Cora Buhlert's Blog, page 13

Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre: “The Story of Keldor (In His Own Words)”

It’s time for another Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo story. The name “Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre” was coined by Kevin Beckett at the Whetstone Discord server.

This story was inspired by getting a new toy in the mail, namely the Masters of the Universe Origins He-Skeletor figure. So who is He-Skeletor? Well, best let him tell his story himself.

This is not actually the Keldor who becomes He-Skeletor, but the evil Keldor from the 2002 cartoon. However, Keldor figures are rather rare, so he will have to do.

“I am Keldor, Prince of Eternia and defender of the secrets of Castle Grayskull…”

“…and this is Panthor, my fearless friend.”

“Meow.”

“And yes, I know you think you know how this story goes, but trust me, you don’t.”

“Fabulous secret powers were revealed to me the day I held aloft my magic sword and said…”

“By the Power of Grayskull…”

“…I can have the Power.”

Panthor is on loan from regular Skeletor, but I will eventually get a second one for Keldor.

“Panthor became the mighty Battle Panther…”

ROAR!

“…and I became He-Skeletor, the most powerful Keldor in the Multiverse.”

“Only two others share the secret. Our friends Lyn and Red Beast.”

Yup, King Randor is Keldor’s half-brother, though they both prefer not to talk about that.

“You didn’t think I’d tell my shitty brother, did you?”

“Don’t think that I don’t know that it was you who sprayed ‘King Randor is a poopy head’ on the palace wall, Keldor. You’re a disappointment and a disgrace to the throne. And now get out of my sight and take that mangy Beast-Man and that useless sorceress Lyn along!”

“See what I mean? That’s my brother Randy – pardon, King Randor. He’s an idiot in every universe I visited – and I visited a lot of them. Still, he’s my brother and I love him.”

In the audio dramas and comics, Anti-Eternia He-Man has all of his usual companions – in the same black and red colour scheme and also very evil. However, Mattel only ever made Anti-Eternia He-Man, so you have to imagine his evil forces.

“Together we defend the Multiverse from the Evil Forces of Anti-Eternia He-Man. Otherwise known as my nephew, Prince Adam.”

“Surrender or die, Uncle Keldor. All the Power in the Multiverse shall be mine.”

“That’s He-Skeletor to you, Adam.”

“That’s a terrible name.”

“Says the guy who calls himself Anti-Eternia He-Man.”

“Oh yes, and my friends and I also defend Castle Grayskull from this guy. Who’s me, sort of, but from a different universe and evil. Oh yes, and he got his face burned off, because he tried to throw acid at our brother Randor and it backfired on himself. So yeah, he’s an arsehole and an idiot.”

“Arsehole? Idiot? Watch your mouth, boy. It’s you who’s a disgrace to our name, weakling.”

“I may be a weakling, Skeletor, but you’re the disgrace. All of you. Or do you think I like having to apologise for what YOU did to every single He-Man I meet.”

“You should be helping me to conquer the Multiverse and Grayskull. But instead, you… you cavort about with Lyn and paint pictures and rescue He-Men. Honestly, I have no idea what’s wrong with you.”

“Like I said, he’s an arsehole. They’re all arseholes, every other Keldor in the Multiverse.”

A gathering of Skeletors from around the Multiverse, from left to right: Keldor, He-Skeletor, Skelegod from Masters of the Universe Revelation, regular Skeletor on Panthor, 200X Skeletor and Snake Armour Skeletor. Yes, I guess I have a Skeletor problem.

“The name is Skeletor, you blistering boob! And you are a loser, a weakling, a shame, a disgrace.”

“We should just kill him, comrades.”

“Yes, let’s kill the weakling.”

GRRR!

“See what I mean? I’ve always been my own worst enemy.”

From left to right, we have Snake Armour He-Man, Flying Fists He-Man, He-Skeletor, Savage He-Man, regular He-Man on Battle Cat, the 200X He-Man, Pince Adam and Anti-Eternia He-Man sneaking up on them all from behind. Yes, I think I might have a He-Man problem as well.

“Finally, I’m also sworn to protect all the other He-Men in the Multiverse from my wayward nephew – and to persuade them to marry that Teela girl they’re all in love with. Sometimes, I think I’m truly cursed.”

“So that’s who I am. Keldor, Prince, weakling, loser, disgrace and the last best hope that the Multiverse has to be saved from the rampage of Anti-Eternia He-Man. Which means we’re all doomed, I guess.”

***

So in short, He-Skeletor is Prince Keldor from another universe, where He-Man is evil and Keldor is not. The idea of an evil mirror universe version of He-Man is actually quite old and Anti-Eternia He-Man debuted in 1985 in episode 11 of the West German Masters of the Universe audio-drama series.

In the 1970s and 1980s, audio dramas aimed at children and teenagers and sold as cassette tapes were extremely popular in West Germany. These were very well made full cast audio dramas, complete with sound effects and some of Germany’s best voice actors (e.g. He-Man shared a voice – voice actor Norbert Langer – with Thomas Magnum and Inspector Barnaby from Midsumer Murders, which could be quite distracting). As a kid, I never really paid any attention to these audio dramas on cassette – they were just something that was there, something you popped into the tape recorder and played before bedtime or during long car trips. I also had no idea that other countries didn’t really have audio dramas aimed at kids the way (West) Germany did.

There was a huge variety of audio drama series, ranging from explicit kiddie fare featuring friendly elephants, bees, ghosts and witches via realistic tales about girls riding horses, boys playing football to kids solving mysteries all the way to science fiction, fantasy and horror. Some of them were based on licensed properties, e.g. I distinctly remember Star Wars audio dramas. There also were more than thirty Masters of the Universe audio dramas as well as a She-Ra spin-off series.

Legend has it that the head of the children’s audio drama department of the Europa production company took a stroll across the Nuremberg Toy Fair in 1982 or 1983 and saw the first run of Masters of the Universe figures on display at the Mattel booth. Intrigued, she went up to a Mattel representative and asked them about the figures, whether there was any tie-in media and whether they were interested in licensing the characters for audio dramas. Mattel said yes and so the (West) German Masters of the Universe audio dramas were born. The first few audio dramas deviated quite heavily from what passes for Masters of the Universe canon, because that canon hadn’t really been nailed down yet. After a few episodes, Mattel supplied Europa with their series bible and licensor kit and the audio dramas became more in line with the continuity of the Filmation cartoon, even though almost no one in Germany had seen those cartoons at the time. That said, the audio dramas were usually darker than the Filmation episodes.

As for Anti-Eternia He-Man, he debuted in episode 11, penned by science fiction and horror veteran author H.G. Francis and entitled simply “Anti-Eternia”. The episode is actually online and you can listen to it here. The plot is quite simple. Skeletor devises a new plan to conquer Eternia and opens a dimensional gate that brings Anti-Eternia He-Man, Man-at-Arms and (I think) Orko to Eternia to help Skeletor conquer Castle Grayskull. However, Anti-Eternia He-Man has other ideas and kicks Skeletor out of Snake Mountain and proceeds to conquer Eternia for himself, before our heroes stop him. It’s one of the more popular episodes of the series and probably introduced a lot of kids to the concept of parallel universes.

Since it was an audio drama, there were no visuals and no images of Anti-Eternia He-Man – just a description that his skin was jet black and that he had blood red eyes and blood red hair. He showed up in fan art and customs and eventually Mattel officially adopted him and turned him into a figure in various toylines, probably because Anti-Eternia He-Man is easy and cheap to make, since he’s basically He-Man in a different colour.

The original “Anti-Eternia” audio drama only featured the evil counterparts of He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Orko and never mentioned Skeletor and the Evil Warriors and what they were like in Anti-Eternia. Were they even more evil than the already very evil Anti-Eternia He-Man? Or were they actually the good guys?

That question would remain unanswered for more than thirty years, until the He-Man and the Masters of the Multiverse comic mini-series by Tim Seeley and Dan Fraga. That series brought all the different incarnations of He-Man from various media together by stating that the minicomics, the Filmation cartoon, the New Adventures of He-Man cartoon, the 2002 cartoon, the 1987 Masters of the Universe movie, the 2012 DC Comics run, the West German audio dramas of the 1980s, a He-Man videogame, etc… all take place in different universes, which is why they’re all slightly different from each other.

The series is kicked off by Anti-Eternia He-Man going on a rampage through the Multiverse to murder other versions of He-Man and steal their power swords, so he can rule supreme over the Multiverse. Eventually two surviving He-Men, the He-Man from the 1987 movie and a videogame He-Man use the cosmic key (a time, space and dimension hopping gadget from the 1987 movie) to enlist the help of the one person who might be able to stop Anti-Eternia He-Man, namely that universe’s version of Skeletor.

Yes, I have the Skeletor and He-Man from the 1987 movie, though these are the larger Masterverse figures and not in scale with the others. The cosmic key gadget is standing next to Skeletor.

There’s only one problem. Anti-Eternia Keldor is no Skeletor. He’s something of a goofball, crap at magic and not a very good fighter – unlike the versions of Keldor we’ve seen in the 2002 cartoon and the recent CGI cartoon, who are already skilled swordsmen and sorcerers well before they become Skeletor. He also has a massive case of imposter syndrome and is terrified of falling to the dark side, especially once he meets his other evil selves.

The comic miniseries is delightful, though also very dark, because a lot of He-Men, Skeletors and other beloved characters die over the course of six issues. The series does a great job of bringing together the many different Masters of the Universe continuities. Keldor is an incredibly likeable protagonist, from the way he differentiates between the various He-Men he meets (e.g. movie He-Man is “looking down He-Man”, because he’s very tall and rather aloof, while Filmation He-Man is “annoyingly chipper He-Man”) to the moment he employs a bit of Skeletor-like ruthlessness on a He-Man who wants nothing to do with his quest by using the one weakness all He-Men share, the fact that they all have a soft spot for Teela, against him. And once Keldor realises what his role is in this story and that it’s not the part of the villain, once he holds aloft the sword and says the magic words, it’s a true “Hell, yeah!” moment.

Mattel made a Masters of the Universe Origins He-Skeletor figure as an online exclusive – probably because he’s fairly easy and cheap to make, since he’s basically He-Man in a different colour scheme. Though I hope they eventually make an untransformed good guy Keldor as well, because he looks quite different from the 200X bad guy Keldor they already made.

When my He-Skeletor toy was delivered and I wanted to take some photos of him, I thought, “Why don’t I do a version of the classic Filmation intro, only starring Keldor?” And that’s how this story came about.

That’s it for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Toy Photo Story, because there will be more.

Bonus: Two Keldors and one Pathor raid the cookie platter.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just bought some toys, took photos of them and wrote little scenes to go with those photos. All characters are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

Non-Fiction Spotlight: Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West by Aidan Moher

Hugo season is upon us and nominations for the 2023 Hugo Awards will close on Sunday, so it’s time for another Non-Fiction Spotlight. For more about the Non-Fiction Spotlight project, go here. To check out the spotlights I already posted, go here.

For more recommendations for SFF-related non-fiction, also check out this Facebook group set up by the always excellent Farah Mendlesohn, who is a champion (and author) of SFF-related non-fiction.

Today’s Non-Fiction Spotlight is a book about video games, particularly SFF-related RPGs from Japan.

Therefore, I am thrilled to welcome Aidan Moher, author of Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West to my blog today.

Tell us about your book.

Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West is a book about the history of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the rise of Japanese RPGs in the west.

…

Uh, I mean, the title tells you exactly what you’re gonna get inside. Haha. “Fight, Magic, Items” explores the early days of RPGs like Ultima and Wizardry, and how they inspired young Japanese creators like Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Rieko Kodama to create their own spin on the RPG genre with an emphasis on living room play on low-powered gaming consoles. It follows the genre through its niche popularity in the West during the 16-bit era, and its meteoric rise to superstardom thanks to Final Fantasy VII’s immense global success, and beyond to current day and the rise of indie JRPGs and the cultural exchange between Western and Japanese creators that’s lead to games like Final Fantasy XVI. It’s the story of Japanese RPGs, the people who made them, and the people who played them.

What the title doesn’t tell you is that it’s also a personal story about growing up during the genre’s golden age. Through the lens of my experiences, I examine the cultural and creative impact these games had on generations of young Canadians and Americans, and try to show the reader just how magical this time was for the people living through it.

With video games becoming more and more entwined with SFF culture—and specifically the Hugo Awards themselves, with the new “Best Video Game” category—it’s essential that we broaden our search for the stories that shed light on our genre, communities, histories, and creators from all angles. We live in an age where Hugo-nominated books and stories are as likely to be influenced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and Rieko Kodama as they are J.R.R. Tolkien and Ursula K. Le Guin, and a book like “Fight, Magic, Items” celebrates the broad, global idea of how creators across the world inspire each other constantly and across mediums.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’ve been kicking the tires in the SFF fan community for over 15 years, since starting my blog A Dribble of Ink, which ended up winning a Hugo in 2014 for “Best Fanzine.” Since I closed it in 2015, I’ve shifted over to freelance writing for places like WIRED, Washington Post, Tor.com, Uncanny Magazine, Game Informer, and many other places. I love to tell stories about creative communities, and the people who give back to the fandoms and creations that inspire them. In the past, I’ve written about the surging popularity of video game “book clubs,” the ethos of pixel art, how Hayao Miyazaki uses magic to examine the loss of childhood innocence, and what it was like to localize Japanese RPGs in the late 90s.

What prompted you to write/edit this book?

I grew up in a house packed full of books, a voracious reader like both my parents, with a particular love for science fiction, and, eventually, fantasy. One day, my babysitter came over to look after me and my brothers for the evening. He’d usually bring a game with him—for us to play after my younger brothers were asleep—but instead of DOOM deathmatch, this time he pulled out a cart for my Super NES: Final Fantasy III. From that day, I fell head over heels for Japanese RPGs. They were like epic fantasy books I could play, and they started to influence me and my writing in the same way as the novels I devouring. From that point forward, my two loves were JRPGs and books, and… that just never changed. Fast forward a few decades, and I’d started to carve out a niche as a games journalist with this Kotaku feature on how there’s a whole generation of SFF writers like me who were shaped by Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, and similar games. Recognizing that this crossover between audiences not only existed, but was basically a given for many young SFF writers, I started writing more about the genre, including a piece about Trials of Mana for Uncanny Magazine (a traditionally book-focused SFF semi-prozine that’s won about a million Hugos), and exploring the intersection between SFF fandom and JRPGs/gaming.

Then, one day, my agent Eric Smith—also a writer, also a big JRPG nerd—emailed me and said, “Hey, dude, when are you gonna do a JRPG book?” I rolled with it, we started pitching the book, and eventually it found a home with the amazing Running Press team. It started life as an essay collection—a mixture of reprints and new stuff—but eventually I realized there was more than enough there for a full-fledged book about about creative drive, cultural exchange, and the history of JRPGs.

Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?

We’re at a point now where video games are decades old, and, no matter what anyone says or thinks, they’re not only here to stay, but they’re becoming an intrinsic part of our culture—just like books, just like film, just like music, art, sport, and so on. The Hugo Awards are doing their part to recognize this by creating the new “Best Video Game” category, which I think is wonderful because it helps illustrate that “SFF” isn’t just books. It’s every sort of creative medium that explores speculative storytelling, and JRPGs are full of that. These games trace a clear lineage back to Michael Moorcock and J.R.R. Tolkien, Dungeons & Dragons, and so forth—they’re a branch of the same tree already celebrated broadly by the SFF community and the Hugo Awards—and they’re inspiring new creators (of books, film, etc.) in turn. They’re deeply entwined with what we create and consume as a community, and “Fight, Magic, Items” tells a vital part of the story.

Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?

One of the book’s narrative pillars is the concept of cultural exchange—that JRPGs were initially inspired by western RPGs and TTRPGs, and eventually ended up inspiring future Western creators, in turn, to the point now where Western creators are creating RPGs in the style of Final Fantasy, and Final Fantasy’s Japanese creators are creating massively popular Western-style MMORPGs. What I didn’t realize before I set out to write the book—but which I explore with great enthusiasm within its pages—is how you can go back to the genre’s very origins to find the first examples of this cultural exchange.

For example, the first Final Fantasy game was programmed by a legendary Iranian American programmer named Nasir Gebelli. His work was so impressive, he got hired on to do Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III—but he had trouble extending his Japanese work visa. So, instead of hiring a new programmer based in Japane, the Square team moved development to Gebelli’s home of Sacramento, California, and finished the games there. From its very beginning, the Final Fantasy series has always been an exchange of Japanese and Western ideas, experiences, and philosophies.

SFF-related non-fiction is somewhat sidelined by the big genre awards, since the Nebulas have no non-fiction category and the Best Related Work Hugo category has become something of a grab bag of anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. So why do you think SFF-related non-fiction is important?

As a non-fiction writer and reporter, I think it’s vital to seek out the compelling and inspiring stories of the people who create the things we love. The number one thing I wanted for “Fight, Magic, Items” was to tell a story about people—those who create games, and those who play them. Every piece of non-fiction is, at its heart, about people and what drives them. Why do we create what we create? Why do we love what we love? What does that tell us about the time we’re living in? How can stories of the past help us understand the present and the future? Without non-fiction, we lose sight of who we are as creators, fans, and communities.

Are there any other great SFF-related non-fiction works or indeed anything else (books, stories, essays, writers, magazines, films, TV shows, etc…) you’d like to recommend?

My friends Daniel Dockery and Mary Kenney wrote wonderful gaming books last year, also from Running Press. Dockery’s “Monster Kids” is a lot like “Fight, Magic, Items,” except instead of broadly looking at JRPG history, it focuses on the creation, success, and subsequent legacy of the Pokemon series. Kenney’s “Gamer Girls” looks at the role of women in game development through examinations of 20+ influential creators—it’s a joy to read.

Outside of books, I highly recommend various newsletters, like Matthew Claxton’s Unsettling Futures, Alasdair Stuart and Marguerite Kenner’s The Full Lid, Wendy Browne and Nola Pfau’s Women Write About Comics, and Jason Sanford’s Genre Grapevine. I’d also love to see Andrew Liptak’s Cosplay, Levar Burton Reads, and “Too Dystopian For Whom? A Continental Nigerian Writer’s Perspective” by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki recognized with nominations. Any and all of these creators would look lovely on the “Best Fan Writer” ballot.

Where can people buy your book?

Anywhere you can buy books! Your favourite local bookstore, online at your vendor of choice, anywhere! For more information about “Fight, Magic, Items,” including excerpts, review blurbs, interviews, and more, you can also check out its official website.

Where can people find you?

Sigh. Twitter.

I also run a newsletter called Astrolabe (eligible for “Best Fanzine”!) where folks can sign up for free issues brimming with every geeky thing you can imagine: book reviews, gaming, writing, movies, etc. You name it, I write about it.

My award eligibility details (“Best Related Work” for “Fight, Magic, Items,” “Best Fanzine” for Astrolabe, and “Best Fan Writer” for me) and selected pieces for each category—along with more recommendations—can also be found on Astrolabe.

Thank you, Aidan, for stopping and answering my questions. Check out Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West, if you’ve ever played Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, Pokémon or any other Japanese RPGs or are interested in the history of video games in general.

About Fight, Magic, Items: The History of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and the Rise of Japanese RPGs in the West:

Press start and discover the fascinating history of JRPGs.

The Japanese roleplaying game is a special genre that includes some of the most creative, influential, and beloved video games and series of all time. In Fight, Magic, Items, Aidan Moher guides you through the origin and evolution of the genre, beginning with the two games that started it all: Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest. Moher weaves in firsthand interviews and behind-the-scenes tales into a unique and entertaining tribute to a genre and games that inspired an industry and continues to capture the imagination of generations of fans including:

Chrono TriggerPhantasy StarEarthboundPokémonKingdom HeartsNieRFire EmblemPersonaTales of…SuikodenLunarand more.About Aidan Moher:

Aidan Moher (he/him) is a Hugo award-winning writer and editor who has written about almost every niche facet of geek culture you can think of from Terry Brooks to Dungeons & Dragons. And whether he’s penning wildly read essays on Lunar: Silver Star Story, the undeniable lasting power of Chrono Trigger (the best RPG ever made), or the forgotten history of Magic: the Gathering, he manages to infuse deep, personal, endearing hooks into every story he tells. He’s written for outlets like Wired, Kotaku, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Uncanny Magazine, Fanbyte, Tor.com, and more.

***

Did you publish a work of SFF-related longform non-fiction in 2022 (and can answer my questions in three days) or are you publishing one in 2023 and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.

The Mandalorian and Baby Grogu return to Mandalore and meet “The Spies”

Welcome to the latest instalment of my episode by episode reviews of season three of The Mandalorian. Previous installments may be found here.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut!

In my review of the previous episode, I pointed out that based on the first two seasons, the various meandering plot threads should come together in the last two episodes of the season. And guess what? That’s exactly what happened.

The episode opens not on Nevarro or Mandalore or Plazir-15, but on Coruscant. Elia Kane, dressed in a conspirational trenchcoat, sneaks through the streets of Coruscant, clearly up to no good. She steps into a dark alley, where an Imperial probe droid descends from the sky for a clandestine meeting. The droid scans Elia and then projects a hologram of none other than Moff Gideon. Of course, we already knew that he escaped, but this is the first time we actually see him this season.

Moff Gideon isn’t thrilled to be called away from his very important scheming and he’s even less thrilled, when Elia tells him that the pirates were driven away from Nevarro. “But you assured me that the New Republic wouldn’t help them,” Moff Gideon grumbles. Elia Kane explains that no, the New Republic did not help Nevarro, but that the world was protected by Mandalorians, led by Din Djarin and Bo-Katan Kryze, two of Moff Gideon’s least favourite people. Moff Gideon vows to find them and finally exterminate the Mandalorians once and for all.

During the conversation with Elia Kane, the camera switches from Elia on Coruscant to Moff Gideon in an as of yet unknown location. The camera follows Moff Gideon as he walks along a black walkway – without any handrails, of course, it’s Star Wars – as red glowing force fields open and close. Furthermore, Stormtroopers in redesigned stand guard on outcroppings from the main walkway – also without handrails. It’s an impressive looking set and the red force fields were clearly inspired by the Duel of the Fates scene in The Phantom Menace, though I couldn’t help but think of the “chompers” scene from Galaxy Quest, because the whole design makes absolutely no sense and is clearly just there to look cool.

We also get a look at the very important scheming that Moff Gideon was called away from, which turns out to be a meeting of the Imperial Shadow Council. The Shadow Council consists of a number of unnamed Imperial officers turned warlords, Moff Gideon as well as one Commandant Brendol Hux, who sports a three days’ beard that would probably have gotten him Force-choked, if Darth Vader were still in charge, and one Captain Gilad Pellaeon. If the name Brendol Hux seems familiar, he’s the father of General Hux, who had a love/hate relationship with Kylo Ren in the sequel trilogy and was also a secret informer for the Rebellion, all to piss off Kylo Ren. The make the connection even more apparent, Brendol Hux is played by Brian Gleeson, brother of Domnhall Gleeson who played General. As for Captain Pellaeon, he is a character who was introduced in the 1991 Star Wars novel Heir to the Empire by Timothy Zahn as the right-hand man of …drumroll… Grand Admiral Thrawn. Of course, we’ve known for a while that Grand Admiral Thrawn would show up. In fact, the back of his head can already be glimpsed in the trailer for the upcoming Ahsoka series, which caused much squeeing across the Internet, though personally I will hold the squees until we finally see the face of Thrawn.

Of course, nobody can be expected to remember a secondary character from a 32-year-old tie-in novel, even one as popular as Heir to the Empire. And in fact, I remember almost nothing about the Thrawn trilogy, even though I eagerly devoured it back in the day. Oddly enough, I do remember exactly where I found the book (which in those pre-Internet days I had no idea existed) – in the window of a bookshop near Antwerpen Central Station. I think I went past that window two or three times, gazing at the book, that unimaginable thing, a brand-new Star Wars book, until I finally went in and bought it. Still, since most will have no idea who Captain Pellaeon is, he is introduced as a representative for Grand Admiral Thrawn and declares that everybody present is to prepare for the triumphant return of Grand Admiral Thrawn, who will then proceed to rebuilt the Empire. Meanwhile, Moff Gideon wants to know where exactly Thrawn is, since no one has seen hide nor hair of him (though we did see the back of his head) since the Fall of the Empire. As for Brendol Hux, he is engaged in something called Project Necromancy, which has something to do with cloning research. Gee, I wonder what Project Necromany could be? Could they maybe be… cloning Palpatine?

The meeting of the Shadow Council – nerds of a feather reviewer Haley Zapal calls it the galaxy’s most evil Zoom call – makes it very clear that Hux, Pellaeon (and Thrawn) and Moff Gideon don’t see eye to eye with regard to anything. Moff Gideon thinks that Hux and Pellaeon are hoarding resources that he and the other warlords should have. Hux doesn’t like Gideon and also wonders what happened to Doctor Pershing and his research (Elia Kane and a mindflayer happened) and suspects that Moff Gideon is using Doctor Pershing’s research for his own purposes (which, to be fair, he is). Captain Pellaeon, meanwhile, thinks that Grand Admiral Thrawn should head up the rebuilt Empire and that Moff Gideon seeks power for himself (which, to be fair, he does). Moff Gideon further irritates Hux and Pellaeon by demanding a squad of TIE interceptors and bombers and three Praetorian guards.

Coincidentally, the Post-Imperial Shadow Council is also the most diverse gathering of Imperial generals and dignitaries we’ve ever seen in Star Wars. This Shadow Council has several members of colour and two women members, including one woman of colour. And Grand Admiral Thrawn, though unseen for now, is not even human. This is a far cry from the councils and meetings seen in the original trilogy, which consisted solely of white British men, most of whom played by people you’d seen in dozens of movies and TV shows before. Come to think of it, Elia Kane is probably the first female Imperial officer in Star Wars, though the First Order had several women. And Moff Gideon is the first high-ranking Imperial of colour whom we’ve seen. It’s certainly telling that even blatant space Nazi analogues like the Empire now feature a diverse cast.

Meanwhile, back on Nevarro, the citizens are cleaning up after the pirate attack of two episodes ago, when a shadow falls onto their city. At the same time, Greef Karga’s protocol droid comes hurrying into his master’s office, announcing that “The Empire is here”. Greef Karga walks out onto his balcony just in time to see what the droid insists is a Star Destroyer flying by overhead, flanked by smaller ships. “That’s a light cruiser”, Greef corrects the droid (come to think of it, Star Destroyers are huge and this ship, while big, is not that big). At this moment, the sign of the mythosaur painted on the underside of the ship comes into view. “And it’s not the Empire, it’s Mandalorians and they’re our honoured guests”, Greef Karga continues, though he sounds a little bit doubtful, probably because he did not expect there to be that many Mandalorians with that many ships.

Bo-Katan is at the helm of her own ship, the Gauntlet, and directs the fleet to the Mandalorian camp on Nevarro. Grogu is sitting on her lap, showing how very comfortable he is with Bo-Katan by now. Bo-Katan, however, is a little worried how these Mandalorians will get along with the Armourer’s group. And indeed, there is some tension, once the fleet lands and the Mandalorians emerge and Axe Woves, being something of a jerk, demonstratively takes off his helmet. Paz Vizla, meanwhile, tells his son Ragnar to take the other kids inside and is clearly spoiling for a fight. However, before a fight can break out, the Armourer shows up and welcomes the newcomers and soon everybody is sitting by the campfire, content for now.

Greef Karga, meanwhile, comes to the camp to welcome Din – whom he still callos “Mando”, even though there must be more than a hundred Mandalorians on Nevarro by now. He has a bottle of some kind of drink – straight from Coruscant – and he has another surprise for Din as well, though Din will have to come to the city to see it.

The surprise turns out to be the largely rebuilt IG-11, now rechristened IG-12. However, Babu Frick took out the damaged memory circuit and instead installed a space for an organic, if very small pilot. Babu Frick is small enough to fit into the pilot seat and control the droid. So is Grogu and Greef Karga thinks that Grogu would be the perfect pilot for IG-12. Din, being the anxious Dad that he is, doesn’t like that idea at all and insists that Grogu is too young. Babu Frick, meanwhile, just hopes Grogu won’t try to hug him again and says, “Bad Baby. No squeezie” and then utters something which may or may not be the F-word.

Greef Karga insists that they at least give it a try, picks up Grogu and settles him into IG-12’s pilot seat. Din still claims that this is a terrible idea, while Grogu discovers another function of IG-12. Because Babu Frick also installed two buttons that allow the pilot to say “yes” and “no” in Taika Waititi’s voice. So when Din insists that Grogu is too young and wants him to come out of the droid at once, Grogu keeps on pushing the “no” buttton. Din initially assumes that Grogu is just hammering buttons at random, but Greef Karga points out that the “no” is actually a response to Din insisting that Grogu come out of the droid. “Yes”, IG-12 says. Din is clearly overruled and we see him and IG-12 walk through the streets of Nevarro with Grogu pushing the “yes” button over and over again. It’s a cute scene and also very reminiscent of how human toddlers react when they discover the word “no” and its impact. Indeed, the thing that makes Grogu so appealing – beyond the fact that he’s incredibly cute – is that he behaves very much like a human toddler.

Back at the camp, Bo-Katan announces her plan to retake Mandalore, now she knows that the planet is habitable. The entire Mandalorian fleet will move into orbit around Mandalore and Bo-Katan and a small team will head for the surface to locate the Great Forge, heart of their culture, and establish a secure perimeter. Then they will bring the rest of the Mandalorians down. If the pirates want to attack Nevarro again, now would be a great time, since the Mandalorian protectors of the planet are all buggering off to Mandalore. AV-Club reviewer Sam Barsanti clearly agree with me, especially since it’s made clear that there is something on Nevarro that Moff Gideon and that the pirates were only a front to allow him to get his hands on that planet.

But first, Bo-Katan needs volunteers. Din immediately volunteers himself and Grogu. Paz Vizla, Axe Woves, Koska Reeves, the Armourer and several other members of both groups volunteer as well and so Bo-Katan has a sizeable exploration force. They head for the surface in the Gauntlet and are dropped Starship Troopers style to land with their jetpacks.

The Mandalorians are shocked to see Mandalore in its ruined state and Axe Woves says that he was there when it happened. However, Mandalore isn’t as dead or deserted as everybody thinks, for the Mandalorians spot a moving structure on the horizon. The structure turns out to be a land glider/ship. Three figure in armour and jetpacks rise from the decks of the ship. Turns out that there still are Mandalorian survivors on Mandalore. They’re starved and clearly ill and the first thing they ask is “Do you have food?”

Bo-Katan’s forces do have food and so they soon have a feast on the deck of the land ship, which is a really impressive structure BTW and will probably be a crowdfunded playset on Hasbro Pulse eventually. The Mandalorian survivors are thrilled to see their once and former queen and tell her that they built the glider to escape the Imperial forces scouring the planet and picking off every ship that tried to leave and that they never surrendered.

“I did,” Bo-Katan says quietly, “I surrendered.” And now we finally get her full story. After the so-called Night of the Thousand Tears, when Mandalore was bombed to smithereens, Bo-Katan arranged a meeting with Moff Gideon to surrender and promise to cease all resistance and submit to Imperial rule in exchange for the Empire sparing the remains of her people. However, Moff Gideon tricked her, took the darksabre and proceeded to exterminate what was left of the Mandalorians anyway.

I don’t think it’s ever been established when the Empire attacked and destroyed Mandalore, but it makes sense if that would have happened shortly after the rise of the Empire, since wiping out anybody with a chance to stand against the Emperor like the Jedi or the Mandalorians would have been a priority. The Mandalorian is set approx. five years after Return of the Jedi and therefore about twenty-five years after the rise of the Empire. So Bo-Katan must have been very young, probably in her teens or early twenties based on Katee Sackhoff’s age, when she became ruler of Mandalore. In short, she was way too young for the burden placed upon her.

And indeed, shortly after admitting to everybody that she surrendered and that Moff Gideon tricked her, Bo-Katan is standing alone by the railing of the ship. Din joins her and Bo-Katan admits to him that she’s not sure if she truly fit to lead the Mandalorians, since she allowed Moff Gideon to trick her and lost the darksabre and besides, the various Mandalorian factions dislike her as much as they dislike each other, even though she wants to bring them all together. Din tells Bo-Katan that the darksabre and the whole royal bloodline stuff means nothing to his people. What does mean something to him are loyalty, honour and character and Bo-Katan has plenty of that, more than enough to win over Din and the rest of his group. “I serve you, Lady Kryze,” Din tells her, “Your song is not yet written. I will serve you until it is.”

It’s a powerful line and a powerful moment – Bo-Katan showing her vulnerability and Din offering his unwavering support – as most reviewers – Germain Lussier at io9, Sam Barsanti at The AV-Club and Haley Zapal at nerds of a feather – point out. Din’s definitely a keeper and I think Bo-Katan knows it, though I suspect Disney won’t allow them to be together, because Disney doesn’t want romantic relationships in Star Wars.

When Bo-Katan first showed up last season, I wasn’t particularly enamoured with the character. And in fact, I suspected that she would be an antagonist for Din this season, something the trailers seemed to hint at, since Din had the one thing she needed, the darksabre. However, I really like what they’ve done with Bo-Katan this season, portraying her as someone who was forced into responsibility at a much too young age, had to see her world destroyed and most of her people killed or scattered and has a massive case of survivor’s guilt as a result. In some ways, she reminds me of Prince Adam from Masters of the Universe, who also is forced to take on an enormous responsibility at a much too young age, who is also outwardly strong, but inwardly insecure and who wants nothing more than to protect his world and his people and who also has a handful of people who support him and believe in him no matter what. I’ve drawn quite a few comparisons to various animated series aimed at kids in the course of my episode by episode reviews and I now wonder whether the fact that co-producer/showrunner Dave Filoni comes from the animated Star Wars shows, which were aimed at younger viewers, has something to do with that.

I also noted in some of my earlier reviews that the Mandalorians seem to be matriarchal, since all of their leaders we’ve seen so far have been women. However, it only just occurred to me that it’s not just Mandalore that appears to be matriarchal, it’s the whole Star Wars universe. Because throughout Star Wars history, almost all of the political leaders who actually do a good job and aren’t dictators or incompetent have been women: Leia, Mon Mothma, Padme Armidala, Bo-Katan, the Armourer, Amilyn Holdo, even the Duchess from Plazir-15 – they’re all women, which is made even more remarkable by the fact that the Star Wars universe has a massively skewed gender ratio. But while there are a lot of important and heroic male characters in Star Wars, they are often muscle, who do the fighting, while the women govern.

When the Mandalorian survivors learn that Bo-Katan’s group are looking for the Great Forge, they offer to take them there. However, a lot of the survivors are too ill and weak to travel or fight, so the Armourer suggests transporting them aboard the Gauntlet to the fleet in orbit for treatment, while the others proceed to the Great Forge.

So now the exploration force continues to travel aboard the land glider/ship. It’s a lengthy trip and so Axe Woves and Paz Vizla, clearly the two most macho members of their respective factions, decide to pass the time by playing a type of chess. However, the rules of how the game is played have diverged between the two groups and so Axe Woves and Paz Vizla quickly come to blows. Din wants to intervene, but Bo-Katan insists that no members of either faction can intervene lest the conflict escalates. All they can do is watch and hope that Axe Woves and Paz Vizla come to their senses before they kill each other.

However, one person aboard the skiff does intervene and that Grogu. He steps between the two combatants in his droid body, uses IG-12’s strength to keep them apart and says “No”, “No”, “No” over and over again. It’s a great moment and also shows that even though Grogu has chosen to stay with Din and the Mandalorians, there’s still a lot of Jedi in him. Honestly, I think that Grogu is probably the best hope the Mandalorians and the Jedi have, once he’s grown up.

The skiff is attacked and destroyed by one of the giant monsters, which are so ubiquitous in the Star Wars universe. Tor.com reviewer Emmet Asher-Perrin feels that this is just payback for all the giant monsters Din killed over the course of three seasons of The Mandalorian. They’re not wrong, because while giant monsters lurking in every cave, lake or trash compactor have always been a feature of Star Wars, The Mandalorian really takes it to extremes to the point that there’s a giant monster in almost every single episode. It almost seems as if showrunners Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni have adapted Raymond Chandler’s famous writing advice “When in doubt, have a man come through the door with a gun in his hand” as “When in doubt, throw in a giant monster.”

At any rate, the Mandalorians are out of a ride and the Gauntlet is up in orbit transporting the injured. So they have to walk, though luckily, the Great Forge is not that far away. Once more, they descend into the underworld of Mandalore and find the Great Forge or what is left of it. However, before they can celebrate or establish a security perimeter, as planned, they hear the sound of jetpacks. “More survivors?” someone asks hopefully.

However, these jetpacks don’t belong to any Mandalorian survivors. They’re Stormtroopers of the type we saw in Moff Gideon’s hideout earlier and they’re equipped with jetpacks. A massive battle breaks out and the Mandalorians quickly find themselves outnumbered. Paz Vizla covers Axe Woves, as he escapes through a hole in the ceiling to get help from the fleet in orbit. Meanwhile, the Stormtroopers chase the rest of the Mandalorians deeper and deeper into the complex. They finally find themselves on a ledge overlooking a fully fledged Imperial base complete with TIE interceptors and bombers. Worse, blast doors close, trapping the rest of the Mandalorians, while Din is overpowered by the Stormtroopers.

The situation is dire enough, but it’s about to get worse, for who shows up – in midnight black Mandalorian inspired armour, complete with jetpack – but Moff Gideon. Moff Gideon delivers a classic supervillain monologue – and Giancarlo Esposito clearly has so much fun with the role – to explain his plan. He built a base on Mandalore to exploit the beskar mines and create an army of updated cloned Stormtroopers with beskar armour and Mandalorian tech. Because, Moff Gideon points out, all the various people that the Empire subjugated and/or exterminated had something to offer. The Mandalorians had beskar and weapons tech, the Jedi have the Force and so on. It’s not just a great supervillain monologue, it’s also an analogy for colonialism, because colonialists took what they wanted and needed from the people they subjugated while doing their best to destroy their cultures.

Moff Gideon orders the Stormtroopers to take Din away for “debriefing”, which very obviously is a euphemism for torture. He also orders his TIE interceptors and bombers to launch and take out the Mandalorian fleet in orbit. Then he spots Bo-Katan and demands the darksabre back. Bo-Katan, however, is not going to make the same mistake twice. “This is the way”, the Mandalorians say as one and open fire on Moff Gideon and his Stormtroopers, while Bo-Katan uses the darksabre to cut through the blast doors. She succeeds in creating an escape route for everybody.

In the end, Bo-Katan and Paz Vizla are the only ones left. Bo-Katan calls to Paz Vizla that everybody is clear and that he should make a run for it. But Paz Vizla shakes his head. “There’s too many of them”, he says and announces that he will hold them back. “This is the way”, Paz Vizla says, closes the blast doors and makes his last stand, allowing the rest of the Mandalorians to get away. In spite of their new beskar armour, Paz Vizla does manage to take down all of the Stormtroopers. But then, the three Elite Praetorian Guards Moff Gideon requested earlier arrives and proceed to cut him down. Paz Vizla is another character who wasn’t particularly likeable, when he was first introduced in The Book of Boba Fett, but who has really grown on me. And he does get to make a great heroic last stand, though I feel sorry for his son Ragnar. Though considering Ragnar has grown up with a Mandalorian faction who prize raising and protecting orphaned children above all else, I guess he’ll be well taken care of.

As I said before, so far all seasons of The Mandalorian have been somewhat meandering with all the elements only coming together in the last two or three episodes of the season and this one is no different. Even plot points such as the beskar fragment that Captain Teva found embedded in a bulkhead of the prison ship from which Moff Gideon was liberated and the weird blood-sucking vampire droid that Din ran afoul of have been explained. Okay, so the vampire droid hasn’t really been explained, though I suspect it’s a trap planted either by Moff Gideon or by the Imperial forces that destroyed Mandalore. The episode also ends on a great cliffhanger – Din has been captured, Moff Gideon is on Mandalore, the Mandalorians are on the run and outnumbered, the fleet in orbit is about to be attacked and Paz Vizla has died a hero’s death.

How will it all end? We’ll find out in the season finale.

The Mandalorian and Baby Grogu solve a mystery in “Guns For Hire”

Welcome to the latest instalment of my episode by episode reviews of season of The Mandalorian. Previous installments may be found here.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut!

The last episode seemed to give a new quest to Bo-Katan and Din Djarin, namely to locate other Mandalorians and bring them to Nevarro to unite the people of Mandalore. That is, the Armourer gave the quest to Bo-Katan. Din and Grogu are just along for the ride, because it Din, Bo-Katan and Grogu seem to have become a inseparable trio in the meantime. Which is both interesting and unexpected.

But more about that later. Cause this episode opens not with Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan, but with an organic looking ship crewed entirely by Quarrens (those are the squid-headed creatures living on Trask, the planet that is the Bremerhaven of the Star Wars universe). The captain is a female Quarren named Shuggoth. AV-Club reviewer Sam Barsanti finds that giving a member of a tentacled species such a Lovecraftian name is overkill and I tend to agree.

Captain Shuggoth is just enjoying a fishy snack, when her ship finds itself faced by an old Star Destroyer. Captain Shuggoth is confused, since she had no idea that there were Imperial leftover operating in this part of space. So she hails the Star Destroyer and apologises for the oversight of failing to pay protection money to the local warlord. The crew of the Star Destroyer responds that they do not serve any local warlord and that they’re not Imperial either.

The episode then cuts to the bridge of the Star Destroyer to reveal that the crew are not Imperial. They’re Mandalorians. More precisely, they’re Bo-Katan’s old followers, the Nite Owls, now led by her former associate Axe Woves. Bo-Katan’s other former associate Koska Reeves is also present as are a bunch of Mandalorians we’ve never seen before.

Axe Woves and his friends absconded with the Imperial ships Bo-Katan had taken from Moff Gideon and other warlords and now ply their trade as mercenaries. As for why they’re after Captain Shuggoth, it turns out that she eloped with a young Mon Calamari nobleman. His mother disapproves of the relationship – the Quarren and Mon Calamari (that’s Admiral Akbar’s people) are ancient enemies, even though they live on the same world, and a Quarren captain is not considered a suitable partner for a Mon Calamari nobleman. So the mother hired Axe Woves to return her son. The son (I don’t think the character ever gets a name) doesn’t want to leave his lover, but the Captain tells him it will be okay and that they’ll see each other again. There is a touching farewell scene, which involves the Captain stroking her lover with her facial tentacles, then the Mon Calamari prince is dragged away.

This scene is a remarkably touching interlude, especially considering that Captain Shuggoth and her Mon Calamari lover are throwaway characters we’ll likely never see again. However, the episode makes you feel for those two and also makes you want to learn more about their story, how they fell in love and came to run off together. Tor.com reviewer Emmet Asher-Perrin points out that this love story is doubly unusual, first of all because both participants are aliens and secondly, because it reverses the genders of the typical pirate romance, where a dashing male pirate captain carries off a a princess or noblewoman who has fallen for him. In fact, I’ve written one of those myself.

Meanwhile, Axe Woves and his squad of Mandalorians are eager to return the wayward Mon Calamari prince to his mother, because they already have their next job lined up – on a world called Plazir-15. The name of the planet is pronounced like the French word “plaisir”, i.e. “pleasure”.

The scene shifts again and we see Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan aboard Bo-Katan’s ship, heading for – yes, you guessed it – Plazir-15.  Bo-Katan doesn’t know much about the planet and Din has never even heard of it. However, that’s where Bo-Katan’s former associates are, so that’s where they’ll go.

It’s notable how comfortable Din and Bo-Katan are with each other by now, especially considering that they didn’t particularly like each other up to the first episode of this season. I guess Bo-Katan’s time with Din’s people have softened these two towards each other. It’s also notable how comfortable Grogu is with Bo-Katan by now, to the point that his crib floats next to her in the pilot’s seat rather than next to where Din is seated. In general, we have seen Grogu’s world expand to include people who are not Daddy this season, whereas Grogu was very wary of anybody who was not Din but interacted with him in season 1 and also partly season 2. This matches the development of human children who start to become wary of strangers around six to eight months (which tends to express itself in crying bitterly when being held by grandparents, aunts, uncles and other relatives they don’t know very well) and then gradually become more independent of their parents and immediate caregivers and more open towards new people. As for Grogu, I suspect he decided that Bo-Katan was okay, after she saved Din’s life in “The Mines of Mandalore”.

Bo-Katan wants to land her ship next to the Mandalorian fleet and not interact with Plazir-15 and its people at all. However, Plazir-15 has other ideas. A robotic voice that’s so chipper it’s almost creepy welcomes Din, Bo-Katan and Grogu to Plazir-15, “the only direct democracy in the Outer Rim” and proceeds to direct them to a landing platform. And just to make sure that they land on the designated platform, the system promptly takes over the controls from Bo-Katan.

After landing, Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan get into a automated vacuum tube train, which requests to see their chain codes (a kind of personal ID) before it will even move. Bo-Katan once more tries to get the train to take her to the Mandalorian fleet, but once again the train has other ideas and informs them that the planetary government wants to see them and that the train will take them there. Din and Bo-Katan are not happy about this, but decide to go along for it for now.

The train takes them to the capital, where they are greeted by two droids, who look a lot like C-3PO and R2-D2 and stand there in the same pose as the famous publicity shot, only in all black. “If this is an independent democracy…” Bo-Katan wonders, “…why do they have Imperial droids?”

The black droids escort Din, Grogu and Bo-Katan to see the rulers of Plazir-15. They stand in front of a big white door, which slides open with a hiss to reveal a banquet table. At nerds of a feather, Haley Zapal points out that the scene is framed almost identically to the scene in The Empire Strikes Back, when another white door slides open to reveal a banquet table… and Darth Vader as well as Boba Fett.

Director Bryce Dallas-Howard has set the the scene up very well. Not just the framing, but also the slowly increasing feeling of dread that something is very off about Plazir-15. However, when the door slides open, there is no Darth Vader or Moff Gideon waiting. Instead, there’s a banquet table with lots of different alien species eating. A cheery female voice exclaims, “Oh look, it’s a family.”

The voice (I’ll go into who that voice belongs to later) is not all that wrong, because Din, Bo-Katan and Grogu very much look like a family in this scene. Now women have shown interest in Din ever since episode 4 of season 1, which is the first episode to air after Din has decided to keep Grogu (Grogu, of course, decided to keep Din by the end of episode 1) and coincidentally also the first episode to feature female characters other than the Armourer (also coincidentally, Bryce Dallas-Howard, director of “Guns for Hire”, also directed that episode). And ever since then, there has been no shortage of women who would love to be Grogu’s Mom. Talking of which, here is an article by Susanne Romanowski from the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in which she attempts to explain why the entire Internet thinks that Pedro Pascal is sexy and why he is “the Internet’s Daddy”*. I initially assumed that Cara Dune would eventually be the one who ends up with Din, but since Cara is out for obvious reasons, it seems as if Bo-Katan might become Grogu’s Mom. At any rate, there are sparks flying between her and Din. And they would make a good couple. They’re both Mandalorians and they both want to restore Mandalore. And Din would be perfectly happy to let Bo-Katan lead the Mandalorians and be her house husband/consort. Provided that Disney does allow a Star Wars main character to be in a happy committed relationship.

In fact, AV-Club reviewer Sam Barsanti points out that “Guns For Hire” features not one but two committed couples (one of whom is happy and together by the end of the episode) in addition to the potential couple of Din and Bo-Katan. This is very unusual for Disney era Star Wars, which doesn’t seem to want romantic couples in its Star Wars movies. Hence, everybody is alone by the end of the sequel trilogy in spite of sparks flying in all directions. Jyn Erso and Cassian Andor don’t even get to kiss before they are blown up by the Death Star in Rogue One. In the same movie, Chirut Imwe and Baze Malbus also get killed and their relationship is barely hinted it. Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are very much just friends. Hell, Disney even broke up Han and Leia, the central couple of the original trilogy in The Force Awakens. Considering how central relationships of Han and Leia and Anakin and Padme respectively were to the original and the prequel trilogy, the absence of romance from Disney era Star Wars is really notable and IMO also lessens the films. True, not every story has to be about romance (e.g. The Mandalorian is about the love between parents and children, while Obi-Wan is about a man coming to terms with his own demons). But if no couple ever gets together and the most beloved couple of the entire franchise is broken up, it leaves a notable absence in the Disney era movies. I also don’t understand why Disney is apparently so opposed to romance in Star Wars, when it was an integral part of the franchise before. It’s probably some nonsense about being “family friendly” and how Star Wars is for little kids who don’t want romance in their entertainment. That last bit is a reason I’ve heard for why romantic content was (and continues to be in many cases) so dialed down in cartoons aimed at kids, ironically while the young viewers (both boys and girls) were scrutinising episodes for any hint of romantic attraction and were also shipping the characters like crazy.

As for the second committed couple of this episode, the voice who exclaims “Oh look, it’s a family” belongs to a woman known only as “the Duchess”, who is both the heriditary ruler of Plazir-15 as well as the elected leader, since Plazir-15 is a direct democracy (which normally means they have plebicites, but political systems in Star Wars have always been weird).  The actress playing the Duchess is none other than the singer, rapper and flautist Lizzo. And because one celebrity guest star in a scene isn’t enough, we also meet the Duchess’ husband Captain Bombardier (spelled and pronounced like the Canadian manufacturer of plans and train wagons), who is played by actor and comedian Jack Black. The story of the Duchess and Captain Bombardier is a true Romeo and Juliet tale – except with a happy ending. She was the daughter of the former aristocratic rulers of Plazir-15 and he was a former Imperial officer who was sent to Plazir-15 as part of the New Republic’s amnesty program. They fell in love and got married and now Captain Bombardier gets to live in the palace and wear an operetta uniform and have banquets and play crocket with plenty of colourful aliens. It’s a far cry from the depressing 1970s dystopian movie starring a guy in a turtleneck that Doctor Pershing wound up in.

Some people, such as io9 reviewer Germain Lussier, have complained that the celebrity guest stars are distracting and they have problems to stop seeing them as Jack Black and Lizzo. And indeed, it is notable that we’re seeing a lot more big name actors (and also directors) in the various Star Wars movies and TV shows, the various Marvel movies and TV shows, the various Star Trek shows, Doctor Who and other geeky properties (see the star-studded voice cast of Masters of the Universe: Revelation). But then, whole generations have grown up loving these properties. A lot of today’s big name stars watched Star Wars, Star Trek or Doctor Who and read Marvel comics as kids like the rest of us. And for these people, actually guest-starring in Star Wars, Star Trek, a Marvel movie or Doctor Who is a dream come true. There are so many celebrity guest stars in geeky movies and TV shows these days, because they want to do these films and shows. As for the producers, if a big name celebrity showed up on your doorstep and begged for a role, any role, in your movie or TV series, would you tell them to take a hike? No, of course not. And besides, Lizzo and Jack Black do a good job with their vaguely absurd roles.

The Duchess and Captain Bombardier invite Din and Bo-Katan to dinner and Din and Bo-Katan accept, at least party because they have no other choice, since it’s made very clear that they can’t go where they want to go, unless they listen to what the Duchess and Captain Bombardier have to say first. Like everybody else, the Duchess is also very taken by Grogu. “He does not take kindly to strangers”, Din grumbles, but Grogu clearly has other ideas and jumps out of his crib and straight into the Duchess’ arms, when she tempts him with what looks like a sardine. The way to Grogu’s heart still goes through his stomach.

During the dinner, the Duchess and Captain Bombardier also finally explain that they are of course happy for Bo-Katan and Din to pay a visit to the Mandalorian fleet, provided they do a little favour for them first. And what is that favour? Like much of the Star Wars universe, Plazir-15’s wealth, freedom and direct democracy rests on droid labour. More specifically, Imperial droids, including battle droids, that have been reprogrammed for peaceful purposes by Captain Bombardier. However, there is a problem. Because some of the droids have been malfunctioning of late, apparently returning to their aggressive original programming and attacking citizens. The Duchess and Captain Bombardier want to know why and they want Din and Bo-Katan to find the cause for the mysterious malfunctions.

Din quite reasonably asks why they don’t have their hired Mandalorian security force investigate the problem. It turns out that they can’t because the New Republic charter forbids armed mercenaries from entering the city. The same charter also forbids Plazir-15’s own security forces from bearing weapons or investigating the problem. After all, Captain Bombardier is a member of the amnesty program and can’t possibly be trusted (whereas Elia Kane, who really cannot be trusted, apparently enjoys a high degree of trust). So the New Republic won’t allow member worlds to protect themselves – in what is a very dangerous galaxy – and they also won’t respond to requests for help, as we saw last episode. Tell me again why anybody would want to join this bunch?

So Din and Bo-Katan go off to investigate the mystery of the malfunctioning droids – not that they have any other choice. As for why they are allowed to walk around the city armed, well, they’re Mandalorians and weapons are part of their culture. The episode now turns into a science fiction mystery. Sam Barsanti compares the investigation part to Law & Order, but Law & Order devotes at least half of every episode to the ‘law” part. A buddy cop show is a far better comparison. And the second half of “Guns for Hire” is very much structured like a buddy cop show with our mismatched partners questioning witnesses and suspects, gathering clues and finally cracking the case.

Grogu remains with the Duchess, while Din and Bo-Katan begin their investigation by talking to the head of Plazir-15’s unarmed security force, one Commissioner Helgait, whose name practically screams “villain”. We also get another celebrity guest star, because Commissioner Helgait is played by none other than Christopher Lloyd, who amazingly has never been in anything Star Wars to date, even though his career very much paralleled the course of Star Wars. Commissioner Helgait shows Din and Bo-Katan some security footage of droid malfunctions ranging from the funny (a droid throws boxes he’s supposed to carry at a random woman) to the dangerous (a multi-armed and knifed sushi chef droid tries to slice and dice the patrons of the sushi bar where he works). BTW, I totally want a sushi chef droid now.

Din, who has deep-seated issues with doids after all, asks Helgait why they don’t just shut all the droids down. Helgait shows them one of those big red buttons of doom and says that he could easily shut down every single droid on Plazir-15 by pressing that button. However, he can’t do that, because Plazir-15 is a direct democracy and the people voted against shutting down the droids, because then they would have to do all the menial work themselves. Ironically, Plazir-15 with its direct democracy is exactly what I wanted a post-Empire Star Wars universe to look like, when I was fifteen.

Now my teenaged years coincided with the long leaden reign of Helmut Kohl, who became chancellor when I was nine and governed until I was twenty-five. Now I did not like Kohl and I liked much of his cabinet even less. The four successive Kohl governments were dominated by conservative and xenophobic men who wanted to keep (West) Germany stuck in the 1950s forever. The Kohl era was grey and leaden and endless. No one liked Kohl, he was the butt of jokes, a gift to political cartoonists. Pretty much everybody of my generation and many of the older generation wanted nothing more than Kohl gone and yet someone (the Bavarians, the East Germans, the Catholics, old people, your Nazi uncle) kept electing the guy again and again and again.

For a teenager who was politically interested and had many ideas about how (West) Germany could be so much better, it was torture, because I couldn’t even vote. Even though I was certain that if I could only vote, Kohl would finally be gone (spoiler alert: it didn’t work). Meanwhile, politics class in school dutifully taught us about the difference between representative and direct democracy and why the West German system was the best ever, even though it was plain to see that it wasn’t. When I asked the teacher, “Why don’t we have plebicites like the Swiss, and why can’t we even directly elect our president like the Americans or the French, especially since that was possible in the Weimar Republic?” the answer was basically, “Because Germans can’t be trusted not to a elect a Hitler or Hindenburg again.” Which was as fucking offensive in 1988 as it is today.

Personally, I really, really liked the idea of direct democracy, because it meant you could vote on everything without having to trust that some elected politician would vote the way you wanted them to. And so I privately decided that of course the Rebellion would install a direct democracy in the galaxy, after defeating the Empire, because it was obviously the best and fairest form of government. I also decided that the Rebellion would obviously function like a direct democracy, because they were not the Empire. Mind you, none of this is even remotely implied in the movies or the early tie-in novels and I have no idea how a galactic scale direct democracy would function. However, it could function on a planet with a smallish population like Plazir-15 or coincidentally also among a small group like the Mandalorians. Coincidentally, I now wonder whether Jon Favreau or Dave Filoni also imagined the New Republic as a direct democracy.

Commissioner Helgait claims to have no idea why the droids malfunction. But maybe the Ugnaughts in charge of repairing the droids might know something. So Din and Bo-Katan go to see the Ugnaughts residing in the lower levels of the capital Plazir-15. Bo-Katan tries to question the Ugnaughts and gets precisely nowhere – the Ugnaughts just ignore her and continue their work. Din draws on his friendship with Kuill from season 1 and manages to get through to the Ugnaughts by using their communication style (“I have spoken”) and also by respecting and praising their work. The Ugnaughts, so Din tells Bo-Katan, would never admit to the droids malfunctioning, because that would be an insult to their hard work. However, Din gets the Ugnaughts to tell him where they expect the next droid problem to happen, namely at the spaceport loading docks. So Din and Bo-Katan have another clue and a new destination.

At the loading dock, Bo-Katan interviews the repurposed battle droid (one of the goofy looking battle droids from The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones) overseeing the work done by somewhat bulkier battle droids. The droid is utterly shocked and claims that there are no malfunctions and that no droid at the dock would even think of attacking humans. Din – who really, really doesn’t like droids – meanwhile starts kicking random droid carrying boxes to see if one of them will attack him. The scene is reminiscent of those videos of Boston Dynamics robots getting kicked in order to show their stability. It’s also disturbing, because what Din is doing here is basically the equivalent of a cop beating up a suspect. Finally, one of the droids does snap and attack Din – not that I can really blame him. Because Din does behave like an arsehole here.

Now that Din has provoked a droid into malfunctioning, we are treated to a chase scene through a cyberpunky street, until Din and Bo-Katan take down the droid. On the droid’s body, they find another clue. A spark plug – the droid equivalent of a matchbook – from a place ominously named The Resistor.

So Bo-Katan and Din head to The Resistor and it turns out to be the droid equivalent of the Mos Eisley Cantina, a bar that’s entirely patronised by droids of all shapes, types and sizes. I think every type of droid ever seen in Star Wars can be spotted at The Resistor.

This is as good a moment as any to discuss the general issue of the position of droids in the Star Wars universe. Star Wars droids are clearly sentient and intelligent beings, true artificial intelligence. And yet every group, whether the Old Republic, the Empire, the Rebellion or the New Republic, persists in treating droids like slave labour. This isn’t even particularly subtle. The “We don’t serve their kind in here” comment of the Cantina bartender all the way back in A New Hope makes the parallels crystal clear.  Of course, that comment was probably a throwaway line – back in 1977, no one ever expected Star Wars to grow and expand as it did – but it still set the tone for how droids are treated in the Star Wars universe for the next 46 years. And since The Resistor is a clear call-back to the Mos Eisley cantina, the looks that Din and Bo-Katan get, when they enter the bar, are a call-back to the “We don’t server their kind in here” comment.

Frankly, I – and many others I guess – expected the droid malfunctions to be actually a robot uprising with The Resistor as the resistance headquarters. I even suspected that the Ugnaughts might be in on it as well, because Ugnaughts are treated no better than droids in the Star Wars universe. They live in the sewers and are treated as cheap labour to keep the place running for everybody else. Some of them, like Kuill, have even been enslaved. So I expected that the droid malfunctions would turn out to be a uprising of the droids and the Ugnaughts, trying to persuade the direct democracy of Plazir-15 that they are people, too, and that they want a vote and a say.  Which would have been a powerful message. However, the episode decides not to go there, but backs off instead.

At io9, James Whitbrook goes into the messed up relationship that Star Wars in general and The Mandalorian in particular has with droids. And while I have sympathy for Din’s childhood trauma and his resulting wariness of droids, over the course of three seasons of The Mandalorian, Din has met plenty of droids who were not out to kill him. He even made friends with droids. So why, when faced with a bar full of droids just going about their business, does Din immediately feel the need to go all bad cop on them, until Bo-Katan holds him back?

Especially since it turns out that the droids are actually eager to help. They are understandably worried that they will be deactivated as a reaction to the attacks. Also – and this is truly disturbing – the droid bartender tells Din and Bo-Katan that the droids don’t mind doing menial labour for organic beings. After all, organic beings created them and besides, droid lifespans are so much longer than those of most organic lifeforms in the Star Wars universe bar exceptions like Yoda, Yaddle and Grogu and the Ugnaughts, who are very long-lived. I’m sorry, but that sounds very much like, “Yes, we’re slaves, but we’re happy to be slaves.”

The bartender tells Din and Bo-Katan that the malfunctioning droids were all patrons at his bar and that they all drank from the same batch of Nepenthe, a lubricant fluid with a very telling name. So now Din and Bo-Katan have yet another clue to pursue.

We now get the Star Wars take on a typical scene that’s found in every cop show, namely the coroner scene. The coroner is this case is a delightfully butch woman and her clients are droids, in particular the battle droid that Din kicked into attack mode. The coroner analyses the Nepenthe and finds nano-bots therein, which have caused the droids to attack people. The problem on Plazir-15 is not a robot uprising, but sabotage. The coroner can even track the nano-bots to a particular person on Plazir-15, but before she can tell Din and Bo-Katan (and us) who it is, the dissection droid suddenly attacks, until our Mandalorian duo shoots it down.

And the mastermind behind the droid attacks is – drumroll – Commissioner Helgait. This reveal isn’t as surprising as it should be, because a) you don’t cast Christopher Lloyd for a throwaway part, b) a name like Helgait practially screams “I’m a villain” and c) in the standard cop show formula, the first or second person questioned is usually the one who did it. Indeed, it is striking how much the middle part of this episode is structured like a cop show with all the necessary beats. And I for one would love a Star Wars buddy cop show, something along the lines of CSI Coruscant.

As for the motive – no, for once it has nothing to do with the Empire. Instead, Commissioner Helgait is a member of the Separatists who were the prime antagonists in the Clone Wars some thirty years before. “Count Dooku was a visionary”, Helgait snarls in the best Bond villain manner, while he threatens to push the big red button of doom. Bo-Katan, however, isn’t in the mood for Bond villain monologues and just zaps him.

Din and Bo-Katan drag Helgait back to the Duchess and Captain Bombardier, who are playing croquet, while Grogu uses the Force to manipulate the ball in the Duchess’ favour. It’s nice to see Grogu’s world growing, as he grows close to people other than Din.

The Duchess is shocked, since Helgait has always been a loyal supporter of her family, and exiles him to a moon. Din and Bo-Katan not only get permission to finally visit the Mandalorian fleet, but they are also given the key to the city (a literal key) and while Grogu is knighted as a Knight of the Ancient Order of Independent Regencies. The name somehow sounds like a book club dedicated to reading and discussing regency romances by indie authors, but even though Grogu chose the Mandalorians over the Jedi, he is nonetheless now a knight.

Now Din and Bo-Katan finally do what they came to Plazir-15 for in the first place, namely talk to the Mandalorian fleet and try to persuade them to join up with the Armourer’s people and retake Mandalore. As expected, Axe Woves isn’t particularly happy to see Bo-Katan nor is he willing to give up control of the fleet, not without a fight. So Bo-Katan challenges him to a duel and wins. Axe yields, but not without snarling that she will never be the leader of the Mandalorians, because she hasn’t got the darksabre and hasn’t challenged Din to win it back.

Din once more tries offering the darksabre to Bo-Katan, but she can’t accept it. According to the beliefs of her people, who are just as superstitious as the Armourer’s group in their own way, she needs to win the darksabre in battle. But Bo-Katan doesn’t want to fight Din – because she likes him and because she doesn’t want to fight her people.

Then Din steps forward and explains that he lost the darksabre to the spidery vampire droid on Mandalore and that Bo-Katan beat the droid and rescued Din, so she won the darksabre fair and square. He tries handing it to her again and this time Bo-Katan accepts it and ignites the darksabre, looking very badarse. The queen of the Mandalorians is back.

The Mandalorian usually wears its influences on its sleeve, but this episode is a mess of different influences. The design of Plazir-15 with its domes cities and vacuum tube trains feels very much like Logan’s Run, which came out the year before A New Hope. The over-the-top costumes of the Duchess and Captain Bombardier have been compared to a Disney fairytale or Alice in Wonderland. The entire middle part is basically a buddy cop show set in the Star Wars universe with some cyberpunk visuals. The oddly harmless ending of Helgait sort of apologising for causing trouble and being exiled to a moon feels like something from a children’s cartoon, where nothing bad ever happens to anybody, not even the villains – and indeed, Dave Filoni got his start overseeing the animated Star Wars shows which were aimed at children. The weird planet of the week has been compared to Doctor Who, while Camestros Felapton detects the influence of 2000AD. In short, it’s a mess of influences, which is appropriate for an episode that was something of a mess.

A lot of people did not particularly like this episode, because the tone is very inconsistent – the fight with Axe Woves is a lot darker than the largely comedic hijinks that have gone before – and the buddy cop side quest takes up the majority of the episode. Also, we’re only three episodes from the end of the season and it is still not clear what the actual endgame is.

However, I actually liked this episode because it is delightfully weird and the buddy cop side quest is a lot of fun, even though it once again sidesteps the problem of the way droids are treated in the Star Wars universe. Besides, a lot of people seem to want the show to be more like Andor and forget that The Mandalorian has always been a meandering show that goes wherever it’s going at its own pace. At the episode six mark in season 1, Din was bullied into breaking a Twi’lek criminal out of prison by some old associates – an episode that did not contribute much to the overall story arc. By the episode six mark in season 2, Din took Grogu to an ancient Jedi temple to send out a psychic signal, fought Boba Fett and watched Grogu getting kidnapped. However, the point where all the threads run together have always been the last two episodes of every season. Which means that the next two episodes should be the point where the meandering path leads towards a concrete endpoint.

*For a paper that has the reputation of being a somewhat conservative high-quality and high culture paper, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung has a remarkable number of geeks among its staff and some very good pop culture coverage.

Non-Fiction Spotlight: The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum by Glen Cadigan

Hugo season is upon us and nominations for the 2023 Hugo Awards have opened, so it’s time for another Non-Fiction Spotlight. For more about the Non-Fiction Spotlight project, go here. To check out the spotlights I already posted, go here.

For more recommendations for SFF-related non-fiction, also check out this Facebook group set up by the always excellent Farah Mendlesohn, who is a champion (and author) of SFF-related non-fiction.

Today’s Non-Fiction Spotlight is a biography of Dave Cockrum, a comic artist who should be better remembered than he is, since he co-created the All New, All Different X-Men in 1975 and helped to lay the foundations for what would become Marvel’s most popular title by the next decade.

Therefore, I am thrilled to welcome Glen Cadigan, author of The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum, to my blog today.

Tell us about your book.

The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum is a cradle to grave biography of the comic book artist best known for co-creating the All New, All Different X-Men for Marvel, and before that, for revitalizing the Legion of Super-Heroes at DC. It tells the story of how he went from an enthusiastic fan and aspiring pro in the ’60s to the driving force behind the X-Men reboot in the ’70s to a down-on-his luck-creator in the early 2000s, fighting for his life in a veteran’s hospital while Marvel was making millions off his creations as he made nothing.

It’s a story about justice and injustice, both on the page and off.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I started writing about comics twenty years ago, and returned — after a hiatus — last year. I’ve done volumes on the Legion of Super-Heroes (The Legion Companion, The Best of The Legion Outpost) and the Teen Titans (The Titans Companion Vols. 1 & 2), as well as articles in Alter Ego and Back Issue magazines and Comic-Con International’s annual Souvenir Book. I’ve interviewed literally dozens of writers and artists, and I’ve been doing it so long now that they’re starting to die on me.

In between, I’ve dabbled in fiction. I have two ongoing series, both humourous: Bedlam & Belfry, Intergalactic Attorneys at Law, and Tall Tales, Fairy Tales, and Bedtime Stories (For Former Children). About the latter, I say that the stories are for those young at heart but old enough to drink.

What prompted you to write/edit this book?

My association with Dave Cockrum goes back over twenty years, to when I was a regular on his message board. During that time of his life, he was a forgotten man. Editors wouldn’t hire him, and he received no compensation from Marvel for the use of his X-Men characters, which was a constant irritant to him.

It seems crazy to think that, while the X-Men are so well-known today, the names of the people who created it are not. Everyone knows Stan Lee, but not as many people are aware of Jack Kirby, the other creator of the original X-Men. When it comes to the All New, All Different X-Men (think Star Trek: The Next Generation compared to the original series, or the version with Wolverine in it), how many people who’ve seen those movies have ever heard of Dave Cockrum? Or know what happened to him, later in his life, while his creations were the bedrock of Marvel’s publishing empire?

I wrote the book because it’s necessary, and the story needs to be told. And it’s not the first time something like this happened to a comic book creator: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, the creators of Superman, had a similar battle in the ’70s. So for the co-creator of the version of the X-Men that was the backbone of Marvel for decades to end up in the same situation was just once too many.

Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?

If you’ve heard of the X-Men, you should know the story behind the most successful version of the team. You should know the story of the man who originated the new characters, and even modified the ones he didn’t. He was the first artist to draw Wolverine unmasked, and one of two people responsible for saying, “Hey, what if his claws weren’t in his gloves, but in him?” You should know how he fell on hard times while his creations were the cornerstone of Marvel for decades before they appeared in movies.

Today, all the Marvel movies and TV shows have a paragraph buried in the credits which list not only the creators of the characters, but also the writers and artists who came after them whose stories were incorporated into the adaptation. When Dave Cockrum sat in a movie theater in 2000 and saw Storm and Mystique (and Logan) on the screen, he didn’t see his name anywhere. He was as forgotten and neglected by the movie company as he was by the comic book company.

This book also treats every other aspect of his career with a fine-toothed comb. His years in fanzines are covered in detail, as are those spent on other comic book properties, such as his own Futurians (featured on the cover), T.H.U.N.D.E.R. Agents, and especially the Legion of Super-Heroes. His personal life is covered, as well as his professional career. His contemporaries (Marv Wolfman, Paul Levitz) have had nice things to say about the book, and fans turned pros (Mark Waid, Kurt Busiek, Neil Gaiman among them) have helped to spread the word. If people don’t want to listen to me, I hope they listen to them!

Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?

Well, there is one story that I couldn’t work into the narrative. When Dave Cockrum was a teenager, he was in a group like the Boy Scouts called the Air Explorers. Dave’s father was the group leader, and also a Lt. Colonel in the Air Force. So one weekend, the kids are brought to this campground in Colorado, which is where the Cockrums were living at the time, to do whatever it was they went there to do.

There was also someone there with a couple of beagles, and they just started digging and digging and wouldn’t stop. So the guys go over to see what’s going on, and the dogs uncover a human hand. As it turned out, a local banker had murdered his wife and buried her there, and Dave and the other boys were on hand when she was found.

That story was told to me by another member of the group, who clearly remembered it. Oddly enough, Dave never mentioned it — at least in print — while he was alive.

 
SFF-related non-fiction is somewhat sidelined by the big genre awards, since the Nebulas have no non-fiction category and the Best Related Work Hugo category has become something of a grab bag of anything that doesn’t fit elsewhere. So why do you think SFF-related non-fiction is important?

The history of the field is important. No one would question preserving the history of Hollywood, or the music industry, or professional sports. People need to know where they came from, and who was there before them. Whether it’s a biography, memoir, behind-the-scenes book, or scholarly work, non-fiction is one of the legs on the table, and a three-legged table isn’t as stable as a four-legged one.

Are there any other great SFF-related non-fiction works or indeed anything else (books, stories, essays, writers, magazines, films, TV shows, etc…) you’d like to recommend?

This is a great year for non-fiction SFF books, enough that they could have their own category with projects left off the ballot. Hopefully, one day they’ll get that at the Hugos.

Right now I’m actually reading a Hugo Award-winning piece of non-fiction called Wonder’s Child: My Life in Science Fiction. It’s Jack Williamson’s autobiography, and it’s SFF history right from the horse’s mouth.

If it’s not too forward, I could plug my upcoming biography of Edmond Hamilton, coming in 2024 in Alter Ego # 187. It’s an issue dedicated to arguably the most successful writer of science fiction’s Golden Age. He was the author who Isaac Asimov and Ray Bradbury read growing up, and Ray was even the best man at his wedding!

Where can people buy your book?

The softcover is available directly from the publisher:

It’s also on Amazon:

There’s a limited edition hardcover available:

And if people want to purchase a digital-only version, there’s a drop down menu on both the hardcover and softcover page at the publisher’s website where it says “Packaging” that allows them to do so (and save a lot of money!).

Finally, it’s also available in comic book stores, but you might have to get your local retailer to order it. The order codes are FEB221749 (Softcover) and FEB221750 (Hardcover).

Where can people find you?

My website is: www.glencadigan.com

I have a monthly (or so) newsletter at: glencadigan.substack.com where things are announced and behind-the-scenes stories are told!

I’m on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/glen.cadigan/

And I’ve started to dust off my Twitter account: https://twitter.com/glencadigan

Thank you, Glen, for stopping and answering my questions. Check out The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum, if you’ve ever been a fan of the X-Men or are interested in the history of comics and the people who make them.

About The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum:

From the letters pages of Silver Age comics to his 2021 induction into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame, the career of Dave Cockrum started at the bottom and then rose to the top of the comic book industry. Beginning with his childhood obsession with comics and continuing through his years in the Navy, The Life and Art of Dave Cockrum follows the rising star from fandom (where he was one of the “Big Three” fanzine artists) to pro-dom, where he helped revive two struggling comic book franchises: the Legion of Super-Heroes and the X-Men. A prolific costume designer and character creator, his redesigns of the Legion and his introduction of X-Men characters Storm, Nightcrawler, Colossus, and Thunderbird (plus his design of Wolverine’s alter ego, Logan) laid the foundation for both titles to become best-sellers. His later work on his own property, The Futurians, as well as childhood favorite Blackhawk and T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents, plus his five years on Soulsearchers and Company, cemented his position as an industry giant. Featuring artwork from fanzines, unused character designs, and other rare material, this is the comprehensive biography of the legendary comic book artist, whose influence is still felt on the industry today! Written by Glen Cadigan (The Legion Companion, The Titans Companion Volumes 1 and 2, Best of the Legion Outpost) with an introduction by Alex Ross.

About Glen Cadigan:

Glen Cadigan was born on the planet Earth in the second half of the Twentieth Century. He used to write non-fiction, but now he just makes things up. His previous work includes The Legion Companion, The Best of The Legion Outpost, and The Titans Companion Vols. 1 & 2. His stories have also appeared in Cthulhu Tales Omnibus: Madness, Cthulhu Tales Omnibus: Delirium, and 49th Parallels: Alternative Canadian Histories and Futures. His very first professional comic book sale, “One Of Those Days,” was adapted into the live action film, Eldritch Code. In addition to the above, he also writes the ongoing series Bedlam & Belfry, Intergalactic Attorneys at Law and Tall Tales, Fairy Tales, and Bedtime Stories (For Former Children). When he isn’t making fun of lawyers, he pursues more literary endeavours.

***

Did you publish a work of SFF-related longform non-fiction in 2022 or are you publishing one in 2023 and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.

The Mandalorian and Baby Grogu deal with “The Pirate”

Welcome to the latest instalment of my episode by episode reviews of season of The Mandalorian. Previous installments may be found here.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut!

In my review of the last episode of The Mandalorian, I said that I expect the various plot strands to come together eventually and in this episode they begin to do just that.

The episode opens on Nevarro, where Greef Karga is discussing his plans to improve the city by ensuring that there is a better and faster connection between the trade district and the spaceport. The planning meeting is rudely interrupted, when Gorian Shard, the Swamp Thing/Moss Man/Evil Seed type pirate king we met in the first episode of the season, appears above the city in a spaceship that’s straight out of the 1970s/1980s Chris Foss illustration and starts firing.

Greef Karga evacuates the population to the wastelands of Nevarro, since the pirates seem intent on attacking only the city and not the people. So far, Nevarro’s nameless capital seems to have been home to some twenty thousand to fifty thousand people. However, the evacuees Greef Karga addresses are only maybe eighty to a hundred people. We later see that part of the population – including the Anzellan droidsmiths and the Salacious Crumb creatures living in a tree – remained in the city, but there are still way too few people here, as Emmet Asher-Perrin points out in their review at Tor.com.

Greef Karga sends a message for help to Captain Teva of the New Republic, since Captain Teva offered Greef Karga and Nevarro the New Republic’s help. The focus now switches to Captain Teva (and stays with him for most of the episode) who returns from patrol to a place called Adelphi Station and is handed Greef Karga’s message by the barkeeper in the officers’ mess. Teva declares that the New Republic should immediately dispatch help to Nevarro, but another New Republic officer – a big purple-pink alien – points out that the New Republic is swamped with requests for aid and that help will arrive too late, if at all.

At io9, Germain Lussier points out that the big purple-pink alien is actually an Easter egg, because this particular alien is called Zeb Orrelios and was a member of the main cast of the animated series Star Wars: Rebels. Tor.com’s Emmet Asher-Perrin also recognises Zeb Orrelios and also points out that he happens to be gay.

Captain Teva, however, is determined to make good of his promise to Greef Karga and tells Zeb Orrelios that if the New Republic won’t respond to requests for help, he will personally go to Coruscant, because then they cannot ignore him.

Captain Teva proceeds to do just that and so the special effects team can use that nice Coruscant background again, though Captain Teva does not put in a pit stop at the mountain top. Instead, he heads straight to the New Republic headquarters – a vaguely Art Deco looking skyscraper we also saw in “The Convert” – to see the person in charge, one Colonel Tuttle. The actor playing Colonel Tuttle seemed familiar, though I couldn’t place him. A quick search revealed that his name is Tim Meadows and that he has an impressive resume of mostly comedic roles. So far, The Mandalorian has had a remarkable number of comedians among its guest cast. But then, comedians are usually good actors, even in serious/semi-serious roles, because comedy is harder than drama.

Colonel Tuttle seems rather fazzled. He has too much work, too many emergencies to deal with and an office droid keeps dumping more work on his desk. He agrees to see Captain Teva and listens to his request for aid to Nevarro, but then he realises that Nevarro is an independent world that hasn’t yet joined the New Republic (and doesn’t want to, at least according to Greef Karga). And since the New Republic is underhanded as it is (Why? There were plenty of rebel pilots and troops and there must be plenty of lower ranking Imperial troops and pilots, who were not involved in war crimes, still around, too), they will provide aid to the member worlds first. Captain Teva is not satisfied with this, because he believes that the New Republic should help everybody in need. Not to mention that there are a lot of odd things happening in and around Nevarro, including the fact that Moff Gideon and his forces used to hang out there. That same Moff Gideon, who is rumoured to have vanished en route to his war crime trial.

The conversation is interrupted by the appearance of another officer and it’s none other than Elia Kane, Moff Gideon’s former communications officer who pretends to be repentant and reformed, but was last seen overseeing the brainwashing/lobotomy of Doctor Pershing. Captain Teva sees the anmesty program badge on Elia’s uniform and is immediately suspicious of her – and rightfully, too, because Elia is up to something, though we’re not quite sure what. Elia confirms his suspicions by pointing out thzat withholding aid will maybe show those uppity independent worlds like Nevarro the value of joining the New Republic. Captain Teva points out that this sounds like something the Empire would say. He also points out that Elia didn’t join the New Republic of her own free will, but that she was captured. “I was liberated,” Elia replies. Yeah, that’s how they always put it. Teva storms off. If the New Republic won’t help Nevarro, he’ll find someone who will.

The next time we see Teva he’s landing his X-wing on the shores of the lake on the planet that looks suspiciously like the South-Western US and is the current home to the Mandalorian splinter group led by the Armourer. Captain Teva cautiously emerges, well aware that he’s being watched – through the scopes of multiple rifles – and that the Mandalorians don’t like strangers and like authority figures of any kind even less. He approaches the cave, his hands spread wide, and calls out that he means no harm, but that he needs help.

Finally, Paz Vizla appears in the mouth of the cave to tell Captain Teva to get lost. When Captain Teva refuses to get lost, more Mandalorians, including Din and Bo-Katan, appear and want to know how in the universe Captain Teva found their latest hideout. Teva replies that someone among their number is a former member of the Rebellion and told him. The Mandalorians of course want to know who the traitor is and who trundles forward but R4-D5. So Peli Motto was actually telling the truth when she told Din that R4 used to work for the Rebellion. Apparently, there’s a theory that R4 deliberately blew a fuse back in A New Hope, so Owen Lars would purchase R2-D2 instead, allowing the little droid to seek out Obi-Wan and deliver Leia’s message.

Captain Teva hands Greef Karga’s message to Din and tells him that his friend is in danger and in dire need of help. Before he takes off, he also tells the assembled Mandalorians that he knows they’ll relocate anyway, but that they have his word that he will never reveal their location to anybody. I believe him, too, and so does Din. If “The Convert” showed us the dark side of the New Republic, Captain Teva is an example of the good side and of what the New Republic should stand for.

Of course, the question is: Why do the Armourer and her flock relocate every time somebody finds them? Living underground made sense in the days of the Empire, when Mandalorians were a persecuted minority (though Boba Fett was able to operate openly). But the Empire is gone and while the New Republic isn’t everything it’s cranked up to be, I doubt that they are actively persecuting Mandalorians, since they have neither a motive nor the resources to do so. So why are the Armourer and her people so paranoid about being found? Do they have powerful enemies that we know nothing about or are they simply paranoid about something learning the location of their hideout, because “this is the way”?

Captain Teva takes off and the Mandalorians retreat to their cave to debate what to do now. Apparently, in order to be allowed to speak in a Mandalorian meeting, you have to hold the Armourer’s hammer, which is a neat worldbuilding detail. Din is speaking and explains that while Greef Karga and his bounty hunters attacked the Mandalorians (and likely killed some of them) to capture Grogu way back in season 1, the real villain was the Empire in the form of Werner Herzog and Moff Gideon. Din also notes that he and Greef Karga get along really well by now and that Greef has promised him a tract of land on Nevarro. If Din were to take him up on the offer, the Mandalorians could live out in the open again and their children could play in the sun. At this point, the camera cuts to Grogu, who is watching Daddy with adoring eyes.

Paz Vizla speaks next and points out that many Mandalorians suffered and died to protect Grogu against Greef Karga, the bounty hunters and the Empire. So why in the universe should they help Greef Karga? “Because we’re Mandalorians, that’s why”, Paz Vizla roars to everybody’s surprise. At any rate, I was surprised, because so far Paz Vizla had been portrayed as a rival of Din Djarin’s and even tried to kill him in The Book of Boba Fett a.k.a. The Mandalorian, season 2.5. io9‘s Germain Lussier and AV-Club reviewer Sam Barsanti seem surprised as well, even though Paz Vizla did express his undying gratitude to Din, after Din helped to rescue his son last episode.

Now this isn’t the first time that The Mandalorian has introduced a character as an antagonist and/or villain, only for them to turn into an ally of Din’s. In fact, there have been several examples so far, starting with Greef Karga himself as well as Boba Fett, Fennec Shand and even Bo-Katan, who was strongly hinted to be the main antagonist for this season in the trailer, but turned out to be anything but. Maybe turning enemies into allies is Din’s true superpower.

So the Mandalorians are off to Nevarro. Din and Grogu travel in Din’s starfighter, while everybody else travels aboard Bo-Katan’s ship, since they seem to have no other spaceships, which begets the question just how does the Armourer relocate her flock every time things get too hot for them? Does she charter spaceships or hire an intergalactic moving company?

The retaking of Nevarro is thrilling, though fairly straight forward. Din and Bo-Katan attack Gorian Shand’s ship from the air, while Bo-Katan drops off the rest of the Mandalorians Starship Trooper style to retake the city house by house and block by block.

At first things go well. The pirates are easily overwhelmed, since they are drunk and don’t expect a counterattack, but they quickly muster the resistance. Those citizens still left in the city – including the Anzelllan droid smiths and the colony of Salacious Crumbs living in a tree – help the Mandalorians, warning them of ambushes. A bunch of pirates manage to set up heavy artillery on the balcony of Greef Karga’s old office and hold back the assault for a while. However, the Armourer has snuck into the building and makes short work of them, using her tools as weapons and being absolutely badass. I’m not the only one who enjoyed the Armourer showing that even though she may be the spiritual and political leader of her people, she still is a warrior who can hold her own against any of them. nerds of a feather reviewer and friend of this blog Haley Zapal enjoyed it, too.

While the Mandalorian infantry is retaking the city, Din and Bo-Katan are attacking the pirates from the air. Gorian Shard rants and yells a lot, while holding on to his old-fashioned nautical steering wheel on the bridge of his Chris Foss style pirate ship. Shard orders his gunners to the gun ports and also launches the small pirate fighter craft we saw in the first episode of the season. However, Bo-Katan and Din make short work of Shard’s forces.

One of the small craft is piloted by Vane, the pirate who was the sole survivor of the landing party that harassed Greef Karga in the first episode. When the battle gets too hot, Vane calls Shard, tells him it was an honour to serve under him and flies off to fight and plunder another day. I’m pretty sure that we haven’t seen the last of this guy.

As for Gorian Shard, his first mate, who looks like every first mate in every pirate story – clad in a striped shirt and a bandana – only that he’s an alien, tries to urge Shard to leave or at least evacuate the ship, which is under fire and damaged, in an escape pod. However, Shard has no intention to evacuate. He is a pirate captain, after all, and like every good captain, he will go down with his ship. And so he tries to crash his fatally stricken ship into the city, but misses and crashed into the mountains behind the city instead. The ship goes up flames. Is this the end of Gorian Shard? Time will tell, I guess. After all, we didn’t see the body.

Greef Karga is happy that Din came to the rescue of Nevarro and that he brought along friends. True to his promise to Din, he gives the Mandalorians a large tract of land and also lets them know that they are welcome on Nevarro and free to live out in the open. It’s a win-win situation for both sides. The Mandalorians get a new home to call their own and Greef Karga get a aready-made defence force that can handle anything from pirates to Imperial remnants (cause you just know that Moff Gideon will turn up again) and even the New Republic itself, should it come to that.

While everybody is celebrating, the Armourer asks Bo-Katan to accompany her. They head for the catacombs of the city, where the Mandalorians lived, when we first met them, and the Armourer takes Bo-Katan to her old forge, causing Bo-Katan to reminisce about the great forge on Mandalore. What is it about the Armourer’s forge that causes people to have flashbacks?

The Armourer tells Bo-Katan that whether it’s the great forge on Mandalore or her old forge in the sewers of Nevarro, the purpose is always the same. And then the Armourer tells Bo-Katan to take off hr helmet. Bo-Katan is more than a little confused – after all, the Armourer is so very insistent on Mandalorians never taking off their helmet. The Armourer, however, says that it’s okay. She believes that Bo-Katan really did see a mythosaur, which means that she is the chosen one who can walk both in the fundamentalist world of the Armourer and her people as well as the wider world of more secular Mandalorians. Bo-Katan is the one who can reunite and rebuild Mandalore.

Of course, Bo-Katan is the heir to the throne of Mandalore and she’ll probably make a better ruler than Din Djarin, even though Din has the darksabre. Din, however, isn’t really a politician or a leader and doesn’t want to be either. He’s mainly a Dad and his sole focus is making sure Grogu grows up well. It’s also telling that the two Mandalorian leaders we’ve seen, Bo-Katan and the Armourer, are both women, since it suggests that the Mandalorians are actually a matriarchal culture. At first glance, it seems surprising that a warrior culture like the Mandalorians would be matriarchal. On the other hand, the most important thing for all Mandalorians seem to be the foundlings, the children that they raise. And it does make sense for a child and family-focussed culture to be matriarchal.

The Armourer and Bo-Katan emerge from the catacombs, Bo-Katan still without her helmet. Paz Vizla is outraged – she has taken off her helmet. The Armourer, however, tells him that it’s okay, that Bo-Katan belongs to both worlds and that she will go and bring other more secular Mandalorians to their new home on Nevarro.

The episode ends by checking in once more with Captain Teva, who must have flown twice across the galaxy by now. He is on patrol, when he finds a New Republic ship floating in space. He boards and realises that the ship was a prison transport and that the crew and guards are all dead. Nor was that ship transporting any old prisoner – no, it was transporting none other than Moff Gideon. So he really did vanish on route to his war crime trial – because he was broken out of a prison transport.

And who could have broken Moff Gideon out of the prison transport? Elia Kane and whatever network of supporters Moff Gideon still has would seem to be the most likely suspects.  However, the evidence Captain Teva finds points in a different direction. Because embedded in the hull of the prison transport is a piece of beskar, which suggests that Mandalorians were the ones who broke Moff Gideon out of prison and killed a bunch of New Republic personnel in the process. Oooohhhh….

Okay, so that beskar thing is the most obvious false flag operation since the claim that a bunch of Ukrainians not affiliated with the Ukrainian nor any other government chartered the yacht Andromeda, somehow procured military grade explosives and blew up the Nordstream 1 and 2 pipelines. And yes, I’m furious about the Nordstream sabotage, about our government’s total lack of interest in finding out who is responsible and about the fact that so many of my friends still support the government I strongly suspect is responsible and that they don’t seem to give a fuck. And that’s all I’ll say about that.

As for why the beskar was obviously planted, first of all, Mandalorians don’t just leave beskar lying around. It’s a rare and sacred material, so if beskar pieces lost in battle are at all retrievable (and lodged in the hull of a spaceship is definitely retrievable), the Mandalorians will retrieve and recycle them.

Of course, it is possible that Mandalorian mercenaries (and quite a few of them seem to have become mercenaries) freed Moff Gideon on behalf of someone else. But it’s far more likely that Moff Gideon’s supporters or even his superiors (since I’m pretty sure he was not the top brass either) freed him and planted the beskar to point the finger at the Mandalorians and turn public opinion against them.

Come to think of it, didn’t Bo-Katan lose a shoulder pauldron during the mission to rescue Ragnar Vizla from the mama raptor? The piece of beskar that Captain Teva finds is about pauldron sized and Mandalorian pauldrons are conveniently emblazoned with the symbol of their clan. So maybe someone is trying to frame Bo-Katan, whom we know has powerful enemies with access to Imperial tech.

It seems that the rest of this season will be dedicated to rebuilding Mandalorian culture on Nevarro on the one hand and to figuring out what the happened to Moff Gideon and who the powers behind him are, cause – to quote Qui-Gon Jinn – “there’s always a bigger fish” .

Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Double Feature: “Precious” and “The Broken Sword”

Before we get to the story, I have two links to share. To begin with, I was at the Hugos There podcast, discussing the 2022 Hugo winner for Best Novel A Desolation Called Peace by Arkady Martine with host Seth Heasley. For more about the Hugos There podcast, see my interview with Seth as part of the Fancast Spotlight project.

Last month, I was also over at Galactic Journey, reviewing the 1968 Hugo winner for Best Novel Lord of Light by Roger Zelazny as well as Easy Go, a 1968 heist novel by Michael Crichton, writing under the pen name John Lange (which ironically is the real name of the author writing under the pen name John Norman, author of the Gor novels). These early Michael Crichton novels are remarkably good (I discussed a few of them at the SFFAudio Podcast) and in fact I gave the obscure thriller a higher rating than the Hugo winning novel. But then, Lord of Light hasn’t aged very well and is a typical example of clueless 1960s appropriation of Asian culture.

Talking of the SFFAudio Podcast, I also at discussed the Robert E. Howard story “Isle of Pirate’s Doom”, which is one of the stories that were never published in his lifetime, on an episode that dropped recently.

Finally, let’s get to the meat of the post, for today I have not one but two new Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre photo stories for you. That said, both stories are quite short, so I decided to run them as a double feature. The name “Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre” was coined by Kevin Beckett at the Whetstone Discord server.

Both stories were inspired by Masters of the Universe: Revelation. At the beginning of episode 2, Teela and her new partner Andra are working as mercenaries and are hired to repossess a stolen magical object called “the Glove of Globula”, when they run into an old acquaintance of Teela’s, namely none other than Stinkor, one of the weirder Evil Warriors even by Masters of the Universe standard.

Now I happened to find a cheap Stinkor at Smyths Toys (Irish chain that took over the European Toys R’ Us stores, after Toys R’ Us folded). And since I already had Teela and Andra, I decided to recreate that scene. However, I didn’t have a Glove of Globula or anything that remotely looked like it, so I decided to go with a different sacred relic.

Precious

In Stinkor’s lair:

“Ugh, this place stinks, Tee.”

“Comes with the territory, Andra. Let’s just grab what we came here for and get out.”

“What do you want? Get out! This is my home, my hoard, my precious. And now get out, you mean mercs!”

“All right, Stinkor, just hand over the sacred shoes of Frau Antje, Goddess of Cheese and we’ll be gone.”

“There’s a Goddess of Cheese?”

“It’s a fringe cult, but they pay well. And now hand over the shoes, Stinkor, and no one gets hurt.”

“No, my precious! You can’t have them. They’re mine, mine. My precious!”

“What do you want with those shoes? You’ve can’t even wear them, cause you’ve got clawed feet.”

“You don’t understand. They remind me of Skeletor and I miss him so much. Sniff.”

“Is he… crying?”

“Who cares? Let’s just grab the shoes and get out!”

“Good idea. That stench is making me nauseous.”

“Noooo! My precious! I’ll get you for this.”

***

Bonus: Stinkor in his natural element:

“It’s better to rule the trash heap than serve in Eternos Palace.”

***

The second mini-story is also inspired by Masters of the Universe: Revelation. The Sword of Power has been split in two and all magic has drained out of Eternia, slowly killing the planet. In order to restore the magic and Eternia, the Sword of Power must be reforged. And the one chosen to fulfil this vital task is none other than Roboto, a sentient robot built by Duncan and therefore Teela’s brother of sorts. Roboto succeeds, too, but at a terrible cost, because the power surge resulting from reforging the magical blade destroys his robot body and he expires in the arms of his sister Teela and her friend Andra.

Now I ordered the Revelation version of Roboto from Amazon and he happened to be delivered in the same package as a famous fantasy novel with a very appropriate title, namely The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson from 1954. So I decided to make a story of it.

The Broken Sword

The Revelation Roboto comes with the two halves of the Power Sword.

“A broken sword, you say? No problem. I can fix it. I have Father’s skills after all and he is the best weapons smith in all of Eternia.”

“Roboto, do you remember what happened the last time you tried to fix a broken sword?”

“Yes, I died and discovered that I could feel fear. And I helped to save the universe, too. That was a good day.”

“Not for us. So no more sword fixing, Roboto, unless you’re perfectly sure it’s safe.”

“But Father fixed me. Father can fix anything.”

***

That’s it for today, folks. I hope you enjoyed this Masters-of-the-Universe-Piece Theatre Photo Story Double Feature, because there will be more.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just bought some toys, took photos of them and wrote little scenes to go with those photos. All characters are copyright and trademark their respective owners.

The Mandalorian and Baby Grogu delve into the backstory of “The Foundling”

Welcome to the latest instalment of my episode by episode reviews of season of The Mandalorian. Previous installments may be found here.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut!

After last week’s detour into 1970s style dystopian science fiction and the fate of Doctor Pershing, The Mandalorian returns to its main protagonists, everybody’s favourite Clan of Two. As the title indicates, this episode focusses on everybody’s favourite fifty-year-old Force-wielding toddler Grogu.

After spending most of the previous episode on Coruscant, we’re back on the unnamed planet that looks suspiciously like the South-Western US, where the Armourer and her flock have holed up – quite literally, since they live in a cave. We also get a glimpse at what Mandalorians do during their downtime, namely practice fighting and engage in friendly, but competitive contests on the edge of the very lake that belched up a giant Mandalorian-eating monster in the first episode of the season. Bo-Katan is wandering around among the group and seems impressed by what the Armourer has built up.

Meanwhile, Grogu is sitting on the beach and amuses himself by arranging stones in a circular pattern, only that the stones stubbornly move, because they are a type of hermit crab. Speaking as someone who as a kid picked up a promising looking seashall more than once, only to find it inhabited by a hermit crab, I certainly sympathise with Grogu. Grogu’s contemplation is interrupted by his Dad, who picks him up and tells him it’s time he started his training.

A bunch of Mandalorian kids are engaging in friendly matches under the watchful eye of a referee. Ragnar, the kid we saw take the creed in the first episode and also the son of Paz Vizla, the portly Mandalorian who seems to be the Armourer’s right-hand man, has just beaten his opponent, when Din shows up with Grogu in tow and challenges Ragnar on behalf of Grogu. Ragnar is initially sceptical – Grogu is a toddler after all and doesn’t even have a helmet, whereupon Din solemnly declares that Grogu doesn’t have a helmet, because he is too young to speak the creed. But he can fight all right. Ragnar finally relents, expecting an easy victory, especially since Grogu doesn’t even seem to understand what is expected of him.

The weapon chosen are darts, basically little exploding paint balls fired from a wrist gauntlet. The gauntlet is so big that it barely fits on Grogu’s arm. Din tries to explain to Grogu how the darts work, while Bo-Katan tells Grogu, “It’s okay. My Dad was the same. It just means he’s proud of you.” In fact, the whole scene, complete with anxious hovering dads egging on their kids, reminds me of youth sports – whether it’s football, baseball, tennis, figure-skating or something else – and the interplay between kids and parents in the real world. In fact, the idea of heavily armed football/baseball/tennis/figure skating parents is both hilarious and terrifying.

You need to score three hits to win. Ragnar easily scores two, largely because Grogu either doesn’t quite understand the game or is simply not interested in playing. During a break, where the Dads coach their kids, Din says to Grogu that he knows what Grogu can do and that he shouldn’t hold back. So when the match restarts, Grogu Force-flips over Ragnar’s head, fire all three darts and hits Ragnar point-blank in the chest. Din is a very, very proud Dad and even the Armourer is impressed by Grogu’s abilities. Unlike Bo-Katan, she hasn’t really interacted with Jedi and other people with Force abilities before, so Grogu’s Force abilities are a surprise to her.

While everybody is congratulating Din and Grogu, Ragnar slinks off to sulk, which is understandable, considering he has just been beaten by toddler. But then, all of a sudden, a giant pterodactyl-like creature – Tor.com‘s Emmet Asher-Perrin and io9 Germain Lussier refer to it as a “raptor” – swoops out of the sky and grabs Ragnar. Much as I enjoy the fact that every single ecological niche in the Star Wars universe is inevitably populated by a giant monster, I do find it a bit troubling that the Armourer and her flock have decided to settle on a planet full of mega-fauna that wants to eat them and don’t even take the slightest precautions to protect themselves.

The raptor flies off with Ragnar and several Mandalorians, including Din and Ragnar’s Dad Paz Vizla, give chase. However, their jetpacks run out of fuel well before they can track the raptor to its nest. Luckily, Bo-Katan had a better idea and follows the raptor in her ship. She then returns with the location of the raptor’s nest on top of a mountain in a difficult to access area.

A rescue plan is made. The Mandalorians haven’t figured out how to repell the raptors or at least warn them of their attacks, but they do know that if the raptor hears the sounds of jetpacks, it will kill Ragnar, because apparently, it has snagged other kids before. Therefore, Bo-Katan suggests landing the ship out of sight and covering the rest of the way on foot and then climbing to the nest to rescue Ragnar. Since Bo-Katan knows the location of the nest and came up with the plan, she will lead to rescue party. Din is along for the ride, of course, as is Paz Vizla – it is his kid, after all. Grogu would love to go along as well, because he doesn’t like being separated from Daddy, but Din and Bo-Katan tell him that he is too young and it’s too dangerous.

The rescue party makes it to the mountain, where the raptor has its nest, and decide to spend the night under an overhanging rock out of the raptor’s line of sight. A camp fire is lit – I guess the raptor doesn’t have a very highly developed sense of smell – and food is distributed. “How do you eat without taking off your helmets?” Bo-Katan whispers to Din, who replies that everybody goes off to find a private place to eat. Bo-Katan is about to do just that, when Paz Vizla shows up and announces that as the leader of the war party, Bo-Katan will be granted the honour of staying by the fire. Once everybody is gone, Bo-Katan takes off her helmet to eat, looking rather frustrated at the idiotic customs of Din’s people. Regardless of what you think of the requirement to never take off your helmet in public, the party splitting up and everybody going off on their own is also a needless risk to take on a planet teeming with hostile, Mandalorian-eating mega-fauna and makes it really easy to pick off the Mandalorians one by one.

Alas, this does not happen and after a good night’s rest, the party climb the mountain, using ropes as well as their hands and feet. They reach the nest and it’s huge. The nest is seemingly empty, but Din scans it and detects a heat signature. Against all warnings, Paz Vizla rushes in to save Ragnar. However, the heat signature doesn’t belong to Ragnar. Instead, it’s three baby raptors and they’re hungry and noisy. Worse, Mama raptor shows up, regurgitates young Ragnar from her crop, since he was intended as a meal for her babies. However, Mama Raptor first needs to deal with those pesky Mandalorians who have interrupted feeding time.

Hands up, who did not expect the nest to be full of baby raptors and the very angry Mama raptor to show up? Cause it’s a really obvious development to anybody who’s ever observed nesting birds or watched any cartoon involving giant monster nests. However, Mandalorians clearly aren’t bird watchers and the Star Wars universe apparently doesn’t have cartoons involving giant monsters. And so no one expected Mama raptors and her babies.

However, the Mandalorians quickly regroup and attack Mama raptor with all they have. They try to capture and tie her down with ropes and pry Ragnar out of her claws. In the end, Din saves Ragnar, earning him the undying gratitude of Paz Vizla. As for Mama raptor, she falls into a lake and is promptly gobbled up by one of those turtle aligator creatures that attacked the Armourer’s congregation in the first episode, once again proving that the truest line ever said in any Star Wars movie was Qui Gon Jin’s remark in The Phantom Menace that “there is always a bigger fish”.

While all this is happening, the Armourer has taken on Grogu babysitting duties. She takes him to her forge, explains that the forge is the heart of Mandalorian culture and that this is where Mandalorians are tested to reveal weaknesses and then forged into something stronger. The Armourer gets to work and her rhythmic hammering causes Grogu to experience a flashback to his rescue from the Jedi Temple during the night of Order 66. Interestingly, Din experienced something similar in season 1, when the Armourer’s hammering caused him to flash back to the attack on his homeworld that killed his parents, until he was rescued by the Mandalorians. So is there something hypnotic about the Armourer’s forge that causes people to relive traumatic memories?

At any rate, we’re back at the Jedi Temple during Order 66. Stormtroopers are attacking and killing everybody, while four Jedi are doing their damndest to get Grogu in his floating crib to safety. However, the Stormtroopers cut them down one by one. The last Jedi, a human woman, managed to push Grogu’s crib into an elevator. The elevator rises and when the doors open, a Jedi Master named Kelleran Beq awaits Grogu and he is played by none other than Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks in the prequel trilogy.

Now Star Wars fandom has been beset by toxic elements since the beginning and backlashes against anything that taints the purity of the universe in the eyes of these toxic fans is mercilessly critcised and shredded. We saw this phenomenon as early as Return of the Jedi, where toxic fans hated the Ewoks for being too cutesy and cuddly (and I guess some folks found things to hate about The Empire Strikes Back as well). However, by the time the prequels came out, the internet was in the process of mass adoption, so the toxic fans were a lot noisier and their targets were not just the characters and bad writing, but also the actors who brought those characters to life. And since Jar Jar was widely hated by Star Wars fandom (though a lot of casual viewers liked him), Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin, got the brunt of it.

Both Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd experienced depression and even suicidal thoughts as a result of this backlash, even though they were not responsible for the issues with their characters or the script. Personally, I never understood why people had problems with Jake Lloyd’s performance, since I’d seen him in a recurring role in The Pretender well before he was Anakin and knew he could act. Never mind that he was only ten at the time. I hadn’t knowingly seen Ahmed Best in anything before The Phantom Menace (though it turns out he was in the touring production of Stomp, so I may well have seen him in that), but while Jar Jar is a hard character to like, the actor really isn’t to blame for that.

StarWars.com has an interview with Ahmed Best in which he opens up about how difficult returning the Star Wars was for him after his experiences during the prequels. What made things even worse was that Ahmed Best was a life-long Star Wars – he’s my age, so he would have been – only that his dream of being in Star Wars turned into a nightmare.

When “The Foundling” aired, Ahmed Best suddenly trended on Twitter and my first thought was, “Oh crap, is he dead?” But it turned that no, he was actually in The Mandalorian, he played a Jedi and he was awesome. And in fact, everybody seems to be happy that Ahmed Best got some vindication for the terrible way Star Wars fandom treated him 24 years ago. Though could we maybe stop abusing Star Wars actors, because we don’t like the characters they play? Because it’s not as if Star Wars fandom has learned from what happened to Ahmed Best and Jake Lloyd. After all, John Boyega, Kelly Marie Tran and Moses Ingram were also subjected to abuse for their roles in the sequel trilogy and Obi-Wan Kenobi. It’s also notable that except for Jake Lloyd, all of the actors who suffered abuse at the hand of Star Wars fandom are actors of colour.

Kelleran Beq, who is awesome by the way, demolishes a squad of Stormtroopers with two lightsabres and then loads Grogu into the sidecar of his speeder bike for a high-speed chase through the skies of Coruscant. AV-Club reviewer Sam Barsanti complains that the Coruscant chase is too reminiscent of last week’s episode, down to the fact that we see the commuter air train that played such an important role in “The Convert” as well as the rock that is the top of Coruscant’s highest mountain. He’s not wrong, because the locations are the same except for the Jedi Temple, which wasn’t seen in “The Convert”. However, creating the Coruscant backgrounds was likely time-consuming and expensive, so I cannot fault the showrunners for wanting to reuse them. And besides, that mountain top is cool.

Kelleran Beq takes Grogu to a blood-red Naboo starship docked on a landing platform. “Where are the others?” the crew asks, suggesting that Kelleran Beq was supposed to rescue more people than just Grogu. “There are no others”, Kelleran replies. He, Grogu and the crew board and the starship takes off, while Stormtroopers fire after it.

This flashback answers one pressing question about Grogu, namely how in the universe did he manage to escape from the massacre at the Jedi Temple and from Coruscant, considering he was just a baby – and it’s notable that Grogu looks younger and more babyish in the flashback scenes than in the present day.

However, there are still a lot of questions left unanswered, namely how exactly did Grogu end up in the heavily fortified component where Din found him? What happened to Kelleran Beq, who clearly was supposed to protect Grogu and yet is nowhere to be seen, when Din and IG-11 storm the compound? And who exactly is Grogu and why is he deemed so much more important than the other padawans at the Jedi Temple? Is it because his species is particularly Force-sensitive – after all, the only three member’s of Grogu’s species we’ve ever seen were all Jedi? Or is Grogu the secret love child of Yoda and/or Yaddle? After all, Yoda very much knows where the little padawans come from and does his damndest to bring Anakin and Padmé together to make little Jedi. And much as I love Yoda, he has always been rather flexible in his interpretation of the Jedi code, so I don’t find it at all hard to believe that he has a secret lover somewhere.

But whatever Grogu was originally, now he is a Mandalorian foundling and the Armourer finally reveals what she has been working on – namely a circular chest plate with the signet of the mudhorn, symbol of his and Din’s Clan of Two. “This will protect you,” the Armourer tells Grogu. Din will be a very proud papa indeed, once he sees the new armour upgrade.

When the rescue party returns with Ragnar, the assembled Mandalorians cheer and rejoice. The Armourer praises Bo-Katan, because she has fulfilled the highest purpose, namely to safe a foundling. However, Bo-Katan hasn’t just helped to save Ragnar – no, the Mandalorians also brought back the three raptor babies, because now that their mother is dead, they are foundlings, too. I have to admit that I was surprised by this, because while the Mandalorians’ commitment to rescuing and saving lost children extends beyond humans – after all, Grogu is very much not human – I didn’t expect it to extend to non-intelligent creatures like the raptors. On the other hand, do I see “Raptor Riders of Mandalore” on the horizon there? Cause that would be awesome.

Indeed, the thing I like most about The Mandalorian is that it turned the Mandalorians from a group who are mainly warriors to a people who are primarily define themselves as parents who protect and train the many orphaned children created by the constant warfare in the Star Wars universe. This episode very much reinforces this, because it focusses almost entirely on how much Mandalorians care for their children, both biological (Bo-Katan appears to be the biological daughter of her unseen father) and adopted.

Bo-Katan has lost a shoulder pauldron in the fight with the Mama raptor, so she asks the Armourer for a replacement. The Armourer takes her to the forge and asks Bo-Katan, if she wants the signet of the night owl, a symbol of her clan, on the replacement pauldron. Bo-Katan, however, asks if it would be okay if she wore the signet of the mythosaur, which is the symbol used by the Armourer’s group, instead. The Armourer agrees, because the mythosaur is a symbol for all Mandalorians.

While the Armourer works, Bo-Katan tells her that she saw a mythosaur. “A noble vision”, the Armourer replies. Bo-Katan insists that no, she really saw a mythosaur in the living waters underneath Mandalore. The Armourer, however, doesn’t seem to be convinced. “You will see many thing, when you walk the way of the Mandalore”, she declares.

Pretty much everybody seems to agree that this episode is a lot of fun, but doesn’t exactly progress the overall plot, if there even is one. And indeed, it doesn’t. However, The Mandalorian has always been a meandering show that moved at its own pace and particularly the early episodes of every season so far were full of detours and side quests. It’s usually not before the half or two-third point of every season that the pace picks up and the various threads and side quests come together to form a coherent whole. I strongly suspect that season 3 won’t be any different.

Episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba-Fett tend to draw a lot on the original inspirations for Star Wars as well as on other movies and media that were popular around or just before the time Star Wars came out. And so we have Italian westerns, Kurosawa films, biker films, depressing 1970s dystopian science fiction films and others, all reinterpreted through a Star Wars lens. This episode with its giant monster mama and her babies, the focus on children in need of rescue and the message that monsters (well, monster babies) have a right to live as well is very remiscent of the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s. Honestly, replace Din, Paz Vizla and Bo-Katan with He-Man, Man-at-Arms and Teela, replace the Armourer with the Sorceress, don’t kill of the raptor mama and add a neat little moral message at the end and this could be a 1980s Filmation He-Man episode. Again, this is very appropriate, because the Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s were all strongly influenced by the original Star Wars trilogy as well as drawing on the same pulp SFF influences as Star Wars.

One thing that surprised me is what a big role Bo-Katan plays in season 3. Based on the trailers, I expected her to be an antagonist, maybe even the main antagonist, considering that Din has the one thing she really needs, the darksabre. However, their relationship is not really antagonistic at all. I also expected Bo-Katan to try to take over the Armourer’s group – after all, she needs followers. But again, she doesn’t seem to be doing any of that. If anything, the Armourer gradually seems to be persuading Bo-Katan of the rightness of “the way”.

Kristin Baver’s interview with actress Katee Sackhoff, who plays Bo-Katan, at StarWars.com also reveals that Katee Sackhoff herself was surprised by how big a role her character plays in season 3. In fact, I wonder whether Bo-Katan’s role grew bigger, when the showrunners were forced to write out Cara Dune, who up to then had been the most important female character in the show.

So where is all this going and how will the different plot threads we’ve seen so far connect? I have no idea, though I suspect that we will find out soon, since we’ve reached the halfway point of the season.

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for March 2023

It’s that time of the month again, time for “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of speculative fiction by indie and small press authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, historical fantasy, cozy fantasy, sword and sorcery, paranormal mystery, science fantasy, space opera, military science fiction, Cyberpunk, horror, dragons, vampires, mages, shark shifters, elf assassins, exiled soldiers, genetically engineered space marines, alien invasions, crime-busting witches, crime-busting psychics, rival potion shops, roadside inns, terrors from the deep and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog run by Jessica Rydill and myself, which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Grimsbane by Nicholas Appleyard:

In times past, the Grimm Horde—a cursed people corrupted and commanded the dread sorcerer Aihaab—were defeated and banished to the underground kingdom of Ash Ul M’on. Their master, Aihaab, was slain, and the world breathed a sigh of relief.

But now fell auguries whisper that the darkness has returned. Crows circle the skies. Men quarrel and worship the shadows. And a changeling warrior, Steeleye, adopted by the noble clans of the North, dreams of a vast field of destruction and death in which a beautiful red-headed woman calls to him.

Though Aihaab was defeated, his seven dark servants—great demons of old—were not. Called by the Goddess of Death, The Morriggu, Steeleye must now embark upon a quest to rid the world of these ancient terrors before their new master, a force far more terrifying than Aihaab, completes the work Aihaab left undone…

Grimmsbane is the startling first book in the intended Steeleye series, an epic sword and sorcery tale in the tradition of Robert E. Howard. Combining heroic fantasy with cosmic horror, Grimmsbane explores the psychological price of heroism, the meaning of fellowship, and what it means to face one’s death with courage.

A Rival Most Vial by R.K. Ashwick:

Two potion shops, one heated rivalry…until hate bubbles over into something else.

Any adventurer worth their sword knows about Ambrose Beake. The proud, quiet half-elf sells the best, and only, potions in the city—until a handsome new shopkeeper named Eli opens another potion shop across the street, throwing Ambrose’s peace and ledgers far off balance.

Within weeks, they’re locked in a war of price tags and products—Ambrose’s expertise against Eli’s effortless charm. Toil leads to trouble, the safety gloves come off, and right as their rivalry reaches a boiling point…

The mayor commissions them to brew a potion together.

The task is as complex as it is lucrative, pushing both men to the limits of their abilities and patience. Yet as the fires burn and cauldrons bubble…they find a different sort of chemistry brewing.

Exile by Jay Aspen:

In the aftermath of a deadly invasion, Samaran is a land in turmoil.
Bandits prey on cities and farmsteads, corsairs prowl the high seas.

Ariel has earned her place with the elite Mage-warriors of the Eldrin, sworn to protect King and country––but power comes with a cost. The Elementals who can bestow dragonfire and ice-skills are wild and unpredictable, focused on their own long-term goals.

But now the sinister power behind the war is once more taking shape and form, the strength and skill of the Eldrin will be needed to lead the resistance.

For Ariel, life has become complicated. Visions of the distant threat haunt her dreams, her sister treads a precarious path as royal concubine and bodyguard, her Elemental ally seems to have gone rogue––and the love of her life has ended their relationship.

If only she can control the wild power inside her to defeat the raiders…
Then maybe she can protect her sister from the schemes of influential conspirators––and maybe even persuade Marin they can be reunited when the fighting is over…

Elf, dragon, wolf, and a mysterious Mage-warrior weave a dangerous path in this fantasy adventure-romance epic from Jay Aspen.

The Inn of the Seven Stars by Kevin Beckett:

A tale of an inn with good music, tasty food, strong beer … and inadvertent necromancy.

Travel is hard work and, for the Fiddler named Cal, any stop at an inn is a place to perform, to share the songs and music he has loved and, perhaps more importantly, use those in exchange for a warm bed, good food, free drinks, and maybe some extra coin.

However, the roads we travel are roads that have existed long before we set foot on them and, at the crossroads where Cal finds the Inn of the Seven Stars, he encounters an demonstration of inadvertent necromancy. To put matters to rest, an immortal must be queried, an inquisition must be stopped, and an inn must be saved.

But not before he finishes his beer in front of him.

Exiled to Perdition by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:

Where does a warrior go when the war is over?

Forged into human weapons to defend humanity against impossible odds, Sergeant Major Reverent Pelletier and the rest of the IBHU Marines and other hyper-augments are discarded by those they fought to protect.

Now that the war is over, they are deemed too dangerous to exist.

Yet, they may still prove valuable.

With two recent, deadly wars against alien races, humanity needs to know what other threats are out there. Exiled from human space, they are given a new mission: dive into the unknown depths of the galaxy and discover what else lurks in the far reaches of space.

Space is vast but full of danger. Discovering it is a near certainty, given enough time.

Survival is a different story.

Wrenched by Lindsay Buroker:

Matti Puletasi finally has the name of one of the people responsible for her parents’ kidnapping. He’s a powerful billionaire with magical security strong enough to keep out dragons, but she’s determined to get in to question him. Make that interrogate him.

Sarrlevi, the elf assassin she’s fallen in love with, would usually help her, but he’s fighting a battle of his own. The wounds he received in their last skirmish aren’t healing, and something in his blood is affecting his mind. And it’s getting worse.

If Matti can’t reach the billionaire and find a way to heal Sarrlevi, she could lose everyone she loves.

Notes and a Nomad by Carl Cota-Robles:

Al Hardin is 15 years old and he’s just left his hometown. Haunted by the memory of his mother’s passing, he’s looking for a place to start over and become someone new. But when he meets a talented piano player by the name of Soya, he’s drawn into a conflict against a notorious trio of criminals that will change his life.

Meanwhile, across the vast desert from him, a dragon rider is setting off on a secret mission. 15-year-old Maya dreams of following in his footsteps one day and bonding with her own dragon, but she’ll have to prove herself first. As she takes on an important job for the departing dragon rider, she struggles to maintain an important childhood friendship.

This is the prequel to the Dragon Destiny series. It’s the story of a determined girl navigating friendships and mistakes before becoming a dragon rider. And it’s the story of a boy, forging a new personality that comes to be known as The Silver Bandana.

The Palace Behind the Sky by Emery Gallagher:

Winter in Tandora finds the country locked in a stalemate of war, and Charlie of Windsong remains with the Heir’s Army to support Prince Justinian’s fight for the throne.

Loyalties and allegiances prove tenuous during times of conflict, and a sudden betrayal forces Charlie to flee for her life in the dark of night. She escapes her pursuers with the help of friendly strangers and finds refuge in a fantastical place where she is welcomed as an honored guest. But the longer she stays, the more suspicious she becomes that not all is as it seems in this magical place, and she is uncertain of who she can trust. When the truth is revealed, Charlie finds that the outcome of the war rests on a decision she must make. Her choice leads her on a fast-paced adventure through the Eastern Lands where she encounters danger, subterfuge, and someone from her past.

Her journey to Shala reunited her with her father, and her father’s political scheming brought her back to her home country. Now to save those she cares about, Charlie must depend on her own abilities as she takes on a task that puts her at the center of the battle for the country. On this next adventure, Charlie encounters magic beyond what she has ever seen, steps into her new role as leader of the Order of the Dagger, and takes the future of the Eastern Lands into her own hands.

The Last Lion of Karkov by Dale Griffin:

“Emotionally compelling protagonists and an action-packed storyline make this a rousing fantasy read” —Kirkus Reviews

“Commanding attention, the novel is propelled toward its gripping end: the world into which the twins were born is not the world that they will leave behind. Intelligent and brave, they inspire a new generation of citizens.” —Foreword Clarion Review

Raised in Karkov, a military, male-dominant kingdom, twins Natalia and Jillian know nothing but battle. When Jillian emerges as the dominant twin and apparent heir to the throne, Natalia, the softer and more diplomatic sister, ceases her military training. As Natalia prepares to marry the prince of her father’s favored Western ally, Jillian is set to become the first woman Lion of Karkov. But things don’t go as planned when the older generation of warriors values her womb over her sword. Suddenly, the role Jillian has fought for all her life is slipping through her fingers…and she’s not about to let it go without a fight.

At first, Jillian wants to destroy the young male warrior that the older generation favors. But soon, the two begin to fall for each other, and dark secrets behind Karkov’s past come to light. Now, Jillian finds herself in the unthinkable position of defending her former rival…and defying her father. Her defiance inspires a younger generation of warriors, who dub her the Lioness of Karkov.

Furious, her father ousts Jillian and the warriors who swore allegiance to her, setting in motion a chain of events that will disrupt everything he swore to protect. As innocent lands suffer invasion, greedy monarchies fall to revolution, and the wedding of the century threatens to live up to its name, Jillian and Natalia must reckon with the consequences of love and war. When four nations converge on a battlefield, one sister must decide whether to embrace the life she always wanted—or stand up for the destiny that was never meant for her.

Witching With Sharks by Lily Harper Hart:

One of the biggest trivia competitions in the world is coming to Paradise Lodge, and Hali Waverly is expecting an influx of guests. What she’s not prepared for is murder.

When a body drops on the resort’s beach, however, she finds herself knee-deep in the investigation along with her new boyfriend Gray Hunter. Unfortunately for her, there are a few too many suspects for her comfort level.

Between the other contestants—a flamboyant group of individuals whom Hali has trouble relating to—and the workers, there’s no limit to the pool of potential killers. Finding the right one isn’t going to be easy.

When you add in the dark merrow, who continue to make their presence known, Hali has her hands full.

All she wants is a little rest and to have a good time. That might not be in the cards though. When it becomes apparent that someone is trying to control the outcome of the competition, all bets are off.

Beaches, bodies, and Bloody Marys? Yup, things are about to get hairy for St. Pete’s favorite witch and shifter.

Oh, yeah, there will be some shark shifters too.

Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

The Night Belongs To Us and Other Stories by Jess Landry:

Sometimes the deepest wounds are from those we hold the closest.

In her debut collection, Bram Stoker Award-winner Jess Landry blurs the line between genres, magnifying the darkness in the spaces in between, and confronting those relationships that are nearest and dearest to us in the most horrific ways.

A mother and her daughter escape Nazi Germany, boarding the Hindenburg under the promise of a new life. An abused musical protégé discovers that her rage fuels much more than her cello-playing abilities. A hardened police officer finds something unexpected in the rising flood waters of her evacuated hometown. A woman ventures out onto the sea, in hopes of finding a mysterious mist where the dead roam freely. A strange tar infests the home of a young girl, swallowing everything in its wake, including her mother. Two broken women form a tragic bond while searching for a missing person in the dead of winter.

Mothers. Daughters. Sisters. Friends. No one is safe.

This collection of scary short stories is perfect for fans of Gwendolyn Kiste, SP Miskowski, Gemma Files, and Nadia Bulkin, as well as mystery and suspense short stories.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

Cast the First Crone by Amanda M. Lee:

Scout Randall’s life has turned from bad to worse. With her boyfriend’s murderous mother on the loose, that means she’s a target. But where will the attack come from?

Scout thought they would have time to figure things out, time to regroup and come up with a plan. She was wrong. The next enemy is on their doorstep.

When a body is found in a remote hunting lodge, a familiar symbol painted on the wall, Scout knows it’s time to go on the offensive. Unfortunately for her, she’s not entirely certain what she’s hunting for.

Is it a human? Is it a vampire? Is it something worse?

Scout and her motley crew of witches and shifters are ready to fight, but when you don’t know your enemy, that’s virtually impossible.

Scout’s answers lie in her past, and the search she thought postponed is suddenly on her. The family that let her go might just be back in the mix. Will they be friends or foes, however?

Big answers are coming fast and furious. Scout’s never been in more danger, and yet if she can hang on just a little bit longer, her past will provide the answers she’s always wanted.

It’s time for the reunion to end all reunions…if Scout can stay alive to see it through.

Dark and Lonely Water by Graeme Reynolds:

Dark and Lonely Water is aquatic horror at its finest.”—Gingernuts of Horror

When Samantha Ashlyn is forced to return to her home town to write an article on a series of drownings, she initially resists, finding disturbing similarities to her childhood experiences. However, once she starts looking into the assignment, she finds that things are not what they seem. An ancient evil is rising again, aided by what appears to be a centuries-old conspiracy to keep it hidden. With the help of a disgraced police diver, Sam races to stop the nightmare before more lives are lost. Not realising that her investigation has put herself and those she loves in terrible danger.

Set in Northern England, this folk horror novel is perfect for fans of strong female protagonists, dark humour, conspiracies, mythological creatures, dark fantasy, and thrillers.

Proudly represented by Crystal Lake Publishing—Tales from the Darkest Depths.

Ropes and Last Hopes by Trixie Silvertale:

When a suspicious death takes the life of a friend, our psychic sleuth must expose a killer’s dirty laundry…

Mitzy Moon hopes for a normal day running errands. And this time, she’s determined to get her grandmother’s couture properly cleaned. But her day gets stuck in a spin cycle when she encounters crime-scene tape at the dry cleaner’s and a puzzling murder.

With her only way into the case through an undercover stint in the women’s wrestling league, Mitzy charges ahead with little help from her mentor, Ghost-ma, or her entitled feline. But if the bell rings before she corners the suspect, more lives could end up on the ropes.

Can Mitzy hold a murderer down for the count, or will she be taken out in a lethal smackdown?

Nine Sailed Star by Glynn Stewart:

A captain, exiled for disobeying orders in the heat of a battle against dragons
A shaman, desperate to keep her clan of sailors out of servitude
An archmage who has foreseen the destruction of all worlds

The elvar, with their long lifespans and rigid traditions, condemned Cat Greentrees for fleeing an unwinnable battle to bring news of a new threat. Cat plans to wait out his exile by drinking himself into a stupor, but the words of prophecy dog his heels.

When one of the powerful and revered archmages—a short-lived halvar named Armand Bluestaves—receives a similar prophecy, Cat will need to decide whether to throw away what’s left of his reputation to wage a reckless campaign into the void.

In the void, there are no currents to propel ships. There is only hungry darkness and the ghosts of destroyed worlds. If they want to save all free var of the Spheres, they’ll need to leave everything they know behind.

But first, they need a ship…and a crew.

Infiltration by James David Victor:

The enemy of your enemy is your friend. Maybe.

Carl and his team have been sent on a desperate mission to infiltrate the Palacian homeworld and apprehend the queen. When things go wrong, a new enemy emerges and they are faced with a difficult choice, and their only chance of winning the war might be to trust their sworn enemy. If they choose the lesser of two evils will it still mean destruction of the human race?

 

Teeth of the Rakshasa by B.J. West:

Revolutionaries, thieves, or terrorists?

Depending on who you talk to, Spider King and his cohorts in the infamous Gordian Net are either criminals or revolutionaries in the ongoing struggle against the corporations that have replaced the federal government of the formerly united States.

Nobody pushes their notoriety as Robin Hoods harder than Spider himself. Arrogant and egotistical, Spider is a veritable rock star of the hacking world. It would be annoying if he wasn’t actually every bit as good as his talk.

Attracted by their reputation, a peculiar client approaches the Gordian Net with an opportunity that could be the score of a lifetime. But what first appears to be a simple hack-and-grab run quickly snowballs into an all-out war with the most powerful tech company in the world.

Spider will have to outthink, outrun, and outmaneuver the most ruthless street operatives in San Francisco without becoming the next victim of a new weapon of unspeakable horror.

Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for March 2023

Welcome to the latest edition of “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”.

So what is “Indie Crime Fiction of the Month”? It’s a round-up of crime fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, small town mysteries, animal mysteries, historical mysteries, Victorian mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, action thrillers, spy thrillers, psychological thrillers, romantic suspense, police officers, FBI agents, private investigators, amateur sleuths, spies, dark secrets, blackmail, mysterious widowers, wrongfully accused suspects, deadly circuses, deadly writing retreats, children in dangers, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting reporters, crime-busting photographrs, crime-busting cats, murder and mayhem in London, Louisiana, Maine, Los Angeles, Yorkshire and much more.

Don’t forget that Indie Crime Fiction of the Month is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime fiction several times per week.

As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.

And now on to the books without further ado:

Death Below a Restless Moon by Blythe Baker:

When Victoria Sedgewick’s cousin falls under suspicion for a crime she did not commit, Victoria must protect her. But with a new danger arising at home and trouble threatening her friendship with Branwell Keats, will Victoria be too distracted to prevent a horrific tragedy?

 

 

 

Beyond Reason by Molly Black:

Reese Link is determined to do right by her deceased older brother, to fill his shoes in the local police department, and to avenge his murder. She also wants to make her father, a local lobsterman, proud. But the local force is male, and close-knight, and Reese soon learns that being accepted won’t be so easy.

Small town life on a harbor in Maine can be rough. Winters can be cruel and stretch forever, while the working class who inhabit the harbor suffer no fools. Reese knows this town like the back of her hand—but when she teams up with a State police officer, she quickly realizes she’ll have to branch out to other areas, way out of her comfort zone. She will have to learn quickly about all regions of Maine, as she hunts deadly killers wherever they may take her.

All along, she must fight her own demons, shake off the heaviness of her childhood, the depression of this town, and ask herself: is she good enough?

Murder Foretold by Beth Byers:

Once again, Vi and friends are out and about. This time, they’ve come to a lovely little seaside carnival to visit friends they haven’t seen in a while.

They watched the clowns, witness the acrobats, visit the strange and unusual, and invite the psychic to a small party. Instead of a journey or a windfall, they’re told to beware. Is it a surprise their minds turn to crime? Hardly. And when a murder takes place, they have to follow the steps of what happened and prepare for the most unsuaul crime they’ve seen yet.

Limelight by Joshua Crosson:

A FAME-OBSESSED LOS ANGELES POPSTAR MUST CONFESS TO A DARK SECRET FROM HIS PAST—A SECRET SO TERRIBLE IT COULD DESTROY EVERYTHING HE’S WORKED FOR—IF HE IS TO SAVE THE LIVES OF HIS LOVED ONES.

Chris Flowers, one of the most famous and beloved popstars in the world, wants nothing more than to keep playing shows and creating art for his dear fans. Nearly finished with an album, and only days from playing a major show, Chris receives a fateful phone call threatening to expose a dark secret of his past that could ruin him. The sinister voice demands Chris to “Confess” or else… When the lives of loved ones from Chris’s past—the very people he left behind to pursue stardom—become involved, Chris must decide how important his career truly is for him—and if he’s willing to sacrifice lives for it.

So Close by Slyvia Day:

You can’t believe all of them, but can you trust any of them?

Widower Kane Black is still ruinously married to his late wife, Lily. Grief has hollowed him… until he sees a woman with his wife’s inimitable beauty on the streets of Manhattan. He whisks her up to his towering penthouse, protectively under guard, nestling her in dark opulence where Lily’s memory is a possessive beguiling force.

Aliyah, Kane’s mother, deals in science. There are too many questions, too few answers, and too much at stake. “Lily” has dangerous control over Kane and there can be only one queen on the throne.

Amy, Kane’s sister-in-law, has been bloodied by deceit and betrayal, and she’s devolving into murderous rage. She’s paid too high a price and now intends to claim what she’s owed.

Three women, linked by buried secrets, circle the man who unquestioningly accepts the return of his beloved long-dead wife. Kane is happier than he’s ever been, and he’ll do anything to stay that way.

Clue Krewe by Jana DeLeon:

Beckett Rousseau is the firstborn son of one of New Orleans’ most prominent families. He’s the quintessential golden boy—great looks, money, and a political career in his future—until his wife murders him. Or at least that’s what everyone thinks.

Athena Durand is still reeling from her murder conviction but now that it’s overturned, she’s at a loss on how to proceed with her life. As long as people still believe she’s guilty, she has no future in Louisiana and more importantly, she wants to know who killed her husband. When she hears about Fortune’s exploits, Athena knows she is the one person who might be able to give her answers, and her life back. But too many people are harboring secrets about Beckett’s life and death, including Athena.

Can Fortune sort through the half-truths and lies to discover the truth? Or did the jury get it right the first time?

New Girl in the Falls by Elle Gray:

Searching for a fresh start and a serene place to heal from both mental and physical wounds, Agent Spenser Song found herself answering the job posting for the quaint town of Sweetwater Falls…

After a series of tragedies turned her world upside down, FBI Agent Spenser Song felt like a woman adrift in a sea of chaos.
Her brush with death and the tragic murder of her husband left her questioning everything in her life.
And when it became clear that Bureau politics will trump justice, Spenser realized she needed a fresh start.

Looking for a slower pace and needing to heal, Spenser is hired on to be the sheriff in the idyllic town of Sweetwater Falls.
The town is everything her best friend said it would be and all in the Falls was seemingly perfect.
With the exception of her cantankerous landlord, Ryker Makawi, a former Navy SEAL with issues and a past of his own.
When a local woman is murdered, the case proves to be far from simple and Spenser finds herself forced to work with the ill-tempered Ryker.

With her past trying to reach into the present to pull Spenser into a cold dark grave.
Spenser soon realized that the chaos she fled from had found its way back into her life.
Spenser Song came west to find peace. But the new girl in the Falls soon finds herself in the fight of her life.

Witching With Sharks by Lily Harper Hart:

One of the biggest trivia competitions in the world is coming to Paradise Lodge, and Hali Waverly is expecting an influx of guests. What she’s not prepared for is murder.

When a body drops on the resort’s beach, however, she finds herself knee-deep in the investigation along with her new boyfriend Gray Hunter. Unfortunately for her, there are a few too many suspects for her comfort level.

Between the other contestants—a flamboyant group of individuals whom Hali has trouble relating to—and the workers, there’s no limit to the pool of potential killers. Finding the right one isn’t going to be easy.

When you add in the dark merrow, who continue to make their presence known, Hali has her hands full.

All she wants is a little rest and to have a good time. That might not be in the cards though. When it becomes apparent that someone is trying to control the outcome of the competition, all bets are off.

Beaches, bodies, and Bloody Marys? Yup, things are about to get hairy for St. Pete’s favorite witch and shifter.

Oh, yeah, there will be some shark shifters too.

Buckle up, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

Terms of Extraction by Ethan Jones:

How would you decide the terms of an extraction?

Jack Storm is facing conflicts on all fronts. While trying to bring his family back together, he must deal with a suspicious extraction where the terms are constantly being manipulated. Not knowing who is pulling the strings, Jack has had enough and determines it’s time to do this on his own terms…

Find out how Jack pulls off his most politically charged extraction yet.

Cast the First Crone by Amanda M. Lee:

Scout Randall’s life has turned from bad to worse. With her boyfriend’s murderous mother on the loose, that means she’s a target. But where will the attack come from?

Scout thought they would have time to figure things out, time to regroup and come up with a plan. She was wrong. The next enemy is on their doorstep.

When a body is found in a remote hunting lodge, a familiar symbol painted on the wall, Scout knows it’s time to go on the offensive. Unfortunately for her, she’s not entirely certain what she’s hunting for.

Is it a human? Is it a vampire? Is it something worse?

Scout and her motley crew of witches and shifters are ready to fight, but when you don’t know your enemy, that’s virtually impossible.

Scout’s answers lie in her past, and the search she thought postponed is suddenly on her. The family that let her go might just be back in the mix. Will they be friends or foes, however?

Big answers are coming fast and furious. Scout’s never been in more danger, and yet if she can hang on just a little bit longer, her past will provide the answers she’s always wanted.

It’s time for the reunion to end all reunions…if Scout can stay alive to see it through.

Overedited & Underpaid by Amanda M. Lee:

Avery Shaw thought she’d seen it all. Then she gets the sort of call she never expected.

Buried in a part of the city she never visits, across the road from the Dairy Queen of all places, is Antique Dolls. It’s a niche strip club featuring dancers over the age of 40 … and a very unique clientele.

When a masked intruder comes barreling into the club firing a gun and hits the owner, Avery is intrigued. When she gets to the hospital and hears that the local police secreted away a politician under the cover of flashing lights and jurisdiction problems, she’s practically frothing at the mouth.

Finding a motive for the shooting should be easy, but when a secretive lifestyle minister inserts himself into the investigation, Avery is left spinning. He’s got a colorful past and an army of followers willing to fight for him.

What he doesn’t have is Avery Shaw. She’s determined to uncover the truth, even if it means putting herself in danger. When Grandpa and Mario decide to help—Mario going as far as to position himself as an undercover dancer—Avery has more backup than she bargained for.

Information is coming at her from all sides, and so is danger.

Avery Shaw doesn’t lose. This time, however, there might not be a winner.

Oh, Shoot! by J.B. Lynn:

Ever since her husband disappeared seven months ago and it came out that he’d been embezzling funds from the town, pet photographer Kiki Long has been keeping a low profile.

But now it’s time to focus on creating a new life for herself.

Risking the wrath of the town’s residents, Kiki attends the annual Pride Falls Fair where she’s regarded with a mix of animosity, curiosity, and pity.

When a participant in the pie eating contest drops dead due to poisoning, Kiki realizes that the pictures she captured at the fair could hold the key to figuring out the mystery of his death. But it’s not like she can go to Sheriff Rockland with them. He still considers her to be a suspect in her husband’s disappearance.

With the help of her cat, Kodak, Kiki sets out to prove that her friend, who baked the deadly pie, did not poison it. Can she catch the killer? Or will this new development be what lands her in prison?

The Girl on the Retreat by A.J. Rivers:

The faster you run, the longer you survive…

After participating in a fundraising run, FBI agent Emma Griffin is invited to a week-long retreat.
Upon her arrival, she is instantly captivated by the beautiful yet eerie surroundings of the remote resort.
Sadly her time at the resort is soon met with misfortune and strange phenomenon.
When people start going missing and the guests start acting strange, Emma gets the sense that no one at the retreat is telling her the truth.
And as Emma attempts to uncover the mystery of the resort, she finds herself becoming a pawn in someone’s twisted game.

In a maze full of murderous traps, the only way to survive is to run.

Ropes and Last Hopes by Trixie Silvertale:

When a suspicious death takes the life of a friend, our psychic sleuth must expose a killer’s dirty laundry…

Mitzy Moon hopes for a normal day running errands. And this time, she’s determined to get her grandmother’s couture properly cleaned. But her day gets stuck in a spin cycle when she encounters crime-scene tape at the dry cleaner’s and a puzzling murder.

With her only way into the case through an undercover stint in the women’s wrestling league, Mitzy charges ahead with little help from her mentor, Ghost-ma, or her entitled feline. But if the bell rings before she corners the suspect, more lives could end up on the ropes.

Can Mitzy hold a murderer down for the count, or will she be taken out in a lethal smackdown?

Winter’s Rescue by Mary Stone:

Nice girls finish last. Bad girls finish dead.

When Private Detective Winter Black-Dalton receives a slew of messages from a mother desperate to protect her children after a traumatizing divorce, she takes the case without hesitation. Not only is it a welcome distraction from unpacking boxes, but Winter hopes to assuage the guilt still fusing her to her past.

She should have known better.

A crayon drawing of guns and “nakid notty girls” by her client’s five-year-old daughter hints at the wealthy and powerful father’s depraved activities. When the man in question warns Winter off the investigation, he reeks of cunning. But she has no hard facts, only impressions. And with no FBI badge to open doors, she needs to get creative.

But the more Winter investigates, she fears something far more sinister lurks beneath the surface. And when local call girls mysteriously disappear, Winter must risk it all to save other young women from the same fate.

The mystery and suspense continue with Winter’s Rescue, the second book in the Winter Black Season Two series, a thrilling ride that will make you realize things aren’t always as they seem. Sometimes they’re much worse.