lives (although it can seem that way at times).  Instead, these worlds teach us things about our existence that we wouldn’t normally want to think about or engage in a way that generates strong, tangible memories.  These memories become the intercession between fantasy and reality.  I still vividly remember the first time I read Lord of the Rings, especially the battle of the Pelennor Fields (I think the copy of that book still has my grip marks on it).  I remember being amazed at the fact that four humble hobbits saved the entire world, which was an incredible revelation for a chubby middle school kid who used to get food thrown at him.  When I re-read Harry Potter, I still hear all the voices that my dad used when he read the first four out loud to us (he had the best Dobby, and and even better Hagrid).  I also remember being super bummed when I turned eleven and didn’t get my letter to Hogwarts.  Now that I’m older, I realize that I did go to Hogwarts!  And I can go back whenever I want!  All I need to do is curl up with the book and let the words take me away to a world that is so fantastical and so magical, yet at the same time so familiar because it is indelibly a part of all of our lives.  So here are some new memories from different authors that I really enjoy:

1. The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wrecker

            Two immigrants arrive in New York in 1899 who couldn’t have more different backgrounds.  One is a golem, a being straight out of Jewish folklore, brought to life by a twisted master of Kabbalah to be the husband of a lonely immigrant.  The other is a Jinni, trapped in a flask thousands of years ago by a wizard, unknowingly released by an Arab metal worker.  The two find that they need to hide their true nature from everyone for fear that people would either try to exploit them or kill them.  However, when they meet, they find an unlikely bond in the fact that neither of them are truly human.  Wrecker places this narrative directly in history, shedding light on a pivotal time in America, all the while spinning a delightful tale of fantastical beings.

 

2. The Alchemy Wars, by Ian Tregillis

            So far there are only two books out of this trilogy, The Mechanical and The Uprising, and I am stuck here waiting for the third with bated breath.  This is a brilliant example of speculative fiction where Tregillis re-writes history by asking the question: what if alchemy were real?  Jax is mechanical being brought to life by the mysterious powers of alchemy.  His life and his soul are bound to humans, whom he is forced to serve along with the rest of his mechanical kin.  He lives in an alternate world where the Dutch rule through their ownership of alchemy and the French are gripping for control of what is, in our world, America.  In this world, a war that has been on hiatus starts to bubble again through a few catalytic clandestine operations, one of which somehow gives Jax’s soul freedom, changing everything.  Tregillis manages to weave a wonderfully suspenseful story all the while asking the question: what is a soul without free will?

 

3. A Darker Shade of Magic, by V.E Schwab

            This is the first book in Schwab’s trilogy, Shades of Magic.  I really need to stop reading trilogies that aren’t completely published yet because I’m practically living on pins and needles at this point and it’s killing me.  In this series, there are four alternate worlds grounded by the fact that they all have London.  There is Grey London, which forgot magic a long time ago, Red London, which is flourishing though the use of magic, White London, a desolate world in which magic is based on power, hierarchy, and tyranny, and Black London, which was obliterated and sealed off years ago.  No one goes there now.  A select few beings are able to cross over between worlds, and they are responsible for carrying information from one world to the next.  Kell is one of these “Travelers,” with the illegal side hobby of smuggling artifacts from the differing worlds.  When he receives an artifact from Black London, a dark magic that was forgotten long ago leaks out into each world.  Complete with magic, wonder, and a total badass female lead named Delilah, this book has it all.  Give it a read, and then wait with me for the others to come out.

 

4. The Illustrated Man, by Ray Bradbury

            Bradbury is one of the original sci-fi kings.  You may have read his book Fahrenheit-451 in high school, which is also amazing, but this is one of his collections of short stories and it is absolutely dazzling.  Every story is told by a moving tattoo on “The Illustrated Man” and each is as disturbing as it is wonderful.  A planet where men are driven insane by constant rain, a room made to entertain children becomes all too real, a world in which dying authors try to fight off humanity using the monsters in their stories, even orbs of light with the secrets of God, life, and happiness.  All this and more color the pages of this singular collection from one of the most memorable voices from the genre.  You’ll come for the exciting science fiction and leave with more realizations and truths than you know what to do with.

 

5. The Sirens of Titan, by Kurt Vonnegut

            So, Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors.  He is as hilarious as he is insightful.  You can read any of his books and be amazed.  Slaughterhouse Five is his most famous book and you should definitely read that too, but I put The Sirens of Titan on here because it doesn’t get as much notoriety but is just as good.  In this story, Malachi Constant is the richest man in America.  Haughty and naïve, he doesn’t care much for others and Mrs. Rumfoord knows it.  When her husband, Winston, selects Constant to join him on a series of adventures through time and space, she has no idea why, but complies due to the fact that her husband is caught in a Chrono-Synclastic Infundibula and only materializes on Earth once every fifty-nine days.  While materialized, he informs his wife that he knows Constant and met him on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn and needs to meet him on Earth during his next materialization.  What follows is a bizarre series of escapades in which time and space become irrational, but morality and humanity are laid bare.  With characteristic whit, Vonnegut asks some of life’s biggest questions, all the while bringing his readers on an unbelievably believable journey.

 

As usual, happy reading everyone!  See you next month.