There was a time when I read all the King Arthur retellings I could find, though this list shows me that I missed a great many. Reimagining a classic story is, of course, an age-old tradition. Today I want to talk about the craft of using existing, well-known stories to fortify your own story - thus building ready-made narrative magic into your story’s foundations. It’s a weird book and I’m very, very proud of it! If you’re curious, I’ll point you to the NYTBR review, which is concise and generous and does a good job expressing its flavor. They’re all connected and interwoven and yes, the multiverse exists :).

There’s a mystery story, a spy story, a horror story, a sci-fi story, and a fantasy. At a certain point, when Jane needs to make a decision, the book breaks off into five different decisions she could make - and each decision takes her into an adventure in a different genre. If you don’t know about Jane, Unlimited, here’s a quick intro: An orphan named Jane arrives at an island mansion owned by a friend, then quickly starts to get the sense that strange things are afoot there. I want to thank everyone who got that book and took it into your hearts and brains. Jane is a book that divides readers for sure.

The nice thing about it is that I get to revisit a book that’s dear to me, years after I’ve stopped thinking about it. I have a bad habit of never getting around to this task until it’s time to start clearing things out for the new book. Before I start talking about Victor LaValle’s beautiful book, a point of housekeeping: Now that an eon has passed, I’ve finally updated my praise and awards page for Jane, Unlimited.

The changeling book victor lavalle