Plural Stories

"If William is a character worthy of being written about, then he exists. He exists, inside my head to be sure, but in his own right, with his own vitality. All I have to do is look at him. I don't plan him, compose him of bits and pieces, inventory him. I find him."

Blurb: An essay by the late, great speculative fiction writer about her discovering of Earthsea over the course of a decade and its independent autonomy.

Why is it worth your time?: Le Guin has passed on, but her legacy is immortal. The essay is a beautiful explication of creative discovery and the realm of the imagination. Give it a shot!

Plural Tags: abuse not mentioned, creator speaks from experience, otherworld, fictioneers

Content Warnings: None.

Access Notes: This essay has been reprinted many times, including in ALGOL #21, Dreams Must Explain Themselves, The Language of the Night, Fantasists on Fantasy, and a similarly-titled by very different 2018 collection called Dreams Must Explain Themselves: The Selected Non-Fiction of Ursula K. Le Guin. Available in print and ebook forms.

"He... I don't know how to say this either. He wore his face differently. The MacDonald he loosened into was changed, somehow older."

Blurb: A crew of free-rolling barflies assist a young telepathic man in trying to contact his comatose brother in the mental ward.

Why is it worth your time?: Spider Robinson at his compassionate, bad-puns best; he has a thing about group telepathy that reads very powerfully even after fifty years. Plus it's short.

Plural Tags: abuse low focus, cofronting, family relationships (brothers), setting-specific

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: You can find this story in the omnibuses Callahan's Crosstime Saloon, Callahan and Company, and Callahan Chronicals [sic]. It was also in Analog magazine from May 1975. I know at least ONE of those has been digitized and been screenreadable, Callahan Chronicals I think, which is also available in audiobook. Available in the French collection Le bar du coin des temps, the German collection Die Zeitreisenden in "Callahan's Saloon" and the Italian collection I crocevia del tempo.

Misc Notes: Part of a series, but can be read stand-alone no problem; the early Callahan stories were episodic on purpose, since they were being serialized in magazines.

"There are people who can never go to Fantastica, and others who can, but who stay there forever. And there are just a few who go to Fantastica and come back. Like you. And they make both worlds well again."

Blurb: A strange book draws a lonely boy named Bastian into the beautiful but doomed world of Fantastica. Only a human can save this enchanted place--by giving its ruler, the Childlike Empress, a new name. But the journey to her tower leads through lands of dragons, giants, monsters, and magic--and once Bastian begins his quest, he may never return. As he is drawn deeper into Fantastica, he must find the courage to face unspeakable foes and the mysteries of his own heart.

Why is it worth your time?: This book was a hit for a long time, and it's not hard to see why. It's a love letter to the power of the imagination, wishes, and story, a mythical fable of exploring the self and desire. Fantastica follows its own rules of reality and does not try to be like the "real" world. It's good, and probably the most famous thing on this catalog.

Plural Tags: fictioneers, otherworld,

Content Warnings: contain spoilers; see comments

Access Notes: Available in ebook, audiobook, and dead tree forms, in many languages (including Japanese, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian, French, Dutch, and Swedish), and an easy library find. The book has also been adapted into movies, radio, and animation, none of which I have seen. Ah, the benefits of an extremely popular bestselling book! Personally, I think the editions with different colored text are best, as long as you aren't colorblind; the text color helps keep you oriented.

"Only two people knew that George was probably the funniest little man in the whole world and that he used foul language. Howard Carr knew, and so did Howard's older brother, Benjamin Dickinson Carr. Benjamin knew because the funniest little man in the whole world lived inside of him, and Howard knew because, except for Ben, he was the only other person that George had ever spoken out loud to."

Blurb: (from back cover) Only Howard Carr and his older brother, Ben, know about George. George is the funny little man who lives inside Ben, helping him (mostly) navigate life as a sixth grader who happens to be a scientific genius and who happens to be studying organic chemistry with students much older than he. One of those students is William Hazlitt, a senior who has been Ben's lab partner in previous years. William's interest in chemistry has taken a troubling trun, and Ben has a plan to come to his rescue. And that's when things get complicated--for Howard, for Ben, and for George.

Why is it worth your time? It's... okay? Don't care for the ending, but other people might, and I can safely say I've never seen anyone else use it. Konigsburg is good at gentle work, though I'd argue this isn't her best. And hey, Ben and George do indeed get to save the day!

Plural Tags: (mostly) nonswitching, not abuse-focused

Content Warnings: In comments below; contains spoilers.

Accessibility Notes: available on paper and ebook.

Miscellaneous Notes: This book is sometimes catalogued under the name (GEORGE), (George), or just plain George. It's had a few different editions over the years.