Reading Wednesday

[sabotabby]

Just finished: Hench by Natalie Zina Walschots. Hoo-boy do I have some mixed feelings about it, and I'm hoping that some of you have either read it or will read it so that I can find out of my reactions are justified.

It's about Anna, who temps for a supervillain, until she's injured by one of the superheroes he's fighting. Her villain boss abandons her and no one will believe that the upstanding, lantern-jawed Supercollider is responsible for her injuries (or if he was, she deserved it). Left to convalesce at a friend's house, she starts tallying the cost of superheroics in terms of collateral damage to both civilians and henchpeople, which draws the attention of Leviathan, the most powerful of the supervillains in the city. 

I will just say that I love the concept. I'm one of those people who watches superhero movies and complains that no, those buildings wouldn't have been empty, there would be all kinds of collateral damage, and neither Marvel and DC do not adequately or realistically address the human suffering that would result from their plot points. Also apparently a thing I enjoy reading about in fantasy are the pragmatics of the world, particularly economics, so focusing the story around accounting and data entry made me nerd out.

That said, I almost noped out of this one because the first few chapters are just...not well-written? Stylistically, it felt like chick lit, and thematically, it didn't lean enough into the genre tropes of either of the genres it mashed up. It felt like it was trying to appeal to a book club audience that wasn't familiar with superhero narratives. There was little differentiation between character voices, so I had to count lines to see who was speaking. This book was published by HarperCollins and made Canada Reads and it felt as under-edited as all the fantasy books I seem to be reading lately.

And then, I dunno, something flipped and I couldn't put it down. I still feel like it was under-edited, but it managed to hook me anyway. I think it was the description of living with chronic pain, tbh. I am pretty sure the author Got It from actual experience. The way pain can transform your personality and take over your life is, let's just say, a metaphor that I connect with. And ultimately I did connect with the characters and staying up late to see where it went.

So unlike nearly every fantasy novel I've read lately where the opening chapters were amazing and the middle and ending are a let down, this is one where the opening chapters suck but the rest of it was good, actually.

(I also have mixed feelings about it because people keep telling me that my novel is too much of a genre mashup to be published in Canada's very conservative market, and this is also a mashup that ended up being successful. Why yes, everything I read now is filtered through a lens of "what does this mean for my own chances?")

Also, full-disclosure—I am one degree of separation from the author and I know a good 50% of the people she thanks in the acknowledgments IRL, including her partner. I did not know this until I finished the book, so it didn't colour my impression of the book or anything. But we'd probably get along, I think.

Currently reading: Nothing. None of my holds have come in recently. I picked up Tor's Fantasy from Asia and the Asian Diaspora, which I'd downloaded at some point, only to discover that this was not an anthology of short stories and was in fact a bunch of chapters from novellas. I started reading the first story and it was quite good, only to find out that it was only the first two chapters.

On the plus side, given Tor's ahem-editing issues lately, maybe I'll enjoy books more if I only read the first two chapters.

But yeah, give me some recs. For some reason my usual strategy of browsing Overdrive in search of things that I meant to read was not at all successful last night and I just got annoyed.

Comments

[bcholmes]

I just started Hench and it hooked me pretty quickly.

[sabotabby]

Awesome. Lemme know what you think.

Speaking of Marvel...

[dewline]

...and looking at the MCU's Sokovia Accords and Damage Control in particular: I don't think they went into enough detail. I am disappointed that Marvel hasn't gone through with that Damage Control series proposal as yet. It would address our shared concerns somewhat, it would give airtime to characters a friendly acquaintance of mine (whom I dearly miss to this day) had a major hand in co-creating, and would fill a gap left via the shutdown of Agents of SHIELD in terms of continuity-tracking.

Re: Speaking of Marvel...

[sabotabby]

The thing is, Marvel doesn't want to follow the ideas it raises to their logical conclusion. They're allergic to large groups of ordinary people, say, a class, being empowered as protagonists. It's not the story they're telling. They do it better than DC does until they raise the stakes too high for the story to work.

Trigun is one of those stories that got it right, despite my general lack of interest in anime and the particular terrible art style that it uses. It keeps its initial stakes low by making its protagonist committed to non-violence, but it takes the economic and emotional fallout of property damage very seriously, and it ultimately doesn't pull its punches in any way by the end.

Re: Speaking of Marvel...

[dewline]

Have you been keeping an eye on Hickman's work on the X-Men family of titles the last year or two? He's taking them back to the logical conclusions of Grant Morrison and company and building on them. I do worry about the eventual reset button - and I see where it's already been installed! - but for now, the consequences are entertaining to read.

Re: Speaking of Marvel...

[sabotabby]

I haven't, but that's intriguing.

I'd also say Alan Moore's "Miracleman" is one that follows through on the logical conclusion of its premise. But it's probably unfilmable for that reason. (As is "Watchmen," despite everyone else's opinion of the film.)

[naomikritzer]

I loved HENCH, and it hooked me really fast -- I liked the narrative voice, although it was definitely the concept that really grabbed me. I loaned my copy to Lyda, but she hasn't read it yet.

I really liked the intersection between near-future SF, overthinking the superhero genre, and critique of late-stage capitalism.

Why restrict yourself to Canadian agents/publishers? I don't think any of the US-based ones particularly care where you live, so long as you write in English. At WorldCon in Dublin I met a French woman (actual French, not Quebecois) who writes in English because the only SF market that exists in France at ALL is just translations. (And I 100% get the "but what does this mean for ME" reading of everything you pick up, I think it's an inevitable side effect of writing for publication.)

[sabotabby]

I really liked the intersection between near-future SF, overthinking the superhero genre, and critique of late-stage capitalism.

Oh yes, this is definitely the appeal.

I'm not restricting myself to Canadian publishers at all! I'm just not certain that American publishers are all that interested in a book set in Canada. I would be delighted to be proved wrong about this.

[naomikritzer]

There are a million dumb reasons why books don't sell, so there's no guarantee in any case, but I don't think anyone would reject a book for being set in Canada.

Books Set in Canada

[dewline]

I think we're okay on this front. Rob Sawyer isn't an exception that proves the rule, after all. He was one of the people who broke the barrier and kept it from being rebuilt.

Maybe I'm being naive here...

Re: Books Set in Canada

[sabotabby]

There's >0 sci-fi and fantasy published in Canada, and even some on the more literary end, but it tends to be on the more traditional side. Genre mashups are way less common here, and for whatever reason that's what I tend to write.

[minoanmiss]

I've been really intrigued by the concept of _Hench_ so I'm glad to read the discussion here.

[sabotabby]

Do check it out and tell me what you think!

[springheel_jack]

did I recommend "The Golem and the Jinni"? Anyway, the sequel is coming out in May or June.

[sabotabby]

You didn't! But I like the sound of it and placed a hold.

[lokifan]

Interesting! I definitely plan to read it.

I'll rec Clockwork by Philip Pullman, it's a tiny novella but great.

[sabotabby]

Hmm, how much is it like his other stuff? I liked 1 1/2 books of His Dark Materials.

[lokifan]

It's very different in tone and style from His Dark Materials (probably published before it? I came to Northern Lights as a kid, via his children's books) It's short and sinister and fun - I think it's probably most similar to the bit of Subtle Knife with the world where only children survive the ghost-things, but with more of a sense of humour. My biggest recommendation would probably be to find a page or two of preview and see if you like the tone/style.