A Hundred Thousand Worlds

by Bob Proehl

[ibeforem]

I wasn't really sure how to categorize this book. On its face it looks like it's going to be science fiction, but other than the settings primarily being science fiction conventions, it's really not science fiction at all.

What this is is the story of Val Torrey and her son Alex. Val used to be one of the leads on a very popular science fiction show (think Gillian Anderson on X-files), but has spent the last few years on the down-low, acting in plays in New York and raising her 9 year old son, Alex. Alex's father, the other lead on that show, has been out of the picture, but now he is jumping back in and this means that Val needs to deliver her son to the other side of the country. She stretches out this journey that she doesn't want to make by agreeing to appear at a number of science fiction conventions along the way.

As the two of them travel from place to place, they befriend others on the convention circuit, mostly various comic artists. These artists lend some other perspectives to the story and to the comics industry as a whole, but they really aren't important in the long run. Except maybe Brett, an independent artist who ends up drawing a comic for a story Alex is creating. He serves as support for Alex as his mother falls further into despair the closer they get to California.

The actual plot of the book is interspersed with episodes of Val's TV show, told to Alex by Val as his favorite bedtime stories as they reveal pieces of her/their past to the reader. Those were okay, but there are some other fantastical interludes that I could have done without. I also didn't really find her custody situation believable, but am allowing for some creative license there.

Overall I enjoyed this book. Don't let the science fiction feel of it scare you off.