An Embarrassment of Riches

The Chilling Alternative - by Laural I love spooky books!  Or books that tell a story of an alternate universe where vampires, werewolves, zombies, witches and wizards exist.  I recently read a great book in this genre. When I was looking at author read-alikes in the database Novelist (a database that helps you find good reads, available to our library patrons), I found that Jim Butcher’s series The Dresden Files kept coming up. And now The Dresden Files has me hooked!

In Storm Front (Book One of The Dresden Files), Harry Dresden is a wizard for hire in Chicago.  As a reader, once I know something is set in Chicago, I make certain assumptions. Yes, there is a mafia presence. And very scary vampires too. In the mythology the writer draws upon for his supernatural creatures, Butcher doesn’t disappoint. Harry Dresden meets the scariest vampire I have ever encountered in my reading. And I have read many vampire stories. I don’t even want to be in the same city as these vampires. 
Harry is dragged into a mystery.  Someone or something is viciously killing people. It will take a great wizard to solve this mystery.  As the pages turned I realized I really like Harry and I couldn’t wait to read another book in the Dresden Files series. I couldn’t wait to inhabit his very scary Chicago with him. At least in the pages of a book.

Not of This World - by Steve

Ever have one of those days? You know the type where you feel like everything is just a bit off. You miss the bus even though you left five minutes early.You spill coffee on your new white linen, short-sleeve Oxford shirt.Your cell phone reception is nonexistent even though you’re standing in the middle of downtown. Maybe you’re just having a bad morning, or perhaps you’ve been secretly transported to an alternate version of Earth. 

I love when a story seems normal, yet there’s something I can’t quite put my finger on. It’s not until I’m really engrossed in the tale that I figure out that the world is a different place from where I grew up. They’re not science fiction, per se, but contain just enough of a difference to be noticeable.  Here are a few of my favorite examples of these types of stories.

The Walls of the Universe by Paul Melko starts in a small country town. A teenage boy is confronted by his doppelgänger who offers him a trip to an alternate world. Turns out, the trip was one-way. He makes a life in the new world by inventing a new game called “Pinball,” but gets noticed by a shady corporation who wants to rule the world.

Troll: A Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo is one of the most unique books I’ve ever read. Translated from the Finnish, it tells the story of a guy who rescues and cares for a troll that has been badly beaten. The author does a great job of making it seem like trolls actually exist, and when the main character bites off more than he can chew, bad things really start happening.