Jane Eyre in Space

I've just finished reading the most interesting novel. It's by Sharon Shinn and basically she has taken the story of Jane Eyre and set it in space. In case you aren't familiar with the story of Jane Eyre - set in basically an orphan girl is placed with her aunt who doesn't really like her, she ends up going to a boarding school, and from there goes to Thornfield Hall. And, that's all I'm going to tell you...so there!

Jane Eyre was set in the early 19th century, but Jenna Starborn (the alternate Jane) is set in an unidentified time in space.

I was initially sceptical about the book - but was pleasantly surprised. It was somewhat predicatable of course, given I know the story of Jane Eyre, but I did find myself intrigued as to how Sharon Shinn would incorporate aspects of the orginal story into her novel. It was an easy read and I enjoyed it. For a nice interlude between heavy sci-fi, Jenna Starborn is like a holiday on the coast doing nothing.

The one thing that has really been interesting is - my Mum! She's not really been into science fiction, but I convinced her to give Jenna Starborn a go. She read it in a couple of days and followed up with asking me 'is this science fiction? Is there any more like this?'. So, hey, if her books can get my Mum reading science fiction - I am all for Sharon Shinn's work!

Understanding Ursula

One of my favourite science fiction writers is Ursula Le Guin. Her first book 'The Left Hand of Darkness' was my introduction to the amazing worlds she creates - she goes so far as to map them out. But, I have to admit, I struggled at first to comprehend her stories - well, no, not her stories, but HOW she tells them.

On her website (well worth a visit http://www.ursulakleguin.com/) Le Guin describes three types of stories - those that walk and let us see every detail (what a nice field of blue flowers!), those that run and get us caught up in the action (what flowers? I'm running for my life here!), and those that dance and move us through detail and action and from that event to this event and into the past and into the future (I saw those flowers next year, but now I'm running past them...there's an alien on my tail!). Le Guin's stories dance - they spin the reader around the floor rather than taking them from the front door to the back door in a straight line.

This challenges the notion that all stories must be told starting at the beginning, moving through the middle, and finishing at the end. I like it!

'The Dispossessed' by Le Guin was very, very challenging and really showed me that stories do not have to be linear. I felt like a bit of an ignoramous (I love that word!) when I had 'huh?' moment after 'huh?' moment. Okay, this was mostly because I read this novel sporadically over a few months - don't do that if you are going to read it...you'll lose the plot (so to speak).

Now that I understand how stories can dance, I'm looking forward to getting down and boogying with 'The Dispossessed' again in a few months time. I'll let you know how it goes.