Post by hengest on Apr 27, 2016 9:41:00 GMT -5
There are no plot-spoilers ahead, but maybe some slight giveaways about the emotional conclusion of the series. I don't consider this post spoiling at all, but just so you know.
Thinking about the sense of wonder / exploration / discovery in fantasy and in our favorite RPGs, I return to the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron. There are several:
The first two were in print when I was a kid in the 80s, and seem still to be. The others are hard to find. Those first two are well-crafted mid-century space adventure for boys. Especially the first one, which at least for me is probably the single most 'wonder-filled' book of its type, or was when I read it. It was simple enough to be understood and engaging when I was pretty young, but tense enough that it had me turning pages and devouring the story. Nice work from Cameron, in my opinion.
Now, I won't get into spoilers, but I will say that the middle of the series sags a bit. It seems that Cameron keeps up her craft admirably, but inspiration waned a bit, maybe as space travel became less a thing of fantasy and more of headlines (the first two books came out before Sputnik was launched).
Time and Mr. Bass, however, really packs a punch at the end of the series. I'm not sure who the audience was at this point, 13 years after the first book, but if there's an ostensibly juvenile (not even sure about that) book about growth, adulthood, wonder, and the sadness of Tolkien's Numenoreans, this is it. This final novel ends with that last valley forever unexplored, and the pang of possible-but-impossible discovery is more powerful that I can do justice to.
When I put the last book down and was sharing the protagonist's fog of joy and loss, my wife saw that I looked ill, and asked what was wrong. I said that I had just finished the last Mushroom Planet book, and she asked "did the mushrooms survive?" This question (pretty much irrelevant to the later series) reminded me that I had just read a "boys' book" nearly half a century old that had an emotional power that I think could be real to anyone, regardless of age or interest in mycology.
I've read some of Cameron's essays, too, in The Green and Burning Tree (excellent stuff), and her beautiful realistic novel A Room Made of Windows. All recommended to those who like fine but not overwrought writing with a real sense of discovery. Cameron's essays also turned me on to some other very cool books, which I may mention elsewhere.
Anyone else remember the Mushroom Planet books?
Thinking about the sense of wonder / exploration / discovery in fantasy and in our favorite RPGs, I return to the Mushroom Planet books by Eleanor Cameron. There are several:
- The Wonderful Flight to the Mushroom Planet (1954)
- Stowaway to the Mushroom Planet (1956)
- Mr. Bass's Planetoid (1958)
- A Mystery for Mr. Bass (1960)
- Jewels from the Moon and The Meteor That Couldn't Stay (1964 - two stories for use in schools -- semi-canonical?)
- Time and Mr. Bass (1967)
The first two were in print when I was a kid in the 80s, and seem still to be. The others are hard to find. Those first two are well-crafted mid-century space adventure for boys. Especially the first one, which at least for me is probably the single most 'wonder-filled' book of its type, or was when I read it. It was simple enough to be understood and engaging when I was pretty young, but tense enough that it had me turning pages and devouring the story. Nice work from Cameron, in my opinion.
Now, I won't get into spoilers, but I will say that the middle of the series sags a bit. It seems that Cameron keeps up her craft admirably, but inspiration waned a bit, maybe as space travel became less a thing of fantasy and more of headlines (the first two books came out before Sputnik was launched).
Time and Mr. Bass, however, really packs a punch at the end of the series. I'm not sure who the audience was at this point, 13 years after the first book, but if there's an ostensibly juvenile (not even sure about that) book about growth, adulthood, wonder, and the sadness of Tolkien's Numenoreans, this is it. This final novel ends with that last valley forever unexplored, and the pang of possible-but-impossible discovery is more powerful that I can do justice to.
When I put the last book down and was sharing the protagonist's fog of joy and loss, my wife saw that I looked ill, and asked what was wrong. I said that I had just finished the last Mushroom Planet book, and she asked "did the mushrooms survive?" This question (pretty much irrelevant to the later series) reminded me that I had just read a "boys' book" nearly half a century old that had an emotional power that I think could be real to anyone, regardless of age or interest in mycology.
I've read some of Cameron's essays, too, in The Green and Burning Tree (excellent stuff), and her beautiful realistic novel A Room Made of Windows. All recommended to those who like fine but not overwrought writing with a real sense of discovery. Cameron's essays also turned me on to some other very cool books, which I may mention elsewhere.
Anyone else remember the Mushroom Planet books?
