by Emily C. Hughes, curator of HOWLS Book Club nominees for February 2024’s “Many Words, Many Worlds” category
One of my favorite narrative magic tricks is when an author tantalizes me with glimpses of worlds beyond the one where the main narrative takes place, or suggests a much larger cosmology beyond what we see on the page–think of the storage building at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or any book/movie/show with an enchanted marketplace. The five books I’ve selected all accomplish this beautifully, whether they’re classic “many worlds” stories or not. Most of these lean toward fantasy (and one toward sci-fi), but they’re all tons of fun.
Edenville by Sam Rebelein
After publishing his debut novel, The Shattered Man, to disappointing sales and reviews, Campbell P. Marion is struggling to find inspiration for a follow-up. When Edenville College invites him to join as a writer-in-residence, he’s convinced that his bad luck has finally taken a turn. His girlfriend Quinn isn’t so sure–she grew up near Edenville and has good reasons for not wanting to move back. Cam disregards her skepticism and accepts the job, with Quinn reluctantly following along.
But there’s something wrong in Edenville. Despite the charming old ladies milling about Main Street and picturesque sunflowers dotting the sidewalks, poison lurks beneath the surface. As a series of strange and ominous events escalate among Edenville and its residents, Cam and Quinn find themselves entangled in a dark and disturbing history. (StoryGraph)
~
One of my favorite reads of 2023, and one of my favorite debuts in recent memory. Sam comes out of the gate strong with a fictional upstate New York county where nothing is as it seems and everyone has a story or a secret. It’s rural weird meets many-worlds by way of the true horror of a small liberal arts college’s writing department. It’s like if Stephen King and Terry Pratchett co-wrote The Library at Mount Char (not a comparison I make lightly – see below). It’s funny, creepy, gross, and swings for the fences. You’ll never look at a sunflower the same way again.
Bookshop* | StoryGraph | Goodreads | Amazon
The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins
Carloyn knows she’s a little bit…odd. But she figures that’s only natural when she’s spent her life locked away in an infinite Library, forced to study at the feet of the man who might be God. She’s seen her share of terrible things in those years, even died a few times herself.
Steve tried hard to be an ordinary guy, and he’s been doing a pretty good job at it–until Carolyn shows up in his life with a tempting offer, a pair of red rubber galoshes, and exactly $327,000. Soon, he finds himself swept up in a war waged on a scale he can barely comprehend, as powerful forces battle for control of the Library and the future of the universe itself. (StoryGraph)
~
Speaking of! I’ve handsold this book to more people than I can count, both as a bookseller and as a rabid fan. Hawkins arrived out of nowhere, dropped one perfect book, and hasn’t done anything since (much to my dismay), but at least we have The Library at Mount Char. It’s about a mysterious figure who may or may not be god, his power-hungry students, and one regular Joe who gets mixed up in things well above his pay-grade. There’s a character who can travel into the land of the dead, a character who can speak every language known (and unknown) to man, a brass bull, and two wonderful lions. Like Edenville, this leans more heavily on the fantasy than a lot of horror books, but don’t get it twisted – there’s some stuff in this book so disturbing I still remember it vividly years later.
Bookshop* | StoryGraph | Goodreads | Amazon
The Border Keeper by Kerstin Hall
She lived where the railway tracks met the saltpan, on the Ahri side of the shadowline. In the old days, when people still talked about her, she was known as the end-of-the-line woman.
Vasethe, a man with a troubled past, comes to seek a favor from a woman who is not what she seems, and must enter the nine hundred and ninety-nine realms of Mkalis, the world of spirits, where gods and demons wage endless war.
The Border Keeper spins wonders both epic—the Byzantine bureaucracy of hundreds of demon realms, impossible oceans, hidden fortresses—and devastatingly personal—a spear flung straight, the profound terror and power of motherhood. What Vasethe discovers in Mkalis threatens to bring his own secrets into light and throw both worlds into chaos. (StoryGraph)
~
This is a novella, so it’s a quicker read than the other books on this list, but it’s no less vividly imagined or fleshed out. Every element here is wonderfully alien, with strange skeletal creatures hovering just beyond the boundary fence, a grand demonic fête, and even a crab baby. Hall is a wonderfully visceral writer, and if you like a book that sets your imagination alight, this is the one.
StoryGraph | Goodreads | Amazon
The Fold by Peter Clines
The folks in Mike Erikson’s small New England town would say he’s just your average, everyday guy. And that’s exactly how Mike likes it. Sure, the life he’s chosen isn’t much of a challenge to someone with his unique gifts, but he’s content with his quiet and peaceful existence.
That is, until an old friend presents him with an irresistible mystery, one that Mike is uniquely qualified to solve: far out in the California desert, a team of DARPA scientists has invented a device they affectionately call the Albuquerque Door. Using a cryptic computer equation and magnetic fields to “fold” dimensions, it shrinks distances so that a traveler can travel hundreds of feet with a single step.
The invention promises to make mankind’s dreams of teleportation a reality. And, the scientists insist, traveling through the Door is completely safe.
Yet evidence is mounting that this miraculous machine isn’t quite what it seems—and that its creators are harboring a dangerous secret.
As his investigations draw him deeper into the puzzle, Mike begins to fear there’s only one answer that makes sense. And if he’s right, it may only be a matter of time before the project destroys…everything. (StoryGraph)
~
When I first picked this book up, I thought it was going to be a pretty standard sci-fi thriller, along the lines of Blake Crouch’s Dark Matter. But Clines is such a fine craftsman that once I started it, I didn’t put it down until I’d finished it: the pacing and the tension build off of each other so well, ratcheting the discomfort and suspicion up notch by notch, until the dam breaks in the third act and the whole thing takes a hard left turn into the utterly terrifying. So much fun, so underrated.
StoryGraph | Goodreads | Amazon
Imajica by Clive Barker
Imajica is an epic beyond compare: vast in conception, obsessively detailed in execution, and apocalyptic in its resolution. At its heart lies the sensualist and master art forger, Gentle, whose life unravels when he encounters Judith Odell, whose power to influence the destinies of men is vaster than she knows, and Pie ‘oh’ pah, an alien assassin who comes from a hidden dimension.
That dimension is one of five in the great system called Imajica. They are worlds that are utterly unlike our own, but are ruled, peopled, and haunted by species whose lives are intricately connected with ours. As Gentle, Judith, and Pie ‘oh’ pah travel the Imajica, they uncover a trail of crimes and intimate betrayals, leading them to a revelation so startling that it changes reality forever. (StoryGraph)
~
Because I’ve never read it! And because, frankly, I trust Barker’s imagination above most others, especially when it comes to envisioning other realms and worlds. We have such sights to show you, indeed.
Bookshop* | StoryGraph | Goodreads | Amazon
And The Winner Is…
Out of these five books, HOWLers voted to read Edenville by Sam Rebelein. Discussion starts on February 5, and you can join in by joining the Discord!
*The HOWLS Bookshop.org affiliate storefront pays a 10% commission to HOWL Society and gives a matching 10% to independent bookstores