Special thanks to my son, co-writer of this blog entry.

Steampunk fiction is a sub-genre of sci-fi “set in an era or world where steam power is widely used” (wikipedia).  Think 19th century Victorian England with a fantasy/sci-fi twist.  Scott Westerfeld’s steampunk novel Leviathan  (Simon & Schuster, 2009) is set during the beginning of World War I, and follows many of the historical events of World War I.  A big part of what makes this novel so interesting is that it mirrors familiar events yet turns them on their head with imaginative techno-creativity. 

Young Prince Aleks, son of Archduke Ferdinand, must flee for his life after his parents are assassinated.   He makes his escape to Switzerland in a steam-powered “Stormwalker,” a vehicle similar to a Star War’s AT-ST:                   

Deryn, the female protagonist, lives in England, a “Darwinist Power” which uses genetically altered animals to double as weapons.  For example, they have genetically altered whales so they can be used as giant airships–hence the name Leviathan.  Deryn wants to join the Air Corps which is barred to females so he disguises herself as a boy, gets accepted, and proves to be a top notch flyer.  Deryn is soon entrusted with a secret mission, which grinds to a halt when the Leviathan is shot down in Switzerland.  Suddenly Deryn and Aleks’ fate rests on each others’ shoulders. Leviathan is a great book about trust and friendship in unlikely circumstances.

 I first heard about Rebecca Stead’s When You Reach Me (Random House 2009) from a  book editor who said, “There is so much buzz about this book, I think it might win the Newbery.” 

Set in the 70′s in New York City, the story centers on sixth grade Miranda and her best friend Sal.  Miranda (a girl) and Sal (a boy) live in the same apartment complex, both are from single-mom families, and they’ve been best friends forever.  Then one day Sal gets punched in the face by a random kid on the street, and suddenly Sal wants nothing to do with Miranda.  Miranda’s on her own and has to learn how to make new friends and fit in. 

There is so much going on in this novel I hardly know where to start.  It’s a coming of age story, it’s a story about mother/daughter relationships, it’s a story about friendship.  But it’s also a mystery with unexplainable, unsigned letters, a missing apartment key, and a crazy homeless guy on the corner, all wrapped up with a sci-fi twist a la Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time.

When You Reach Me has a bit of a retro feel, kind of like the 70′s style t-shirts I see popping up in stores right now (although it may feel this way to me since I’m a child of the 70′s myself).  The novel is also proof that you don’t need international killers, vampires, or evil plots by fiendish ne’er do-wells to create a sense of suspense and mystery.  

The novel quotes Albert Einstein who said, “The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.”  For children, life is full of mystery.  Author Rebecca Stead beautifully captures the biggest mystery of childhood, the mystery that is known as growing up.

When you’re a sister sandwiched between two sets of twins, you pretty much get ignored.  It’s the twins everyone finds interesting, they’re the novelty–you’re just an extra.  At least that’s how Miri feels in The Magic Half (Bloomsbury, 2008).  This middle grade novel by Annie Barrows weaves a story of family and friendship with a unique time travel twist (and a surprise ending to boot).  

When Miri’s family moves to a new house, Miri has no one to hang out with.  Older brothers Ray and Robbie, and younger sisters Nell and Nora, all have built-in friends, their twin.  Mom and dad are swamped with work and unpacking.  So Miri, a girl with ”a dazzling imaginative capacity”  is on her own.   

Soon Miri finds herself in trouble.  She hits her brother with a shovel and gets sent to her room.  Miri’s old, quirky bedroom with its ugly orange and purple wallpaper was once part of the attic.  Miri explores the room and discovers a small piece of pinkish glass.

As Miri looks through the glass, the room seems “to bend and collapse in the middle, as though the center of the house were being sucked into a whirlpool.”  Miri has been transported to 1935.  She’s in the same bedroom, but it looks completely different.  The bedroom also belongs to Molly, a girl who is in grave danger from a vicious cousin and a jealous aunt. 

Soon Miri finds herself travelling back and forth through time trying to save Molly.  Molly begs Miri to take her away, back to future.  What should Miri do?  Will she get trapped in 1935?  Can she get Molly to the future? And what will she tell her parents when brings home a complete stranger, a girl with no family, no money, and nowhere to go?  Read The Magic Half and find out!

For those of you who loved The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins has written a sequel, Catching Fire (Scholastic, 2009).  The story picks up where Hunger Games left off, with Katniss awkwardly trying to choose between Peeta and Gale and living a life of ease as a Hunger Games champion.

But things start to fall apart when Katniss discovers that her and Peeta’s dual survival was seen as an act of rebellion and has encouraged uprisings in several districts.  The Capitol cracks down and life becomes even more oppressive, something Katniss thought impossible.  Not surprisingly, Katniss’ first instinct is to survive, to stay out of trouble and keep her family alive.

But the President  of the Capitol is determined to make Katniss pay, and once again she finds herself in the Arena.  She is selected to compete in the Quarterly Quell, a fight-to-the-death battle that occurs every twenty-five years, only this time competitors are chosen from prior Hunger Games champions.

Katniss must battle against the best of the best.  And the Capitol government fully intends to use the Quell to display their absolute power and to kill Katniss as a public and painful example of what happens to those who defy the Capitol.  

Again Katniss must use her skill and wits in an attempt to survive the Arena.  Is there anyone she can trust?  Does she dare form alliances?  Does it even matter, since the Capitol seems bent on destroying her and everyone she loves?

Catching Fire is Book Two of what will be a trilogy.  Most of the reviews I have read feel that Catching Fire is not quite as gripping as The Hunger Games, and I agree.  However, the cliff-hanger ending will leave you dying (figuratively speaking, of course) for the sequel.

The Amazing Race, American Idol, Project Runway, The Biggest Loser, Man vs. Wild, Dancing with the Stars–reality shows are all over television. 

But what if winning Survivor meant being the last one left alive?  What if the bloody battles of the Roman gladiators had been broadcast as reality TV?  Reality TV meets Lord of the Flies in the gripping new YA thriller The Hunger Games (Scholastic, 2008) by Suzanne Collins.

The Hunger Games takes place in a brutal and harsh future.  North America has been decimated by war.   One central Capitol rules in tyranny over twelve districts.  Broken by their failed rebellion, starving and deprived, the districts are forced to send their resources to the Capitol:  coal, jewels, grain, weapons.  The Capitol controls the food supply, the economy, the government, the media.

As punishment for rebellion, the twelve districts must also send an annual tribute to the Capitol:  one girl and one boy, twenty-four in all, each of whom will fight to the death in the annual televised “Hunger Games.”  The voyeurism of reality TV takes a grotesque twist as citizens tune in–some by choice, some by forced decree–to watch the 74th Annual Hunger Games.

Sixteen year old Katmiss and her family live in District 12.  Poverty and hunger ravage most of its citizens, and Katniss and her family very nearly starved the year her father was killed in a mine accident.  But Katniss learned to hunt wild game and barter (even though the Capitol forbids both), and has managed to keep her mother and younger sister Prim alive.  

Then Prim’s name is drawn in the lottery for the female tribute for District 12.  Katniss insists that she go in Prim’s place and travels to the glittering, decadent Capital with Peeta, the male tribute from District 12.  Katniss barely knows Peeta but recognizes him as the baker’s son who, years earlier, saved her life and gave her hope by giving her a loaf of bread. 

Soon Katniss and Peeta are being groomed for the pageanty and brutality of the Hunger Games.  Besides the obvious prize of sheer survival, the victor of the annual Hunger Games also wins a house and an annual stipend for life.  A roof over your head and a full belly for life–what could be better?

Katniss is torn between her instinctive liking and gratitude toward Peeta and the knowledge that in the end they will have to be enemies:

To this day, I can never shake the connection between this boy, Peeta Mellark, and the bread that gave me hope, and the dandelion that reminded me that I was not doomed.  And more than once, I have turned in the school hallway and caught his eyes trained on me, only to quickly flit away.  I feel like I owe him something, and I hate owing people.   Maybe if I had thanked him at some point, I’d be feeling less conflicted now.  . . .  Because we’re going to be thrown into an arena to fight to the death. 

Trust is foolishness, a terrible weakness that only gives enemies an advantage.  Only one person can survive the Hunger Games.  It is kill or be killed.  Only one tribute will return home victorious.  But should Katniss and Peeta trust each other and work as a team?

The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary Pearson (Henry Holt, 2008) is a fantastic young adult book–a sci-fi novel that has the creepy thrill of a scary movie.  Teenager Jenna Fox wakes from a coma to discover that she remembers nothing of her past.  She has to relearn how to talk, walk, eat, live.  Her adoring parents have taken video after video of her childhood, and Jenna watches old family movies of herself in an attempt to discover who she is, or at least who she was. 

But bit by bit, Jenna realizes things don’t add up.  Her parents are lying to her.  She senses that her once loving grandmother is hostile.  Jenna tries to search online about herself and her accident only to find that her parents have locked it so she can’t access the information. 

The novel is set in a futuristic California where super-bacteria have become completely resistant to antibiotics.  Bio-engineering has developed dramatic medical solutions to try to save lives.  But at what cost?  Just how far should you go to save someone you love?

As Jenna searches for answers, she finds herself coming up with more and more questions:  ”Who am I?”  “What is a soul?”  “Do I even have one?”  “What does it mean to be human?”  “What makes me, me?”

I don’t want to spoil the surprises so I will say no more.   But in The Adoration of Jenna Fox, Mary Pearson has written an amazing story where age-old questions about identity and love weave seamlessly into a futuristic dystopia where the definition of humanity itself is on the line.

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson (Tor 2006).  I just finished this fantasy novel at the recommendation of a reader comment (see comments for the November post ”Luke Skywalker vs. Edward Cullen”).  Mistborn is Book 2 of Brandon Sanderson’s epic fantasy series, and it’s a great read.  The main character Kelsier combines the brash devil-may-care adventurism of Indiana Jones with the roguery of Robin Hood and the fighting talents of a ninja as he battles against the evil Lord Ruler. 

The capital city of Luthadel, reminiscent of Dicken’s industrial England, is a filthy city full of crowded slums where the people known as skaa live enslaved to a corrupt noble class.  These nobles in turn are controlled by the Lord Ruler and his reign of terror.  The dashing Kelsier and his band of thieves combine forces with the skaa rebellion to overthrow the government.  They plot the ultimate heist-the overthrow of the government and a raid on the treasury which they believe is full of the priceless metal atium.

Why does Kelsier think he can win against impossible odds that have defeated so many?  Because Kelsier is a Mistborn-an elite magician who has the abilities to “burn” ingested metals to activate his powers.  Burning iron or steel enables Kelsier to “pull” and “push” on metals so he can climb up buildings or push off a coin and leap superhuman distances into the air.  Other metals heighten Kelsier’s senses or enable him to influence the feelings of others. 

Mistborns apparently are a rare lot, so when Kelsier discovers Vin, a beaten slum-rat thief of a girl, he takes her under his wing and mentors her.  She becomes his sidekick and a critical member of the team.

I don’t read a lot of fantasy, but I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  Great characters, great setting, great plot.  And while I found myself skimming the fight scenes, I’ve read blogs that said the fight scenes were their favorite part.  Anyone who likes the fast paced moves of an action flick will love the fight scenes. 

We all root for the underdog.  We all want Frodo, Harry Potter (and Wilbur the pig for that matter) to win.  But what is the price of success?  Read Mistborn and find out. 

Comment on Mistborn or other fantasy books you love!

I thought long and hard about the topic for my very first blog.  Something special.  Relevant.  A fascinating topic with mass appeal.  So it had to be Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. 

The just-released blockbuster movie is raking in major bucks ($70.5 million in the first week alone).  Meanwhile Robert Pattison (vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen) has been attacked by rabid female fans, crazed-Beatle-mania style.  Not sure he realized what he got himself into when he decided to be the repository for all women’s dreams.

Stephenie Meyer’s phenomenally best-selling clean-teen books, Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, and Breaking Dawn, are a cross between a romance and an action thriller.  They tap into female’s deepest desires for the perfect man.  So he’s a vampire.  Who cares?  Finally the homely, nobody girl wins the hottest, sweetest, smartest, most romantic boy in the whole school (ok, in the whole world).  Ah, the joys of fiction, where dreams really do come true, and Cinderella really does meet and marry her handsome prince.

But what about the boys?  I’ve heard of a few guys who read and even enjoyed Meyer’s books.  I’ve even heard of a few more who dared to be seen at the movie.  But not too many of these mavericks exist.  Most guys I know and have talked to have a) zero interest in even opening one of Stephanie Meyers books; or b) tried them because their sister or girlfriend forced them to and universally agreed: “Twilight sucks.” 

So what do teen-age boys read?  “Do teen-age boys read?”  I hear you ask.  What book would make a teen-age boy stay up late into the night, sacrificing sleep (but not food, of course) to finish that page-turner?

Teen-age guys spend inordinate amounts of time shooting at virtual things on screens.  And guess what?  They’ll also spend inordinate amounts of time reading about fictional characters who shoot at things. 

Star Wars novels teem with characters who’ve got tight weaponry, awesome firepower, and crazy-fast ships.  To grasp the basic plot of these books, think about any Star Wars movie you’ve ever seen.  Change the name of the character, the planet, the bad guy, a few details and voila!  A new novel.

 For example, in Star Wars: Ambush at Corellia (Book One of the Corellian Trilogy), Han Solo, Princess Leia, and their children return with Chewbacca to Han’s home planet of Corellia.  Han finds his planet on the brink of civil war and it turns out that the bad guy happens to be Han Solo’s cousin.  “As jammerships block all communication with Luke Skywalker and the outside universe, Han and Leia find themselves trapped on a world about to explode in violence unless the can meet a fanatical Rebel leader’s impossible demands . . .”  You get the picture.

Well over a hundred Star Wars novels have been written by various authors, usually as series (The New Jedi Order series, the X-Wing series, Young Jedi Knights series, etc.) or trilogies (Jedi Academy trilogy, The Corellian trilogy, The Black Fleet Crisis, etc.).  You might have a hard time finding them on your library’s catalog.  Our library carries many of these mass media paperbacks, but doesn’t list them in their catalog.  So you have to go to the library and hope they have one you haven’t read.  Many guys just end up buying them.  Twenty, thirty, forty of them. 

So move over Edward Cullen.  You may be the Mr. Darcy of Dracula.  You may have killer looks and a personality girls would die for.  But there’s one thing you don’t have.  The Force.

Do you know guys that read Star Wars novels?  And . . . did you think the Twilight movie was as good as the book?