Daryl Gregory ’s novels inspire reflexion and conversation , but above all else they are just different and so much fun . His new rule book , Harrison Squared is fresh and enjoyable , and proves that he ’s a writer to be reckoned with .
You may have heard the condition “ writer ’ writer ” before . This bear on to the sort of generator who , while not of necessity obscure , is far from a house name , yet each of their newfangled book is thirstily anticipate by the literary community . Outside the 2014 Nebula Awards banquet room were several mesa crowded with the year ’s best offering as well as pick from decades retiring . behemoth of the science fable battleground , legendary editor program and writer browsed , make professional observations or asking the bookseller about late sales trend . Then they would block at one particular stack and their gaze softened on the cheerful red and chickenhearted cover .
“ Oh ! I loved this one ! ” the éminence gris would spurt , “ I wish I could write like that . ”
The book wasAfterparty(now out in business deal paperback book ) and the writers ’ writer that can make Grandmasters squee likes fangirls is Daryl Gregory .
His prose is just so damn clear . We are prompt along effortlessly through the plot . The genial characters are welcome traveling fellow traveller and the landscape is perfectly acceptable even as it becomes stranger with each Sir Frederick Handley Page . The Earth’s surface of realism peels back and we coo like infant when the seepage clockwork within is jangle like a shiny keychain . Our attention held softly in an adamantine bench vise , we gulp down the tasty , tasty hook that pull us deeply in and further along . We bob , twist , and absorb through tempestuous seas ; then float clear and calm , it ’s all over and we wonder where the prison term travel . gravely , you may lose a full day or two in record exaltation . A wise and philanthropic author , Gregory ’s novels are not too thick , otherwise his fans would miss too many meals and waste away .
Mr. Gregory is an obvious fan of Philip K. Dick , even write a variation of that troubled genius into his first novel , Pandemonium . He has research themes of altered realities and cognizance ; philosophical system and faith with a similar corruption but far more coherence then PKD . He is also quite at home with horror , and has bring some impertinent takes on the same old shuffling convening . These disturb root go hand in hand with affection for loving families and spiritual religion presented without sarcasm . All of this is wonderfully balanced to provoke , but never alienate .
Harrison Squared proves Mr. Gregory is a writer worth paying to tending — it ’s marvelously funny , and care to be accessible to multitude who only make out Cthulhu from the periodic bumper paster and still satisfying to scholars who have read the Necronomicon in the original Arabic .
spoiler ahoy …
The titular submarine Harrison Harrison is the fifth of that name , his family caught in the hold of a way-out tradition rather than lack of imagination . At only three age of age , he and his nautical biologist parents hold up on a three - minute tour , turned calamity at ocean . The elder Harrison disappeared incessantly to the briny profoundness , and the little boy fall behind a ramification . Harrison knows it was just a boat accident … despite nightmare of tentacles and teeth . His childhood in gay San Diego was happy and well - adjusted , but he has some understandable maritime issues . Okay , he really , really hates the ocean . Now years later , his ma moves them by from his Friend to a diminutive New England backwater to pursue her hypothesis about the Colossal Squid .
Dunnsmouth , MA : without cable TV or reliable cell headphone reporting is torturing enough for a adolescent , but everyone in this town is just so snobbish , insular , and rank freaky . It does n’t facilitate that Mrs. Harrison is of indigenous Brazilian descent . The local aristocracy , all a weirder shade of pale , are openly hostile to outsider and masses of color . unusual , you ’d believe that with a long marine custom , some of the townsfolk must have encountered other culture ; mayhap even intermarry ( heh ) . None of the kids at Dunnsmouth Secondary School ( Go thresher ! ) will utter to him . They seem to actually enjoy the course on knot - tying , or ancient civilizations Harrison has never get wind of . Even worse , the PE teacher insists Harrison should enjoy swimming as much as the other kids . And what ’s with those hymn they blab in the forum manor hall ? Does n’t sound like Latin . The cafeteria is also really unpleasant .
Harrison is even denied perfectly normal stripling incubation by the cruel sea . Within a week of their arrival his female parent goes lacking during a routine expedition . His super C - setting Aunt Selena arrives to move as Harrison ’s guardian . Too bad , as she seems to have cause all her parenting tips from Edina and Patsy of perfectly Fabulous . Bright , resourceful Harrison feel trapped in a nightmare , alone and helpless . The only thing he wants more than to leave Dunnsmouth is to find his mother and the townsfolk seem eager only to help with the former .
Harrison Squared is such a curious novel , one wonders if it was named in honor of the creator of the Stainless Steel Rat . Please do n’t displace these wildly colorful characters as “ quirky ” . With his characteristic economy , a casually dropped phrase or glimpse of backstory , Mr. Gregory imbues them all with depth and humanity . Even if they do have gills .
Harrison is a very appealing bozo , and he will eventually win allies . Just when he finger like a fish out of water system , someone extra come along who record him that may not be such a bad thing . There is also one of those suspiciously commodious cabdrivers that cruise through some story , but Saleem is a decent guy . You will adore the cranky , distracted librarian .
The content is perfectly suitable and appropriate for teenage reader , but they will not happen any of the forced , flavourless romance that seems expect for YA novel . gratefully , the withdrawn and celestial Lydia never gazes longingly with her big eyes at Harrison even though he is the new boy at school , brooding and with a dark past . There is love in these pages , but it is more about family or those people screwy enough to call family unit . These are the bonds that make confront affright possible and when lost can be the ending of the world . Wholesome Horror — yes , it can be done .
As some of the weird character become more sympathetic , others become ever more menacing . Readers conversant with the Cthulhu Mythos are correct to suppose what is going on in the portmanteauwnship of Dunnsmouth . Certainly light-headed in smell , Harrison Squared never becomes mere parody . This is an splendid Lovecraftian pastiche with enough original turn of events to be on par with Laird Barron ’s Mythos ( but considerably less roughshod ) . And there ’s an interesting revelation in the orgasm , combine natural skill with eldritch horror , that Lovecraft would okay of . The Bard of Providence would not , however , dig Gregory ’s modern posture toward woman and people of colour , but he ’s dead .
An obviously tacked - on epilogue sets up an inevitable yet welcome sequel . There is a delicious novella , We Are All altogether Fine already on bookshop shelves , where an sure-enough Harrison play a major part ( so yeah , mollycoddler , he does n’t die ) . If you have been hankering for a new Scooby Gang of witty young masses bonding together and fighting horrors from beyond space and time , this is for you . For any marginally sane soulfulness who enjoys being take over by Daryl Gregory ’s brilliant storytelling , the stars are right and we have much to await forrard to .
you may order Harrison Squared fromAmazon , Powell ’s , orBooks Inc.
Chris Hsiang is a bookseller for Books Inc. in San Francisco .
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