by Rajan Khanna

Hello and welcome to the first of what I hope will be many columns here at Your Mom's Basement looking at the world of genre fiction and related media. The motivation for this column is to expose people to offerings from the fantasy, science fiction and horror worlds, to shine a spotlight on works that might not have the reach of Tolkien, King, or Rowling.

One of my recent frustrations as a reader and writer of fantasy novels is the dismissal that many people invoke when the subject of fantasy comes up. I've heard many people say, "that's just not my thing" or "I've never read a fantasy novel that I like". However, many of these people are referencing traditional, epic or escapist fantasy when they say these things. Most people think "Lord of the Rings" or Robert Jordan rather than Phillip Pullman or Jeffrey Ford.

Many of these people are also self-proclaimed fans of books like Harry Potter, readers of comics, lovers of science fiction in television and movies. Clearly setting is an issue to some. They aren't interested in reading books about medieval situations, knights on horseback, bows and arrows. They are unaware that there is a wealth of books out there that deal with far different time frames and locales, from fantasies set in the modern day to inventive, evocative worlds such as Jeff VanderMeer's Ambergris and China Mieville's Bas-Lag.

Now I'm not going to pretend that my tastes are everybody's. You might like the things that I'll recommend, you might not. But hopefully something in here will appeal to you, or at least show you the variety the field has to offer.

The reason I've entitled this column Strange Reflections is because that's what these stories are - reflections of our world, skewed perhaps, but reflections nonetheless. A piece of fiction is not going to be successful unless it has something in it that we can relate to, an aspect of humanity that resonates with our own experience. Even if it's set in a distant galaxy with reptilian aliens or in a world where magic works and dragons are real. It's the humanity that makes it work.

Harry Potter

Last weekend saw the release of the last chapter in J. K. Rowling's hugely successful Harry Potter series, a series that has masterfully shattered boundaries of age and genre with its readers.

Still, at their heart, the Potter books draw heavily on the genre world. They are fantasy in the strictest sense, detailing a world of magic and a whole separate secret society that lives alongside our own. However, Rowling also draws on other genres, mystery in the earlier works, suspense and perhaps even horror in the latest.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows ramps up the intensity for the final installment. As perhaps invoked by the title, the story is deadly, and the consequences of the return of Lord Voldemort, alluded to in previous volumes, are shown to be all too true and violent.

I won't be as unkind as some in revealing spoilers here for those of you who haven't read it (and still care), but there are deaths. And it is quite horrific in places. Gone are the touchstones that anchored previous novels. Here we are set adrift from the usual beats of a Potter book and it does help punctuate her vision of the world at that point in time. We feel a bit of what Harry is feeling, unsure of what will happen next, which of our friends will be next to fall, what the next step will be.

Rowling has taken a lot of criticism for her books, but they have to be praised for their reach. Rowling wrote enjoyable books that people like reading, regardless of whether they're about wizards or goblins or whatever. Part of that comes from the straightforward nature of the text - these are books that children can enjoy, and they're easy for adults to read on the subway or train to work. But she is also dealing with fairly universal themes and indeed drawing on the successful authors who went before her. Her latest draws quite heavily on the legacy of both Tolkien and Lewis, two authors with similar crossover potential between genre and mainstream audiences.

It's not easy to pinpoint the cause of Rowling's success (if it was, more people would replicate it), but I'd be interested in hearing what people do like (or don't like even) about the series and whether or not they think it's genre.

The Devil You Know

Many readers of the site will recognize Mike Carey's name from the comics that he's written. Lucifer and Hellblazer for Vertigo, Ultimate Fantastic Four and X-Men for Marvel.

What some readers might not know is that Carey's first novel, The Devil You Know was just released in the US. Like Harry Potter, the Devil You Know takes place in a supernatural version of our world. However, that's where the comparison ends. Carey's book is a very adult, very brutal at times novel that reads more like a thriller than it does a fantasy.

Carey's protagonist is one Felix Castor, an exorcist who, like many noir heroes, has seen better days. He starts the novel out doing work as a clown/magician at a children's party. Of course this doesn't last and he is soon embroiled in a mystery involving a female ghost.

Ghosts are what distinguishes Castor's world from our own. Like Ghostbusters, ghosts have begun appearing, though no one seems to know why. They are common enough occurrences that an exorcist is necessary.

What professes to be a simple exorcism becomes something much more complex and sinister.

What I found most interesting about Castor are the little details that Carey uses to make him unique. His 'weapon' of choice, for example, is a tin whistle. His method of exorcism is music - he 'plays' ghosts away. His nickname is Fix. He's a bit of a bastard. And he makes mistakes. Plenty of them.

The Devil You Know is a book that you can easily get immersed in, and it reads very easily, which is not to say that it's written simply, just that it is one of those books that grabs you and makes you want to barrel on through to the finish.

There are two Felix Castor books available in the UK right now with a third on the way and a fourth, I believe, behind that. That's because the concept has legs and there is plenty to explore in Castor's world.

And the novel has crossover potential all over it. It would appeal to those who like suspense books and thrillers - the supernatural aspect is fairly transparent. But it would also appeal to those who like horror and fantasy. I wouldn't be surprised if the books get optioned fairly quickly. They have cinematic potential.

I started off light with this one - neither of these books are standard genre picks. However, please check back next time when I take a look at Liz William's Snake Agent and take a quick look at the more literary side of genre fiction.

Until next time...