How to train your genie

 kw: book reviews, fantasy, archetypes, genies

At the end of the animated film Aladdin, Aladdin uses his third wish to set free the genie. I wonder if many people consider, "What will the genie do now?" Auston Habersham provides a possible answer in his novel If Wishes Were Retail.

This genie, who wishes to be called "Mr. Jinn", was imprisoned not in a lamp, but a ring, the Ring of Khorad. After 35 centuries of slavery, the genie somehow became free, and decided to try to make an honest living by selling wishes. There's more to it than that, but it would be giving away too much to say more. 

It took a little tinkering to produce this image, with the vapor issuing from the ring instead of the lamp.

The genie hires a teenaged woman named Alex (Alexandra) to manage a kiosk in a mall, while he sits on a throne behind her, mostly impassive, dispensing those wishes he is willing to grant—now that he is free to grant or deny, finally having a free will!

As you may imagine, after 3,500 years stuck in a ring, only briefly allowed out to serve whichever Master currently possesses the Ring, to grant a wish and then be popped back inside for a span of years or decades, Mr. Jinn is utterly naïve about American cultural habits of the Twenty-First Century. The novel is one of growth. The genie grows, Alex grows, her dysfunctional family even grows. But one thing remains the same: The genie realizes that human nature is still basically selfish, and finding someone with even a trace of empathy for others is a rare find. 

Emotionally and morally, humanity is about where it was in 1,500 BC and before. Even those who wish for "world peace" are seen to have selfish motives. The conclusion? Do what you can without simply taking over others' lives and decisions. It's interesting how that works out…

This book is a fun romp, a piece of speculative fiction that speculates into a broader-than-usual realm. A real page-turner!

Curious about the Ring's name, I searched around and found that Khorad is the name of several villages in India, and is the surname of several Lithuanian and Latvian families. I suspect it is transliterated from names in several languages that have the pronunciation "KO-RaD". At least in Sanskrit Khorad seems to mean entering light after a dark passage. I like that.