New Leaf Nominations for February 2020 • It Takes Two to Tango: Collaborations

[Bookpossum]

Samarkand sounds fascinating. I second it.

[Bookpossum]

And I third Something Wonderful.

[gmw]

After much back and forth (I might post a list of some of my other thoughts later), I finally reverted to the book that was on my mind when I was first considering author collaborations for discussion here...

I nominate Wakulla Springs by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages.

Description from GoodReads:

Wakulla Springs, in the deep jungle of the Florida panhandle, is the deepest submerged freshwater cave system in the world. In its unfathomable depths, a variety of curious creatures have left a record of their coming, of their struggle to survive, and of their eventual end. And that's just the local human beings over the last seventy-five years. Then there are the prehistoric creatures...and, just maybe, something else.

Ranging from the late 1930s to the present day, "Wakulla Springs" is a tour de force of the human, the strange, and the miraculous.

Don't be fooled by the publisher (Tor.com), this is not SciFi and it contains only vague hints of Fantasy, it is ... different. Maybe literary? (Not that that tells you much.) It's only short, a novella of 139 pages.

And don't be fooled by the blurb, which I think is quite misleading. This is a story of people, 3 generations of a family. The setting is both a character and part of the puzzle, a bit like the inclusion of Johnny Weissmuller in the story.

These are both authors whose short stories and novellas I have enjoyed, it was interesting to see how they came together in collaboration.

It never made it to a favourite status for me, I had a lot of trouble working out what I thought of it, but I did find it rather fascinating and think it would make an interesting book for discussion.

Example prices from Kobo: USD $2.99, CAD $2.99, GBP £2.35, AUD $4.05

It can also be read online, for free, on the Tor website, here.

[fantasyfan]

I’ll third Anne of Green Gables.

[fantasyfan]

I nominate Through the Gates of the Silver Key: the Best Collaborations and Ghost Writings of H. P. Lovecraft By H.P. Lovecraft (author) and Cameron Walker (Introduction and editor).
Amazon UK £2.31
Amazon US $3.O0

A considerable number of complete ebook editions of Lovecraft fiction are available at very low prices and some claim to have the collaborative fiction as well. But one should check the content table to see if these are put into a single section. The Great Old Ones: The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft (£0.99) does have collaborative works so organised.

J.D. Finn has an excellent volume of the complete collaborative works but it is rather pricey. The Cameron Walker edition seems a good buy if one wishes to explore this odd genre.

[gmw]

I third Local Custom by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller. I've been planning on giving the Liaden stuff a second chance and this sounds like a good one to try.

I am still hanging onto another vote as I was thinking there should be another nomination or two. If not ...

[Victoria]

I’ve been holding off as well, in case there’s a post holiday late entry. I third Wakulla Springs - it sounds like an interesting book to discuss.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I will third Samarkand.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I really struggled with this category. I nominate The Difference Engine, a collaboration of William Gibson and Bruce Sterling, which came to define steampunk genre.

From Goodreads:

1855: The Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven cybernetic Engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time. And three extraordinary characters race toward a rendezvous with history - and the future: Sybil Gerard - dishonored woman and daughter of a Luddite agitator; Edward "Leviathan" Mallory - explorer and paleontologist; Laurence Oliphant - diplomat and spy. Their adventure begins with the discovery of a box of punched Engine cards of unknown origin and purpose. Cards someone wants badly enough to kill for...

Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine is the first collaborative novel by two of the most brilliant and controversial science fiction authors of our time. Provocative, compelling, intensely imagined, it is a startling extension of Gibson's and Sterling's unique visions - in a new and totally unexpected direction!

[fantasyfan]

I’ll second The Difference Engine.

[Catlady]

I nominate The Girls by Lori Lansens (2006, 352 pp.)

In Lori Lansens' astonishing second novel, listeners come to know and love two of the most remarkable characters in Canadian fiction. Rose and Ruby are 29-year-old conjoined twins. Born during a tornado to a shocked teenage mother in the hospital at Leaford, Ontario, they are raised by the nurse who helped usher them into the world. Aunt Lovey and her husband, Uncle Stash, are middle-aged and with no children of their own. They relocate from the town to the drafty old farmhouse in the country that has been in Lovey's family for generations.

Joined to Ruby at the head, Rose's face is pulled to one side, but she has full use of her limbs. Ruby has a beautiful face, but her body is tiny and she is unable to walk. She rests her legs on her sister's hip, rather like a small child or a doll.

In spite of their situation, the girls lead surprisingly separate lives. Rose is bookish and a baseball fan. Ruby is fond of trash TV and has a passion for local history.

Rose has always wanted to be a writer, and as the novel opens, she begins to pen her autobiography. Here is how she begins:

I have never looked into my sister's eyes. I have never bathed alone. I have never stood in the grass at night and raised my arms to a beguiling moon. I've never used an airplane bathroom. Or worn a hat. Or been kissed like that. I've never driven a car. Or slept through the night. Never a private talk. Or solo walk. I've never climbed a tree. Or faded into a crowd. So many things I've never done, but oh, how I've been loved. And, if such things were to be, I'd live a thousand lives as me, to be loved so exponentially.

Ruby, with her marvellous characteristic logic, points out that Rose's autobiography will have to be Ruby's as well - and how can she trust Rose to represent her story accurately? Soon, Ruby decides to chime in with chapters of her own.

The novel begins with Rose, but eventually moves to Ruby's point of view and then switches back and forth. Because the girls face in slightly different directions, neither can see what the other is writing, and they don't tell each other either. The listener is treated to sometimes overlapping stories told in two wonderfully distinct styles. Rose is given to introspection and secrecy. Ruby's style is "tell-all" - frank and decidedly sweet.

We learn of their early years as the town "freaks" and of Lovey's and Stash's determination to give them as normal an upbringing as possible. But when we meet them, both Lovey and Stash are dead, the girls have moved back into town, and they've received some ominous news. They are on the verge of becoming the oldest surviving craniopagus (joined at the head) twins in history, but the question of whether they'll live to celebrate their 30th birthday is suddenly impossible to answer.

The Girls is nothing short of a tour de force.

Available in all relevant countries and through Overdrive (e-book and audiobook).

Amazon U.S., $9.99

[gmw]

With my last vote I will third The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling.

[CRussel]

I'll give Wakulla Springs it's third. It's not available at either of my libraries, but it's at least cheap.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I have one ticket left. I will second The Girls.

[crich70]

I nominate Jane Eyre. Romance always takes two to tango and it fits with Febuary's holiday as well. It's both here and at amazon as well so it's easily accessible.
Mobileread
Amazon U.S.