A Hundred Thousand Worlds: A Novel Paperback – June 6, 2017

This is a wonderfully charged road novel that travels both internal and external roads, roads of the imagination and roads of the human heart. Bob Proehl is a wise and funny and sad writer. He has a keen eye. He seems to miss nothing, and if American fiction has a future, then it could not be in better, more steady and in kinder hands. A first novel has no right to be this good. But damn, it is.

This was the most enjoyable book I read all year. It follows a mother and son as they attend comicons across the country. It is a rare work of fiction in 2016 where the characters are almost all likable I was actually sad when the book ended because I wanted to spend more time with them. If you enjoy comic books, TV shows like Fringe or The X-Files, then this book is written for you. A truly fun and engaging read.

A sweet, well-written story that doesn't need a happy ending to be satisfying or uplifting. The characters grow on you, even if there are only two who are fully fleshed out while others remain in the margins. It's much more than an homage to comic fans and super hero geeks, though it's that, too. It's an altogether human look at the frailties and difficulties of parenting, and it is not afraid to reveal everyone's strengths and flaws.

Family drama set within the world of Comic-cons and the like. Some nice moments between mother and son as they travel across the country to resolve a custody dispute. Also, behind the scenes with characters within the comic book business. Satisfactory, but not sure I can recommend.

I am not a gamer or comics fan and have never been to a con, yet I still LOVED this book. Rich characters, fun and creative structure (not only different POVs but different narrative formats woven together), and a plot with enough mystery and surprise in it to keep me hooked start to finish. The writing is very accomplished without feeling overworked, and there is an emotional honesty to it that I like immensely. It's not often I pick up a book that feels satisfying without feeling heavy--it's a "beach read" in that you can fly through it to follow the plot, if you like, but that you can also slow down and savor. I'm also impressed with Proehl's writing from a female perspective; that's often hard for a male author to pull off well but he does it sensitively.I highly recommend this to anyone not just to anyone who likes the world this book is set in, but to anyone who reads.

This is the most painfully beautiful book I have ever read. I can't imagine how the author put all the words together so beautifully to tell his story. It isn't a book about comic con. It's a book about an amazing little boy and the mother who loves him. I give it all the stars there are in the sky.

For some reason, I keep thinking the title of this book is A Hundred Thousand Words, which I think would also be appropriate; however, apart from this brain glitch I can’t seem to shake, I found myself very impressed by this novel. It is lively and moving, with a particularly perceptive presentation of the world of science fiction television and comic book conventions.Apart from that, however, the story succeeds because of Val and Alex, the mother-son pair who are at the heart of this story. Val is the former star of a wildly popular SF show who has left the world of LA and Alex’s father behind to live and work in NYC. Now, she is taking him back across the country to his father, slowing the journey by stopping at various conventions along the way. Val tells Alex stories of her life with his father as episodes of her show and he explores the conventions, meeting a number of interesting characters.If I have a problem with this story, it’s that I have mixed feelings about the past tragedy that eventually gets revealed near the end of the novel. If not exactly tacked on, as it fits in with the story, in seems unnecessary in comparison to the emotional investment in the family relationships. In my estimation it takes away from the core story.And yet, that is a small complaint about a novel that impressed me greatly. As one of those guys who grew up in the world of science fiction and its fandom, I love the setting but I love even more how the setting flavors the story but isn’t the story. You don’t have to be interested in fandom to enjoy this story of family.

An ode to the power of story, a road trip book, a love letter to boyhood and to the love between mother and child all rolled into one. A wonderful romp. I highly recommend it to anyone who misses the magic we can create for ourselves in our everyday lives.