Travel Documents 121: The Librarian

by Azlïn Auckburally Et Al

Genre:  sci-fi, near-future, social change, cultural change, anthology

The Dust Cover Copy

A collection of speculative fiction stories about the Librarian's adventures roving through the multiverse getting in and out of trouble and paying people's library fines.

The Scene

Worldbuilding

Such a short dust cover description for such a treasure.

The love of knowledge. The smell of books. Delight in learning. The right the story, for the right person, at the right time, changing lives and futures. These things are universal, in every sense of the word.
And so the Librarian comes into being. Their duty is to help people find knowledge and the right story. Any kind of anyone. Anywhere. The Librarian bears a sentient satchels, the ability to appear in the form of those who view them, and a form of travel that spans time and space.
These are their stories. And they are wonderful.

The Crowd

Characterization

As I do with collections, I’ll touch lightly here, mainly saying: every story has a character you’ll be glad to meet. Whether it’s a young Marie Curie being helped to sneak her first chemistry book, a Queen of a hive species learning the history of her species, or a librarian of a small fishing village deciding how to continue on through grief, every individual helped by the Librarian has a story to tell. Every one is unique. And every one will give you something in their story.

Writing Style

In this anthology, you get everything on the shelf (as you should in any good library). Over the course of the collection, you dimly discern an underlying meta-cultural narrative thread tying all these tales together, and its subtlety is a charm. But each story is a delightful little trip all in its own. From the silly Mad Science of Book Circulation to the powerful myth retelling of A Light Unmatched In All Depths, to the sweet-weird slice of life in Old Haunts, each story invites you into someone else’s life and some other umwelt (new word? Here’s a dictionary link!) Through the eyes of a trainee interdimensional Librarian, a facet-eyed member of the (untranslatable symbols), a refugee or a sentient tree, these stories will take you to new places and let you empathize with whole new spheres of perspective.

The Moves

Plot

Whether it is the first steps to healing in Farewell, Kelary, Farewell, the wonderful comeuppance of Rhyme Time, the beautifully requited platonic love of The Museum of Everyday Objects or the sweet self-discovery of More Than Color, each story resolves in a manner that empowers, uplifts and heals.

Overall Rating

An inter-dimensional library escape that fits in your pocket. Tuck a copy there when you go about your travels.