Yesterday, dear readers, we traveled from our blanket forts around the world, thanks to Ann Morgan’s fantastic Reading the World project. But what about those intrepid armchair explorers whose wanderlust extends beyond mere national boundaries?
Hermitage Week, as I have come to call the days between Christmas and New Years, when many of us find time to read the books we have been putting off for a busy year, is a perfect time to explore new genres–and, along with them, new worlds and times. Reading doesn’t just give us the opportunity to explore the past, it also gives us the chance to explore a past that never existed (for better or worse), or lands where no human has (or ever will) set foot.
These kind of books not only give our imaginations a workout, but some can help us navigate the “real” world more adroitly–some fantasy and speculative fiction are very firmly rooted in issues of the present, like M.T. Anderson’s Feed, which features characters who get computers implanted in their heads to control their environments. Others give us the opportunities to re-imagine the world around us–Neil Gaiman’s American Gods is as much a tour of the United States as it is a fantasy adventure. And, it turns out, reading books can actually activate the parts of the brain that control sensation and movement–allowing you to literally put yourself in the protagonist’s shoes!
So today, let’s take a look at some fantastic, fantastical fiction, that will provide you with a chance to escape the bounds of gravity, space, and time, and a chance to stretch your imagination to its full potential…Happy travels!
The Skin Map: Fans of Neil Gaiman’s Neverwhere will feel a slight sense of deja-vu in the opening to Stephen Lawhead’s super-terrific, brilliantly creative Bright Empires series as Kit Livingstone discovers the secret worlds hidden in the ley lines of London. But from there, this book launches off on its own wild course, as Kit and his girlfriend each unintentionally embark on their own adventures through time and space. Amidst the historic details of their various adventures, and the conspiracies and adventures they uncover, is the story of an explorer, who is determined to discover the full extent of the ley lines, and all the worlds they contain–but when his fabled map is lost, the race is on to find it, and control all the worlds it contains. I read this book in one sitting because I was too involved to stop, and may have threatened to bite anyone who attempted to distract me. Lawhead manages to make every storyline in this epic novel engaging and meaningful, and infuses each scene with humanity and humor, making the whole series a sure-fire hit even for those who aren’t big readers of the fantasy genre.
Silver on the Road: I picked up this book by chance, because I am fascinated by references to the Devil in literature…but this story is so much more than that. Part western, part fantasy, part coming-of-age novel, Laura Anne Gilman’s newest release is a marvel of a book that draws you in, and keeps you on your toes. Her heroine, sixteen-year-old Izzy, has been raised in a saloon run by the Devil in the town on the western edge of civilization, trained to see the desires that men keep hidden, the needs that drive them on, and the hungers that make them move. And now, for the first time, she has been given the chance to put those skills to use as the Devil’s own left hand…this book is like nothing I’ve read before, and I couldn’t be more excited about it.
The Martian: My dad saw this movie, and immediately called me to tell me, first, how much he enjoyed it, and secondly, that he was convinced the book would be even better. And, apparently, he was right. Andy Weir’s novel of astronaut Mark Watney, the first human to walk on Mars–and the only human left on the planet once his crew leaves without him. But Watney refuses to be the first person to die on Mars, and puts his considerable guile and energy to use figuring out how to survive on a planet with no atmosphere, no life, and, seemingly, no hope. The result is a surprisingly funny, wonderfully creative, and spellbinding work that will captivate the science-minded and the novice alike. And the movie comes highly recommended, too!
The Watchmaker of Filigree Street: Along with a stunning, three-dimensional cover, Natasha Pulley’s novel comes pack-jammed with history, myth, and imagination that draws from many corners of the globe. Her story begins when Thaniel Steepleton returns to his tiny London flat to find a gold pocket watch on his pillow…a pocket watch that will save his life…a pocket watch that will lead him to Keita Mori, a kindly Japanese immigrant, and Grace Carrow, an Oxford physicist. Torn between these two powerful personalities, Thaniel soon finds himself on a perilous adventure that might very well change the very course of time itself. This book is a fascinating blend of steampunk, speculative fiction, fantasy, and history that defies every genre it references. Pulley is like a twenty-first century H.G. Wells, and we can only hope that she has more tricks up her proverbial sleeve to show us soon!
Safe travels, dear readers!