Charles Yu, You know? Charles.

This is a story that takes place over a period of years. Long ago, I worked at a library replacing materials to their shelves. A certain book caught my attention "How to Live Safely in a Science Fiction Universe" by Charles Yu. I borrowed it. I read it. I was not prepared for its treatment of space & timing. Not in terms of "outer space" space though there might have been that. I have only read it once. It dealt with time travel in a serious way. In that certain elements of that storyline were out of sequence & thus hard to follow. This might have been in 2010 to 2011. I just picked up the copy I own of it in order to check & it was released in 2010. I did not understand it, but found it interesting all the same. Later, in 2012, I found out that Charles Yu had released another book. "Sorry. Please. Thank You." A collection of short science fiction stories. Now this book is one that I loved. Bite sized visits to where ideas come to life & are explored. Yu's writing sparked my imagination & made me think about writing & storytelling possibilities. I loved his entry "Inventory" which made use of blank space on pages with a single paragraph or sentence to spur forward motion on thought & self-awareness on progress in present & future matters & metrics. I have no relation for recommending Yu as a great writer or a deep writer. He just interested me with what he released & I wanted to recommend the book because the feelings it inspired in me, hoping for someone else to have the same catalyst I did. But for variables and frequency of how things strike & resonate with people, I just know he does for me. These two books were the extent of what I knew of Charles for a while. He became a tv writer on Westworld, where a writer I followed from comics, Ed Brubaker, spent some time. In a recent email newsletter, Brubaker recommended Charles Yu's new book coming out. I was excited & have put it in hold in my library queue. I haven't seen Westworld except its pilot, which was outside my orbit of effort as an HBO show for me to keep tabs. But I recently did watch all three seasons of FX's Legion, also available through my library system. Which I might address separately elsewhere & elsewhen as an experience. Why use a library material instead of streaming? Complicated, but simplified by my opening here: I like libraries, they are free, and I like physical media as a tangible reminder of weight & experience to do something. The connecting point here is that Yu also worked as a producer on the third season of Legion. Which had very strange ideas & visions of timing. So, inspired by Brubaker to search for the new book, I found Yu's debut book "Third Class Superhero" from 2006. At first I thought it was a novel by that title, as the book opens with that storyline. But I didn't like the beginning. It stressed me out mood-wise with its down-on-his-luck protagonist who was approaching mid-life as a mediocre superhuman who struggled to make ends meet. If it was meant to be humorous, it is in a dark, desperate means by way of chronic depression. It sat on my floor for a while, but I came back to it this week to see if I found an interest to hook me into the author's world. A chapter ended on a complicated note of tragedy & triumph in the life of the character, then I got to a second headed section, focused on a different character. It took me a few pages of reading to realize it was not about superheroes & struggle. Third Class Superhero is a short story collection as well. I was slightly relieved & very intrigued now, as I previously stated I really enjoyed his other collection. I am midway through the book & had to pause to collect myself & my thoughts. Yu toys with abstraction & emotional awareness in a Science Fiction lens. It appeals to my interests, but also makes me very hyperaware of myself & my psychological approach for how I understand who I am and my place in this world. I read the story, "The Man Who Became Himself", which reminded me of Neil Gaiman's "Foreign Parts" short story, except with personality awareness becoming foreign rather than a creeping physical hijacking of selfhood in Gaiman. In short, this current real world medical crisis has only heightened my perception of self-awareness & relationships with other people. This "Third Class Superhero" collection is truly being experienced in the best of times & worst of times for my receptiveness. I know I am not alone physically, emotionally, & psychologically - others presumably read this author given his body of work so far. But reading is a personal experience & Yu's toolbox picks apart at this communion of communication of himself as an intermediary to connect the characters' angst & awareness to each reader. And I have an itch to talk about it to someone, about how weird it is to be alive & to be aware of being alive & wondering what to do about this life & awareness. I am fascinated by Yu's career & although I have not told you much in the plots of what he writes, as much as how he writes it and affects me, I hope you are able to make use of this recommendation. Or, barring that, that whatever author is able to connect with you on a similar frequency, that you are reminded of them & are able to experience & enjoy the emotional journey of that person's work.