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Taja Grimm's World by Vernor Vinge
01/06/2006 . Source: Pauline Morgan 
pub: TOR/Forge. 283 page enlarged paperback. Price: $14.95 (US), $19.95 (CAN). ISBN: 0-765-30885-1. Buy Taja Grimm's World in the USA - or Buy Taja Grimm's World in the UK  check out website: www.tor.com
There seems to be a vogue at present, at least in publishing circles, to re-issue old books that have been recently polished by the author. There are good and bad reasons for doing this. It allows an author to update an early work and bring its quality up to the standard of their current work. It puts the author on the bookshelf for minimal effort while, perhaps, a greater work is in progress or they are working through a severe writers block. It can be argued that it gives the younger reader the opportunity to explore the early works of a writer they may have just discovered. Against this theory are the series of 'classic' books which are presented unchanged. Are these changed books inferior to the classics they would like to be placed alongside? Is it vanity to re-publish them? On the down side is the thought that these re-vamped books are taking a slot in the publishing schedule that could be used to launch a new writer? Perhaps there are not enough good up-and-coming authors out there? Seems unlikely.
So the question is why has this book been published and why should anyone read it? Vernor Vinge has never been a prolific author but some of his books, such as 'A Fire Upon The Deep', are highly original, extremely well-written and should be widely available. 'Tatja Grimm's World' is claimed to have been originally published in this form in 1987. It is separated into three parts. The latter two parts made up Vinge's first published novel 'Grimm's World' from 1969, though the middle section was published separately as a short story the previous year. The first section appeared separately in 1986 in 'Analog', the year before they were all originally put together as one volume.
The setting is Science Fiction, though the total ramifications are not revealed until late on, though they significantly affect the twists of the plot. This is a world in which the population is mostly confined to the coast of a large, inhospitable continent and a huge number of islands. The level of technology at the present time is 18th century with the beginnings of steam and serious astronomy. At the start, it could either be a regressed colony planet or a fantasy that has got well away from the mundane sword and sorcery scenario. Vinge was well aware of the trends and origins in SF in the thirty years or so before he wrote the book. Sailing from port to port is a publishing barge. The presses turn out pulp magazines for sale on docking. The principal one, Fantasie, has been in production for seven hundred years. The up and coming type of fiction is called Contrivance Fiction (we would know it better as SF) but most popular are the stories about Hrala, the Barbarian Princess.
In order to publicise the magazine, Cor Ascuasenya has the idea of teaching the girl she has just met to play Hrala in a re-enactment of the stories. The problems are that the girl, Tatja Grimm, is from the interior of the continent and speaks little of the civilised languages. Also, though Tatja is the right height for Hrala, she has red hair instead of black and does not have the necessary curves. Cor thinks she can solve those problems before the barge makes its next landfall. Fortunately, Tatja is intelligent and learns fast as her impersonation of Hrala proves crucial in getting the crew out of a potentially disastrous situation. This first section is filling in the background for the main plot that occupies of the rest of the novel.
The rest of the novel is set some years later. Many of the original characters have retired. Tatja is now one of the magazine's editors. It has come to the attention of the company that owns the publishing barge that the last complete collection of Fantasie is about to be destroyed. To help save it, they enlist the help of Svir Hedrigs and his pet, Ancho, a dorfox. This is a rare creature that can radiate telepathic signals which persuade those close by that they are afraid or they cannot see it or that the person they see is someone else. Tatja, though, has another motive for the attempted rescue of the magazines.
The book is not high quality literature, but it is a very enjoyable romp. At times, it has the feel of fantasy while being definitely Science Fiction. Perhaps the denouement is a little weak but probably if Vinge was writing the novel from scratch now, he would not only make it longer but would give the characters greater depth. It is a good, light read.
Pauline Morgan
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