Synopses & Reviews
"A Kavalier & Clay for the Comic-Con Age, this is a bighearted, inventive, exuberant debut." Eleanor Henderson, author of Ten Thousand Saints
Valerie Torrey took her son, Alex, and fled Los Angeles six years ago—leaving both her role on a cult sci-fi TV show and her costar husband after a tragedy blew their small family apart. Now Val must reunite nine-year-old Alex with his estranged father, so they set out on a road trip from New York, Val making appearances at comic book conventions along the way.
As they travel west, encountering superheroes, monsters, time travelers, and robots, Val and Alex are drawn into the orbit of the comic-con regulars, from a hapless twentysomething illustrator to a brilliant corporate comics writer stuggling with her industry’s old-school ways to a group of cosplay women who provide a chorus of knowing commentary. For Alex, this world is a magical place where fiction becomes reality, but as they get closer to their destination, he begins to realize that the story his mother is telling him about their journey might have a very different ending than he imagined.
A knowing and affectionate portrait of the geeky pleasures of fandom, A Hundred Thousand Worlds is also a tribute to the fierce and complicated love between a mother and son—and to the way the stories we create come to shape us.
Review
"Proehl has done an excellent job of integrating all of the story lines and creating memorable characters to populate them…The story is deeply satisfying and will delight both comics fans and general readers." Booklist (Starred Review)
Review
"A tribute to the pleasures of fandom — as well as to the special connection between a mother and her only child…Equal parts great American road-trip narrative and coming-of-age novel, this brilliant story from a debut novelist is a treat for the diehard nerds and fans among us." Refinery29
Review
"Who doesn’t like a good origin story? This delightful novel has a dozen of them, each sparking deftly off the next. A work of wit and heart, A Hundred Thousand Worlds is for anyone who craves a smart family saga. Especially one with superheroes. I loved it completely." Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves
Review
"Proehl creates worlds within worlds within worlds, all of them full of surprise and wonder. One of the best novels I have read in a while." Charles Yu, author of How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
About the Author
Bob Proehl grew up in Buffalo, New York, where his local comics shop was Queen City Bookstore. He has worked as a bookseller and programming director for Buffalo Street Books, a DJ, a record store owner, and a bartender. He has written for the 33⅓ book series and worked as a columnist and reviewer for the arts and culture site PopMatters.com. Proehl currently lives in Ithaca, New York, with his wife, stepson, and daughter.
Bob Proehl on PowellsBooks.Blog
Plenty of genre fiction employs hand-waving pseudo-science to move the plot along. The Doctor’s sonic screwdriver. Radiation in Marvel Comics. The Force. They’re dodges of Clarke’s Third Law, that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. They’re fantasy masquerading as science fiction. But they all work...
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