Cora Buhlert's Blog, page 28
March 6, 2022
First Monday Free Fiction: Thirteen Minutes
Welcome to the March 2022 edition of First Monday Free Fiction.
To recap, inspired by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who posts a free short story every week on her blog, I’ll post a free story on the first Monday of every month. At the end of the month, I’ll take the story down and post another.
These are dark times, so after some deliberation I decided to post a dark story today. Because dark stories serve as warnings. I doubt that the people who really need to hear that warning will read this story. But let’s not forget that it was stories – two TV movies in particular – who terrified the right people and thus helped to prevent what you’re about to read from becoming reality.
Today’s story is one of two short stories collected in Four Minute Warning. When I wrote both stories back in 2015, they were a period pieces, set in an alternate timeline where the world as we know it ended in 1984. Recent events have made both stories a lot more timely than they used to be. So let’s hope that these stories remain period pieces, a stark reminder of a timeline that might have been, but thankfully never came to pass.
So follow college students Luke and David as they spend their last…
Thirteen MinutesIt was the long hot summer of 1984 and it was about to get even hotter.
Luke Stanton and David White, friends since childhood and now seniors at Bayshore College, were at the supermarket, buying burgers and steaks and sausages and beer for the annual Fourth of July neighbourhood barbecue. They were standing in the check-out line with a fully loaded shopping cart, moving towards the cashier at a glacial pace, when the sirens began to wail.
For the first twenty seconds or so, no one responded except for old Mrs. Zippowitz, who’d survived the firestorms of World War II in Europe and reacted badly to sirens ever since. But to everybody else, it was just a fire alarm or a tornado warning at worst.
Sure, there had been international tensions of late, in Europe, in the Persian Gulf, in the South China Sea. But there were always international tensions, always crises. And things always calmed down again eventually. No crisis would ever escalate to the point of nuclear war. No one would ever be so stupid, neither the Americans nor the Soviets.
Only that someone had been that stupid. No one would ever know who exactly it was that pressed the button or what it was that made him do it, cause there was no one left to tell. Not that it mattered much now. The deed was done.
Luke and David realised that something was seriously wrong at around the same time everybody else did. The sound of the sirens was wrong, for starters, not the steady sound of the tornado warning or the three blasts of the fire siren. No, this was a continuous wail, steadily rising and falling in pitch. And it didn’t stop, it just went on and on and on.
Luke and David exchanged a glance.
“Fuck, that’s a nuke attack warning,” Luke exclaimed.
At that exact same moment, the supermarket around them erupted in pandemonium. People screamed and ran, stumbling over abandoned shopping carts and each other. Some particularly obstinate or hopeful individuals threw anything that might conceivably come in useful into their carts and headed towards the exits. Outside in the parking lot, cars were starting, engines roaring, horns beeping, people crying and screaming. And above it all, the steadily rising and falling wail of the civil defence siren.
Luke and David stood rooted in place, as the chaos surged around them.
“You think this is the real thing?” David wanted to know.
“If not, it’s one hell of a sick joke,” Luke remarked, watching as an elderly man and an overweight woman tried to get through the turnstiles simultaneously and both got stuck.
The exits were jammed as well with a mob of screaming, panicked people. A few had already gotten trampled underfoot. No one seemed to care.
Luke and David still stood rooted in place, in the now empty check-out line.
“Why the fuck are they running away?” Luke wondered, as he watched the cashier make off towards the exit, the cash drawer pressed to her ample bosom, “We’ve got a fucking nuke incoming. You can’t run away from that.”
“We don’t know for sure it’s a nuke,” David pointed out.
“What else could it be? People don’t freak out like that over a tornado. And besides, the alarm is all wrong.”
Luke looked around the mess of overturned shopping carts and toppled shelves that had once been the Buy More supermarket. His gaze locked on a specific direction, like a dog that had caught a scent.
“Let’s find out,” he said and headed off deeper into the supermarket.
With a shrug, David grabbed the beer from the shopping cart and followed him. A woman ran past them, screaming for Jesus. A man sat on the floor, hugging his knees to his chest and crying for his mommy. In the wine and liquor aisles, several people were helping themselves to the merchandise to make the apocalypse more bearable.
“They’ve got the right idea,” Luke said.
David nodded and held up the six-pack he’d grabbed from the cart. “They do. That’s why I brought this.”
Luke flashed him an approving smile.
In the cereal aisle, several shoppers had started an impromptu prayer meeting, kneeling in front of an advertising display. It almost seemed as if they were worshipping Nutty Nuggets.
David shook his head. “Nutty Nuggets, really? They couldn’t at least have found a better cereal?”
In the dairy aisle, they passed a couple tearing off each other’s clothes right in front of a cabinet full of half-price yoghurt, about to do it on the floor in a puddle of spilled milk. David and Luke traipsed past, careful to look the other way.
“Do it,” the woman moaned, “Do it now. I don’t want to die a virgin.”
After maybe half a minute, David and Luke ended up in the deserted electronics aisle in front of a shelf full off cheap battery-operated radios. They needed three tries until they found one that was working.
The radio came on with a squeal and a burst of static.
“…warning” a sombre male voice said, “We have several nuclear warheads incoming in the Westerby, Tanglewood, Twin Bridges and Sagemill areas. Please proceed to the nearest shelter. This is not a test. Civil defence war…”
Luke turned the volume down. He and David exchanged another glance. “Fuck,” they both said simultaneously.
“How long do you think until they get here?” Luke wanted to know.
“Thirteen minutes,” David replied, “I saw this thing on TV a few days ago. Civil defence procedures and all that…”
Luke snorted. “Yeah, right. Like that’s gonna help.”
David nodded sombrely. “We should have gone to those peace marches at college,” he said, “I mean, we talked about going, but we never did.”
“Probably wouldn’t have helped,” Luke said.
“Probably not,” David agreed, “But at least we could’ve said we tried to do something. Like those peace protesters in Europe.”
“Did you see the footage of those anti-war riots in France and West Germany?” Luke asked, “They dragged the politicians out of their offices and strung them up in front of parliament.” He shook his head. “I thought that was excessive, but now I understand.”
David nodded. “So what do we do now?” he asked, “Cause running away is kind of stupid. Can’t outrun a nuke or several.”
Luke chewed his lower lip and looked at the abandoned merchandise around him. “Well, we’ve got thirteen minutes and a whole supermarket to choose from…”
David glanced at his digital watch. “More like eleven now.”
Luke shrugged. “Still, might as well make the most of it. Have some fun while we still can.”
He grabbed an abandoned shopping cart and pushed it across the floor right into a display of stacked up pea cans. “I’ve always wanted to do that,” he said.
A can of peas had rolled towards David and came to a halt at his feet. He bent down to pick it up and hurled it full force into a TV, which exploded in a satisfying shower of sparks.
“Me, too,” he said.
“Maybe we should go up to the roof,” Luke suggested, “I mean, if we’re going to die anyway, we might as well watch the lightshow.”
David considered for a moment, then he nodded. “Good idea.” He held up the six-pack he’d rescued from their shopping cart. “I’ve even brought beer.”
In response, Luke held up the radio. “And I’ve got the music.” He experimentally turned up the volume again, but the civil defence guy was still droning on. “If they’ll eventually play music again, that is.”
“They won’t let that run until the nuke vaporises the broadcast station, will they?” David remarked, “Because I’m sure everybody has got it by now and it’s nicer to die with music.”
“And just in case…” Luke pocketed a cassette tape, Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
“And now for something to eat,” David said, “Ice cream or chocolate?”
“Ice cream,” Luke replied, “Preferably with chocolate chips.”
They shared a smile and headed off towards the refrigerated section, where they picked up two tubs of ice cream, chocolate chip and butterscotch cream. For why settle for just one flavour, when it was the end of the world?
They also found a forgotten child, a little black boy of maybe two or three, crying his eyes out in front of a freezer cabinet full of deep frozen pork chops.
“Now that’s just wrong,” Luke exclaimed, “What sort of asshole would forget their kid in their rush to run away like a headless chicken?”
David shrugged. “Maybe it was a mother who had four other kids and lost one in the chaos.” He bent down to pat the little boy’s head. “So what do we do about him? We can’t just leave him here?”
“We’ll simply take him along,” Luke said. He shifted the radio to his left hand and picked up the little boy. “Come on, bud, do you want to eat ice cream and watch mushroom clouds with us?”
The little boy made a sound that might have been “Yes”.
“All right then, let’s go.”
They made their way to the roof of the supermarket with maybe seven minutes to spare. An alarm blared, as they pushed open the access door to the roof, adding its noise to the cacophony of sirens, air planes, engines, car horns and screams.
“Where do you think they’ll hit?” Luke asked David.
David considered for a second. “That way,” he finally said, pointing eastwards, “Twin Bridges Air Force Base is in that direction.”
Luke nodded. “Makes sense. Twin Bridges is — what? — twenty miles away? Should be a great view.”
They settled down at the very edge of the roof in front of the large Buy More sign overlooking the parking lot, where the last of the shoppers were still scrambling to get away.
“Hey, you down there, did anyone lose a kid?” David yelled, but none of those still on the parking lot even looked up.
“Pathetic,” Luke said in disgust.
“They’re just scared.”
“Well, yeah, I’m fucking scared, too, but I’m not dumping my kid in front of an open freezer,” Luke said, “And now let’s have some beer and some ice cream.”
David busied himself opening the beer and the ice cream, while Luke settled the little boy on his lap and handed him a toy car he’d grabbed in the supermarket. And then they just sat there on the roof, drinking beer and eating ice cream.
Luke fed some ice cream to the little boy, who squealed with joy. “More,” he demanded, so Luke gave him more.
Meanwhile, David tried the radio again. The civil defence announcement was gone, replaced by an equally sombre hymn.
“Nearer my God to thee…” David exclaimed, “Really? The world’s about to end and that’s the best they could come up with?”
“Why not?” Luke replied, “Supposedly, that was the last song they played on the Titanic before it sank.”
“Yeah, but this isn’t nineteen fucking twelve,” David countered, “And besides, I’m Jewish.”
“Oh.” Luke shifted the kid on his lap and pulled the cassette tape from his jeans pocket. “Time for Michael Jackson then.”
He pushed the tape into the tape deck, pressed “Play” and the opening beats of “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” echoed across the supermarket roof.
“How long now do you think?” Luke asked.
David glanced at his wrist watch. “Not long. Maybe two or three minutes.”
“Better fast forward to ‘Thriller’ then,” Luke said and pressed the button. When he released it again, Michael Jackson was singing about evil lurking in the dark. The little boy squeaked, recognising the song, and bobbed up and down in tune with the music.
“Uhm, there’s something I have to…” David began.
“I need to tell you something,” Luke blurted out at the same moment.
They looked at each other, lost for words for the space of a few heartbeats.
“You first,” David finally said.
There was another pause, precious seconds ticking away. Then they both blurted out simultaneously.
“I’ve been meaning to tell you this since forever — well, since senior year, at any rate. Anyway, I…”
“Please don’t hate me, but I need you to know that…”
“I love you.”
“I’m gay.”
For a long moment, they looked at each other, Luke’s blue eyes meeting David’s brown, both finally understanding.
“Me, too,” they said simultaneously.
They both bent forward, shy and uncertain at first. Then their lips met and they kissed, kissed while the sirens wailed and Michael Jackson sang and the little boy squeaked and the nukes passed overhead on their way to Twin Bridges Air Force Base.
They were still kissing, when the first nuke hit and the world burned.
***
That’s it for this month’s edition of First Monday Free Fiction. Check back next month, when a new free story will be posted.
March 5, 2022
Star Trek Picard Meets “The Star Gazer”
Season 4 of Star Trek Discovery hasn’t yet wound down, yet season 2 of Star Trek Picard is already starting up. I’m not sure if I will continue to do episode by episode reviews of Picard or indeed any Star Trek, because it’s a lot of work and there is also simply too much Star Trek, let alone other SFF TV of interest, around to cover.
That said, you can find my thoughts on the season 2 premiere of Star Trek Picard below and my thoughts on season 1 here.
Warning! Spoilers below the cut!
Remember that I complained that season 4 of Star Trek Discovery moves too slowly in spite of a world-threatening menace to deal with? Well, you certainly can’t accuse Star Trek Picard of moving too slowly, for the first episode of season 2 contains more action than all of Star Trek Discovery since the mid-season break at least.
The episode begins with one of those flash forwards to some action scene which occurs later in the episode or during the climax. In the case, we see a Starfleet security team racing through the corridors of a ship that’s clearly under attack. The ship is nameless for now, though it is later revealed to be the USS Stargazer. Star Trek fans will remember the Stargazer as Picard’s first command. The poor security officers, who have redshirt written all over them, though their uniforms are yellow, head for the bridge in a turbolift and emerge into pandemonium. Picard is there in civilians clothes – yelling at everybody to hold their fire. Chris Rios is there as well in Starfleet uniform, as are Dr. Agnes Jurati and Seven of Nine, both in civilian garb. There’s a lot of shooting going on and then Picard orders the Stargazer to self-destruct and faces an unseen helmeted figure. Finally, the Stargazer apparently self-destructs in a flash of blinding white light. Cue credits.
I have to admit that I’m not a fan of flash forward intros (which were apparently invented by Aaron Sorkin, which explains a lot, since I have never liked the man or his work), because they feel unearned and are also used to cover up the fact that the beginning of a story is weak. Now the best way to fix a weak beginning is by making it more exciting. Never mind that a beginning doesn’t need a lot of explosions to be exciting.
Because the beginning of the episode proper is actually a very good one. The camera zooms in on Earth and particularly on France and Chateau Picard, as an old-fashioned record player (there still are functioning record players in the 24th century?) plays “Time Is On My Side” in what is either the 1964 Rolling Stones version or a cover that comes very close (the rights to Rolling Stones songs are expensive). It’s not Irma Thomas, the blues singer who recorded the song a year before the Stones, at any rate. Even though this is another example of “There was no popular culture worth remembering after 1965 in the Star Trek Universe”, it is oddly appropriate, a) because the song dates from the same era as the original Star Trek, b) it’s a song that Patrick Stewart may well have enjoyed as a young man, and c) lost time and second chances are one of the themes of the episode.
It’s harvest time at Chateau Picard. Jean-Luc Picard is back home, inspecting the grapes with his faithful bulldog Number One. The harvest itself is a charming mix of the traditional and the modern. The wine is still bottled and shipped in wooden crates, but the grapes are beamed from the vine onto a hovering drone and the labels are remote projected onto the bottles. Laris is there as well, exchanging smoldering looks with Picard, while Zhaban is notable by his absence.
We later learn that at least one and a half years have passed since the end of season 1 of Picard. Zhaban has died in the meantime and Laris is ready to move on, as is the Romulan way. She and Picard share a moment and I guess I wasn’t the only one yelling at the screen, “Go for it, Jean-Luc. There’s an attractive and lonely Romulan woman who’s interested in you, so what are you waiting for?”
Alas, Picard is still Picard and so he blows it, just as he has blown several similar moments with Beverly Crusher and a couple of others. The episode attempts to explain why Picard chose the stars, when he had a perfectly fine vineyard at home, and why he eschews committed romantic relationships. The explanation lies in Picard’s childhood, delivered via a flashback, which shows us young Jean-Luc (who for reasons unknown is dressed like a World War II refugee child) and his Mom in the otherwise empty chateau. They are standing in a somewhat dilapidated greenhouse – a greenhouse which is even more dilapidated in the present in spite of the otherwise excellent condition of the chateau. Picard’s Mom tells young Jean-Luc that this can be their secret place, that they can fix it up and paint on the glass panes. Then she tells him to look up and look at the stars and ends with “Let’s see what’s out there!”
We already know that Picard’s brother and father didn’t care for his passion for space exploration, though it seems his Mom – whom we’ve only seen once before as a vision of an elderly lady drinking tea in the Next Generation episode “Where No One Has Gone Before” – encouraged him. And so, in the present day, we see Picard picking up a shard of a shattered glass pane that’s painted with roses suggesting that Jean-Luc and his Mom did paint the greenhouse. We also get more flashbacks at scenes of domestic violence. So Picard’s Mom (and possible Jean-Luc and his brother as well) was a victim of domestic violence, which – it is implied – is the reason that Picard eschews committed relationships.
Sir Patrick Stewart has been very open about the fact that he witnesses domestic violence as he grew up, that it deeply affected him and that ending domestic violence is a cause close to his heart. We also know that Sir Patrick Stewart has input on the scripts of Picard, so the domestic violence backstory may well originate with him as an attempt to raise awareness for the issue. And this is laudable.
However, I dislike that stereotype that people who eschew committed relationships or any kind of relationships must have had unhappy childhoods and must have grown up in broken homes. Because there are plenty of people – and I’m speaking as someone who’s happily single myself and has been for a long time now – for whom committed relationships are simply not a priority in life. For starters, asexual and aromantic people exist and no, they don’t come from broken homes either. Since Picard clearly has had sexual and romantic relationships in the past, he’s not ace or aro. However, he has always struck me as someone who simply has other priorities (his career, Starfleet, the Federation, exploring space, making wine) which don’t mesh well with committed relationships and family life. Which is okay. Quite a few people value other things higher than committed relationships and no, they don’t all come from broken families or have experienced violence.
It’s still early in season and we don’t yet know where the subplot about Picard’s commitment issues and his family will go. I also have faith that the writers will handle the subject of domestic violence sensitively, especially since their star is a survivor of domestic violence. So let’s see where this goes.
Paul Levinson points out that Picard’s commitment issues may also be due to the fact that he died at the end of season 1 and now lives in an android body. Though having an android body stopped neither Data nor Grey from Discovery. Also, Picard was no different when he still had his original body.
After Picard blows his chances with Laris, he heads to San Francisco to give a speech at the Starfleet Academy graduation ceremony. One of the cadets is none other than Elnor, the young Romulan Qowat Milat warrior (it’s complicated), whom Picard took under his wing last season. I don’t know how long Starfleet Academy takes, but I suspect two years at the very least, suggesting once again that quite a bit of time has passed since the end of season 1. Elnor is also the first fully Romulan cadet Starfleet has ever had. Picard’s graduation gift to Elnor is a first edition of Spock’s biography, describing Spock’s struggles as one of the few Vulcans serving in Starfleet.
Raffi is at the ceremony as well, back in Starfleet uniform. She’s captain of the USS Excelsior, a ship (or series of ships) with a storied history that frequently pops up across the various versions of Star Trek. One of the Excelsior‘s previous captains was none other than Hikaru Sulu. Since Raffi sort of adopted Elnor over the course of season 1, she has made sure that the newly minted cadet is assigned to her ship, because – so she tells Picard – Elnor’s habit of always speaking the truth with absolute candour is sure to get him into trouble.
Raffi has been no more lucky in love than Picard, since we learn that her budding relationship with Seven of Nine broke up in the time between seasons 1 and 2. I for one find this a pity, because I would have loved to a mature lesbian couple star in “Elnor Has Two Mommies”. Though I suspect that Seven and Raffi will get back together before long.
As for Seven, she, too, has priorities other than romantic relationships, since she’s back doing humitarian work (with some muscle to back it up) for the Fenris Rangers. Seven has also taken over Rios’ old ship, the La Sirena, and kept his holograms. And so we get to watch as Seven and the Emmett, the Spanish-speaking, long-haired and tattooed engineering hologram, take out a bunch of space pirates who tried to steal medical supplies that Seven is delivering on behalf of the Fenris Rangers. Emmett the hologram tries to flirt with Seven, but she’s having none of that, since she’s got other priorities.
In recent years, we’ve seen an uptick in badarse women in their 50s kicking arse and taking names, whether it’s Ming Na Wen in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, Michelle Yeoh in Star Trek Discovery and everything she’s been in really, Sandra Oh in Killing Eve and now Jeri Ryan in Star Trek Picard. As someone who’s closer to fifty than thirty myself, I love seeing older women kicking arse and taking names. It’s a far cry from not too long ago, when women over forty (and sometimes not even yet forty) were relegated to playing matriarchs and long suffering wives in soap operas or sitcom mothers. Because especially girls and young women need to see older women role models who show that life does not end at 40 or 45 and that there are things they can be other than wives and mothers, even if few women will become ex-Borg outlaws, ex-Imperial snipers, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents or former Empresses of the universe.
While we’re checking in one the rest of the main cast, we next see Soji and Dr. Agnes Jurati (who has been cleared from the murder charge for killing Dr. Maddox, since she was under Romulan telepathic influence at the time) on a good-will tour of the Federation, now that the ban on synthetic lifeforms has been lifted. Soji is enjoying dinner with what I initially thought was a group of Dora Milaje who’d wandered into the wrong franchise by mistake, but which then turns out to be a bunch of Deltans. I have to admit that I had completely forgotten the existence of the Deltans. I should be forgiven for that, because Star Trek never did much with the Deltans beyond Star Trek: The Motion Picture and they were always badly defined. All we know about the Deltans is that they are bald and supposedly so sexy that they drive everybody mad (though only everybody of the opposite gender in The Motionless Picture) and need to take an oath of celibacy before being allowed to serve in Starfleet at all. My younger self found this both infuriating – who is Starfleet to dictate to the Deltans how to live their sex life? – and baffling, for while Persis Khambatta, whom we lost too soon, was a very attractive woman, she was not very attractive when playing Ilia.
Agnes Jurati is also immune to the Deltan charms, for when a barkeeper tries to flirt with the very drunken Agnes, she blows him off with her disastrous relationship history. She broke up with her last boyfriend – Chris Rios – and killed the boyfriend before that – Dr. Maddox. Yes, it’s not just Picard who’s unlucky in love, it’s everybody in this show.
As for Chris Rios, he, too, is back with Starfleet now and captain of the USS Stargazer. He’s still chomping his cigar, too, which is odd since I don’t think we’ve ever seen anybody smoke in Star Trek, not even during the Original Series, which was made at a time when smoking was still widely accepted. Star Trek fans will know that the Stargazer (a previous Stargazer, it turns out) was Jean-Luc Picard’s first command, before he became captain of the Enterprise. The Stargazer is ordered to investigate a spatial anomaly – a rip in the fabric of space and time – which has just popped up. At this point I groaned, for while spatial anomalies may be dime a dozen in the Star Trek universe (though Starfleet seems to have forgotten that by the 31st century), Star Trek Discovery has just spent an entire season trying to unravel the mystery of what is essentially a planet-eating evil black cloud. So if Picard was going to spend a whole season dealing with an evil black cloud edged in green, it would really be too much of an already tired plot device. Luckily, Star Trek Picard‘s evil green-edged black cloud is only the incicting incident which gets the plot proper moving.
For it turns out that this spatial anomaly is broadcasting something. Because Rios’ Bajoran communication officer can’t make head nor tails of it, Rios asks his ex-girlfriend Agnes Jurati for help. So a very drunk Agnes beams aboard the Stargazer, plops down in the first officer’s chair and then chases the poor Bajoran officer away from her console to analyse the signal. It turns out be three words, broadcast over and over again: “Picard, help us!”
Blissfully unaware of all this, Picard takes a detour to Los Angeles to visit an old friend, Guinan who now runs a retro bar. Picard claims that he only wants to deliver a bottle of his latest vintage, but he’s truly there to ask Guinan for advice about his romantic dilemma with Laris. Guinan realises that something is up at once and asks “Top shelf or hooch?” And so we get the very welcome return of Whoopi Goldberg to Star Trek. Of course, there’s no real reason for her to be here – Picard could have talked to Raffi or Riker or anybody else just as easily. But it’s Whoopi Goldberg, so any excuse to get her on the show will do.
Guinan’s appearance does create a problem, for while Guinan is an extremely long-lived alien and therefore shouldn’t have aged at all, Whoopi Goldberg is still human and clearly has aged in the 28 years since Star Trek: The Next Generation ended. The solution to this dilemma is elegant. It turns out that Guinan’s people can control their rate of aging and Guinan opts to age, so as not to freak her human friends and customers out.
Upon returning to Chateau Picard, Picard receives a visit from a female Starfleet Admiral who informs him about the Stargazer’s discovery. After beginning with “Help us, Picard”, the broadcast continues by quoting the entire article five of the Federation constituion, an article about worlds applying to join the Federation. Some unknown species wants to join the Federation and they will talk only to Picard about it.
So Picard is off to the Stargazer, where he is reunited with Rios, Agnes and Seven, who already was in the area when the anomaly appeared and shows up to help. Picard and Seven take a stroll through the corridors of the Stargazer, while crewmembers scramble out of the way – though whether it’s because they’re awed by Picard and terrified of Seven or both is not quite clear. Picard points out that the more these old ships are retrofitted, the more modern they look – a clear reference to the fact that the Starfleet ships seen in Discovery and Star Trek: Enteprise look a lot more modern than ships which supposedly date from later times.
Seven points out that the Stargazer is the first Starfleet vessel to incorporate technology scavenged from the wrecked Borg Cube seen in season 1. Seven is not at all happy with this and thinks it’s too dangerous, conveniently forgetting that she modified Voyager with Bog technology long before Starfleet did. Meanwhile, the random mention that this particular Starfleet vessel happens to be equipped with Borg technology also serves as a huge red flashing signs that Chekhov’s (Anton, not Pavel) Borg technology will play a part later on. Especially since black and a sickly neon green are exactly the colours we associated with a certain cybernetic species.
Picard arrives on the bridge and hails whoever is on the other side of the anomaly, whereupon a sinister black and sickly neon green spidery spaceship emerges from the anomaly. Seven confirms that it’s a Borg ship, as if there was any doubt.
So the Borg want to join the Federation – or do they? Seven is sceptical and points out that the Borg are in pretty bad shape following the events of the Next Generation episodes I, Borg and Descent. Individuality introduced via Hugh is spreading like a virus through the Collective and more and more Borg are breaking away and becoming ex-Borg. And since the Borg can’t conquer by force anymore, they might well use trickery. Seven also points out that the Borg never join or cooperate, they only assimilate.
Picard is no fan of the Borg for obvious reasons, but he is at least willing to listen to what they have to say. That said, the appearance of a Borg ship in Federation space is cause for concern and brings much of Starfleet coming to the aid of the Stargazer, including the Excelsior with Raffi and Elnor on board.
It is notable that we have never seen a single Borg in season 3 and 4 of Discovery, suggesting that the Borg may no longer exist as we know them by the 31st century. So are we seeing the twilight of the Borg here? Or is something else going on?
The Borg declare that they will send an emissary to negotiate with Picard. Rios absolutely does not want any Borg on his ship, which everybody sympathises with. However, the Borg don’t respect shields and beam their emissary on board anyway. The emissary appears to be the Borg queen, only that she is wearing a black cloak and a full face mask/helmet now. The Borg queen declares that she will negotiate, but first she requires power. Then Doctor Octopus like tentacles (maybe the Borg assimilated a fan of vintage Marvel comics and got the idea from there) shoot out of her back and into the consoles of the Stargazer. A ship, you’ll remember, which has been modified with Borg technology.
So what has been signposted all along by the discussion about Starfleet ships using Borg technology happens: The Borg queen begins to take over and assimilate the Stargazer. And since the Stargazer is connected to the rest of the fleet, the same happens to them. Now we cut back to the flash forward scene from the very beginning of the episode. There’s pandemonium on the bridge, the bridge crew is ineffectively firing at the Borg queen, while the Stargazer and the whole fleet are slowly being assimilated.
“We can’t hand them an armada”, Seven says and everybody realises that she is right. So Picard triggers the automatic self-destruct. Of course, Picard is the highest ranking officer, but normally only captains and first officer can trigger the self-destruct. Which meanns Rios and whoever his first officer is. So can admirals trigger every single self-destruct mechanism in every Starfleet vessel? At any rate, Picard initiates the self-destruct, everybody braces themselves as the countdown goes down to zero and the Stargazer and the rest of the fleet explodes.
And now it’s revealed that season 2 of Star Trek Picard was merely a ruse and that we’re getting Star Trek: Strange New Worlds instead. No, not really.
Instead, Picard suddenly wakes up back at the chateau with the worst case of “It was all a dream” since a whole season of Dallas (and a pretty good one, too) was annulled as “Just a dream”, because viewers couldn’t live without Patrick Duffy.
However, the viewer – and Picard – quickly realise that something is wrong. For starters, Picard’s com badge looks different now. And a portrait of Picard in a black uniform hangs above the fireplace. Picard calls for Laris, only to be met by an android servant named Harvey, who has never heard of Laris.
And then, to make matters worse, Q shows up to inform Picard that they meet again, because the trial never ends and that this reality is the end of the road not taken. Cue season trailer for credits.
Like Guinan, Q is an alien who does not age, whereas John DeLancie is an actor who definitely does age, though he actually looks more handsome now than he did 28 years ago. The way around this is that Q realises that Picard has aged and adjusts his appearance accordingly.
The Guinan cameo was clearly just there to bring back a beloved character, whereas Q promises to play an important role in the plot. And a most welcome return it is, too, because Q was always a favourite of mine, annoying as he is.
And come to think of it, we have also never seen any members of the Q Continuum in th 31st century. Okay, so we haven’t seen any Klingons and any Deltans either (but then no one cares about the Deltans), but it’s still a notable pattern of absence.
The season trailer suggests that Picard and his friends have landed in an alternate reality which is a fascist dystopia. Which isn’t exactly original, but more original than “Here’s a scary black evil cloud, let’s figure out how to deal with it?”
All in all, I enjoyed this episode a lot. Unlike the glacial pace of season 4 of Discovery, it moves at a crisp pace, reintroduces all the characters and where they are now and offers plenty of new mysteries and threats to deal with. As Tor.com reviewer Keith R.A. DeCandido points out, the climax with the Borg Queen assimilating the Stargazer was telegraphed way too blatantly and the fight on the bridge was clumsy. Also, why does everybody keep firing at the Borg Queen, when their phasers can’t penetrate her shields.
In the end, I enjoyed this episode a lot more than Keith R.A. DeCandido did. It’s a fun and action-packed start to a new season that promises to be a lot more fun than the rather lacklustre season 4 of Discovery.
So, to quote Picard’s Mom, let’s see what’s out there!
Non-Fiction Spotlight: Out of This World: Speculative Fiction in Translation from the Cold War to the New Millennium by Rachel S. Cordasco
The 2022 Hugo nomination deadline is approaching and the Non-Fiction Spotlights are coming fast and furious now. If you’re just joining us, the Non-Fiction Spotlights are a project, where I interview the authors/editors of SFF-related non-fiction books that came out in 2021 and are eligible for the 2022 Hugo Awards. 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.
SFF-related reference books and overviews of a certain aspect of the genre have appeared on the Hugo ballot several times, including all three editions of the venerable Encyclopedia of Science Fiction. The subject of today’s non-fiction spotlight is a work along those lines and also one that’s dear to my heart, because it focusses on SFF translated into English.
Therfore I’m thrilled to welcome Rachel S. Cordasco, author of Out of This World: Speculative Fiction in Translation from the Cold War to the New Millennium to my blog today.
Tell us about your book.
Out of This World is a reference book for anyone interested in translated speculative fiction since 1960. SFT has been gaining an audience since the Cold War, though it really hit its stride at the beginning of this century. Each chapter, which is introduced by a guest scholar, focuses on a single source-language and the kinds of books that are available to Anglophone readers. The fourteen chapters explore SFT from the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, Czech, Finnish, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Russian, Spanish, and Swedish.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I received my PhD in Literary Studies in 2010 and thought I would become a professor. After a single semester, I realized that it wasn’t going to happen, and I found a job as an editor at a historical society press. When I took a few years off to have my kids, I needed to keep my brain busy and started reading and reviewing science fiction, which I hadn’t read in years since my focus in grad school was American Literary Naturalism. Eventually, my interests in translation and science fiction converged, so I started SFinTranslation.com to track science fiction, fantasy, and horror in translation. My freelancing continued when I went back to my editing job, and somewhere along the line I started translating, as well. A few months ago, life started feeling pretty crazy and I decided to leave the editing job to focus on my kids, my freelancing, and my translating.
What prompted you to write this book?
After building the SFT website, I realized that a lot of the information it contained might be useful in book form. Following a discussion with an editor at the University of Illinois Press, I started writing a book that functions as a reference/analysis text. Each chapter reviews what’s available but also analyzes why certain subgenres are more prominent in some SFTs rather than others. Furthermore, my general introduction to the volume offers an overview of SFT as a subject of discussion (stretching back to the 1970s and even earlier). Hopefully, this book will help scholars in their exploration of world SF, professors who are building world SF courses, and readers just looking for new and interesting stories.
Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?
This book isn’t necessarily the kind of thing you’d read in one sitting by the fire (though you definitely could!). Rather, it’s the kind of book that you’d read to learn about SF from different source languages. You might read the Finnish chapter if you’re interested in Sinisalo or Krohn. Then, if you’ve picked up a work of Japanese space opera at a bookstore, you could turn to the relevant section to learn about that language’s wide variety of hard-science-fiction subgenres. You could even use the index to find themes that span the different SFTs and compose reading lists for your book club. Also, that cover is gorgeous (the people at UIP picked it), so it would be a lovely display for your coffee table.
Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?
I did have to cut about twenty thousand words to keep the manuscript within the word limits, but most of what I cut was textual analysis (which wasn’t necessarily crucial). I would love to write a second volume that focuses on underrepresented source languages in SFT: Romanian, Greek, Tamil, Bulgarian, Danish, etc.
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?
SFF-related non-fiction represents the analysis/discussion side of the larger SFF genre. Authors write fictional texts, and then readers and scholars discuss them. SFF non-fiction is the tangible manifestation of those discussions and is an integral part of the genre ecosystem.
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?
In terms of SFF-related non-fiction, I highly recommend Ian Campbell’s Science Fiction in Translation: Perspectives on the Global Theory and Practice of Translation. The website https://sciencefictionruminations.com/, which reviews vintage science fiction published from the 1950s through the 1980s, is also a wonderful place for reviews of older SF (including translations) and some of the great SF art of the period.
Where can people buy your book?
You can buy the book directly from UIP (https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=45sfy6nx9780252043987) or anywhere else you buy books! Also, ask if your local or university library has it.
Where can people find you?
rachel@sfintranslation.com
https://www.sfintranslation.com/
Twitter: @Rcordas
The twenty-first century has witnessed an explosion of speculative fiction in translation (SFT). Rachel Cordasco examines speculative fiction published in English translation since 1960, ranging from Soviet-era fiction to the Arabic-language dystopias that emerged following the Iraq War. Individual chapters on SFT from Japanese, French, and twelve other source languages feature an introduction by an expert in the language’s speculative fiction tradition and its present-day output. Cordasco then breaks down each chapter by subgenre–including science fiction, fantasy, and horror–to guide readers toward the kinds of works that most interest them. Her discussion of available SFT stands alongside an analysis of how various subgenres emerged and developed in different source languages and why some subgenres have been more likely to be translated into English.
An informative and one-of-a-kind guide, Out of This World offers readers and scholars alike a tour of speculative fiction’s new globalized era.
About Rachel S. Cordasco:Rachel S. Cordasco founded the website SFinTranslation.com. She works as a writer, editor, and translator and is co-translator of Clelia Ferris’s Creative Surgery.
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Did you publish a work of SFF-related longform non-fiction in 2021 and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.
March 4, 2022
Star Trek Discovery finds the “Rosetta” Stone
Star Trek Discovery is back for the last few episodes of season 4 and in their infinite wisdom, Paramount decided to drop season 2 of Star Trek Picard, while season 4 of Discovery is still running. So here is the review of the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery. Star Trek Picard will follow in the next few days. Reviews of previous seasons and episodes may be found here.
Another one word episode title. It’s not just me, the episode titles have definitely become shorter.
Warning: Spoilers under the cut!
When we last saw the Discovery and her valiant crew, they had just crossed the Galactic Barrier and were on their way to make first contact with Species 10c, creators of the planet-eating Dark Matter Anomaly.
The main problem, however, is that the Federation knows nothing about Species 10c, not even what they look like, how they communicate, etc… Luckily, there is an abandoned planet close to the Galactic Barrier and Species 10c’s massive energy field. Michael theorises that this planet was once inhabited by Species 10c and should therefore yield some clues about them. Therefore, she decides to take a detour to that planet to find out as much as she can about Species 10c before attempting first contact.
Not everybody agrees with this plan. Time is of essence, after all, since the DMA will reach the alpha quadrant and threaten both Earth and Ni’Var in only 29 hours. President Rillak isn’t happy with Michael’s plan and even less happy that both Michael and Saru will be going on the mission – though Michael points out that Saru’s enhanced senses and his extensive linguistic knowledge will be invaluable – but in the end Rillak decides to trust Michael.
President T’Rina also trusts Michael and Saru. Doctor Hirai feels the need to inform the away team not to mess things up, whil permanently muching on some kind of snack balls. The random Ferengi and President T’Rina’s aid are just there to look decorative. And honestly, what is the purpose of the random Ferengi, if just stands around looking decorative and never says a single word? The fact that the Ferengi joined the Federation isn’t really news, since things were obviously moving in that direction in Deep Space Nine.
General Ndoye of Earth, however, is not at all happy with the delay and also not shy about expressing her misgivings. Ndoye was opposed to the first contact mission from the start and voted in favour of blowing up the DMA and she now points out that the mission to the deserted planet costs precious time that they do not have. She’s not wrong either, though blundering into Species 10c’s energy field with zero knowledge about them can only lead to disaster.
I like Phumzile Sitole a lot as General Ndoye, but what’s up with that uniform she’s wearing? The weird outfit and the Robin Hood hat remind me of Carol Hughes’ outfit as Dale Arden in Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, which I doubt is the intention.
Once the various delegates have aired their reservations and offered their good wishes, the away team is off to explore the planet that they believe to be a original homeworld of Species 10c. The team consists of Michael, Saru, Dr. Culber and Detmer. Because there are atmospheric interferences and all sorts of debris flying about, the away team can’t just beam down to the surface of the planet, but needs to use a shuttle.
We get a bit of an infodump about the planet. It was a gas giant once, before asteroid bombardment burned away the gas layers and left the solid core of the planet a dead rock in space. Yeah, it doesn’t really make sense, but who cares? A nearby star is also surrounded by what Michael calls Dyson Rings, probably because Larry Niven already has dibs on the term “Ringworld”, though that’s absolutely what it is. The Dyson Rings appear to be deserted as well, beggering that question why the Discovery team doesn’t just investigate the Ringworlds, since there’s probably more evidence to be found there than on the destroyed planet. And while it makes sense that Species 10c abandoned the dead planet, why did they abandon the Ringworlds, too? Did Species 10c even build the Ringworlds? Finally, is this the same planet where the Enterprise wanted to dump off Gary Mitchell and Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in “Where No Man Has Gone Before” eight hundred years before?
On the surface of the planet, the team comes across giant, if hollow bones, which they believe belonged to Species 10c. Because the pressure on the surface of a gas giant would be too great to survive (unless you are the robots ZZ One, Two and Three from Isaac Asimov’s delightful 1942 science fiction story “Victory Unintentional”, because ZZs are top – yes, I had to make that pun), the away team comes to the conclusion that Species 10c lived in the gas layers, which is also why there are almost no ruins except one massive reinforced structure that crashed to the surface. At this point, the story basically becomes Arthur C. Clarke’s 1971 science fiction novella “A Meeting with Medusa”.
When they find the bones and some mystery dust, which Culber identifies as an unknown hydrocarbon, Saru suddenly freaks out. His old, ever-present fear, absent since the season 2 episode “An Obol for Charon” is back with the vengeance and he’s suffering from hallucinations, too, seeing tentacled creatures and attackers where there are none.
When the away team explores the mystery ruin – which is full of floating jellyfish-like things, which reinforce the “Meeting with Medusa” parallels – Saru’s condition worsens. Dr. Culber tries to calm him down and give him medication, only to fall prey to intense fear and hallucinations as well.
Meanwhile, Michael and Detmer come across yet more hydrocarbon mystery dust and more bones in the ruined structure, bones which are smaller, and deduce that the structure was a nursery and that it was reinforced to protect the young. So they deduce that Species 10c cares about its children and values life, which should at least serve as a basis for communications.
At this point, Michael suddenly experiences intense fear and hallucinations as well. Only Detmer remains unaffected. The team attempts to figure out what triggered the hallucinations and why Detmer was spared and finally realise that the culprit is the mystery hydrocarbon dust, which Saru, Culber and Michael touched, but Detmer didn’t. Because the hydrocarbon is unknown to the Federation, their spacesuits are not designed to filter it out. Luckily, a few adjustments solve that problem.
I guess I wasn’t the only one who was yelling at the screen at this moment, “Folks, you’re probably looking at a communication attempt right there.” The Discovery team does finally come to that conclusion as well, but only after they experiment with a different kind of mystery dust – red instead of blue – that they find in the ruins of the alien nursery and experience overwhelming feelings of love and security. The mystery dust are the pheromones that the aliens use to communicate. The red dust made the alien babies in the nursery feel safe and loved, while the blue dust was generated by the fear and horror of the aliens as their planet was destroyed.
Detmer is intensely affected by the red dust and confesses to having a difficult family background and very few opportunities to feel safe and loved. It’s great that the bridge crew are getting more character development, though it still feels a little shoehorned in.
The Discovery collect more samples of alien pheromone dust for Stamets to analyse and return to Discovery, read to make contact with Species 10c, now they know that they at least share emotions and Species 10c should surely sympathise with the pain of seeing your planet destroyed and therefore stop the DMA, once they learn what it is doing to the inhabitants of the galaxy next door. Saru points out that it’s quite possible that Species 10c already knows and just doesn’t care.
Meanwhile, no one thinks to ask the obvious question, namely if the inhabitants of the dead planet truly were Species 10c? After all, it’s quite possible that the poor Medusae of the dead planet were merely the first victim of Species 10c’s insatiable energy hunger (Star Trek has never been subtle about its messages and real world parallels), before they turned their attention to the galaxy next door. Also, what about those Dyson Rings? What is their purpose and why does no one even consider checking out the rings, too?
While Michael, Saru, Culber and Detmer are traipsing about on the dead planet, Book and Tarka have also made it through the Galactic Barrier without either of them having their brains fried nor Book having his empathic abilities enhanced like what happened to Gary Mitchell or Elizabeth Dehner in “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. Book’s ship, which still doesn’t have a name, is lurking nearby in cloaked mode, while Book and Tarka discuss how to get through Species 10c’s energy field. Book is confident that Michael will find a way in. Tarka agrees and suggests hitching a ride on Discovery. Of course, they will have to hide from Zora’s sensors, but Tarka is confident he can achieve this, if he installs a patch into Discovery‘s system. There’s only one hitch. The patch has to be installed aboard Discovery and it has to be installed in engineering, one part of the ship which is never empty. None of this makes any sense, though it does make for nice drama.
Tarka wants to sneak aboard Discovery alone to install his patch, but Book won’t let him go alone. After all, he knows Discovery better than Tarka does. Besides – though Book doesn’t say this out loud – Tarka is a loose cannon and there’s no telling what he will do, if the mission doesn’t go according to plan. Which is exactly what happens.
Tarka sciences up two devices which will cloak Book and Tarka from Zora’s sensors and they beam aboard Discovery to crawl through Jeffries tubes, from where they overhear General Ndoye sharing her misgivings about the detour to the dead planet with President T’Rina. And of course, Book and Tarka only overhear conversations that impart relevant information, rather than eavesdropping on – say – Linus watching porn or Rhys recording a podcast. Never mind that Book and Tarka have zero reason to sneak into the mess hall, since that’s the least likely place aboard Discovery to be empty after the bridge and engineering.
Having heard that General Ndoye is sceptical of the whole mission, Book suggests making contact with her and using her as a spy inside Discovery. After all, Ndoye voted in favour of Tarka’s plan. So Book sends Ndoye a faked message from President T’Rina asking for a private meeting in a deserted part of the ship. And because Ndoye finds nothing strange about this at all and never even thinks to ask T’Rina if she sent that message, she heads for the meeting and finds Book waiting for her instead of T’Rina. After some physical altercations, Book persuades Ndoye to listen to him, since they all want the same thing, namely for the DMA to be stopped.
Ndoye agrees to give Book and Tarka information and not call security and have them arrested and thrown in the brig. In exchange, she asks that Book and Tarka only act, when the first contact mission fails. If it succeeds, they must stand down. Book promises this. As usual, no one even worries what Tarka might do.
While Book is meeting with T’Rina, Tarka sabotages the replicators to only generate steamed bananas to lure the engineering crew away to repair the problem. Amazingly, it works and the entire engineering crew scrambles to repair the replicators. No one is left behind, which I frankly find unbelievable, because on a seagoing ship, the engine room is never left unmanned, unless the ship is burning or sinking, and often not even then. After all, the Titanic‘s enginee room crew famously kept the engines running until the end and died at their posts. For a minor issue such as a malfunctioning replicator, only a random ensign would be dispatched, not the whole engineering crew.
The engineering officer on duty is Jet Reno, once again delightfully portrayed by Tig Notaro. We haven’t seen a lot of Jet Reno in season 4 so far, probably because Tig Notaro is very much in demand, so I’m glad to see her back. We first see Jet Reno, as she gives advice to Adira, who has taken to admiring Detmer, because Detmer always seems so cool and together. Reno points that Detmer was not at all cool and put together, when Discovery first came into the future. She also tells Adira that if they want to strike up a friendship with Detmer, it would be helpful to just talk to her. “And don’t say, ‘I want to be you’,” Reno advises Adira, “Cause that’s creepy.”
Shortly thereafter, Linus appears to report that the replicators are malfunctioning and a grumpy Jet Reno goes off to repair the problem and takes the rest of the engineering crew along with her, allowing Tarka to sneak in and install his patch. However, Reno is smart and so she quickly realises that the replicators did not break down, but were sabotaged and that the middle of a crisis really isn’t the time for practical jokes. She also returns to engineering sooner than expected and finds Tarka hiding under a deck. “Please tell me I just spoiled a surprise party,” she says.
The show then cuts away to mop up several plot threads. Book makes gooey eyes at Michael from inside a Jeffries tube. Stamets shares his findings about the alien pheromones. Adira finally takes a heart and approaches Detmer. President T’Rina invites Saru to a stroll on the holodeck to Michael and Stamets’ approval and amusement. There also was another C-plot earlier where President Rillak tells Dr. Hirai – who’s still permanently snacking – to show a bit more empathy and be less rude.
While all that was happening, I yelled at the screen, “What happened to Reno and Tarka?” After all, Tarka is a loose cannon and Reno just blew his cover, so there’s no telling what he might do.
What he did do – as is revealed after five minutes of unrelated scenes – is kidnap Reno and take her aboard Book’s ship, where she is imprisoned behind a forcefield. “There’s nothing like coming home to an unexpected hostage”, Reno snarks when Book returns, appalled at the mess that Tarka has made again. Cue credits.
Viewed in isolation, this was a fun episode of Star Trek Discovery. The crew got to explore a deserted planet and science the shit out of a cosmic mystery. There was some nice character development and impressive special effects. Also, this was one of the most sixties episode of Star Trek ever – including many episodes from the actual 1960s – since the crew had to deal with colourful alien hallucinogenic dust.
If this had been a random midseason episode, it would have been a very good one. However, “Rosetta” comes near the end of the season and there are only two more episodes to go. Besides – as the dialogue keeps reminding us – Earth and Ni’Var (and Titan) will be destroyed in 29 hours, so there is a huge ticking clock involved here. But in spite of all this, the episode never really develops any sense of urgency. Instead, Michael, Saru, Culber and Detmer act as if they have all the time in the world to go traipsing about some alien ruins, while Book and Tarka have all the time in the world to crawl through Jeffries tubes.
Tor.com reviewer Keith R.A. DeCandido also points out the curious lack of urgency in this episode and the odd pacing of the second half of season 4 in general. The DMA plot has been moving at a glacial pace throughout all of season 4 anyway with plenty of detours – oh, let’s help Michael’s Mom catch a wayward nun or send Tilly and a bunch of recruits on a training mission or let’s muse about the ethics of crime and punishment – and when the pace finally picked up at the mid season break, the show promptly gets lost in plenty of meandering detours again. Playing poker with Book might have been necessary for the plot, but did we really need to spend an entire episode on crossing the Galactic Barrier, when the Original Series accomplished this in a few minutes?
In general, I find the DMA plot a much less compelling season arc than the mystery of the Burn or the mystery of the Red Angel or the Klingon War (Also, what happened to the Klingons in the 31st century? Have they died out? Cause we haven’t seen a single Klingon since season 2). Yes, the DMA is big and dangerous and gobbles up planets and it’s also a really clumsy analogy for our reliance on fossile fuels and the harm it causes, but I still find it hard to get worked up about what is essentially a big evil dark cloud. And while the destruction of Kweijian is sad, Kwejian is also a planet we’ve seen exactly twice before it is blown up, where it seemed to consist of about five handsome guys in leather jackets running around the same forest in British Columbia that stands in for thirty percent of all planets in the known universe. And while the DMA may be headed for Earth, Titan and Ni’Var, we also know that Star Trek won’t blow up Earth and Ni’Var, though poor Titan might be fucked, so there is little sense of urgency there either, because we know the DMA will be stopped just in time.
That said, there still are a few intriguing questions: Are the Medusae of the dead planet Species 10c or just another of their victims? And what about Tarka’s lover Oros? Will we see him again and is he maybe involved with the mystery of the DMA in some way?
With two episodes to go, season 4 might still pull the potatoes out of the fire and come to a satisfying conclusion. Besides, it’s not as if season 4 is bad. It’s solid, middle-of-the-road Star Trek with neat mysteries, likeable characters you want to spend time with and effects that are so much better than anything that Star Trek used to dish up. In short, it’s the sort of solid, comfort-viewing Star Trek that helped me through university in the 1990s.
That said, I’m not sure if I will be continuing the episode by episode reviews, because they are a lot of work and I’m not sure Star Trek is interesting enough to warrant it. I will finish the episode by episode reviews of season 4 and I will do at least the first episode of Star Trek Picard tomorrow or the day after, but I’m not sure if I will do all of Picard and Strange New Worlds, because I want to blog about something other than Star Trek once in a while, too.
March 2, 2022
Non-Fiction Spotlight: Robert E. Howard Changed My Life, edited by Jason M. Waltz
The 2022 Hugo nomination deadline is approaching and the Non-Fiction Spotlights are coming fast and furious now. If you’re just joining us, the Non-Fiction Spotlights are a project, where I interview the authors/editors of SFF-related non-fiction books that came out in 2021 and are eligible for the 2022 Hugo Awards. 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.
Essay collections have appeared in the Best Related Work category on the Hugo ballot several times and today, I’m pleased to feature a collection of personal essays about the impact that one of the great foundational writers of our genre had on many writers and scholars.
Therefore, I’m thrilled to welcome Jason M. Waltz, editor of Robert E. Howard Changed My Life, to my blog today.
This is already the second non-fiction book about Robert E. Howard that I’ve featured as part of the Non-Fiction Spotlight project after Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard by Todd B. Vick. If you’re looking for even more Howard scholarship, Jason was kind enough to send along a PDF of the Appendix REH (named after the famous Appendix N from the Dungeons & Dragons Dungeon Master’s Handbook), a list of educational and inspirational reading about Robert E. Howard and his works from Robert E. Howard Changed My Life.
Tell us about your book.
“Color, action, movement–growth and power! The atmosphere was alive with these elements, stinging and tingling. Here there were no delicate shadings or subtle contrasts. Life painted here in broad, raw colors, in bold, vivid strokes.” (REH in “Vultures of Whapeton”) This is not my book. I’m just the guy lucky enough to have gathered these contributors into its covers, into the same place at the same time. The above quote is on the title page, and though Howard used it in his description of the land, the times, the conditions, the people, the atmosphere and the immediacy of his Western, it is to me the ultimate triumph of his own writing. There is no better depiction of Howard’s style, no better summation of his impact with words. Thus, it is the perfect introduction to a book containing 33 memoirs of his direct impact upon numerous creators following his legacy while navigating their own. REH CHANGED MY LIFE is a collection of personal essays examining the influence of REH and many of his characters on the lives of: Barbara A. Barrett, Barbara Baum, Fred Blosser, Rusty Burke, Bill Cavalier, Becky Cloonan, Adrian Cole, Nancy A. Collins, Bobby Derie, Jason Durall, Steven Erikson, Mark Finn, Jaym Gates, Chris Gruber, Dierk Guenther, Dave Hardy, John C. Hocking, Cecelia Holland, Matthew John, Howard Andrew Jones, Karen Joan Kohoutek, Joe R. Lansdale, Patrice Louinet, Michael Moorcock, Scott Oden, Deuce Richardson, Charles Saunders, Jeffrey Shanks, David C. Smith, Keith J. Taylor, Roy Thomas, Todd B. Vick, and C. L. Werner. It includes an Afterword by Janet Morris and ‘Appendix REH: Suggested Additional Inspirational and Educational Reading’ from the contributors. Cover art is by Didier Normand. REH CHANGED MY LIFE overflows with vivid color, raw action, and bold movement exemplified. Power and growth resonant throughout the essays shared. Bob Howard did not change my life until I united these essays within this salute to his extraordinary legacy. I daresay there is no other book of its nature, not in any concerned fields, and if there were no other compulsion to explore it, that alone makes it a worthy read.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am a proponent of heroic literature: I read, write, edit, publish, collect, speak, and preserve it. I’m also just a fellow who happened to lend a hand one day back in 2005 when a few small press people solicited help. Things led to other things, and in 2008 I was suddenly the micro publisher Rogue Blades Entertainment, publisher of all that is heroic, specifically heroic fantasy. Several well-regarded (though never as many as intended) anthologies–such as RETURN OF THE SWORD, RAGE OF THE BEHEMOTH, CROSSBONES & CROSSES, REACH FOR THE SKY–and the popular non-fiction how-to WRITING FANTASY HEROES later, Rogue Blades Foundation was established specifically to take on larger scale titles like REH CHANGED MY LIFE.
What prompted you to edit this book?
I believe much of modern entertainment can be traced to REH, directly or via his influence. From music to gaming to professional wrestling, all the myriad forms of storytelling through any media owes its current existence to Robert E. Howard to some extent. I’ve often thought about exploring that connection, tracing that lineage. Frankly, I also always considered it too much work. Until I heard Bill Cavalier’s Guest of Honor speech “How Robert E. Howard Saved My Life” at Howard Days 2018 in Cross Plains, Texas. While much of that audience already knew that story–it truly touched me. Before the evening was over I considered it a revelation and immediately voiced efforts to gather similar stories I knew had to exist, though slightly tweaking the emphasis to be on changed rather than saved personal lives. My initial goal was a dozen essays, due to both my perceived contributor potential and the ensuing costs. Indy (Bill Cavalier) was graciously instantly on board, as well as a handful of others present. And then word spread and suddenly I was receiving requests to be included! It truly was amazing, with contributors coming to me or quickly accepting my invitation to join. Very few that I made contact with declined, though each who did specifically stated they could not unequivocally declare Robert Howard had changed their lives and so did not deem it appropriate to contribute. I find that alone makes this an amazing book, for that means that everyone who is present definitely can point to Howard as an influencer of change in their lives! And so what I had intended to be a small, almost chapbook like title mostly intended for the Howard Days crowd became the largest title I’ve ever worked on let alone helmed. And I am humbled by it: by its contents, by its contributors, and by its potential to be my own legacy.
Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?
Fans of action adventure in all its glories should be highly interested in learning how a founding father of American heroic literature impacts today’s storytelling entertainment directly through these contributors who attribute some of their life and career choices, motivations, creations, and successes to him. SFF fans should even moreso read this title because this is not JUST a book about Robert E. Howard and his influence–it is ALSO a book about how 33 current heroic storytellers continue to impact today’s fantastical entertainment themselves! This is a book that covers much more than one man and his characters and stories no matter how numerous they are; this book shares the memories, realizations, personal growths, and sheer inspiring creativity of dozens of modern influencers who carry on the best of Robert Howard to the best of their abilities. Not only do they share how Howard changed them, they share what they did with that change and even further add recommendations for others to continue finding inspirational and educational reading in their pursuit of change. As one of the very few SFF awards programs to recognize non-fiction SFF/SFF-adjacent literature, the Hugo voters should seriously read this book.
Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?
Everything I learned/received during the compilation of this book made it within its covers, so no, there are no missing delights. There are, however, unexpected things that appear inside: what I believe is the final essay written by Charles R. Saunders, Father of Sword & Soul, and three salutes to his influence and friendship. Sadly, due to his untimely death, there are no recommendations in Appendix REH from the author. I deliberated quite awhile about including these salutes to Saunders in a title inspired by and dedicated to Howard. Finally I decided that doing so detracted from neither, and doing so honored both men and emphasized the underscoring theme of changed lives.
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 analysis of creativity, of motivation, and of legacy should be a regular genre consideration. Not to the extent of peer reviewed thesis or literary journal material, but most assuredly in the informative and educational and frankly illuminating non-fiction exploration of SFF. From examinations and histories of entire genres, to biographies of the influential and even the obscure, to what storytelling changed the trajectory of our storytellers’ lives…all of it is of merit and worthy of recognition and promotion. With regularly-occurring material each year, SFF-related non-fiction should have its own category in each of the major awards programs.
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?
There have been a number of SFF non-fiction titles to appear within the last two years within my purview: heroic literature. David C. Smith and Todd B. Vick both released biographical looks at Robert E. Howard, while Brian Murphy wrote a history of Sword & Sorcery. In the past there were the Tales from Before titles examining what books and authors influenced those such as C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. There’s a long-overdue and greatly welcomed documentary style movie about Karl Edward Wagner. I’m sure there are others, those are all that come to mind at the moment.
Where can people buy your book?
Rogue Blades Foundation sells via Amazon, so here’s a hopefully working link to everyone’s own Amazon: http://authl.it/B09419WQZ9?d
Where can people find you?
Rogue Blades is found at https://rogue-blades.com/ and https://www.facebook.com/RogueBladesFoundation
Thank you, Jason, for stopping by and answering my questions.
About Robert E. Howard Changed My Life:ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE is a brand-new way of understanding how the Texas author’s legacy continues today. 33 contributors long familiar with the man and his creations share how he impacted their lives and continues to impact modern entertainment. This is an intimate look at the changes wrought personally and professionally by the Father of Sword-and-Sorcery and a Founder of American Fantasy.
ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE is homage not only in memoir but also in financial support for Project Pride, the agency that sustains the Howard Home and Museum in Cross Plains, Texas. A portion of each sale of the hardcover and electronic book will be donated by RBF to Project Pride each year at the annual Howard Days.
ROBERT E. HOWARD CHANGED MY LIFE is as bold, raw, and filled with vibrant life as the words, characters, and works of the man himself. This collection of intimate essays on the impact of Robert E. Howard and his characters as catalysts of personal change comes from 33 scholars, writers, artists, publishers, and fans who can say, “Because Howard lived I am a changed person.”
A Riot of Life, by Jason M Waltz
How REH Saved My Life, by Bill Cavalier
REH, Conan and Me, by John C. Hocking
Dreams of the Purple Kingdom, by Jason Durall
Out there in the Wilds with REH, by Joe R. Lansdale
Bêlit, Queen of the Black Coast, by Jaym Gates
REH and Me: The Celtic Connection, by Adrian Cole
He Himself was in Every One of Them, by Rusty Burke
Crossed Swords and Bloody Seas, by David C. Smith
Taking the World by the Throat, by Karen Joan Kohoutek
The Black Dog and REH, by C.L. Werner
An Empire of Ghosts and Smoke, by Scott Oden
From Conan to Cormac: My Path to Howard Studies, by Todd B. Vick
REH: Opener of the Way, by Nancy A. Collins
Wyrd Ensemble, by Bobby Derie
The Ride of Falume, by Barbara A. Barrett
For the Honor of the Ship, by Christopher A. Gruber
An Ode to REH, by Cecelia Holland
A Love Letter to Bear Creek, by Mark Finn
On the Trail with El Borak, by David Hardy
The Were-Woman, the Gnome, and the Zebra, by Deuce Richardson
In the Footsteps of Steve Harrison, by Fred Blosser
Unearthing an Age Undreamed Of, by Jeffrey Shanks
How REH (And Glenn Lord) Changed My Life, by Roy Thomas
Kosru’s Road, by Howard Andrew Jones
1975: The Year of the Cormac, by Keith J. Taylor
In a Dark Place, by Steven Erikson
My New Friend Agnes, by Becky Cloonan
Sol K. and Me, by Dierk Günther
An Unexpected Gift, by Barbara Ingram Baum
A New and Mighty Mission, by Matthew John
White Spark, Black Fire, by Charles R. Saunders
The Extraordinary Inner World of Charles R. Saunders, Father of ‘Sword and Soul,’ by Jon Tattrie
Charles Saunders and I were Friends, by Joe R. Lansdale
The Importance of Charles Saunders, by David C. Smith
Why No Howard Character Ever Changed My Life, by Patrice Louinet
REH: A European Perspective, by Michael Moorcock
Afterword, by Janet E. Morris
Appendix REH: Suggested Additional Inspirational and Educational Readings
Jason M Waltz is THE RogueBlade, owner/editor at Rogue Blades Entertainment, a high octane adventure publisher sharing heroic literature, and founder/publisher at Rogue Blades Foundation, a literary publisher exploring heroics. As such, he gets to produce the wonderful titles from RBE & RBF listed here. In addition, you’ll find a few adventures of his own, mostly within the speculative and grand adventure genres.
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Did you publish a work of SFF-related longform non-fiction in 2021 and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.
March 1, 2022
Non-Fiction Spotlight: True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee by Abraham Riesman
Today, I’m continuing the Non-Fiction Spotlight project, wherein I interview the authors/editors of SFF-related non-fiction books that came out in 2021 and are eligible for the 2022 Hugo Awards. 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.
Biographies of SFF authors and other people of genre interest have appeared on the ballot for the Best Related Work Hugo several times in the past. So this Non-Fiction Spotlight features another excellent biography of an important figure in SFF history.
Therefore, I’m thrilled to welcome Abraham Riesman, author of True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee, to my blog. Furthermore, by some amazing cosmic coincidence (not really, since we timed it that way), True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee came out in paperback yesterday, so get yourselves to your favourite bookstore and buy a copy.
Tell us about your book.
It’s the first complete and unvarnished look at the life of the man born Stanley Martin Lieber. You know him as Stan Lee, the writer/editor who brought Marvel Comics to the world, changed global popular culture, and became an unmistakeable icon. But beyond those broad strokes, most of what the world knew about Stan Lee was false.
True Believer is based on more than 150 exclusive interviews and thousands of pages of archival material — from both Stan’s massive, rarely-visited archive and the private archives of others. True Believer’s narrative stretches from Stan’s ancestral trauma in eastern Romania to his shocking final days in Los Angeles. Along the way, it digs into many unsettling questions: Did Stan actually create the characters he gained fame for creating? Was he complicit in millions of dollars’ worth of fraud at his post-Marvel companies? Which members of the cavalcade of grifters who surrounded him were most responsible for the misery of his final days?
It’s a story of overreach; of a man who achieved so much, yet always boasted of more. It’s a story of obsession; of the birth of modern fandom and its ripeness for manipulation. Above all, it’s a story of ambiguity; of the fact that certain moral judgments and factual assertions can never be made with certainty. Living with that ambiguity is the great challenge of understanding the life and impact of Stan Lee.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’m a 36-year-old author and journalist based in Rhode Island. My main gig has been as a writer for New York magazine and its culture site, Vulture. I was on staff there for about six years, writing about a wide array of things — but especially about the geek-industrial complex, for lack of a better term. I’ve also written for The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, and The Washington Post. I have made it my goal to bring serious analysis to topics where real harm is being done and no one is paying attention because the industry in question makes a product deemed silly by the mainstream media. True Believer is my first book, but I’m currently writing Ringmaster, a biography of professional wrestling’s Vince McMahon, for Simon & Schuster. I’m married to a wonderful journalist/editor named S.I. Rosenbaum and we have three cats.
What prompted you to write this book?
In the summer of 2015, while I was on staff at New York magazine, an editor named David Wallace-Wells stopped by my desk, plopped a book onto it, and said, “You should do something with this.” It was a galley of Stan Lee’s then-upcoming graphic memoir Amazing, Fantastic, Incredible. I was eager to show my mettle, so I got to work on a profile. A week later, I checked in with David and he told me he had meant I should write a short capsule review. Oops. But, to his credit, he said I should continue! So I wrote a long reported feature about Stan — without interviewing him; his people kept giving me the run-around — that was released in February of 2016. It was a hit. Flash forward to November 2018. When Stan passed away, an editor at Penguin Random House / Crown reached out to me about doing a full biography. I almost said no! I had no idea how to write a book! But sense was talked into me and I got to work.
Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?
Well, first of all, superhero fiction is a subdivision of SFF, is it not? Its own unique, screwed-up species, to be sure. But the superheroes Stan worked on were all powered by radioactive accidents and ancient incantations. Even before the superhero days of the sixties, Stan did a wide array of SFF (well, mostly SF) comics — as did his most important collaborators, Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko! By that basic measure, the core cast of this book is crucial for understanding the history of genre fiction. And the story of Stan, the possibly undeserving man at the center of it all, has simply never been told before now.
Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?
I keep kicking myself that I forgot to put this in, but there’s a fascinating bit in Stan’s co-written early-aughts memoir, Excelsior!, in which he talks about his difficulty adopting a child as a mixed-background couple alongside his wife, Joan Boocock Lee. Joan was an Episcopalian Englishwoman and Stan — well, as Stan puts it in the memoir, “My parents were Jewish.” Not “I’m Jewish,” mind you. It was such a window into Stan’s tortured relationship with his Jewish identity and his very stern, very Jewish father. But most of the stuff about that relationship made it into the book, Baruch HaShem.
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?
Well, for one thing, because SFF is the dominant mode of storytelling in the global entertainment marketplace right now. Period, end of sentence, full stop, over and out. Of course we need serious historical and journalistic work on the behemoths that dominate our lives!
Additionally, we live in an age of genre storytelling where the Powers That Be have figured out how to make crude hijackings of fandom dynamics, and part of that has to do with fictional “non-fiction.” Memoirs from geek-celebs, official histories, adoring fanboy hagiography — it’s everywhere! And nobody seems to question it! I’m writing about wrestling right now, and it sort of laid out the template: wrestling superfans were always looking for the “true story” behind the scenes, and, eventually, promoters figured out how to seed the gossip mill with disinformation. Soon, people were superfans of the “real life” versions of the wrestlers — which were just as made-up as the in-ring versions. We see that all over the place in genre storytelling these days, and we need good nonfiction about the nature and creation of SFF if we’re going to get out of the apocalyptic mess we’re in.
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?
I always recommend this amazing, brief video-essay by Slavoj Žižek about John Carpenter’s They Live:
Beyond that, read everything written by comics critic Tegan O’Neil:
https://whenwillthehurtingstop.blogspot.com/
Where can people buy your book?
Head over to the book page on my website!
abrahamriesman.com/true-believer
Where can people find you?
Thank you, Abraham, for stopping by and answering my questions. Also, did I mention that True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee just came out in paperback?
About True Believer: The Rise and Fall of Stan Lee:The definitive, revelatory biography of Marvel Comics icon Stan Lee, a writer and entrepreneur who reshaped global pop culture–at a steep personal cost
“A biography that reads like a thriller or a whodunit . . . scrupulously honest, deeply damning, and sometimes even heartbreaking.”–Neil Gaiman
Stan Lee was one of the most famous and beloved entertainers to emerge from the twentieth century. He served as head editor of Marvel Comics for three decades and, in that time, became known as the creator of more pieces of internationally recognizable intellectual property than nearly anyone: Spider-Man, the Avengers, the X-Men, Black Panther, the Incredible Hulk . . . the list goes on. His carnival-barker marketing prowess helped save the comic-book industry and superhero fiction. His cameos in Marvel movies have charmed billions. When he died in 2018, grief poured in from around the world, further cementing his legacy.
But what if Stan Lee wasn’t who he said he was? To craft the definitive biography of Lee, Abraham Riesman conducted more than 150 interviews and investigated thousands of pages of private documents, turning up never-before-published revelations about Lee’s life and work. True Believer tackles tough questions: Did Lee actually create the characters he gained fame for creating? Was he complicit in millions of dollars’ worth of fraud in his post-Marvel life? Which members of the cavalcade of grifters who surrounded him were most responsible for the misery of his final days?
And, above all, what drove this man to achieve so much yet always boast of more?
About Abraham Riesman:Abraham Riesman is a Providence-based journalist, writing primarily for New York magazine about arts and culture. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The New Republic, and Vice, among other publications.
February 28, 2022
Star Trek Discovery Crosses “The Galactic Barrier”
Star Trek Discovery is back for the last few episodes of season 4, so here is my somewhat belated review of the latest episode. Reviews of previous seasons and episodes may be found here.
Another short episode title and another one which is easy to turn into a blog post headline. Is it me or have the episode titles become much shorter of late?
But before we get to the meat of this post, I also want to point you to the latest episode of Take Me To Your Reader, a podcast which discusses filmic science fiction adaptations. The subject of this episode of Robert Sheckley’s 1958 short story “The Prize of Peril”, which was adapted in West Germany as Das Millionenspiel in 1970 and in France as Le Prix Du Danger in 1983. I put in a guest appearance to talk about Das Millionenspiel (which you should absolutely watch, if you can find it, because it’s brilliant), while Emmanuel Dubois talks about the French adaption.
Warning: Spoilers under the cut!
When we last saw the Discovery and her valiant crew, they not only failed to prevent rogue scientist/consumate arsehole Ruon Tarka from blowing up the DMA controller, but Tarka’s actions also turned out to be for nothing, because the DMA popped back into existence mere hours later, bigger, badder and more efficient. Instead of spending a week extracting all the boronite from a thankfully uninhabited region of space, it will now take only a day and then proceed to the next location, where it might well do even more harm.
In order to prevent this, the Federation has fast-tracked their mission to establish first contact with Species 10c, creators of the DMA. The group which prepares this first contact mission consist of Michael, Saru, President Rillak, Dr. Kovich, General N’doye of Earth, President T’Rina of Ni’var, Admiral Vance and a linguist named Dr. Hirai (played by Hiro Kanagawa, another one of those actors who have been in everything), who is constantly snacking and reminds the others that not all communication of verbal.
Michael and Saru are not just present, because they happen to be the stars of Discovery, but also because the Discovery is the only Starfleet vessel capable of reaching the Galactic Barrier in time to hopefully persuade species 10c to recall the DMA.
Because time is tight and the DMA will soon move again, the Discovery leaves as soon as its shields have been upgraded to withstand the stress of crossing the Galactic Barrier. In addition to the crew (sans Bryce, why stays behind to work on a project with Dr. Kovich, but with Adira, who has returned from their trip to Trill) the delegates on board consist of President Rillak (who hands over the reins to her vice president, since the model for the Federation is still the US), General N’doye, the constantly snacking Dr. Hirai, President T’Rina and her aide, who join the mission much to the delight of Saru, when the Ni’Var representative does not show up in time, and a random Ferengi. I guess they took along the Ferengi in case the key to getting species 10c to stop is trade.
Since things did not go so well the last time President Rillak was aboard Discovery on a mission, Michael and Rillak hash out responsibilities before taking off. Basically, Michael has responsibility for the ship and Rillak will not question her decisions as captain, while Rillak is responsible for diplomacy and the first contact mission and Michael will not interfere there. As division of labour goes, this seems fair enough, though you just know that Michael will interfere anyway, cause that’s what she does.
Meanwhile, Saru clumsily accepts President T’Rina asking him out on a date, even though they’re too busy to actually take the next step, since the fate of the galaxy obviously takes precedence. Dr. Culber can barely suppress a laugh at Saru’s obvious nervousness and also assures Saru that it’s perfectly normal to be nervous, when embarking on a new relationship. While Culber is dispensing romantic advice to Kelpians, his husband Stamets is extolling Adira’s skill and talents towards Michael like the very proud papa that he is.
The mycelical network only exists inside our galaxy, so Discovery will have to cross the Galactic Barrier the old-fashioned way. However, Stamets believes that he can jump Discovery within four lightyears of the Barrier, though in the end the furthest he gets is nine lightyears away. “You owe me five lightyears, Mr. Stamets”, Michael says in a delightful line of dialogue.
The Galactic Barrier is one of the oldest Star Trek concepts, because it shows up in the very first Star Trek episode (though not the first broadcast) “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in 1966 as well as in two more episodes of the Original Series. However, the Galactic Barrier was never mentioned again in any subsequent Star Trek series, probably because it is – as Tor.com reviewer Keith R.A. DeCandido points out – a scientifically absurd concept that did not age well. The plot point from “Where No Man Has Gone Before” that crossing the Galactic Barrier enhances latent ESP abilities and eventually drives those affected mad is another very 1960s concept that did not stand the test of time. And indeed by Star Trek Discovery, the whole ESP nonsense has been condensed to the single line that crossing the Galactic Barrier unprotected may fry your brain. Though Michael uses the words “Where No Man Has Gone Before” in her trademark inspirational speech before Discovery takes off, which is a nice shoutout to the (not very good IMO) episode with which everything started more than 55 years ago.
By some moment of cosmic serendipity, one of the surviving cast members of “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, actress Sally Kellerman, who played psychologist Dr. Elizabeth Dehner who has her brain fried/her ESP enhanced by crossing the barrier, died on the very same day this episode was broadcast, aged 84. There are plenty of obituaries for and tributes to Ms. Kellerman online, though most of them focus almost exclusively on the fact that she was in the M*A*S*H movie back in 1970, playing an army nurse named Major Margaret “Hot Lips” Houlihan (one of her co-stars was René Auberjonois, better known to Star Trek fans as Odo from Deep Space Nine). I found this focus on M*A*S*H quite surprising, because to me Sally Kellerman was always Dr. Elizabeth Dehner from Star Trek as well as someone who showed up in all sorts of US TV series from the 1970s and 1980s and beyond. However, I have never seen either version of M*A*S*H (I may have seen the opening credits of the TV show once or twice, before changing the channel) nor do I have the least desire to watch it.
This obituary from the New York Post also mainly focusses on M*A*S*H, but also notes Sally Kellerman’s importance to Star Trek history. After all, Sally Kellerman was the very first female character seen on screen in Star Trek, predating Uhura, Janice Rand and Christine Chapel by several episodes. Interestingly, the New York Post obituary also shows how very revolutionary the original Star Trek was in its portrayal of women, dated as it may seem today. Compare Dr. Elizabeth Dehner in her no-nonsense pants and sweater uniform (the miniskirts came in later) to the vaguely creepy upskirt photos of Margaret Houlihan in her army uniform. And while Margaret Houlihan may have held the rank of major, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner was a psychologist and no one ever called her “Hot Lips” or any other sexist nicknames either. Furthermore, from what I’ve been able to glean without actually watching the thing, Margaret Houlihan’s main role in M*A*S*H seems to have victim of the sort of sexual harrassment that would get people fired today (also considering she held the rank of major, wouldn’t sexually harassing her also be insubordination?). And according to this obituary from The Guardian, that sort of thing also happened behind the camera on the set of M*A*S*H. So rest in peace, Sally Kellerman, who went where no woman has gone before and was so much more than a US Army nurse with a sexist nickname.
Special effects have come a long way since 1966 and so the trip through the Galactic Barrier is very visually impressive. When Discovery enters the Barrier, the colours suddenly fades and everybody becomes not quite black and white, but much more muted, which may be a reference to the fact that the original Star Trek debuted just as US TV went all colour and that it might have been black and white, if it had come out only a little earlier. And indeed Raumpatrouille Orion, Star Trek‘s West German counterpart, which debuted within ten days of the original Star Trek (for my episode by episode reviews, see Galactic Journey), was in black and white.
Because the ride through the Galactic Barrier is more bumpy than initially assumed and the shields won’t hold, exposing the Discovery and everybody aboard to that brain-frying radiation, Discovery hitches a ride in a bubble of normal space to cross the Barrier unscathed.
Just before communications break down for good, Michael and President Rillak receive a message from Admiral Vance, reporting that the DMA has moved again and is now in the Alpha Quadrant, threatening Earth, Titan, Ni’Var and presumably countless other worlds, just as we might have guessed it would (because a ticking clock involving a planet no one has ever heard of wouldn’t be much of a ticking clock). Since many members of the Discovery crew are from Earth (reinforced by the bridge crew talking about places they want to visit on Earth, once they get back) and Michael considers both Earth and Ni’Var her home, Michael wants to inform the crew that Earth and Ni’Var (and Titan) are under threat. Rillak, meanwhile, wants to keep the truth from the crew, so as not to impede their performance. For once, Michael does not go against Rillak and Rillak eventually relents, informing the crew and the delegates that the stakes just got higher, which leads to a sweet scene of Saru attempting to comfort T’Rina.
The main plot doesn’t really move the overall story forward. Yes, Discovery crosses the Galactic Barrier and the stakes are upped by the fact that the DMA is not just threatening nameless planets no one ever heard about now, but Earth and Ni’Var. But we still don’t learn anything more about the mysterious Species 10c or what precisely they’re doing. Considering that there only are a few more episodes to go, this is certainly surprising.
The B-plot involves Book and Tarka, who – to quote io9 reviewer James Whitbrook – have gone even roguer, since Tarka blew up the first DMA and landed the Federation and Starfleet in the pickle in which they now find themselves. Tarka is nothing, if not single-minded and while Book correctly realises that Tarka is an arsehole, he is still driven by his grief over Kwejian to stop the DMA. And since Book’s ship now is the only other ship equipped with a spore drive and capable of reaching the Galactic Barrier and Species 10c in time, three guesses where Book and Tarka are going next.
Of course, Book and Tarka still have the problem of upgrading their shields with programmable anti-matter. And while Discovery can draw on the resources of the Federation to procure this rare substance, Book and Tarka must find an alternate supply. Luckily, Tarka just happens to know where to find an alternate supply. He leads Book to the remnants of an Emerald Chain slave labour camp, in fact the very camp in which Tarka was once imprisoned.
What follows is a flashback to Tarka’s time as an Emerald Chain prisoner and his relationship with the friend for whose sake Tarka is willing to plunge the galaxy into all-out war. This friend is a brilliant alien scientist named Oros (played by Oric Chau who has been in The Flash and Supernatural among many other things). Initially, Oros wants nothing more to do with Tarka than Tarka with Oros, but eventually they bond over geekiness, mathematics and the golden ratio. The result is a remarkably sweet love story between two prickly geeks.
Oros eventually tells Tarka about his plan to escape to another universe which he believes is the paradise his people believe in. They plot to escape together, beyond the reach of the Emerald Chain, and begin stealing supplies to make it happen, including the programmable anti-matter that is still hiden in the ruined lab.
When Tarka and Oros finally make the attempt and switch on their universe-crossing transporter, the power is not sufficient and the transporter fails. Worse, the Emerald Chain guards catch wind of what Tarka and Oros are planning and beat them up. Tarka manages to snatch a guard’s rifle and kill him. He also uses the rifle to remove the bombs at the nape of his and Oros’ necks. But Oros is too badly wounded to make a run for it, so Tarka leaves his lover behind. Shortly thereafter, the Emerald Chain abandon the camp, taking Oros with them. Oros leaves behind a symbol – the very symbol that Tarka and Oros had used as a code for the paradise dimension – but otherwise vanishes from the face of the universe, so Tarka assumes that Oros finally made it. Ever since then he has been doing literally everything to get back to the one person in the universe he ever cared for.
Normally, you’d assume that an extended flashback to the backstory of a supporting character no one likes or is supposed to like would bring the story to a crashing halt. Instead, the scenes featuring Tarka and Oros and their blossoming geek romance are some of the best in the whole episodes. They also do a lot to humanise Tarka. He’s still an arsehole and always will be, but at least we now know why he does what he does. Finally, Discovery also gives us another sweet gay romance with the story of Tarka and Oros.
Discovery features more LGBTQ actors, characters and relationships than the rest of Star Trek combined, both on screen and behind the scenes, as this profile of Emily Coutts, who plays Keyla Detmer and was encouraged by Discovery to come out, shows. This is wonderful enough in itself. But what I like best about Discovery portrayals of LGBTQ relationships is that they are not treated as something special or extraordinary. There is nothing more remarkable about the fact that Stamets and Culber are a gay married couple or that Tarka fell for a man than there is about the fact that Michael has a troubled relationship with a man and that Saru is courting a woman of another species. Discovery portrays its many LGBTQ characters as people rather than reducing them to their sexual orientation and I for one love it.
I’m pretty sure we will see Oros again, if only because Osric Chau is too well known an actor for a one episode guest part. In fact, I have the sneaking suspicion that Oros will either be involved with Species 10c and the DMA or will be revealed as the DMA’s architect to finally get the power he needs to get to his universe of choice.
Are these suspicions correct? I guess we’ll find out soon.
February 27, 2022
Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for February 2022
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 December 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, dark fantasy, sword and sorcery, YA fantasy, fantasy romance, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, space opera, military science fiction, science fiction romance, weird western, vampires, werewolves, mages, healers, aliens, space marines, ghost ships, magical prisons, arrnaged marriages, time travel, barbarian kings, shattered gods, fake goddesses, crime-busting witches, crime-busting psychics, orc baristas 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:
Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree:
High Fantasy with a double-shot of self-reinvention
Worn out after decades of packing steel and raising hell, Viv the orc barbarian cashes out of the warrior’s life with one final score. A forgotten legend, a fabled artifact, and an unreasonable amount of hope lead her to the streets of Thune, where she plans to open the first coffee shop the city has ever seen.
However, her dreams of a fresh start pulling shots instead of swinging swords are hardly a sure bet. Old frenemies and Thune’s shady underbelly may just upset her plans. To finally build something that will last, Viv will need some new partners and a different kind of resolve.
A hot cup of fantasy slice-of-life with a dollop of romantic froth.
The Secret of the Chateau by Carrie Bedford:
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread – and death.
She knows it’s coming, she has to stop it!
London architect Kate Benedict has barely shucked off her coat before she spots her host’s aura, a swirling pattern above his head that Kate has come to recognize as a prediction of death within a few days.
And she’s barely realized he’s in danger when he drops to the floor, shot by an unseen assailant.
It should have been the perfect junket—escaping miserably rainy London to a luxurious chateau in the Burgundy countryside. All she had to do was advise the owner on rebuilding his winery’s tasting room. But trouble seems to come in threes…
The first person to rush into the room, the young woman who manages the tasting room, also has an aura, as does the winemaker, nephew to the dead man.
Surrounded by absolute strangers and the ever-present reminders of imminent death, Kate is overwhelmed by uncertainties: Where is the danger coming from? Does it extend to her? And dodgiest of all, Whom to trust?
She makes fast friends with the tasting room manager, and she knows from past experience that if she can discover the source of the danger she can cheat death out of a victory. She desperately wants to save this woman.
So she’ll have to make the chateau give up its centuries of secrets: betrayals among the highly competitive vintners of the region, disputed ownership claims, deceitful spouses, treacherous employees, even secret passageways.
And, of course, since it’s a 700-year-old chateau, there will be ghosts. The question is: Does the elegantly-caped gentleman in the green hat mean to help…or to harm?
Just as you’re thinking, “What a clever solution,” the tale takes an even cleverer twist. This is a book with pretty much everything—a likeable heroine, an ancient chateau, all the wine you can drink, a fun plot, and a ghost to top it off. The very definition of cozy.
Antique Instincts by Odette C. Bell:
They say some things can’t wait. One of them is destiny. The other is murder.
Sonia is meant to be normal. She isn’t. She has a rare magic – she can sort out the temporal order of anything.
But while that might be incredible, it can’t catch his eye.
Rushford Halsey is one of the most powerful vampires in the city. A resolute man who heads up Vampire Pharmaceuticals, he shouldn’t be interested in her. But there’s a problem. He’s her one-true vampire. Destiny has dictated they will be together. So what does Rushford do? Go and marry someone else.
He seemingly has no interest in Sonia – other than to keep her as far from his murky world as possible. When a dangerous drug hits the streets and she’s dragged into the police investigation to stop it, that all ends, and once more they are thrown together.
But destiny can be a fickle thing. It will give you one chance at happiness. Lose it or ignore it, and you will do so at your peril.
The Book of Shadow by Bruce Blake:
Llyris Fildarae is an outcast tainted by a sliver of magic in a world terrified of the supernatural. Loathed and distrusted, she uses her ability to control a magical Unnamed to survive.
Caedric Carpera is desperate to save his son from a deadly illness. He enlists Llyris to locate a lost tome containing secrets capable of healing him, but its location is a mystery that’s already claimed lives. Thrust into a hostile world, Llyris and her companions risk everything to find the relic and return before the child’s sickness prevails.
But who is the enigmatic old man who appeared out of nowhere to set them on this dangerous expedition? And what does he really want?
Only a perilous mission to an untamed land can save the boy and reveal the truth.
Except some truths are too shocking to be exposed.
Twelve Nooses by Richard Blakemore and Cora Buhlert:
Before Kurval became King of Azakoria in the year of the forked serpent, he was commander of a mercenary company in service to his predecessor King Orkol.
While helping to bring the rebellious northern provinces back under Orkol’s heel, Kurval is ordered to hang twelve innocent young women as an example to the rebels.
Kurval is disgusted by Orkol’s cruelty. But can he find a way to save the twelve young women from the gallows? And dare he defy King Orkol?
The new sword and sorcery adventure by two-time Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert and her occasional alter ego, 1930s pulp writer Richard Blakemore. This is a novelette of 14200 words or approx. 50 print pages in the Kurval sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.
The Tear of Chronos by Richard Blakemore and Cora Buhlert:
In the year of the forked serpent, Kurval came from beyond the sea, slew King Orkol and became King of Azakoria.
On the day of his coronation, Kurval consults the oracle in the temple of the goddess Ashvarya, where he is supposed to gaze into a magical jewel called the Tear of Chronos, hoping for a vision of the future.
But before Kurval can receive his vision, a young woman named Stella suddenly appears in a flash of light in the inner sanctum. Not only is Stella a deadringer for the goddess, she also wears the Tear of Chronos around her neck.
Can Stella help Kurval retain the throne he’s barely won? And is she truly a goddess or just an imposter?
The new sword and sorcery adventure by two-time Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert and her occasional alter ego, 1930s pulp writer Richard Blakemore. This is a novelette of 13500 words or approx. 45 print pages in the Kurval sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.
When Words Fail by Jonathan P. Brazee and J.N. Chaney:
The Galaxy is growing…and it’s more dangerous than ever before.
An all-out war within humanity has been narrowly avoided, and peace is finally at hand.
Yeah, right.
Human ships are being taken, their crews disappearing. Has an old enemy returned? Or has the galaxy revealed a new threat?
With humanity’s very existence at stake, Rev and the Perseus Union Marines have to put old rivalries aside and help form a last line of defense if the human race is going to have a fighting chance to survive.
Fight. Endure. Win. Live.
Prepare yourself for the seventh entry in the ongoing Sentenced to War series. Experience what fans are calling the military science fiction story of the year and find out why you just can’t keep a good Marine down.
The Crown of Command by Chris Fox:
An Empire Entombed Under Ash
Four centuries ago the Stewards decreed that the Elentian Imperium must be punished. For a year and a day ash rained from the sky forming what is now known as the Ashlands.
As a new member of the Temple of Celeste you are now privy to the truth. Our diviners have scried the infamous lich’s final moments. If you dare witness the memory, you will find it transcribed within.
The Crown of Command is a SHORT STORY set in the Shattered Gods universe. It foreshadows the fate of our protagonist Xal, and also shows one of the most important historical events in the series.
A Very Klagan Valentine by Holly Hanzo:
From being jilted at the altar, to being ghosted by a blind date, Mia held onto the hope that one day, she’d finally be the bride and not the bridesmaid. The Elodian invasion of Earth and Mia’s subsequent capture changed everything. Mistaken for a Sudabian, and dropped on Sudabia, a pleasure planet she’s never heard of, Mia finds herself smack in the center of their annual hedonistic mid-winter celebration – and – up for auction.
Klagan Warrior Rylan’s mission takes a turn for the worse after a firefight with a lone Elodian cruiser over a remote planet in the middle of nowhere. His worst nightmare comes true when he’s forced to land on Sudabia. As a virtuous man who doesn’t mix business and pleasure, his only goal was to get off-world, and fast, until he stumbles across the auctions – and the frantic pleas of an unwilling participant in the auctions stirred something within him. Against his better judgement, Rylan rescues Mia from the auction block.
She wants to leave. He can’t let her go.
Haunted Plains Drifter by Lily Harper Hart:
Hannah Hickok and Cooper Wyatt are newly engaged and ready to celebrate. Cooper just didn’t think the celebration would involve a hike to a long-abandoned boom town called Blackridge. He had something more romantic in mind. Despite that, he agrees … and believes the trip will be fine, right up until they stumble across a homeless man warning them away from their destination.
Hannah tries talking to him but the man is out of it, to the point where she recognizes he needs medical help. They manage to call the local sheriff to provide that help, but when the team he brings to carry the individual out of the valley crosses the Blackridge border, a wave of magic ricochets back and knocks Hannah for a loop.
She recovers quickly, but there’s a question as to what happened. Once back in Casper Creek, that question becomes a concern. It seems the ghostly shadow that appeared in Blackridge at the time it fell more than a hundred years before is back, and now he’s focused on Hannah.
The dark man is more than a ghost. He’s more than a shadow. He’s a monster who can straddle two worlds. He needs Hannah to lift the curse that has kept him trapped for a century, and he’s more than willing to threaten those she loves to make it happen.
A new sort of terror has come to town, and Hannah has no idea how to fight him. She’s a strong witch, but she’s also a new witch, and when this battle lands on her doorstep, it’s going to be a doozy.
Buckle up, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
The Lowest Healer and the Highest Mage by Hiyodori:
“I never forgot the sound of you calling for me. Not for a second.”
The Lowest Healer and the Highest Mage is a slow-burn f/f romance set in an original modern-era fantasy world, featuring a magical tower with countless curious rooms. It’s a story of friends to enemies to reluctant allies, guilty secrets, love mixed inextricably with hate, fragile second chances, and the true price of boundless magical power.
In a country where mages have all the power and healers supposedly only exist to support them, Clematis—a talented healer—is despised for her past attempts to defy the mageocracy. In her early thirties, she’s already on year seven of a life sentence for treason.
But when the most powerful mage in the nation suddenly loses all her magic, the government wants unconventional Clematis to help get it back.
The mage is a tall, distant woman called Wist, and Clematis knows her all too well. They used to be classmates. Best friends. Perhaps more. Wist is also the person who reported Clematis for leaking state secrets. She’s the reason Clematis spent the last seven years in prison.
Clematis wants revenge for her betrayal, but she wants freedom even more. She’s got thirty days to recover Wist’s magic: miss the deadline, and she’ll be shunted back to prison for the rest of her life. Yet attempting to resurrect Wist’s lost magic will force her to face the real reason why Wist betrayed her—and to face her unresolved, unspoken feelings for the mage who stabbed her in the back and walked away.
Family Ties by B.R. Kingsolver:
When a man came into my shop in the Great Marketplace at the Crossroads of the Worlds and tried to kill me, it completely ruined my day. Not only did I have to clean up the blood, but disposing of his body made me late to meet my friends for drinks. A nagging little detail kept bugging me, though. As he died, he said he was hired by my mother’s family—people I hadn’t seen for more than a decade. Then I discovered that assassins had made attempts on my brother and sister as well. As much as I didn’t want to, I decided I should find out who wanted us dead, and put a stop to it. Talk about stepping out of the pan into the fire…
Smoke and Spells by Ryver Knight:
An ordinary girl. A rare power. A deadly game.
Lie low.
Don’t draw attention to yourself.
Fifteen-year-old Asha Olinger has abided by her sister’s rules her entire life. Every day, she works relentlessly as a cleaner to put food on the table, scrambling in the dredges of Althuria. Every day, she wonders about a life where she no longer struggles for a few measly coins.
But after discovering she wields a rare and destructive power, her quiet life is turned upside down. Her older sister gives her a mysterious warning. Lex Sylvester, with his fame, wealth, and stupidly charming looks—that she certainly never, ever noticed—starts flirting with her. And to top it all off, she receives a letter from the famed Luminus Academy, declaring that she got accepted through the lottery system. The terrifying probabilities quickly turn into incredible opportunities, and suddenly controlling her power doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
What is this darned ability of hers? Why does everyone keep telling her to stay away from the Queen of Althuria? And more importantly…
Who the heck is murdering girls at the Academy?
If she doesn’t find out soon… she might just be next.
Freaky Sights by Amanda M. Lee:
Mystic Caravan Circus is on the move after their winter break. First stop? Moonstone Bay. Poet Parker and crew are looking for a permanent location because traveling won’t be an option for much longer. They’re expecting a normal trip.
They’re getting so much more … including a mystery.
The day after they arrive, a body drops in the ditch across from the city park, and what follows is a series of bone-chilling events that revolve around the island’s children. It seems something weird is causing them to act out of sorts … and they might just have murder on their minds.
Moonstone Bay is a magical place and Poet feels a kinship with the land and people who live there almost immediately. Unfortunately, the terror stalking the island isn’t something that can be ignored.
Poet has to band together with the island inhabitants – including a feisty witch and fiery half-demon – to figure out what’s happening. Their research leads them to an ancient story about a possessing demon, and the villages he left decimated in his wake.
Poet is strong. Her new friends make her stronger. If Moonstone Bay is ultimately to be their home, she’s going to have to go all out to protect it.
Two teams are coming together to fight a war. It’s going to take all of them to ensure a happy ending.
Buckle up. Things are about to get wicked on Moonstone Bay.
Scion of Lightning by J.T. Moy:
The deadliest blades are not made of steel . . . When Jaks almost kills another soldier with his volatile magic, he is forced to tread the fearful path of the electromancer. Succeed, he will be the first in a generation. Fail, he will lose everything.
As the ruthless king of Voros invades the land with axe warriors, skyships and dragons, Jaks and his battlemage master begin a quest to train his powers and uncover a potent artifact that could halt the rampaging enemy.
On their journey through dangerous lands, they are accompanied by a sharp-eyed ranger, a lethal assassin, and a mysterious foreigner with unworldly weapons.
However, nothing is simple when Jaks’ greatest adversary is much closer than he knows.
The Fallen Shall Rise by James Pyles:
Jepheth Shinzi, archeologist on the rigid backwater Kaamus star system, discovers a controversial anomaly when scans taken of space match up with 3,000 years worth of cultural mysteries.
Fearing being labeled a traitor to his government, he proceeds to share the findings in confidence before the evidence becomes overwhelming and the situation warrants in-person investigation.
There appears to be an ancient gate in deep space and it’s emitting an energy signal.
Gnome on the Range by Tammy Salyer:
The West wasn’t won with grit and guns. It took a sawbones with fae blood to git ’er done.
Book 1 in the Otherworld Outlaw series, an action-packed romp through the Wild West, loaded with living myths, dark magic, and bloodthirsty monsters aplenty.
Lula Cullen isn’t sweet and gentle, and she’s got no time for anyone’s guff. Esteemed Bostonian surgeon, she’s a woman with a career in a time when the very idea is laughed at. And nothing, not even her fiancé and his Brahmin family’s traditional values, is going to get in her way. Until…
Her ambitions are derailed like a runaway steam engine when her uncle and only living relative is killed in a freak lightning accident. His dying words—“Find Toxicore Darkheart. He’s the only one who can protect you now”—launch Lula into an ill-conceived and unchaperoned trip to Abilene, Kansas, where hanged men dangle for days for minor crimes and only married women are considered respectable.
Mistaken for a soiled dove the minute she hits the frontier, Lula decides to hell with respectability and starts swinging her uncle’s shillelagh at anyone who asks for it. And the West sure has a lot of folks asking for it. Upon finding Darkheart, whose peculiarities go well beyond his odd name, she unearths long-buried family secrets tied to her bloodline, secrets that ultimately led to her uncle’s murder and the disappearance of her parents when she was an infant. And worse, much worse, she discovers that though she’s the one hunting for the truth—she’s also being hunted.
Caught between a werewolf, a necromancer, and two fae queens of the Tuatha Dé Danann, Lula has to trade her scalpel for a Colt .45 and do it fast. Because they’re not just after her, they’re after her blood.
Don’t miss any of the magic-packed Otherworld Outlaws series
A NEW SHORT DARK FANTASY NOVELLA
A demon born of human evil
A knight forged in holy fire
A town that he must either save…or destroy!
Alsan is a Paladin of the Intercessor, a holy warrior called to the village of Redgarton to investigate a demonic plague. Powerful magic of his fellow priests has sealed the village against the demon’s escape, and still more powerful magic awaits only his command to destroy demon and village alike.
To save the innocent, the knight must enter the village alone and learn what has unleashed the Abyss amongst them. If he can strike down the demon, his holy oath is sufficient to spare the town the balefire.
But the plague is spreading and the order he leaves behind is simple: come dawn, unleash the balefire.
Oscar Tremont: Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable by Cameron Trost:
Introducing Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable.
Join Oscar Tremont on his first four cases as he tackles mysteries too strange for the police and assures his clients that a rational explanation lies behind what at first appears to be impossible. You will find clues, question suspects, don disguises, break into abandoned houses, solve codes and puzzles, and if you really have your wits about you, crack the case before our hero.
Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable consists of two novellas and two short stories that display the keen intellect of a private investigator who is bound to make a name for himself in the mystery genre.
The Hunt for the Stayne FortuneThe Ghosts of WalhallaThe Witch at the WindowThe Secret of the Severed HandThese four mysteries will challenge and surprise even the most experienced armchair detectives.
Ghost Ship by James David Victor:
Sometimes when things are at their worst, the only way out is to team up with the enemy.
Carl Sebastian has overcome every obstacle and fought every enemy. Now, he’s stuck on an abandoned ship, taken over by xeno-mutations that are fusing with the ship. Their only way off the ship is to work with a group of Palacian soldiers who have also been trapped. Can they escape this ghost ship or will the mutations finally take hold of Carl and his team?
Ghost Ship is the fourth book in the Gene Soldiers series. If you like fast-paced sci-fi adventures with alien mutations, genetically enhanced humans, and an interstellar war nobody was ready for, Gene Soldiers is your next adventure.
Download Ghost Ship and see what happens next in this epic adventure today!
Princess Kiera knows that one day she will be auctioned away in an arranged marriage, but she never imagined that her fiancés would be vampires.
When people from the Kingdom of Zayn go missing, Kiera’s father, King Zachariah, arranges for Kiera to marry one of The Four rulers of Vampira. This marriage will end the kidnappings and unite the two kingdoms. As per the rules of the engagement, Princess Kiera is given one month to decide which of The Four she will marry. Kiera wants to be a righteous ruler. She also wants to marry for love. Each of her four suitors has something unique to offer her. Kiera must figure out whose intentions are pure and whose are for show. What Kiera doesn’t realize is that this decision will last for all of eternity.
I don’t recognize the danger until it’s too late for not only myself but also my sisters.
Our town is besieged by monsters, vile creatures. No one knows who or what they are, but the whispers, the rumors… Everyone stays in at night. I do my best to keep my sisters safe.
But then I’m captured.
I’m bitten.
I flee.
But I’m not safe. I’m turning into one of those monsters… a vampire. But I don’t recognize this until it’s too late.
It may be too late for us all.
February 26, 2022
Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for February 2022
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 January 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, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers, legal thrillers, action thrillers, adventure thrillers, police officers, private investigators, amateur sleuths, FBI agents, lawyers, occult detectives, archaeologists, assassins, psychics, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting maids, crime-busting innkeepers, murder and mayhem in London, Brighton, San Francisco, Savannah, Upstate New York, Maine, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest, Hawaii, Burgundy, the Caribbean, Norway 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:
Murder Behind the Closed Door by Blythe Baker:
When Lillian Crawford becomes a guest at a country house party, she hopes it will be her opportunity to get closer to her attractive host, Eugene Osbourn. But it isn’t the famous pianist who winds up capturing Lillian’s attention, as a fellow guest turns up dead.
Suddenly Lillian and her twin brother Felix are tossed headfirst into another dangerous investigation. Can the Crawford siblings catch a murderer before time runs out?
An Unfortunate Demise by Blythe Baker:
Death stalks the guests at a seaside resort…
While staying at Brighton with the formidable old Mrs. Montford, Anna Fairweather witnesses a drowning. Suspecting the “accident” is something more sinister, Anna begins a search for the truth – and the killer.
Does a belligerent brother-in-law carry an old grudge? Is the victim’s grieving husband a little too quick to move on? With an entire hotel full of suspects, Anna must uncover the secrets, and the motives, the hotel guests and employees are desperate to hide. But with the clock ticking, will Anna get to the bottom of the mystery – or find herself at the bottom of the ocean?
The Secret of the Chateau by Carrie Bedford:
A jug of wine, a loaf of bread – and death.
She knows it’s coming, she has to stop it!
London architect Kate Benedict has barely shucked off her coat before she spots her host’s aura, a swirling pattern above his head that Kate has come to recognize as a prediction of death within a few days.
And she’s barely realized he’s in danger when he drops to the floor, shot by an unseen assailant.
It should have been the perfect junket—escaping miserably rainy London to a luxurious chateau in the Burgundy countryside. All she had to do was advise the owner on rebuilding his winery’s tasting room. But trouble seems to come in threes…
The first person to rush into the room, the young woman who manages the tasting room, also has an aura, as does the winemaker, nephew to the dead man.
Surrounded by absolute strangers and the ever-present reminders of imminent death, Kate is overwhelmed by uncertainties: Where is the danger coming from? Does it extend to her? And dodgiest of all, Whom to trust?
She makes fast friends with the tasting room manager, and she knows from past experience that if she can discover the source of the danger she can cheat death out of a victory. She desperately wants to save this woman.
So she’ll have to make the chateau give up its centuries of secrets: betrayals among the highly competitive vintners of the region, disputed ownership claims, deceitful spouses, treacherous employees, even secret passageways.
And, of course, since it’s a 700-year-old chateau, there will be ghosts. The question is: Does the elegantly-caped gentleman in the green hat mean to help…or to harm?
Just as you’re thinking, “What a clever solution,” the tale takes an even cleverer twist. This is a book with pretty much everything—a likeable heroine, an ancient chateau, all the wine you can drink, a fun plot, and a ghost to top it off. The very definition of cozy.
A Romantic Little Murder by Beth Byers:
Jack and Vi have been on edge. Maybe Vi has been snippy and distracted. Maybe Jack has been sharp and irritable. Maybe they panic when they realize they’re unhappy with each other.
On an evening of romance, they dance, they kiss, they connect, and then they find a body. Of course, they aren’t surprised. Only this time, they realize they know the victim.
Once again, they delve into an investigation. They work together to find a killer and if they repair what’s been going amiss between then at the same time, they’re all right with that too.
Lantern in the Lighthouse by Kathi Daley:
A heartwarming cozy mystery series about losing everything, taking a chance, and starting again.
After suffering a personal tragedy Abby Sullivan buys a huge old seaside mansion she has never even seen, packs up her life in San Francisco, and moves to Holiday Bay Maine, where she is adopted, quite against her will, by a huge Maine Coon Cat named Rufus, a drifter with her own tragic past named Georgia, and a giant dog with an inferiority complex named Ramos. What Abby thought she needed was alone time to heal. What she ended up with was, an inn she never knew she wanted, a cat she couldn’t seem to convince to leave, and a new family she’d never be able to live without.
In book 18 in the series, while on a date with Abby, Colt receives a call to check out a light inside an old abandoned lighthouse closed for renovations. The pair respond to the call only to find evidence of two trespassers, one of which is now dead.
Meanwhile, Abby is swamped at the inn helping Georgia and Jeremy when the cast of a reality show check in. “Real Detectives” might just be a ‘small time’ competition hosted by the same local cable television station that airs Georgia’s cooking show, but the quarter million dollars in prize money represents a ‘big time’ payday causing the eight competitors who made it to the finals to take things quite seriously.
The Smuggler’s Chase by Cap Daniels:
Out of Time . . . Out of Options . . .Out of Nowhere
When a United States Supreme Court justice is abducted by an international cartel of terrorists, American covert operative Chase Fulton and his team of tier-one operators are ordered to find and rescue the victim, but that’s only phase one of the mission that may change the landscape of international diplomacy forever.
In a tropical paradise where vacationers see nothing less than perfection in every detail, from The Bahamas to South America, Chase and the team are forced to dive beneath the flawless surface and into the depths of terroristic depravity to unravel a web of unthinkable atrocity and infiltrate and devour an evil like none they’ve ever faced.
When the U.S. military isn’t an option, and the FBI is shackled by bureaucracy, only the invisible forces capable of operating beyond the limits of civility and front-page exposure can crush the tyranny overshadowing the American geopolitical scene and restore order to the highest court.
Join the warriors as they once again stare evil in the eye and refuse to blink. Stretching their capabilities and their very souls to limits like never before, five men hold countless lives and the foundations of freedom in their hands. But as they face a fearless enemy with nearly limitless resources, the team must wage a war like no other while racing against the relentless clock and the horrific consequences of failure.
From the shallows of the tranquil Caribbean, to the depths of the soul-wrenching unimaginable, let Cap Daniels take you on an adventure you’ll never forget and leave you questioning if freedom could stand without men like Chase Fulton and his team.
Apple of My Eye by Rachel Ford:
A young woman, bloodied and stabbed, and dumped for the coyotes. Then another. And another.
Owen Day is back in Wisconsin – and death followed him.
In Bayfield Wisconsin, the annual apple festival draws tens of thousands of people to the north woods every year. This year, one of them is a psychopath haunting the north, killing young women and dumping their bodies in the woods and orchards by Lake Superior.
When one of those bodies hits a little too close to home, doing nothing is no longer an option. But he’d better move fast.
The killer has a full weekend scheduled.
Tick. Tock.
When a series of bombings rock the Pacific Northwest, FBI Agent Blake Wilder leaps into action. The investigation though, brings her back into contact with an ATF agent she has clashed violently with in the past.
Their theories clash as hard as their personalities and Blake opts to run her own concurrent investigation. What she uncovers is a twisted tale twenty years in the making. The story, as they uncover it, is full of twists, turns, and explosive revelations. All the while, Blake’s renewed rivalry with ATF Agent Winslow is threatening to derail everything.
The bombs continue to explode, and the bodies continue to mount as Blake races to find the killer before he’s able to kill anybody else. At the same time, she’s forced to fend off the vengeful attacks coming from within the law enforcement community itself as well as the strife within her own team.
Old enemies resurface and new ones lurk in the shadows, waiting for their moment to step forward and strike. The knives are out, and Blake must dodge them all to keep a serial bomber from burning the city to the ground.
Time is running out.
Blake must either find the killer or become his next victim…
Haunted Plains Drifter by Lily Harper Hart:
Hannah Hickok and Cooper Wyatt are newly engaged and ready to celebrate. Cooper just didn’t think the celebration would involve a hike to a long-abandoned boom town called Blackridge. He had something more romantic in mind. Despite that, he agrees … and believes the trip will be fine, right up until they stumble across a homeless man warning them away from their destination.
Hannah tries talking to him but the man is out of it, to the point where she recognizes he needs medical help. They manage to call the local sheriff to provide that help, but when the team he brings to carry the individual out of the valley crosses the Blackridge border, a wave of magic ricochets back and knocks Hannah for a loop.
She recovers quickly, but there’s a question as to what happened. Once back in Casper Creek, that question becomes a concern. It seems the ghostly shadow that appeared in Blackridge at the time it fell more than a hundred years before is back, and now he’s focused on Hannah.
The dark man is more than a ghost. He’s more than a shadow. He’s a monster who can straddle two worlds. He needs Hannah to lift the curse that has kept him trapped for a century, and he’s more than willing to threaten those she loves to make it happen.
A new sort of terror has come to town, and Hannah has no idea how to fight him. She’s a strong witch, but she’s also a new witch, and when this battle lands on her doorstep, it’s going to be a doozy.
Buckle up, because it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Freaky Sights by Amanda M. Lee:
Mystic Caravan Circus is on the move after their winter break. First stop? Moonstone Bay. Poet Parker and crew are looking for a permanent location because traveling won’t be an option for much longer. They’re expecting a normal trip.
They’re getting so much more … including a mystery.
The day after they arrive, a body drops in the ditch across from the city park, and what follows is a series of bone-chilling events that revolve around the island’s children. It seems something weird is causing them to act out of sorts … and they might just have murder on their minds.
Moonstone Bay is a magical place and Poet feels a kinship with the land and people who live there almost immediately. Unfortunately, the terror stalking the island isn’t something that can be ignored.
Poet has to band together with the island inhabitants – including a feisty witch and fiery half-demon – to figure out what’s happening. Their research leads them to an ancient story about a possessing demon, and the villages he left decimated in his wake.
Poet is strong. Her new friends make her stronger. If Moonstone Bay is ultimately to be their home, she’s going to have to go all out to protect it.
Two teams are coming together to fight a war. It’s going to take all of them to ensure a happy ending.
Buckle up. Things are about to get wicked on Moonstone Bay.
Behind the Lie by Emilya Naymark:
NYPD detective turned small town PI Laney Bird is in a fight to save lives—including her own—after a neighborhood block party turns deadly.
A transplant to the upstate New York hamlet of Sylvan, all Laney wants is a peaceful life for herself and her son. But things rarely remain calm in Laney’s life—and when her neighborhood summer block party explodes in shocking violence and ends with the disappearance of her friend and another woman, she’ll need all her skills as a PI to solve a mystery that reaches far beyond her small town.
As people closest to Laney fall under suspicion, the local authorities and even her colleagues question her own complicity. And then there’s fifteen-year-old Alfie, her complicated and enigmatic son, obviously hiding something. Even as Laney struggles to bury evidence of her boy’s involvement, his cagey behavior rings every maternal alarm.
Laney’s personal life unravels as she’s drawn into her missing friend’s dark secrets and she realizes she and Alfie are in danger. With treachery blazing hot as the searing summer sun, Laney fights to save lives, her family’s included.
If Lisbeth Salander and Jack Reacher had a Black/Thai love child, she’d be Sophie, and she’s a badass.
BUT SOPHIE’S IN TROUBLE.
Her mom is an assassin who wants to kill her and take her children
Her cyber-vigilante ex-boyfriend is now a cult leader with a ninja army
There’s a handsome Frenchman making eyes
She has a newborn, a toddler, a nanny, and two dogs to deal with while trying to move house and fight crime
But right now, she needs to put on a bra and get ready for a showdown, because Mama’s comin’ to get her.
Paradise can’t contain an evil that’s sworn revenge.
What would you do if your mother wanted you dead?
Sophie has fought hard for a measure of peace and safety for her loved ones, but her assassin mother, hidden behind a beautiful new face, has other plans for the family.
Sophie will need her friends, lovers, and dogs to have her back when she takes on an enemy that no one ever sees coming.
Aeronwen’s Hammer by A. Peter Perdian:
In Norway, Marte Nass, a respected Viking archaeologist, has arrived home to visit her family. While in Oslo, she learns of a recently uncovered tomb, an unmarked and untouched grave dating to the beginning of the Viking era. A preliminary examination shows that the tomb houses a Viking warrior, and with the prospect of excavating the grave before it becomes public knowledge, she’s thrilled.
In England, Derek Lishmer receives a call from Marte. His partner launches into what she’s learned about the tomb, about a possible treasure hidden inside the grave. He puts aside his own excitement to remind her she’s been banned from practicing archaeology in Norway. When Marte tells him she doesn’t care, he heads for Norway.
In Guatemala, Emma Ruiz gets a call from Marte Nass, her best friend. The Mesoamerican archaeologist listens as Marte tells her about the Viking tomb and its remarkable occupant. With follow-up talk of mystical Vikings, spiritual Druids, and pagan gods that supposedly still roam the land, Emma’s persuaded to visit Norway.
Aeronwen’s Hammer is an action-packed seventy thousand word novel, a suspenseful semi-thriller.
A bar. A body. A bloody knife.
Mike wasn’t expecting the early-morning call from his 86-year-old uncle. Big John Dunleavy arrived at his namesake bar to find the body of San Francisco police officer Eddie Corcoran in the alley, a bloody knife at his side.
Corcoran was a tough cop whose life went off the rails after his partner was killed two years earlier. Infidelity and alcohol abuse led his wife to file for divorce. Excessive force and harassment while arresting drug dealers and the homeless resulted in his recent suspension from the force. Corcoran was on the verge of permanently losing his job, custody of his children and everything. He didn’t think he’d lose his life.
All signs point to Big John’s grandson Joey as the killer. Witnesses reported that Joey and the cop argued at the bar shortly before last call. The alleged murder weapon is Joey’s Boy Scout knife. The only fingerprints are his.
Big John begs Mike to represent Joey. Mike and his team of ex-wife/boss (Rosie) and brother/P.I. (Pete) embark on a desperate search for the truth that takes them around San Francisco — from the foggy streets of the Sunset to the colorful corners of the Mission to the homeless encampments in Golden Gate Park to the drug-infested hotels in the Tenderloin.
Can they find justice for Joey before the bars close?
In the face of malice, evil is spawned.
Savannah Police Detective Charli Cross thought she’d seen it all. But when Charli and her partner, Matthew Church, are called in on a missing persons report from a local funeral home, she realizes this may be the most bizarre and perplexing case yet. Not only are three funeral home employees missing, but one left her car in the funeral home parking lot overnight. Stranger still, the cremator was filled with the ashes of two people, even though all the funeral home’s “guests” are accounted for.
Where are the missing employees? Who was burned to ash? And why?
As Charli and Matthew investigate, the questions continue to stack up. With no DNA evidence to identify the cremains, their only clue is a diary filled with cryptic descriptions and video footage that’s as mysterious as the case itself.
When the puzzle pieces begin to fit together, one thing becomes clear. The closer Charli gets to the killer, the more certain she is that she or her partner might be the next one to burn.
Oscar Tremont: Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable by Cameron Trost:
Introducing Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable.
Join Oscar Tremont on his first four cases as he tackles mysteries too strange for the police and assures his clients that a rational explanation lies behind what at first appears to be impossible. You will find clues, question suspects, don disguises, break into abandoned houses, solve codes and puzzles, and if you really have your wits about you, crack the case before our hero.
Oscar Tremont, Investigator of the Strange and Inexplicable consists of two novellas and two short stories that display the keen intellect of a private investigator who is bound to make a name for himself in the mystery genre.
The Hunt for the Stayne FortuneThe Ghosts of WalhallaThe Witch at the WindowThe Secret of the Severed HandThese four mysteries will challenge and surprise even the most experienced armchair detectives.
February 24, 2022
Non-Fiction Spotlight: Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard by Todd B. Vick
The world and particularly Ukraine may be on fire right now, but I’m still continuing the Non-Fiction Spotlight project, wherein I interview the authors/editors of SFF-related non-fiction books that came out in 2021 and are eligible for the 2022 Hugo Awards. For more about the Non-Fiction Spotlight project, 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.
Biographies of SFF authors and other people of genre interest have appeared on the ballot for the Best Related Work Hugo several times in the past. And both this and the next Non-Fiction Spotlight (coming next Wednesday) will feature a biography of an influential SFF-author.
Therefore, I’m thrilled to welcome Todd B. Vick, author of Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard, to my blog today:
Tell us about your book.
Renegades and Rogues: The Life and Legacy of Robert E. Howard is a biography about the life and work of SFF author Robert E. Howard. Published by The University of Texas Press, the book seeks to answer two main questions: Who is Robert E. Howard? and Why did Howard write what he wrote? In the book, I lay the groundwork on what I think is one of the most important periods in Howard’s life (for his fiction); from his birth to age 13. This was a period where the Howard family traveled throughout the state of Texas (and several surrounding states), never settling down in a place for longer than 2 years, until they finally settled in Cross Plains, Texas. I detail how this period of his life (the first 13 years) was pivotal to his becoming a writer. The book then takes readers through Howard’s high school days and his early amateur writing period up to his first publication and beyond; up to the worst period of his short life, leading to his untimely self-inflicted death. I place an emphasis on Howard’s historical fiction and how that work was seminal to his fantasy fiction. And, I discuss his lifelong correspondence with other writers of his period, with an emphasis on his epistolary relationship with Harold Preece, a regional writer, also an early proponent of the civil rights movement, and with fellow Weird Tales writer, H.P. Lovecraft. The book looks briefly at a few of Howard’s more popular fantasy fiction works and discusses the publication career of his most popular character, Conan the Cimmerian.
Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I’ve been a SFF fan since 1975 (at age 10) when my step-father, a public school English teacher, gave me a set of C.S. Lewis’s, The Chronicles of Narnia. These books gave me a passion for reading. The following year, knowing how much I enjoyed Lewis’s work, he gave me a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien’s, The Hobbit. I’ve been reading SFF ever since. I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and English (double major) at Hardin-Simmons University in my hometown of Abilene, Texas, and did graduate work in Philosophy at Marquette University in Milwaukee, WI. I’ve presented academic papers about Robert E. Howard and Vampire literature at several PCA/ACA conferences. I’ve published articles in The Weird Fiction Review, The Dark Man: Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies, contributed a chapter to the recent, Robert E. Howard Changed My Life, and wrote several articles/chapters for other journals/books not related to SFF.
What prompted you to write this book?
The simple answer: I’ve been a fan of Robert E. Howard’s work since 1981 when, at the time, my best friend loaned me his Ace paperback copy titled, Conan, with the Frank Frazetta cover art for Howard’s story, “Rogues in the House.” The idea for a biography came to me when I purchased a copy of Glenn Lord’s work, The Last Celt back in the mid-80s. Lord’s book made me realize there were others out there who took Howard’s work a bit more seriously than the casual reader. Due to life and higher education, Howard was sidelined until I began work (mostly research) on the biography in late 2002. I am currently working on a novel.
Why should SFF fans in general and Hugo voters in particular read this book?
There are numerous reasons. The book is a biography about one of the more popular SFF writers from the 1920s and 30s. It discusses the history of fantasy fiction in the pulp magazines and, in particular, how Howard inadvertently created the sub-genre called heroic fantasy (or colloquially known as sword-and sorcery), which we all have seen and enjoyed through works (and shows based on works) like George R.R. Martin (Game of Thrones), Fritz Leiber, Robert Jordan, and others. This book is partially the essential history behind all that.
Do you have any cool facts or tidbits that you unearthed during your research, but that did not make it into the final book?
Yes! I was limited in my page count so I reserved some of this information for my blog On and Underwood No. 5 (about REH and Pulp Studies). One of the more interesting tidbits I unearthed was revealed in a blog article titled, Bootleggers & Gangsters: A Day in the Life of Robert E. Howard.
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?
That’s a good question. I think reading about SFF can be as important as reading SFF. SFF-related non-fiction work helps preserve SFF’s history, and can be used as reference works to the SFF genre. It also emphasizes the importance of reading SFF. A lot of this has been done through academic publishers and conferences (e.g. the Popular Culture Association). Some of my favorite books have been SFF-related non-fiction works. And, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about some of my favorite SFF authors through SFF-related non-fiction books. So these works are important and should have a place of recognition. But the most important reason, for me anyway, has been bibliography. I have discovered a plethora of SFF titles and authors through SFF-related non-fiction works.
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?
In recent years The Library of America added Ursula K. Le Guin to its vast collection of works (Octavia E. Butler’s and Philip K. Dick’s work preceded her by a few years) so I’ve recently revisited her work in their volumes. Le Guin’s Left Hand of Darkness is one of my favorite science fiction novels. I was recently told that I had to read Martha Wells’s The Murderbot Diaries. So, I’ll be reading that soon. I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman’s work, so anything by him. A few years back, Gaiman published a SFF-related non-fiction work titled, A View from the Cheap Seats that I would recommend. I also love anthologies, if they’re compiled well. Ann and Jeff Vandermere edited one of the more recent collections of Science Fiction stories titled, The Big Book of Science Fiction, providing a nice historical sweep of stories by a wide range of writers. As for films, I recently enjoyed Denis Villeneuve’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. Villeneuve’s film Arrival, based on Ted Chiang’s work, “Story of Your Life,” is another sci-fi favorite of mine. I also recently finished watching the TV Mini-series, Station 11, and thoroughly enjoyed it. My wife and I are in the middle of watching Schitt’s Creek on Netflix. And, I’m in the middle of a Dickens and Dostoevsky reading spree.
Where can people buy your book?
Here are the links where the book can be purchased (the first three being the most popular links):
Where can people find you?
I’ve given up on Facebook, so I’m no longer there. I do, however, still sporadically post on my writer/books Tumblr called, Word Painting. And, my REH and Pulp Studies blog called On An Underwood No. 5 is still available, though I have been too busy to post anything on it lately due to my new writing project.
Thank you, Todd, for stopping by and answering my questions.
You may not know the name Robert E. Howard, but you probably know his work. His most famous creation, Conan the Barbarian, is an icon of popular culture. In hundreds of tales detailing the exploits of Conan, King Kull, and others, Howard helped to invent the sword and sorcery genre.
Todd B. Vick delves into newly available archives and probes Howard’s relationships, particularly with schoolteacher Novalyne Price, to bring a fresh, objective perspective to Howard’s life. Like his many characters, Howard was an enigma and an outsider. He spent his formative years visiting the four corners of Texas, experiences that left a mark on his stories. He was intensely devoted to his mother, whom he nursed in her final days, and whose impending death contributed to his suicide in 1936 when he was just thirty years old.
Renegades and Rogues is an unequivocal journalistic account that situates Howard within the broader context of pulp literature. More than a realistic fantasist, he wrote westerns and horror stories as well, and engaged in avid correspondence with H. P. Lovecraft and other pulp writers of his day. Vick investigates Howard’s twelve-year writing career, analyzes the influences that underlay his celebrated characters, and assesses the afterlife of Conan, the figure in whom Howard’s fervent imagination achieved its most durable expression.
About Todd B. Vick:Todd B. Vick, a researcher and independent scholar, has presented papers at multiple PCA/ACA conferences and runs “On an Underwood No. 5,” an award-winning blog devoted to Howard and pulp studies. He has contributed to Weird Fiction Review, The Dark Man Journal: The Journal of Robert E. Howard and Pulp Studies, and REH Changed My Life.
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Did you publish a work of SFF-related longform non-fiction in 2021 and want it featured? Contact me or leave a comment.
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