Cora Buhlert's Blog, page 72

Star Trek Discovery Boldly Goes Where None Has Gone Before in the Season 2 Finale

This is the last weekly Star Trek Discovery review for the time being, since the season finale aired last night. For my takes on previous episodes, go here BTW.

Warning! Spoilers behind the cut!

It turns out was the first half of the two-part season finale to the point that both episodes even share the same title “Such Sweet Sorrow”. I’m not really convinced that the season finale needed to be a two-parter, especially since last episode was mostly an extended series of tearful good-byes and this episode is mostly a huge space battle (okay, it’s a really cool space battle) with some revisiting of previous episodes.

Last episode, Michael figured out that since the data from the infodump sphere, which will enable the rogue AI Control to destroy all sentient life in the universe, can neither be deleted from Discovery‘s computer nor can Discovery be destroyed in any way, since the data prevents it, the only solution is to send the Discovery off into the far future, where Control cannot get to the data. Michael promptly volunteers to be the person who goes onto a one-way trip into the future, cause that’s the sort of thing she does, and gathers a motly crew of co-volunteers – basically the core cast plus the bridge crew.

This episode then, Michael and the Discovery crew do exactly what they planned to do last episode. But first, the Discovery and the Enterprise get caught up in a massive space battle with several Section 31 ships controlled by Control. And since the Section 31 ships can break apart into smaller ships, there are even more of them. As space battles go, this one is glorious with phasers and photo torpedoes firing and consoles exploding left, right and centre. Now Star Trek has never really been a space battle show, not least because of budget and tech issues, but once in a while, they get to pull out all the stops and pretend that they’re Star Wars.

The Enterprise gets an unexploded torpedo stuck in its saucer section. Pike, Number One (who still hasn’t gotten a name) and Admiral Cornwell try to disarm it. But the attempt fails and so Admiral Cornwell sacrifices herself to save the Enterprise from destruction. Considering that Admiral Cornwell has been a pretty significant presence in the first two seasons of Discovery, her death doesn’t carry much more weight than the death of any other redshirt of the week sacrificing themselves for the good of the many. Even Airiam’s death carried more weight and we barely got to know her. Admiral Cornwell had a lot more screentime than Airiam and yet her death fails to have much impact, probably because her final moments are spent with Pike, with whom she only shared a few scenes, and Number One with whome she barely interacted at all. But then the character of Admiral Cornwell was very much tied to Lorca and the Klingon war storyline of season 1. In fact, I strongly suspect that the showrunners wanted to write the character out, since they apparently had no real idea what to do with her after season 1. But given the events of this episode, I don’t quite understand why they had to kill off Admiral Cornwell, since the end pretty much made sure that we never need to see her again. Never mind that Admiral Cornwell basically dies of bad ship design (the lever to lower the bulkhead is only on one side of the bulkhead – the wrong one), so her death feels contrived.

One of the few useful things Admiral Cornwell did post-season 1 or at all was providing some much needed therapy to Dr. Culber after his miraculous resurrection. The events of last week’s episode seemed to cement the break-up of everybody’s favourite same-sex Star Trek couple (okay, so they’re the only same-sex Star Trek couple) Stamets and Culber, when Stamets wanted to go into the far future with Michael and Culber wanted to stay aboard the Enterprise, since dying once was quite enough for him. However, in the middle of the space battle, Culber and Stamets finally realise that they cannot live without each other and unite in the Discovery‘s sickbay, while there is a battle going on all around them. It’s a lovely moment and I’m very happy that Stamets and Culber, who are not just Discovery‘s best couple, but one of the best couples in all of Star Trek are finally back together.

The reunion of Culber and Stamets is not the only emotional scene in part 2 of “Such Sweet Sorrow”, for there is also another lovely scene between Spock and Michael, who are scrambling to get the Red Angel suit active again, so the Discovery can fly into the future. But Michael figures out that she first needs to go back in time to plant all of the Red Angel signals, since they always led the Discovery to places and people who would eventually be important in the fight against Control. So she dons the suit and does just that, taking us on a little season 2 recap tour. Alas, it turns out that Spock cannot accompany Michael into the future after all (as everybody who has ever seen Star Trek already knew) and so the siblings share an emotional good-bye scene, as Michael essentially tells Spock that he’ll eventually find good friends who will accept him as he is, just as we all know he will.

Meanwhile, the Enterprise and the Discovery are holding their own, but they’re vastly outnumbered and the rest of Starfleet is busy elsewhere, I guess. But help is on the way in the form of L’Rell and the Klingon fleet and some Kelpians led by Saru’s sister Siranna, who have appropriated some of the Ba’ul’s spacecraft. Saru’s reaction upon learning that his sister, the peaceful high priestess, has taken up flying space fighters, is priceless.

While everybody is shooting at everybody else, Control decides to use the space battle as a distraction and beam its meat puppet Leland aboard the Discovery to access the sphere data, while everybody else is busy. But Lieutenant Nhan and Mirror Georgiou and lead Leland on a chase through the Discovery‘s corridors, while giving Michelle Yeoh a chance to show off her mad martial arts skills. In the end, Georgiou manages to lure Leland into the spore drive chamber and uses the spore drive and its containment field to pull Control’s nanos out of Leland’s body and destroy them. Leland promptly collapses and the various Control-controlled ships go dead, since Control apparently neglected to make a backup copy of itself. It’s amazing how much of the plot of season 2 of Star Trek Discovery is determined by the fact that people (and rogue AIs) don’t follow basic computer safety protocols. And no, Leland and Control are not the origin of the Borg, as many have speculated. So here is one totally obvious shocking plot twist(TM) that Discovery has managed to avoid.

Michael has by now completed her tour of season 2’s highlights and opened a wormhole, through which Discovery flies into what is presumably the future. We don’t know for sure, since we basically see the Discovery vanish in a burst of light to boldly go where no man, woman or Kelpian has gone before. Of course, the time jump is completely unnecessary, since Mirror Georgiou has already killed Control. Not that I don’t understand why the showrunners had the Discovery make the time jump, but making the jump after Control is dead doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

In fact, I wonder whether the scenes were supposed to go in a different order, i.e. the Discovery goes through the wormhole, but Leland has already beamed on board and now the future is at risk as well. Luckily, Mirror Georgiou manages to kill him, but the Discovery has already arrived in the future or wherever. Talking of which, Mirror Georgiou is still aboard the Discovery, when she flies through the wormhole and is now presumably stuck nine hundred years in the future, which will make it difficult for her to appear in the planned Section 31 series, which is presumably not set nine hundred years in the future. Though in this interview with Andrew Whalen in Newsweek, Michelle Yeoh says that she will apparently be in both season 3 of Star Trek Discovery and in the Section 31 series, so she’ll apparently find a way back.

The episode ends with Pike, Number 1, Spock and Ash Tyler (who stayed behind, because he and Michael cannot possibly be together because of reasons) at a debriefing with the Starfleet commanders at the Starfleet headquarters in San Francisco. Ash Tyler is tasked with rebuilding Section 31 into something more open and less clandestine (we’ve all seen how well that worked out in Deep Space Nine) and Spock convinces the various Starfleet bigwigs that for the sake of the safety of the universe, the Discovery must be reported lost with all hands aboard during the space battle and no one must ever speak of the Discovery, the spore drive, Michael Burnham and Control again. And just like that – snap – Spock has restored Star Trek canon to its pre-Discovery state.

In many ways, season 2 of Star Trek Discovery was a trasitional season that tried (and largely succeeded) in undoing the complete and utter mess that was season 1 before pressing the big red reset button and sending the Discovery off to new adventures in the far future, where no collisions with established Star Trek canon are possible. This is probably the best decision showrunner Alex Kurtzman could make, especially since the fact that Discovery was a prequel was always the biggest weakness of the show. But now the Discovery and her remaining crew can start over on a completely blank slate and hopefully have great and glorious adventures. Meanwhile, Spock’s little “Let us never speak of all this again on the pain of treason” speech gets established Star Trek canon back on track. Okay, so there’s still a never before mentioned war with the Klingon Empire and a race of spacefaring Kelpians who will never be seen again (both of which can be explained away), but otherwise Alex Kurtzman and his team put all the pieces back where they found them.

It very much seems as if the production team was aware exactly what a huge mess season 1 of Discovery was and so they set about to fix it by essentially wiping the slate clean. The whole plot arc of season 2 was basically set up to do just that and tie up some leftover loose ends from season 1. Not that I really care about what happened to L’Rell and the Klingons, but by bringing back Culber, the production team corrected one of season 1’s worst mistakes, even if the way they did it was completely contrived. The bridge crew got more to do and at least some of them acquired a hint of personality. I assume we’ll see more of them in season 3, especially considering that the Discovery is operating with a smaller than normal crew now. I’m still not sure why they felt the need to write out Ash Tyler, but then the writers often didn’t seem to know what to do with him this season anyway. And he’ll probably still get his chance to shine in the Section 31 spin-off.

Since the production team still needed a whole season to wipe the slate clean anyway, they decided to have some fun with the fact that Discovery started out as a prequel set a few years before the Original Series and brought in characters like Pike, Number One and of course, Spock. The character of Christopher Pike very much benefitted from this, since Anson Mount turned him from answer to a trivia question into a fully fledged character we care about, which makes his ultimate fate all the sadder. I was initially skeptical about bringing in Spock at all, but Ethan Peck’s portrayal of one of Star Trek‘s most iconic character very much grew on me in the second half of season 2. And seeing Spock in his familiar blue uniform with his familiar 1960s haircut take his usual station on the bridge of the Enterprise probably gave every Original Series fan a little thrill. I’m a bit sad that we didn’t get to see more of Rebecca Romijn’s take on Number One, especially since Number One always struck me as a character with a lot of potential, unlike the bland Pike. So I really hope we get to see Pike, Spock, Number One and the rest of the Enterprise crew again someday, maybe in a mini-series or one-off special.

All in all, season 2 of Star Trek Discovery is much improved compared to the unholy mess that was season 1. The show still hasn’t fully found its feet and season 3 will likely be very different from what has gone before, but season 2 managed to tell a coherent, if not all that thrilling story (Control and the Red Angel were the sort of threats that the Enterprise dealt with in a single episode in the days of the Original Series and The Next Generation), and also managed to have some fun along the way. Season 2 even felt like Star Trek much of the time, while season 1 often seemed to forget what Star Trek has traditionally been about.

And now the Discovery and her valiant crew under the command of – Who actually is Captain now? Saru or Michael? – have the chance to explore a whole new era unencumbered by the shackles of established Star Trek canon. Let’s hope they make something fabulous of it.

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Ian McEwan is Clueless about Science Fiction

I have to admit that I never liked Ian McEwan. He always struck me as the sort of white middle class dude novelist who believes that his white middle class dude stories are somehow of universal human relevance. I disliked Atonement intensely and didn’t feel much more charitable towards Saturday and On Chesil Beach, all of which came out when I was at university or – in the case of On Chesil Beach – shortly after I finished and the writings of important and award winning white dude novelists were something I was supposed to care about. Coincidentally, I just realised that McEwan has published four novels plus a fifth, which will be the subject of this post, since On Chesil Beach, all of which completely passed me by, which shows that once I finished university I stopped paying attention to writers whose work I don’t like. Or maybe McEwan’s cultural relevance is fading and his latter books got less attention than his earlier ones.

Besides, McEwan is the sort of writer who inevitably has to weigh in on every political issue and is usually on the wrong side. He made islamophobic remarks, was in favour of the Iraq War and criticised anti-war protesters (though he has since admitted that he was wrong and the protesters right – well, better late than never). Though amazingly, he is opposed to Brexit, so maybe he really has learned. And then there is the appalling treatment of his first wife, who apparently embarassed him in front of his cool friends, because she was into New Age stuff. His Wikipedia entry has the whole ugly story with links and sources.

So in short, I don’t like Ian McEwan and I don’t care for his work. And when I saw that he had a new book out called Machines Like Me, which was apparently about artificial intelligence, I groaned and thought, “Oh great, another white dude novelist who deigns to descend from literary heights and either believes he invented science fiction or that he doesn’t write it at all. And I bet the novel is totally unoriginal and tells a story that has been done to death.” Then I went about my day, cause I stopped caring about what Ian McEwan wrote when I finished university.

However, other folks still pay attention to what Ian McEwan says or does and so Tim Adams’ recent interview with Ian McEwan in The Guardian caught some attention among genre folks for the complete and utter cluelessness both interviewer and interviewee display about science fiction.

Here is a quote:

McEwan has an abiding faith that novels are the best place to examine such ethical dilemmas, though he has little time for conventional science fiction. “There could be an opening of a mental space for novelists to explore this future, not in terms of travelling at 10 times the speed of light in anti-gravity boots, but in actually looking at the human dilemmas of being close up to something that you know to be artificial but which thinks like you. If a machine seems like a human or you can’t tell the difference, then you’d jolly well better start thinking about whether it has responsibilities and rights and all the rest.”

I guess even at The Guardian (which actually does a pretty good job of covering genre fiction otherwise) you could hear the groans from science fiction folks, as they wonder how McEwan has managed to miss that science fiction has done all that and asked precisely those questions and has done it for decades. And indeed, D. Franklin asks exactly that question in this excellent Twitter thread, which is also full of suggestions for books and movies (There are responses like, “But surely he has seen 2001 or Blade Runner or Humans or Avengers: Age of Ultron or Ex Machina or Star Trek: The Next Generation?”) to fill Ian McEwan’s and Tim Adams’ knowledge gap. And finally, someone also asks, “But surely he has read at least Frankenstein?”

Well, apparently McEwan has read Frankenstein, he just didn’t get it, at any rate if this quote from the interview is any indication:

In this sense, you might say, he is coming at the AI question from the opposite angle to Mary Shelley in Frankenstein. “There the monster is a metaphor for science out of control, but it is ourselves out of control that I am interested in.”

Of course, it’s possible that McEwan was misquoted or his words taken out of context, as some folks in the comments at File 770 wonder. After all, we’ve seen again and again when writers normally known for literary fiction suddenly decide to write science fiction that even if the writer in question isn’t clueless about science fiction, a lot of mainstream critics are and reviews and interviews tend to reflect that. One example is Frank Schätzing‘s 2009 novel Limit, a science fiction novel (though marketed as a thriller) wherein a space elevator plays a role. Now Schätzing himself definitely isn’t clueless about science fiction, but every single mainstream review of the novel focussed so totally on the space elevator and what an awesome innovative idea it was that they completely forgot to mention what the novel actually was about (aside from a space elevator, obviously) or whether it was any good. Interviews were just as bad, because Schätzing found himself having to explain what a space elevator is and how it works over and over again and wasn’t even asked a single question about the rest of the novel.

So in short, it’s quite possible that interviewer Tim Adams quoted McEwan out of context, especially since The Guardian article is not a direct interview transcript, but rather a profile with quotes. However in the comments at File 770, John S. linked to two more articles about McEwan’s newest novel, which seem to confirm that he really is as clueless as he comes across.

The first of this is an article by Matt Reynolds in Wired, a source no one would accuse of being clueless about science fiction, which literally starts out with the sentence “Ian McEwan has no interest in science fiction.”

The second article, an interview conducted by Barry Didcock and published in the Scottish newspaper The Herald, is even more damning. Here is a quote:

“One of the reasons I’ve never been a fan of science fiction is that by setting a novel in the future it always has a vaguely predictive quality. The chances of it being right are minimal,” he says. “The other is the technological stuff. Although I’m fascinated by science in general, my toes curl when people are crossing the universe at a trillion times the speed of light because the empiricist in me is saying ‘Well if they’re exceeding the speed of light, then we have to have a whole new physics’.”

Oh dear, so McEwan is a mundane science fiction adherent, too, not that he has ever heard of the term. Not to mention that even if FTL breaks his suspension of disbelief, there are still plenty of science fiction novels for him to read without a whiff of FTL.

Let’s have another quote from The Herald interview:

He isn’t over-fond of other labels for it either, such as speculative fiction or alternative history. “I think it lies along the path of many of my earlier novels. I think of it as a literary novel.” But he does admit that besides allowing him to have Turing as a character, the alternate 1982 setting makes him “immune from any of the demands of the realistic novel, which I’ve been in flight from for these last few novels. I spent years writing novels which I patiently researched to get everything right and getting everything right is incredibly hard. You always get letters correcting you on this and that. Here, I’m beyond correction because everything is fake. It’s all smoke and mirrors.”

And here we have the classic, “I’m not writing science fiction or speculative fiction or alternate history [except that he totally is], I’m writing literary fiction.” Plus, he apparently opted to set his novel in an alternate 1982 with robots and a living Alan Turing, because he was too lazy to do his research, which is certainly something. Though I guess we should be grateful that McEwan didn’t opt to write about an alternate reality where the Nazis won WWII, cause that has totally never been done before.

Now I really wish the endless literary vs. genre fiction debate would die already and I’m not a fan of the blanket dismissals of literary fiction you find in some corners of SFF either. I’ve repeatedly defended Margaret Atwood, who still gets dinged for something dismissive about science fiction (it’s about giant squids) she said in an interview more than ten years ago. Never mind that we still don’t know the full context of the “giant squid” remark and likely never will, unless the BBC releases the full radio interview during which said remark was made. And never mind that Margaret Atwood has repeatedly clarified what she meant and has actually outed herself as a fan of sorts (she read superhero comics and Weird Tales as a kid) since. Large parts of the SFF community still hate her for the “giant squid” remark and wouldn’t even nominate The Handmaid’s Tale TV series for a Hugo two years in a row (while nominating two episodes each of the execrable Good Place in 2018 and 2019), because the TV show which won every award imaginable in 2017/2018 isn’t good enough for the Hugos, cause some people hate the author of the novel the series is based upon.

Not to mention that there is a lot of very good SFF published outside the genre, e.g. Zone One and Underground Railroad (which won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Clarke Award) by Colson Whitehead, The Yiddish Policemen’s Union (as well as Gentlemen of the Road and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, which are at least genre-adjacent) by Michael Chabon, The Power by Naomi Alderman, Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel, The Road by Cormac McCarthy, Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James, Vox by Christina Dalcher, Red Clocks by Leni Zumas and yes, The Handmaid’s Tale as well as The Heart Goes Last and the MaddAdam trilogy by Margaret Atwood.

But whenever it seems that we can finally lay the old genre vs. literary fiction debate to rest for good, some white dude literary writer, usually of the critically acclaimed sort, comes along and writes the world’s most cliched science fiction novel, only that he of course would never lower himself to write SF, oh no. And based on the interviews and articles linked above, Machines Like Me does sound like the world’s most cliched science fiction novel. I mean, the robot models are named Adam and Eve. There is a love triangle involving a sexbot (actually, if those robots have any other purpose than sex, it’s not discernible from the articles). There is the question whether robots can distinguish between justice and mercy, a debate that Elijah Bailey and Daneel R. Olivaw already has in The Caves of Steel sixty-five years ago. And based on this excerpt from the Times Literary Supplement, the novel is just as bad as it sounds. The infodump in the second excerpt is particularly groan-worthy. Though at least we learn that the robots aren’t good only for sex, but also give cooking advice and vet potential dates for you.

Honestly, when I read about Machines Like Me, I kept thinking: This has to be an elaborate parody. Not even Ian McEwan could be so clueless. After all, he’s friends with Martin Amis, as every article unfailingly notes (well, they’re both the same kind of unpleasant white dude novelists). McEwan must have known Kingsley Amis or at least met him. And Kingsley Amis could have told him how very cliched his “not really SF” novel was.

But alas, it seems that McEwan is one hundred percent serious and truly has no idea how silly and cliched the plot of Machines Like Me sounds. So I’d like to close with this great 2011 article, also from The Guardian, by the late Iain M. Banks, which Gareth L. Powell mentioned on Twitter. Banks couldn’t possibly have known about Ian McEwan’s totally original, never done before “not science fiction” novel, though the hypothetical example of a clueless literary writer pitching the world’s most cliched mystery novel certainly sounds like he was taking aim at McEwan (though there are so many other examples).

So let’s have a quote from Iain M. Banks:

The point is that science fiction is a dialogue, a process. All writing is, in a sense; a writer will read something – perhaps something quite famous, even a classic – and think “But what if it had been done this way instead…?” And, standing on the shoulders of that particular giant, write something initially similar but developmentally different, so that the field evolves and further twists and turns are added to how stories are told as well as to the expectations and the knowledge of pre-existing literary patterns readers bring to those stories. Science fiction has its own history, its own legacy of what’s been done, what’s been superseded, what’s so much part of the furniture it’s practically part of the fabric now, what’s become no more than a joke… and so on. It’s just plain foolish, as well as comically arrogant, to ignore all this, to fail to do the most basic research. In a literature so concerned with social as well as technical innovation, with the effects of change – incremental as well as abrupt – on individual humans and humanity as whole, this is a grievous, fundamentally hubristic mistake to commit.

And here is the moneyshot:

In the end, writing about what you know – that hoary and potentially limiting, even stultifying piece of advice – might be best seen as applying to the type of story you’re thinking of writing rather than to the details of what happens within it and perhaps, with that in mind, a better precept might be to write about what you love, rather than what you have a degree of contempt for but will deign to lower yourself to, just to show the rest of us how it’s done.

This last bit of advice applies not just to literary writers dabbling in SFF, by the way, but indeed to all writers, including indie writers who write romance, because they think it’s easy money, though they have no real knowledge of and respect for the genre and would rather write something else.

So write what you love. And have some knowledge of the genre you’re planning to write.

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Star Trek Discovery jerks the old tear ducts again in the aptly named “Such Sweet Sorrow”

Welcome back to our regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery episode by episode review. Yesterday’s episode “Such Sweet Sorrow” was the penultimate episode of the second season and I for one am pretty glad that season 2 will soon be over, probably because I was ill for at least half the season and doing these reviews became unexpectedly exhausting. For my take on previous episodes, go here.

Warning: Spoilers under the cut!

When we last saw the Discovery, she was surrounded by several Section 31 ships under the command of Leland, who – unbeknowst to everybody except the Discovery crew – is really an animated corpse under the control of the rogue AI Control (that thing really needs a better name), which wants to exterminate all sentient life in the universe, because that’s what rogue AIs in science fiction movies do. No really, it just occurred to me that we have never been given a solid reason for why Control wants to eliminate all sentient life in the universe. It might simply have watched too many Terminator movies for all we know.

Anyway, Control has control of Section 31 and wants to eliminate all sentient life in the universe. And the one thing it needs to do that is the data from the infodump sphere that is currently stored inside the Discovery‘s computer. Section 31 and Control cannot be allowed to get access to the data, which inconveniently cannot be deleted either, so Michael makes the hard choice(TM) and suggests self-destructing the Discovery lest it falls into Control’s hands. Cue cliffhanger.

As cliffhangers go, last episode’s was the sort of cliffhanager that should be ultra-dramatic, but really isn’t because we know they won’t go through with the threatened solution anyway. After all, this is Star Trek, not Raumpatrouille Orion. And Starfleet won’t just hand you a brand-new ship if you destroy your old one (unless you’re Lorca, I guess) like Commander MacLane was handed a new Orion every time he managed to destroy the old one (he’s up to Orion 7 by the end of the series).

And so the cliffhanger is resolved almost too easily, when the data from the infodump sphere decides that it no more likes being blown up than deleted and simply takes control of Discovery‘s computer to countermand the self-destruct command. It also raises the Discovery‘s shields so the Enterprise, which is on its way to rescue the Discovery crew, ca’t blow up the ship either. And that, folks, is why you don’t download data from strange floting infodump spheres that almost kill Saru, too, onto your ship’s computer.

So Michael comes up with a new harebrained scheme (sorry, but that’s what it is) to keep Control from accessing the sphere data, namely send the Discovery into the far future where Control cannot access the data. And as usual with Michael’s harebrained schemes, everybody just goes along with it. Honestly, much as I like Michael Burnham and love Sonequa Martin-Green’s stellar performance, I’m beginning to believe that this woman should be nowhere near the bridge of the Starfleet vessel.

The only way to send the Discovery into the future is by rigging up a time travel device from a second Red Angel suit (the original is lost along with Michael’s mother) and the time crystal Pike borrowed from the Klingons last episode at the cost of making the future seen in “The Menagerie” a reality. In order to achieve this, Tilly calls in her alien friend, technological prodigy and and bonafide queen Po, a character who first appeared in the Short Treks episode “Runaway”. Po does manage to rig up the time travel device, but it is only good for a one way trip into the future. So whoever volunteers to travel into the far future cannot come back. And because Michael is just as prone to self-sacrifice and martyrdom as Pike (and Spock for that matter), she of course volunteers to take the Discovery into the future, even though she knows she will not be able to return.

And that’s more or less the plot of “Such Sweet Sorrow”. For the rest of the episode is taken up by Michael exchanging tearful farewells with pretty much the entire main supporting cast. These farewell scenes are wonderfully played and full of great character moments, but nonetheless this whole episode is pretty much all character and nigh zero plot. The only reason Discovery can pull off something like this is because of its stellar cast, who wring all the emotional impact they can from these farewell scenes. Even Sarek and Amanda show up for a farewell scene (oh, so now they suddenly care), though their presence makes no real sense, considering the Discovery and Enterprise are in the middle of a fucking space battle.

In the end, it turns out that the tearful good-byes aren’t quite so final, because several members of the Discovery crew decide that they cannot just let Michael go off on her own into the unknown and so declare that they will go with her.

Spock, of course, insists on accompanying his sister, because that’s just the sort of thing Spock does. Saru also decides to come along, because he harbours strong feelings for Michael and has for a very long time, though Michael apparently isn’t really aware of this and neither is much of the audience, even though it’s pretty obvious. The entire bridge crew – Detmer, Owosekun, Rhys, Bryce, Nilsson (Airiam’s replacement) and a random background alien whose name I don’t know – also decide to come along out of loyalty to Michael and Saru, though why Nilsson has that much loyalty for Michael we don’t know, considering she only showed up a few episodes ago. Tilly decides to come along to support her friend and besides time travel is cool. Stamets decides to come along as well, because he’s still suffering from heartache over his break-up with Culber (who does not come along, but rather beams over to the Enterprise, becuse dying once was enough for him, thank you very much). And besides, Stamets has never met a crazy scientific experiment or an opportunity to explore that he did not like. Jet Reno also decides to come along, because – well, I’m not entirely sure why, but because she’s a great character, she’s always welcome. Mirror Georgiou decides to come along because of her maternal feelings for Michael.

Meanwhile, Ash Tyler decides to stay behind to rebuild Section 31 (not that it’s worth it) and also because it is his and Michael’s fate to have to tearfully say good-bye to each other over and over again. Honestly, this is what? – the fourth or fifth time? Just ditch him for good, Michael, and hook up with Saru or Btyce or Rhys or Mirror Georgiou or whoever. Still, Michael and Ash tearfully saying good-bye to each other once again gives Sonequa Martin-Green and Shazad Latif yet more opportunity to exchange longing looks and smoldering glances. As Gavia Baker-Whitelaw says in her review, “Ash is a cross between Mr. Darcy, a Cold War spy, and a hair model” and “someone needs to cast Latif in a Regency romance”. BBC, are you listening?

Captain Pike also decides not to come along, because his place is on the Enterprise and besides, he’s seen the future and he knows it’s not this. At this point, I was yelling at the screen, “Oh come on, Pike. You don’t have to listen to what Voq and L’Rell’s annoying kid said and no one cares if you wipe ‘The Menagerie’ from Star Trek history, because it wasn’t that good an episode anyway.” Regarding Pike, Ryan Britt said something very fitting about him in this article at Tor.com recently:

Last year, Captain Pike didn’t have a personality. Before Star Trek: Discovery’s second season, Christopher Pike was less of a character and more of an answer to a trivia question.

This observation is absolutely correct, because before Discovery nobody cared about Christopher Pike. He was just a bland, vaguely handsome white dude who was in two and a half episodes of Star Trek more than fifty years ago and who happened to be the captain of the Enterprise before Kirk took over. Discovery, however, has given Pike a personality and made him a likeable character who’s rapidly moving up my personal ranking of Star Trek captains. And it’s because Discovery made us care about Pike that his ultimate fate is so unfair. Especially since it’s not as if Star Trek has never retconned details and plot points about the original series, so why is “The Menagerie” so fucking sacrosanct?

And while we’re on the subject of Pike, can I just say how great the Enterprise bridge looks? It’s the perfect fusion of the classic 1960s Enterprise look, updated for the 21st century, and Discovery‘s “darker than thou” aesthetics. Rebecca Romijn once more channels Majel Barrett as Number One, who still doesn’t have an actual name. Apparently, the red-haired female ensign from “The Cage” and “The Menagerie” was also seen in the background, though no other member of Pike’s crew from “The Cage” was seen. Though honestly, does anybody remember any member of Pike’s crew other than Spock or Number One? In fact, I only remember the red-haired ensign, because she was the only member of Pike’s crew who wasn’t an older white dude. Nonetheless, now that they have a beautiful Enterprise bridge set and fine actors playing Pike, Spock and Number One, will we get a Pike’s Enterprise series eventually? I certainly wouldn’t mind seeing more of Anson Mount and Rebecca Romijn as Pike and Number One respectively and Ethan Peck has proven himself to be remarkably good as the younger Spock.

The decision of several crewmembers to accompany Michael leads to a whole new round of tearful farewells (while Section 31 and Control considerately decide to halt the space battle to give them time – no, not really, but those tearful good-byes certainly took a lot of time in what should be an urgent situation), as the various crewmembers record good-bye messages to their various loved ones. And so Stamets and Saru send messages to their respective siblings, Tilly to her mother, Owosekun to her family and Detmer to… well, it’s not entirely clear. Pike gives a beautiful good-bye speech to the Discovery crew before beaming back to the Enterprise. The ever snarky Mirror Georgiou can’t resist telling Pike that she’s from a different universe, whereupon Pike winks at her to tell her that he already knows. And talking of great Mirror Georgiou moments, there is also one earlier in the episode where Tilly’s alien space queen friend Po stares down Mirror Georgiou in a queen vs. empress standoff and coolly informs Georgiou that she made a law against snarky remarks on her planet.

Once more, “Such Sweet Sorrow” shows that it’s the cast and their performances that make Star Trek Discovery, because watching the various characters emoting and tearfully saying good-bye to each other is so affecting and entertaining that I barely noticed that this episode had almost no plot, until I started writing down my review. Not that having a character-focusses episode or two on occasion isn’t a very good thing, but I still wonder if the penultimate episode of the season is really the place for it. Though Camestros Felapton points out that the extended good-bye scenes almost feel as if the show itself is saying good-bye, though we know that Star Trek Discovery has been renewed for season 3.

Will the Discovery really go on a one-way trip into the far future? It would certainly be a great way to cut the show free from the Star Trek canon muddle it occasionally gets stuck in and give it a brand new start exploring a whole new era of Star Trek. Of course, they will have to return Spock, since he is still needed in the 23rd century, and Mirror Georgiou is supposed to get her own Section 31 spin-off show, too. But everybody else could certainly jump into the far future with the Discovery without any effects on established Star Trek continuity. In fact, this would also explain why Spock has never mentioned his adoptive sister Michael before. Okay, so Spock never mentions any members of his family, until they unexpectedly show up aboard the Enterprise.

So will Discovery make the bold jump into the future where no man or woman or alien has gone before? Or will it stay in the 23rd century? Next week, we’ll find out for sure.

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Star Trek Discovery passes “Through the Valley of Shadows”

I’m still not fully recovered from the flu from hell, but here is your regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery review. For my take on previous episodes, go here.

Warning! Spoilers under the cut!

The episode title “Through the Valley of Shadows” is certainly fitting, because this episode brings back some of the most annoying aspects of season 1 and also indulges in annoying tropes which are not limited to Star Trek sadly. Oh yes, and the episode gets mired in fifty-three years of Star Trek continuity, too.

The most annoying aspect of season 1, apart from “everything bad that ever happened in the universe is Michael Burnham’s fault” were of course the Klingons or rather Star Trek Discovery‘s take on them, since I actually liked the Klingons quite a bit in the Next Generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era.

For it turns out that the latest of the mysterious space signals, which set off this entire season arc and which we now know are not connected to the Red Angel, because she doesn’t know what they are either, appears in orbit above the planet Boreth, which houses the Klingon monastery. And since the Federation and the Klingon Empire were at war only one season ago, the Discovery of course won’t be very welcome there. But luckily, they just happen to have a surgically altered Klingon aboard, namely Ash Tyler. Now Ash has his very own reasons for being reluctant to visit Boreth, for the Klingon monastery on that planet just happens to be the very same monastery where Ash Tyler dumped off his secret baby with Klingon chancellor L’Rell (this makes Discovery sound like a soap opera and not in a good way). Really, what are the odds?

However, the monastery on Boreth is not just a monastery, where Klingon monks are waiting for the return of Kahless. Instead, it is also where the Klingons keep their stash of time crystals, the magical plot devices which enable time travel. Of course, the plot of the past two episodes was very much determined by the race for Starfleet and Section 31 to develop time travel before the Klingons do, complete with young Michael Burnham’s parents dying (or not, as it turns out) to protect a precious time crystal from falling into Klingon hands. And now, only one episode later, it suddenly turns out that the Klingons already have a stash of time crystals and presumably time travel capability and do nothing whatsoever with it except put the time crystals in a vault in a monastery and pray over them. Did anybody actually notice this discrepancy?

Even though Ash Tyler is still theoretically a Klingon, he can’t go down to Boreth, because as far as the Klingon Empire is concerned, he’s dead. Never mind that Ash Tyler visited Boreth after his supposed death to dump off his Klingon secret baby, so the monks already know he’s alive. Honestly, does anybody involved with this show pay attention to internal continuity (rather than continuity with fifty-three year old episodes) at all? Anyway, since Ash can’t travel to Boreth himself, he calls in his ex-lover/rapist (it’s complicated) and baby mama L’Rell. L’Rell still isn’t a fan of humans, but since the fate of all sentient life in the galaxy is at stake, because the rogue AI Control is planning to exterminate it and has just stolen half the data it needs to do so, L’Rell eventually agrees to take Pike to Boreth.

The monks on Boreth are about as friendly as you imagine Klingon monks to be and their leader, a Klingon albino named Tenavik, look kind of familiar, probably because actor Kenneth Mitchell is Discovery‘s go-to Klingon, as explained by Keith R.A. DeCandido here. Of course, the fact that Tenavik is an albino, just like Ash Tyler’s Klingon alter-ago Voq, is another huge giveaway. Yes, Tenavik is Ash/Voq and L’Rell’s secret baby all grown up due to the influence of the time crystals or something.

Now I’ve stated my hatred of supernatural surprise pregnancies and babies rapidly aged to adulthood in these pages before. These two connected tropes as well as a third related trope – the convenient miscarriage which ends a pregnancy that only existed to get the characters to angst about having sex – really, really need to die, because they’re awful, sexist and show the disdain much of our popular culture has for pregnancy and childbirth. If you must have a pregnancy in your story, it should proceed in the normal way – no conceived yesterday, born today supernatural pregnancies – and should result in an actual baby, which should then proceed to grow up the normal way. No speed aging and no dumping off the kid with Klingon monks, kind strangers, distant aunts, etc… If you must have a miscarriage – after all, miscarriages happen quite frequently – make it mean something and don’t use it as a “get out free” card to resolve your pregnancy scare story. Miscarriages are painful for all involved. Losing a child is painful. But in popular culture, the characters often care so little that I wonder and worry more about their lost children than they do. So if you must write about pregnancy childbirth, miscarriage or the loss of a child, treat these things with respect and not as a fucking plot device.

Star Trek Discovery, however, treats Tenavik as a plot device. He only exists to give Ash and L’Rell something to angst about (not that Ash really needs a reason) and the only reason he was rapid-aged to adulthood is so Ash can go into a future with Michael (not sure how I feel about that anymore, though I liked them together in season 1) unencumbered by his Klingon past. By the way, am I the only one who feels that Michael – who was deeply traumatised by losing her parents as a kid and then losing her mother again only one episode ago – was remarkably blasé about Ash abandoning his child to Klingon monks? In fact, there was no reason to make Tenavik Ash and L’Rell’s secret baby at all. The plot would work just as well, if Tenavik had been any old Klingon monk. This is far from the first time that Star Trek has treated pregnancy and the resulting children as plot devices, also see the Next Generation episode “The Child” and David, Kirk’s son with Dr. Carol Marcus who was introduced in The Wrath of Khan and unceremoniously killed off in The Search for Spock (but Spock got better, so who cares about David?). But all of those examples are more than thirty years old, so maybe we could treat pregnancy and childbirth not as a plot device in 2019?

On Boreth, Pike picks up one of the time crystals and gets a vision of the future, only to be informed by Tenavik that if Pike takes the crystal away from Boreth, that future will come to pass no matter what. And that future vision is – yup, “The Menagerie” (I should just bookmark the page, because I have to link to it every week anyway). Only that this time around, we get a look at the scarred Pike in his chair, in constant agony and barely able to communicate, with 2019 special effects technology, which makes Pike’s future some even worse than the 1960s version. Pike is understandably horrified, but takes the crystal anyway, because the fate of the universe is at stake and his own horrible future is a small price to pay. Because Pike is the sort of captain who’ll always make the noble choice because the good of the many outweighs the good of the few. Yes, I know that’s Spock’s line, but Spock might well have gotten it from Pike.

It’s a depressing moment – and excellently acted by Anson Mount – made even more depressing by the fact that Christopher Pike no longer is a supporting character who was in two and a half episodes of the original series fifty-three years ago. I actually like Pike now and think he’s a great character and examplary Star Trek captain. As Gavia Baker-Whitelaw says in her review, “Curse Discovery for making us care about Christopher Pike.” So I’d hoped we could maybe just retcon the bloody “Menagerie” out of existence (it’s not that great an episode anyway) and keep Pike around as captain of the Discovery for a while. Because the Discovery deserves a good captain after the horror that was Lorca. But alas, it seems that’s not to be. Because for some reason, “The Menagerie” is the one classic Star Trek episode that is sacrosanct and cannot be retconned.

As for the fate of the universe, last we saw him, Section 31 commander Leland was controlled by the rogue AI Control and took off with half of the data from the infodump sphere that Control needs to destroy the universe, while as far as most of Section 31 is concerned, Leland is still a high ranking officer. Mirror Georgiou took off after Leland and Michael wants to join her, but Pike and Saru rightly point out that since the sphere’s data rests inside Discovery‘s computer, the Discovery is best kept as far away from Leland and Control as possible. However, Ash Tyler reports that Section 31 ship hasn’t checked in, which apparently never happens. Michael believes that the ship has been hijacked by Control and plans to go after it in a shuttle, still keeping the Discovery safely away from Control. Saru agrees, but on one condition. He wants Spock to accompany Michael. Michael doesn’t really want Spock along, but since both Spock and Saru insists, she doesn’t have much of a choice. So we get yet another chance to watch our favourite brother and sister team in action, exchanging banter and saving the world. Honestly, if you’d told me that Spock and Pike, the two characters whose (re)appearance I was most sceptical about, would eventually become two of my favourite, I wouldn’t have believed you. And talking of Spock and Michael, there is a nice moment where Amanda calls Michael to check if she is all right after first finding her long dead mother alive and then losing her again (Sarek, as usual, can’t be bothered), when Spock walks in and Amanda takes the opportunity to tell them she loves them both. It’s a sweet moment, though it would have been even better, if Amanda’s characterisation hadn’t been so inconstant this season. And considering how little we have seen of Amanda in fifty-three years of Star Trek history and how little we know about her, the inconstant characterisation was pretty much all the characterisation she ever had.

Once Michael and Spock track down the missing Section 31 ship, they find that the entire crew has been murdered. There is only one survivor. Apparently, we’re supposed to recognise the character as a member of the Shenzhou bridge crew from the pilot episode, which is supposed to give Michael an extra bout of angst, but I for one didn’t recognise the character at all, so the moment fell flat. Not that it matters much, because it turns out that the lone survivor is no lone survivor, but was killed and taken over by Control just as Leland was and then used as bait to draw out Michael. As for why Control wants Michael (beyond the fact that she is the protagonist), Spock theorises it’s because like her mother before her, Michael is the one variable Control cannot control (honestly, couldn’t they have come up with a better name for that bloody AI?). And once Michael has taken the bait, Control attempts to take her over via its magic nano-agents and then use her to get to the sphere data. Luckily Spock is there to prevent that by magnetising the nano-bots to the floor, allowing him and Michael to escape.

Together, Michael and Spock return to the Discovery only to find the ship suddenly surrounded by Section 31 ships under the control of Leland and Control. Hard choices must be made and so Michael suggests that they should destroy Discovery lest the sphere data (which as we found out last episode cannot be deleted) fall into the hands of Control. Blowing up the whole ship seems a remarkably rash decision, but Pike, who knows a thing or two about hard choices, agrees and calls in the Enterprise for help and to evacuate the Discovery crew. Cue cliffhanger…

Of course, we know that the Discovery won’t be destroyed – not unless they want to retitle the next season Star Trek Enterprise Mark II – though I guess we will finally get to see the Discovery/Enterprise team-up that the show has teased since the end of season 1. Not to mention that we will hopefully get to see a little more of Rebecca Romijn’s take on Number 1.

Among all the action and universe saving, Star Trek Discovery also finds time for some nice character moments such as the bridge crew having lunch together and playing word games (but no Tilly this episode at all) or Stamets moping over Dr. Culber who seems to be having fun with a whole new crowd of people in the cafeteria. The always welcome Jet Reno notices something is up with Stamets and Culber and decides to see if she can repair the relationship (because repairing things is what she does), so she goes to see Dr. Culber on a pretext and tells him that she lost her wife during the war with the Klingons and that Culber and Stamets are both still alive and still have each other, so Culber should maybe stop moping and be grateful. This leads to an exchange where Dr. Culber and Jet Reno discuss their respective partners and what drove them mad about them. Also, can I just say that it’s great to have two LGBT characters, both played by LGBT actors, too, interacting and passing the LGBT version of the Bechdel test.

After last week’s excellent episode, this one just feels weak (and Camestros Felapton agrees). It’s very much a filler and if you had skipped this entire episode and jumped right to Section 31 ships menacing Discovery, nothing would be missing except maybe the time crystal Pike got from the Klingons. And they could have procured a time crystal elsewhere – the whole sojourn in the Klingon monastery was completely unnecessary and basically just an excuse to revisit that stupid Klingon secret baby plot. Anyway, I hope that this is the last we’ve ever seen of L’Rell and Tenavik and any Klingon who’s not Ash Tyler. And I’m getting tired of him, too, since the showrunners don’t seem to know what to do with him, once he fulfilled his plot purpose in season 1. Indeed, it’s telling that the IMO weakest episodes this season were the ones featuring Klingons other than Ash Tyler.

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Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part II: The 2019 Hugo Awards

And here is part II of my overview of the 2019 Hugo Award and 1944 Retro Hugo Award finalists, this time with the 2019 Hugo Award finalists. Part I with my take on the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists is here.

If you want to check out the 2019 Hugo Award finalists and don’t want to wait for the voter packet (or are not a WorldCon 77 member), JJ has compiled a list where to find them for free online at File 770.

Now I was largely happy with the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists. A lot of great works recognised, only one lackluster category and one finalist I flat out hate. My feelings on the 2019 Hugo Award finalists are a lot more mixed. There is a lot here I like and also a lot I don’t particularly care for.

So let’s take a look at the individual categories:

Best Novel

None of the six finalists in this category is really a surprise, since all six novels got a lot of positive buzz. We also have four unambiguous science fiction novels and two fantasy novels, which should relieve those who are worried that the Hugos are tilting too far towards fantasy. Revenant Gun by Yoon Ha Lee and Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers are both sequels (loosely in the case of Becky Chambers) to previous finalists in this category. They’re also both excellent novels and were also on my ballot. Trail of Lightning is the debut novel of last year’s Campbell Award as well as Hugo Award for Best Short Story winner Rebecca Roanhorse. It’s a great post-apocalyptic/urban fantasy novel that does new things with two somewhat stale subgenres. It was also on my ballot. Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente is a book I haven’t read. The premise of an intergalactic song contest sounds great, but Catherynne Valente’s work is hit and miss for me. I also haven’t read the alternate history novel The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal, even though it got a lot of buzz. But then I didn’t much care for “The Lady Astronaut of Mars”, the novelette from which this series grew. Besides, it irks me that the alternate history of The Calculating Stars has removed the contributions of German scientists to the US space program, cause no one likes to be erased. I guess I just like Mary Robinette Kowal’s alternate regency with magic books better. Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is another book I haven’t read. Partly, because – as I’ve said repeatedly in these pages – I don’t like the current wave of fairytale retellings and wish that trend would die already, and partly because I didn’t much care for Uprooted, to which this book is a loose sequel. And from what I’ve heard, many of the problems I’ve had with Uprooted regarding the gender relationships also crop up in Spinning Silver. Again, I just like Naomi Novik’s regency with dragons books better.

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 2 writers of colour, at least 2 LGBT writers

Best Novella

The finalists in this category are a mix of the familiar and the new. Artificial Condition by Martha Wells is a novella in the wildly popular (and wonderful) Murderbot series and a sequel to last year’s winner. Binti: The Night Masquearde by Nnedi Okorafor is the third part in the popular Binti trilogy and a sequel to a previous winner in this category. The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard is part of her Xuya universe, which has been featured on the Hugo and Nebula ballots before, though this particular novella largely stands alone. It also offers a great twist on Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Finally, The Tea Master and the Detective is the only finalist in this category, which was not published by Tor.com Publishing, which will relieve those who worry about Tor’s dominance, particularly in the novella category. Beneath the Sugar Sky by Seanan McGuire is part of her Wayward Children series. Two previous novellas in this series were nominated in this category and one even won. Now I have liked other works by Seanan McGuire, but I don’t particularly care for the Wayward Children books. The basic idea of a home for children who’ve visited portal fantasy worlds and are now back in the “real world” was fine for that first novella (and even that felt overly long), but I don’t think it needed to be a series. The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark is a standalone novella set in an alternate New Orleans that pretty much seems designed for me to love it (and I did). And while I have read and enjoyed other stories by Kelly Robson, I haven’t read Gods, Monsters and the Lucky Peach.

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 3 writers of colour, at least 1 LGBT writer, 2 international writers

Best Novelette

This category is another mix of repeat and first time finalists. Brooke Bolander has made a mark for herself with her angry and foul-mouthed stories in recent years. The Only Harmless Great Thing, an alternate history tale about abused circus elephants and radium girls, certainly matches that description. Naomi Kritzer is an author whose byline always makes me check out the story in question and “The Thing About Ghost Stories” is a lovely tale. “The Last Banquet of Temporal Confections” by Tina Connolly is a fine story that is also on this year’s Nebula ballot. I read “If at First You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again” by Zen Cho, though I didn’t love it as much as many others obviously did. “Nine Last Days on Planet Earth” by Daryl Gregory must have completely passed me by, though I usually read the Tor.com stories. “When We Were Starless” by Simone Heller is another story that completely passed me by, probably because I don’t read Clarkesworld as often as I should. The author is a fellow German, by the way, so hurray for a German Hugo finalist (plus two for the Retro Hugos).

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 1 writer of colour, 2 international writers

Best Short Story

Once again, we have a mix of repeat and first time finalists here. “The Rose MacGregor Drinking and Admiration Society” by T. Kingfisher a.k.a. Ursula Vernon is a great and very funny story and was also on my ballot and on my Mom’s as well. “A Witch’s Guide to Escape: A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow is a sweet story that was on my personal longlist, though it didn’t make my shortlist in the end. “The Tale of the Three Beautiful Raptor Sisters, and the Prince Who Was Made of Meat” by Brooke Bolander was also on my personal longlist, if not my shortlist. But then, Brooke Bolander very much seems to be a “hate it or love it” author. I fall into the “love it” camp. “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” by P. Djèlí Clark is a great story with a somewhat unusual structure that was also on my ballot. “STET” by Sarah Gailey is another great experimental story that was on my longlist, though once again it didn’t make my shortlist (there were a lot of great short stories last year). “The Court Magician” by Sarah Pinsker is also on this year’s Nebula ballot, though I didn’t love it as much as many others obviously did.

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 1 writer of colour

Best Series

This is the third year of the Best Series category and personally, I’m getting really frustrated with it, even though I initially supported the idea. But the way I viewed the Best Series Hugo (and the way it was originally sold) was as a way to award the sort of extremely popular SFF series that are beloved by fans and regularly hit bestseller lists, but whose individual volumes are almost never recognised by the Hugos, because the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts (see Wheel of Time, which was obviously misclassified in Best Novel, but would have been a natural for this category). When the category was announced, I assumed we’d see finalists like the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher (which might have been nominated, except that the series hasn’t had a new book in years, because Jim Butcher is apparently ill), the Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews (which actually ended in 2018 and really would have deserved a nod), the Mercy Thompson and Alpha and Omega series by Patricia Briggs, the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon, the Honor Harrington series by David Weber (not to my taste, but obviously beloved by many), etc… But that’s not what we’re seeing in this category. Instead, we’re getting the same finalists we’re seeing elsewhere on the ballot. Perhaps the Hugo electorate aren’t really series readers to the degree initially assumed. Or maybe they just have a really weird taste in series.

So let’s take a look at the actual finalists: The Machineries of Empire trilogy by Yoon Ha Lee is a logical and deserving finalist (and the only one that was on my ballot), since all three volumes have been nominated individually, though they never won, largely because they had the misfortune of being up against N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth trilogy. The Wayfarers series by Becky Chambers is not so much a series but three loosely connected books set in the same universe. Two of the individual volumes have been Hugo finalists and the third would likely have been as well, if the eligibility hadn’t been muddled by earlier self-publication. The Xuya Universe stories by Aliette de Bodard are even more loosely connected than the Wayfarer stories, though several individual stories set in this universe have been finalists before. Charles Stross is inexplicably popular with Hugo voters, though I have never read a single novel by him that I liked. His nominated Laundry Files series is urban fantasy with a lot of political blathering. The Centenal Cycle by Malka Older is another series that seems to be popular, though it doesn’t do much for me. The October Daye series by Seanan McGuire has been a finalist in this category before in 2017. It clearly has published enough new volumes to be eligible again, though personally I would have preferred not to see a repeat finalists in this category so soon. Though at least, anybody who was a Hugo voter in 2017 won’t have to read it again except for whatever new volumes were published in the meantime.

Because that is another problem with the Best Series category, namely that it’s a lot of reading, particularly if you haven’t read the series. Last year, this was a real problem for me, because I had only partly read two of six finalists in this category – the others were largely unknown to me. This year is a little better, because I have read the Machineries of Empire and Wayfarers books as well as several of the Xuya stories and enough of Oktober Daye to get an idea. And based on previous experiences, I won’t bother much with either The Laundry Files and the Centenal Cycle.

Diversity count: 4 women, 2 men, 3 writers of colour, 2 international writers, at least 2 LGBT writers

Best Related Work

Now I have a very strong preference for what I like to see in Best Related Work, namely well researched non-fiction books, both academic and popular, about science fiction and fantasy. Sometimes, this category actually recognises that sort of work. A lot of the time, it doesn’t and sometimes, it had WTF? finalists and finalist which IMO don’t belong here at all.

So let’s start with the one finalist that absolutely belongs here, namely Astounding, Alex Nevala-Lee’s in-depth overview of the Golden Age of science fiction and how the genre developed as it did. This is a great book and absolutely the sort of work this category was created to honour. Which means it probably won’t win, because the most deserving finalists in this category rarely win. An Informal History of the Hugos: A Personal Look Back at the Hugo Awards, 1953-2000 by Jo Walton and Ursula K. Le Guin: Conversations on Writing by Ursula K. Le Guin with David Naimon are also both the sort of works I like to see in this category.

Now for the WTF? finalists: Now I think that the fanfiction archive Archive of Our Own is a great project and I know there has been a push to get it nominated in this category for years now. But I still don’t feel that it belongs in this category, though there is no other where it fits either. Ditto for the Mexicanx Initiative at WorldCon 76, which again was a great project that deserves recognition, but I don’t feel it belongs here. Finally, the documentary The Hobbit Duology probably is a worthy project – I haven’t seen it – but it definitely doesn’t belong in Best Related Work, because it’s a dramatic presentation, a class of work which already has two categories, albeit two which are hard to crack for smaller projects like this one.

I think Best Related Work needs a definition overhaul, because as it is, it’s just a mess. I’m not sure how you can ever compare non-fiction books, a fanfiction archive, a live project at a previous WorldCon and a documentary.

Diversity count (based on the official listing, because how do you even classify the Mexicanx initiative or Archive of Our Own?): 6 women, 4 men, at least 4 people of colour

Best Graphic Story

Once again, this category has a lot of repeat finalists. Saga, Monstress, Paper Girls and Black Panther have all been nominated in this category before and most worthy comics they are too. Abbott, a gritty occult noir comic by Saladim Ahmed and Sami Kivelä is a new series and first time finalist. I haven’t read it, though I’ve heard good things. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden is a webcomic I’m not familiar with at all, though it looks cute.

No diversity count, too many people are involved in making comics.

Best Dramatic Presentation Long

Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War are both obvious finalists, since they were the two most successful movies of last year and cracking good superhero stories, too. The animated Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse rounds out the Marvel trifecta. The Hugo nod for Annihilation is a pleasant surprise, especially since the film came out very early in 2018 and only had a limited release with Netflix hogging the rights in many countries. It’s also a highly deserving finalist. As for Sorry to Bother You, I know it has gotten quite a bit of buzz as well as a Nebula nomination, but I haven’t see this one and don’t think it even had a German release. As for A Quiet Place, I’m not a huge fan of this new brand of “intelligent” horror and don’t care anymore for this film now than I cared for it when the Nebula finalists were announced. Also, if you have to nominate a new style horror film, why not Bird Box?

No diversity count, too many people are involved in maing movies. Though we have two finalists by a director of colour this year.

Best Dramatic Presentation Short

I’m massively frustrated with this category in most years, because the finalists often are multiple episodes of a series I don’t watch or no longer watch. Meanwhile, shows I actually watch hardly ever get nominated. The rule change which limited the number of finalists from the same author or series in the same category to two has curbed this problem somewhat, but it still persists, as this year shows.

For the finalists in this category are two Doctor Who episodes, two episodes of the execrable afterlife sitcom The Good Place, one episode of The Expanse and Janelle Monáe’s Dirty Computer video. Now I gave up on Doctor Who years ago, though from what I’ve heard the two nominated episodes are pretty good and I like what I’ve seen of Jodie Whittaker. I’m not the world’s biggest fan of The Expanse (and won’t get to see season 3 until sometime around Christmas anyway), though I can see why so many Hugo voters enjoy it. As for The Good Place, I still hate the show, still think it’s the worst Hugo winner ever and won’t bother with it again. I guess I have to hope it gets cancelled soon or this crap will get nominated ad infinitum. Meanwhile, I guess we’ll have to accept Doctor Who taking two slots for as long as this iteration runs. As for Dirty Computer, it’s a fine music video and definitely science fiction. However, given the proliferation of music videos in the Best Dramatic Presentation Short category in recent years, it’s maybe time for a music category.

Meanwhile, The Handmaid’s Tale, Outlander, Westworld, Star Trek Discovery, The Orville, Altered Carbon, Lucifer, the various DC shows, the various Marvel Netflix shows, etc… might as well not exist at least as far as the Hugos are concerned.

No diversity count, too many people are involved in making TV shows and music videos.

Best Editor Short

This category is a nice mix of the familiar and the new. Neil Clarke, Lee Harris, Lynne M. and Michael Damian Thomas and the late Gardner Dozois have all been nominated in this category before, while Julia Rios and E. Catherine Tobler are new finalists.

Diversity count: 4 men, 3 women, 1 editor of colour

Best Editor Long

Here we have mostly repeat finalists, though Gilian Redfearn hasn’t been nominated for a Hugo before as far as I know.

Diversity count: 6 women, 1 editor of colour

Best Professional Artist

There are quite a few new names in this category, which is nice, because Best Professional Artist used to be one of the most static categories out there with the same people nominated year after year after year. But while John Picacio, Galen Dara and Victo Ngai have all been nominated in this category before, Jaime Jones and Yuku Shimizu are new finalists and I don’t recall having seen Charles Vess nominated before either.

Diversity count: 3 men, 3 women, 3 artists of colour, 2 international artists

Best Semiprozine

This is another category that tends to be fairly static, because there only are so many eligible semiprozines. And indeed, Strange Horizons, Uncanny Magazine and Beneath Ceaseless Skies have all been nominated several times before, while Fireside Fiction was a first-time finalist last year. Meanwhile, both FIYAH Magazine of Black Speculative Fiction and Shimmer have never been nominated in this category before.

No diversity count, too many people are involved in making magazines.

Best Fanzine

This is a fine selection of finalists. I’m particularly happy that Galactic Journey, the retro fanzine to which I contribute on occasion, has made it. nerds of a feather always does good work and I’m glad to see them on the ballot. Ditto for Lady Business. And considering how difficult it is to find short fiction reviews, both Rocket Stack Rank and Quick Sip Reviews are invaluable resources, even if their approach is different and I rarely agree with either of them. Finally, Journey Planet holds up the flag for the paper fanzine tradition.

No diversity count, too many people are involved in making fanzines.

Best Fancast

This is another strong category with a couple of new finalists. I’m particularly happy to see The Skiffy and Fanty Show recognised, because they do great work and have only just missed the ballot on recent years. Galactic Suburbia and The Fangirl Happy Hour are both repeat nominees and always worth listening to. I don’t listen to The Coode Street Podcast very often, but I usually enjoy it whenever I do. Be the Serpent and Our Opinions Are Correct are both new finalists in this category. I haven’t yet listened to either of them.

No diversity count, too many people are involved in making podcasts.

Best Fanwriter

There has been a bit of churn in this category with several previous finalists recusing themselves this year or producing little fanwriting for various reasons. James Davis Nicoll was also on my ballot and I’m really happy to see his work recognised. Foz Meadows is always insightful and worth reading, too. I haven’t read much by Alasdair Stuart and Elsa Sjunneson-Henry. Bogi Takács and Charles Payseur are both repeat finalists from last year.

Diversity count: 2 women, 3 men, 1 non-binary, at least 2 LGBT writers.

Best Fan Artist

This category features both a nice mix of new and repeat finalists as well as a broad range of different styles and media. Likhain and Grace P. Fong are both graphic artists, Ariela Housman is a calligrapher, Meg Frank and Spring Schoenhuth are jewellery designers, Sara Felix is a sculptor.

Diversity count: 6 women, 2 artists of colour

Best Art Book

This is a new one-off category, presumably because some people felt that art books, which normally go in Best Related work, fall through the cracks of that grab bag category. The finalists are an interesting and ecclectic mix. We have the latest volume of Spectrum: Best in Contemporary Fantastic Art, Julie Dillon’s art book Daydreamer’s Journey, a Dungeons & Dragons art book, a Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse movie art book, the catalogue for the Bodleian Library’s Tolkien: Maker of Middle Earth exhibition and the complete illustrated edition of The Books of Earthsea. I’m not sure whether the illustrated Books of Earthsea is what this category was intended for, though it is a beautiful volume. I’m kind of surprised that Simon Stalenhag’s The Electric State is nowhere in evidence, but then people weren’t sure whether to nominate it under art book or graphic story, which may have harmed its chances.

Diversity count: 3 women, 7 men, at least 1 person of colour

Campbell Award

I have to admit that this year’s Campbell shortlist is a little boring, because it’s largely a repeat of last year’s Campbell shortlist with two new names. Rivers Solomon, Vina Jie-Min Prasad, Katharine Arden and Jeanette Ng were all Campbell finalists last year. Okay, so they’re all good writers and most of them have produced new work this year (not sure about Jeanette Ng, but the others definitely all had new works out in 2018), but it is a little boring. Meanwhile, R.F. Kuang and S.A. Chakraborty, whom I’m really happy to see nominated, are both new finalists.

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 non-binary, 4 writers of colour, 2 international writers

Lodestar Award

The YA not-a-Hugo finally has its name this year as well as another strong shortlist. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi, The Belles by Dhonielle Clayton, Dread Nation by Justina Ireland and Tess of the Road by Rachel Hartman all got a lot of buzz this year, while The Cruel Prince by Holly Black is the latest by a longtime popular YA writer. The Invasion by Peadar O’Guilin is the only book that is entirely unknown to me, but then Peadar O’Guilin is in Irish writer and may well have profited from the fact that WorldCon is in Ireland this year.

Diversity count: 5 women, 1 man, 3 writers of colour, 2 international writers

My hit rate is 35 out of 120, i.e. 29,2%. My Mom got 10 out of 120, i.e. 8.3%.

As for notable themes, as with the Nebulas, there is quite a lot of alternate history on the Hugo ballot (well, at least it shouldn’t be difficult to find something to nominate in that category for the Dragon Awards this year). Artificial Intelligence and fairytale retellings both continue to be popular and at least two of the Best Series finalists tend towards political blathering. Science fiction makes a pretty strong showing, which will please those who fear that fantasy is taking over. Women continue to dominate, particularly in the fiction categories, which will probably set off the usual suspects. As before, I don’t much care. We still have twelve years of no male winners at all to go before we match the fifteen year streak of all male winners in the 1950s and 1960s.

And that’s it for this year. I’ll probably do a reaction round-up, as they come in, though so far most people seem to be happy with this year’s Hugo finalists, so I expect little controversy. There is a bit of discussion in the comments at File 770 here and here. And Camestros Felapton shares his take on the finalists here, again with some discussion in the comments. Unlike me, he actually likes this year’s best series finalists.

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Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part I: The 1944 Retro Hugo Awards

So the finalists for the 2019 Hugo Awards and the 1944 Retro Hugo Awards were announced today. This time, the announcement manages not to coincide with any major holidays of any world religion, though personally I really prefer it, when they announce on a weekend rather than a weekday. It’s also kind of annoying that the announcement for both sets of awards is made in the same post, which means that you have to scroll down past the current year Hugos to get to the Retro Hugos.

So let’s take a look at the nominees. Retro Hugos first, than the current year Hugos in part II, which may be found here:

The most remarkable thing about the 1944 Retro Hugos is that there is no Heinlein. Not a single Heinlein story was nominated for the Retro Hugos this year, not because fandom has suddenly lost its taste for Heinlein, but because Heinlein was too busy in 1943 testing military equipment at the Navy Yard* to write science fiction. Also notable by his absence (except for one fairly obscure story) is Isaac Asimov, who was also too busy testing military equipment at the Navy Yard to write, though unlike Heinlein, Asimov didn’t have a choice, because he was at danger of being drafted and expected (not without justification) that he’d be killed if he were ever taken prisoner, as Alec Nevala-Lee describes in his (excellent) chronicle of the Golden Age and what followed Astounding.

World War II also took other Golden Age stalwarts such as Lester Del Rey (also busily doing something at the Navy Yard) and L. Ron Hubbard (busily shooting at phantom subs off the Mexican coast) out of the game, leaving the field open for other voices and the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists certainly reflect that. This is a good thing, because it means that writers who are not normally recognised by the Retro Hugo Awards (though some of them have been recognised by the regular Hugos) finally get their dues.

So let’s take a look at the individual categories:

Best Novel

In this category, we already see the names which will be popping up again and again on the 1944 Retro Hugo ballot. First of all, we have Fritz Leiber, who is represented with two novel, his proto-urban fantasy Conjure Wife and his far future dystopian novel Gather, Darkness. Both would be most worthy winners. The couple and writing team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore, who will popping up both together and separately on this ballot several times, are nominated for Earth’s Last Citadel, a time travel novel where a group of stranded travellers from opposing sides of World War II (and remember that this was published in 1943) are whisked into the far future and must save the world. In fact, I just wondered how on Earth Moore and Kuttner got that plot past John W. Campbell only to realise that they didn’t, because it was published in Argosy.  Notably by its absence of C.L. Moore’s solo novel Judgment Night, an early example of a space opera written by a woman. Instead, we get The Weapon Makers by A.E. van Vogt, a sequel to last year’s Retro Hugo finalist The Weapons Shop. I no more like this world/series this year than I liked it last year, but then van Vogt has never worked for me in general. C.S. Lewis is another popular SFF author whose fiction has simply never worked for me and I doubt that Perelandra will change that. However, it was probably inevitable that Lewis would get a nomination, since he was (Northern) Irish and WorldCon is in Ireland this year. Rounding out the ballot is one of those left field finalists that the Retro Hugos occasionally recognise, namely Hermann Hesse for Das Glasperlenspiel. Now I’m really happy to see a Swiss-German writer recognised by the Retro-Hugos (in fact, Hesse might be the first German ever nominated for a Hugo and he’s very likely the first Swiss person), but I still don’t care for the book. Maybe it has improved since I found it on my parents’ bookshelf as a kid. On the other hand, the dismayed face that my Mom made when I told her that Hermann Hesse was nominated for a Retro Hugo was very telling.

Diversity count: 5 men, 1 woman, 2 international writers

Best Novella

The finalists in this category almost exactly mirror my own nominations, except that I picked a different Anthony Boucher novella. The prolific team of Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore is here again with “Clash by Night”.  However you feel about H.P. Lovecraft, “The Dream-Quest of the Unknown Kadath” was an obvious finalists in this category. I have read neither “Attitude” by Hal Clement nor “We Print the Truth” by Anthony Boucher, though I’m sad that Boucher’s novella “One Way Trip” didn’t make it, because that’s a really good one. Finally, we have two more left field finalists, namely Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and The Magic Bed-Knob; or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons by Mary Norton. Now Le Petit Prince is an acknowledged classic and probably the Retro Hugo finalist the average non-fan is most likely to recognise. But I’m really glad that The Magic Bed-Knob made it, especially since it’s probably better known for the film adaptation Bedknobs and Broomsticks starring Angela Lansbury these days.

Diversity count: 5 men, 2 women, 1 international writer

Best Novelette

This is another really strong category. Leigh Brackett, the queen of space opera, is represented twice with “Citadel of Lost Ships” and “The Halfling”, which – uncommon for Brackett – is a noir/SF mixture set on Earth. Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore are also represented again with the classic story “Mimsy Were the Borogoves”. Furthermore, Henry Kuttner is also nominated for his solo story “The Proud Robot”, one of the funny SF stories he wrote about the chaotic inventer Gallegher. We know that the Gallegher stories were Kuttner’s alone, because C.L. Moore confirmed it years later. “Thieves House” by Fritz Leiber is an early entry in Leiber’s longrunning Fafhrd and Gray Mouser series and a most excellent story it is, too. I think it’s the first Fafhrd and Grey Mouser story that is actually set in Lankhmar itself and so probably the first description of that famous fantasty city. And of course, “Thieves House” is the first time a thieves guild ever appeared in fantasy. Given how the Thieves Guild of Lankhmar fares in this story, we’re almost surprised the concept caught on. The sixth finalist in this category is “Symbiotica” by Eric Frank Russell, which I haven’t read.

Diversity Count: 3 men, 2 women

Best Short Story

This category contains the only nomination for multiple Retro Hugo finalist and winner Isaac Asimov for “Death Sentence”, the only story he published that year. Now I know that I must have read “Death Sentence”, because I read them all, but I needed a jolt to even remember what it was about. C.L. Moore is also nominated in this category, this time for her solo story “Doorway into Time”. Ray Bradbury, who was really beginning to come into his own at this time, is nominated for the story that was originally published as “King of the Gray Spaces”, though I have always known it as “R is for Rocket”. It’s only one of several excellent Ray Bradbury stories that came out in 1943. I’m also really glad that “Yours Truly – Jack the Ripper”, a creepy little horror story by Robert Bloch that Star Trek fans may recognise, made it. I may well have read “Exile” by Edmond Hamilton at some point, though I don’t remember it. “Q.U.R.” by H.H. Holmes a.k.a. Anthony Boucher I don’t know.

Diversity count: 5 men, 1 woman

Best Graphic Story

I’m really, really happy to see this category at all, since it often didn’t get enough finalists together in previous years. And a good set of finalists it is, too. The two science fiction stalwarts of the newspaper strip world, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, are both represented with “Fiery Desert of Mongo” and “Martians Invade Jupiter” respectively. The Flash Gordon story is excellent (haven’t read the Buck Rogers), though I’m a bit sad that Flash’s Defenders of the Earth pals Mandrake the Magician and The Phantom did not make it, but then not everybody loves them as much as I do. US comic books are represented by Wonder Woman and Plastic Man respectively. Early Wonder Woman is a tad bondage heavy, but usually good. I’ve never been much of a Plastic Man fan, I’m afraid, though the golden age Plastic Man stories have a good reputation. Franco-Belgian comics are represented by the (excellent) Tintin story “Le Secret de la Licorne” (The Secret of the Unicorn). The only unexpected finalist, at least for me, is Garth, the British time travel comic strip from the Daily Mirror. Now I’m familiar with Garth, but I mainly associated the strip with the 1960s and 1970s. I didn’t even know that it was already around in 1943.

Diversity count: 8 men, 2 international writers

Best Dramatic Presentation Long

Again, I’m really happy to see this category at all, since it didn’t get enough nominations last year. I’m also really, really happy to see Josef von Báky’s film Münchhausen nominated, especially since some people were making noises that they didn’t want to see a German movie made during the Third Reich nominated. Even though Münchhausen is not a propaganda film (unlike some other finalists I could name) and actually has surprising number of folks who did not get along with the Nazis among its cast and crew, starting with screenwriter Erich Kästner, who had to write the screeplay under a pseudonym, because he was officially barred from writing. Besides, Münchhausen is a really great movie. Finally, I’m happy to see a second German finalists and I’m happy to see the Hollywood stranglehold on any dramatic presentation category broken.

Talking of Hollywood, Ernst Lubitsch’s Heaven Can Wait is a classic and worthy finalist. I’m also really happy to see that serial form finally represented at the Retro Hugos by the 1943 Batman serial. Though once again, The Phantom is robbed. The other finalists in this category are one of the many versions of The Phantom of the Opera, a Vincente Minelli musical called Cabin in the Sky and A Guy Named Joe, a story most people will probably know better under the title Always, as Steven Spielberg called his remake in the late 1980s. I do find it fascinating that three of six finalists in this category are movies about people who die and come back to finish unfinished business. I guess World War II made a lot of people contemplate their mortality.

Best Dramatic Presentation Short

Compared to how strong Best Dramatic Presentation Long is this year, Dramatic Presentation Short is really weak, even though it’s usually easier to find finalists for this category for the Retro Hugos due to the shorter movie running times during the 1940s. Let’s start with the two highly deserving finalists, the two horror movies I Walked With a Zombie (a Haitian zombie, not the brain-eating type, which didn’t come in until twenty-five years later) and The Seventh Victim. There are also two other horror finalists, the forgettable Bela Lugosi film The Ape Man and the equally forgettable sequel Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman. Finally, we have two animated cartoons, which normally would be reason to rejoice for me, since I always nominate cartoons in this category for the Retro Hugos and they rarely make it. And indeed, I have absolutely no problem with Super-Rabbit, a Chuck Jones Bugs Bunny cartoon, though it wasn’t my personal choice. However, the Donald Duck cartoon Der Führer’s Face is just terrible, not to mention bloody offensive. Now propaganda movies are sadly a fact of life, when dealing with stuff from World War II, but couldn’t they at least have kept the propaganda out of children’s cartoons? Worse, Der Führer’s Face was still in regular circulation during afternoon children’s programming, when I was a kid in the 1970s and early 1980s, long after most (if not all – I did see some of them as a kid) Warner Bros’ “censored eleven” had been withdrawn from circulation. I remember watching it as a kid on TV and it was like a slap in the face, because here was a cartoon – and I loved cartoons – basically telling me that Donald Duck and Disney hated people like me. Coincidentally, my Mom immediately knew which cartoon I was talking about and just said, “Oh God, I hate that one.” Yes, I know that it won an Oscar, but a lot of crap wins Oscars or do you really think that Green Book was the best movie of 2018? Also, while “Der Führer’s Face” winning an Oscar might have been inevitable in 1943, do we really need to award offensive propaganda cartoons in 2019?

Best Editor Short

There are no real surprises in this categories. John W. Campbell, Dorothy McIlwraith, Mary Gnaedinger, Oscar J. Friend and Raymond A. Palmer are all obvious finalists. Donald Wollheim isn’t quite so obvious, at least for 1943, since the only thing he apparently edited that year was an anthology called The Pocket Book of Science Fiction.

Diversity count: 4 men, 2 women

Best Professional Artist

Again, this is a fine category. Virgil Finlay, Margaret Brundage and Hannes Bok have all been nominated in this category before and are most excellent choices. J. Allen St. John is the man who illustrated most of Edgar Rice Burroughs’ covers, including a couple of Tarzan editions and a Barsoom story, in 1943. William Timmins was Astounding‘s cover artist for most of 1943 and 1944, Hubert Rogers apparently being otherwise occupied. Finally, I’m really happy to see Antoine de Saint-Exupéry nominated in this category for his iconic illustrations for Le Petit Prince.

Diversity count: 5 men, 1 woman, 1 international artist

Best Fanzine

This category is mostly a repetition of fanzines we have seen nominated in this category before, all of them deserving. YHOS, edited by Art Widner, is the only one that’s new to me.

Best Fanwriter

Again, this category contains a whole lot of familiar names, though I’m happy to see Myrtle Douglas a.k.a. Morojo recognised

Diversity count: 5 men, 1 woman

So let’s take a look at my hit rate: I nominated a staggering 35 out of 66 finalists, that’s a 53% hit rate, so I did really well. My Mom got 13 out of 66, i.e. a 19.7% hit rate.

And that’s it for my comments on the 1944 Retro Hugo finalists. In part II, I’ll tackle the 2019 Hugo Award finalists.

Comments are off.

*I have no idea if the Navy Yard where Heinlein, Asimov and others worked during WWII is the same Navy Yard that is frequently mentioned in NCIS or if there’s more than one place with that name.

ETA: Mike Glyer confirms that the Navy Yard where Heinlein, Asimov et al worked is/was in Philadelphia, while the one from NCIS is in Washington DC. Apparently, there is also at least one more in Boston.

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First Monday Free Fiction: Egg Hunt

April 1 is a Monday this year, therefore it’s time for the second edition of First Monday Free Fiction. To recap, inspired by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who posts a free short story every week on her blog, I’ll post a free story on every first Monday of the month. It will remain free to read on this blog for exactly one month, then I’ll take it down and post another story.

[image error]And since Easter is later this month, what story could be more fitting than Egg Hunt, an Easter mystery from my Helen Shepherd Mysteries series? This one is technically a novelette, since it’s just over the 7500 word mark.

So follow Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team as they tackle the mysterious case of a priceless Fabergé egg that has gone missing from the London home of a Russian oligarch.

Egg Hunt
by Cora Buhlert

Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd manoeuvred her car into a parking space in a quiet side street in Belgravia, the dark green Rover looking distinctly shabby among all the BMWs, Mercedeses and Porsches parked along the curb. She even spotted a Bentley and — holy ghost, was that a Ferrari?

The street was peaceful, the blooming forsythias and Japanese cherries giving it a springtime flair. Number 34 was one of the familiar cream white stucco houses that lined the street. In many ways, the place looked like and probably had served as the set for Upstairs, Downstairs. However, instead of the English upper class and their army of servants, number 34 now served as the London residence of a Russian oligarch named Yevgeny Ivanov and his wife.

Police Constable Martin Jackson and another uniform were flanking the entrance, looking more like decorative security guards than police officers.

“Good morning, ma’am,” PC Jackson said, tipping his cap.

In his hand, there was a little box of what upon closer examination turned out to be chocolates. “Belgian chocolate Easter eggs,” he said by way of explanation, “Would you like one, ma’am?”

Now Helen actually had a bar of Marks & Spencer Swiss dark chocolate in her coat pocket to be enjoyed as an after-lunch snack later. Nonetheless, she’d never been one to pass up free chocolate, so she said, “Thank you, Constable. That’s very kind of you.”

PC Jackson handed Helen an egg of marbled dark and white chocolate. “Here you are, ma’am. Enjoy!”

Helen popped the egg into her mouth and indeed enjoyed it. Meanwhile, PC Jackson lifted the police tape for her. “Just go right through. DC Walker and the forensics people have already started.”

Inside, the house looked even more like the set of Upstairs, Downstairs — the Upstairs part at any rate. The furniture was classic, the paintings tasteful, the flower arrangements artful, the carpets thick and elegant. Nothing was out of place, nothing was jarring, nothing was less than absolutely perfect. All in all, the place looked more like a photo spread from Ideal Home rather than a house that was actually inhabited by living breathing human beings.

Helen suppressed a shudder. This house gave her the creeps and not just because something appalling had happened here.

She found Detective Constable Kevin Walker and Scene of the Crime Officer Charlotte Wong at the back of the house in the living room. At any rate, Helen assumed it was supposed to be the living room, since the place looked more like a showroom than like any living room she’d ever been in.

At least there was neither a body nor blood. Helen supposed she should be glad about that.

“Morning, boss,” DC Walker greeted her, while Charlotte Wong continued dusting every available surface for fingerprints, disturbing the sanctified perfection of the room in the process.

“All right, Constable. What happened here?”

“See that?” DC Walker pointed at an upright glass case, one of several scattered around the room. “Until approximately an hour ago, that case used to contain a priceless Fabergé egg.”

“It’s one of a series of sixty bejewelled Easter eggs made by Peter Carl Fabergé, jeweller to the Czars of Russia,” Charlotte Wong supplied, “They were originally given as Easter presents to female members of the Romanov family.” She fluttered her lashes at DC Walker. “Whatever you think of the Czars, they sure knew a thing or two about Easter presents.”

“I know what a Fabergé egg is,” Helen interrupted before DC Walker and Charlotte could flirt some more. They’d been dating for a few months now and were still in the sugar shock sweet honeymoon stage of their relationship. “However, I don’t know what this one was doing here. Until today, I thought that the only Fabergé eggs on British soil were the three owned by the royal family.”

“Well, obviously not,” DC Walker said, “Turns out that Yevgeny Ivanov is one of the very few private collectors lucky enough to own a Fabergé egg. That is, he was one of the few private collectors lucky enough to own a Fabergé egg, since this one vanished barely an hour ago.”

“How much of a value are we talking about here anyway?,” Helen wanted to know.

“Difficult to say since Fabergé eggs are so rare,” DC Walker replied.

“However, the last time one came to auction — after being found in a junk shop in the American Midwest of all places — it was sold for thirty-three million pounds,” Charlotte Wong added.

Helen whistled through her teeth. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

“And that’s not the only ridiculously valuable work of art in here,” Charlotte continued, “See that?”

She pointed at a statue of a painfully thin man that seemed to be assembled from scrap metal.

“That’s a genuine Giacometti. And those…”

She pointed at a series of gloomy sepia-toned sketches of what appeared to be scenes of heretics being tortured and executed in exceedingly gruesome detail.

“…are real Goyas. That misshapen lump of clay over there…”

Charlotte pointed at a display case containing what looked like a kindergartener’s first attempt at pottery.

“…is Shape No. 9 by Bulgarian brutalist Vassily Bagdanorovsky.”

“And that accumulation of rubbish in the corner over there…” DC Walker pointed at the corner in question.

“…is a genuine Beuys grease corner,” Charlotte Wong completed, “And that’s not all. You should see the kitchen. They’ve got a Warhol, a Lichtenstein and a Mondrian. In the kitchen.”

“With so many high calibre artworks in one place, surely the security system must be quite formidable,” Helen said.

“State of the art,” DC Walker said, “The security system is a Rhodenbarr 5000, one of the best in the world. Lasers, heat sensors, motion sensors, pressure sensors, breakage sensors, the whole kaboodle. The windows and display cases are bullet proof glass, the locks have reinforced titanium steel bars.”

“In short, this room, let alone the whole house, should be impenetrable,” Charlotte added.

“So what went wrong?” Helen wanted to know.

“Even the best security system in the world isn’t very effective, when it’s switched off.” DC Walker rolled his eyes.

Helen sighed. Human stupidity truly knew no bounds.

“And this one was switched off? Why?”

“Because the cleaning lady was in the room dusting off the artworks.”

“So the mop, bucket and vacuum cleaner are not actually works of concept art then,” Helen remarked.

“The cleaning lady had the display case open and was just dusting off the Fabergé egg, when the phone rang,” DC Walker said, “She answered and when she turned around, the egg was gone.”

“Did she see or hear anybody coming in?”

DC Walker shook his head. “She said she was only on the phone for a minute or two. The windows were closed, the doors locked, the security system still active everywhere except in this room.”

“So in short, we have a priceless work of art that vanished from a locked room, while there was someone in said room,” Helen said, “Wonderful. Just wonderful.”

“All evidence points to an inside job,” Charlotte Wong pointed out.

“Very likely in this case,” Helen agreed, “Random thugs don’t just wander in from the street and make off with priceless Fabergé eggs. They’d be far more likely to snatch the stereo, the TV and Mrs. Ivanova’s jewellery collection.”

“But why would someone who knew about the Ivanovs’ art collection take only the Fabergé egg and leave the rest of the goodies here?” Charlotte pointed out, “Okay, the Giacometti might be a tad heavy to carry out of here without help, but the rest? I would have taken it.”

“Probably a theft to order,” Helen said, “With objects like these it usually is, since they cannot be sold on the regular market.”

“The Ivanovs are accusing the cleaning lady,” DC Walker said.

“Any grounds for suspicion there?”, Helen wanted to know.

DC Walker shook his head. “Not as far as we can see. She’s been working for them for years now without any incident. Besides, she was the one who called us.”

“Might be a distraction to deflect suspicion away from herself,” Helen said, “So what about the Ivanovs then? Could it simply be a case of insurance fraud?”

“As far as I know, the Ivanovs are richer than God,” DC Walker said, “I don’t think they need the insurance money.”

“Even Russian oligarchs occasionally make bad investments and have cash flow problems,” Helen pointed out.

“But if they need money, why not just sell the egg?” Charlotte said, “Or one of the other artworks?”

“Auctions take time to set up and the auction house takes a hefty fee,” Helen said.

“On the other hand, insurance companies aren’t known for speedy payments either,” DC Walker countered. He shook his head. “It simply doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Ivanovs to steal their own Fabergé egg.”

“I still want a financial overview for them. Ditto for the cleaning lady.” Helen looked around her. “Where is the cleaning lady anyway?”

“In the kitchen,” DC Walker said.

“And the Ivanovs?”

“In the living room.”

“I thought this was the living room,” Helen said.

“No, this is the art museum room.” DC Walker shook his head. “Rich people are weird.”

“You can say that,” Helen agreed. Charlotte Wong nodded.

“So who do you want to talk to first, boss?” DC Walker wanted to know, “The Ivanovs or the cleaning lady?”

“The Ivanovs,” Helen decided, “The cleaning lady can stew a little, just in case she is involved in the theft after all.”

***

The living room — the other living room — was upstairs and outfitted with a state-of-the-art home theatre system as well as yet more works of art that were likely as priceless as they were ugly.

Yevgeny Ivanov was in the mid fifties. His shaggy grey hair and stubbled chin contrasted sharply with his elegant Savile Row suit. He was pacing the living room, clearly furious.

His wife Natasha was in her thirties, tall and statuesque. Her boobs were as fake as her fire-red hair. She’d been a model once and even in her own home, she still seemed to be strutting along a catwalk, swathed in a black designer gown.

There was a third person waiting in the room, a man, black, bald, handsome, clad in a nice suit. He remained in the background, seemingly not connected to either Ivanov.

“Mr. Ivanov, Mrs. Ivanova, I’m Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and I will be investigating this case.”

“Finally.” Yevgeny Ivanov glanced at a diamond studded chronometer that probably cost as much as a small car. “It is about time.”

“You must as excuse my husband,” Natasha Ivanova said in a heavy Russian accent, “He is very upset. We both are. You see, the egg was a present from Zhenya to me for our five year anniversary.” She smiled at her husband. “He is so romantic.”

“Believe me, Mrs. Ivanova, I understand,” Helen said, “And I shall my utmost to recover your property.” She turned to the third man. “And you are, sir?”

The man rose to his feet and held out his hand. “Colin Simonson, Lloyd’s of London.”

They certainly didn’t waste any time, did they?

“Your company insured the missing object?” Helen asked, shaking his hand.

“We had that honour. And as you can imagine, we’re very eager to recover the object.”

“As are we, Mr. Simonson.”

The Ivanovs were showing distinct signs of impatience, so Helen decided to get down to business.

“Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov, do you have any idea who might have stolen your Fabergé egg?”

“That is obvious, is it not?” Natasha Ivanova exclaimed, “Eva did it.” Though she pronounced the name “Jeva”.

“Eva Hart, the cleaning lady,” DC Walker whispered to Helen.

“Did Ms. Hart have the code for the alarm system?” Helen wanted to know.

“Of course. She needs it for cleaning.”

“For how long has Ms. Hart been working for you?” Helen asked Natasha Ivanova.

Natasha Ivanova shrugged. “Five, six years. I do not remember.”

“And in all this time, did Ms. Hart ever steal anything from you, even something small?”

“Of course not,” Natasha Ivanova replied indignantly, “I would have fired her at once.”

“Or did anything ever vanish inexplicably, even if you didn’t make the connection at first?”

Natasha crooked her head, sending her luscious red tresses tumbling over her shoulder. “No,” she said, “At least I do not remember.” She turned to her husband. “Did you miss anything, Zhenya?”

Yevgeny Ivanov seemed to consider for a moment. “No,” he finally said, “Not that I recall.”

“So let me get this right,” Helen said, “Ms. Hart has been working for you for five or six years now and in all that time she didn’t even nick a single pen. And yet she suddenly decides to steal a Fabergé egg worth millions of pounds, which is not even sellable on the open market? Somehow, this does not seem very likely.”

“What are you implying?” Yevgeny Ivanov demanded.

“That she didn’t do it,” Colin Simonson said wearily. Apparently, he had also come to the conclusion that the cleaning lady wasn’t a likely suspect.

“She might still be involved and of course we will question Ms. Hart most closely,” Helen said, “But right now we have no evidence that points at her.”

“But if not Eva, then who stole the egg?” Natasha wanted to know.

“That, Mrs. Ivanova, is what we’re trying to find out,” Helen said, “Objects as rare and valuable as this one are usually stolen to order. And therefore finding the client means finding the thief. So is there anybody who showed an unnatural amount of interest in the egg?”

“It’s an Imperial Fabergé egg…” Yevgeny Ivanov replied, “…and a true beauty. People are always fascinated by it.”

“But was there anybody in particular? Someone who tried to buy it from you and was declined or who bid against you during the auction?”

Yevgeny Ivanov scratched his stubbly chin. “Well, Prince Hashim of Qatar bid against me. The Qatari royal family already have one Fabergé egg and would love to have another, you see…”

Helen nodded, wondering how on Earth she was going to question a Qatari prince, if necessary.

“Then there was Hiroshi Nakamura, the famous collector from Tokyo. He already smatched up a Van Gogh, a Renoir, a Gauguin and a Monet in front of my nose and he wanted the egg, too.”

Helen nodded to DC Walker, who jotted the names down in his trusty notebook.

“And Rhonda Laurelski, the cosmetics queen, is always buying up the good pieces for her museum in New York. And of course there is the American barbarian, Sam Winslow…”

Helen raised a questioning eyebrow.

“Sam Winslow runs several casinos in Las Vegas,” Yevgeny Ivanov explained, “I have been there, for gambling. Winslow is rude, crude, crass, a typical American, if you know what I mean.”

Helen nodded, mentally moving Winslow to the top of her list. Not because he was a typically barbarian American, but because there seemed to be a lot of bad blood between him and Ivanov.

“He is also collector. Of course, Winslow cannot tell a Jackson Pollock from a finger painting…”

“That makes two of us,” Helen thought.

“…but he still thinks he knows art. He even has his own museum, in one of his casinos. Can you imagine a Rembrandt or a Vermeer on display in Las Vegas, surrounded by American vulgarity?”

Ivanov shuddered theatrically.

“He wanted to buy my Fabergé egg, even made me an offer. But I said, ‘No, you will get it over my dead body.’ He was angry then. Winslow does not like people who say no.”

But was Winslow the sort of person who would resort to theft to get what he wanted? Of course, the fact that the egg was stolen meant he could never display it in his casino museum, but would he care?

On the other hand, the inability to publicly display the egg would also rule out Rhonda Laurelski, the cosmetics queen of New York. Which left the Japanese collector and the Qatari prince.

Helen made a mental note to check out all of the rival collectors and see if any of them had ever been involved in or suspected of theft to order. Questioning, let alone charging them would still be a problem, though. They might even have to involve Interpol.

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov,” Helen said, “We will contact you if we have further questions.”

“This… this is all?” Yevgeny Ivanov sputtered, “You are not going to ask more questions.”

“Is it necessary to ask more questions, Mr. Ivanov?” Helen shot him a piercing glance. “Is there something you haven’t told us? Cause if there is, I suggest you tell us now.”

“What are you insinuating, Inspector?”

“Nothing,” Helen replied coolly, “You merely seem very eager to tell us something and I’m wondering what.”

“I… I have nothing to say, Inspector.” Ivanov defiantly crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I am just very interested in the status of your investigation.”

“Understandable, Mr. Ivanov,” Helen said, “However, I’m sure you’ll also understand that our investigation must remain confidential for now. Rest assured that when we locate the egg, you will be the first to know.”

Helen turned to Colin Simonson. “Mr. Simonson, might I have a word? Outside.”

Colin Simonson nodded. “Of course, Inspector.”

“Where… where are you going?” Mr Ivanov demanded.

“I’m going to continue my investigation by talking to Mr. Simonson and questioning Ms. Hart,” Helen said sweetly, “Unfortunately, you must remain in this room, while our forensics team is still working. However, Detective Constable Walker here will be pleased to fetch you a cup of coffee, while you wait.”

The Ivanovs glared at Helen, but said nothing.

***

“All right, so why exactly must I fetch coffee for the shouty Russian oligarch and his trophy wife?” DC Walker wanted to know as soon as they were outside.

“Because someone has to and I’m the senior officer.”

“You could always send Jackson,” DC Walker grumbled, “He’s the most junior member of the team.”

“Which is why he is currently guarding the entrance,” Helen countered, “You are of course welcome to relieve him.”

Colin Simonson cleared his throat. “Ahem, Inspector, you said you wanted a word. Because…” He glanced at his watch, which — though not nearly as pricey as Yevgeny Ivanov’s chronometer — was still rather nice. “…I have to write up my report on the theft for my employer.”

“I’ll only need a moment of your time…” Helen said, “…as well as your experience.”

Colin Simonson smiled. It was a very attractive smile. “Of course, Inspector. Cooperation is in our mutual interest.”

“I think we both agree that this was very likely a theft to order.”

“Indeed, we do,” Colin Simonson said, “An object like this — famous and in highly limited supply — is basically unsellable in the open market. And while the materials themselves do have a certain value, the artistic and historical value of the egg vastly eclipses it.”

“So what do you think of the various suspects Mr. Ivanov mentioned? How likely are they to be the mastermind behind this operation?”

“If you’re asking who’s capable of something like this, I’d say all of them. These are rabid collectors, Inspector, who are willing to do anything to get their hands onto a coveted object.”

“Including resorting to theft or at least ordering it?”

“I’d not just say they were capable of it, but that very likely they’ve all done it at one time or another.”

“What about the two who are operating museums?” Helen wanted to know, “Surely we can scratch them off the list. After all, they couldn’t display the egg publicly.”

“I still wouldn’t scratch them off the list,” Simonson said, “You see, Rhonda Laurelski primarily operates her museum as a fig leaf. Her modus operandi is to seek out works of questionable provenance in public museums and guilt the museums into returning those works to the heirs of those deemed the rightful owners. Then she turns around and buy those works up from the heirs for exorbitant sums to add them to her collection. There was a bit of a backlash about her basically removing notable works from public display, so she opened the museum. But don’t be mistaken. At her heart, she’s a collector, not a curator.

“And Sam Winslow?”

“He’s the typical American self-made man. Came from nothing, gambled his way to enough money to buy his first casino, gambled more, bought and built more casinos. He’s mainly a braggard, a show-off. He has his own museum for the same reason he has a zoo with tigers and lions and pandas on the premises of one of his casinos. To show off that he can.”

“What about the other two?” Helen wanted to know.

“Prince Hamid is very much like an overgrown kid in a toy store. He sees something and he wants it. And because he or rather his family is richer than God, he’s also willing to throw money at the problem, until someone gives him what he wants. If he’s denied his wish, he reacts very much like the kid that’s denied that third scoop of ice cream. He throws a tantrum.”

“They sound like lovely people, all of them,” Helen said dryly.

Colin Simonson shrugged apologetically. “Curse of my profession, I fear.”

“So what about the Japanese guy?”

“Hiroshi Nakamura is probably the quietest of them all. A tech billionaire with a serious fascination for European art. He’s been quietly buying up notable works at auctions all over the world for years to spirit them away to his private vault. None of the works in question have ever been seen again, once he’s bought them.”

“If you had to pick, which one of them would you say did it?”

Colin Simonson seemed to consider for a moment. “Winslow,” he finally said, “He’s got the balls to attempt something like this and the criminal contacts to pull it off. My second choice would be Nakamura, since there have been whispers about him having items stolen to order for years, though nothing ever stuck.”

“And the other two?”

“I wouldn’t exclude them completely, but this doesn’t really fit their modus operandi. Rhonda Laurelski would rather dig up a Romanov heir and persuade them to sue for restitution of the egg and Prince Hamid would simply throw money at the problem, until someone decided to sell.”

DC Walker was busily numbering and ranking the suspects in his trusty notebook. Helen smiled at Colin Simonson. “Thank you. You have been very helpful.”

Colin Simonson smiled back at her and yes, his smile was gorgeous. “Always happy to help the Met. You will keep me updated on the investigation, will you?”

“Of course.”

***

The kitchen was in the semi-basement or “garden floor” in modern estate agent parlance, the same place where it has been since Victorian times. Though it had been extensively remodelled since then and now looked like something that would be more at home in the TARDIS than in a Belgravia townhouse. As Charlotte Wong had said, the walls boasted a Warhol — the soup can, what else? — a Lichtenstein — young woman whining about her boyfriend in heavy pixelation — and a Mondrian — all black lines and rectangles in primary colours.

Eva Hart, the cleaning lady, provided a stark contrast to the artistic splendour around her. She was a short, unremarkable woman in her early thirties with mousy brown hair. The only thing colourful about her was her flowered work smock. She was clearly nervous, though Helen couldn’t say whether from guilt or just because suddenly finding yourself at the centre of a police investigation tended to make people twitchy.

At any rate, she was pacing the room. When Helen and DC Walker entered, she stopped and turned to face them, pale with worry.

“Ms. Hart? I’m Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and this is Detective Constable Kevin Walker.”

“Oh my God, I… I…”

“Do sit down please, Ms. Hart,” Helen said and pointed at the stools surrounding a granite-topped counter. Only then did she notice that one of the stools was already occupied by a little girl. She was drawing, quietly humming to herself.

“And you are…?” Helen asked the little girl.

It was Eva Hart who answered. “That’s my daughter Emily. I don’t normally bring her to work, but the kindergarten is closed because of measles and I didn’t know what to do with her.”

“It’s all right, Ms. Hart. My own niece is a few years older than Emily and I understand how hard such emergencies can be on working parents.”

Helen spotted a coffeemaker, one of those gleaming Italian machines, on the counter and turned to DC Walker. “Constable, maybe you could make that coffee we promised to Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov. And I guess Emily here would really enjoy a cup of hot chocolate.”

Emily finally looked up and beamed at Helen.

“Sure,” DC Walker grumbled, “Provided I can figure out how to work this thing.”

Helen turned back to Eva Hart. “So, Ms. Hart, for how long have you been working for the Ivanovs?”

“Six years this summer,” Eva Hart said.

“And what are they like as employers?” Helen wanted to know.

“They’re good bosses,” Eva said, “They pay well and even let me take time off when Emily was born. And they… they didn’t fire me when I almost cleaned away that rubbish in the corner that’s apparently a famous work of art by some German fellow.”

“So the Ivanovs never gave you any reason to be unhappy.”

Eva Hart shook her head. “No. I mean, I know many people like to believe the worst about Russians, particularly rich Russians. But the Ivanovs are not like that. They’re not mafiosi or anything. They’re good people. Or do you think I would bring my daughter here, if they weren’t?”

“The Ivanovs believe that you stole the egg,” Helen said.

“But I didn’t.” Eva shook her head emphatically. “I’m not a thief.”

“The Ivanovs have got a lot of very beautiful things in this house,” Helen said, “And you’ve come here every day for six long years. Surely it’s tempting to see all those pretty things every day, things you could never afford. And the Ivanovs have so much, surely they wouldn’t even miss one or two little things.”

“I don’t steal from my bosses,” Eva exclaimed, clearly agitated, “I may be poor, but I’m honest. And I’d never have taken that egg. I know how much it means to Mrs. Ivanov.”

From a corner of her eye, Helen noticed at the little girl Emily was twitching. Of course. Children were sensitive, after all, and Emily had obviously sensed her mother’s agitation. Time to do something about that.

“Calm down, Ms. Hart,” Helen said, “I actually believe you. But the fact is that there is still a very valuable object that has gone missing. And you are our best hope of finding it.”

“But I don’t know anything,” Eva Hart said, while her little daughter returned her attention to whatever it was she was drawing.

“Maybe you just don’t know what you know,” Helen pointed out, trying not to wince at the sight of DC Walker struggling with the Italian coffeemaker, “So why don’t you tell us in your own words what happened?”

“I… I came to work like every day,” Eva began hesitantly.

“Did someone follow you?”

“No. At least, I don’t think so.”

“So what happened then?”

“I switched off the master alarm system like every day. And since it’s Tuesday, that means it’s time to clean the downstairs parlour with all the artworks…”

“So you always clean the art room on Tuesdays?”

Eva Hart nodded. “I have a regular schedule about which rooms to clean on which day of the week.”

Which meant that the thief might have known when the alarm system would be switched off.

“Who knows about this schedule?”

Eva crooked her head, considering. “I don’t know. A few people. It’s not exactly a secret.”

“I’ll need a list of everybody who knows your schedule,” Helen said.

“Yes, of course.” Eva’s hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my God! Do you think one of them has stolen the egg?”

“Not necessarily. But I’d like to exclude them anyway.”

DC Walker emitted a curse, still struggling with the coffeemaker. The fact that Emily, the little girl, was avidly watching his every move didn’t seem to help either.

Helen just rolled her eyes. How bloody difficult could making a cup of coffee be, even on a machine that looked as if it belonged on the bridge of the Enterprise?

She forced herself to return her attention of Eva Hart. “Have you ever heard of Hiroshi Nakamura?”

Eva Hart shook her head. “I don’t know who that is.”

“Prince Hamid of Qatar?”

Eva Hart emitted a harsh laugh. “Do I look as if I know any princes?”

“How about Rhonda Laurelski?”

“That woman from Golden Laurel Cosmetics, you mean? I think I bought one of her lipsticks once. Bloody expensive and no better than the cheap stuff from Boots.”

“What about Sam Winslow? Do you know him?”

“Isn’t that the landlord of The Goose and the Gander pub in Tooting Broadway?”

Helen smiled. “Different Sam Winslow, I’m afraid. This guy is American. Owns a couple of casinos in Las Vegas.”

“Las Vegas…” Eva’s eyes grew distant. “I’d love to visit that city one day. Not going to happen in this lifetime though.” Her eyes narrowed. “Why are you asking me those questions?”

“All of the people I just asked you about are potential buyers for the stolen Fabergé egg.”

“Well, I don’t know any of them,” Eva Hart declared, “The Ivanovs are the only rich people I know.”

“So what happened after you switched off the master alarm?” Helen wanted to know.

“I went into the downstairs parlour and switched off the alarms there. Then I started working. I always dust the paintings first, then the statues and finally the objects in the display cases. And of course, I leave the rubbish in the corner alone, since it’s art.”

“That means you have to open the cases, doesn’t it?”

Eva Hart nodded. “All of the cases have a separate alarm code. I have to punch it in or they won’t open.”

“And then?”

“I was just dusting off the egg, when the phone rang.” Eva lowered her eyes. “I know I’m supposed to close the case and reset the alarm, when I take a break or something. But it was just a phone call. A single phone call.”

“Who was on the phone?” Helen wanted to know.

“Mrs. Ivanova’s sister. I had a bit of a problem finding out what she wanted. Her English isn’t very good, you see. Anyway, somehow I managed to make her understand that Mrs. Ivanova wasn’t in. Then I hung up, turned around and the egg was gone.”

“How long were you on the phone?”

“Not very long. Two, maybe three minutes.”

“And the door and windows were locked during this entire time?”

Eva nodded emphatically. “The Ivanovs say I must always lock the door when I’m working in the downstairs parlour for security reasons.”

“Did you see or hear anything, while you were on the phone? Anything out of the ordinary?”

“I was talking to a woman in Moscow who speaks very little English and trying to make out what she wanted. Oh yes, and I was taking notes, too.” She shook her head. “So no, I didn’t hear or see anything, cause I was kind of busy. All right, so I heard Emily playing, but that was more like background noise.”

Helen ears pricked up. “Your daughter was in the room at the time of the theft?”

Eva nodded. “Of course. I can’t possibly leave her alone in the house with all the precious and fragile things on display. Emily is a good kid, but… she’s still a kid.”

“You never mentioned that your daughter was in the room as well,” Helen said.

“I didn’t think it was important. I mean, she’s just a kid.”

“She’s also a witness,” Helen pointed out.

On cue, Emily decided to leave poor DC Walker, who had finally succeeded in making one cup of something that actually looked and smelled like coffee, alone. Instead, she watched Helen and her Mum intently.

“The kid knows something,” Helen thought, “She’s just too intimidated to talk.”

“Emily was quietly playing by herself,” Eva insisted, suddenly shifting into full-on maternal protection mode, “She was completely absorbed in her play. She didn’t see or hear anything.”

“I’d still like to talk to Emily, if I may.”

“Why? I told you she didn’t see anything.”

“But I’d like to hear that from Emily herself.”

“No.”

“Mum?” Emily asked, nibbling on a biscuit. So at least DC Walker had found the biscuit tin.

Helen leant across the counter until she was face to face with Eva Hart. “Ms. Hart, I know you’re worried about Emily and believe me, I understand.”

Eva Hart defensively crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Oh, so you understand me. Are you a mother, Inspector?”

Helen forced herself to be calm. “No, Ms. Hart, I’m not a mother, but I have a niece who’s only a little older than Emily. So believe me, I have experience with children, including questioning young children.”

Eva didn’t uncross her arms. “I still don’t like it,” she said.

“But Emily might be our best chance at finding out what really happened and recovering the egg. And you do want the Ivanovs to get their egg back, don’t you?”

“Yes, of course, but…”

“What is more, Emily’s testimony could also help to exonerate you from any involvement in the theft.”

Eva Hart narrowed her eyes. “You drive a hard bargain, you know?”

Helen shrugged. “All part of the job.”

“Ahem, boss…” DC Walker interjected, “I’m finished with the coffee now. Should I take it up to the Ivanovs?”

Helen suppressed a sigh. “Yes, please do so, Constable.”

“And the hot chocolate?”

“I’ll make it.”

“He’s actually a very good investigator,” Helen said to Eva Hart, once DC Walker had left with two mugs of steaming coffee, “But unfortunately he seems to be completely unable to operate a coffeemaker.”

“Oh, I can never figure out how to work that thing either,” Eva said, “So I don’t even try, I just bring a thermos.” She turned to her daughter. “Emily? Would you please come over here?”

“Yes, Mum,” Emily said and trotted over.

“Emily, the Inspector here would like to ask you a few questions.”

Emily eyed Helen warily. Time to put the kid at ease.

So Helen crouched down until she was at Emily’s eye level. “Hi Emily. I’m Helen and I’m with the police. Do you want a cup of hot chocolate?”

Emily nodded.

“All right, so let’s see if we can make this machine work.”

Helen got up and walked over to the counter with the coffeemaker. Emily obediently followed her.

Figuring out how to get it to make hot milk was easy enough, since there was a button labelled “hot milk”. Figuring out where to find a suitable mug was a bit more difficult, but not very much, since DC Walker had already found the mugs while making coffee for the Ivanovs. The chocolate part, however, was a problem, since the Ivanovs did not seem to own cocoa powder. Or if they did, they didn’t store it in any logical place.

With a sigh, Helen reached into a pocket of her jacket to withdraw her bar of Marks & Spencer Swiss dark chocolate, which she’d saved for dessert. She broke off a generous chunk and dumped it into the mug. Then she shoved the mug under the machine, pressed the respective button and poured hot milk on top.

“That’s a funny way to make hot chocolate,” Emily remarked.

“There’s plenty of ways of making hot chocolate,” Helen replied, “And this is mine.”

She found a spoon, stirred the melting dark chocolate into the hot milk and handed the mug to Emily. “Here you are, sweetheart.”

Emily took a cautious sip. “It’s bitter,” she announced.

“Maybe we need some sugar.” Helen looked around her and actually did find a sugar pot. She took a lump and stirred it into Emily’s hot chocolate. “Better?”

Emily took another sip and smiled. “Better.”

Helen crouched down again. “So Emily, do you know why I’m here?”

“Because everybody is upset?”

“Right. And do you know why everybody is so upset?”

Emily nodded. “Because the pretty Easter egg has gone missing.”

Well, that was certainly an apt description.

“Right. The pretty Easter egg has gone missing. But the Easter egg is not just pretty, it’s also very, very valuable. And that’s why Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov want it back.”

Emily nodded thoughtfully. “Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov have many pretty things,” she said, “I really like the stick man, too.”

Another apt description, this time of the Giacometti sculpture in the art room.

“He’s so funny. But Mummy says I mustn’t touch the stick man or the other pretty things.”

“Your Mummy is right,” Helen said, “Because all of those pretty things are worth a whole lot of money.”

“How much money?” Emily wanted to know, “A hundred pounds?”

Helen shook her head. “No. A lot more than that.”

Emily’s eyes went wide. “Wow!”

“So when you went to work with your Mummy today, did you notice anything strange?” Helen wanted to know.

Emily took a gulp of chocolate. “Like what?”

“I don’t know. People following you. People who were just weird.”

Emily bit her lip. “No,” she said finally.

“And when you came here, what happened?”

Emily took a sip of hot chocolate.

“First, Mum cleaned the bedroom and the bathroom. Then we went into the room with the stick man and the pretty Easter egg and the other funny things.”

“Was there anybody else in the house except Mummy and you?”

Emily shook her head.

“So what happened when Mummy and you went into the room with the stick man and the egg?”

“Mummy started cleaning and I played with My Little Pony toys.”

“My Little Pony, huh?” Helen said, “I have a niece who’s a few years older than you and she loves that programme, too. So which pony is your favourite?”

“Twilight Sparkle,” Emily said without a second of hesitation.

“Good choice”, Helen said, “I’ll tell you a secret. Twilight Sparkle is my niece’s favourite pony, too.”

Not that Helen had any idea which pastel-coloured pony Olivia preferred — they all looked the same to her. But then Emily didn’t know that.

“Do you remember that the phone rang while you and your Mum were in that room?”

Emily took another sip of hot chocolate and nodded.

“Do you also remember what happened next?”

Emily nodded again. “Mum answered the phone. She talked very loud, because the other person couldn’t understand her. Then she hung up and screamed.”

“Do you know why she screamed?”

“Because the pretty Easter egg was gone.”

“When the phone rang, did you see anybody else in the room with you and your Mum?”

Emily shook her head.

“Did you hear anything?”

Emily shook her head again.

“Do you know what happened to the pretty Easter egg?”

Emily chewed her lip, thinking hard. “M… maybe the Easter Bunny hid it?”

Helen suppressed a sigh and imagined giving out a description of the suspect to the media. “The suspect has white or light brown fur, long floppy ears and an unnatural fondness for carrots and eggs.” Yeah, right.

On the other hand, she and her team had solved a case involving a robber dressed up as Father Christmas last winter. And if Father Christmas could turn to a life of crime, then why not the Easter Bunny?

“Did you see the Easter Bunny take the egg?”

Emily shifted from one foot to another, clearly uncomfortable. “You can’t see the Easter Bunny,” she whispered, “Or it wouldn’t be a secret.”

All right, so the suspect was not just a bunny, but an invisible bunny. This case was getting weirder by the minute.

On the other hand, Helen was pretty certain that Emily had seen something and was so disturbed by whatever had happened that she blamed everything on invisible bunnies instead. But what? Had she seen her mother take the egg? Or something else?

“Emily, you know that you must always tell the truth to the police, do you?”

Emily nodded, her cheeks flushed the colour of rosy apples. So she was hiding something.

“So have you really told me everything that happened today?”

Emily bit her lip and looked down at her feet. “But it’s a secret.”

“For God’s sake, Emily, if you know something, please say so,” Eva Hart demanded. Helen shot her a withering glare and she shut up.

“But you can’t keep secrets from the police,” Helen said to the little girl, keeping her voice calm and friendly.

“Why?” Emily wanted to know.

“Because the police must know everybody’s secrets, if necessary. That’s how we solve crimes.”

Emily looked even more uncomfortable. “Will… will something bad happen to the Easter Bunny for taking the egg?” she wanted to know, “Will he go to prison?”

Helen shook her head. “Don’t worry, we wouldn’t lock up the Easter Bunny. After all, he’s still needed. Though he would get a very stern lecture about taking eggs that don’t belong to him.”

Emily was still chewing on her lower lip. “And if it wasn’t the Easter Bunny?”

All right, so they were getting somewhere.

“Well, that depends…”

“On what?”

“On why whoever took the egg took it. If that person sells the egg or keeps it for themselves, then they will go to prison. If they give it back, they probably won’t.”

“And if it was an accident?” Emily whispered, still unable to meet Helen’s eyes.

“What sort of accident?”

“Maybe the egg just got lost,” Emily suggested.

“Well, if the egg just got lost, then no crime was committed, because getting lost is not a crime.”

“And no one will go to prison?”

“No crime, no prison,” Helen said, “That’s the way it works.”

Emily emitted an audible sigh of relief.

“But you must tell me where the egg is, Emily.”

Emily’s eyes were still cast down on the floor. “It’s under the sofa,” she whispered.

All right, so that was… unexpected.

Helen held out her hand. “Can you show me?”

Emily nodded. She set down her mug on the counter, took Helen’s hand and led her back into the art room. Eva Hart followed, near shaking with worry.

***

In the art room, Charlotte Wong was still dusting the now empty display case for fingerprints. She looked up when the door opened.

“Uhm, Inspector, I’m not finished yet.”

“That’s all right, Ms. Wong. Emily here wants to show us something.”

Helen crouched down again. “Emily, where’s the egg?”

Emily crossed the room, all eyes on her. She stopped in front of a white sofa and dropped to her knees. “There,” she said, pointing under the sofa.

“Ms. Wong, could you take a look?”

Charlotte dropped to her knees next to Emily and bent down, until her chin almost touched the carpet, and shone the beam of her torch under the sofa.

“I can see something, Inspector,” she announced, “Wait a minute.” She reached underneath the sofa, emitted a few groans and finally pulled something out.

“Wow!” she exclaimed, as she held up the object in triumph.

The egg was about the size of those big chocolate Easter eggs filled with candy and it was really very pretty. It was chequered in dark red and white and studded with pearls and topped by a golden crown.

“I… I have no idea how…” Eva Hart sputtered.

“Emily, do you want to tell us something?”

Emily shook her head.

“Emily, please!” Eva exclaimed.

“How did the egg get under the sofa?” Helen wanted to know.

“The Easter Bunny…?”

Helen took a deep breath. “Emily, I happen to know for a fact that the Easter Bunny is a very busy bunny. Much too busy to play pranks and hide Fabergé eggs.”

“I… When the phone rang and Mummy talked to that woman, I took the egg. I just wanted to take a look at it and put it back, honest. But then I dropped it and it rolled under the sofa. And before I could get it out, Mummy finished talking on the phone and then she screamed.”

“Why didn’t you tell me what happened?” Eva Hart demanded, clearly agitated.

Emily lowered her eyes. “Because you were so upset and I thought you’d be angry with me, because I wasn’t supposed to touch the egg. And I thought Mr. and Mrs. Ivanov would find the egg on Easter and then they’d think the Easter Bunny hid it and everything would be okay.”

The little girl turned to Helen, eyes full of fear.

“Will I have to go to prison, because I lost the egg?”

Helen shook her head. “No, you won’t have to go to prison.” She smiled. “In fact, I think the Ivanovs and Lloyd’s of London owe you a very large cup of ice cream.”

The End

I hope you enjoyed this installment of First Monday Free Fiction. Check back next month, when there will be a new story available.

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for March 2019

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 authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have epic fantasy, urban fantasy, historical fantasy, sword and sorcery, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, space opera, military science fiction, hard science fiction, dark science fiction, dystopian fiction, steampunk, cyberpunk, witches, ghosts, werewolves, dragons, galactic empires, space smugglers, asteroid miners, slaves, dying worlds, dead girls, last minute rescues 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:

Holly Cottage by Shelley Adina:

Buying a cottage is not as easy as you’d think. Especially if you’re a man with a past … in love with a woman with a future.

Maggie Polgarth astonishes everyone at Carrick House when, in a bid for independence, she buys a plot of land and a cottage near Vauxhall Gardens. From one decision, change ripples outward in the flock. Maggie transfers her scientific studies from Munich to London, leaving Lizzie behind. Two of the street sparrows leave the Malverns’ protection to go with her to her new home. And most significant of all, she meets a man who is not only well educated but also kind and handsome.

But the south bank gangs have not forgotten the Lady of Devices. If they cannot touch her, it’s only a matter of time before they take their revenge on someone closer to hand. Jake Fletcher McTavish will risk his own life before he allows anyone to harm a hair on Maggie’s head. He’s not afraid of the gangs and he’s a dab hand in a fight. But how can he show Maggie that his feelings run deeper than those of a brother? And how can he protect her when she seems to prefer the company of her new suitor—a man who is everything Jake is not?

If you like old-fashioned adventure, brave women, clever children, and strong-willed chickens, you’ll love this short story set in the Magnificent Devices steampunk world. Fangs for the Fantasy says, “The backbone of this great series is and has always been the characters. Their issues, their layers, their complexity, their solid relationships and their loyalties all elevate a good book to a really great one.”

The Forest of the Hanged by Richard Blakemore and Cora Buhlert

According to the laws of the Rhadur, whenever one of their own is killed in one of the cities they have conquered, twelve citizens chosen at random must die in turn. Now the Rhadur governor of Greyvault has been murdered and in retaliation, his successor plans to hang twelve innocent maidens.

One of the women to be hanged is Lysha, the childhood sweetheart of Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. When Meldom learns of Lysha’s fate, he immediately sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his friends Thurvok, the sellsword, and the sorceress Sharenna…

This is a short story of 6500 words or 24 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

[image error] Moonshine & Murder by Kathleen Brooks:

Zoey Mathers had everything going for her until one night she lost her biggest client, her job, and her reputation. Leaving her life up to fate, Zoey closed her eyes and pointed. She would serve out her career exile in the small mountain town of Moonshine Hollow where moonshine flowed as freely as a mountain stream.

Giving up the law to become a baker in Moonshine Hollow turned out to be the best thing Zoey had ever done. She was happy and enjoying life in her new small town. But Zoey should have learned the first time . . . one night can change your whole life.

After unknowingly crashing a battle between witches, Zoey accidentally becomes a witch herself. That’s all before Zoey stumbles over a murder victim and the town’s sheriff becomes involved. Now she’s trying to find a murderer, stop two old witches from playing matchmaker, and learning she’s way more than a mere accidental witch.

And that’s all before fate turns up one more sexy hunk of a twist…

[image error] Seraphina’s Lament by Sarah Chorn:

The world is dying.

The Sunset Lands are broken, torn apart by a war of ideology paid for with the lives of the peasants. Drought holds the east as famine ravages the farmlands. In the west, borders slam shut in the face of waves of refugees, dooming all of those trying to flee to slow starvation, or a future in forced labor camps. There is no salvation.

In the city of Lord’s Reach, Seraphina, a slave with unique talents, sets in motion a series of events that will change everything. In a fight for the soul of the nation, everyone is a player. But something ominous is calling people to Lord’s Reach and the very nature of magic itself is changing. Paths will converge, the battle for the Sunset Lands has shifted, and now humanity itself is at stake.

First, you must break before you can become.

Vultures by Mike Coville:

When games of politics put the lives of deep space miner crews in danger, a coalition of captains organizes a resistance.

The crew of the DSM Boone are still reeling from being the target of a saboteur and the loss of a friend, but Captain Greg Daniels pushes them back out for lasso another asteroid. Will this break their spirit and cause a mutiny?

Computer specialist Zayna Watson doesn’t know who she can trust. Her world is being thrown into a roller-coaster ride of adventure, betrayal, and self-discovery. Will she stand with the one man that has given her all her opportunities, or is the evidence against him shown to her by an underground resistance movement convince her to bring down her mentor?

As a conspiracy is uncovered and alliances are being formed, who will be at the top when the dust settles?

[image error] Hello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietro:

Jennika died under suspicious circumstances and her memories were uploaded for investigation. Somehow, they didn’t upload her memories alone. They uploaded her consciousness, too.

As she struggles within a perplexing computer network environment to find out how she died, she must also come to grips with the nature of her existence. Her body died, but she sure hasn’t. What does it mean to be alive, then?

She wants to talk to her friends and family, but they might not accept her. Before she can even try to reconnect with them, she has to get the people on the outside to recognize that she’s a real person, trapped inside technology.

She needs to establish a hello protocol–a way of establishing communication.

This story is like nothing you’ve read before. It’s Altered Carbon meets Gone Girl inside a digital environment. It will challenge you, then thrill you, then leave you wanting more. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you explore this fascinating new technological existence with Jennika.

Wicked Delight by Lily Harper Hart:

Ivy Morgan and Jack Harker don’t have many complaints.

Things are good, life is quiet, and the only big thing on their to-do lists is picking a date for their wedding, which is exactly what they’re doing when a local celebutante approaches with an offer for Jack to be on a dating show.

He turns her down flat and goes on his way, but the next morning, she’s found dead and the list of suspects is endless thanks to the production landing smackdab in the middle of Shadow Lake.

Ivy doesn’t like having Hollywood on her doorstep. Jack is even worse, especially when he realizes the producers want Ivy to step in and take the dead heiress’s spot in the limelight. The idea of cameras following Ivy when magical things keep happening around her is enough to paralyze the couple … and then force them to run to avoid the harsh glare of the viewing public.

Jack and Ivy have a lot on their plates. They have to solve a murder, figure out what the witch in the woods is trying to tell them when it comes to the nature of the human soul, and pick a wedding date.

It’s all in a day’s work for Shadow Lake’s favorite couple. If they live to survive the dark force descending on their town, that is. They’ll have to work together to overcome imminent evil … but they’re used to that, of course.

The Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi Holmes:

A Valentine’s Day Wedding at Marlow House?

Love is in the air—along with secrets—some are deadlier than others.

Will secrets from Clint Marlow’s past come back to haunt Walt and Danielle?

 

 

The Well of Time by Robert I. Katz:

Michael Glover, a military genius of the First Empire awakened from cold sleep after two thousand years, has spearheaded the Second Empire’s efforts against the Imperium.

But once the Imperium is defeated, it becomes apparent that the war is not over.

Second Empire ships are still being hijacked and Second Empire citizens sold into slavery. Spies and saboteurs continue to bore from within.

The Empire has enemies and those enemies are more powerful than the Second Empire can imagine.

Michael Glover and his crew are determined to discover the source of the conspiracy but before they can do so, a fleet of advanced ships, as large and as dangerous as the ships of the Second Empire, pose a new challenge to the Imperial worlds.

As the Empire teeters on the brink, Michael Glover must search for the final clue at the hidden Well of Time.

Lunar Escape by C.P. MacDonald:

A mysterious secret society. A corrupt Governor. Can a simple smuggler stop the destruction of the moon?

Captain Calin Aku smuggles contraband and people from the cesspool of Earth to the Moon cities aboard his ship the Sea Rover. He leads and protects his small crew, pulling off heists and diving into adventures.

With a new client, the crew of the Sea Rover find themselves in a battle against a corrupt Governor and allied with a secret society hidden from humanity for a thousand years. Calin has no choice but to take action and to be more than a rogue outlaw. Can he defeat an all-powerful government to save his crew and the citizens of the Moon?

[image error] SYNTH #1: An Anthology of Dark SF, edited by C.M. Muller:

SYNTH is a new anthology series of dark SF published quarterly, with each issue containing eight thought-provoking visions of the future . . . tales of utopia and dystopia, of inner and outer space; tales that are bleak, tales that are bold . . .

ISSUE #1 features the dark visions of Dan Stintzi, Steve Toase, Virginie Sélavy, Charles Wilkinson, Farah Rose Smith, Jeffrey Thomas, Christopher K. Miller, and Joanna Koch. It is edited by CM Muller, creator of the award-winning Nightscript anthology series.

If you are a fan of Black Mirror, Philip K. Dick, J.G. Ballard, Alphaville, and the like, then SYNTH may well be your next literary fix.

Cloaked by Vanessa Nelson:

The world itself in peril.

Arrow’s sleep is being disturbed by nightmares that she cannot remember when awake. Her days are spent trying to build her new, simple, life in the human world and helping the shape-changers track down the last conspirators that tried to destroy the Erith.

But the Erith want her help one last time. The Erith heartland needs a new monarch, and the Erith require Arrow’s presence for the selection.

Nothing is that simple, though, and Arrow finds herself dealing with betrayal that could tear the heartland apart. She will need all her skills, and the help of the few people she trusts, to prevent the destruction of the heartland, and the world.

Draft of Dragons by T.S. Paul:

Suspended for political reasons Agatha and her team have returned to her home to rest and recuperate. But still another war looms on the horizon. The Draconic Empire is making it’s move towards earth. They’ve worked behind the scenes to disrupt any and all that stand before them. But Agatha is still alive and she and the Blackmore Coven are prepared. Whatever comes through the Garden Gate will trigger a war. Is America and Earth ready for it?

 

 

[image error] Malarat by Jessica Rydill:

The Duc de Malarat wants to conquer the Kingdom of Lefranu. In his army ride the ruthless and fanatical Domini Canes, warrior monks of the Inquisition who have forged a secret weapon to cripple the power of the shamans.

But when Malarat’s eldest son challenges a stranger to a duel, he sets in motion a terrifying train of events. For the stranger is Malchik Vasilyevich, now a man; and his sister Annat stands with her allies and the Railway People as a fully-trained shaman, prepared to defend the city of Yonar from Malarat’s army.

But Malchik and Annat will face foes much worse than the Duc de Malarat, even as the struggle that began in Lefranu spreads to the spirit world and beyond.

Wolf at the Door by Hollis Shiloh:

Devin has a lot to prove.

Rickey is just here for the free food.

Devin’s here to get a wolf shifter as a partner. The short, loud redhead intends to be the best cop in his class and doesn’t care if he gets on everyone’s nerves in the process. He loves fancy sports cars and has a competitive nature.

Rickey likes the van life and living by his own terms. But times have been tight for the wolf shifter lately, and signing up for this course seems like an easy way to keep the wolf from the door. All the free food he can eat, if he sits through some classes. What could go wrong?

The two guys have chemistry, despite being so different. They could be friends at least, maybe partners. But there’s an underlying sexual chemistry that’s getting harder and harder to ignore…

Trapped on Vkani by Aurora Springer:

Marooned on a desolate planet, joining forces with the enemy is their only hope.

Maya Pandita spent years preparing for an expedition to the Deadlands. But her dreams of unearthing ancient artifacts are shattered when her shuttle is buried by a violent sandstorm, and her team is abducted by the scaled inhabitants of the planet. Maya and her companions must try to outwit their blue captor and call for help before they die in the toxic atmosphere.

Sa Vittaran has a problem in his claws. Along with treasures from the ruins, he has retrieved three smooth-skinned foreigners. He cannot leave them to die in the desert. Yet the puny creatures have little value as workers, except perhaps for the impudent woman who claims to be their leader. Her knowledge of the ancient script will be an asset if she can survive the long trek to his house.

An attack by marauders forces Maya and the Blue leader into a wary alliance. They must work together to thwart the bandits and reunite their company. Can Maya convince Sa Vittaran to help her team? If she fails, they are doomed to a short unpleasant life on the desolate, war-torn planet.

Shield of Terra by Glynn Stewart:

The mother, ruler of an entire world

Sent to the heart of an old enemy to build a new peace

The daughter, officer of a deadly warship

Sent to the darkness to find the new enemy hunting them all

A dozen inhabited worlds of the Kanzi Theocracy and the A!Tol Imperium are ash. Millions of sentients of a dozen species are dead, including humans from the brand-new colonies built under the Imperium’s watch. Despite the losses, the strange Taljzi fanatics have been defeated—but everything suggests that more will be coming.

The Empress of the A!Tol has resolved that the cold war between A!Tol and Kanzi must end. She sends Duchess Annette Bond to the heart of the Kanzi Theocracy to negotiate a new alliance.

Elsewhere, Bond’s stepdaughter Morgan Casimir and the battleship Bellerophon are sent into the darkness beyond known space to see what they can learn about the Taljzi.

As they uncover old secrets of new enemies and new secrets of old enemies the fate of humanity and five dozen other races hangs on the actions of mother and daughter alike!

Smuggler by J.A. Sutherland:

There are ‘nice’ jobs that come my way, and there are profitable jobs that come my way. Now, these things do, on occasion, come along inside each other’s orbits – but it’s more of a cometary sort of thing, if you take my meaning.

Avrel Dansby is troubled.

He knew, going in, that the life of a smuggler would be filled with disreputable sorts – still, he’d like to imagine there are some jobs out there he can stomach without the desire nuke his client from orbit.

Rules of Redemption by T.A. White:

The war everyone thought was over is just beginning.

Kira Forrest is a survivor. She’s risen above the pain of her beginnings to become a war hero only to leave it all behind in the pursuit of a simple life. Now a salvager, she makes a living sifting through the wreckage of dead alien ships from a war that nearly brought humanity to its knees.

After her ship takes damage, she’s forced to re-route to a space station where her past and present collide with dangerous consequences.

Kira’s existence holds the key to a faltering peace treaty with the Tuann—a technologically advanced alien race who dislikes and distrusts all humans. Winning her freedom should be easy, but a powerful and relentless Tuann warrior stands in her way. Deceiving him seems impossible, especially when he strays dangerously close to secrets she struggles to hide.

Can Kira reconcile the pain of her past with the possibilities of her future? The fate of two races depends on her success.

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Two New Thurvok Stories and a New Silencer Story

This is a triple new release announcement, partly because I was ill and partly because certain retailers are really dragging their feet in getting the books up. Still, better late than never.

While I was ill, Richard Blakemore has certainly been busy, because we published two more stories in the newly launched Thurvok series as well as a new Silencer adventure.

For those who don’t know or remember, Richard Blakemore is the protagonist of my Silencer series, a pulp fiction writer in 1930s New York who moonlights (quite literally) as the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer. As for how Richard Blakemore, who’s fictional after all, can write books – well, he can’t. I’m writing them for him.

The full story of how the Thurvok stories came to be may be found here (my version) and here (Richard’s version). The short version is that during the 2018 July short story challenge, I found myself writing several sword and sorcery stories about a wandering sellsword named Thurvok and his growing number of travel companions. Those stories were a lot of fun to write and since I know that Richard Blakemore was an avid reader of Weird Tales and a fan of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories and C.L. Moore’s Jirel of Joiry, the idea to pass off the Thurvok stories as Richard Blakemore’s lost sword and sorcery series from the 1930s with myself as the editor who rediscovered them was born.

In his first two adventures, Thurvok quickly found a friend and companion in Meldom – thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. In the two stories that follow, our dynamic duo becomes a quartet, as both Thurvok and Meldom find partners.

Even though the beginnings of the sword and sorcery genre birthed several warrior heroines (Jirel of Joiry, most notably, but also Robert E. Howard’s various heroines such as Red Sonya of Rogatino, Dark Agnes de Chastillon or Bêlit) and one of the originators of the genre was a woman, the genre’s record with regard to women isn’t all that great, particularly in the first forty years or so. Sword and sorcery heroes are loners and wanderers by nature and romantically, they tend to be the “love ’em and leave ’em” type or rather the “rescue ’em, love ’em and leave ’em” type. Sword and sorcery heroes do tend have a romantic streak and occasionally, they fall in love deeply and truly. In those cases, the woman (and it always is a woman for the first few decades – the homoerotic implications of the genre wouldn’t be acknowledged until much, much later) will either die (Fafhrd and Gray Mouser’s first loves, who die tragically on the night the two heroes first meet, and Conan’s Bêlit) or otherwise turn out to be completely unsuitable. My favourite twist on this is, “I love her deeply and truly, but unfortunately she is an evil rat hybrid princess who is the wrong size for me and has also tried to kill me repeatedly and wants to take over the world, too”, which happened to Fritz Leiber‘s Gray Mouser in the latter Lankhmar stories. There are longterm stable romantic relationships in sword and sorcery such as Simon R. Green’s Hawk and Fisher (and even the notoriously unlucky in love Fafhrd and Gray Mouser eventually wind up in stable relationships, though not with the evil rat princess), but that’s not what the genre is normally known for.

One of the main problems of the July short story challenge is coming up with inspiration for 31 different stories in 31 days, so I occasionally use shortcuts like various writing prompts, inspirational images, etc… And during last year’s challenge, one of the things I did was draw a Tarot card and use that as a writing prompt. I drew the Eight of Swords, but rather than use the meaning of the card as a prompt (though that did filter into the story eventually), I instead used the image as a prompt and asked myself: Who is the woman? Why is she tied up? What is happening here?

Once I had those answers, I realised that this looked like another adventure for Thurvok and Meldom, one where they get to rescue a damsel in distress, though this particular damsel proves to be remarkably useful. If you want to know more, read…

The Road of Skeletons

[image error]On their way to the northern city of Khon Orzad, Thurvok, the sellsword, and his friend Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin, travel along a road lined with the skeletons of executed heretics.

It’s a grim path that becomes even grimmer when Thurvok and Meldom come upon a blindfolded woman who is still very much alive tied to a stake by the side of the road.

Should they continue their journey or rescue the woman and risk the wrath of the priest kings of Khon Orzad…

This is a short story of 5500 words or 20 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

More information.

Length: 5500 words

List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP

Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

Since Thurvok had taken a liking to Sharenna, the damsel in question, and she had nowhere else to go anyway, I simply sent her travelling with Thurvok and Meldom, who was still single for the time being. That changed a few days later, when – still during the July short story challenge – I looked through abandoned story starts to see if anything struck a spark. And so I came across a page or so of what was supposed to be a historical adventure romance loosely based on the legend of the burghers of Calais, only that the burghers were young women. I had abandoned the story, because I couldn’t figure out how to make it work, because either I’d have to rely on terrible people suddenly deciding not to be quite so terrible after all (which is what happened with the burghers of Calais according to the legend) or I’d somehow have to make an all-out suicidal assault on a superior force work or I could maybe rescue one young women and hang the rest. None of those options really worked, so I shelved the story. But when I dug it up again, I realised that magic could make the story work – I’d only have to turn it into a fantasy story. And then I thought, “Hey, I have just the right team to solve this problem.”

Of course, Thurvok and his friends needed to reason to intervene and so I upped the stakes by making one of the young women to be hanged Meldom’s childhood sweetheart. The story pretty much wrote itself after that. So if you want to know how I resolved the dilemma of saving the female burghers of Calais – pardon, Greyvault – read…

The Forest of the Hanged

[image error]According to the laws of the Rhadur, whenever one of their own is killed in one of the cities they have conquered, twelve citizens chosen at random must die in turn. Now the Rhadur governor of Greyvault has been murdered and in retaliation, his successor plans to hang twelve innocent maidens.

One of the women to be hanged is Lysha, the childhood sweetheart of Meldom, thief, cutpurse and occasional assassin. When Meldom learns of Lysha’s fate, he immediately sets out to rescue her, accompanied by his friends Thurvok, the sellsword, and the sorceress Sharenna…

This is a short story of 6500 words or 24 print pages in the Thurvok sword and sorcery series, but may be read as a standalone. Includes an introduction and afterword.

More information.

Length: 6500 words

List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP

Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

And for the record, I am aware that three of four Thurvok stories so far feature walking undead bodies of some kind. I have no idea how this theme came to be, especially since I don’t particularly care for zombies or other variations of the undead. But then the beauty of the July short story challenge is that sometimes, certain themes just show up out of the blue. And this time around, walking undead corpses betn on revenge was one of them.

But Richard Blakemore hasn’t just been busy writing sword and sorcery stories. He still has a crimefighting career going on as well. And since Richard was very much on my mind due to writing his author bio, setting up a blog and a Twitter account for him and even filling out a Smashwords interview in his persona, it was no big surprise that I also found myself with an idea for a new Silencer story.

And since I was also setting up the round-ups of Valentine’s Day themed speculative fiction and mysteries and crime fiction at the time, I suddenly thought, “You know what would be fun? A Valentine’s  Day Silencer story.”

Of course, the problem was that this thought occurred to me literally five days before Valentine’s Day. And so the question was, Would I be able to finish the story in time?

In the end, I made it – though barely – but because of the slowness of certain retailers that shall not be named, I had to delay the official announcement. And then I got sick.

So, somewhat belatedly, see the Silencer save a young man’s marriage proprosal and enjoy a Valentine’s Day dinner with Richard and Constance:

A Valentine for the Silencer

[image error]Valentine’s Day 1938: All Richard Blakemore a.k.a. the masked crimefighter known only as the Silencer wants is to have a romantic dinner with his beautiful fiancée Constance Allen.

But on his way to his date, Richard happens upon a mugging in progress. Can he save the victim and make sure that young Thomas Walden has the chance to propose to his girlfriend? And will he make it to dinner with Constance on time?

This is a short Valentine’s Day story of 5500 words or approx. 20 print pages in the Silencer series, but may be read as a standalone.

More information.

Length: 7200 words

List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP

Buy it at Amazon US, Amazon UK, Amazon Germany, Amazon France, Amazon Netherlands, Amazon Spain, Amazon Italy, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australia, Amazon Brazil, Amazon Japan, Amazon India, Amazon Mexico, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Apple iTunes, Google Play, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

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Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for March 2019

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 speculative fiction by indie authors newly published this month, though some February books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have plenty of cozy mysteries, small town mysteries, culinary mysteries, traditional mysteries, historical mysteries, Victorian mysteries, Jazz Age mysteries, paranormal mysteries, crime thrillers, psychological thrillers, science fiction thrillers, police procedurals, romantic suspense, private investigators, amateur sleuths, serial killers, assassins, reporters, gamblers, missing children, crime-busting witches, crime-busting ghosts, crime-busting actresses, crime-busting bakers, crime-busting watchmakers, murderous mommy bloggers, sinister going-ons in suburbia, murder in the Cotswolds, London, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Knoxville, Tennessee, 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:

The Cheater’s Game by C.J. Archer:

The arrival of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show in London brings trouble. When the sharpshooter who beats Willie at poker is murdered, Matt and India investigate. Willie is convinced the victim cheated, but no one knows how until India discovers his secret – he was a paper magician.

When their list of suspects grows to include a member of the mysterious magic Collector’s Club, they uncover a spy. But who is he working for? And what does his employer want?

As danger circles, secrets are revealed, and India struggles to keep her own secret hidden from Matt. But when her grandfather introduces her to a man who can change her life, India must decide if she wants her life to change at all.

An Invitation to Murder by A.G. Barnett:

Mary Blake had it all.

Actress, icon and darling of the nation, she was the queen of TV crime drama.

Then she turned fifty.

When replaced on the show by a younger woman, she thinks her days in the limelight are over when an invitation to a murder mystery party from an old friend throws her back into the public eye. This time as a murder suspect.

After playing a detective for years, Mary must now become one as she tries to prove her innocence with the help of her puppy-like brother and her surprisingly useful friend and assistant, Dot.

[image error] Moonshine & Murder by Kathleen Brooks:

Zoey Mathers had everything going for her until one night she lost her biggest client, her job, and her reputation. Leaving her life up to fate, Zoey closed her eyes and pointed. She would serve out her career exile in the small mountain town of Moonshine Hollow where moonshine flowed as freely as a mountain stream.

Giving up the law to become a baker in Moonshine Hollow turned out to be the best thing Zoey had ever done. She was happy and enjoying life in her new small town. But Zoey should have learned the first time . . . one night can change your whole life.

After unknowingly crashing a battle between witches, Zoey accidentally becomes a witch herself. That’s all before Zoey stumbles over a murder victim and the town’s sheriff becomes involved. Now she’s trying to find a murderer, stop two old witches from playing matchmaker, and learning she’s way more than a mere accidental witch.

And that’s all before fate turns up one more sexy hunk of a twist…

Tainted Love by Stacy Claflin:

A mommy blogger gone bad…

Jess McAdams dotes on her four children and gives advice and suggestions to parents all around the world. No one would ever question her love and devotion to her children, let alone suspect her of murdering one.

But Alex Mercer does.

Alex has plenty of experience investigating crimes involving missing kids. So when he senses something is wrong, he trusts his instincts. The only problem is, he’s a newly deputized officer of the law. If he’s wrong about Jess, he’ll destroy his career before it gets off the ground.

He receives a tip that Jess has suddenly stopped posting about one of her children. It’s almost as if he never existed, except her old blog posts show otherwise. The deeper Alex digs, the more twisted and sinister things look. His precinct’s resources would be invaluable to his investigation, but his commanding officer isn’t convinced the case is local and turns him down. And Alex doesn’t have the evidence to sway his captain—yet.

His only chance at finding the proof he needs is by using the resources he’s been denied. But Alex will stop at nothing until he finds the mommy blogger and saves the children he knows are in danger—even at the risk of losing his dream job—because he knows he’s right. And with young lives on the line, there’s a lot more at stake than his career.

[image error] The Perfect Neighbourhood by Jo Crow:

The perfect neighborhood, the perfect neighbors, the perfect trap…

New mother Holly has always dreamed of raising a family away from the city—and now that dream is a reality as she moves into an idyllic suburb with her husband Mike and their baby daughter Clare. The quiet, peaceful neighborhood couldn’t be more perfect.

But as the family settles into their new home, Holly can’t shrug off the feeling she’s being watched and followed on her morning walks with Clare. At first, she dismisses this as new parent jitters. But soon the unusual—and dangerous—occurrences on Holly’s tree-lined block become impossible to ignore.

As her days and nights grow more isolated and filled with paranoia, Holly struggles to convince her husband that the threat isn’t just in her imagination—and that the secrets lurking in their perfect neighborhood could ruin them all.

The Dragon and the Ghost by Mark Dawson:

Beatrix Rose has been betrayed. Her husband has been murdered and her daughter, Isabella, has been abducted.

Those who wronged her will pay, because Beatrix is the most dangerous woman you’ve ever met. She was an assassin for Group Fifteen, the beyond top secret agency that did the dirty work for the British Secret Services.

And you know what they say about payback…

Beatrix finds work in the Hong Kong underworld. But when she has a difference of opinion with her employer, the ruthless Mr. Ying, she finds herself in a fight for justice against a man with no scruples.

Alliances are formed and broken. Friends become enemies. Enemies become friends. And nothing is what it seems.

Can Beatrix save herself and her loved ones in the face of insurmountable odds?

[image error] Hello Protocol for Dead Girls by Zen DiPietro:

Jennika died under suspicious circumstances and her memories were uploaded for investigation. Somehow, they didn’t upload her memories alone. They uploaded her consciousness, too.

As she struggles within a perplexing computer network environment to find out how she died, she must also come to grips with the nature of her existence. Her body died, but she sure hasn’t. What does it mean to be alive, then?

She wants to talk to her friends and family, but they might not accept her. Before she can even try to reconnect with them, she has to get the people on the outside to recognize that she’s a real person, trapped inside technology.

She needs to establish a hello protocol–a way of establishing communication.

This story is like nothing you’ve read before. It’s Altered Carbon meets Gone Girl inside a digital environment. It will challenge you, then thrill you, then leave you wanting more. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as you explore this fascinating new technological existence with Jennika.

Wicked Delight by Lily Harper Hart:

Ivy Morgan and Jack Harker don’t have many complaints.

Things are good, life is quiet, and the only big thing on their to-do lists is picking a date for their wedding, which is exactly what they’re doing when a local celebutante approaches with an offer for Jack to be on a dating show.

He turns her down flat and goes on his way, but the next morning, she’s found dead and the list of suspects is endless thanks to the production landing smackdab in the middle of Shadow Lake.

Ivy doesn’t like having Hollywood on her doorstep. Jack is even worse, especially when he realizes the producers want Ivy to step in and take the dead heiress’s spot in the limelight. The idea of cameras following Ivy when magical things keep happening around her is enough to paralyze the couple … and then force them to run to avoid the harsh glare of the viewing public.

Jack and Ivy have a lot on their plates. They have to solve a murder, figure out what the witch in the woods is trying to tell them when it comes to the nature of the human soul, and pick a wedding date.

It’s all in a day’s work for Shadow Lake’s favorite couple. If they live to survive the dark force descending on their town, that is. They’ll have to work together to overcome imminent evil … but they’re used to that, of course.

The Ghost Who Says I Do by Bobbi Holmes:

A Valentine’s Day Wedding at Marlow House?

Love is in the air—along with secrets—some are deadlier than others.

Will secrets from Clint Marlow’s past come back to haunt Walt and Danielle?

 

 

Nothing But Her Name by Cynthia E. Hurst:

Clock repairer Jacob Silver usually prefers to stand on the sidelines of life, but he gets more action than expected when he agrees to replace a missing player at a village fete ‘Aunt Sally’ competition. Play comes to an unexpected end when a body is discovered and the promised prize money is snatched away. Blackmail, bribery and an old secret all play their part as Jacob and his wife Sarah help find out who in their Cotswold town is determined to win at all costs – and what the ultimate prize might be.

‘Nothing but her Name’ is the ninth book in the Silver and Simm Victorian Mysteries series.

[image error] The Last Amen by C.C. Jameson:

When he acts in the name of God, his victims’ faith could be their demise.

When a young woman is found dead on her bed, dressed in an old-fashioned nightgown with her hands clasped in a prayer position, Detective Kate Murphy is called to investigate her murder.

But before Kate and her colleagues can find the killer, another woman is found dead in the same position. Other than having blonde hair and living in Boston, the women have very little in common. But one thing is clear: the serial killer has some twisted religious beliefs.

What is his motive? Who is he? And, most importantly, can Kate stop the murderer before he strikes again?

Last Chance by Libby Kirsch

A missing girl, a sleuth in training, and family secrets with deadly consequences.

Janet Black, the feisty bar owner and apprentice PI in Knoxville, Tennessee, is back, and she’s taken a job her mentor told her to run from: finding a missing teenage girl.

But with her computer-expert boyfriend, and an ear fine-tuned for gossip from her years as a bartender, she figures she’s just the right person to make a difference.

As she dives into the case, though, she finds that the mother’s not telling the whole story, setting Janet up for a dangerous discovery. And trouble never comes alone. Her bar is flagged for liquor-code violations, a construction project gets out of hand, and she uncovers weird, possibly criminal, obsessions in her new chef.

Janet refuses to acknowledge she’s out of her depth—and thinks she just needs more time to put the puzzle pieces together and find the girl. But when a dead body surfaces, her world view is shaken. Suddenly, finding the missing girl is more than just an altruistic act. Her very life depends on it. As the sinister plot twists ever closer to her own life, Janet is faced with a dilemma. When it comes to the ones you love, how many chances are too many?

[image error] Predator by Linsey Lanier:

What’s wrong with Mackenzie?

PI Miranda Steele knows something has been eating away at her teenage daughter for months now. Does Mackenzie know her real father was a psychotic serial killer?

Miranda’s afraid to ask and this time, Parker has no answers.

But when her precious daughter goes missing, Miranda spirals into a tailspin. Now she’s forced to ask the most painful question of all.

Has Mackenzie’s emotional state caused her to fall victim to a sexual predator?

Above the Fold and Below the Belt by Amanda M. Lee:

Avery Shaw has taken on her fair share of jerks.

Often, she’s considered the jerk when she takes them down … a role she gladly relishes.

Now, though, she’s taking on a whole faction of jerks.

It seems a battle of the sexes is brewing in Macomb County. A local shock jock, a man who believes women should be home tending children and keeping the house clean while men bring home the bacon, is on trial for sexually harassing his underlings.

His followers believe he’s innocent. Every female empowerment group in the state – and ultimately the nation – believes he’s guilty. That means it’s a media circus, and there’s nothing Avery likes more than a circus.

She has her hands full with this one, though. She very clearly agrees with one side but there seems to be something wrong with the underlying story. When one of the radio personality’s followers is shot in the middle of a rally, ensuring he’s a martyr for the cause, Avery realizes there’s a path to follow … and it’s long and winding.

Avery knows who she wants to win. She also knows someone isn’t telling the truth. It’s her job to find out which side is lying.

It’s all hands on deck for another zany adventure, and everyone is along for the ride. Who’s left standing at the end is anyone’s guess, but Avery smells blood in the water … and she’s going to find the truth no matter who goes down in the process.

Scholarly Pursuits by M. Louisa Locke:

“Something is rotten in the state of Berkeley”

–1881 Blue and Gold Yearbook, University of California: Berkeley

In Scholarly Pursuits, the sixth full-length novel in the USA Today best-selling Victorian San Francisco mystery series, Locke explores life on the University of California: Berkeley campus in 1881, where Laura and her friends face the remarkably modern problems of fraternity hazings, fraught romantic relationships, and fractious faculty politics.

While Annie and Nate Dawson and friends and family in the O’Farrell Street boardinghouse await a blessed event, Laura Dawson finds herself investigating why a young Berkeley student dropped out of school in the fall of 1880.

No one, including her friend Seth Timmons, thinks this is a good idea, since she is juggling a full course load with a part-time job, but she can’t let the question of what happened to her friend go unanswered. Not when it means that other young women might be in danger.

sMurder on Lot B by London Lovett:

Los Angeles, 1923. The land of movie stars and perpetual sunshine has a stylish new force to be reckoned with—Poppy Starfire, Private Investigator.

Poppy recently moved out on her own and is eager for a taste of independence and to prove to her retired Uncle Sherman that she is capable of running the Starfire Detective Agency. Her brother Jasper has also joined the agency. Poppy prides herself on being a skilled investigator but so far the cases have been scarce and to say the least uninspiring. But that all changes when Anna Colton walks through the door. Anna’s brother Roger, a famous stuntman for the local movie studio has died in a well publicized accidental fall. Only Anna’s not convinced it was an accident. It’s up to Poppy and Jasper to peel away the layers and uncover the truth. Who killed Roger ‘Rowdy’ James?

[image error] Fear by John W. Mefford:

His heart beats. Barely.

Each thump pounds his mind deeper into oblivion.

And he wonders — How did I get here?

A father goes missing. Not just any father. But a person once worshipped for his world-class talent.

Enter the most unconventional team around: Willow Ball and Cooper Chain.

As a nurse at the community clinic, Willow has seen the painful effects of heroin addiction. But now she’s compelled to help a grieving wife and mother.

Dodging the mob at every turn, Cooper has a plan to bring them down while getting traction on his upstart career. Is he marching into a trap?

With their relationship bordering the “friends with benefits” stage, Willow and Cooper team up to find the missing person. But it’s not that simple. Nothing with them is ever simple.

The hunt corkscrews into an impossible maze of events — their lives threatened by a swarm of twisted deviants and social misfits.

Emotions run rampant, stoking one savage response after another. A spark ignites the hate, but what is the real fuel for this wave of brutal crimes?

Ultimately, can Willow and Cooper save a family from the torment before it’s too late?

Only if they can overcome their own…fear.

[image error] The Girl in Red by John Nicholl:

She has two choices. Escape or Die…

Kathy thought she’d met her soulmate. But Police Inspector Michael Conner’s behaviour changes on the day of their wedding.

Showing his true colours for the first time, Conner becomes increasingly manipulative, controlling and cruel as the months’ pass.

When Kathy tries to escape, Conner does his best to convince everyone that she is mentally ill. But Anna, Kathy’s identical twin sister, doesn’t believe it.

After a tragic event, Kathy decides enough is enough and elicits Anna’s help to rid herself of Conner for good.

But will Conner simply let Kathy walk away or have the sisters bitten off more than they can chew?

It Ends Here by Willow Rose:

Every Parent’s Worst Fear!

She thought it would be okay.

She thought her son would be fine if she left him in the car.

It was after all just for a few minutes while she went to grab something at the store. It was no big deal. But when Mrs. Cunningham came back out from the store, the car was empty, and her 5-year-old boy was gone.

In a town filled with dark secrets, who will you dare to believe?

Reporter Rebekka Franck is traveling to central Florida to interview a famous author when the body of a young boy turns up inside an abandoned house.

The death of the boy leaves the small town of Webster horror-stricken.

Forty years ago, another little boy was found killed in that exact same house.

Now they are all asking themselves: Will it end here?

As Rebekka Franck digs deep into the story, she realizes this town is harboring a lot of secrets that some people will go to extremes to keep hidden.

Poison at the Bake Sale by Hollis Shiloh:

Abe has an awful premonition that something will go wrong during a local baking contest. Of course it’s his silly imagination; he’s just jumpy these days, after that murder last year. But when the day of the competition means running into his abusive ex, who later turns up dead, Abe wishes that he’d paid more attention to his anxieties, not less.

Now it’s up to Abe and Gregory to figure out who could have done in the awful man. Because the authorities are looking awfully close to home, and there’s only so much strain that even the best relationship can take.

Murder and Mockery by K.P. Stafford:

Once again, Lexi is up to her eyeballs in murder mystery while trying to plan her wedding to Jake.

A descendent of the original town settlers is found murdered in a most heinous manner. Her death starts to uncover secrets from the past, mysteries their ancestors tried to cover up long ago.

Will the people of Cryptic Cove be able to deal with the past and what they discover?

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