Who's Reading What This Summer? Episode 3 - Jim Munroe

While I lick my wounds and hang my head at not making the shortlist for this year's Relit Award - side note: I'm tired of being unappreciated in my lifetime - I thought I'd better present the next chapter in my ongoing series on the book-reading habits of people who interest me.

Today's participant: Canadian novelist (Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask, An Opening Act of Unspeakable Evil) and darling of the independent publishing world Jim Munroe. 

Jim's Bio:

Jim Munroe, 35, is a “pop culture provocateur” according to the Austin Chronicle, and Time Out Chicago dubbed him an “independent press icon”. After leaving HarperCollins for political reasons, he founded No Media Kings and published five books, the most recent one a post-Rapture graphic novel called Therefore Repent! He also started The Perpetual Motion Roadshow, an indie touring circuit that sent 100 artists on the road between 2003-2007, and currently he is running the Artsy Games Incubator, a writer’s-circle style group helping creators without programming skills make videogames. He lives in Toronto with a crafty ladyscientist and their bafflingly attractive baby.

Jim is also a heckuva nice guy, and his site is filled with useful info on all aspects of getting your book published with minimal outside help. And if you haven't read Flyboy yet, shame on you.

Jim's summer readings:

Two books I heard about at Wiscon that I've just started:

Wit's End, Karen Joy Fowler
One of the main characters is a mystery writer, and I'm interested in the genre -- and esp. Fowler's take on it as she's a genre-jumper.

Dragonsbane by Barbara Hambly
This came up during one of the panels about parenting and SF/fantasy, about a couple who're asked to kill a dragon. While it's got a dead-boring by the numbers cover, the first chapter has got a nice balance of realistic character and world detail, defusing the myths of yore without an obvious satiric approach.

Quickie reviews, Sunday, May 19, 2008

Well, it's been awhile. Let's talk about about books. Or rather, me write about, you read about. Today's menu is all Canadian, and all offbeat.
Yellowknife, by Steve Zipp
Res Telluris, 2007

I admit to trepidation on this one. Yes, consider me part of that ignorant mass of literati that assumes that books from tiny publishers with no advertising budget are probably not worth the time or effort. Kind of stupid to think that, considering how awful some of the stuff that leaks out onto the shelves of better bookstores near you is, but there you have it. But I felt I had to. The author had contacted me, sent me a free copy, and liked my novel (no accounting for taste). So, deep breath taken, I waded in.

Consider me gobsmacked. What a terrific novel.

Yellowknife, if I can find a suitable genre to label it by, falls under the classification of Strange Town With Mysterious Happenings and Characters. I'm not saying the city of Yellowknife is up there with the glorious weirdness that was Twin Peaks, but if any of this stuff is even remotely true, I'm booking a flight up there forthwith.

The plot defies easy categorization, but hey, try and sum up Twin Peaks in ten words or less. Go on, I'll wait. Thought so. Suffice to say, there are strange lake monsters, underground caribou herds, fishermen, dogs, budget detectives, miners, artists, government officials, and dissertations on the quality of dry dog food. There are parades, diamonds, missiles, dentists, hoboes, and computer geniuses. Actually, in overall strangeness, Yellowknife is in a dead heat with Twin Peaks, and it is only my love of all things Lynchian which gives Peaks the edge. Although Inland Empire continues to thwart my efforts to sit through the whole thing.

Despite what this may all sound like, Yellowknife is not simply a list of grostequeries, or weird for the sake of weird. There is an underlying sense of order to the absurdity, and if Zipp tosses a hint of magical realism into the mix, well, so much the better. Zipp's writing is solid and assured, and if the plot may be sometimes confounding, it's never boring. I don't claim to understand exactly what happens in Yellowknife, as some of the seemingly hundreds of plot points bend and weave and break off altogether, but I certainly enjoyed myself.

B+


Everyone in Silico, by Jim Munroe
No Media Kings, 2002

I love the work of Philip K. Dick. Even in his lesser works (Our Friends from Frolix 8), there is a weird freshness to the sci-fi happenings that very few have been able to emulate, intentionally or not. I don't believe Jim Munroe meant to follow PKD's style, but Everyone in Silico reminded me of nothing so much as Dick in his most lighthearted mode. In case you're wondering, this is a good thing.

Set in the very near future, Silico posits a world that is rapidly decreasing its physical human population through a vast virtual network that allows a person to download themselves whole into the computerized world. This new life allows the individual to interact with the physical world through cameras and projectors, yet live a life free of problems such as hunger or sleep. But what happens to the world when people start leaving it? And what happens to the bodies?

The concept of living virtually is nothing new; Neal Stephenson's ground-breaking Snow Crash pretty much defined the metaverse, to say nothing of the Matrix movies. Munroe brings a zippy freshness to the technobabble, as well as some lovely theories as to how such a new economic model might function. I love the idea that those who can only afford the 'bronze' package are constantly inundated with advertisements and jingle-spewing avatars during their day-today operations, while people of the 'gold' class can channel such irritants out of their perceptions. Meanwhile, as those who cannot afford the new life adapt to the new population implosion, steps are being taken to reclaim the planet through bio-engineering and sheer chutzpah.

It's a goofy world Munroe creates, equal parts William Gibson and Cory Doctorow, but a unique creation in its own right. Everyone in Silico is Munroe's best work to date.

A-

The Coyote Kings of the Space-Age Bachelor Pad, by Minister Faust
Del Ray, 2004

After Minister Faust's second novel From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain blew me away as pound-for-pound one of the most sheerly entertaining books I'd read in quite awhile, I awaited eagerly for a library-loaned copy of his first effort, the intriguingly-titled Coyote Kings.

No disappointment on first efforts here. Kings is definitely a first novel in that it is sprawling, ungainly, goofy, and so full of ideas that it can't contain them all and ends up spilling themes all over the floor. But it is alive with vitality and verve, a jumping jive of energy juice that never stops moving. I loved every moment of it.

The Coyote Kings are Hamza and Yehat, two friends who expertly travel the streets of Edmonton, Alberta in search of love and adventure. A mysterious woman named Sheremnefer brings the promise of fresh love into Hamza's life, but a bizarre subplot involving ancient gods and a street-drug code-named Cream threatens to tear the intrepid duo apart.

What distinguished Faust's work (apart from the outlandish premise) is his gift for language and nuance. The story is told from the perspective of several narrators, and while it does become confusing at times, Faust manages the not-inconsiderable feat of keeping all the characters distinct in tone and mood. Coyote Kings is not for everyone, but if you love the odd, you may have found your holy grail.

A-

First sentence of novels I'm reading, Friday, March 28, 2008

The border gave Danny a start.
Yellowknife by Steve Zipp

"Ladies and Gentlemen, behold: The Enemy."
The Cheese Monkeys by Chip Kidd

When Paul sat down on the bench, the young man moved over a bit without looking at him.
Everyone in Silico by Jim Munroe

Novels, superheroes, and Canuck sensibilities

I love superhero movies (I even willingly watched Ghost Rider), and eagerly await this summer's upcoming releases; Iron Man, The Dark Knight, and Hellboy II will undoubtedly kick all kinds of butt. Possibly also The Incredible Hulk, but I'm not getting that vibe from the less-than-incredible trailer. That, and I am of the opinion that Ang Lee's original Hulk is one of the finest (and unappreciated) examples of superhero movies ever, and substituting Lee with the director of Unleashed does not exactly fill me with hope. Kind of like when Brent Ratner was pegged to direct Red Dragon.

With that in mind, I've been perusing the landscape for some novels to help get me primed and ready. And since I'm nothing if not patriotic (is that derisive laughter I hear?), let's look at some Canadian literary examples of superhero mythology.

From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain
by Minister Faust

This is, on the surface, the most stereotypical entry, a slam-bang action-fest rife with physical improbabilities, invincible individuals, and dastardly evil goings-on. Like the recent American novel Soon I Will be Invincible by Austin Grossman (a terrific read, by the way), Faust both embraces the mythological stereotypes of the superhero genre, and playfully tweaks the reader's expectations through treating them as flawed human beings. The results are hysterical. De-mythologizing the superhero has been an accepted trend since Alan Moore revolutionized comic books and superhero teams with The Watchmen and Frank Miller pulled Batman back from the brink of self-parody with The Dark Knight Returns, and Faust's novel stands equal to such classics.

Dr. Brain is indeed from the notebooks of Dr. Eva Brain-Silverman, a psychoanalyst who specializes in the mysterious world of the specially-abled. She is the analyst of F*O*O*J* (Fantastic Order of Justice), a league of superheroes rendered dysfunctional and impotent after the legendary "Götterdämmerung" left most of the world's supervillains dead, and most of the world's superheroes out of a job. As she probes the minds of Omnipotent Man, The Flying Squirrel, Power Grrrl, Iron Lass, X-Man, and Superfly, it turns out that dysfunction does not target only the normal.

Like the best comic books and graphic novels, Dr. Brain can be read as a kick-ass actioneer or, if you prefer, as a sly satire of our world. Faust is not exactly subtle with the metaphors; racism, paranoia, and xenophobia are all staples of the superhero subculture, and Dr. Brain follows this path fairly closely. What Faust brings to the party is intricately funny word-play, ingenious plot developments, and true love for his subject matter. And fun. Man, is this fun.

Grade - A-

All My Friends are Superheroes
by Andrew Kaufman

All My Friends is as far away conceptually from Dr. Brain as any superhero novel could be. Instead of the spectacular antics of Omnipotent Man and Iron Lass, Kaufman offers up The Frog-Kisser ("blessed with the ability to transform geeks into winners") and The Sloth (my personal favourite, an individual armed with "an amazing ability to say 'Fu@# it' and really, truly mean it"). Clearly, we are in a different realm of powers here.

Tom does not have superpowers, but his wife The Perfectionist does. She can will order with her mind. Unfortunately, he is invisible to her due to the jealous shenanigans of jilted superhero Hypno, and nothing Tom does can make her see him.

I've had a few people comment on All My Friends since I blogged that I was reading it. It turns out to have quite a rabid following, and it's easy to see why. Deft, amusing, endlessly quotable and charming as hell, Kaufman has crafted a love letter to love itself. It's a slight novella, but no less compelling for its brevity. It's light on the heroics, but near-perfect in execution.

Grade - A

Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask
by Jim Munroe

In a review of Shelf Monkey, one astute blogger labeled it as being written in "the Canadian Indie Style. Some of you may not be familiar with it (although if you've read Flyboy Action Figure Comes With Gasmask, or really anything else by Jim Munroe, you've definitely encountered it)...It's self-consciously casual to the point of seeming forced. The authors tend to have large vocabularies, but rarely use them effectively. Technique is virtually irrelevant, with plot and overt character development being nearly the only concerns. The narrators are self-deprecating, misunderstood, inwardly aggressive but outwardly meek. The women who serve as love interests for these characters are uniformly aggressive, beautiful, artistic, sporting an unusual name, and often (though not always) bisexual. Quirky isn't the word." I'd like to protest, as I believe Douglas Coupland began the Canadian quirk trend, but as I hadn't ever read Coupland until after I had finished my first draft, I suppose I'm guilty as charged. And I like aggressive women. But it doesn't change the fact that Flyboy Action Figure is a heck of a good time.

Flyboy takes the road between Dr. Brain and All My Friends, presenting the possibility of possessing true superpowers in a realistic setting, a precursor to more muted (but no less entertaining) examinations of superpowers such as M. Night Shyamalan's remarkable film Unbreakable and Jonathan Lethem's spectacular novel The Fortress of Solitude. In modern-day Toronto, Ryan (who can turn himself into a fly) and Cassandra (a waitress who can make things disappear - not reappear, mind you) take it upon themselves to challenge the tabloid newspapers (think a paper which rhymes with Bational Boast), as well as other bastions of conservative propaganda.

Flyboy is not exactly deep, nor subtle, but Munroe brings rich characterizations and skewed wit to what is admittedly a very strange genre. If Coupland is the godfather of Canadian quirk, then Munroe is that fun-loving uncle you wish would visit more often.

Grade - B+

Alright, I'm primed and ready. Bring on the genetically-superior beings!