Imaginary Worlds

Fantasy and the fantastic feature in quite different ways in two books that I have enjoyed recently. A book by Fredrik Backman - My Grandmother sends her regards and apologises - is a wonderful blend of whimsy and gritty reality.

At its core is the fantasy world woven by a loving grandmother for her very special, almost eight year old grand-daughter.  Elsa, who is 7 but about to turn 8, is precocious, perceptive, and pedantic, and not terribly popular with her schoolmates.  Her family life is complicated, and is about to become even more so.  The fantasies her grandmother created to help her cope will turn out to interact with the real world in ways that neither Elsa nor the reader can possibly predict.  This is one that I will be reading again.

(Speaking of Grandparenting matters, and recognising the brilliant efforts put in by Parents who write or otherwise create, how does anyone get anything done - such as a blog entry - while trying to keep an eye on the wellbeing of a small tribe of under tens)

Another book worth keeping close at hand - 15 short stories by some great writers - is Old Mars, and it is another of those wonderful compilations edited by George R R Martin and Gardner Dozois.  Do you miss the wonderful solar system our science fiction writers inhabited in the century or two before humanity launched its robot invasion of Mars?  Yes?  Does Barsoom call to you across the gulf of space?  Well, this one is a must read - many of the stories have twists that will take you completely by surprise, and the various versions of Mars that these writers have come up with are compelling and richly detailed, despite most of the stories being only thirty or so pages.

On the other hand, have you ever seen a glossy new cover, emblazoned with the name of one of your favourite authors, and raced home with it, only to discover that while the concept described in the blurb is new and interesting, and the execution leaves you flat?  One such shiny new item caught my eye a couple of days ago, on the SF and Fantasy shelves. It was the first book in Scalzi's new series "The Collapsing Empire".  As I was checking it out, one of my colleagues, also a fan of John Scalzi, asked me to hand it over so she could place a reservation on it for herself.

Well, if you are reading this blog, EJ, I am not sure what I can say to you - the style is so different to his usual intense, descriptive, clever writing.  In fact, it seemed rushed, and sometimes summarised rather than showed.  Was I disappointed because it is so different, or am I right to think it lacks a lot of the delicate touches I have come to associate with Scalzi?  I still read it through to the end, to see where he was taking the characters, but was able to skim across the pages, rather than having to take note of every word - as a good writer should make the reader do.