Cora Buhlert's Blog, page 31

Star Trek Discovery Experiences “Stormy Weather”

It’s time for the next, somewhat belated installment in my series of episode by episode reviews of season 4 of Star Trek Discovery. Reviews of previous seasons and episodes may be found here.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut!

Now that they know that the Dark Matter Anomaly is manmade, the Discovery and her valiant crew are still trying to figure out who is responsible. However, they have – as Michael puts it – a crime scene to examine, namely the place where the DMA punched through subspace to reappear elsewhere. The Discovery will now venture into this subspace rift to scan for particles and anything that might give a clue as to the DMA’s origin and creators. Book is not happy with this, he’d rather talk to his old courier pals to see if anyone of them knows anything about the DMA and its creators, but Michael points out that they need to investigate the subspace rift while it’s hot. Personally, I wonder why they can’t do both, investigate the subspace rift and question the couriers.

Heading into a subspace rift will, according to data gathered by the Enterprise and the Voyager, be a “bumpy ride”, as Michael puts it. And indeed, the initial passage into the subspace rift is somewhat bumpy. But then suddenly, the ship comes to a rest in a void that appears to be totally dark, silent and empty. According to the data gathered by the Enterprise and the Voyager, this is not supposed to happen. Even though, as io9 reviewer James Whitbrook points out, Starfleet vessels have the tendency to get trapped in voids of nothingness, since something similar happened in The Animated Series, The Next Generation and Voyager (twice).

The bridge crew and the Discovery‘s computer Zora (voiced by Annabelle Wallis), who – and I should have mentioned this in my review of the previous episode – has merged with the data from the infodump sphere and is in the process of developing consciousness and a personality, do their best to scan the void, but it is to no avail. There’s nothing out there or at least Zora’s sensors can’t pick up anything.

Book, being his usual impatient self, wants to fly out into the void aboard his ship, but Michael stops him and decides to launch one of the little DOT repair drones to scan the void first. Good thing that they did, because some distance from the ship, the DOT drone runs into something which literally eats it up. The drone dissolves, while emitting noises that sound like screaming. Something is out there and it’s not friendly.

Next, the bridge crew fires a flare after the DOT drone, while Detmer measures the time it takes to vanish/dissolve. Turns out the time it takes for the flare to vanish is shorter than the time it took for the the drone dissolve. Whatever is out there and eating drones and flares, it’s coming closer. And the Discovery still can’t see or hear or scan anything.

Michael now does the sensible thing. She orders to abandon the mission and for the Discovery to get the hell out of there.  However, there’s a problem. If the sensors aren’t working and they can’t see anything, Detmer can’t navigate and doesn’t know in which direction to fly.

The only way out of the rift is the spore drive, which is risky but the only chance. Stamets is reluctant to jump, both because of the risk and because he hopes for data. So Book offers to operate the spore drive, so Stamets can scan for data. It’s a sign how desperate Stamets is for answers that he let’s Book operate his baby with barely any complaints.

So Book gets into the drive chamber to jump. The Discovery starts spinning, indicated by the bridge (or rather the camera) rotating, but then an energy surge from the spore drive interface knocks out Book and the Discovery stays put. Stamets investigates and realises that the void has affected the mycellium network. The Discovery cannot use the spore drive.

While Stamets is examining the mycellium network, Book suddenly sees his father in the drive chamber. There’s only one problem. Book’s father is dead, has been dead for years, and his grave was destroyed along with Kwejian. What Book is seeing is a hallucination of his father, triggered by the power surge he experienced.

But hallucination or not, Book’s father loses no time to nag and berate his son. Apparently, Book and his father never saw eye to eye, because Book’s father used his empathic abilities to hunt endangered fauna for the Emerald Chain, while Book wanted nothing to do with that sort of thing. Book’s father or rather his hallucination also dislikes pretty much everything about Book’s life, particularly his relationship with Michael. Apparently, Book’s father has issues with the fact that Book is taking orders from someone else and tells him that Michael will always choose Starfleet over him.

Tor.com reviewer Keith R.A. DeCandido notes that the subplot about Book and his father doesn’t go anywhere nor is it particularly revelatory, since it doesn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know, namely that Book left Kwejian, because he didn’t see eye to eye with his people and disagreed with their dealings with the Emerald Chain. As it is, it’s just a standard parent child with the parent disagreeing with their kid’s life choices.

Indeed, whenever Book’s father or rather his hallucination appeared, I said to the screen, “Dude, I just handed out the Darth Vader Parenthood Award for 2021. You’re too late, so just get lost.”

While the Discovery is on red alert and everybody is desperately trying to figure out how to escape from the rift before whatever ate the DOT will also eat the Discovery,  Gray – still sporting the goth punk look he adopted two episodes ago – finds himself left alone in the lounge. He’s not an official member of the crew, unlike Adira, so there really isn’t anything for him to do.

So Gray starts chatting with Zora and notes that the computer is nervous and apparently overwhelmed by sensory input. Gray decides to try to help her and plays a game with her that Trill Guardians use to calm down new hosts and teach them to focus. It works, too. Zora focusses, her routine sensory input retreats into the background and she notes that her sensors are picking up something on the hull. Gray tells Zora that she must inform the Captain at once, but Zora is reluctant to do so, so Gray dashes off to the bridge himself (why doesn’t he just use his personal transporter?) to inform Michael of the problem on deck whatever.

Now Zora picked one hell of a time to become self-aware and have an existential crisis, because – as AV-Club reviewer Zack Handlen puts it – no one wants the machine/computer they depend upon for their lives to have navel-gazing moments of questioning reality and existence. Also, Zora’s reluctance to inform Michael that there is a problem on deck whatever feels like something out of the 1980s He-Man cartoon, where Orko, Adam or Teela would do something stupid and instead of telling Duncan/Man-at-Arms, they would hide it and make the problem worse, which would inevitably be followed by the morality bit at the end of the cartoon imploring kids to talk to their parents or trustworthy people, admit to mistakes and not run away from home. Which was eye-rolly enough in a He-Man cartoon (never mind that whoever wrote those morality bits never seems to have considered that many kids have no parents or other adults they can trust, since not everybody’s parents are like Duncan), but is a completely ridiculous when dealing with a hyper-advanced AI. If there are He-Man cartoons in the Discovery‘s onboard library or the sphere data, Zora should maybe watch a few.

Whatever Zora detected on the hull of Discovery is in the process of causing a hull breach. Gray dashes onto the bridge just in time for Michael to raise the alarm and issue a warning (and why didn’t Zora trigger the alarm herself?). But the warning comes too late for one poor Ensign (who wears yellow rather than red), who gets sucked out into space. Zora feels very guilty about this, while Owosekun (who has ditched her cornrows for a more natural look) immediately wants to dash off to help, until Saru gently reminds her that she is needed on the bridge.

Now therapy has played a big role in this season of Discovery, but as both Zack Handlen and James Whitbrook point out, the show takes this to ridiculous extremes when even the ship’s computer requires therapy now and has a breakdown in the middle of a crisis.

Gray and Michael do their best to calm down and reassure Zora, while Stamets and Culber scan Book for residues of the energy surge that hit him. They hit pay dirt, when Stamets discovery some particles originating in the galactic barrier (first seen 55 years ago in the very first Star Trek episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and then again in the Original Series episode ) in Booker’s brain. The DMA came from outside our galaxy, so whoever created it is outside the galaxy, too.

However, this information also has a more practical implications, because now they know what to look for, the Discovery crew can scan for the galactic barrier particles and find the place where the DMA punched through subspace. They locate the place using an eerie sonar beep, which makes the episode feel even more like a WWII submarine film than it already does.

However, there is a problem. Whatever ate the DOT has significantly weakened the Discovery‘s shields to the point that she would be severely damaged with fatal consequences to the crew, if the ship were to try to return to normal space. The solution is for everybody on board (including Grudge in a cat carrier) to be stored in the transport buffer with only Michael and Zora remaining behind to guide the Discovery back into regular space.

Storing people in transporter buffers has been a thing since the Original Series episode “Day of the Dove” and occurs more prominently in The Next Generation episode “Relics”. However, both episodes make it clear that storing people in transporter buffers is dangerous and should not be attempted except in an emergency. Besides, in both “Relics” and “Day of the Dove”, only a handful of people were stored in the buffer, not an entire starship crew. I guess 32nd century transporter tech is much more advanced.

Once everybody has beamed into the buffer – holding hands and in groups of three – Michael dons a space suit and sits down in the captain’s chair. Together, she and Zora guide the Discovery through the bumpy edge of the rift. The ship literally explodes and catches fire around Michael and the heat is soon too great even for the space suit. Zora kindly offers to sing a song for Michael to calm her down and launches into the 1933 blues classic “Stormy Weather” (performed here by Lena Horne). Annabelle Wallis has a fine singing voice and has performed with Coldplay and her talents are on full display here.

Eventually, Michael passes out and comes to again in the sick bay with Dr. Culber and Book bending over her. The plan was a success, the Discovery escaped the rift and Zora brought everybody back unharmed from the transporter buffer. The episode ends with Michael creating a holographic family tree, inspired by the Akaali gadget she returned to its rightful owner last episode. Zora declares that she wants to make a family tree as well and creates a tree that pictues the entire Discovery crew, since they are her family.

Meanwhile, Book and Saru are sharing a drink at the bar. Book is still shaken from his hallucinatory encounter with his father and tells Saru that his father always had so much anger in him and that he never wanted to become like him, only that Book is also full of anger (so we have reached that stage of the five stages of grief, a pop psychology theory I’ve always hated BTW) and wants to kill whoever created the DMA. In turn, Saru tells Book about his conflicted feelings towards the Ba’iul. He still feels anger – after all, Saru still experienced his fellow Kelpians, including both his parents getting culled by the Ba’iul – but still has to cooperate with them on the Council of Kaminar. It’s a brief scene, but – as Bonnie McDaniel points out in her review – extremely well acted.

This isn’t a particularly revolutionary episode. It is solid mid-level Star Trek, clearly a cheap episode, since it’s set entirely aboard the Discovery with minimal effects. The premise – a starfleet vessel is stuck in a featureless void and the crew needs to science the shit out of the situation to escape – isn’t novel either, but was first used by The Animated Series and then several times since. The DMA plot arc, finally, is only advanced by another tiny step.

Nonetheless, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit, more than some of the previous ones. What I liked about it is that this is as close as Discovery has ever come to being a true ensemble show. Everybody gets plenty to do and a moment to shine. The often underserved bridge crew gets plenty of screentime, Dr. Pollard, the little seen other medical officer of the Discovery, has some nice moments and even Gray gets something to do that isn’t just Adira’s ghost boyfriend whom no one else can see.

I may have been a bit snarky above about Zora having an existential crisis at the worst possible moment, but in general I like Zora, the accidentally self-aware AI, and Annabelle Wallis gives a fine performance. If Zora can pull herself together rather than turning into Kull of Atlantis in “The Mirrors of Thuzun Thune”, she’ll make a fine addition to the crew.

I have one more episode to go until the mid season finale and then we have a bit of a break.

The Book of Boba Fett finds itself a “Stranger in a Strange Land”

Disney+ didn’t even give us a single week off, but followed up on Hawkeye with The Book of Boba Fett, a new series focussed on one of the most popular and most mysterious characters of the original Star Wars trilogy.

Though The Book of Boba Fett is a direct spin-off of The Mandalorian rather than of the original trilogy, which had Boba Fett show up very much alive (after all, he was presumed dead after falling into the Sarlaac Pit in Return of the Jedi) in the episode “The Tragedy” and fights Din Djarin for his armour, before the two team up against the Empire, which has kidnapped Baby Grogu. When we last saw Boba Fett and his new ally ex-Imperial assassin Fennec Shand, they had just killed Jabba the Hutt’s former major domo and successor Bib Fortuna and taken over Jabba’s palace and position as the biggest crime lord on Tatooine.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut!

“Stranger in a Strange Land”, the first episode of The Book of Boba Fett continues where both The Mandalorian and Return of the Jedi left off. Because the scenes of Boba Fett establishing himself as the premiere crime lord on Tatooine are interspersed with flashbacks of Boba Fett’s past, including his escape from the Sarlaac’s digestive tract.

The flashbacks are presented as dreams Boba is experiences while sleeping in a bacta tank, which Boba apparently needs to do regularly to treat his substantial wounds and scars. And so we see a brief clips of Kamino, the planet where Boba was cloned and created, and a clip from Attack of the Clones, where Young Boba (Daniel Logan) picks up his father’s helmet after Jango was beheaded by Mace Windu on Geonosis. Of course, the death of his father would be an extremely traumatic memory for Boba and therefore likely to come up in dreams.

The flashback/memory/whatever it is then jumps forward in time to Boba coming to inside the Sarlaac’s digestive tract. The Sarlaac’s digestive juices have attacked his armour, but beskar is hardy stuff and so Boba is protected for now. He spots a Stormtrooper who hasn’t been so lucky and is clearly dead, his armour half dissolved by Sarlaac acid.

Of course, the other big question is: Where did that Stormtrooper come from, since there wasn’t a single Stormtrooper aboard Jabba’s barge? Maybe the Sarlaac ate the Stormtrooper at some other time. But again, the question is: How? Because the Sarlaac appears to be largely stationary in the Tatooine desert and therefore has to wait for victims to pass by? So did the Sarlaac chance to consume a passing Stormtrooper on some routine mission, e.g. looking for two missing droids? It’s a mystery that will likely never be solved.

However, this episode does solve one long-standing Star Wars mystery, namely: How the hell did Boba manage to escape from the Sarlaac’s stomach? The answer to that mystery is fairly straight forward. Boba taps into the energy and/or air supply of the doomed Stormtrooper, fires his wrist gauntlet weapon and blasts his way out. Boba then claws himself out of the sand at some distance from the Sarlaac pit. His body has also changed from the leaner frame of Jeremy Bulloch to the somewhat bulkier form of Temuera Morrison. Whether the Sarlaac survived Boba Fett rupturing its digestive tract is unknown.

However, Boba isn’t out of the proverbial woods yet. He’s badly injured, not to mention stuck in the middle of the Tatooine desert without any water, so he promptly collapses. To make matters worse, Boba is found by a passing Jawa Sandcrawler. The Jawas, being their usual jerky selves, steal Boba’s armour (where Cobb Vanth will eventually acquire it, as chronicled in The Mandalorian episode “The Marshal”) and just leave him lying there in the desert in his undies. Yes, Mandalorians wear wear long undergarments – long white undergarments in Boba’s case – under their armour. And no, I had not expected Boba Fett to wear what is essentially grandfather underwear.

Things get even worse for Boba Fett, when he is found and captured by a group of Sandpeople who tie him up and take him with them for reasons that never became quite clear. I can sort of understand what the Sandpeople wanted with Anakin’s Mom, though the implications are quite unpleasant and go places that Star Wars doesn’t normally go. But what on Tatooine do they want with Boba Fett and the unnamed Rodian (that’s Greedo’s species, though this one is orange) who is Boba’s fellow prisoner for a while? Neither Boba nor the Rodian seem suited to either sexual exploitation nor as food. And while Boba and the Rodian are briefly used as slave labour to dig up water-filled bulbs, this doesn’t seem like a good reason to keep them prisoner either, especially since they have to be repeatedly shown what to do, whereas the Sandpeople already know. And while the Rodian is meek and resigned to his fate, Boba is obviousl going to make trouble.

Boba Fett doesn’t ask himself any of these questions, but he definitely makes trouble. When he is tied to a random post for the night, guarded by a dragon-dog hybrid, he frees himself and knocks out the dragon-dog. Boba offers to free the Rodian as well, but the Rodian – who’s clearly suffering from the Star Wars universe equivalent of Stockholm syndrome – raises the alarm and Boba is recaptured and beaten up.

Some time later, a Sandperson kid takes Boba and the Rodian, who are chained together chain gang style, into the desert. They watch as a moisture farm is robbed by bandits on speeder bikes. Then the Sand Kid forces Boba and the Rodian to dig up those water-filled bulbs. Boba bites into one to drink, which pisses off the Sand Kid. Boba isn’t particularly impressed by the Sand Kid and their mini gaffi stick, but he’s still chained up for now.

Things take a turn for the worse, when the Rodian unearthes something that’s definitely no water-filled bulb, but a lot bigger and looks rather reptilian. The idiotic Rodian continues to dig and wakes up a multi-armed centaur-like creature that looks Ray Harryhausen‘s take on a green martian from Edgar Rice Burroughs’ Barsoom stories. Both Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion work and the Barsoom stories were influences on the original Star Wars trilogy, so it makes only sense that they show up here.

The monster looks great and is another example of the fascinating megafauna that inhabits the Star Wars universe, where every cave is inhabited by a monster, in general and Tatooine in particular. But cool as those creatures are, they don’t make a lot of evolutionary sense. What do Sarlaccs, Krayth dragons and multi-armed centaur things eat, when there are no convenient humans, Rodians or Sand People around? Especially since the Sand People are clearly native to Tatooine and would have learned to avoid the monsters.

The monster gobbles up the idiotic Rodian and the Sand Kid with their little gaffi stick can’t do anything against a monster. The dragon-guarddog creature tries to attack the monster, but the monster is too big. Meanwhile, Boba Fett is still chained to the Rodian and is hoisted into the air, while the monster gobbles up the Rodian. However, Boba Fett takes inspiration from Leia in Return of the Jedi and manages to strangle the monster with his chains.

The flashback ends with the Sand Kid returning to the Sandpeople camp, triumphantly brandishing the head of the monster and most likely telling everybody that they killed it. Boba Fett returns as well, sans chains. The Sandpeople leader, who clearly knows that the kid is full of shit, offers Boba one of the water-filled bulbs.

I’m not a huge fan of extensive flashbacks and I fear we will be seeing more of those in future episodes. For starters, as Tor.com reviewer Emmet Asher-Perrin points out, dreams don’t really work that way. A dream does not offer a coherent, detailed and realistic memory in the correct sequence. Random images would be far more likely.

Besides, I’m also not sure why we need the lengthy flashback at all. I’m not even sure if we needed to see how Boba Fett escaped from the Sarlacc, since most of us probably have imagined a version of that story that’s infinitely cooler than what we see on screen. And we certainly didn’t need to see him getting robbed by Jawas and enslaved by Sandpeople, because those scenes add nothing to the story except maybe explain how Boba came to wield a gaffi stick with such skill. But again, I don’t think we really need an explanation why a skilled and trained fighter like Boba Fett can handle a random weapon.

Personally, I suspect that the purpose of the flashback scenes may be to humble Boba Fett and send him through hell and turn him into a more likeable character. Because Boba Fett is not particularly likeable in the original trilogy. He’s a thoroughly unpleasant person, henchman to all sorts of terrible people and will work for anyone, if the price is right.  He’s not all that impressive either – after all, Han Solo manages to set off his jet pack and send him flying into the Sarlacc pit, while half-blind. In fact, it’s a mystery why this particular character so captured the imagination of Star Wars fans, when there are plenty of equally cool and fascinating side characters in the original trilogy.

For all its faults, the prequel trilogy actually did a decent job of humanising Boba Fett. We see him as a kid, see where he comes from and see him losing his father who – though far from a moral paragon himself – was nonetheless trying to do the best for his kid. In essence, Boba Fett is someone who saw his father killed as a kid by the people the galaxy thinks are the good guys. He’s a survivor who does what he needs to to get by. And considering a Jedi killed his father, it’s obvious that he won’t be particularly friendly inclined towards the Jedi or the Rebellion.

Both AV-Club reviewer Nick Wanserski and io9 reviewer James Whitbrook point out that in order for Boba Fett to become the hero of his own show – rather than a supporting character to Din Djarin or a henchman in the original trilogy – the character had to change to make him more likeable and turn him into an actual character, because the Boba Fett we meet in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi is a cool suit of armour rather than a character.  Though I’m still not sure if lengthy flashbacks that tell us things we don’t really need to know are the way to go.

The present day storyline is somewhat more compelling, if brief. Boba Fett has taken over Jabba’s position as premier crime lord on Tatooine. He does plan to do better than Jabba – “I shall rule with respect rather than fear”, he tells Fennec at one point – but he still needs to cement his position.

When he’s not sleeping in his bacta tank, Boba is receiving emissaries and tributes from people indebted to Jabba, including a Trandoshan (that’s the reptilian species of Bossk, the bounty hunter) who comes bearing a Wookie pelt. Things are not so easy for Boba and Fennec, because for starters, they’re massively understaffed, Jabba’s and Bib Fortuna’s staff having either fled or been killed in the takeover. 8D8, the torture droid from Return of the Jedi, has been promoted to protocol droid, since Boba and Fennec don’t have a proper one. 8D8 is now voiced by comedian Matt Berry, continuing The Mandalorian‘s practice of having comedians as guest stars.

Boba Fett also aquires two shirtless Gamorean guards who used to work for Jabba and then Bib Fortuna and were captured after Boba’s takeover. Boba asks the guards if they will serve him as faithfully as they served Boba and Bib Fortuna. The guards drop to their knees and so Boba now has two guards, much to the dislike of Fennec, who doesn’t trust them. Unfortunately, he can’t persuade them to put on shirts, even though the Gamoreans are not exactly Conan.

Things get dicey, when the mayor of Mos Espa (apparently “Mos” means “town” in whatever language they speak on Tatooine) not only sends his swarmy Twi’lek major domo (played by comedian David Pasquesi) in his stead, but also refuses to pay tribute to Boba Fett. Instead, the mayor expects Boba Fett to pay tribute to him. This confuses Boba Fett to no end – “I’m the crime lord. They’re supposed to pay me”, he tells Fennec. But when Fennec asks if she can kill the swarmy Twi’lek now, Boba stops her.

The relationship between Fennec, whose first impulse when faced with something she dislikes is to kill it, and Boba, who wants to do better than Jabba and not kill people unless he really has to, is the best thing about this episode and I really wish we had gotten more Boba and Fennec scenes and less “Boba and the Sandpeople” scenes. I also love the fact that both Boba Fett and Fennec Shand are played by actors of colour who are no longer young (Temuera Morrison is 61, Ming-Na Wen is 58) and this raises no eyebrows. Because honestly, I can’t imagine a high profile TV series starring a 61-year-old man of colour and a 58-year-old woman of colour would have been made even a decade ago.

The Twi’lek leaves – after Fennec has made it very clear that he should count himself lucky to get away with his life – but not without the vaguely threatening promise that Boba and Fennec can expect another delegation soon, one that won’t be as friendly.

This other delegation arrives, when Boba and Fennec visit Mos Espa to collect tributes from the local businesses in person. The fact that Boba prefers to walk rather than being carried around in a litter like Jabba (who to be fair couldn’t walk) or Bib Fortuna raises some eyebrows. Boba and Fennec visit what appears to be a brothel run by a Twi’lek named Garsa Fwip, who is played by Jennifer Beals of Flashdance fame. I wonder if we will see her dance eventually – she is a Twi’lek, after all, and Twi’leks are often dancers. I guess the Twi’leks are the Orions of Star Wars, a whole species that seems to consist only of criminals and sex workers. Though come to think of it, there was a female Twi’lek Jedi in the prequel trilogy.

Garsa Fwip is quite friendly, flirts with Boba and has some of her staffers take away Boba’s and Fennec’s helmets to have them cleaned and serviced and filled with coins – the tribute. The brothel scene also offers a welcome cameo from Max Rebo, formerly a member of Jabba’s personal band, and a member of the Cantina Band , who have by now switched from cheery jazz to a mariachi inspired tune. This is certainly fitting, especially considering that this episode was directed by Robert Rodriguez.

Upon leaving Garsa Fwip’s establishment, Boba and Fennec are ambushed by ninjas armed with energy shields and shocksticks. The fight choreography is quite clumsy, particularly by Star Wars standards, which made me wonder whether covid restrictions didn’t mess up the filming. In the end, Boba, Fennec and the Gamoreans manage to fight off the ninjas (there are ninjas in the Star Wars universe?). Boba shoots one down from a building, while Fennec goes after two who are in the process of escaping, which leads to an impressive chase across the rooftops of Mos Espa. Boba also tells Fennec to bring at least one back alive for questioning. Then Boba is returned to his bacta tank by the Gamoreans, to recuperate from his injuries and experience more flashback dreams.

“Stranger in a Strange Land” certainly makes for an entertaining half hour of television, though it also feels quite slight. Not a lot happens, but then not a lot happened in the early episodes of The Mandalorian either. Nonetheless, I found The Mandalorian more compelling, probably because they introduced Baby Grogu at the end of the first episode and he kept everybody watching.

The Book of Boba Fett has no Baby Grogu equivalent. And while the relationship between Boba and Fennec is fun to watch, we don’t get a lot of their interactions either, because of the lengthy flashbacks. So far, the show also doesn’t seem to be quite sure which story it wants to tell: Is it “How Boba escaped from the Sarlacc and learned to use a gaffi stick” or “Boba Fett, Crime Lord of Tatooine”.

The great strength of the Marvel movies and TV shows is that they manage to tell a lot of different stories in different genres and employ very different aesthetics – all under the great Marvel umbrella. Star Wars has a huge universe to draw upon – bigger than Marvel’s – and could theoretically do the same, tell a lot of different stories in different genres with different aesthetics, all set in the Star Wars universe. Yet for some reason, Star Wars doesn’t take a leaf from Marvel’s book and instead keeps doing what worked once. Hence, the overreliance on the story of the Skywalker family or a sequel trilogy was too much of a rehash of the original trilogy.

Part of the reason why The Mandalorian felt like such a breath of fresh air was that it did something different. It told a different story that has very little connection to the story of the Skywalker family initially, it had different aesthetics with its very clear Italian western inspiration and was yet still recognisably Star Wars.

The Book of Boba Fett, meanwhile, seems intent to repeat what worked with The Mandalorian. And so we get another essentially noble Mandalorian with a childhood trauma. We get yet more Italian western inspired scenes with a bit of early 1980s sword and sorcery aesthetic thrown in. It’s all entertaining enough, but while The Mandalorian was something special and different, The Book of Boba Fett is just solid Star Wars entertainment so far.

I will continue watching, though I’m not sure if I will do episode by episode reviews, because these take a lot of time.

First Monday Free Fiction: The Wolf of Rajala

Welcome to the first edition of First Monday Free Fiction for 2022.

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.

It’s winter in the northern hemisphere and even though we haven’t been blessed (or cursed) with a lot of snow so far, it’s nonetheless the perfect time for a wintery story.

This month’s free story The Wolf of Rajala is part of my Kurval sword and sorcery series. I originally created Kurval, because I enjoyed Robert E. Howard’s stories of Kull as King of Valusia and Conan as King of Aquilonia a whole lot and was always disappointed that there weren’t any more of them.  So I created my own wandering barbarian turned king character.

However, Kurval quickly acquired a backstory as well as adventures set before his time as King of Azakoria. The Wolf of Rajala is one of those stories, since it’s set during Kurval’s time as a mercenary and wandering monster slayer, when the crown seems nothing more than a distant dream.  Though the themes of justice and mercy that run through the Kurval stories is also present in The Wolf of Rajala.

So accompany Kurval, as he braves the frozen land of Simola and faces…

The Wolf of Rajala

“Before he became King of Azakoria in the Year of the Forked Serpent, Kurval spent many a year wandering the lands of the Eastern continent. During this time, he performed deeds of great bravery and fought several fearsome monsters such as the serpent Khalikidai, the dragon of Suraimur. But none of these monsters was more fearsome than the wolf of Rajala…”

From the Chronicles of Azakoria by Ragur, Count Falgune

I. The Frozen Land

“Civilisation…” Kurval thought, as he trudged through the knee deep snow, “…is not all it’s cracked up to be.”

In the Year of the Twisted Rope, Kurval had forever left his homeland on the steppes of Temirzhan across the sea behind to seek his fortune in the more civilised lands of the East.

That said, he hadn’t left entirely of his own free well. For there was no longer a place in Temirzhan for a captain of the Royal Guard who had not only defied his king but also helped to bring about his death. Even if King Talgat had been a terrible ruler and worse man.

And so Kurval had left to find his destiny in the lands across the sea, chasing the prophecy of the dark gods that one day, he would be a mighty king on the far side of the great ocean.

But so far, not a hint of that royal destiny had manifested itself to the point that Kurval wondered whether the dark gods had not been toying with him. Nor were the lands across the sea the beacon of civilisation and knowledge he’d expected them to be. Instead, they were mostly cold and miserable.

Since it would not do to simply venture into the capital of one of the kingdoms beyond the sea and announce his intention to take the throne — never mind that those blasted dark gods had not even told him which kingdom he was destined to rule — Kurval now plied his trade as a mercenary, offering his arm and his sword to anyone with gold enough to hire him. It wasn’t kinghood, but it was an honest enough profession.

This time around, he had been hired by the magistrate of the village Rajala. The village was beset by wolves, which in itself was nothing unusual, for the village lay at the edge of the vast forest of Korjus, a forest that many wolfpacks roamed. And even though wolves normally kept away from humans, as afraid of man as man was of wolves, attacks did happen on occasion.

However, in the past three moons, the number of wolf attacks near the village of Rajala has increased. The wolves were also getting bolder, venturing ever closer to the village and its sturdy log cabins. The snatched sheep and sometimes even unwary travellers. Of late, the attacks had gotten even worse. The daughter of a grain merchant only narrowly escaped death when a wolf chased her to the doorstep of her home. A wealthy farmer had his privates bitten off, the judge from the nearest market town lost a leg to the wolf and the village butcher, who also doubled as the hangman, was found dead in the woods, his guts torn out.

Even more alarming was that the wolves that beset the village of Rajala were larger than usual. One wolf in particular threatened the village, a vicious beast three times as tall as a man, with razor-sharp fangs and glowing red eyes. Every night, the villagers heard the wolf howl, a howl that seemed to come straight from the underworld, promising death and doom.

The magistrate had hired Kurval to slay that giant wolf and as many of the others as he could and bring back the beasts’ pelts in exchange for a bag of gold. As jobs went, this one was easy enough, for Kurval was not afraid of wild beasts, even uncommonly large ones. Furthermore, he strongly suspected that the villagers were exaggerating with regard to the wolf’s size. If only it wasn’t so damned cold…

In his youth on the steppes of Temirzhan across the sea, Kurval had rarely worn more than a loincloth. Now, however, he wore a padded leather jerkin and matching trousers, woollen gloves and fur-lined boots, a fur hat and a thick vest of sheepskin. But even bundled up like an old man sitting by the fireside and complaining about his aching joints, Kurval was still cold.

Night was falling fast and the tall fir trees of the forest of Korjus were outlined in stark black against the darkening winter sky. In theory, this was a good thing, because wolves hunt by night. Unfortunately, nightfall also meant that what little warmth the wan winter sun provided faded and it got even colder. And torch that Kurval carried offered light, but little in the way of warmth.

The snow crunched beneath his fur-lined boots, as he made his way through the forest. Up ahead, the moon was rising, casting its icy light over the frozen land. The snow underneath his feet glittered, as if it had been sprinkled with diamond dust.

A bone-chilling howl echoed through the forest, causing even the fir trees to shudder and dump their burden of snow. That would be the wolf then.

With a grim smile on his face, Kurval trudged onwards, directly towards the howling.

II. Fangs of the Wolf

Kurval did not have long to search, especially since the wolf obliged him and advertised its position via howls in the night, howls that were answered by other howls. So it was a whole pack of wolves that terrorised the village of Rajala.

Not that Kurval minded. His sword and his dagger were more than sufficient to deal with a wolfpack. Though the magistrate better have a lot of gold to pay in exchange for those wolf pelts.

Kurval had been following the trail of howls for a while, when a wolf broke through the trees right in front of him. The villagers certainly hadn’t been exaggerating. Cause crap, that thing was huge.

It loomed against the winter sky, a dark malicious shadow, easily as tall as the fir trees and twice as tall as a man. Its eyes were glowing like twin embers straight from the depths of the underworld and its fangs were dripping the blood of its last meal into the snow.

The wolf opened its mighty jaws and howled, a wordless challenge. Kurval answered by drawing his sword. The blade gleamed in the moonlight.

The two opponents danced around each other. Kurval stabbed and slashed at the wolf, but in spite of its size, the beast was fast and managed to evade Kurval’s attacks again and again.

The wolf, on the other hand, seemed to hold back. It defended itself, but unlike Kurval, it did not press the attack. Only after Kurval’s blade had drawn blood did the creature go on the offensive. Its mighty jaws snapped and would have taken his head clean off, if Kurval hadn’t saved himself by rolling backwards in the snow.

Within the space of a heartbeat, he was on his feet again, brandishing his blade at the growling monster. Between the fir trees, he spotted several pairs of glowing eyes. The rest of the pack had arrived. However, they were holding back for now, leaving the field to the leader of the pack.

Once more, the giant wolf attacked, jaws snapping. And once more, Kurval managed to evade the attack with a jump backwards. But this time, he wasn’t quite fast enough and while the fangs missed him, the wolf’s claws drew blood, leaving a long but shallow gash across his chest.

Kurval tumbled backwards and fell into the snow. And this time, he did not get up again as quickly as before. Instead, he lay panting in the snow. Not for long, only for a heartbeat or two. But long enough for the wolf to get the upper hand.

The beast loomed above him, its giant fangs dripping saliva and blood. The enormous head bent down, ready to strike, ready to bite, ready to kill. And Kurval lay on his back in the snow, helpless, defenceless. He was doomed.

Closer and closer the gigantic jaw, those monstrous fangs came. And still Kurval lay on his back in the snow. He mustered his last reserves of strength and raised his sword, thrusting it upwards into the wolf’s chest, where the creature’s heart should be.

The blade pierced the wolf’s pelt and entered its chest, drawing blood, a torrent of blood that dripped down on Kurval who was lying prone on his back in the snow.

The wolf staggered backwards, wounded, but not dead, not yet. It howled, a furious, death-defying howl. Then the creature collapsed, dark red blood seeping into the pure white snow.

All around in the forest, the wolves howled in mourning.

Kurval staggered to his feet, the sword still clutched in his hand. The wound in his chest was still bleeding, but thankfully the gash was shallow and the wound only superficial.

The wolf was still moaning, severely wounded, but not yet dead. So Kurval stumbled over to where the creature had gone down to give it the coup de grace. After all, the wolf had been a worthy opponent, so the least he could do was grant the creature a swift and clean death.

But when he reached the hollow in the snow where the creature had fallen, sword still in hand, Kurval froze. For there, lying in the snow, blood seeping from a stab wound in the chest, was no wolf at all. It was a girl. A naked human girl with tousled red blonde hair.

III. The Wolf Girl

Kurval had heard stories, legends about beings like these. Humans who could transform into wolves, either at will or because the moon or the howling of the wind told them to.

They were dangerous, these wolf people, The cunning of a human combined with the raw strength of the wolf. Dangerous and cursed. Unholy abominations that needed to be slain at once, whenever and wherever they were discovered.

But this was no deadly wolf man. This was just a girl, a young girl of barely twenty summers, lying naked and wounded in the snow.

And even though he knew that he should, knew that he would be paid handsomely for it, Kurval could not bring himself to slay a defenceless girl. So he sheathed his sword and pressed a kerchief to the wound in her chest to staunch the bleeding. Then he bent down to lift the girl into his arms.

All around, other wolves emerged from the woods. They glared at Kurval and bared their fangs, but they did not attack, not yet.

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to hurt her,” Kurval said to the wolves, though he had no idea if they could understand him, “I only want to take her to safety and treat her wounds.”

In response, a particularly grizzled wolf stepped forward. It was large, larger than a regular wolf, but not as large as the girl had been in wolf form. The wolf scrutinised Kurval with eyes that were ancient and wise. It nodded at Kurval and abruptly turned around, beckoning him to follow.

The wolves escorted him to a glen deep in the woods of Korjus. The snow on the mossy ground was only a light dusting here, because this spot was sheltered by the walls of the ravine and the branches of the tall fir trees.

Once more, the wolf with the ancient eyes turned to Kurval and nodded.

Gently, Kurval laid the girl on the ground. The wound in her chest was only bleeding lightly now, but she was still unconscious. Her skin was pale against the mossy ground, marred by an angry red mark on her neck. The red-golden hair was spread out around her head like a halo.

Kurval knelt beside the girl. From his pouch, he pulled a jar of healing ointment and applied it to the stab wound in the girl’s chest as well as to the other cuts and wounds on her body. Wounds, he realised with a pang, that his blade had caused.

But how could he have known that behind the monstrous wolf he had fought there was a slight young girl? How was such a thing even possible, even if there was sorcery involved?

From a pocket of his leather jerkin, he pulled a linen kerchief and used it to bandage the wound in the girl’s chest, cause it was the only one that was actually dangerous. All her other wounds were superficial.

One of the other wolves approached, dragging a piece of sheepskin. It was still slightly bloody, betraying its origin with one of the sheep the wolf pack had taken from the people of Rajala. Well, at least the remains would be put to good use now.

“Thank you.” Kurval took the sheepskin from the wolf and used it to cover up the girl’s naked body for both warmth and modesty. Though modesty probably wasn’t much of a concern for a girl who ran with a pack of wolves.

Since the wolves were peaceful enough for now, Kurval took the time to clean and bandage the gash across his own chest that the wolf girl had given him. After all, he did not want to die of blood poisoning, for that would bring the royal path he saw before him to an early and ignoble end.

The wolf with the ancient eyes stepped forward once again. The creature cast a fond look at the unconscious girl. Then it looked straight at Kurval with those eyes that were so ancient and wise and not beastlike at all.

The beast shuddered and its form began to shift and change in front of Kurval’s eyes. The long snout and pointed ears retracted. Joints popped and limbs stretched, until at last Kurval was face to face not with a beast, but with an old woman with tangled grey hair, whose body was wrapped in a cloak of wolfskin. Only the eyes were still the same, wise and incredibly ancient.

“I am Ritka, leader of the Pack of the Forlorn,” the old woman said. Her voice was strangely accented, as if she had not spoken any human tongue in a long time and her mouth had to relearn how to form words.

Kurval stretched out his hand. “I am Kurval of Temirzhan.”

“A hunter. Yes, we see.”

Kurval shook his head. “Not a hunter, a mercenary. The people of Rajala hired me, because your pack has been stealing their sheep and attacking their village…”

Ritka cut him off. “I am well acquainted with the people of Rajala and their lies. I used to live among them, after all.”

She must have noticed Kurval’s confused look, for she added, “I was not always a man-wolf, you know? I was human like you once, a white witch and a healer living in a shack in the woods near the village of Rajala…”

A hint of melancholy appeared in those ancient, wise eyes.

“But the men of Rajala, they did not like me. They did not like that I gave tinctures to their women that would keep them from having children, if they did not want any. And so they accused me of practicing black magic…”

An almost wolfish growl entered the old woman’s voice.

“One day, the villagers came to my shack in the woods, bearing torches and pitchforks and ropes. They wanted to hang me or burn me together with my shack or maybe both. I didn’t wait to find out. And so I cast a spell that turned me into a wolf. That was fifty years ago. I’ve been this way ever since.”

“What about them?” Kurval asked, pointing at the other wolves that had gathered around them, “Were they all human once, too?

Ritka nodded gravely. “Aye. Like me, they were the outcasts, the rejected, those that the good people of Rajala and the other villages didn’t want. Instead of abuse and chains, I offered them the freedom of the woods, the freedom of the wolf.”

“And the girl?” Kurval wanted to know.

“Savela, aye. She’s another who was wronged by the good people of Rajala. My pack and I saved her from certain death at their hands.”

That bit of information was something the magistrate of Rajala had not mentioned. But was it because he wanted to hide something or because he honestly did not know who the wolf that threatened the village was? After all, it was difficult to imagine a slight girl like Savela turning into a giant monstrous wolf.

“But how does this work?” Kurval asked, “How could such a slight young girl turn into the giant wolf I fought, a wolf that’s easily three times as tall as she is?”

“Savela is young and full of grief and anger,” Ritka replied, gazing fondly at the unconscious girl, “It’s those emotions that fuel her wolf form and make her so big and so strong. I was like her, too, when I was young and the wounds were still raw. In time, she’ll heal and then her wolf form will become smaller, more like mine.”

So Savela apparently had a good reason to hate the people of Rajala and to attack their village. But what?

“So what is her story? Why is she so angry?”

But Ritka shook her head. “That’s not my story to tell. You’ll have to ask Savela herself, once she wakes up.”

The old woman looked straight at Kurval now. “So what will you do, mercenary? Do you still seek to slay us, now that you know who and what we are?”

Kurval shook his head. “No. But you have to stop harassing the people of Rajala. Even if they have wronged you, you cannot keep attacking them. You have to make peace with the villagers. Cause even if I won’t slay you, eventually they’ll hire someone who will.”

“That’s not my decision to make,” Ritka said, “The entire pack must agree. And some of us are still angry. Like Savela here.”

IV. Savela’s Story

Savela groaned and stretched her naked limbs. Her eyelids fluttered. She was coming to.

Ritka pushed Kurval aside to bend over the girl. It was probably for the better, considering that the last time Savela had seen him, Kurval had stabbed her. On the other hand, Savela did try to kill him at the time.

Abruptly, the girl opened her eyes. They were blue, like the sea across which Kurval had travelled to the Eastern lands.

She sat up. “Ritka, what…?

The girl spotted Kurval. “What is he doing here?” she growled, “Why did you bring him to the glen?”

“He’s not the enemy, Savela,” Ritka said soothingly, “He has promised not to harm us and even offered to broker peace with the villagers.”

“Peace?” Savela’s eyes darkened like the sea does when a storm comes up. “I don’t want peace. I want justice. Justice for what was done to me and my Hanno.”

“What did they do to you?” Kurval asked gently.

The girl hesitated, but Ritka nodded in encouragement. So Savela finally began to talk.

“I used to live in Rajala, in a little shack at the edge of the village. My family were poor. We had a few chickens and a small garden where we grew cabbage and turnips and my father made charcoal from wood that my brothers and I collected in the forest…”

Her voice trailed off and became distant.

“The other people of Rajala, the wealthier farmers and merchants and the magistrate looked down on us. To them, we were scum, scarcely better than the beggars they chased out into the woods to die…”

Some of the other wolves nodded in agreement and it dawned on Kurval that once upon a time, they had been those beggars chased out into woods to die.

“But Hanno, he did not look down on me. He was always kind, even though his father was the wealthiest farmer in all of Rajala…”

Savela’s blue eyes lit up at the memory.

“Hanno often dropped by to buy cabbage or turnips or charcoal from us. And he lingered longer than he had to. We talked often and eventually we fell in love. And then one day, Hanno asked to marry me”

Her expression softened as she recalled those brief moments of happiness.

“His father was furious, of course. He wanted his son to marry someone appropriate to his station, someone wealthy and influential, not the daughter of a poor charcoal burner. And in fact, he already had a bride in mind for his only son. Ilsede, the daughter of a wealthy grain merchant…”

Savela’s eyes darkened with barely contained fury.

“Ilsede was beautiful and rich with hair like gold and skin like the roses that bloom by the roadside in summer. She was everything I was not. And yet Hanno chose me over her. He even defied his father. And when his father threatened to disinherit him, Hanno said that he’d rather live with my family in our small shack than marry Ilsede…”

Once more, Savela’s voice trailed off, as tears welled in her blue eyes.

“So what happened?” Kurval probed, “Did Hanno change his mind?”

It wouldn’t be the first time, after all. Many a boy from a wealthy family enjoyed the company of a poor girl, only to run off when there were consequences.

“Hanno would never change his mind,” Savela snapped and for an instant, Kurval could see the echo of the monstrous wolf he’d fought in this slight young girl, “He loved me, truly love me. But Ilsede…”

The girl clenched her fists, driving her nails deep into her palm, deep enough to draw blood.

“Ilsede is not someone you refuse. What Ilsede wants, she gets. And she decided that she wanted Hanno, my Hanno. And when she realised that she could not have him, she made sure that I would not have him either.”

The tears now flowed freely down Savela’s cheeks, tears of fury and of grief.

“And so she tricked us. She told Hanno that she didn’t want to marry him either, that she was in love with someone else…”

“Was she?” Kurval asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. She had a lover, that much I know. At any rate, she told Hanno that she’d help us. She told him to meet her by mulberry tree that grows by the road that leads to the town of Jumala. She said she’d give him money, so we could elope and get married in Jumala. And once we came back as husband and wife, Hanno’s father could no longer refuse him, refuse us. He’d soften and take us in…”

“But it didn’t happen that way?”

Savela shook her head. “When Hanno went to meet Ilsede by the mulberry tree, she stabbed him in the chest three times and left him to die by the side of the road. And then she hid the bloody knife in our chicken coop…”

A sob escaped the girl’s throat, a sob of pure grief and pain.

“A passing merchant found him, but it was too late. Hanno was already dead. The magistrate called in the county judge from Jumala. During the investigation, they questioned everybody in the village. And Ilsede, she lied…”

Another sob escapes Savela’s throat, this one a mixture of grief and anger.

“She said that I had met with Hanno at the mulberry tree, not she. She said that Hanno had come to his senses, that he was going to leave me and marry her and that’s why he met me at the mulberry tree that day, to tell me. It was me who killed him, Ilsede said, because I was jealous.”

“And then they searched your house and found the knife?”

Savela nodded. “I didn’t know it was there, I honestly didn’t. But of course they didn’t believe me. After all, Ilsede was rich and beautiful and beloved by all. And I was just the daughter of a charcoal burner from the edge of the village…”

Ritka placed a soothing hand on the girl’s bare shoulder.

“So they dragged me before the magistrate and put me on trial. The judge sentenced me to death and banished my family from Rajala. They didn’t give me a chance to defend myself, didn’t even give me the chance to say good-bye. They just handed me over to the hangman and told him to see to it that I was hanged at once…”

A flush of anger raced across the girl’s pale cheeks.

“The hangman bound my hands and dragged me into the woods. He took me to a mighty oak tree in the woods. He didn’t even give me a chance to say my final prayers. He just pulled a burlap sack over my head, put a noose around my neck and then he hanged me. He hanged me by the neck on that mighty oak tree and just left me there to die…”

Savela touched the angry red mark on her neck, the mark of the hangman’s rope.

“It hurt. It hurt a lot, as the noose tightened around my neck. I couldn’t see, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t fill my lungs with air. I struggled, but my legs found no foothold, only empty air. It seemed like an eternity of torment, until I finally passed out. But I did not die…”

Of course not. The hangman had botched the job. A girl as slight as Savela would not die quickly or easily. She’d struggle on the gallows. The hangman should never have left the girl without making sure that she was dead first.

Kurval disliked executions, but he knew that they were sometimes necessary. But if it had to be done, the hangman’s duty was to make sure that the condemned did not suffer unnecessarily. And if a prisoner struggled on the gallows, it was the hangman’s job to pull on their legs to make sure that the condemned’s neck broke to ease their passing. That was how it was always done, so Erzhan, the closest thing Kurval had to a father, had told him.

A few times on the far side of the sea, Kurval had been asked to execute the grim task of putting a condemned prisoner to death. He’d done it, too, much as he disliked the job. And he’d made sure to do it right, made sure that the condemned did not suffer unduly. Except that one time…

“My pack and I, we witnessed the village hangman leading a crying girl into the woods,” Ritka explained, “We know what it meant. After all, we’d seen it before, seen people hanged in the woods for some crime or other. Most of the time, we were too late and the prisoner had already passed. But not with Savela here. She was young and strong and still alive, when we found her. So we chewed through the rope and nursed her back to health. And we offered her to become one of us.”

“When I finally came to, I thought I was dead,” Savela continued, “And when I found myself surrounded by wolves, I thought it was a torment of the underworld. But then Ritka told me that her pack had saved me like they saved so many others. She told me that they cared not what I had or hadn’t done, but that they’d take me in anyway. And then she offered me the chance to become one of them, the chance to have justice for myself and for Hanno, the chance to wreak vengeance on my enemies…”

“Vengeance is not justice,” Kurval pointed out.

“But it’s all I have,” Savela countered, eyes blazing, “The people of Rajala, they took my Hanno, my family, they even tried to take my life. And I will make them pay for what they did to me. I’ll make them all pay.”

Kurval shook his head. “This is not the way. I wouldn’t slay you, once I saw that you were just a girl. But if I don’t deliver your hide, the people of Rajala will hire others. Others who have fewer scruples than me.”

“Then let them come,” Savela snarled, “Let them all come. For I don’t sell my life cheap, not anymore.”

A savage smile appeared on her face.

“That bastard of a hangman who left me to die dangling from a tree in the woods? I feasted on his liver. The judge who sentenced me to death. He has a brand-new peg leg, while I gnarled on his bones for dinner. Hanno’s father who would not let him marry me. He’ll never sire another son.”

“What about Ilsede, the girl who set you up?”

Savela’s features darkened. “She still lives,” the girl growled, “She’s careful and never goes out by night or on her own. Almost as if she knows, knows that I’ll come for her.”

“So it’s Ilsede you want?”

“Of course. After all, she’s the one who did this to me, to us.”

“All right,” Kurval said, “So what if I gave you Ilsede? What if I made sure that she’s brought to justice?”

“She’ll never be brought to justice, cause none would even think of convicting her. She’s too beautiful, too rich, too powerful.”

But Kurval was not willing to give up. “What if she confesses? They will have to convict her then.”

Savela shook her head savagely. “Ilsede will never confess.”

“What if I know a way to make her?” Kurval continued, “What if I can promise you that she’ll willingly confess her crimes?”

“And if she doesn’t?” Savela asked, doubtful.

Kurval’s lips curved into a smile as savage as any wolf’s. “Then you may feast on her liver.”

V. Justice by the Mulberry Tree

The bare branches of the mulberry tree that grew by the side of the road that led to the market town of Jumala were frosted with ice and snow. Nonetheless, Savela insisted that this was the place, the very spot where her Hanno had died at the hand of the treacherous Ilsede.

Hidden among the undergrowth, Kurval lay in wait together with Savela, Ritka and the rest of the pack.

“It’s no good. She won’t come,” Savela growled.

“She will,” Kurval assured her, “Just give her time. After all, the snow lies heavy today.”

“And Ilsede won’t want to soil her pretty shoes and soak her dainty feet,” Savela added.

The wan winter sun was already dipping towards the horizon, when they finally spotted their prey. It was a young woman swathed in a luxurious cloak of blue wool lined with fine silver fur. So this was Ilsede.

Kurval had lured the girl here with a letter supposedly from her lover, asking for a romantic rendezvous at the mulberry tree. He had to admit that he was surprised that Ilsede had actually fallen for that ploy. But then, she probably thought herself perfectly safe. After all, she had no idea that Savela was still alive.

Next to Kurval, Savela transformed into wolf form again. A low rumbling growl escaped her throat.

“Wait,” Kurval said, “Let her come closer first.”

“Raigo?” Ilsede called out, “Raigo, where are you? I had to wait till Papa was asleep, before I could slip out.”

The girl traipsed closer, her dainty feet leaving little prints in the snow. The hood slipped from her head, revealing locks of golden hair. Ilsede was indeed beautiful.

“Don’t tell me you’ve gone home already, when I came all the way out here just for you.”

Ilsede pulled her cloak tighter around her body.

“Why’d you want to meet me here anyway? You know I don’t like this place.”

“Now,” Kurval ordered.

All around, the wolves burst from the undergrowth. Ilsede screamed and tried to run, but it was to no avail. She was surrounded.

The girl shrank back, until she bumped against the mulberry tree. And still the wolves closed in, eyes blazing and fangs bared. Ilsede quivered and whimpered, backed up against the tree.

And then Savela burst out of the forest, towering above the other wolves. Her eyes were glowing and her fangs were dripping with saliva and blood. Of course, it was only the blood of a hare she’d caught earlier, but Ilsede did not know that. And while she’d cried and whimpered before, now her screams reached ear-splitting heights, as she saw Savela looming above her.

Now Kurval stepped out of the woods. The wolves parted to let him pass.

Ilsede spotted him and a shadow of relief flitted across her pretty face.

“You,” she panted, her voice still hoarse from screaming, “You’re that monster hunter the magistrate hired. I’m so glad you’re here. You must help me, rescue me, kill those beasts.”

Kurval said nothing. Nor did he unsheathe his sword. He just gazed at Ilsede with those cold grey eyes of his, eyes as cold as the steel of his sword.

“Help me,” Ilsede demanded, “Slay those beasts.”

Now Kurval did speak. “No.”

“No? But you can’t just leave me here. You’re a monster hunter, after all. Slaying those beasts is your job.”

“My job is to liberate Rajala from what plagues it. But what happened isn’t the wolves’ fault.” Kurval pointed a finger straight at Ilsede. “It’s yours.”

In response, the girl paled, but she still tried to bargain. “If it’s gold you want, my father will make it worth your while.”

“It’s not gold I want,” Kurval replied, “It’s justice. And they…” He pointed at the wolves. “…want justice as well. For you see…”

He took a step towards the girl, who shrank back even further against the frosted trunk of the mulberry tree.

“…everything that happened in Rajala is your fault. Cause everything that happened was in response to the crime you committed…”

In response, Ilsede became deadly pale.

“Yes, I know what you did,” Kurval continued, still advancing upon Ilsede, “I know what you did right here, on this very spot, by this very tree. I know about the man you murdered…” He pointed at the growling wolves. “And so do they.”

“You’re lying,” Ilsede stammered, “You can’t know. No one knows. I made sure of that. They found the knife and they found the murderess. They hanged her.”

Now Savela stepped forward, changing from wolf to woman.

“Yes, they hanged me,” she said, her voice as savage as any wolf’s growl.

“Sa… Savela?”

“But I did not die. The wolves saved me and made me into one of them. I want vengeance. And I shall have it.”

In a single fluid motion almost too quick for the eye to follow, Savela turned back from woman into wolf. She bared her fangs and her mighty jaws snapped shut, a mere two fingers width from Ilsede’s face. Saliva and blood dripped onto the girl’s luxurious cloak.

Ilsede sank to the ground. “No, please, help me. I… I’ll do anything, anything at all.”

“Fine.” Kurval crossed his arms over his chest and still made no move to help her. “Confess your crimes and the wolves will leave you and the village alone.”

Ilsede’s eyes went wide with a terror that was even greater than her fear of the wolves.

“But… but if I confess, they’ll hang me.”

“Yes, they probably will,” Kurval agreed, “But you’ll get a fair trial. And who knows, you’re a pretty girl and young and stupid? Maybe the judge will be lenient and only sentence you to a lifetime of hard labour.”

“You… you can’t do this to me. I…”

“Of course, I can,” Kurval said, “You have the choice. Either, you’ll confess and face the judge or I’ll leave you here and they…” He pointed at the wolves. “…will deal with you. And while you may hope for mercy from a judge, you won’t get any from them.”

Kurval turned around and walked away. The wolves parted to let him pass.

“Your choice.”

“Wait,” Ilsede called after him.

Kurval smiled a grim smile. Of course, she was a coward. Criminals usually were.

VI. Daughter of the Pack

The next day, Kurval rode his trusty stallion Shadowmane along the snowy road that led from Rajala to the town of Jumala. At his waist, he carried a pleasantly heavy bag of coins that clinked against each other with every single step Shadowmane took.

As he passed the mulberry tree, Shadowmane suddenly neighed and reared up on his hindlegs. The stallion sensed that someone or rather someones were watching them. And so did Kurval.

He patted Shadowmane’s neck. “Calm, old comrade. They’re friends.”

Then he dismounted. “Come out,” he called, “I know you’re there.”

In response, a very big wolf came out of the woods, while several other wolves lingered at the edge of the forest. The big wolf shifted into a slight young girl clad in a cloak of grey fur.

Savela leant against the trunk of the mulberry tree and took in the bag of coins at Kurval’s waist.

“So the magistrate paid you after all,” she remarked, “Even though you didn’t deliver our pelts to him.”

“Well, I gave him something better, a repentant killer eager to confess. And besides…” Kurval grinned. “…I gave him a few wolf pelts as well. Of course, they were only ordinary wolf pelts, but the magistrate doesn’t know that.”

“And Ilsede?”

“Dropped to her knees, cries a lot and confessed to the murder of Hanno,” Kurval said.

“And the magistrate?” Savela asked breathlessly.

“Called his men and told them to drag the sobbing Ilsede away and throw her into some kind of hole they use as a gaol.”

“I know that hole well,” Savela said grimly, “They threw me in there, too, after they arrested me. It’s cold and wet and beset by rats and other vermin.” Her tone was almost savage now and the eyeteeth in her mouth seemed more like fangs.

“The magistrate then sent for the judge,” Kurval continued, “It will take him a few days to get to Rajala, because a wolf…” He cast a pointed glance at Savela. “…bit off his leg.”

“And I’m not sorry,” Savela said, “That judge never even listened to me, but had his mind made up from the beginning. He had it coming.”

“You’ll still have to stop attacking the people of Rajala,” Kurval said, “Or they will never leave you and your pack in peace.”

Savela nodded. “And I will, now Ilsede has been brought to justice.” She paused. “Do you think they’ll hang her?”

“I don’t know,” Kurval said, “Maybe they will or maybe she’ll use her tears and her wiles to wiggle out of the hangman’s noose. But what matters is that you have been exonerated. The people of Rajala now know that it wasn’t you who killed Hanno.”

Kurval turned to the wolf girl and looked straight into her eyes. “So where will you go now? You’re officially a free woman. You could go back to Rajala and spin them a tale that the rope broke and you survived the hanging and hid in the woods.”

“I’m not going back there,” Savela replied, eyes blazing, “Never. The people of Rajala always treated me like dirt, even before. Hanno was the only person in Rajala I cared about and he’s gone…”

A tear rolled down her cheeks.

“He’s still gone.”

More tears fell now, running down her cheeks and falling into the snow like drops of rain.

“I’m sorry. I… I just thought I would feel different, better, now that I know that Ilsede will pay for what she did. But instead…”

Savela buried her face in her hands, as a strangled sob escaped her throat.

“…I just feel sad and hollow inside. Because Hanno is still dead and I’m still alone.”

Kurval nodded thoughtfully. “Grief doesn’t go away so easily,” he said, “And vengeance is often hollow. But you still have family. You could go and find them.”

Savela looked up, her eyes reddened from crying.

“And how? The good people of Rajala drove my family away and burned down our shack by the edge of the woods. I don’t know where they went or what became of them. And besides…”

Another sob escaped her throat.

“…they think I’m dead. They think I was hanged. If they learn that I lived and didn’t even tell them, those wounds will only open up again. No, I can’t go back to my family. Not now and maybe not ever.”

Kurval just nodded, for he knew what it was like to be exiled and alone. After all, he could never go back to Temirzhan either.

“So what will you do now?” he asked.

“I think I’ll stay right here in the forest of Korjus with Ritka’s pack,” Savela replied, “Because I like running through the woods, chasing down prey, howling at the moon above. I like the freedom it gives me. When I was still fully human, I was never as free as I am now.”

Kurval nodded, for he understood. As a boy, he had enjoyed the freedom of the steppes of Temirzhan and as a man, he enjoyed the freedom of the drifter without ties to anyone or anything.

“So what about you?” Savela asked, “What will you do now?”

“Travel onwards, find myself another war to fight or another monster to slay,” Kurval replied.

“You could stay, you know? With the pack, with me. Share the freedom of the forest with us.”

Kurval shook his head. “That’s kind offer, but I have a different destiny.” Noticing Savela’s questioning look, he added, “In a land across the sea, a dark god foretold that I would be king someday.”

“And two months before Hanno was killed, a travelling fortune teller read my palm and told me that I had a happy life with a large family ahead of me,” Savela countered, “And look how that turned out. Cause that’s the thing about prophecies. They’re often wrong.”

Kurval smiled at her. “I wouldn’t say it was that wrong.” He nodded at the woods, where the rest of the wolves were waiting. “You have a family, though not the one you thought. And you are happy, though not in the way you expected.”

Savela smiled. “You’re right. When I’m running through the woods, then I am happy. Happy and free. And for now, that’s enough. So farewell, Kurval of Temirzhan. Maybe think of me sometime.”

She shifted back into wolf form and it seemed to Kurval as if she’d become smaller, more like a regular wolf.

Whistling, he mounted Shadowmane again and continued about his way, wondering what else destiny had in store for him.

***

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.

Star Trek Discovery meets “The Examples”

It’s time for the next, somewhat belated installment in my series of episode by episode reviews of season 4 of Star Trek Discovery. Reviews of previous seasons and episodes may be found here.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut!

After spending the last episode dealing with the political situation on Ni’Var a.k.a. the planet formerly known as Vulcan, Discovery is finally back to dealing with this season overarching plot problem, namely the planet eating Dark Matter Anomaly, DMA for short.

The episode opens with a Starfleet vessel, the USS Janeway (nice shout-out to Star Trek Voyager there) approaching the Dark Matter Anomaly to take some readings, when something unexpected happens. The anomaly abruptly vanishes, only to pop up a thousand lightyears away 4.5 seconds later. This is clearly not supposed to happen and no natural phenomenon would behave this way, so Stamets and Jet Reno (a welcome return by Tig Notaro, who has also been promoted to the title sequence by now) deduce what was bleedingly obvious to everybody else: The DMA is no natural phenomenon, someone created it and has sent it to wreak havoc upon the universe. As for who might be behind the DMA, the likely candidates thrown out are the Metrons, the Nacene and the Iconians as well as the Q-Continuum, though there has been no contact with them in more than six hundred years. There’s a nice spectrum of suspects here, ranging from the Original Series all the way to Voyager (and there’s an Enterprise reference in the episode as well), though I can think of several other likely candidates not mentioned.

Michael, Saru and Stamets break the news to Admiral Vance, who is appropriately horrified. Vance is also understandably eager to get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding the DMA, so he sends the 31st century’s premier scientist, one Ruon Tarka (played by Canadian actor Shawn Doyle, who has been in everything) aboard the Discovery to investigate the DMA and run some tests. Stamets is about as thrilled about this, as you can imagine, especially since Tarka has not been replying to the messages Stamets sent him and won’t talk to him.

The fact that Tarka is as much of an arsehole as Stamets was in the very early episodes of Discovery, before he gradually mellowed out, doesn’t help either. And indeed, Tor.com reviewer Keith R.A. DeCandido and io9 reviewer James Whitbrook both point out how much Tarka is like early Stamets. That said, I did feel a bit of sympathy for Tarka, who hails from Risa a.k.a. the prime sex tourism destination in the Federation. Tarka is clearly frustrated, since he is the only intelligent person in Risa and the only one who doesn’t want to have sex with anything that moves. Star Trek quite frequently relies on the good old “all members of species X have the same characteristics” shorthand, but occasionally they manage to play against type such as one of the most brilliant scientists in the universe hailing from the sex tourism planet.

Tarka theorises that there is a device at the centre of the DMA that controls it and wants to recreate the device and the DMA as a small scale model in a risky experiment that for reasons unknown needs to be done in the Discovery‘s engine room. Surely a lab on some research station with a high power supply would be a much safer location to carry out this experiment. Especially since the Discovery is in the middle of a rescue mission (more on that later) to evacuate the inhabitants of some asteroids which happen to be in the path of the DMA. But of course, the plot needs maximum drama and so Tarka has to carry out his experiment on board the Discovery in the middle of a rescue mission.

Stamets may not be a fan of Tarka, but he’s clearly a fan of dangerous experiments and so he’s of course totally eager to recreate a mini version of a planet-killing anomaly in the Discovery‘s engine room. Jet Reno is much less enthusiastic about the whole experiment – “I imagine the look on Tilly’s face when she learns that we all got sucked into a wormhole a week after she left.” – but goes along with it. Saru is not exactly pleased either and insists on supervising the experiment right there in the engine room.

It’s great having Jet Reno back, since Tig Notaro’s dry and sarcastic remarks have been sorely missed. I remember that I was initially sceptical about Tig Notaro, when she was announced as a regular back before season 2, but Jet is quickily becoming one of my favourite characters. Not to mention that it’s still rare to have a middle-aged woman in a TV show who’s not playing a sitcom mother or something like that. And she gets to be delightfully grumpy, too. More Jet please.

The experiment initially goes quite well and recreates a mini-version of the distinctive eye shape of the DMA. But then it stalls for lack of power. Tarka wants to increase the power, which unfortunately also requires increasing the power consumed by the containment field for the experiment. However, Tarka and Stamets can’t use all the power the Discovery has at her disposal for the experiment, because the transporters are needed for the rescue mission and consume quite a lot of power. However, Jet believes that she can scrounge up some additional power for the experiment. “Is it safe?” Saru asks. Jet Reno informs him that on a scale from 1 equals harmless to 10 equals “This is a really bad idea”, supplying additional power to the experiment is a 6. Saru is not happy, but eventually gives the go-ahead – after trading primal cries with Tarka – with the caveat that Saru wants a kill-switch to personally shut down the experiment, if necessary.

So Stamets and Tarka get their extra power, but it’s still not enough. Tarka persuades Stamets to take power from the containment field, which seems like a spectacularly bad idea. Stamets keeps telling Saru that they need only one more minute, while the integrity of the containment field keeps dropping. When the containment field integrity is down to only five percent, Saru finally does the smart thing and activates the kill-switch and shuts the experiment down, much to Stamets and Tarka’s frustration. “That is the closest you’ve come to killing us all, and that’s really saying something,” Jet Reno dryly tells Stamets. Did I mention that I love Jet Reno?

But even though Stamets and Tarka may not have gotten all the data they needed (which is a good thing, since they were about to blow up the Discovery), they got enough data to draw some conclusions. For starters, they proved that the DMA was artificially created by someone. “And that someone…” Tarka tells Book at the bar (The Discovery has a bar?), “…is not the Metrons, the Iconians or the Nacene.” For Tarka also points out that even a miniature model of the DMA consumed more energy than the Discovery was capable of generating. So the real deal will require unfathomable power. Keen-eared viewers will notice that Tarka omitted the Q-Continuum from the likely suspects he eliminated. So does it mean it is the Q-Continnum? After all, we know that John DeLancie will be reappearing in season 2 of Star Trek Picard.

While Tarka and Book are having a drink at the bar, the camera makes sure to show us that Tarka has a distinctive scar on the back of his neck. There is a lot of speculation about what that scar might mean. It reminded me of the explosive devices the Emerald Chain implanted in the neck of their slaves in the season 3 episode “Scavengers”. Other theories involve the mysterious mind-controlling parasites from the Next Generation episode “Conspiracy”. Frustratingly, there never was a follow-up to “Conspiracy” and we never saw those parasites again, which is a pity, since “Conspiracy” was always a personal favourite of mine, probably because it was my introduction to the concept of the mind-controlling parasite, even though the trope goes back to the golden age. The 1944 story “And the Gods Laughed” by Fredric Brown is the earliest instance of mind-controlling parasites I’ve come across. The Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein is probably the most famous. Though IMO it’s likelier that the scar refers back to a Discovery episode that aired last year and that Tarka is a former Emerald Chain slave than that it refers back to a Next Generation episode that aired 33 years ago. And if Tarka is a former Emerald Chain slave, he certainly has every reason to be angry and abbrasive.

As Bonnie McDaniel points out in her review, it seems obvious that Tarka will play a bigger role this season. However, in this episode his main purpose – beyond confirming what everybody already suspected anyway, that the DMA is manmade and that whoever made it is very powerful – is to provide contrast to Stamets and remind us what Stamets used to be like and how far he has come in four seasons. Plus, Tarka also provides a much needed lesson to Stamets about how he comes across to others.

Stamets gets a lot of screentime in this episode and so does his significant other Dr. Hugh Culber, who has some issues of his own. In addition to his regular job as ship’s doctor, Culber has also taken on the position of ship’s counsellor and he’s stressed out, not too mentioned worried whether he is truly helping his patients. So Culber requests a therapy sessions with Dr. Kovich, which results in Kovich telling Culber point blank that he’s trying to compensate for the survivor’s (or would that be resurrection) guilt he’s been feeling since he came back from the dead.

As I’ve said before, I’m not a huge fan of therapy scenes, but I like David Cronenberg as the deadpan Dr. Kovich, even if he looks more like an undertaker than a therapist. Hugh Culber’s resurrection was of course the result of the showrunners desperately trying to undo one of the many mistakes of season 1.  And honestly, I still have no idea what the season 1 showrunners were thinking to kill off Culber in the first place. Did they honestly not foresee that people would be upset if they offer us an incredibly cute gay couple and then kill off one of them for pure shock value? Cause it was so very obvious that this was what was going to happen.

But even though Dr. Culber’s resurrection was the result of the terrible choices made by the season 1 showrunners, it is nice to see it addressed that coming back from the dead would not be without consequences for Culber, even two seasons later. Though I’m still glad that the showrunners brought Culber back, because he and Stamets make such a cute couple and I just love seeing them together.

Hard as it may be to believe, “Stamets and Tarka nearly blow up the Discovery” was only the B-plot of this episode. The A-plot was the rescue mission I have mentioned a few times. Because once the DMA beamed to a different location, it threatened a group of inhabited asteroids. The inhabitants of those asteroids are the Akaali, a humanoid species that James Whitbrook points out were introduced in an episode of Star Trek Enterprise. The Akaali were a pre-industrial civilisation in Enterprise, but by the 32nd century they have developed space flight and established space colonies.

The Akaali colony that is in the path of the DMA is not a member of the Federation, but is located in what was Emerald Chain technology, but Starfleet – being Starfleet – wants to rescue them anyway. And of course, the Discovery leads the evacuation mission.

Lieutenant Rhys asks to lead the rescue mission. Turns out his home was destroyed by a hurricane and Starfleet rescued and evacuated him and others, so he wants to give back. Discovery continues giving the underserved bridge crew backstories and personalities.

While Michael is discussing details of the evacuation with the local magistrate, the Discovery notes six life signs far from the evacuation point. Michael informs the magistrate about this and points out that these six people seem to have been forgotten and that the Discovery will of course beam them out.

However, the six people have not been forgotten. They are prisoners – the titular Examples – who have been locked up for life as an example to other citizens, a practice the Akaali retained from the Emerald Chain era. Michael points out that they have to evacuate the prisoners anyway, but the magistrate couldn’t care less what happens to them. As far as he is concerned, the Examples are criminals and don’t deserve to be rescued. And besides, the guards have long since abandoned the prison and automatic defence systems prevent Discovery from just beaming out the six prisoners.

So Michael – being heroic to a fault once again – and Book personally beam down onto the doomed asteroid to rescue the prisoners. In order to do so, they have to dodge forcefields and exploding beetles shooting glowing saw discs, that look like something out of a 1920s/1930s Frank R. Paul illustration and that serve as perimeter guards. Someone said that the whole prison break sequence is reminiscent of a videogame and it very much is.

The prison break scene brings back some of the banter between Michael and Book that was such a joy in season 3 and yet has been almost absent from season 4, once Book morphed from space rogue to walking and talking illustration of the five stages of grief. I’m glad to see at least some of that banter and the old Book back.

Once Michael and Book have made it into the prison, more problems await them. For starters, the prisoners are extremely sceptical of Michael and Book’s intentions. It turns out that all of them were given life sentences for petty crimes like car theft, food theft or card counting to make examples of them, for such is Emerald Chain justice. The Federation never cared about this patently unjust system before (and to be fair, the justice systems of worlds not part of the Federation are none of their business), so why do they care now? Besides, the prisoners fear that if they are evacuated, they will only be locked up again elsewhere. But if left to their own devices, they might manage to escape and go on the run.

This situation provides another moral dilemma for Michael. For distasteful and unjust as the Akaali justice system may be, the Akaali colony is a sovereign territory and can do whatever it likes and Starfleet has no right to interfere with their policies. However, Michael finds a way around this. If the prisoners apply for political asylum in the Federation, their cases will be reviewed. And since the Federation does not believe in life sentences for petty crimes, at least not anymore, the prisoners will be set free. Michael’s faith in the Federation’s justice system is certainly touching especially considering her experiences in season 1.

The prisoners are satisfied and Michael and Book manage to disabled the remaining security systems. However, there is one more hitch because the leader of the prisoners, a man called Felix (played by indigenous Canadian actor Michael Greyeyes) refuses to leave the prison. Unlike the others, he was convicted of murder and feels the need to do penance for his crime even thirty years later. Michael manages to convince Felix to at least leave his cell, but he refuses to cross the final perimeter fence to be beamed out.

Book refuses to leave Felix behind. Michael isn’t happy about leaving Felix behind either, but points out (correctly) that they can’t force Felix to go anywhere against his will. Michael gives Felix her communicator – in case he changes his mind – while Felix gives her an Akaali holographic family tree doohickey, which he stole from the man he murdered. These holographic family trees are extremely important to Akaali families and apparently every family only has one, so the daughter of the man Felix murdered has to live not only without a father, but also without a family history. Felix now asks Michael to return the family tree doohickey to its rightful owner. Michael gives him her word, then she and Book reluctantly beam out.

Just before the asteroids are gobbled up by the DMA, Michael contacts Felix once more and gets his whole story. The man Felix murdered was a good person, who gave homeless Felix a place to sleep and got robbed and murdered for his troubles. Felix has been atoning for his crime ever since.

Michael Greyeyes delivers an impressive performance as Felix, but this cannot hide the fact that the whole Felix plot makes very little sense. For starters, Felix has been in prison for the murder he committed for thirty years now. It’s quite likely that the Federation would pardon him, especially since he clearly is no menace to society anymore. And even if he wants to stay in prison to atone for his crime, he could still have allowed himself to be evacuated and then been imprisoned somewhere else.

As for that family tree doohickey, yes, it makes for impressive drama, but again the whole thing makes no sense. If that doohickey is really so important, why does every family have only one and why are there no backups? Why did Felix steal it in the first place, when he’s Akaali and would know that the doohickey is valuable only to the family whose lineage it illustrates. Why did he wait thirty years to return the doohickey, when he could have given it back at any time?

It’s easy enough to see what the writers were going for with the whole prison sequence, namely bring Starfleet into contact and conflict with a system that is unjust and abhorrent but that they are nonetheless forced to respect for reasons of sovereignty. The Original Series episode “A Taste of Armageddon” is one example (which ends with Kirk saying “Fuck that shit” and not respecting the computerised warfare and disintegration stations of Eminiar VII). The Next Generation episode “Justice”, where Wesley Crusher is almost executed for trampling some flower beds, is another. In fact, “Justice” is probably a closer parallel to “The Examples”, because both episodes feature a justice system that imposes disproportionately severe sentences for petty crimes to keep the populace on the straight and narrow.

“Justice” is one of the worst, maybe the worst, Star Trek episodes of all time, so using that episode of all things as inspiration is certainly a choice. On the other hand, “Justice” is so terrible that it shouldn’t be too difficult to redo the basic story idea and do better. The Orville, which sadly seems to have vanished into the ether, managed to offer its own superior take on “Justice” after all.

Sadly, “The Examples” does not manage to offer a superior take on “Justice”. Of course, “The Examples” is not as mindblowingly terrible as “Justice”. There are no space hippies and no god-like entity in orbit and while the sentences of the prisoners are excessive, they are not as ridiculously excessive as the death penalty for trampling flower beds.

However, “Justice” also does a better job at making us care, because the person at the receiving end of the unjust alien justice system is a character we know and care about (at least in theory, since Wesley Crusher wasn’t exactly beloved among viewers at this point). Meanwhile, the prisoners in “The Examples” are ciphers, props to allow the story to make a moral point. Felix is the only one who acquires anything approaching a personality. Coincidentally, this is not even the first time this season that Discovery treats the beings at the centre of its moral dilemma of the week as props rather than character. “Choose to Live” also did it.

In his review at the AV-Club, Zack Handlen points out that the whole prisoner plot feels like the dramatised version of a moral dilemma borrowed from a philosophy textbook (and I thought only The Good Place did this) rather anything that might plausibly happen. Felix nobly sacrificing himself (For what exactly? The guy he killed is still dead) and Michael returning the family tree gadget to the very pregnant daughter of the man Felix killed is pure emotional manipulation, designed to tug our heartstrings without really resolving anything. Felix being evacuated after all and returning the gadget to the young woman himself would have been much more powerful than Michael giving the thing back.

Though Michael does get a good scene with the snooty Akaali magistrate who insists that the prisoners be locked in the brig, because he can’t be expected to breathe the same recycled air as criminals. Michael calmly points out that the Discovery is her ship and that the magistrate has absolutely no jurisdiction. Then she reminds him that wherever he ends up, he’ll be a penniless refugee and not exactly welcome, so maybe he should just show some fucking empathy.

All in all, my take on this episode of Star Trek Discovery is very much like my take on the previous episodes of season 4. It definitely feels like Star Trek – which is an improvement over season 1, which did not feel like Star Trek at all for long stretches of time. However, it’s very average, middle of the road Star Trek. There are moral dilemmas, inspirational speeches, intergalactic mysteries to solve with the power of science.

It also doesn’t help that I still don’t find the DMA a particularly compelling mystery, even though we now know that someone created it. The whole DMA plot also moves at a glacial place, while the story takes various detours into not very interesting moral dilemmas.

At this point, what keeps me watching are the characters and their interactions, because the plot isn’t particularly exciting.

Two more episode to go until the mid-season break, so let’s see if it gets better.

 

A handy guide to all SFF-related posts and works of 2021

I never felt particularly comfortable with eligibility posts, but I posted such an overview for the first time in 2016, when someone added my name to the Hugo Nominations Wiki. Eventually, it paid off, because I was a Hugo finalist for Best Fan Writer in 2020 and 2021.

So if you’re interested in what I write, here is an overview of all SFF related blogposts of 2021, in chronological order, as well as a list of all the SFF and other fiction I published.

Because I did so many Fanzine/Fancast/Semiprozine Spotlight interviews this year, I separated the Spotlights from the other blogposts.

At this blog:

Star Trek Discovery realises that “There Is a Tide…”Star Trek Discovery realises “That Hope Is You, Part II” in its season 3 finaleMarvel Does Pleasantville. Episodes 1 and 2 of WandaVisionTwo New Kurval Sword and Sorcery Stories Available: The Plains of Shadow and Worm FodderWandaVision: “Now in Color” – and with TwinsWandaVision Takes a Detour into the Real World in “We Interrupt This Program”WandaVision Introduces a Surprise Guest Star “On a Very Special Episode”WandaVision Offers Up an “All-New Halloween Spooktacular”WandaVision engages in some “Breaking the Fourth Wall” and finally delivers some answersWe finally get an explanation for what happened “Previously On” WandaVisionWandaVision offers up “The Series Finale”.New Kurval Sword and Sorcery Story Available: The Wolf of RajalaSome Comments on the 2020 Nebula Award FinalistsMarvel’s “New World Order” – Some Thoughts on The Falcon and the Winter SoldierAn Open Letter to the 2021 Hugo Finalists, Whoever They May BeThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier Meet “The Star-Sprangled Man”The Falcon and the Winter Soldier tangle with the “Power Broker”“The Whole World Is Watching” The Falcon and the Winter SoldierCora Is a Hugo Finalist Again!Some Thoughts on the 2021 Hugo FinalistsThe Falcon and the Winter Soldier Face the “Truth”The Falcon and the Winter Soldier come to the conclusion that it’s “One World, One People”Cora’s Adventures at Flights of Foundry, the Obligatory 2021 Birthday Post and Some Other NewsNew Science Fiction Story Available: SpelunkersCora is the Winner of the 2021 Space Cowboy Award!Of Spies, Linguists and HugosRetro Review: “The God in the Bowl” by Robert E. Howard or Conan Does Agatha ChristieSome Thoughts on the 2020 Nebula Award WinnersLoki Finds His “Glorious Purpose”Cora Talks About Old SFF ElsewhereLoki Meets “The Variant”Loki Visits “Lamentis” and Tales to HerselfNew Kurval Sword and Sorcery Novella Available: The Black KnightConan the SocialistLoki Experiences “The Nexus Event”, As the Plot Heats UpThe 2021 July Short Story Challenge – Day by DayLoki goes on a “Journey Into Mystery”Loki Continues “For All Time. Always.”Eternia Revisited: Some Reflections of Masters of the Universe: RevelationThe 2021 Dragon Award Finalists Take Another Big Step Towards Mainstream RespectabilityRetro Review: “More Than Shadow” by Dorothy QuickRetro Review: “The Green Huntsman” by Dorothea GibbonsA Mixed Bag: Some Comments on the 2021 Dragon Award WinnersNew Kurval Adventure Available: The Frozen CitadelFoundation enjoys “The Emperor’s Peace” and turns out better than expectedFoundation is “Preparing to Live” and deviates from the books a lotFoundation Meets “The Mathematician’s Ghost”Foundation realises that there are “Barbarians at the Gates”Cora’s Adventures at the Virtual 2021 OctoconFoundation realises “Upon Awakening” that the story is still moving at a glacial paceFoundation encounters “Death and the Maiden”Foundation discovers “Mysteries and Martyrs” and departs even further from the booksFoundation fails to find “The Missing Piece”, but at least gives us a lot of nearly naked Lee PaceFoundation finally experiences “The First Crisis”The Tale of Declan, Disruptor of Doors: A Sword and Sorcery ParodyStar Trek Discovery Takes the “Kobayashi Maru” TestFoundation takes “The Leap” and ends its first seasonThanksgiving Free Fiction: The Robot Turkey ApocalypseThe Power of Greyskull – Some Reflections on Part 2 of Masters of the Universe: RevelationStar Trek Discovery Encounters the “Anomaly” and Deals with TraumaHawkeye realises it’s better to “Never Meet Your Heroes” or pop culture deals with trauma and grief, take 3Hawkeye Experiences “Echoes”Star Trek Discovery Decides to “Choose to Live”Hawkeye wonders whether it’s “Partners, Am I Right?”Star Trek Discovery realises that “All Is Possible” in a Tilly-centric episodeHawkeye Grapples with the Dark Legacy of “Ronin”Some Thoughts on the 2021 Hugo Award Winners and the Ceremony in generalTwo new historical horror tales just in time for the holidays: The Witchfinder’s Apprentice and The Solstice HorrorHawkeye realises “So This Is Christmas”The 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fictional ParentsThe 2021 Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Awardas well as twelve regular editions and five holiday editions of Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month and Indie Crime Fiction of the Month

The Complete Fanzine/Fancast/Semiprozine Spotlights:

Introducing Fanzine SpotlightsFanzine Spotlight: Galactic JourneyFanzine Spotlight: The Drink TankFanzine Spotlight: Salon FuturaFanzine Spotlight: nerds of a feather, flock togetherFanzine Spotlight: The Hugo Book Club BlogFanzine Spotlight: Runalong the ShelvesFanzine Spotlight: Warp Speed OdysseyNot-a-Fanzine Spotlight: Simultaneous TimesFanzine Spotlight: Speculative Fiction in TranslationFanzine Spotlight: Star Trek QuarterlyFancast Spotlight: The Journey ShowFancast Spotlight: If This Goes On (Don’t Panic)!Fanzine Spotlight: The Full LidFancast Spotlight: Hugo and Nebula Readership SpotlightFancast Spotlight: Women at WarpFancast Spotlight: Hugos There PodcastFanzine Spotlight: Deep Cuts in a Lovecraftian VeinFancast Spotlight: Appendix N Book ClubFancast Spotlight: Hugo, Girl!Fanzine Spotlight: Quick Sip ReviewsFancast Spotlight: The Skiffy and Fanty ShowFancast Spotlight: SFF180Fancast Spotlight: Androids and AssetsFanzine Spotlight: SFF WorldFanzine Spotlight: Women Write About ComicsFanzine Spotlight: AstrolabeFanwriter/Fancaster Spotlight: Paul WeimerFanzine Spotlight: Young People Read Old SFFFanzine Spotlight: James Davis Nicoll ReviewsFanzine Spotlight: AnsibleFancast Spotlight: So I’m Writing a NovelFancast Spotlight: Unknown Worlds of the Merril CollectionIntroducing Semiprozine SpotlightsSemiprozine Spotlight: Space Cowboy Books Presents Simultaneous TimesFancast Spotlight: Light On Light ThroughFancast Spotlight: Worldbuilding for MasochistsFancast Spotlight: Seldon CrisisFancast Spotlight: The Book WormholeFancast Spotlight: The Dark Crusade

At Galactic Journey:

Monks, Demi-Gods and Cat People: The Sword of Lankor by Howard L. CoryDeath in the Fields: The Lufthansa Flight 005 CrashSpies, Poets and Linguists: Babel-17 by Samuel R. DelanyAliens, Housewives and Overpopulation: Orbit 1, edited by Damon KnightSo Bad It’s Hilarious (The Star Magicians by Lin Carter/The Off-Worlders by John Baxter (Ace Double G588))Science Fiction TV from West Germany: Space Patrol: The Fantastic Adventures of the Spaceship Orion: Episode 1: “Attack From Space”All That Glitters: In Praise of Cele Goldsmith-Lalli (with John Boston)Moral Dilemmas and Earth in Peril: Space Patrol Orion Episode 2: “Planet Off Course”Routine Missions and Asimovian Robots: Space Patrol Orion Episode 3: “Guardians of the Law”Paranoia and High Treason: Space Patrol Orion Episode 4: “Deserters”Environmental Disasters and the Battle of the Sexes: Space Patrol Orion Episode 5: “Battle for the Sun”Welcome to the Space Prison: Space Patrol Orion Episode 6: “The Space Trap”The Manchurian Colonel: Space Patrol Orion Episode 7: “Invasion”

Elsewhere:

Mind Meld: One Spot Holodeck at nerds of a feather, flock together“The Heights of Humor and the Depth of Grief: “Ill Met in Lankhmar” by Fritz Leiber” in Journey Planet #59—The Hugo AwardsI also co-run the Speculative Fiction Showcase , a group blog focussed on indie SFF, and the Indie Crime Scene , a blog focussed on indie mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers.

Podcast appearances:

Season 2: Episode 1: The World of Comics at The Journey Show Episode 97 – Clark Ashton Smith’s “Xiccarph” with special guest Cora Buhlert at the Appendix N Book ClubFlash Science Fiction Night: Andy Dibble, Cora Buhlert & Douglas A. Blanc at the Space Cowboy Books YouTube channelEpisode 7 of Star’s End: A Foundation Podcast2021 Hugo Short Story Panel of Awesomeness at the Hugos There podcast (YouTube)Episode 106 – C.L. Moore’s “Jirel of Joiry” with special guest Cora Buhlert at the Appendix N Book Club2021 Hugo-nominated Novelettes Panel at the Hugos There podcast (YouTube)Foundation 1st Season: Cora Buhlert, Joel McKinnon, and Paul Levinson discuss at Light On Light Through (YouTube)

Fiction (SFF):

The Plains of Shadow (novelette)*Worm Fodder (novelette)*The Wolf of Rajala (novelette)*Spelunkers (short story)“Little Monsters” in Space Cowboy Books Presents Simultaneous Times podcast #39, reprinted in Simultaneous Times Vol. 2.5 (short story)“The Gate of Mist” in Whestone Amateur Magazine of Sword and Sorcery Issue 3 (short story)The Black Knight (novella)*“We Need to Talk” in Space Cowboy Books Presents Simultaneous Times podcast #42 (short story, reprint)The Frozen Citadel (short story)*The Witchfinder’s Apprentice (short story)“The Tale of Declan, Disruptor of Doors: A Sword and Sorcery Parody” (short story)“The Robot Turkey Apocalypse” (short story)The Solstice Horror (novelette)

*published under the name Richard Blakemore

Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for December 2021

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 November 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, paranormal mystery, paranormal romance, space opera, military science fiction, science fiction romance, YA science fiction, historical horror, wizards, mages, dragons, dwarves, fae, wendigos, space princesses, first contact, crime-busting witches, Puritan witch hunter, Lovecraftian horrors 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:

Star’s Control by Odette C. Bell:

Some people are broken by circumstances. Some people are born to break others. Meet Petunia. The most powerful psychic the Coalition has ever seen and decide for yourself who she’ll become.

When a spy from another universe attacks Guardian Station Alpha, Admiral Forest is forced to use her greatest psychic asset. But Petunia comes with trouble, and the costs might not be worth it. They aren’t for the straight-laced brutish commander sent to control her.

For there’s a problem. Petunia has been content to play the Coalition’s game all these years. Then she meets him. Zane. The cadet with a hero complex and a secret even bigger than hers.

When the station is attacked and Petunia’s past starts to leak out like blood, Zane gets closer. Because ultimately, there will be no keeping these two apart. Kindred spirits, the galaxy has kicked them down for too long. But no one can stay down forever. So tune in and watch Petunia rise like a star.

The Solstice Horror by Cora Buhlert

Massachusetts in the Year of the Lord 1695: Apprentice witchfinder Matthew Goodson, and condemned witch Grace Pankhurst have been on the run from Matthew’s former masters for months now.

Shortly before Christmas, Matthew and Grace find shelter with the Whitelaw family in the town of Cold Hollow. But the witchfinders are on their trail, so Matthew and Grace have to flee again on the day of the winter solstice.

Many dangers lurk in the dense woods of Massachusetts Bay Colony. But which is the greater threat, the witchfinders or the thing from beyond that dwells in the woods and hunts on the darkest nights of the year?

This is a historical holiday horror novelette of 11100 words or approximately 40 print pages by two-time Hugo finalist Cora Buhlert.

Chosen for Power by Lindsay Buroker:

Jak and his allies venture through the portal in search of the longevity plant their king demands, but all Jak wants is to find the elder dragons.

Some say they’re extinct. Some say they’re in hiding.

If he can’t locate them, there won’t be anyone to teach his hatchling how to fly. Or to protect the dragon eggs preserved within a glacier on another world. Or to help him free his people from the tyrannical rule of the wizards.

Jak has no choice. He must find the dragons.

But some ancient secrets were buried for a reason. What he discovers may jeopardize not only Jak and his allies—the survival of the entire species of dragons may be at stake.

Winter Solstice Murders by C. Farren:

Investigating your own death can be murder.

Bea Goldfrapp runs her own magical greetings card business in the small town of Magpie Cove, Maine. She lives with her demon familiar, Widdershins, a cat that can change its breed on a daily basis, and a talking magpie that’s lived for a thousand years. She likes her life and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Then someone poisons her tea and she dies.

Luckily for Bea her father is a powerful sorcerer, and he brings her back to life, losing his own soul in the process. Bea is understandably miffed that someone wanted to kill her, and decides to find out who did it. This only brings more complications to her life, mainly because she never realised she had so many enemies. Can she find out who killed her before the killer strikes again?

Ardulum: The Battle for Pruitcu by J.S. Fields:

Fifteen years ago, Guard Four stood by and watched her friend, Atalant, be jettisoned into space for questioning their planet’s religion.

Atalant should have died. Instead, she disappeared.

Consumed by guilt, Guard Four trawls space, hopping from spaceport to spaceport, hoping to find and bring Atalant home with exonerating evidence that Ardulum, the traveling planet her people worship, is no mystic deity.

At the edges of the known galaxy, Guard Four finds the shattered remains of a murdered world – a world of her genetic cousins who could have provided the evidence she desperately seeks. Ardulum, it seems, is no fairy tale but rather a bogeyman, set on destroying anyone who gets between it and its biological imperative to reproduce. And in its seat of governance rules Atalant – god to a planet she swore did not, could not, exist.

Guard Four must unravel Ardulan fact from myth to save her friend and the billions of other beings threatened by the Void – a tear in space created from Ardulum’s most recent birthing event. But how does one bring a god of a killer planet home? And how is Guard Four supposed to stop the Void without giving it the only thing it wants – the destruction of Ardulum?

If you’re looking for adventure and a touch of romance across time and space, filled with diverse alien species, deep emotions, and science fact and fiction, don’t miss the next book in J.S. Field’s Ardulum Series!

Fomori Invasion by Chris Fox:

The Morrigan Hunts the Prince of Demons

I am the reincarnation of a dark god. I cannot escape that now. The prince of demons come again. And I am hunted. The Fomori have a prophecy about my return, and have been so kind as to dispatch the Morrigan herself to slay me. She’s even forging a special divine sword.

Their armies of beastmen and giants march upon Hasra, and the ailing empire is in no shape to hold. They need new troops. They need us. My friends and I are being sent off to the other Catalysts we control to gain more magic so that we can resist the Fomori advance.

First we’ll journey to Calmora, to gain air from the Breath of Shu. Then we will fly to Enestius to gain dream from the Hoard of Lakshmi. If we survive, then we’ll move on to the strongest Catalyst on the continent, the legendary Hammer of Reevanthara.

Once we have secured our powers we’ll return to the war, and break the Fomori…or die trying. I will find a way to drive them from our lands, for my family. For my people. For the darkness living inside me.

Once in a Brew Moon by Lily Harper Hart:

Ofelia Archer has a lot on her plate. Between building renovations for her new business endeavor and plans to move in with her boyfriend for the duration of the construction, she doesn’t have time for anything else. All that changes when a teenage girl is almost abducted in front of her bar.

Ofelia and her boyfriend Zacharias “Zach” Sully intervene, save the girl, and believe they have the kidnapper caged in … only to find that he’s somehow escaped in plain sight. When digging further, they find there have been a string of disappearances from the outer parishes, something someone is working hard to keep under wraps.

Ofelia and Sully are on the case, but the harder they look, the more trouble they find. It seems the girls that are being targeted are from poorer areas. The only girl from an opulent family to be targeted is the one they managed to save. But why?

Ofelia may be comfortable in the French Quarter but Bywater is where she’s needed. Unfortunately, the people there aren’t open to trusting newcomers. As she tries to ingratiate herself, she befriends a local artist … who may just be a target herself.

Ofelia lives in a magical world, a world where she’s often the queen. This time, she may be in over her head. The stakes are too high to abandon the mission, though, and she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth … even if it will leave a scar on the city she loves so much.

Buckle up, because it’s going to be a bumpy – and magical – ride.

Friends in Low Places by Lily Harper Hart:

The Morgan family is taking their first family vacation, and since they let their youngest member pick the place, that means Mammoth Cave National Park is on the menu. Ivy Morgan-Harker and her husband Jack aren’t exactly excited about exploring caves, but they’re committed to making sure the vacation is a success.

The first stop on their trip is Casper Creek, a cosplay western town perched atop a mountain. There Hannah Hickok, a witch like Ivy, runs things. The Casper Creek workers have their hands full. It seems local kids are going missing – three in only a few weeks – and the cause of their disappearances might be supernatural in nature.

Ivy’s nephew JJ is the one who uncovers the biggest clue when he inadvertently stumbles over one of the missing kids. Unfortunately, the child who returned isn’t the one who disappeared. There’s something off about him, although nobody can ascertain exactly what.

Hannah and Ivy recognize each other for what they are on first meeting, and it’s a good thing, because they’re going to have to work together to solve a huge mystery … and keep JJ safe in the process.

There are more than witches and demons haunting the hills surrounding Casper Creek. Ivy and Hannah are going to find out exactly what sort of horrors are being hidden in one small community.

They’re determined to make things right. They just have to survive to do it.

The Wendigo Whoop-De-Doo by Amanda M. Lee:

Charlie Rhodes has the one thing she always wanted but was afraid to admit. The parents who gave her up for adoption are back in her life, but the transition from orphan to adult child isn’t going to be an easy one. Before she can commit to the process, however, a new job pops up for the Legacy Foundation and she’s whisked away to upstate Washington.

A group of teens celebrating graduation and preparing for college have gone missing in Nighthawk, a former boomtown that has exactly one resident, a crazy old bootlegger who wanders the area dropping ominous warnings before disappearing into the darkness.

The Legacy Foundation is called out when several bodies are found, all with the sort of injuries that can’t be easily explained, and local law enforcement officials find themselves stumped. From the first day at the town, Charlie knows they’re in trouble as the memories of one of the missing teens threaten to overwhelm her. Is the girl still alive? Did she fall with the others and simply hasn’t been found? More importantly, what are they dealing with?

The specter of an evil witch hangs over Charlie and she’s eager for something else to focus on. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done when it becomes apparent that Sybil knows exactly where they are.

There’s more than one killer in the Washington woods, and both serve as a significant threat to Charlie. She’ll need to overcome two threats to keep her team safe … and figure out the one thing that’s so far evaded her.

What does Sybil want? You’re about to find out, and the answer might shake the foundation of everything Charlie believes she knows.

Guardian by W.J. May:

What you are looking for is not out there, it’s in you…

Stass had told her the story a thousand times.

She was ten years old when he found her, lost and alone in the harsh wilderness of the northern Cascades with no memory of who she was. For the past eight years, Amber has lived with him above his martial arts studio in Seattle, slowly losing hope that her family will ever come for her.

Everything changes the day Stass is murdered.

Alone and hunted, with no idea where to turn or who to trust, Amber finds herself connecting with Raven, a young woman, who claims to know her history. The kicker: according to Raven, Amber is an alien princess exiled to Earth by a civil war that claimed the lives of her entire family. To regain her past and go home, she needs to find a relic hidden somewhere in the very mountains Stass claimed to have rescued her from.

With the help of a former member of the Royal Guard and her distractingly attractive trainee, Amber and Raven race to find answers.

But not everyone is who they claim to be, and a betrayal in a critical moment will put everything on the line.

Can a girl without a past win the fight for her future?

At First Contact by Janice L. Newman:

The Fantastical Romances You’ve Been Craving

Hugo Finalist Janice L. Newman presents a touching trio of romances in a speculative vein. From the edge of space, to the shadows of the paranormal, to the marvels of the mystical:

At First Contact: A germaphobe and an android are assigned a mission to survey a planet together. Will they discover new life or a new love?

Ghosted: Leo is searching for the soul that used to haunt his grandmother’s house. Did Will ghost him?

A Touch of Magic: What if love could alter the fabric of existence? A fraught romance between two teachers just might be helped along by a touch of magic.

“A refreshing take on romance…surprising characters bring a human quality to alien settings.”
~Robin Rose Graves, The Book Wormhole

An Iron Fist by Nazri Noor:

Might and magic, fist and flame, to send evil back from where it came.

Jackson Pryde and Xander Wright delve into the mountain halls of the dvergar, the dwarven people of Norse myth known for their mining and metalwork. Seeking jewels and ore, they make a deadly discovery instead: a cluster of Chrysanthemysts. How did they grow underground? Where are they from? And who sent them?

The masters of the Black Market’s guilds grudgingly unite to stop the fatal flowers at their source. But digging deeper only reveals another conundrum: a legendary gemstone known as the Heart of Oberon. The fae haven’t walked the earth in forever. Why has the Heart resurfaced now?

And why is the gemstone whispering?

An Iron Fist is a 70,000-word M/M urban fantasy romance with a HFN ending. Join a fast-talking artificer and a snarky sorcerer, childhood friends who become bitter enemies, then lovers, as they explore a world filled with strange flora, mythical fauna, and magical murders. If you like your urban fantasy with humor, horror, and a whole lot of heart, you’ve come to the right place. Experience An Iron Fist today.

Descendant of War by G.J. Ogden:

The descendant of history’s most infamous soldiers will inherit his ancestor’s war.

Frustrated by restrictive rules, maverick warship commander, Dalton Reeves, has crossed the line one time too many. Disciplined for violating orders, Reeves is packed off to “The Abyss” – a dangerous and isolated space city named Concord Station, and officially the worst assignment in the galaxy.

Built to foster diplomacy between the six galactic realms, Concord is now nothing but a debauched, corrupt hellhole infested by crime lords, degenerates and outright failures. It’s also Commander Reeves’ last chance to do something significant with his life.

Amidst escalating interstellar tensions, a long-forgotten enemy emerges from the mysterious Shadow Space to threaten war. Events are quickly set in motion that will propel Concord Station from obscurity to the most strategically important outpost in the galaxy.

But as the secret of Reeves’ dark origin is revealed, he’s thrust into the center of the conflict in more ways than one. Dalton Reeves is a descendant of war, but he’s not the only one.

The ancient enemy not only seeks conquest, but to exact vengeance upon the sole descendant of two infamous soldiers that annihilated the alien’s homeworld a millennium ago.

With the six realms on the brink of all-out war, can Commander Reeves face both his demons and his bitter rivals to become the warrior and the leader the galaxy desperately needs him to be?

Jingle Spells by Christine Pope:

Sweet baby Jesus, someone’s stolen a lot of Christmas dough!

All is calm and bright as Globe, Arizona’s holiday celebrations approach. Selena Marx should have known it wouldn’t stay that way. The painted snowflakes on her shop window are barely dry when her best friend, Josie Woodrow, bursts in with news that the baby Jesus is missing from the crèche in front of St. Ignatius.

Selena has enough on her mind without having to use her psychic powers to suss out the culprit. Her boyfriend Calvin Standingbear’s parents are still on the snow-covered fence about accepting her, which throws a dimmer on the town’s highly anticipated Festival of Lights. And when Calvin springs a surprise on the solstice, Selena realizes she has some work to do to reconcile the two men in her life: Calvin, and her cursed cat, Archie.

The last thing she needs is a spontaneous vision that indicates the baby Jesus theft was more than just a prank. And if someone doesn’t spill the beans soon, someone’s getting away with…well, not murder (this time), but a whole lot of dough — and we’re not talking cookies.

A Bullet Ballet by Orlando A. Sanchez:

Jericho Porter was done. Out. Retired.

Porter had managed the impossible: retiring from the Gatekeepers…alive. Now, he was ready to slow down and live life on his terms. He was finally free.

He was also mistaken.

When Malkah Hafeez, an ex-lover and fellow Gatekeeper, calls in a favor, he knows he should refuse. She saved his life once, right before betraying him, gifting him with two neutralizing bullets center mass and leaving him for dead. He knows the smart play is to cut his losses, walk away, and disappear.

He’s done it before; he can do it again.

If he does, he dies.

Against every sense of self-preservation, he agrees to one more contract, joining Malkah’s elite team as she completes the erasure of a high value target. Outgunned and outmanned, Porter must risk it all, unleashing the fearsome power of the Gatekeepers once again.

In order to survive, he will have to step into his old world for one last dance with death.

Rebel by Jenny Schwartz:

Life is complicated along the Hadrian Line. Decisions made on the border will decide the fate of the entire Human Sector.

Nora is adjusting to her new role as a player in the games of the powerful. She’s gained some interesting enemies and some even more dubious allies. She has also been presented with a unique opportunity, courtesy of Jonah. The question is, who can she trust to explore it with her?

Independent action is a necessity for the sole Royal Capitoline Navy captain patrolling the border region. But Liam will have to defend his actions later in front of the Admiralty board. How can he best serve his realm? By a rigid definition of duty and defense of the status quo, or is there a greater cause, one worth his career and his very life?

Wizard’s Rise by Phillip Tomasso:

For over two hundred years, the Rye Empire outlawed the use of magic. Now, the empire has fallen and a new, sinister power is rising.

Ambitious and corrupt, The Mountain King will stop at nothing to reach his goals. Enslaving a sorceress to do his bidding, he begins his hunt for lost talismans that can help him bring the wizards back, and harness their power.

To save the Old Empire from this growing, sinister magic, seventeen-year-old farm boy Mykal and his friends begin a desperate journey: they must collect the talismans before the Mountain King. On their way, Mykal will have to face fears and accept truths he never knew existed.

A war is coming, and their time is running out. And if they fail, a terrible darkness will steal the light from the Grey Ashland Realm… forever.

The 2021 Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award

While I have been awarding the Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fictional Parents for 41 years now, the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award is a new prize that I only introduced last year as a companion piece to the Darth Vader Parenthood Award.

As for why I felt the need to introduce a companion award, depictions of parenthood in popular culture are currently experiencing something of a paradigm shift with more positive portrayals of supportive and loving parents and fewer utterly terrible parents. Personally, I believe that this shift is a very good thing, because the reason that I started the Darth Vader Parenthood Award in the first place is because I was annoyed by all the terrible parents in pop culture, especially since most real world parents may not be perfect, but at least they do their best. Maybe, the conditions that gave rise to the Darth Vader Parenthood Award will eventually cease to exist and we can permanently retire the award.

Warning: Spoilers for lots of things behind the cut!

Therefore, let’s give a big hand to all the good parents in pop culture that we have seen this year. As last year, there were plenty of viable candidates, more than for the Darth Vader Parenthood Award, and selecting the winner was a difficult choice. It’s also notable that the candidates this year represent a lot of different family models. We have single parents, adoptive parents, found families, LGBTQ families, secret babies as well as the traditional nuclear family.

So let’s have a brief rundown of the candidates who did not quite make it:

Wanda Maximoff may have enslaved the entire town of Westview and forced them to reenact her personal sitcom fantasies in WandaVision, but no one can fault her and Vision’s parenting of their surprise twins Billy and Tommy. And so Wanda and Vision turn out to be loving parents to Tommy and Billy. And indeed, US style family sitcoms is where the positive portrayals of parenthood have been lurking all along, though usually delivered with a side order of moralising. However, in the end everything that happened a Westview turned out to be an illusion created by a grieving and deeply traumatised young woman, so it’s no award for Wanda and Vision this year.

While we’re on the subject of positive portrayals of parenthood in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, let’s give a shout-out to Sarah Wilson, sister of Sam Wilson a.k.a Falcon a.k.a. Captain America. As seen in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Sarah is the single Mom of A.J. and Cass and runs Wilson Seafood and manages to do a great job, even after her brother Sam, the only support she has, is snapped out of existence by 2018 Darth Vader Parenthood Award winner Thanos for five years

For even more badass single Moms of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, WandaVision also gives us glimpses of another positive parent-child relationship, namely that of single Mom and flying ace Maria Rambeau and her daughter Monica. Unfortunately, Maria is no longer alive at the time of WandaVision, since actress Lashana Lynch was too busy being the new agent 007 in the James Bond franchise, but we see Monica in action and gaining superpowers.

Talking of which, James Bond is not a name I ever expected to pop up on the longlist for the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award, but here he is. Now people have been expecting consequences to James Bond’s womanising in the form of little Bonds for decades now and much fanfiction has been written about this.

However, a) everybody expected Bond to be a candidate for the Darth Vader Parenthood Award rather than for the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award and b) nobody expected that the Bond movies would ever actually go there.

However, the much delayed 25th Bond film No Time to Die does just that and introduces James Bond to the result of his affair with Dr. Madeleine Swann, a cute five-year-old named Mathilde. Of course, Madeleine initially denies that Bond is Mathilde’s father in the long-standing tradition of secret baby stories, but Bond doesn’t believe any of it and risks and eventually sacrifices his life to save Madeleine and Mathilde, leaving not a dry eye in the movie theatre.

Well done, Mr Bond. However, the competition was extremely stiff this year, so it’s no award for you.

Everybody’s favourite gay couple, Paul Stamets and Dr. Hugh Culber from Star Trek Discovery became parents last year, when they formed a beautiful little rainbow family with Adira, teenaged genius with a Trill symbiont, and their boyfriend Gray, who’s a disembodied ghost for much of season 3 before finally getting a body in season 4. Through it all, Stamets and Culber have done an excellent job parenting their untraditional family and would certainly be deserving winners. But as I said above, the competition was stiff this year.

Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher, who finds himself the unwilling guardian of teenaged Princess Cirilla, was a strong contender for the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award last year and an even stronger contender this year, when he actually gets to do some parenting.

However, season 2 of The Witcher came out very late in the year during the busy holiday season and so I haven’t gotten around to watching it yet. Besides, I had already decided on the winner by that point.

Which brings is to another eleventh hour entrant, who is this year’s runner up. And so the 2021 Honourable Mention goes to…

DrumrollClint and Laura Barton

As portrayed by Jeremy Renner and Linda Cardellini respectively, Clint and Laura Barton have been offering us a look at their family life from Avengers: Age of Ultron all the way through the recent Hawkeye TV series.

Clint Barton is not the only Avenger who is a parent – Tony Stark, Scott Lang and Wanda and Vision (sort of) also have kids – but Clint’s family is a lot more central to his life and identity than those of the other Avengers, to the point that Clint is utterly devastated and goes to a very dark place, when he loses his family to the Blip.

However, Clint would be nothing without Laura who gave up her career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent to became a stay-at-home Mom to Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel, while also being fully supportive of her husband’s high stress and dangerous superhero career, which often takes him away from home for long periods of time.

Together, Clint and Laura not only manage to give Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel a remarkably normal life, considering their Mom is an ex-secret agent and their Dad is a superhero, but also open their home to any stray who’s in need of a family and a place to stay, whether it’s a Russian ex-assassin, a starstruck heiress turned would-be superheroine and her dog or the entire Avengers team, after they have temporarily lost their headquarters.

This dedication to normalcy in the midst of alien invasions, AI rebellions and utter chaos deserves an award and so I name Clint and Laura Barton the runners-up for this year’s Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award. We still don’t have a trophy, I fear, so have one of Martha Kent’s famous apple pies instead.

There is much cheering in the auditorium, while Clint and Laura receive hugs from their three children as well as from Kate and a wet, slobbering kiss from Lucky the dog. They then take the stage, Clint dressed in a tuxedo that makes him look a little Bond-like, while Laura wears a beautiful floral print maxi dress.

Clint is the first to speak.

Thank you. I… I really don’t know what to say. I mean, I’m nothing special. I’m not superstrong like Steve, I’m not supersmart like Tony, I can’t fly like Sam or shrink like Scott, I can’t turn big and green like Bruce, I’m not a god like Thor or a wizard like Stephen or Wanda and I’m not even half as athletic as Nat. I’m just a ordinary guy with a bow and and arrows, trying his best. And I’m away from home far too much.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the past five years it’s that family is what matters most. Cause without my family, I’m nothing. Worse, I’m someone you really don’t want to meet.

Laura, Cooper, Lila and Nate, I love you all so very much. Kate, you’re the best partner I’ve had since Nat. And Nat, wherever you are, I still miss you and always will. Thank you.

Laura now takes the microphone and delivers the following speech.

Thank you.

I know that some people don’t take me serious, because I’m a Mom and a homemaker and not a CEO like Pepper or a brilliant astrophysicist like Jane or a kickass agent like Peggy Carter, whom I had the honour to meet, when I started working for S.H.I.E.L.D. all those years ago.

But make no mistake, I’m exactly where I want to be. I had a career as a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, but when Clint and I married, we decided together that we wanted a family and as normal a life for our children as possible. No one pressured me to stay at home with the kids, this is something I chose for myself. So please respect my choice, just as I respect your choices, whatever they may be.

Clint, I support you in everything you do, always have and always will. Cooper, Lila and Nate, you’re the best thing that ever happened to me. And Kate, you’re a wonderful addition to our family, even though I’ve only known you for a week. Thank you.

The Bartons leave the stage hand in hand, looking very much in love.

While their parents are still delivering their acceptance speeches, the three Barton kids and Kate are helping themselves to Mrs. Kent’s famous apple pie. Even Lucky the dog gets a slice, which can’t be healthy for him.

“Hmm, this pie is amazing,” Kate says, while munching on a slice, “So much better than the ugly vase my shitty Mom got in the other ceremony.”

***

And now we come to the grand prize. I have to admit the winner of this year’s Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award was not someone I expected at all.

But then what characterises both our runners-up as well as our winner is that they are solid and dependable people who somehow manage to juggle demanding careers and wonderful parenting and yet are always in the background, never really appreciated, while the flashier heroes take the spotlight.

So I’m very pleased to announce that the winner of the 2021 Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award is…

DrumrollDuncan a.k.a. Man-at-Arms

Voiced by Alan Oppenheimer in the original Masters of the Universe cartoon and by Liam Cunningham in the recent Masters of the Universe: Revelations, Duncan a.k.a. Man-at-Arms is a man of many talents.

After his partner decided to pursue her destiny as the Sorceress of Castle Grayskull and left Duncan literally holding the baby, Duncan somehow managed to pursue a demanding career as weapons master, military commander and inventor, while raising his daughter Teela on his own. Through it all, he was always a loving and attentive father and watched Teela grow into a remarkable young woman.

But even though Duncan had his hands more than full as a single father and the man who keeps Eternia running, he still found room in his heart to take in other strays in need of a parent figure. He became a mentor, friend and surrogate father to young Prince Adam who turned to Duncan to receive the encouragement and attention his own father could not give him.  And once again, Duncan’s guidance helped Adam to grow into a remarkable young man. Duncan also helped young Adam to nurse the injured tiger cub Cringer, who later became Adam’s constant companion, back to health.

Later, Duncan welcomed Orko, an impish sorcerer from another dimension, who may not be a kid, but acts much like one, into his heart and home. He also built Roboto, a robot who called him father. And just recently, Teela’s friend Andra has also become a part of his little family.

In addition to being a mentor and father figure to so many young people, Duncan also is a true hero who defends his beloved Sorceress, Castle Grayskull and all of Eternia against the evil forces of Skeletor and a brilliant inventor who comes up with a new gadget every other episode besides.

When we watched Masters of the Universe as kids, we never truly appreciated Duncan. he was just there, providing gadgets and helping out He-Man and Teela. But so much dedication and reliability deserves an award and therefore, I am pleased to present this long overdue Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award as well as one of Martha Kent’s famous apple pies to Duncan a.k.a. Man-at-Arms.

The auditorium explodes in cheers and applause, while Duncan receives hugs from Teela, Adam, Andra and Orko and a slobbering wet kiss from Cringer. He then ascends to the stage, attired in a splendid uniform adorned with many medals. And yes, he still has the man bun.

Duncan steps up to the microphone, looking a little uncomfortable, and delivers the following speech in his patented rumbling baritone:

Thank you. Like my predecessor, I really don’t know what to say. Cause like him, I don’t think I did anything special.

I fell in love with a woman who had a magical destiny that took her away from me, from us. Our daughter needed someone to love and protect her, so it was only natural that I would be the one to raise her, when her mother couldn’t. I’m not mad at her. She did what she had to do. And losing her – twice – was the hardest thing in my life. I will always miss her.

But my Teela is the greatest gift I could ever have asked for. I’m so proud of you, my love, and I’m sorry that I lied to you and kept the truth from you.

As for Adam, as commander of the Royal Guard and Man-at-Arms, it was my duty to protect him. And besides, King Randor is a busy man, so it only makes sense that I was there for Adam, when he couldn’t be. And it was a privilege to watch Adam grow into the wonderful man and great hero he is today. I know you don’t hear it enough, lad, but I’m proud of you.

Cringer sort of came part and parcel with Adam. Randor, Marlena and I agreed that being responsible for a pet would do Adam good and it did. As for Orko, he arrived in Eternia, saved Adam’s and Cringer’s life and the kids just loved him. He’s also a good friend, even if he can be exasperating at times.

Roboto started out as a machine, but he became so much more than that. He became the son I never had and I still mourn him, though I know he gave his life to save all of Eternia.

At the mention of the late Roboto, Teela and Andra get misty-eyed. Adam takes Teela’s hand.

And Andra has been a friend to Teela when she was lonely and confused and besides, she’s the only one who actually listens, when I’m technobabbling, so how could I not accept her into my family.

Because family is what you make of it. It’s…

At this point, Cringer decides to make off with a slice of Martha Kent’s apple pie, while Orko performs some magical tricks to the delight of the Barton children.

Cringer, put that pie down. That’s the award, not your dinner. And Orko, this really isn’t the time and place for your magic tricks.

“But the kids love them,” Orko pouts, “And besides, my magic tricks actually work now. Well, most of the time, at any rate.”

Stop it anyway. And Cringer, put down that pie.

Since Cringer has no intention of puttting down the pie, Duncan scans the auditorium, looking for backup, and chances to spot Adam and Teela, who are much too busy with each other to notice what’s going on around them.

Adam, would you please stop canoodling with my daughter and keep your pet from eating the pie.

Adam and Teela come apart, both blushing furiously.

“We were not…” Teela begins.

“…canoodling,” Adam finishes.

Andra just grins. “Oh yes, you absolutely were.” Teela elbows her in the side.

Well, that’s a talk we need to have later. Anyway, family…

Andra still grins. “He’s going to give you the birds and the bees lecture, just wait.”

Meanwhile, one row over, Kate Bishop can barely suppress her laughter.

Where was I. Oh yes, family. Family is what you make of it. It’s… – Andra, there’s a time and a place for testing our new micro-surveillance drone and this is not it.

Andra still grins. “I was just capturing video evidence of the canoodling.”

“We were not…”

“…canoodling,” Adam and Teela insist, while Orko is doing magic tricks for the Barton children again and Cringer is eating the pie.

Family is…

“Hmm, this pie is wonderful,” Cringer says, which attracts the attention of Nathaniel Barton. “Your tiger can talk?” he says to Adam.

“Yes, Cringer can talk. Though I understand that this it not normal here on Earth.”

“Cool. Are you from Asgard? And can I ride your tiger maybe?”

Adam smiles. “No, I’m not from Asgard, wherever that may be. I’m from a planet called Eternia, but my Mom is from Earth. As for the rest, well, Cringer, what do you say?”

“This pie is really delicious. And yes, I’ll give him a ride.”

Up on the stage, Duncan emits a sigh of pure exasperation.

Family is… well, it’s an unholy mess and will drive you crazy, but you love them anyway. Thank you very much.

Duncan comes to stand next to the Bartons and together they watch their respective families munch away two of Martha Kent’s famous apple pies.

“We’re not going to get a single slice of that pie, are we?” Clint says to Duncan.

Duncan shakes his head. “No, we’re not.”

“Your children seem lovely, if rather… unconventional,” Laura says.

“Thank you. Yours seem lovely as well.”

“My kids really enjoyed that little floating fellow’s magical tricks. Also my condolences for the loss of your partner. That must be terrible.”

“It was. She died in my arms, murdered by my archenemy.”

Clint, who knows a thing or two about loss, flinches.

“Dad…” Teela, who has finally stopped canoodling with Adam, exclaims, “I’m sorry to interrupt, but Castle Grayskull is under attack and we have to go now.” She turns to Adam. “You’d best find a quiet place to transform without all these people around.”

Duncan emits another heartfelt sigh. “Well, it seems duty calls. It was wonderful meeting you.”

“Need a hand?” Clint asks.

Duncan nods. “Always. Though I must warn you. You may find Eternia rather strange.”

“Trust me, I’m used to strange places. My life got very weird since I joined the Avengers.”

Clint takes off his tuxedo jacket and shirt, revealing his new black and purple suit underneath, which attracts the attention of Kate.

“Oh, are we going with them? Just let me get my bow and my quiver.”

“Kate, we’re going to another planet.”

“Another planet. Oh my God, that’s so cool. I always wanted to see another planet.”

Kate peels out of her evening dress and she, too, is wearing her suit underneath. Lila hands her her bow and quiver.

“Can I come, too, Dad?” Nathaniel asks, “They have talking tigers and people who can fly and…”

Clint sighs and hugs his son. “No, buddy, it’s too dangerous.”

At this moment, Adam returns, transformed into He-Man.

“Wow, you filled out nicely,” Kate exclaims, while Lila whistles in appreciation,”Thor’s got nothing on you, dude.”

He-Man clearly has no idea what she’s talking about, so he decides to introduce himself. “I am He-Man, champion and defender of Castle Grayskull.”

“He-Man?” Kate exclaims, “You really need to work on your branding. And you must meet my LARPer friends. They’ll make you a great costume, cause that shirtless Conan look is so 80s…”

She turns to Teela. “And can I just say that I love your outfit? That headpiece is amazing. My LARPer friends would be so jealous. Though that Game of Thrones thing with your brother is a little creepy.”

“He’s not my brother,” Teela insists, “And we’re not…”

“Oh, they absolutely are,” Andra whispers to Kate, “The whole palace knows, we’re just pretending we don’t notice. Just as we’re pretending we don’t notice when they sneak off to Castle Grayskull for some alone time.” She winks and holds out her hand. “I’m Andra, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kate.”

By now, Teela has opened a magical portal that will take everybody straight to Castle Grayskull.

“Can…can I stay here and give Nat…Nathaniel a ride?” Cringer asks hopefully.

He-Man shakes his head. “Sorry, Cat, but you’re needed.”

Cringer shudders. “Oh, I hate that part.”

“Uhm, whom are we fighting anyway?” Kate wants to know.

“The evil forces of Skeletor,” He-Man replies quite seriously.

“Skeletor, honestly?” Kate bursts out laughing. “That guy needs to work on his branding as well.”

Andra grins. “Just wait till you meet Tri-Clops. Or Stinkor.”

“Be careful,” Laura calls after Clint and Kate, just before the portal closes.

Martha Kent, dressed in her Sunday best, comes up to Laura, bearing a slice of apple pie. “Here, dear. Have some pie.”

Laura smiles at her. “Thank you.”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I always make some extra. After all, I know how much young people can eat. My Clark can eat five pies and he’s still hungry.”

Martha Kent looks at the spot where the portal just closed. “That blonde lad reminds me of my Clark, you know. He also believes that no one will recognise him, when he takes his clothes off and suits up.”

“Oh, you mean we were not supposed to notice that it’s the same young man,” Laura says, “Just as we were apparently not supposed to notice the way he looks at the red-haired young woman.”

Martha sighs. “Heroes and their secret identities, you know. You just have to indulge them. And now have some pie, dear. I’ve saved a slice for your husband and that nice widower as well.”

ETA: Andra kindly sent us this drone footage from the latest battle at Castle Grayskull with the words “Told you so.”

Totally not canoodling.

Sorry, Teela/Andra shippers, but I’ve been shipping Teela and Adam since I was ten and in the show it could go either way at this point.

***

And that’s it for the 2021 Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award. Who’ll win next year? You’ll find out in this space.

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just gave them an award and wrote acceptance speeches for them, which then devolved into utter chaos. All characters and properties are copyright their respective owners.

 

Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for December 2021

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 November 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 hardboiled mysteries, cozy mysteries, holiday mysteries, animal mysteries, historical mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, psychological mysteries, crime thrillers, adventure thrillers, historical thrillers, police procedurals, police officers, amateur sleuths, spies, FBI agents, police psychologists, con artists, vigilantes, serial killers, heists, prison breaks, organised crime, crime-busting witches, crime-busting socialites, crime-busting golden retrievers, murder and mayhem aboard ocean liners and in New York City, London, New Orleans, Maine, Texas, Arizona, Delaware, Washington state, Cuba, the Caribbean 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 Above the Silver Waves by Blythe Baker:

In the summer of 1923, danger crosses the Atlantic, as Lillian Crawford sets out on a voyage to England…

Banishment from New York aboard a magnificent luxury liner should have been the wealthy socialite’s ideal escape from disgrace, but everything changes when a moonlit stroll leaves Lillian the only witness to a shocking murder.

Could a hot tempered American millionaire be behind the killing? Or perhaps a certain handsome, blind pianist who guards a secret? And what does the victim’s bitter wife have to hide?

Determined to answer questions no one else is asking, Lillian enlists the aid of her twin brother Felix – as often as she can drag him away from the card tables. The Crawford siblings’ idyllic voyage becomes a fight for their lives, as they race to uncover the identity of a killer…before they become the next victims.

A Frosty Little Murder by Beth Byers:

Vi and friends are ready to dive into anything but London. The days have turned dreary, and these days they’re proactive about avoiding the blues. So, they pack their bags and head to the country where they’re hoping to find clear skies and cheery days.

They aren’t surprised, however, when a storm rolls in. They’re even excited when they’re invited to a local contest for the best snow sculpture. They find their way to the meadow, and they play in the snow. They drink an excess of cocoa. Except during the celebration, a body is found. A body with something they recognize. Maybe it was an accident? Evidence seems to suggest otherwise and–once again–the murderous hand of fate has struck.

Death Under the Perseids by Teresa Dovalpage:

There’s no such thing as a free cruise in Cuban American author Teresa Dovalpage’s addictively clever new Havana mystery.

Cuban-born Mercedes Spivey and her American husband, Nolan, win a five-day cruise to Cuba. Although the circumstances surrounding the prize seem a little suspicious to Mercedes, Nolan’s current unemployment and their need to spice up their marriage make the decision a no-brainer. Once aboard, Mercedes is surprised to see two people she met through her ex-boyfriend Lorenzo: former University of Havana professor Selfa Segarra and down-on-his-luck Spanish writer Javier Jurado. Even stranger: they also received a free cruise.

When Selfa disappears on their first day at sea, Mercedes and Javier begin to wonder if their presence on the cruise is more than coincidence. Mercedes confides her worries to her husband, but he convinces her that it’s all in her head.

However, when Javier dies under mysterious circumstances after disembarking in Havana, and Nolan is nowhere to be found, Mercedes scrambles through the city looking for him, fearing her suspicions were correct all along.

Winter Solstice Murders by C. Farren:

Investigating your own death can be murder.

Bea Goldfrapp runs her own magical greetings card business in the small town of Magpie Cove, Maine. She lives with her demon familiar, Widdershins, a cat that can change its breed on a daily basis, and a talking magpie that’s lived for a thousand years. She likes her life and wouldn’t change it for the world.

Then someone poisons her tea and she dies.

Luckily for Bea her father is a powerful sorcerer, and he brings her back to life, losing his own soul in the process. Bea is understandably miffed that someone wanted to kill her, and decides to find out who did it. This only brings more complications to her life, mainly because she never realised she had so many enemies. Can she find out who killed her before the killer strikes again?

Night at the Asylum by Elle Gray:

You better watch your back. You better do your best to hide.
Because at Whitehorn there are strange forces at play.
Someone or something is watching.
And the bizarre death within a secured room is only the beginning…

Within a short period of time FBI agent Blake Wilder has had to overcome many life altering events. From the relief of discovering the truth of her past and having the reunion she had always dreamed of.
To becoming suffocated by the feelings of grief and failure, feelings that nearly resulted in her death.
Safe to say, Blake Wilder is far from looking forward to the festivities to come.

Blake and her team are summoned to a small town in northern Washington to investigate the mysterious death of a patient at Whitehorn.
A case with no prints and no evidence that anyone had entered the victim’s room the night of her death.
A strangely perplexing and unfathomable death. And the patients and staff at Whitehorn believe that it was the spirit of the woman’s boyfriend—a man she’d killed—coming back from the grave to have his revenge.

When Blake discovers that the victim is not what she appears to be and the case takes a more shocking turn. Blake finds herself in an inescapable fight, a fight of the ghosts of the girl’s past and Blake’s very own ghosts of present and future to come.

You better watch out. You better hide.
Because a night at The Asylum could bring forth a darkness that may lead to an untimely demise.

Once in a Brew Moon by Lily Harper Hart:

Ofelia Archer has a lot on her plate. Between building renovations for her new business endeavor and plans to move in with her boyfriend for the duration of the construction, she doesn’t have time for anything else. All that changes when a teenage girl is almost abducted in front of her bar.

Ofelia and her boyfriend Zacharias “Zach” Sully intervene, save the girl, and believe they have the kidnapper caged in … only to find that he’s somehow escaped in plain sight. When digging further, they find there have been a string of disappearances from the outer parishes, something someone is working hard to keep under wraps.

Ofelia and Sully are on the case, but the harder they look, the more trouble they find. It seems the girls that are being targeted are from poorer areas. The only girl from an opulent family to be targeted is the one they managed to save. But why?

Ofelia may be comfortable in the French Quarter but Bywater is where she’s needed. Unfortunately, the people there aren’t open to trusting newcomers. As she tries to ingratiate herself, she befriends a local artist … who may just be a target herself.

Ofelia lives in a magical world, a world where she’s often the queen. This time, she may be in over her head. The stakes are too high to abandon the mission, though, and she’ll do whatever it takes to find out the truth … even if it will leave a scar on the city she loves so much.

Buckle up, because it’s going to be a bumpy – and magical – ride.

Friends in Low Places by Lily Harper Hart:

The Morgan family is taking their first family vacation, and since they let their youngest member pick the place, that means Mammoth Cave National Park is on the menu. Ivy Morgan-Harker and her husband Jack aren’t exactly excited about exploring caves, but they’re committed to making sure the vacation is a success.

The first stop on their trip is Casper Creek, a cosplay western town perched atop a mountain. There Hannah Hickok, a witch like Ivy, runs things. The Casper Creek workers have their hands full. It seems local kids are going missing – three in only a few weeks – and the cause of their disappearances might be supernatural in nature.

Ivy’s nephew JJ is the one who uncovers the biggest clue when he inadvertently stumbles over one of the missing kids. Unfortunately, the child who returned isn’t the one who disappeared. There’s something off about him, although nobody can ascertain exactly what.

Hannah and Ivy recognize each other for what they are on first meeting, and it’s a good thing, because they’re going to have to work together to solve a huge mystery … and keep JJ safe in the process.

There are more than witches and demons haunting the hills surrounding Casper Creek. Ivy and Hannah are going to find out exactly what sort of horrors are being hidden in one small community.

They’re determined to make things right. They just have to survive to do it.

Murder and the Mermaid by L.B. Hathaway:

Sometimes the truth is as slippery and hard to grasp as a mermaid…

December, 1925

A dark, smog-filled London doesn’t seem very Christmassy, or exciting, but then Posie Parker, London’s premier female Private Detective receives an urgent call from one of her oldest friends; Rufus, Earl of Cardigeon.

Summoned to ‘The Mermaid’, an ancient hotel in Rye, on the Sussex Coast, in the heart of smuggling country, Posie, together with her husband, Richard, finds her friend in a real state.

Rufus has been promised answers about his missing wife, Dolly, but instead there’s simply a bizarre string of events: a priceless car mysteriously driven off a cliff; a missing Frenchman, and telegrams from men who simply don’t exist. While Richard Lovelace, Chief Commissioner of New Scotland Yard tries to work out if Rufus himself is the target of a complicated plot, Posie has her own investigations to make.

The local tragedy of a missing dancer has been dealt with by local police as an open-and-shut case. But Posie soon discovers it is anything but. And she suspects foul play.

And as the snow falls, and Christmas lights go up, secrets are revealed, and Posie becomes involved in perhaps her most personal case so far. She becomes aware that danger lurks at ‘The Mermaid’, and not just for Rufus.

A murderer is on the loose.

The Answer to His Prayers by Ellen Kirschman:

WHO READS PEOPLE BETTER—A COP, A CON, OR A VERY SHREWD SHRINK?

A down-and-out, wheelchair-bound lonely man calls 911 from a trailer that’s just burst into flames. The tragic fire claims the man’s life. It seems like an accident until the cops find a few arguments against that theory. And another puzzler — the dispatcher seems to be keeping some dangerous secrets…

Police psychologist Dot Meyerhoff, on call to counsel police station employees, soon finds herself trying to help the traumatized dispatcher. But as the action-packed investigation accelerates, Dot can’t help but get drawn into an ever-expanding series of crimes seemingly orchestrated by the scariest prison mastermind this side of Hannibal Lecter.

As Dot helps track down the possible arsonist, she proves herself a sensitive yet doggedly persistent sleuth — even when ordered to mind her own business. The gripping case drags her through the seedy underbelly of her small town, and finally to the local prison. During a couple of risky trips to the lockup, she becomes reacquainted with the imprisoned puppetmaster, who also happens — coincidentally? — to be a menacing old friend…

Colleagues and friends keep warning her away from the ruthless and powerful criminal, which is excellent advice, right? If only good advice were easy to take…

The Wendigo Whoop-De-Doo by Amanda M. Lee:

Charlie Rhodes has the one thing she always wanted but was afraid to admit. The parents who gave her up for adoption are back in her life, but the transition from orphan to adult child isn’t going to be an easy one. Before she can commit to the process, however, a new job pops up for the Legacy Foundation and she’s whisked away to upstate Washington.

A group of teens celebrating graduation and preparing for college have gone missing in Nighthawk, a former boomtown that has exactly one resident, a crazy old bootlegger who wanders the area dropping ominous warnings before disappearing into the darkness.

The Legacy Foundation is called out when several bodies are found, all with the sort of injuries that can’t be easily explained, and local law enforcement officials find themselves stumped. From the first day at the town, Charlie knows they’re in trouble as the memories of one of the missing teens threaten to overwhelm her. Is the girl still alive? Did she fall with the others and simply hasn’t been found? More importantly, what are they dealing with?

The specter of an evil witch hangs over Charlie and she’s eager for something else to focus on. Unfortunately, that’s easier said than done when it becomes apparent that Sybil knows exactly where they are.

There’s more than one killer in the Washington woods, and both serve as a significant threat to Charlie. She’ll need to overcome two threats to keep her team safe … and figure out the one thing that’s so far evaded her.

What does Sybil want? You’re about to find out, and the answer might shake the foundation of everything Charlie believes she knows.

The Truth Lies by Duane Lindsay:

FIRST FIRE ALL THE LAWYERS — THEN PLAN A PRISON BREAK

While unwinding from her most recent criminal masterwork, one-of-a-kind con artist Dani Silver receives some harsh news: her much beloved brother has gone missing. Dani immediately uses her ample resources to dig up his whereabouts: it turns out he’s stuck in prison after being framed as a drug dealer. After being railroaded, the poor guy got doomed to a life sentence in solitary confinement.

Dani won’t stand for this—he’s her favorite brother, after all, and and not only that, just about everybody’s favorite person. A great guy who’s the exact opposite of Dani and her infamous grifter father—an honest man.

And sure enough, it turns out he not only saw something he shouldn’t have–he has proof. Hence the infinite jailtime.

Easy peasy, then—all Dani has to do is assemble a crack team to perform the most unthinkable of cons: a jailbreak. And then clear her brother of his alleged crimes. And incidentally somehow make some cash while doing it—because crack jailbreak teams don’t come cheap.

A recipe for a truly rollicking ride.

Slow Burn by Terrence McCauley:

New York City – August 1932

Caught between the Great Depression and a massive heatwave, New York is a city on the edge. Businesses close up shop, breadlines grow longer, and riots are almost a daily occurrence.

When corrupt NYPD Detective Charlie Doherty is assigned to investigate a dead body in a flophouse, he knows there’s more here than meets the eye. He quickly discovers that the girl’s death is tied to one of the most powerful families in New York, and a kidnapping case that could tear the city apart.

In a chase that takes Doherty from the mansions of Fifth Avenue, to the slums of the Lower East Side, all the way to City Hall itself, Doherty is in a race against time to find the people responsible for putting his city on a slow burn.

Dusk Corners by Dan Padavona:

It takes a killer to catch a killer.

Logan Wolf was the Behavioral Analysis Unit’s most-respected profiler. Then a serial killer murdered his wife and tore his life apart. Now he’s a vigilante fugitive, hiding from the FBI while he hunts the nation’s deadliest criminals.

When a college student and her boyfriend vanish in West Texas, Wolf suspects the Devil’s Rock killer. But the FBI hasn’t captured the murderer, and after a decade of terror, the trail is turning cold.

Posing as the missing girl’s uncle, Wolf investigates the tiny town of Dusk Corners, the last place anyone saw the students alive. But the local sheriff doesn’t trust Wolf, and it’s just a matter of time before he learns Wolf’s true identity.

To solve the mystery, Wolf must dodge the FBI and power-hungry sheriff. But a killer deadlier than any he’s encountered lies in wait.

In Dusk Corners, danger lurks in every shadow.

Dog’s Waiting Room by Neil S. Plakcy:

Two parents die and two families mourn, in very different ways.

Amateur sleuth Steve Levitan and his clue-sniffing golden retriever Rochester face two deaths in the 12th full-length novel in this long-running series. An Alzheimer’s patient slips away from home on his own and tumbles into the Delaware River. And then Steve’s love Lili suffers the crushing loss of her mother in a Miami Beach hospital.

Eckhardt Lalor left behind a fortune in real estate, a fractured family, and a bitter legacy as a city slumlord. Does that add up to murder? There’s no question of what killed Benita Weinstock—a dodgy heart—but her death rocks her daughter’s world, and Steve’s.

It will be up to Rochester to solve the crime and heal his humans in this new mystery with heart — and fur!

Jingle Spells by Christine Pope:

Sweet baby Jesus, someone’s stolen a lot of Christmas dough!

All is calm and bright as Globe, Arizona’s holiday celebrations approach. Selena Marx should have known it wouldn’t stay that way. The painted snowflakes on her shop window are barely dry when her best friend, Josie Woodrow, bursts in with news that the baby Jesus is missing from the crèche in front of St. Ignatius.

Selena has enough on her mind without having to use her psychic powers to suss out the culprit. Her boyfriend Calvin Standingbear’s parents are still on the snow-covered fence about accepting her, which throws a dimmer on the town’s highly anticipated Festival of Lights. And when Calvin springs a surprise on the solstice, Selena realizes she has some work to do to reconcile the two men in her life: Calvin, and her cursed cat, Archie.

The last thing she needs is a spontaneous vision that indicates the baby Jesus theft was more than just a prank. And if someone doesn’t spill the beans soon, someone’s getting away with…well, not murder (this time), but a whole lot of dough — and we’re not talking cookies.

All Ahead Full by Wayne Stinnett:

Jesse McDermitt discovers an environmental nightmare of deception and greed taking place in Central America. A cartel is branching into smuggling things other than drugs. And they’re doing it quite effectively.

The Honduran rain forests and its inhabitants are at peril. The cartel needs hidden places to grow coca, used in the manufacture of cocaine. The exotic and endangered hardwood trees are cut and sold on the black market, along with any creature found dwelling deep in the humid jungle.

Environmental activists in the area who try to intercede are swiftly dealt with in the manner the cartel deals with anyone who stands between them and the almighty dollar—with a sharp machete.

Having so many moving parts and numerous smuggling routes, can Jesse and the crew of Ambrosia, on a dive vacation in the Bay Islands of Honduras, be able to make a difference? Or will the beautiful reef surrounding the island of Utila be Ambrosia’s grave?

The 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fictional Parents

It’s almost the end of the year, so it’s time to announce the winner of the coveted (not) 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fictional Parents. T

Let’s have a bit of background: I have been informally awarding the Darth Vader Parenthood Award since sometime in the 1980s with the earliest awards being retroactive. Over the years, the list of winners migrated from a handwritten page to various computer file formats, updated every year. Eventually, I decided to make the winners public on the Internet, because what’s an award without some publicity and a ceremony? The list of previous winners (in PDF format) up to 2017 may be found here, BTW, and the 2018 winner, the 2019 winner and 2020 winner were announced right here on this blog.

Warning: Spoilers for several things behind the cut!

Like last year, it took several months for a likely candidate for the 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award to emerge, while once again we had plenty of candidates for the Jonathan and Martha Kent Fictional Parent of the Year Award, which will be awarded tomorrow. We seem to be in the middle of a paradigm shift in how parents are portrayed in popular culture, because we are seeing far more positive portrayals of parenthood and fewer negative ones.

This summer, an unexpected candidate in the form of King Randor of Eternia threw his hat or rather his crown in the ring. Now Randor has never been a stellar parents by any means, as chronicled in more than 100 episodes of the original Masters of the Universe cartoon. He not only completely fails to notice that his son Prince Adam is also the superhero He-Man despite the fact that in the original cartoon, He-Man is basically Adam with a tan and his clothes off, but also constantly berates Adam for not being whatever Randor expects from his son.

In Masters of the Universe: Revelations, Randor turns out to be an even shittier father than in the original cartoon. Not only does he still fail to notice that Adam is He-Man and still berates his son for not being what Randor wants him to be, no, literally the last thing he says to Adam before Adam goes to off to get himself killed to save all of Eternia is that he has never ever had any occasion to be proud of Adam. And once he finally learns the truth – after Adam got himself killed (don’t worry, he gets better) – Randor takes his anger out on the people in whom Adam did confide. Duncan a.k.a. Man-at-Arms, the person who was actually there for Adam, when his own father wasn’t, gets the brunt of it and is not only stripped off his rank and banished, but also threatened with execution. However, inept wizard Orko and Adam’s beloved tiger companion Cringer are banished as well.

Darth Vader Parenthood Awards have certainly been won for less (a lot of the soap opera winners from the early years like Hans Beimer from Lindenstraße were objectively not all that awful compared to genuine supervillains, but won anyway because I intensely disliked them) and the main reason Randor does not win this year is because he actually learns better and apologises to Adam and finally does tell his son he’s proud of him. So it’s no award for King Randor of Eternia.

Masters of the Universe: Revelations also yielded another unexpected candidate in the form of Evil-Lyn’s (or just Lyn at the point) terrible parents, who wanted to eat their own daughter, because they were poor and starving. However, while Lyn’s parents were undoubtedly awful, we also only see them on screen for less than a minute.

In the end, it came down to a close race between two candidates. So let’s start with the 2021 Honourable Mention, which goes to…

DrumrollXu Wenwu

As portrayed by Tony Leung in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Xu Wenwu is the despotic leader of the Ten Rings criminal organisation as well as wielder of the titular rings, which bestow superpowers.

When his wife Ying Li is murdered by a rival organisation called the Iron Gang, Wenwu decides to take bloody vengeance on the murderer, which is understandable. However, Wenwu drags his children Shang-Chi and Xialing into his quest for vengeance. He subjects Shang-Chi to a brutal martial arts training and sends the boy out to kill the leader of the Iron Gang, when he is only fourteen years old. Meanwhile, Xialing actually does want to learn martial arts, but is forbidden to do so by her father, because women are not supposed to fight. Wenwu terrible parenting causes both his kids to run away from him while still teenagers.

When both his children are adults, Wenwu sends Ten Rings operatives after them to capture them and retrieve a pendant they inherited from their mother. As for why Wenwu needs the pendant, he believes that his wife Ying Li is still alive and calling to him and that she has been imprisoned in the mythical village of Ta Lo. Wenwu wants to free her, which again is understandable. However, in order to do so, Wenwu is willing to go through everything and everybody who stands in his way, including his own children. Worse, the voice he’s been hearing is not that of Li at all, but of a monster called the Dweller in Darkness…

Wenwu was the clear frontrunner until very shortly before the end of the year, when another favourite emerged. And in the end, the reason why Wenwu receives only an honourable mention is that while he is certainly a bad father, most of his actions are motivated by love for his wife and grief over her death. Wenwu may be a villain, but he is also misguided.

Applause

Since Xu Wenwu died in the final battle with the Dweller in Darkness, his daughter Xu Xialing, clad in a striking gown of burgundy silk, accepted the award (which is really just an ugly vase found at a flea market, since we can’t afford a proper trophy) on his behalf and delivered the following acceptance speech:

Thank you. I know this award is not an honour for my father. However, it is well deserved. For much as it pains me to say so, my father was not a good parent. He held my brother and me prisoner for years. Worse, he refused to see us for who we were and tried to form my brother into the fighter he never wanted to be, while completely ignoring me and forbidding me to learn, even though I would have been a better fighter and better leader than my brother.

And then, when my father died, he bequeathed his rings of power to Shang-Chi and not to me, even though I would have been much more worthy.

Anyway, I shall rebuild the Ten Rings organisation and restore it to its former glory and also abolish the sexist policies that kept women warriors out of our organisation for centuries. Also, I wish to let the world know that the Ten Rings were in no way responsible for the wave of terrorist attacks committed by a man who called himself the Mandarin in 2013. This man was an imposter named Trevor Slattery and…

Thank you, Miss Xu, but I think this is quite enough, since this is not the moment to restore the honour of the Ten Rings. So please return to your headquarters for some more plotting.

***

And now, with the Honourable Mention out of the way, let’s get the the grand prize.

The winner of the 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fictional Parents is…

DrumrollEleanor Bishop

As portrayed by Vera Farmiga in Hawkeye, Eleanor Bishop is a New York socialite, head of Bishop Security and mother of Kate.

In 2012, tragedy struck and Eleanour lost her husband and young Kate her father during the event known as the Battle of New York. Unfortunately, the late Mr. Bishop not only left Eleanor a spectacular Beaux Arts building in Midtown Manhattan, but also a mountain of debt with crime boss Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin of Crime. The body of the late Mr. Bishop was barely cold, when Fisk came to collect

Wilson Fisk is a very intimidating man and so it is perhaps understandable that Eleanor did not go to the police, but agreed to work for Fisk to pay back her husband’s debts.

However, Eleanor did not just use the resources of her security firm to keep Fisk one step ahead of the law and to create shell companies for his various criminal enterprises. she also actively engaged in murder, mayhem and deceit.

Eleanor personally murdered Armand DuQuesne III, when he got wind of her dealings with Fisk, and then framed her fiancé, Armand’s nephew Jack DuQuesne, for the dastardly deed. She also hired an assassin to murder Clint Barton a.k.a. the Avenger Hawkeye, who had become a mentor to her daughter Kate.

What gave Eleanor the edge over Xu Wenwu in the end was that while Xu Wenwu is misguided and motivated by love and grief, Eleanor may be motivated by love for her daughter as well, but she absolutely knows what she’s doing.

That sort of villainy deserves an award and so Eleanor Bishop is the winner of the 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award for Outstandingly Horrible Fiction Parents.

Applause

Even though she was arrested for murdering Armand DuQuesne III, the justice system works differently for rich people and so Eleanor was out on bail and could accept her award in person.

She took the stage in a gorgeous bias-cut red silk evening gown, side-eyed the ugly vase she was given and delivered the following speech:

Thank you. Thank you very much.

I think everybody here who has children knows how difficult parenting can be. We do everything in our power to keep our children safe and to make sure they have the life they deserve and all the funds they need. And how do they thank us?

Well, I can tell you how my daughter Kate thanked me, namely by having me arrested on suspicion of murder on Christmas Day. Her own mother, can you imagine that?

But then, Kate was always impulsive and ungrateful. Rather than doing something sensible like going into finance, the silly girl decided she wanted to be a superhero and help people and not be donating to charitable causes either. A superhero, can you imagine it?

At this point, Xialing yells from the front row, “Women can be heroes, too, you know.”

Oh, of course, I did not mean to imply that women were physically incapable of being superheroes. What I meant to say is that superhero is such a silly career choice, because it just doesn’t pay. But then, my Kate has always been a spoiled brat, literally born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

But otherwise, I agree with Ms. Xu. Men are trash. Take my husband, for example. He, too, was born with the proverbial silver spoon in his mouth and what did he do with it? He squandered his wealth on bad investments and gambling. And when he ran out of money, he didn’t go to a bank or – heavens beware – cut down on expenses, but went straight to the worst crime lord in town for a loan.

Really, what should I have done? I had to repay Fisk somehow, so I went to work for his organisation. And I was good at it. Does anybody think that Wilson Fisk would have been so successful, if not for my hard work behind the scenes?

As for the charges against me, they’re all false, of course.

Eleanor theatrically dabs on her eyes with a silk handkerchief.

Wilson Fisk blackmailed me into aiding him. He threatened my daughter, my one and only. As for Armand DuQuesne, I did not murder that old toad. His nephew Jack, the man I was going to marry, murdered him and then framed me. Honestly, I am the victim here. You must arrest Jack. And Wilson Fisk, of course.

Finally, I absolutely did not attempt to kill Clint Barton. Yes, that cad stole my daughter from me and seduced her with his talk of heroism, but I did not try to murder him. Is it my fault that some Russian assassin with a grudge decided to off Barton just before Christmas…

Thank you, Ms. Bishop, that’s quite enough out of you. This is not your trial, this is an awards ceremony and you have overrun the time limit for your acceptance speech, so please return to your penthouse or your summer house in the Hamptons and leave us alone.

***

And that’s it for the 2021 Darth Vader Parenthood Award. The companion prize, the Jonathan and Martha Kent Award for the Fictional Parent of the Year will be handed out tomorrow.

Who will win next year? You’ll find out in this space.

***

Disclaimer: I don’t own any of these characters, I just gave them an award and wrote an acceptance speech for them. All characters and properties are copyright their respective owners.

Hawkeye realises “So This Is Christmas”

Here’s my review of season 1 finale of Hawkeye, somewhat belated due to the double whammy of Worldcon and the holiday season. Review of previous episodes may be found here.

Warning! Spoilers under the cut!

When we last met our intrepid archers, Kate had just found out that the person who hired Yelena Belova to kill Clint Barton is none other than her mother, Eleanor Bishop. Worse, Eleanor is working for Wilson Fisk a.k.a. the Kingpin of Crime himself and has been working for him for years. Eleanor is also the one who murdered Armand DuQuesne III and framed her fiancé Jack DuQuesne, who really is innocent and nothing more than a somewhat goofy rich dude who’s really good with a sword. Nice bit of misdirection there, considering Jacques DuQuesne’s backstory in the comics.

As for why a socialite like Eleanor is hanging out with a career criminal like Wilson Fisk, well, it turns out that her husband, Kate’s father, had financial troubles and was indebted to Fisk. This was also what the argument between her parents that little Kate overheard, before it was so rudely interrupted by the Chitauri invasion, was about. After Kate’s Dad died during the Battle of New York, Fisk showed up at Eleanor’s doorstep and demanded that she repay his debts. Which she has done, tenfold, as she points out.

However, Eleanor also tells Fisk that Kate is back at home now and that she is asking questions and getting too close to the truth. Therefore, Eleanor wants out. However, Wilson Fisk is not a man you can just walk away from, as he makes amply clear. Eleanor tells him that she has insurance – recordings of all her interactions with Fisk – which turns out to be a spectacularly bad idea, because you don’t threaten Wilson Fisk.

Bonnie McDaniel points out that walking out on Wilson Fisk and threatening him, too, is not only a spectacularly bad idea, it also doesn’t make sense that an intelligent and shrewd woman like Eleanor would be so stupid to think that Fisk would let her get away with this. Just as it’s not very likely that Yelena would be able to record the whole conversation between Fisk and Eleanor in HD quality.

Fisk’s troubles aren’t over yet, because this is clearly the day that women walk out on Wilson Fisk. For after Eleanor has left, Maya shows up at Fisk’s hideout. She apologises for letting her hunt for Ronin get out of hand and getting into a high-profile and very visible fight with an Avenger, drawing attention to Fisk’s operations. She also tells Fisk that she’ll stop hunting Ronin, because killing him won’t bring her father back. Finally, she requests a few days off to clear her head.

Now Wilson Fisk genuinely seems to like Maya, whom he’s known since she was a little girl, but he’s not buying her excuses. “She wants out,” he tells Kazi. And as Eleanor is about to find out, you don’t walk out on Wilson Fisk, especially not when you’re a woman.

Vincent D’Onofrio returns as Wilson Fisk, a part he already played in Daredevil and the other Netflix Marvel series, though Sam Barsanti points out that it’s still not clear whether the Marvel Netflix shows are now canon in the Marvel Cinematic Universe or not, since they might well take place one universe over. Personally, I suspect that Marvel will just take whatever worked from those shows – Vincent D’Onofrio, Charlie Cox, Krysten Ritter, Mike Colter – and ditch what didn’t work (Finn Jones as Danny Rand). Besides, D’Onofrio makes for a brilliantly creepy Wilson Fisk, so I’m glad to see him back in the role. In general, I find Vincent D’Onofrio a brilliant actor who usually plays deeply unlikeable people. Not just Fisk, but also Edgar the alien cock roach in Men in Black and the comatose serial killer in The Cell. Even when he was supposedly the good guy, e.g. in Law and Order: Criminal Intent (which my Mom used to watch a lot), I always found his character unlikeable. The Whole Wide World is the only film where I ever actually liked a character played by Vincent D’Onofrio and that’s at least partly because I was a fan of Robert E. Howard and his work well before I ever saw the movie. And according to Novalyne Price Ellis (who was still alive when The Whole Wide World came out and should know), D’Onofrio absolutely nailed Robert E. Howard, so The Whole Wide World is probably the best physical look we’ll ever have at what Howard was like as a person.

Kate is understandably horrified that her Mom has been working for the Kingpin of Crime all those years and that she murdered Armand and would have had Clint murdered as well. She tells Clint to go home to his family. This is Kate’s mess and she will deal with her mother and Wilson Fisk. Clint, however, isn’t having any of that. “We’re partners,” he tells her.

However, before going into battle against Wilson Fisk, Eleanor Bishop and the tracksuit mafia, Clint and Kate first need ammunition. So they sit down and make trick arrows – at the kitchen table of LARPer Griff. I loved the down-to-Earthness of the whole scene. Unlike Tony Stark or Hank Pym (who do provide special arrow heads for Clint’s trick arrows), Clint doesn’t have a tricked out lab or workshop – all he has is someone else’s kitchen table. I also loved Kate using a (very old-fashioned, since the new ones look different) Dymo label-maker to label the arrows. io9 reviewer Germain Lussier also has a lot of praise for the arrow-making scene.

Making arrows also gives Clint and Kate a chance to have a heart to heart. Clint warns Kate of the costs of being a hero – it’s inconvenient, it’s lonely, you have to make tough decisions and will get hurt – and asks her if she truly is ready.

Kate responds by opening up. She tells Clint that seeing him during the battle of New York, fighting aliens with a stick and a piece of string and jumping off a building, even though he can neither fly nor has any other superpowers,  showed her that she didn’t need to be afraid and that Clint inspired her to become a hero.

“You showed me that being a hero isn’t just for people who can fly or shoot lasers out of their hands. It’s for anyone who’s brave enough to do what’s right, no matter the cost,” Kate says, delivering the mission statement of the Marvel Cinematic Universe right there.

Because the Marvel Cinematic Universe movies have always made it very clear that it’s not the powers or the suit that makes a hero, it’s the attitude. Thor spends much of his first movie depowered, Steve Rogers is already heroic before he gets the serum, Tony Stark is deprived of his suit, wealth and power several times across three movies. If there’s one consistent message that unites all the Marvel movies, it’s, “Everybody can be a hero. You don’t need superpowers, though they help.” And who better to encapsulate that message than Clint Barton, the Avenger whose superpower are his archery skills?

There is also a neat parallel here in the very different ways that Eleanor and Kate reacted to their shared trauma of the Battle of New York and losing their husband/father. It’s very clear that both Eleanor and Kate are motivated by trying to keep each other safe, at least initially. However, while Kate decided to train to become a superhero, Eleanor responded by going to work for a supervillain. AV-Club reviewer Caroline Siede also notices these parallels and is disappointed that Hawleye didn’t play up that angle more.

Clint and Kate dress up in a tuxedo and evening gown respective and head for the Bishop Security Christmas party, which just happens to be held at 30 Rockefeller Plaza a.k.a. the RCA Building, leading to a big final showdown at what is probably New York City’s most iconic Christmas location. Though Eleanor’s Christmas party does not take place at the famous Rainbow Room, which seems to be a missed opportunity.

Clint and Kate also have some back-up in the form of the LARPers they befriended, who are posing as waiters. Everybody else is there as well: Jack DuQuesne is there, out of jail (well, he is innocent) and wearing a sabre with his tuxedo. Young Armand DuQuesne VII is there as well, being a pain in the backside. Yelena Belova arrives presently, still on her mission to kill Clint. The tracksuit mafia are on their way in their Trust a Bro moving vans and Kazi is in a building opposite with a sniper rifle. In fact, that’s probably why they didn’t use the Rainbow Room, because it would have been too high up for a sniper to hit anything, because the adjacent buildings are not tall enough.

The only one missing is Eleanor. Once she shows up, clad in a gorgeous green velvet and lace gown (honestly, Eleanor has the best gowns not just in this show, but in the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe), Kate intercepts her, steers her into the kitchen and demands to know what the hell Eleanor was thinking to work for Wilson Fisk and hire an assassin to kill Clint. Eleanor tries to give Kate the “I had no choice” spiel, but Kate isn’t buying it. Jack also shows up and – since he apparently figured out just why he spent a few hours in jail and who framed him- wants to talk to Eleanor as well.

However, before anybody can talk to Eleanor, Kazi makes his move and tries to shoot at Clint and LARPer Wendy through the windows. Luckily, Clint spots the laser target reflected in a glass of champagne and manages to pull Wendy to the floor just before Kazi can fire. Clint then tells the LARPers to evacuate the civilians – Armand VII has to be carried to safety by Griff – before heading off to locate and deal with the sniper.

The commotion causes Kate to rip off her dress and reveal her new purple archery suit underneath. Then she runs off, not without telling Eleanor and Jack to stay put and also letting Eleanor know that this whole mess is her fault. But of course, Eleanor does not stay put, but sneaks out via a side entrance. Jack doesn’t stay put either, but draws his sword and wades into the fray, duelling with the tracksuit mafia. Again, this moment provides a nice echo to Kate’s earlier remarks about what makes a hero. Because here Jack – the guy Kate (and we) thought was a villain – decides to be a hero.

Kate spots Yelena and goes after her, which leads to some delightful banter – cause Kate and Yelena get along really well, when they’re not trying to kill each other – as well as to a fight which starts in an elevator and then continues across a suite of offices – complete with late-working IT-guy – before Yelena makes her escape out of the window via grapling wire and nearly manages to shoot Clint, who’s on another floor, before Kate warns him just in time.

Clint shoots a gas arrow at Kazi, forcing him out into the open, while Kate tries to descend via Yelena’s wire and makes a not very graceful landing in Rockefeller Plaza, just as it is being swarmed by tracksuits. Those moving vans must be TARDISes, because there is no way that a limitless supply of tracksuits can fit into just four not very big vans. Kate uses her martial arts and archery skills against the tracksuits and also has a hilarious exchange with the tracksuit bro to whom she gave relationship advice back in episode 3. The tracksuit bro is grateful, cause Kate’s advice worked, though not grateful enough to drop his gun, so Kate knocks him out. Meanwhile, Jack is enthusiastically trying out his swordfighting skills on the tracksuits.

The LARPers have suited up as well – because New Yorkers apparently take people in faux medieval armour more seriously than people in waiter uniforms – and are directing civilians away from the danger. “What about him?” Wendy asks Kate and points at Jack who’s fighting the tracksuits. “He’s on our side,” Kate says, “But we’d better get him out of here as well.”

Clint fights off a bunch of tracksuits (apparently, 30 Rockefeller Plaza has no security, so a bunch of tracksuit wearing gangsters can just waltz in) before an angry Kazi ambushes him. Clint gets knocked out of a window and lands directly in the famous Rockefeller Center Christmas tree, where he meets a cute owl.

Meanwhile, Kate has taken up station inside the F.A.O. Schwarz store and fires arrows at the tracksuits. And yes, the famous giant walking piano puts in an appearance. Now I had no idea that F.A.O. Schwarz is at Rockefeller Center these days – when I visited it was in the General Motors Building on Fifth Avenue at Grand Army Plaza. Apparently, F.A.O. Schwarz has been in Rockefeller Center since 2018.

Kate gets Clint out of the tree by shooting the guy wires that hold it upright, so the tree and Clint land on the famous ice skating rink, just narrowly missing the Prometheus statue. Clint also narrowly escapes being impaled by the Daniel Liebeskind designed star on top of the tree. Clint also takes off his tuxedo shirt, revealing his new LARPer designed suit underneath.

Kate joins Clint and we are treated to an “Archery on Ice” spectacular, as Clint and Kate fight a sheer limitless supply of tracksuits, using every trick arrow they have, while the camera performs a Michael Ballhaus style circle shot around them, echoing the iconic circle shot in Avengers. By the way, here is Michael Ballhaus’ original circle shot from Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s 1974 film Martha, featuring Karlheinz Böhm, Margit Carstensen in an amazing outfit and lurking in the background, El Hedi Ben Salem. There were no steadicams at the time, so Ballhaus used cameras on rails to achieve this amazing shot.

The final two tracksuits are about to crash their van onto the ice skating rink, when Clint fires one of his Pym arrows and shrinks them to toy size. “What will become of them now?” Kate wants to know. Clint admits that he has no idea and that he needs to ask Scott Lang. But before he can, the cute little owl appears to carry off the toy-sized van. I guess we know what became of the tracksuits, namely owl fodder.

However, the fight isn’t finished yet. Kate finally finds her mother, who has just been ambushed by Wilson Fisk, leading to Kate fighting the Kingpin of Crime inside F.A.O. Schwarz. And while Fisk may be massive, he’s far from flabby. He also snaps all of Kate’s remaining trick arrows in half, but Kate manages to set them off by throwing a cufflink, just like Clint showed her. The resulting explosion knocks out Fisk.

Meanwhile, Clint finds himself faced with Yelena, who refuses to believe that Natasha sacrificed herself and is sill hellbent on killing him. She likely would have succeeded, too, if Clint hadn’t persuaded her to stop by whistling the secret code Yelena and Natasha shared. When Yelena asks how Clint knows, he tells her that Natasha talked about Yelena all the time and how much she missed her sister. It’s touching moment to see those two very different people bonding over their love and grief for Natasha in the ruins of the Rockefeller Plaza ice skating rink. “You had so much time with her,” Yelena says at one point, revealing what her issue with Clint really is.

I’ve said before that Hawkeye is a show about trauma, grief and coming to terms with it and this scene encompasses all that. It also offers closure for both Clint and Yelena, allowing them to move on with their lives, and also finally gives Natasha’s death the weight it deserves, since it was overshadowed by Tony Stark’s death in Avengers: Endgame. Tor.com reviewer Annika Rollock and AV-Club reviewer Caroline Siede also praise this scene and how it addresses something that Endgame glossed over.

While all this is going on, Maya confronts Kazi about her father’s death. There clearly is a connection between Maya and Kazi, though it’s not clear whether they’re a couple or just really good friends. At any rate, Maya just wants to get away and wants Kazi to come with her, but Kazi doesn’t want to. He’s in too deep with Fisk now. “This was never supposed to be your life,” he tells her, “But it was always mine.” The fight ends when Maya stabs Kazi with an arrow, likely by accident. At any rate, she’s heartbroken, as Kazi dies in her arms.

With Fisk dealt with for now, Kate finally confronts her mother and hands her over to the police to be arrested for the murder of Armand III. “Is this what heroes do?” the ever-manipulative Eleanor asks Kate, “Have their mother arrested on Christmas?” Kate, however, is through with Eleanor’s shit once and for all.

The police also try to arrest Wilson Fisk – can’t pass up a chance like that – but Fisk has escaped again. However, while limping away, he runs into Maya who pulls a gun on him. Fisk tries to give Maya a speech on the importance of family, but Maya isn’t having any of the crap anymore than Kate is. The camera pulls away as we hear a gunshot. Though I doubt that Maya killed Fisk, since I’m sure we’ll see him again, especially since Maya is apparently getting her own show.

Wendy invites Jack, who clearly enjoyed himself playing hero and fighting the tracksuits, to join the LARPers. I really hope he does and that we will see him and of course the LARPers again.

The episode ends with Clint finally returning to his farmhouse on Christmas Day with a bunch of presents as well as Kate and pizza dog, now named Lucky, in tow. The Barton kids are thrilled to have a dog and Lila is clearly happy to have a girl closer to her own age as a companion/friend/foster sister. Clint and Kate also burn the Ronin suit, putting that chapter of Clint’s life finally to rest for good.

Clint also returns the Rolex that the tracksuits had stolen to Laura, who turns it over to reveal the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo and the number 19. So yes, Laura was a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and not just any old agent either. Because as Annika Rollock points out, in the comics, Agent 19 is codenamed Mockingbird and was married to Clint for a while, though their marriage was less happy than the MCU Bartons. Now comic Mockingbird is a woman named Bobbi Morse, who actually does exist in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and showed up in a few episode of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., played by Adrienne Palicki. But then, the multiverse can explain all those difference.

There have been some complaints that Laura Barton is “only” a wife and mother. However, this episode confirms that Laura Barton used to be a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in her own right, something that was actually hinted at as far back as Age of Ultron, when she was introduced. Laura clearly made the choice to stay at home with the kids, while Clint was out heroing, and anybody who has an issue with that is showing their internalised misogyny. Plus, Laura is incredibly supportive, taking in any stray Clint picks up, whether it’s Kate and Lucky, Natasha or the Avengers. I still wish she had gotten more screentime, but then Linda Candellini apparently had other commitments.

This being a Marvel show, there is a mid credits scene as well, featuring the full version of the song “Save the City” from the fiction Rogers: The Musical. The song is not only incredibly catchy, it also perfectly illustrates the expenses to which only Disney can go. After all, they commissioned a Broadway songwriter and composer to write the song, hired singers and dancers (and there’s at least twenty to twenty-five people on that stage) to perform it, built sets, rented a Broadway theatre (at least I think it’s a real theatre, not a soundstage) and filled it with an audience – all for a scene that less than two minutes long. I suspect Disney may be trying to gauge if there’s interest in an Avengers musical, but I still don’t want to imagine how much money they spent on this short scene.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Hawkeye. It was not as beautifully weird as WandaVision or Loki, but it was solidly entertaining throughout and perfectly hit the balance between action, emotion and forthy holiday fun. In fact, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier was the weakest of the Marvel Disney+ shows to date and even that was fun enough.

In many ways, Hawkeye is the Marvel Netflix done right. Hawkeye took a lot of what worked about those shows – a street level threat, a strong sense of place, good disability representation, great fight choreography, Wilson Fisk – and discarded what didn’t work, namely the padding, the gloominess, supposed heroes torturing people and Iron Fist.

And while Hawkeye was clearly conceived as a Marvel holiday spectacular, it actually has something to say about trauma, loss, grief, what makes a hero and the price of heroism. It also gave Clint Barton, who was the least fleshed-out of the original Avengers, his moment in the sun and confirmed what sort of person he is, namely the everyman Avenger, the husband and father who doesn’t have superpowers, but picks up his bow and arrows to help people, because someone has to. I also enjoyed that Jeremy Renner plays Clint as the fifty-year-old who’s a litle too old for superheroics that he is. Superhero movies often have the issue that actors age, while superheroes do not, so it’s great to see aging incorporated into a superhero story.

Kate and Yelena are both great additions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe and I’m sure we’ll see more of them in the future, probably in the next Avengers or maybe a Young Avengers movie.

All in all, this was a highly enjoyable holiday treat.