My mother's always been a reader, but she prefers romance and mystery to the fantasy and science fiction both my brother and I prefer. Throughout the years, we've read some of the same stuff at times. I like Regency romances and mysteries along the lines of John Sandford, who she introduced me to last Christmas. And she loved Suzette Haden Elgin's Native Tongue as much as I did. Last Wiscon, I brought her books signed by Elgin, knowing it was the best possible thing I could give her as souvenir of the occasion. Since we're both feminist and politically left, we tend to like the same mainstream fiction and nonfiction as well.
She reads prolifically, and last time she was here, dripping novels across the sofa cushion and creating a little stack to be traded to the book exchange near the front door, she asked me to start introducing her to the world I'm writing in. Accordingly I've been putting aside some books, either ones from my own library that I can bear to lend out or works gleaned from the shelves of the local Half-Price books. So it's an eccentric mixture, and not at all intended to provide an exhaustive overview of the field.
Ammonite by Nicola Griffith
Finding a used copy of Ammonite was a very way to start. My copy's signed, and thus not a lending copy. But it's such a great, solidly enjoyable novel that I look specifically for it to start the collection. It's the story of an anthropologist, Marghe Taishan, who arrives on a planet where a virus has shaped society and changed the meaning of gender: an all-female world. Testing a new vaccine, she realizes that she has found a home on the world that she intends to irrevocably change. The characters in this novel are real and compelling, and the style reminds me of a less flinty Ursula LeGuin. It's also a prize winner, having garnered both Lambda and Tiptree awards.
Ghosts in the Snow by Tamara Siler Jones
I think my mother will like this recent book, which is Jones's debut novel and which combines fantasy and forensics in a way she'll appreciate. I worry a little that she'll have the same initial feeling that I did, that I was reading the second book in a series, but after the first quarter, if she sticks with it, the story settles down a little after its set-up and backstory convulsions and is highly readable. The head of security, Dubree Bryerly, at a castle must catch the serial killer who has been murdering servant girls, leaving behind ghosts that only Bryerly can see. It's a solid and interesting world, and I'm looking forward to the follow-up.
Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris
This urban fantasy also draws heavily on the mystery tradition, but has other things that I think will interest my mother, including a truly engaging main character in the form of telepathic waittress Sookie Stackhouse. This fantasy falls solidly within a recent trend towards contemporary paranormal books, and includes vampires and werewolves, all with a sense of humor and incisive social commentary. If she likes this one, she can also look for more, since Harris has written at least three or four, of which this is the first.
A Song for Arbonne by Guy Gabriel Kay.
Kay's work is, for me at least, quintesssential fantasy, and always features an intriguing and beautifully realized, fantastic world. While the Fionavar Tapestry series is a series, I end up going with this one because it's a single volume. It has a lot of interesting things to say about the implications of the chivalric tradition for a fantasy world, and characters that are hard to forget.
The Heritage of Hastur by Marion Zimmer Bradley
This is the book that first brought me into the world of Darkover, and so I hope that my mother will like. It might be better to try to introduce her to the world of Darkover with something that explains the noble and telepathic concepts in greater detail, but to my mind the story of Regis Hastur struggling to discover his mental abilities is an intrinsic part of the Darkover experience. The copy I've picked up at Halfprice has a cheesy cover that I hope won't put her off, and the cover price is a startling 1.50, the sort of price that had started to seem cheap right around my high school years.
Dreamsnake by Vonda N. McIntyre
Another both I first read in high school, and one of the ones that showed me how fascinating walking in the pages of another world could be. I love the compelling nature of this story and the intensity of its main character's quest to replace the source of her healing powers. McIntyre's prose is always lucid and the world is one that intrigues and entertains.
That's half a dozen books, which will get her started. I'm amused to note that of the six, five are by women, although I didn't intentionally try for that. Luck of the draw or does it say something about the kind of prose I think will really engage her? I'll be interested in hearing what she says, either way, as well as what other books have presented themselves next time I'm gathering some to send her way.
