Cora Buhlert's Blog, page 89

New Helen Shepherd Mystery Available: Parlour Game

Blogging has been very light this month, since I’m currently trying for a repeat of the July Short Story Challenge, where the aim is to write a story per day in July (for previous editions, see here and here). I just finished story number 16 and I’m really happy with what I have written so far.

In other news, I am currently participating in a Christmas in July promo, where you can get lots of Christmas books for 99 cents. And if you want more cheap books, Smashwords is currently holding its annual summer sale, where you can find lots of e-books at a reduced price, including several of mine.

What is more, I also have a new release to announce. That is, it’s no longer quite so new, but I was so busy with translation work and Hugo voting and the July Short Story Challenge that I didn’t get around to announcing this new release so far.

The new release is another Helen Shepherd Mystery, the 11th in the series by now. Though it’s not necessary to read the previous ten, cause they all stand alone.

This Helen Shepherd Mystery is entitled Parlour Game and it’s basically my version of the classic country house mystery. Helen and her team (plus DCI Simon Westmoreland from Counter Terrorism Command who is dating Helen) are called to investigate a mysterious death in a manor house (and yes, there are manor houses to be found in Greater London, though Honeydew House is fictional) and find themselves faced with a library full of suspects.

When writing Parlour Game, I finally understood just why classic mystery authors like assembling all suspects in a single place so much. Because when you gather all suspects in a single place, they inevitably start to accuse each other. All the detective has to do is listen and watch. Coincidentally, the scene was also a whole lot of fun to write, because the characters did all the work.

So if you’re in the mood for a modern take (did I mention that there are references to Star Wars and Midsomer Murders among other things?) on the classic country house mystery, check out Parlour Game:

Parlour Game

[image error]When Edgar Asheford-Browne is found dead in his palatial home, with a hole in his head and a bloody fire poker next to his body, the cause of death seems obvious. Edgar Asheford-Browne was beaten to death.

But as Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team begin to unravel the case, it suddenly seems much less clear. For Helen has to deal not only with contradictory evidence, but also with an entire library full of suspects who are all accusing each other.

 

 

 

More information.

Length: 10800 words

List price: 2.99 USD, EUR or 1.99 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, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for June 2017

[image error]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 May books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, post-apocalyptic fiction, space opera, military science fiction, paranormal romance, horror, anthologies, non-fiction, dragons, elves, quests, Russian witches, magical princesses, space marines, officers, galactic empires, planetstriders, intergalactic prison breaks, killer virusses, repentant pickpockets 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:

[image error] Into the North by Annie Bellet:

The mute elven archer known only as Killer. Azyrin, a half Winter-orc shaman and his human swordswoman bride, Makha. Drake, the charming, swashbuckling rogue. The fireball-slinging pixie-goblin, Rahiel, and her mini-unicorn, Bill. These are the Gryphonpike Companions.

Taking on their most dangerous quest yet, Killer fears she won’t survive to break her curse. Tasked with finding the source behind a magical winter without end far to the north on the isolated island of Imaldor, Killer and her companions sail north. There they must face off against the elements and an unknown foe to end the deadly winter before it ends them and all hope Killer has of ever going home.

This is the final adventure fantasy novella in the Gryphonpike Chronicles series.

[image error] Orphans in the Black: A Space Opera Anthology by Lindsay Buroker, Amy J. Murphy and others

We’re all Orphans in the Black …

Strap yourself in for nineteen thrilling short stories of space pirates, time travelers, aliens, AI, and more! Meet determined heroes forging their own path through the universe, men and women who won’t go down without a fight.

Be transported to nineteen fantastical new worlds by award winning and bestselling authors. Download this exclusive collection today.

 

Foreshadow by Cynthia Joyce Clay:

“I am Princess Royal Burta, and I call out your challenger!”

In a time when dragons and gods seduce mortals, greedy kings plot to overthrow the tiny, impoverished kingdom of Allsongs, tempted by the promise of its future. It is said the hope and best defense of Allsongs lies in the person of a small child, Tristabé-airta, the Princess Royal, whose magic always works. Yet, it is the king and sword souled dragon born children whom the enemy kings fear will usurp their kingdoms. An assassin is sent to kill them. One of these children is surely a threat, Princess Burta who trains in arms for the day she can snatch the Allsongs kingdom from Tristabé-airta. While Tristabé-airta knows Burta hates her, Tristabe-airta must do what she can to save her or Allsongs will fall when they come of age.

[image error] Press the Line by Chris Fox:

Imperalis has been lost. The Nameless Ones have returned. The Coalition refuses to fight, leaving the Ganog to wage a war they cannot win.

Betrayed and cut off, Khar and Zakanna struggle to survive. Nolan and Burke bring Alpha Company to reinforce the Nyar home world, only to be overwhelmed by the mighty Void Wraith Omegas. Fizgig and Takkar are captured by the sadistic Kthul fleet leader, Azatok.

Only one guttering flame of hope remains. On Nyar, Nolan finds an ancient Void Wraith Omega, weathered and damaged. If he can restore it, they might just have a weapon strong enough to fight back.

[image error] Chameleon’s Challenge by B.R. Kingsolver:

Libby’s chameleon mutation has led to a lucrative career as a thief and assassin. She normally doesn’t worry about the comfort of corporate executives, but when she stumbles onto the grisly murder of a rich man’s mistress, it gets her attention.

The murder leads Libby to believe her best friend’s life is in danger, and she vows to protect her. The killings continue, some in broad daylight, but no one ever sees the killer.

For a chameleon assassin, the scenario feels uncomfortably familiar.

[image error] Cut Down to Size by Eugene Kirk and Garan Mad:

Someone is killing people in the name of profit . . . and it’s up to Tina and Doc to stop them.

A year into their contract with Imperial East Africa, Tina and Doc have gained some measure of notoriety. But when they’re sent into IEA Madagascar with only sketchy intel, they find themselves defending more than just their professional reputation.

Outmanned and outgunned, their only chance for survival is to call a shaky truce based upon an even shakier mercenary code of honor. But when a compromise can’t be reached, the future of both their company and their client hangs in the balance. Pushed to the edge, Tina doubles down with a risky business move that could either see them raking in millions or winding up dead broke, if not just plain dead.

With the stakes higher than ever, just how far will Tina go to win? Will she pull it off at the risk of compromising everything she believes in?

Or will she be the one finally cut down to size . . .

Through the Abyssal Gates by Brian J.W. Lee:

From the author of The Keeper of Pulau Purba, sixteen new dimensions of horror emerges.

You stand before a series of dark portals, each of which will take you to a reality worse than the next.

Step into the shoes of a modern day technician, who discovers a strange hatch in a rarely-used and secluded toilet.

Cower with a teenager who’s all grown up, as a strange new neighbour moves in next to him, bringing along strange barrels of vinegar and mannerisms.

Join a woman and her boyfriend as they run an ultra-marathon, only to discover that something has been pursuing them.

Wake up to find yourself on an island city as overpopulated as it is futuristic, where a waitress clings on to her traditions even as everything is grasping to take it away.

Or enter a world rife with ancient artifacts and deadly creatures, where a young man must risk all to save his father.

Many more worlds await, and once you enter the abyssal gate, there is no turning back.

In a collection of eight short stories and eight flash fictions amounting to 120,000 words, there’s always a little something for everyone beyond the threshold.

Oh, and watch your head.

[image error] The Goddess’s Choice by Jamie Marchant:

In a world where the corrupt church hides the truth about magic, the fate of the joined kingdom falls on the shoulders of two young people from opposite ends of the social hierarchy.

Crown Princess Samantha’s life begins to fall apart when she starts seeing strange colors around her potential suitors. She fears that she’s going insane–or worse that she’s defying the Goddess’s will. Robrek is a lowly farm boy with incredible magical powers. He has been biding his time waiting to get revenge on those who call him a demon.

Thrown together by chance, they must overcome their differences to fight their common enemy Duke Argblutal, who, with dark magic, is slowly poisoning the king’s mind and turning him against his own daughter. Time is running out for those chosen by the Goddess to prevent the power mad duke from usurping the throne and plunging the joined kingdoms into civil war.

[image error] Breakout by Dominique Mondesir:

He has one shot–to get out, to save himself, and to protect his family.

Looking for a major payoff, Phoenix Jones will do anything to save the people he cares about. With his brother and sister suffering in a hospital, he needs money–and fast. But when his temper lands him in prison light years from home, everything changes.

Now all he’s ever known and loved is on the line. It’s up to Phoenix to break out of jail and battle vicious aliens he never knew existed. But can he save the only place he’s ever called home before it’s too late?

[image error] Shade of Honor by T.S. Paul and Taki Drake:

Bereft of their elders in magic, hired out to strangers to feed their families. Survival was a constant battle for the Russian Witches. Despised by other witches for their rigid focus on contracts, they were without a moral compass, honorless. That was not good enough for some. For the young witch, Zhanna, life was not worth living without honor – or her magic. Could she find both in her homeland? Would her desire and drive be enough to locate her shade of honor?

 

 

[image error] Coins for Charon by P.J. Post:

The people of Freemont have always fought for their own, and the end of the world hasn’t changed a thing. They opened up the armory, fueled the World War II trucks and even got the old generators working. They turned on the lights. For the survivors of the War, Freemont is a beacon of hope.

Five days ago Lane went searching for the missing kids, and now he’s brought them here, to the rendezvous, to Freemont, only to find Cart People, Crayton Mercenaries and thousands of townsfolk fighting through the streets and neighborhoods, for their city and for the lives of the millions of refugees that have found salvation.

Sam’s down there, somewhere.

And so is the Button Eye plague.

[image error] Retribution by Guy Riessen:

Brian Lockewood grew up knowing the pain of abuse and loss, but his own turn toward hatred and violence will teach him that retribution is a dish best served cold…and wet…and filled with rats.

A Dark Psychological Supernatural Horror Novelette

 

 

 

[image error] The Officer, edited by Alasdair Shaw:

Being an officer means balancing many conflicting demands. Making the wrong decision can have serious consequences. It takes a special kind of person to cope with the responsibility.

The Officer is an anthology of eleven science fiction short stories by writers from across the globe. It is part of the Newcomer series of scifi anthologies.

 

 

[image error] LOCK by Hollis Shiloh:

Drew leads an ordinary, boring life—until one day the ESRB assigns him a bodyguard because he’s in danger. They don’t know why, only that he is.

It’s the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to Drew. Naturally, he develops a massive crush on his bodyguard, Neal, as the two try to figure out why he’s in danger and what it has to do with the ESRB.

When Drew turns out to have an unexpected—and rare—talent, things take a turn for the worse. Because Neal might not be enough to keep him safe after all.

 

[image error] Syndicate Wars: First Strike by Justin Sloan, Kyle Noe and George S. Mahaffey Jr.

With an alien invasion and survival of the human race at stake, service in the Marines was no longer simply about honor and duty, it was a matter of life and death.

This was especially true for Quinn, a Marine sergeant who was hell-bent on ensuring that her young daughter had a world to grow up in. But one thing separates Quinn from the others:

She’s a certifiable badass.

And as the aliens will learn, it’s tough to keep a good woman down.

[image error] The Job: A Darklight Chronicle by Greg L. Turnquist:

What if a pickpocket had a change of heart?

Snitch and her partner in crime decide to knock over a pawn shop. But something goes wrong. What should she do next?

 

 

 

[image error] Rocket Surgeon by A.E. Williams:

A.E. Williams presents his thoughts on a variety of subjects of interest to thinking persons.

Bringing together a lifetime of experience as a science fiction author, former aerospace materials engineer, cyber-security expert and irascible genius, Williams provides big picture views on our place in the Universe.

Based on a series of blog articles written for the “Speculative Fiction Showcase” and including material reviewed while performing research for his series “Terminal Reset”, Williams explores and questions some of the most basic precepts of science and physics.

The recent popularization of physics in television and movies has opened up this field to the ordinary lay person.

In these articles, Mr. Williams looks at why we, as a species, crave to leave the Mother planet, and venture out into the hostile territories of uncharted space.

Williams explains, with his own unique and perceptive worldview, just how the Space Race, once the core being of America’s science programs, has defined the processes and bureaucracy of space exploration today.

Williams provides a narrative of his own experiences, working on high-tech and cutting edge programs that led to the technological marvels we take for granted today.

From jet engines to smart phones, from “Star Trek” to “Interstellar”, Williams helps readers to understand just how much the world has been impacted science and technology.

Is a Mission to Mars or other form of manned space flight our future?

Can we afford to spend our resources on these efforts, at the expense of other critical problems facing us today?

Follow Williams down the Rabbit Hole, as he looks at Fake News, the Presidential Election, AGW and other contentious events in our world, and body-slams them using logic and the Scientific Method!

A.E. Williams makes a compelling argument that manned space exploration is not just viable, but necessary to the survival of the species.

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Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for June 2017

[image error]Welcome to the second 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 May books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, historical mysteries, small town mysteries, police procedurals, legal thrillers, crime thrillers, murder in small towns and country houses, skeletons in the closet, unpredictable events, bartering angels, Steele strangers, remorseful pickpockets, crime-solving dogs, lawyers, the Russian mob, adventures in the Caribbean and much more.

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

[image error] Kicked the Bucket in Grady by Kate Bell:

Grady, Arizona is home to the desert heat and murder. Gracie Williams’ friend, Frannie has been murdered and she’s determined to find the killer. Her snooping enrages the killer and she stands to lose all she holds dear. With help from her faithful canine Sophie and her friends, Aggie and Bernie, can she find the killer before the killer finds her?

 

 

 

[image error] Parlour Game by Cora Buhlert

When Edgar Asheford-Browne is found dead in his palatial home, with a hole in his head and a bloody fire poker next to his body, the cause of death seems obvious. Edgar Asheford-Browne was beaten to death.

But as Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team begin to unravel the case, it suddenly seems much less clear. For Helen has to deal not only with contradictory evidence, but also with an entire library full of suspects who are all accusing each other.

This is a mystery novelette of 10800 words or approximately 38 print pages.

[image error] On the Side of the Angel: A Bartering Angel Story by J. David Core:

Lina Forman has an assumed name, a vendetta, a résumé of varied skills, and the knowledge to make her a force to fear.

Known in the criminal underground as The Bartering Angel, a mysterious “fixer” whose help keeps the bad guys out of trouble, she assumes the name Lina when she arrives in the Pittsburgh area in 2005. When the son of a local drug runner murders a convenience store clerk during a botched thrill robbery, Lina must keep him out of jail to prove her worth to the local criminal underground. Despite her elaborate scheme to confound the evidence and mislead authorities, two local cops threaten to disrupt her plans and steer the FBI on a path to avoid her red herrings.

Can Lina preserve her reputation and make good on her promises before she has to abandon her vengeance, change her name, and start again? Or will a careless oversight expose her secrets?

[image error] Winter Downs by Jan Edwards:

Bunch Courtney stumbles upon the body of Jonathan Frampton in a woodland clearing. Is this a case of suicide, or is it murder? Bunch is determined to discover the truth but can she persuade the dour Chief Inspector Wright to take her seriously?

In January of 1940 a small rural community on the Sussex Downs, already preparing for invasion from across the Channel, finds itself deep in the grip of a snowy landscape, with an ice-cold killer on the loose.

 

 

[image error] Traffic by Richard C. Hale:

Family is everything.

Would you kill to protect it?

When Jaxon Jennings witnesses a woman attack a man and kill him, his only thought is to apprehend the woman and bring her to justice. But when he discovers the mysterious and deadly woman, Adi Jordan, is on a mission to save her kidnapped daughter, he can only imagine doing one thing.

He must help her.

In a race against the clock and insurmountable odds, Jaxon joins forces with Adi in a desperate battle with the Russian mob to track down her daughter and get her back before the trail grows cold and Adi’s daughter is lost to the world of human trafficking.

Adi’s dark and mysterious past only adds to the pressure as her brutal and ruthless tactics bring Jaxon to a place he’s never been before. But will her actions destroy any chance they have of finding her daughter and surviving? Jaxon must walk a thin line between what is right and wrong. Will it be enough?

From the first sentence of his latest Jaxon Jennings Thriller, Traffic, author Richard C Hale piles on the suspense and kicks it into high gear. A pulse-pounding, thrill ride that pulls you in and never lets up, Traffic will keep you on the edge until the surprising end.

[image error]Send to Kindle

Photos: The Visbek Bridegroom Megalithic Tombs

Yesterday was Pentecost Monday, which is a public holiday in Germany. And since the weather was sunny, but not overly warm, it was also the perfect day for an outing.

While looking at the map, wondering where to go, my eyes stumbled across the twon of Visbek near Vechta, which is famous for the so-called Visbek Bride and Bridegroom megalithic tombs. Now I used to teach at Vechta University, plus we drove past Visbek all the time, back when my Dad worked in the Netherlands. However, I’d never seen the megalithic tombs. Time to remedy that.

Now the so-called Wildeshauser Geest, a sandy area formed by sand deposited by drift moraines during the ice ages, has been inhabited at least since the Neolithic by the so-called Funnelbeaker culture. Megalithic tombs and gravemounds are common – the closest is maybe three kilometres from where I live – and fascinating archeological finds still turn up regularly, such as the Gessel gold hoard, which was unearthed during pipeline laying work in 2012 approx. 10 kilometres from where I live. There is even a Route of Megalithic Culture, which links the various megalithic sites in North West Germany.

In spite of all this really awesome history surrounding us, there wasn’t much interest in the megalithic sites of our area, when I was a kid, probably because the Nazis had been a little too interested in them, even though megalithic tombs aren’t all that suitable to be exploited for some Germanic blood and soil mythology, since they are much older than the Germanic tribes the Nazis were so interested in, dating back to between 3500 and 2800 BC. Nonetheless, the megalithic sites surrounding us were largely ignored. There were no school trips to the more famous sites like the Visbek Bride and Bridegroom and many smaller sites weren’t even marked. In the 1980s, it was still common to stumble across what was obviously a megalithic tomb or a bronze age gravemound in the woods without any sign or other markings. I remember how back in the 1990s, a friend and I drove out to the Warwer Sand forest, famous for its sand dunes, and noticed a sign marking the way to brozen age gravemounds. We’d both grown up in the area and had both been at the Warwer Sand lots of times, yet we’d never seen the sign before. And we both looked at each other and said, “Since when are there bronze age gravemounds in the Warwer Sand?” Of course, the gravemounds had always been there, but until the 1990s no one had paid any attention to them.

The Visbek Bride and Bridegroom, however, have never been ignored, probably because they are simply too big to miss. The first measures to protect the sites date back to the 18th century. They’ve been tourist attractions since the 19th century. The restaurant close to the Bride, which caters to daytrippers and – due to the proximity to a popular route to the Netherlands – truckers, has been around since the 1920s. Though the Bridegroom was nearly destroyed as late as the 1960s, when the nearby highway A1 was supposed to pass directly through the stones – highways being deemed more important than neolithic gravesites. Thankfully, there were protests and the current route of the highway A1 passes the Bridegroom by.

If you believe in Ley lines (not that I do, but the concept is cool), there is one that passes through the Visbek Bride and Bridegroom as well as some other megalithic monuments and old churches in the area. Highway A1 runs parallel to this Ley line. But then, there has probably been some kind of path here for more than five thousand years.

Regarding the odd names of the stones, according to a local legend, a young woman from Ahlhorn was in love with a poor shepherd, but her father forced her to marry a rich farmer from Visbek instead. On the day of the wedding, the bridal possession moved from Ahlhorn to Visbek, while the groom set off from Visbek to meet his bride. Once the houses of Visbek came into view, the bride prayed and begged God to turn her into stone, for she’d rather be turned into stone than marry a man she did not love. Her prayer was answered and the entire bridal procession as well as the bridegroom’s procession were promptly turned into stone. It’s certainly a romantic story, even though it’s quite impossible to see Visbek from the location of either the Bride or the Groom and would have been just as impossible in times of old. Coincidentally, neither the Bride nor the Groom are actually located on the territory of the municipality of Visbek. The Bride is in Ahlhorn and the Groom is in Großenkneten, but in spite of geographic realities, the Visbek name stuck. Weddings are occasionally conducted at the stones these days – and no one gets petrified either.

Coincidentally, there are quite a few legends surrounding the megalithic tombs found throughout North Germany. For example, megalithic tombs are called “Hünengrab” (giant’s tomb) in German, because people believed well into the 17th or 18th century that giants were burried underneath these enormous stones.

But enough of history and legend. Let’s have some photos:

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A look across Engelmann’s farm near the Visbek bridegroom. Nowadays, the farm is a restaurant catering to day trippers and tour groups.

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The old Engelmann farmhouse near the tombs. Note the Odal rune and the crossed horseheads on the gable.

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A closer look at the farmhouse gable and the odal rune. This particular version of the rune with feet only dates back to the blood and soil neogermanism of the early 20th century and is used as a symbol by certain far right groups.

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The small brook locally known as Engelmannsbäke (the official name is Aue) which flows near the Visbek bridegroom.

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The brook Engelmannsbäke (also known as Aue) flows around a massive rhododendron bush.

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A thousand year old oak tree shows the way.

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The first megalithic site you see when you set off from the Engelmannsbäke inn is the so-called pagan sacrificial altar, which is not actually an altar, but a tomb. It’s still very impressive, particularly with the ancient oak tree rising above the tomb.

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A closer look at the pagan sacrificial altar. These stones have been lying here for more than 5000 years.

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Finally, here is the Visbek Bridegroom, a neolithic community tomb some 100 metres long, marked by massive rocks on both sides.

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The Visbek Bridegroom viewed head on.

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These three large stones are found at the centre of the Visbek Bridegroom.

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The far end of the Visbek Bridegroom with the so-called guardian stones.

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The far end of the Visbek Bridegroom viewed from the side.

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This shot taken from the path that leads past the Visbek Bridegroom and on to the Bride shows the extent of the Bridegroom.

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Surrounding the Visbek Bridegroom there are four other megalithic tombs. This one, consisting of four massive stones, is called the Bridal Wagon.

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The Bridal Wagon, shown with Dutch tourists for scale.

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Another of the four smaller megalithic tombs surrounding the Visbek Bridegroom. This small and largely destroyed grave is sometimes called the Bridesmaid. Though considering the legend, shouldn’t be bridesmaid be with the bride four kilometres away rather than with the groom? On the other hand, maybe that was the reason why the bride did not want to marry the groom.

You can find out more about the Visbek Bridegroom and the Pagan Sacrificial Altar on this site, which also has plenty of photos and diagrams of the tombs.

After visiting the Visbek Bride and Bridegroom, we drove to the nearby town of Cloppenburg, home to an open air museum of old farmhouses and a Catholic pilgrimage shrine among other things. We didn’t go to see either the museum or the shrine, even though both are well worth visiting. All we wanted was to have lunch. Alas, pretty much every restaurant in Cloppenburg was closed (including McDonald’s) and the only thing open were ice cream parlours. So we finally gave up and had an ice cream sundae instead.

Still, here are some photos of Cloppenburg:

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Some yarnbombers have given this statue in the centre of Cloppenburg a new outfit.

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The female statue on the other side of the square has gotten yarnbombed as well.

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Finally, here are the ice cream sundaes. Because ice cream is perfectly acceptable for lunch, damn it. Mine was a blueberry sundae, there’s also an After Eight sundae and an amarena sundae.

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New Helen Shepherd Mystery available: Kitchen Witch

If you took a look at the brand-new Indie Crime Fiction of the Month round-up I posted two days ago, you might have noticed that one of the new releases listed was a new Helen Shepherd Mystery. So here is the official new release announcement for Kitchen Witch, the tenth Helen Shepherd Mystery to date (and there are at least two more coming up).

The inspiration for this particular Helen Shepherd Mystery was culinary. For you see, I’m very fond of wild garlic a.k.a. ramsons a.k.a. wood garlic a.k.a. bear garlic, a tasty and healthy leafy herb. Wild garlic is only available for a few weeks in April and early May, so I have it as often as possible when it’s in season. My favourite way of preparing it is lightly sauteeing the leaves in olive oil, tossing them with garlic, tomatoes, olives and red pepper flakes and serving it with pasta. Here’s a pic I took last time I had wild garlic spaghetti.

I buy my wild garlic at the supermarket, but quite a few people forage their own. And so, during wild garlic season, I came across an article that warned of the dangers of mistaking the leaves of autumn crocus or lily of the valley, both of which are highly poisonous, for edible wild garlic. This got my mystery writer’s mind working and wondering what if someone deliberately switched harmless wild garlic leaves for poisonous autumn crocus?

Now there are few things that get a mystery writer’s mind going faster than a good murder method. And so I came up with the story of Eudora Pembroke, herbalist, eccentric and self-styled witch, who ends up dead in her favourite armchair, after eating a wild garlic salad that contains a lethal dose of autumn crocus leaves.

As always, Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd and her team question several witnesses and potential suspects. One of these witnesses/suspects is Tara Willows, owner of a New Age shop. I enjoyed writing Tara a whole lot, so much that I decided to keep her around and give her her own spin-off.

I’m not a “write to market” person at all, but I am interested in genres and subgenres and how they are defined. Now I’ve explained before that the definition of crime and mystery fiction is quite different in Germany and the US and that the definition of “mystery” in the US is much narrower than the definition of “Krimi” a.k.a. “crime fiction” in Germany. As a result, most of the crime shorts collected in Murder in the Family and elsewhere (Murder in the Family, Volume 2 is coming soon BTW) are Krimis, but they’re not mysteries in the US sense. But unfortunately, the crime fiction category at Amazon is something of a wasteland – mystery is where the readers and the sales are. So I tried to write a crime story that would fit into the narrower US definition of mystery and so the Helen Shepherd Mysteries were born.

Now one of the most popular mystery subgenres are cozy mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth, usually a woman, solving mysteries, often using specialist knowledge about cooking, baking, crafts, etc… Cozy mysteries are not easy to come by here in Germany – the crime fiction sections in bookstores are dominated by thrillers and suspense – though I enjoyed the atmosphere and quirky characters of those that I’ve read. I also considered writing one, provided the right protagonist came along. When Helen and DC Walker walked into Tara’s shop to question her, I realised at once that Tara was the amateur sleuth protagonist I’d been waiting for. So look out for the first Tara Willows Mystery soon.

But for now, here is Kitchen Witch, the latest Helen Shepherd Mystery:

Kitchen Witch

[image error]When Eudora Pembroke, a self-styled witch, is found dead in her house after ingesting a poisonous plant, everybody suspects a tragic accident. After all, Eudora was elderly and might have mistaken the poisonous plant for a benign herb.

But Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd is sceptical. Would a skilled herbalist like Eudora Pembroke really make such a beginner’s mistake? And who might have had a motive to poison her?

 

 

More information.

Length: 12500 words

List price: 2.99 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, Scribd, Smashwords, Inktera, Playster, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, DriveThruFiction, Casa del Libro, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for May 2017

[image error]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 April books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. This month, we have urban fantasy, epic fantasy, historical fantasy, Arthurian fantasy, Asian fantasy, dystopian fiction, post-apocalyptic fiction, Cyberpunk, space opera, military science fiction, near future science fiction, science fiction romance, fantasy romance, gothic romance, paranormal romance, paranormal mystery, horror, young adult science fiction and fantasy, dragons, vampires, witches, magicians, shamans, mercenaries, superheroes, star dogs, werewolves in space, galactic empires, planetstriders, intergalactic plagues, time travel, telepathic space pirates, killer clones, jackalope wives, kidnapped fae, King Arthur reincarnated 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:

[image error] Blue Gold by David Barker:

The near future. Climate change and geopolitical tension have given rise to a new international threat – a world war for water. This most vital of resources has become a precious commodity and some will stop at nothing to control its flow.

When a satellite disappears over Iceland, Sim Atkins thinks he knows why. He is given the chance to join the hallowed Overseas Division and hunt for the terrorists responsible. But his new partner Freda Brightwell is aggrieved to be stuck with a rookie on such a deadly mission.

Freda’s misgivings are well founded when their first assignment ends in disaster – a bomb destroys a valuable airship and those responsible evade capture. Seeking redemption, the British agents follow the trail to a billionaires’ tax haven in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and uncover a web of deceit that threatens global war. Whom can they trust?

As the world edges ever closer to destruction Sim and Freda must put their lives on the line to prevent Armageddon – and protect the future of ‘blue gold’.

[image error] Magic Waking by Eva Chase:

Die, reincarnate, repeat. It’s been a long fifteen hundred years…

Reborn wizard Emma Hale has three goals in life, or rather lives: Track down the present incarnation of the legendary King Arthur, fend off the shadow creatures that hound him for as long as she can, and break the spell that binds their souls in this morbid cycle.

If only she had a better idea how she’d cast that spell in the first place. And if only Arthur’s current host wasn’t so cocky yet distractingly good-looking. Because Emma is falling even harder for the man she can’t have.

When a fae mercenary with power to rival Emma’s puts her king in his sights, Emma burns through all her tricks just to stay one step ahead. Now her only chance is to find some way to destroy the mercenary before he and his army of dark forces destroy Arthur.

No human Emma’s ever known has managed to kill a fae. But if she can’t, and quickly, this death might be their last.

Looking for a story full of sarcastic wizardry, cruel fae, and a star-crossed love centuries in the making? Scroll up and grab this Arthurian-flavored urban fantasy today!

[image error] Starfang: Rise of the Clan by Joyce Chng:

Is a clan captain going to sacrifice everything for her clan? Tasked to kill Yeung Leung by her parents, powerful rival clan leader of the Amber Eyes, Captain Francesca Min Yue sets out across the galaxy to hunt her prey, only to be thrown into a web of political intrigue spreading across the stars. Is Yeung Leung collaborating with the reptilian shishini and playing a bigger game with the galaxy as a price? Is Francesca’s clan at stake? Welcome to Starfang: Rise of the Clan, where merchants and starship captains are also wolves.

“Wolves should not be in space, but here we were, a clan of wolves and merchants. Instead of the preserved forests of New Earth and Noah’s Ark, we were in ships of steel and armor, reading data scans and commanding officers on the bridge. Wolves within the uniform of merchants and mercenaries, human seeming, claws and teeth sheathed.”

– Captain Francesca Ming Yue, of the warship Starfang.

Welcome to Starfang, a space opera with werewolves, politics and intrigue.

[image error] Human by Karen Diem:

Death? Acceptable risk. Taxes? No problem. Ancient magical cutlery of mass destruction? Bad, very bad.

Following a brief foray into the world of superpowered vigilantism, extreme sports enthusiast and halfhearted tax preparer, Zita Garcia, wants her old life, her shiny new abilities, and none of the consequences. She’s even willing to hide her powers since the alternative means endangering her family and living life as a literal lab rat.

Unfortunately, supervillains are searching for the pieces of a decrepit magic dagger, hurting innocents and fueling nasty anti-super protests. Her close friends, who helped before, are barely speaking to her, and one of them stands in the path of the violent hunt for the knife.

Zita better dig out her mask—fast.

Human is the second in the Arca superhero urban fantasy series, and as a movie would be rated “R” for immoderate language, lame sexual innuendo, and comic book violence. While Human can be read as a standalone, it contains spoilers for the first book in the series.

[image error] Retrograde Horizon by Charon Dunn:

A fast-paced epic science fiction adventure set in 3748 on an earth with a very different climate, not to mention configuration, chemistry and composition. For Young Adults and Old Children.

TRIGGER WARNING: contains potentially upsetting material about explosions, terrorists attacking schools, malfunctioning robots, school bullies, mean principals that assign a bunch of extra homework, paparazzi, poverty, affluenza, bad neighborhoods, public transit, precipitous drops in socioeconomic status, police drones, police, clandestine lizard fights, exploding roller coasters, unicorn attack, industrial steam calender malfunction, pissed-off chef with a deep fryer … I’d better stop, I’m starting to get into spoilers and I’m barely into the second chapter.

In volume one, Sonny made his way home. Now he’s in volume two, and those pesky clones are still trying to kill him – or worse. Meanwhile, his family is still trapped in a comfortable suburban development on the clones’ super secret mist-shrounded volcanic island somewhere in the South Pacific. It’s starting to look like he’s going to have to go get them, if he can get past the assassination attempts, and avoid getting distracted by true love.

[image error] Toric’s Dagger by Jamie Edmundson:

Toric’s Dagger is just another religious relic, until it’s stolen. Belwynn and her twin brother, Soren, volunteer to lead a team tasked with its retrieval. Drawn into a world of danger and treachery, they must rely on Soren’s magical abilities, and on the telepathic bond they share.

Now, as kingdoms and empires start to fall, the twins confront the dark forces that threaten them. They must not let the Dagger fall into the wrong hands. But when mercenaries, zealots and sorcerers are all hunting for the same weapon, who should they trust?

Book One of The Weapon Takers Saga, an Epic Fantasy Series in the tradition of Tolkien, Tad Williams & GRR Martin

[image error] Behind the Lines by Chris Fox:

A brand new adventure in the Void Wraith universe

Mechs, kaiju, epic space battles, and galactic archeology…

The Void Wraith ravaged our galaxy, nearly eradicating both humanity and our enemies, the Tigris. Captain Nolan vowed it would never happen again, that he would find the Void Wraith’s dark masters.

Nolan leads a company of mechs into uncharted space, where a new foe lies in wait. The Coalition’s fleet is destroyed, and Nolan’s squad is stranded behind enemy lines. Between them and escape stand three Planetstriders, thousand meter monstrosities capable of destroying an orbiting capital ship.

In order to survive, they must disable these titanic war machines, an impossible task made even more difficult by the discovery of a terrible secret – one that must reach fleet command, no matter the cost.

[image error] Fire Wall by Dana Fraser:

RESIST

The men in the bunkers have sent a hit squad to Cash Bishop’s Tennessee homestead. They want to take his woman—and his life.

RESIST

Hannah Carter just found out that she could be the key to bringing down Project Erebus if she can leave behind everyone she loves and infiltrate the Black Diamond facility.

If she tries, the only guarantee she has is that there will be blood.

RESIST

Cash won’t stand by while Hannah puts herself in danger. Even if he has to drag her complicit brother along by the balls and kill every damned soul inside Black Diamond, he will find and protect the woman he loves.

And bring down the corrupt government that ended America.

RESIST

[image error] Jess Rising by D.M. Guay:

Seventeen-year-old Jess Flowers sees the killer in visions. He slaughters the helpless with fire and lightning. And she’s next on the kill list.

Billy Combs is the gorgeous outcast with the electrifying secret. He’s stolen Jess’ heart, but his own past may be darker than he’s let on.

As the body count ticks higher, a growing pile of evidence links Billy to the crimes. Jess’ heart says no, but she’s the new kid in isolated Salt Creek, Ohio, a town with a life-changing secret, a town where people aren’t what they seem, a town where it’s hard to know who to trust.

Can she tame the mysterious powers surging within her and identify the real killer before it’s her turn to die?

[image error] Magic Reborn by Carly Hansen:

On the run and disguised as a boy, Fenix Graystone finds sanctuary when a witch opens her home, arms her with charmed knives, and transforms her into a fearsome fighter. But when an enigmatic vampire overlord arrives seeking help to solve the murders of three young women, Fenix’s newfound peace shatters.

Black Site by Michael Patrick Hicks:

Are you prepared to enter the BLACK SITE?

Inside an abandoned mining station, in the depths of space, a team of scientists are seeking to unravel the secrets of humanity’s origin. Using cutting-edge genetic cloning experiments, their discoveries take them down an unimaginable and frightening path as their latest creation proves to be far more than they had bargained for.

Perfect for fans of H.P. Lovecraft and Alien comes a new work of cosmic terror!

Black Site is a short story of approximately 10,000 words.

[image error] Sky Dancers by E.E. Isherwood

Can discovering sunshine trigger the next apocalypse?

Elle is a typical doomsday bunker teenager, living under the crush of routine. She attends classes, tries to follow the rules, and endures the same petty jealousies and anxieties teens have endured since fire was used as the first hangout. But a crumbling section of tunnel exposes a big lie about her world, and Elle’s life quickly spirals downward.

She’s harassed by the enigmatic Commander. She must ward off unwanted advances from older male survivors. And, as the ultimate insult, everyone seems to know more about her past than she does. Elle seeks freedom in the plague-ravaged wasteland outside her home, but discovers the true threat to her people, and her own future, lies coiled inside the dark tunnels she left behind.

Can Elle uncover and expose the secrets buried with her underground home? Or will they fade away like the memories of everyone who thinks to oppose the Commander?

Sky Dancers is a dystopian read that will have you turning the pages! If you like mysterious wastelands, abandoned bunkers, and strong female leads, you will love the Eternal Apocalypse series!

[image error] Shadows of Our Fathers by Rex Jameson:

Imagine a war between angels and demons that extends across our universe. Now, think bigger. Imagine that the fight between Lucifer and Jehovah extends across not only our universe but also involves two more ancient universes filled with demons and the remnants of the proud elven race.

Angels and demons fall as the Great War between Order and Chaos comes to a close. For those who thought Jehovah’s days of smiting stopped in the Old Testament, it’s time to give the devil his due.

In the face of democratic and social reforms, the Chaos Universe struggles with its past while pursuing the future that King Lucifer promises. While the demons thrive, the creator of the Elven universe looks to his own past for the salvation of his favorite immortals. Jehovah’s wife Gaea and son Isaac seek asylum in Chaos as Lucifer and Jehovah have their final, apocalyptic battle.

“Shadows of Our Fathers” is the last book of the Lucifer’s Fall trilogy, and book three in the Primal Patterns series.

[image error] Contamination by Patty Jansen:

Jonathan Bartell is a young man, just out of university, when he signs up for the position of Quarantine Officer at the Orbital Launch Station.

He is part of a crop of students who flocked to study exo-biology when bacteria were discovered on Mars, and who are now all making their living flipping burgers, because the jobs are few and hard to get.

He is lucky to get a job in space, no matter how mundane.

Or so he thinks…

Gaby Larsen is a doctor at the tiny hospital at the space station, and she keeps secrets, not because she wants to keep them, but because she is too scared to share them.

Because out in space, your worst enemies are your fellow travellers.

[image error] Prelude to Insurrection by J.C. Kang:

Only an orphan half-elf spy can avert a rebellion before it starts.

Jie’s superior senses have made her the perfect lookout. Now, as the adopted daughter of the Black Lotus Clanmaster, she wants to prove her pointed ears aren’t a liability when she’s tasked to infiltrate a rebel lord’s castle.

In this prequel to Songs of Insurrection, Jie must decide between her duty to the emperor and her sense of compassion toward the downtrodden. No matter her choice, it will have explosive consequences for her, the realm, and the upcoming war.

[image error] Jackalope Wives and Other Stories by T. Kingfisher:

Winner of the Nebula and WSFA Short Fiction Awards

From award-winning author T. Kingfisher comes a collection of short stories, including “Jackalope Wives,” “The Tomato Thief,” “Pocosin,” and many others. By turns funny, lyrical, angry and beautiful, this anthology includes two all-new stories, “Origin Story” and “Let Pass The Horses Black,” appearing for the first time in print.

[image error] Once Giants by Eugene Kirk and Garan Mad:

The future is a no-holds-barred free for all, but all in a day’s work…when you were Once Giants.

The year is 2189, and a wormhole leading to five habitable planets has been discovered, prompting a new global space race. Political undermining and sabotage abound, creating the perfect blend of chaos and opportunity for newly minted NETwork operator Tina Thompson to put her augmented, former pro-wrestler body to the test in the mercenary game.

But her celebrity past isn’t so easy to outrun. And when her infamy botches her latest job in Imperial East Africa, her actions trigger repercussions that affect former rival Shay Santiago as well.

As Tina and Shay both struggle to salvage their lives, a bigger threat looms. A mysterious gravitational anomaly has appeared, threatening to destroy the solar system itself. And Shay’s old high school flame may be the only person on Earth who can stop it.

Richly textured, interweaving narratives introduce new characters and bigger military sci-fi threats in this second installment of Once Giants, offering a thought-provoking look at how one person’s actions can affect the entire world.

[image error] The Metaverse: Virtual Life – Real Death by William Kurth:

An FBI Agent more comfortable hunting criminals the old fashioned way. A brilliant scientist who kills using Virtual Reality. And an Artificial Intelligence with an agenda of its own.

The Metaverse, more than the “internet of things,” is a place where humankind has devised a way to comfortably and seamlessly merge the biologic and the digital to the point that neither is readily distinguishable from the other. As people in ever greater numbers choose to live, work and play “In World,” so too do those who prey on their fellow man.

The Metaverse is a fast-paced Crime Thriller that takes place in the not too distant future with technology that even now is a part of our world.

[image error] A Dark Inheritance by Erme Lander

“I do not require your eternal love or devotion Ms Johnson, merely what is inside your veins.”

When Tina Johnson, single mother, forty, wakes up in an isolated castle in Central Europe she simply wants to return to her daughter as quickly as possible. She doesn’t expect to find that she has been kidnapped and brought into a world where power is the key to survival and sanity is an optional extra.

Tina discovers she has been watched for many years, she has a rare genetic structure that makes her attractive to vampires and has the possibility of living for well over a century, if she allows herself to become infected. Kalmár has stolen her and intends to keep her captive, hiding her from both her family and other vampires. She meets Wolfie, his bonded servant, unable to disobey the orders given by his master whether he wishes to or not. Normality becomes a frightening place as Tina struggles to escape those holding her and to fights to keep her daughter, her lover and her freedom.

[image error] Pirate Nemesis by Carysa Locke:

Killers. Thieves. Pirates. Family.

Mercy Kincaid is a fugitive from her own family. Her dangerous telepathic gifts make her a target. So is anyone she gets close to. When her best friend is captured and tortured, Mercy’s only hope is to reunite with the family that tried to murder her as a child. She trusts few among her blood relatives, but finds herself intrigued by an enigmatic and dangerous killer.

Reaper has spent a lifetime watching his people die. He’s vowed to kill anyone who jeopardizes their survival. Mercy’s gifts are the biggest threat they’ve faced in eleven years, since a biological weapon nearly annihilated the pirate colonies. But Reaper realizes her talents can either destroy them, or save them. He must decide if he’s fallen victim to her power, or if he can truly trust the beautiful woman and her compelling abilities. If he makes the wrong choice, everyone dies.

Pirate Nemesis is the first book in an ongoing space opera series. If you like compelling world-building, fantastic characters, and romantic adventure, then you’ll love Carysa Locke’s new twist on an old genre.

[image error] The Rending by Carol Holland March:

The saga of The Dreamwalkers of Larreta continues . . .

Deadly time rifts threaten Earth and Larreta. The rifts have swallowed people, buildings and the land itself. They must be stopped before the very fabrics of both worlds are torn apart.

Dreamwalker Leo can look backward in time. Jesse can walk into the future. Both of these abilities are needed to create the dangerous truan passage to locate and defeat the mysterious instigator of the rifts.

But Jesse is a volatile newcomer, unable to completely control his abilities. And Leo is still uncertain of his personal feelings for Jesse.

Working past their issues is key to discovering the location where the rifts originate. But the dark force behind the rifts has other plans—ones that won’t allow the two dreamwalkers to remain together. And only together can the rifts be stopped.

[image error] Phyllis Wong and the Girl Who Danced with Lightning by Geoffrey McSkimming:

When Phyllis Wong’s friend Clement finds a seemingly ordinary old movie poster in an antique shop, little does Phyllis know that the discovery will fling her on a journey into the past … a journey that will lead the brilliant young magician and clever sleuth to a forgotten mystery surrounding one of the most famous stories ever written!

[image error] Moonlight, Roses & Murder by Lori Moulton:

Selina is a woman with a secret and she has been hiding it for a very long time. With her nieces, she runs Luna’s, a nightclub in downtown Seattle, catering to Steampunk and Goth clientele. When someone leaves a body behind her club, she is drawn into a web of mystery and murder. Puncture marks on the body indicate a vampire might be responsible and when more women are killed, a red rose is left by their bodies. As a vampire hunter comes to investigate, Selina wonders, who she can trust…

[image error] Feral by P.J. Post:

He’s just a teenager, hollow and lost, looking to keep the past buried, to forget. He surfs the backwash of the westward migration across a dead America; a war-torn desolation devoid of electricity, infrastructure and civilization. It has become a strange and unrecognizable land, rife with the worst of humanity. And his is a life without hope, equally dark and solitary.

Until he meets Feral.

Once was boy, selfish and directionless.

Now is love.

Now is reason.

Now is vengeance.

She is his vow, his purpose, and to save her, he’ll murder the world.

[image error] Children of the Shaman by Jessica Rydill:

When their aunt is taken ill, thirteen-year old Annat and her brother are sent from their small coastal town to live with their unknown father. Like Annat, Yuda is a Shaman; a Wanderer with magical powers, able to enter other worlds. As Annat learns more about her powers, the children join their father on a remarkable train journey to the frozen north and find a land of mystery and intrigue, threatened by dark forces and beset by senseless murders that have halted construction of a new tunnel. But Annat’s doll, her only remembrance of her dead mother, may hold a dark secret – and when her brother Malchik is kidnapped, Annat and her father must travel onwards to find him before it is too late.

Between uncertain allies, shadowed enemies and hostile surroundings, it is only in the magical kingdom of La Souterraine that they can find answers – and it may be that only a Shaman can save the family and the Goddess.

[image error] Missing Things by Hollis Shiloh:

Is there a way to save the captive fae?

Jocelyn and Ellis, magicians and life partners, grapple with dilemmas and a miasma of magic and mystery.

Jocelyn searches out magical artifacts, and struggles with the troubling gap in his memories — and the feeling that his and Ellis’s partnership is falling apart.

Meanwhile, Ellis works desperately to dig into a wicked injustice being perpetrated against a kidnapped fae…and finds it may be too much for him to handle alone.

43,000 words

Men of Magic book 2

Very low heat

Rimward Stars by Glynn Stewart:

A helpless ally calls for aid

A ruthless enemy strikes without mercy

The fate of empires turns on even the smallest actions

When a minor trade partner sends the Castle Federation a desperate call for aid, they have few resources to spare from their all-consuming war against the Terran Commonwealth. Unwilling to be seen failing their allies but able to spare only a tiny force, Castle sends a hero to command the task group: Captain Kyle Roberts, the Stellar Fox.

Beyond the Rimward frontier of the Federation and its allies, little is as it seems. The pirates are being armed by an outside force, and the politics of these worlds is made deadlier by their poverty. When the Coraline Imperium—the Federation’s oft-difficult ally—sends forces as well, it risks a conflict that could undermine the Alliance protecting them both.

There are deeper games afoot as local schemes play the great powers against each other. Captain Roberts is caught in the chaos as fire and blood explode across the region. There is only one certainty: these Rimward Stars must not fall.

[image error] Star Dog Corruption by Lucas C. Wheeler:

After the Star Dog Fiasco, as it was termed by the media, Star Dog is joined by Nathan, Nicole, and Clancy while trying to rebuild his life. In the midst of a serial jewel theft and deepening conspiracies, can Star Dog truly fit into society, or will society reject him like a bad organ? Will he be able to stop the thefts and honor his name, or is there something more sinister at work?

[image error] Witch Spelling by A. Woodley:

A fictional tale of witches, warlocks and wizards trying to fit in with the mundane way of life but always fearful of the consequences of being found out, especially after having already been persecuted and driven out of another town previously.

An accidental skirmish between two differing species, (both of which were once witches and warlocks) banished to adjoining worlds in an alternative dimension.

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Indie Crime Fiction of the Month for May 2017

[image error]Welcome to the first ever 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 April books I missed the last time around snuck in as well. The books are arranged in alphabetical order by author. So far, most links only go to Amazon.com, though I may add other retailers for future editions.

Our new releases cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, historical mysteries, police procedurals, children’s mysteries, mystery short fiction, paranormal mysteries, psychological thrillers, legal thrillers, crime thrillers, near future crime, yakuza, smugglers, lawyers, watchmakers, vampires, kitchen witches, magician sleuths 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 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:

[image error] Kitchen Witch by Cora Buhlert:

When Eudora Pembroke, a self-styled witch, is found dead in her house after ingesting a poisonous plant, everybody suspects a tragic accident. After all, Eudora was elderly and might have mistaken the poisonous plant for a benign herb.

But Detective Inspector Helen Shepherd is sceptical. Would a skilled herbalist like Eudora Pembroke really make such a beginner’s mistake? And who might have had a motive to poison her?

This is a mystery novelette of 12500 words or approximately 45 print pages.

[image error] Tools of the Trade by Cynthia E. Hurst:

He’s considered a heretic. She’s a 13-year-old thief. Jacob Silver and Sarah Simm are mistrusted by the residents of their Cotswold market town even before the suspicious death of wealthy merchant Thomas Martyn – a man with the power to destroy both of them. But a secret night visit, a hidden scandal and a second murder mean that the two outsiders on the fringes of society are now thrust into the spotlight. Can they discover the truth others have missed – or concealed?

‘Tools of the Trade’ is the first novel in the Silver and Simm Victorian Mysteries series.

[image error] Impulse Spy by Carrie Ann Knox:

Studious grad student Quinn’s orderly world is shaken up when she meets mysterious stranger Sloan McKenzie, private investigator and man-dazzler extraordinaire. And she wants Quinn’s help.

It turns out a little espionage may be just what Quinn needs. And she finds that she can even use her hearing loss to her advantage. But when a target of their surveillance turns up dead, and Quinn realizes she may have unwittingly played a role, she may be forced to put her future career–or her life–on the line to uncover the truth and keep other innocent bystanders from harm.

[image error] The Metaverse: Virtual Life – Real Death by William Kurth:

An FBI Agent more comfortable hunting criminals the old fashioned way. A brilliant scientist who kills using Virtual Reality. And an Artificial Intelligence with an agenda of its own.

The Metaverse, more than the “internet of things,” is a place where humankind has devised a way to comfortably and seamlessly merge the biologic and the digital to the point that neither is readily distinguishable from the other. As people in ever greater numbers choose to live, work and play “In World,” so too do those who prey on their fellow man.

The Metaverse is a fast-paced Crime Thriller that takes place in the not too distant future with technology that even now is a part of our world.

[image error] Phyllis Wong and the Girl Who Danced with Lightning by Geoffrey McSkimming:

When Phyllis Wong’s friend Clement finds a seemingly ordinary old movie poster in an antique shop, little does Phyllis know that the discovery will fling her on a journey into the past … a journey that will lead the brilliant young magician and clever sleuth to a forgotten mystery surrounding one of the most famous stories ever written!

 

 

[image error] Moonlight, Roses & Murder by Lori Moulton:

Selina is a woman with a secret and she has been hiding it for a very long time. With her nieces, she runs Luna’s, a nightclub in downtown Seattle, catering to Steampunk and Goth clientele. When someone leaves a body behind her club, she is drawn into a web of mystery and murder. Puncture marks on the body indicate a vampire might be responsible and when more women are killed, a red rose is left by their bodies. As a vampire hunter comes to investigate, Selina wonders, who she can trust…

 

[image error] Hidden Defendant by Rachel Sinclair:

Harper’s uncle, Jack Calhoun, has been charged with murdering a priest. Jack has no idea if he killed the priest or not. All that he knows is that he woke up in the rectory, holding a knife, with a priest covered in blood at his feet.

It soon become apparent that Jack is not who he seems. He’s not the man who Harper grew up with. He’s become something else. Somebody else. It’s possible that he really killed Father Malone – Harper must come to terms with the reality.

As Harper gets further into the case, she’s never quite sure exactly what happened. She doesn’t want to believe that her beloved uncle would be capable of such a crime.

All signs point to Jack as the murderer.

Did he do it?

With the twists and turns that you’ve come to expect from a Rachel Sinclair legal thriller, this tightly-paced story is not to be missed!

[image error] Better Than Suicide by Amy Tasukada:

A bag of drugs. A twisted cop. A mob on the verge of self-destruction…

Nao Murata is the new Godfather of the Matsukawa syndicate. When Detective Yamada confronts Nao over a dead drug dealer, the Nao knows his organization isn’t responsible. The Matsukawa doesn’t deal drugs… or does it?

When Nao discovers drugs in a locker owned by his syndicate, he no longer knows who to trust. With the police bearing down on the Matsukawa, Nao must make unlikely allies to find out the truth. Can he discover who is betraying him before time runs out, or will everyone suffer for a crime he didn’t commit?

Better Than Suicide is the second book in a Japanese mafia thriller series. If you like complex plots, gripping suspense, and splash of gay romance, then you’ll love the next installment in Amy Tasukada’s Yakuza Path series.

[image error] The Girl in the Darkness by John Triptych:

Brenda DeVoe lives a lonely, quiet life in a secluded house by the backwoods of Virginia. Her days are spent working as a volunteer at the local animal shelter, caring for unwanted and injured pets. Once the toast of their small town, Brenda and her husband Jeff were destined for great things until one fateful night, when their young daughter disappeared without a trace. Their marriage soon fell apart and they separated, each to live out their damaged lives as best they could. Years later, Brenda finds something familiar when an injured cat is brought into the shelter, and the nightmares that she had once left behind are now returning … with a vengeance.

If you like the pulse pounding novels of Mary Higgins Clark, Gillian Flynn, Kathy Reichs, Tami Hoag and Paula Hawkins, then have a look at this newest psychological suspense thriller by John Triptych!

[image error] Ferrying Riches by A. Woodley:

Gabe and Derry Thomson were twin brothers looking for a new life, in a new town, where they found themselves mixed up in the type of criminality that they’d only ever seen in films before.

 

 

 

 

[image error] Murder Melange by A. Woodley:

20 fictional murder short stories.

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Rest in Peace, Roger Moore

Actor Roger Moore died yesterday, aged 89. There’s also a lovely tribute by Peter Bradshaw at the Guardian.

I heard the news on the radio, while driving home after a grocery haul. “And now we have some tragic news from Britain”, the DJ said, whereupon I assumed it would be about the Manchester bombing. And then he announced that Roger Moore had died. And I thought, “Oh no, but he wasn’t even that old.”

Of course, the truth is that Roger Moore was old – 89 is a highly respectable age, after all. And it’s pretty much a miracle that until two days ago, all six actors who played James Bond in the official Bond films were still alive, given how decimated the cast of other franchises which debuted around the same time or even later (e.g. Doctor Who, Star Trek, The Avengers, Raumpatrouille Orion, the Winnetou movies, the Edgar Wallace movies, Mission Impossible, etc…) is today. But Roger Moore was one of those actors who always appeared ageless to the point that I was stunned when I did the math and realised that he’d been in his thirties when he played Simon Templar, in his early forties, when he played Lord Brett Sinclair, and that he was 45, when he took over the role of James Bond and 58, when he retired from it. Of course, you can see that Roger Moore was aging, especially over the course of his seven Bond movies. But though he was aging, he never seemed old.

Now I have to make a confession: James Bond is not the first role that I associate with Roger Moore. He never was my favourite or even second favourite Bond (I rank both Sean Connery and Timothy Dalton above him) and in fact, his Bond movies usually end up in the bottom half, whenever I try to rank them. A.O. Scott may claim at the New York Times that Roger Moore was the best Bond, because he was Generation X’s Bond, but though I’m Generation X, Roger Moore was never my Bond. For due to the old, three-channel, wholesome programming and nothing foreign public TV system, the Bond movies only started airing on German TV from the mid 1980s on and they started at the beginning with the Connery Bonds, so it took until the late 1980s, until they finally got to Roger Moore. Watching the movies in the cinema was out of the question due to a combination of being too young to watch them and overprotective parents and watching them on video was even more out of the question, since my parents believed that VCRs were a waste of money. So by the time I finally saw him as Bond, I already associated Roger Moore with other parts, namely Simon Templar and particularly Lord Brett Sinclair from The Persuaders, though I’d also seen him in his very early TV role as Ivanhoe.

For some reason, The Persuaders, starring Roger Moore and Tony Curtis, is hardly remembered in the US at all, though British obituaries usually at least mention it. But the show was hugely popular in Germany, largely due to Rainer Brandt‘s brilliant pun and innuendo laden dubbing work (some of it so rude that adult me was lying on the floor gasping, “I can’t believe they dared to say that on TV. In 1971”), which turned a fairly straight adventure show into a brilliant fourth-wall breaking meta-commentary on the action adventure genre and television in general. By comparison, watching The Persuaders undubbed is a huge let-down, because where are the jokes? Quite a few episodes of The Persuaders dubbed into German are available online. There’s also a side by side comparison between the original and German dubbed version, which shows how much better the latter is.

When I first saw Roger Moore as James Bond, sometime in the late 1980s during the German TV premiere of Live and Let Die, it was like seeing Brett Sinclair or Simon Templar pretending to be James Bond. And why was he behaving like such an arsehole towards Solitaire? Coincidentally, seeing Pierce Brosnan as James Bond has a similar effect on me, only that it felt like watching Remington Steele impersonating Bond. And anyway, why is he fighting Richard Sharpe (cause that’s the role I associated Sean Bean with pre-Game of Thrones)? For that matter, why is he trying to kill Vic from La Boum* and the skinny guy fro The Full Monty?

These days, I still find Roger Moore’s seven Bond films more rewatchable than Brosnan’s. I will probably stick around and watch for a while, if I run across a Moore Bond on late-night TV (ditto for a Connery or Dalton Bond), though I rarely bother with Brosnan. For though the first two Brosnan Bonds were pretty good and hold up well even twenty-plus years later, but casting Sophie Marceau as a villainess in The World Is Not Enough was a huge mistake, because Sophie Marceau was an icon to a generation of European teenagers who saw their own lives and problems reflected in hers. When Brosnan’s Bond turned on her, he turned on all of us. It’s probably no coincidence that The World Is Not Enough was the last Bond movie I’ve bothered to watch in the theatre. I have seen bits and piece of Die Another Day and Casino Royale, all of Skyfall (which is a damn good Bond film, even though I don’t normally care for Daniel Craig’s Bond), though I’ve never gotten around to watching Quantum of Solace and Spectre. But the magic is gone and it has been gone since The World Is Not Enough.

Compared to the Dalton Bonds and beyond, Roger Moore’s James Bond movies are often downright silly and time hasn’t been kind to them. A lot of the old Bonds are racist, but Live and Let Die goes quite a bit beyond casual vintage racism into “I can’t believe they didn’t realise how offensive this was” territory, though the New Orleans funeral scene is great, Baron Samedi is still brilliant and Jane Seymour remains one of the most beautiful and memorable Bond girls of all times. The Man with the Golden Gun is just a bad movie, in spite of Christopher Lee’s presence (plus, Bond is mean to Herve Villechaise, which will horrify anybody who grew up watching Fantasy Island). The Spy Who Loved Me has the advantage of stunning Ken Adam sets, the submersible Lotus (who didn’t want one?), Richard Kiel’s Jaws as one of the most memorable henchmen, Barbara Bach as another great Bond girl (Come to think of it, Roger Moore’s Bond did have the best Bond girls) and of course that ski jump into the abyss (courtesy of Willy Bogner, master of the ski stunt, and stuntman Rick Sylvester), but the plot is a notable rehash of You Only Live Twice and Curd Jürgens is probably the worst Bond villain of all time. Moonraker is just plain bonkers, basically James Bond does Star Wars with Michael Lonsdale playing Hugo Drax as the Master from Doctor Who. On the plus side, it had Lois Chiles and Corinne Clery. For Your Eyes Only isn’t bad at all, but for some reason it’s the Bond film I remember the least and the one I usually recall next to nothing about it except, some undersea sequences, a climax on an Alpine mountain top (which could describe any number of Bond movies) and Julian Glover being the villain. Octopussy is pretty crazy as well, but it has circusses, Maude Adams and Kabir Bedi a.k.a. Sandokan himself. Finally, A View to a Kill is probably my favourite Moore Bond, since it has an Ah-Ha theme song (the Moore Bonds also had excellent theme songs, come to think of it), Grace Jones being awesome, Christopher Walken being villainous, a chase on the Eiffel Tower, which left me so disappointed, once I saw the real thing (But it’s so packed. You can barely move, let alone have a chase scene here) and a climax involving a zeppelin and the Golden Gate Bridge. So really, what’s not to love?

Roger Moore’s Bond movies are also the furthest from Ian Fleming’s original version of the character, though I didn’t realise that, until I started tracking down the original Bond novels in the 1990s. Nonetheless, I find them a lot more rewatchable than the Brosnan and Craig Bonds, probably because even at their worst and most bizarre, the Moore Bonds are always incredibly entertaining. And due to Roger Moore’s suave and ever so slightly tongue in cheek portrayal, his James Bond is a lot closer to Brett Sinclair and Simon Templar than Brosnan’s ever was to Remington Steele. Though my favourite Bond movie is and will always be On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Yes, I know I’m weird.

Talking of which, Roger Moore’s suave, tongue-in-cheek Bond may always seem as if nothing could faze him, but he has unexpected moments of vulnerability that were rarely seen in the character (as opposed to book Bond) all the way up to Daniel Craig era. There is a scene in one of the early Moore Bonds, where Bond is seen visiting the grave of his wife Tracy, who got murdered by Blofeld on their honeymoon. And when Barbara Bach’s Agent Triple X mentions Bond’s late wife in The Spy Who Loved Me, he cuts her off. Because talking about Tracy is just too painful. I have always hated how the later Bond films dismissed Tracy, even though she was the one woman Bond was willing to marry (and played by Diana Rigg a.k.a. Emma Peel herself) and presumably died while carrying his child, so seeing her acknowledged, however slightly, is good. And the only Bond movies that did acknowldge her were Roger Moore’s

Of course, Roger Moore, was much more than just Ivanhoe, Simon Templar, Brett Sinclair and James Bond. By all accounts, he was lovely and modest in person and also worked tirelessly as an ambassador for Unicef in his later years.

Finally, here is one of my all-time favourite Roger Moore moments from The Muppets Show, where Moore sings “Talk to the Animals” from Doctor Doolittle, which was of course Ian Fleming’s most famous non-Bond work (and how amazing is it that the producers of The Muppets not only knew this, but assumed their audience did, too), while fighting rival spies:

And of course Miss Piggy (who had a really great taste in men – Mikhail Baryshnikov, Christophr Reeves, Nathan Fillion, Roger Moore – though I wonder what she saw in Kermit) tried to seduce him:

So rest in peace, Sir Roger Moore, who played James Bond in more movies than any other actor. Though he’ll always be Brett Sinclair to me.

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A few words on the 2016 Nebula Awards, the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Awards and the Shadow Clarkes

Yesterday, the winners of the 2016 Nebula Awards were announced. You can find a full list of winners plus plenty of photos of the ceremony here at File 770. Joel Cunningham also offers a brief overview of the ceremony as well as a list of winners and nominees at the B&N Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog.

Back in February, when the 2016 Nebula Awards shortlist was announced, I wrote that it was a very good shortlist. This shortlist produced a set of very worthy winners, too, though most of them were not my personal favourites.

All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders wins in the novel category. It’s not an unsurprising winner, since the novel got a lot of buzz from the time it was released on. It also was one of two clear favourites, since both Everfair and Borderline are more niche works and The Obelisk Gate is a sequel to a novel which did not win the Nebula last year. Nonetheless, I expected Ninefox Gambit to win, though Ceridwen Christensen at the B&N blog correctly pegged All the Birds in the Sky as the eventual winner.

Three of the 2016 Nebula nominees in the best novel category are also Hugo finalists this year. Now I’m a Hugo voter this year and thanks to an excellent Hugo shortlist, I currently have three novels duking it out for the number 1 spot on my Hugo ballot. Only one of those three was also a Nebula finalists and it’s not All the Birds in the Sky. Now don’t get me wrong, I did like All the Birds in the Sky, I just didn’t love it the way so many other people apparently did. But then, I never quite got why last year’s Nebula winner in the best novel category Uprooted was so popular either.

On to the novella category, where the winner is Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire. Again, it’s a story that has gotten a lot of buzz and coincidentally is also a Hugo finalist. It’s certainly a worthy winner and a story I liked well enough, though once again I didn’t love it like so many others apparently did. I guess a story about a boarding school for children who once visited fantastic worlds, but can’t go back there, does not resonate with me as much as it evidently does with US readers. For while Anglo-American children’s fantasy is chock full of portal stories (Narnia, Oz, Alice in Wonderland), portal fantasies are much rarer in German children’s fantasy. I mean, there is Michael Ende’s Neverending Story and – well, that’s it, basically. So naturally, a novella which explores the aftermath that portal fantasies normally leave out would resonate more with US and UK readers.

The respective winners in all other categories are works I’m at least familiar with. However, the winner in the novelette category, “The Long Fall Up” by William Ledbetter, is a complete unknown to me, probably because the story first appeared in F&SF and print SFF mags are notoriously difficult to come by here in Germany. Greg Hullender has a summary and a mini-review at Rocket Stack Rank. Based on this, it certainly sounds like an interesting story. Coincidentally, “The Long Fall Up” is not just the only Nebula win for the big three print magazines this year, it’s also the only clear science fiction story among all the winners in the fiction categories. And those who worry that women and people of colour are taking over all the genre awards will be pleased that the author is a white man.

The winner in the best short story category is “Seasons of Glass and Iron” by Amal El-Mohtar. Once more, this is a story that got a lot of buzz and coincidentally is also a Hugo finalist in this category. And once again it’s a story that’s perfectly fine and certainly a worthy winner, but not really one that wowed me (I’m sensing a theme here). In many ways, my reaction to “Seasons of Glass and Iron” is similar to my reaction to the controversial 2014 Nebula winner in this category, “If you were a dinosaur, my love” by Rachel Swirsky. I can absolutely see why so many other people love this story – however, I don’t love it myself (though I liked “Seasons of Glass and Iron” quite a bit more than “If you were a dinosaur, my love”). Part of the reason is that – as I’ve said several times before – fairy tale retellings and new fairy tales rarely do it for me. And while “Seasons of Glass and Iron” is beautifully written, it’s also very predictable.

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic presentation goes to Arrival. Once again, this is hardly an unexpected winner, since Arrival is exactly the sort of serious science fiction movie that the Nebula and Hugo electorate loves. Plus, it’s based on a Nebula Award winning story by Ted Chiang. What somewhat marrs it for me is that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis doesn’t work that way, no matter how many SF authors (not just Ted Chiang, but also Samuel R. Delany and Jack Vance) insist that it does.

The Andre Norton Award for YA SFF goes to Arabella of Mars by David D. Levine. It’s an excellent choice IMO, though I wouldn’t necessarily call it YA and indeed, it’s classified as regular SFF and published by Tor, not a YA publisher. But then, Locus seems to believe that Revenger by Alastair Reynolds is YA, too. And once again those who worry that women and people of colour are taking over the genre will be pleased that the author is a white man who managed to win even in the traditionally heavily female dominated YA category. So rest assured, white men can still win SFF awards in the year 2017.

The Damon Knight Grand Master Award went to Jane Yolen and highly deserved it is, too. The Kevin O’Donnell Jr. Service to SFWA Award went to Jim Fiscus and the Solstice Award went to Toni Weisskopf and (posthumously) to Peggy Rae Sapienza. Certain quarters will be very pleased with Toni Weisskopf’s win, I’m sure.

Finally, File 770 reports that the Nebulas will add a category for game writing in 2018 or 2019, which will once again please a lot of people.

In other awards news, the shortlist for the 2017 Arthur C. Clarke Award has been announced as well. It’s a pretty good shortlist, consisting of a Hugo and Nebula Award nominee (Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee), a Hugo nominee, sequel to one of last year’s Clarke Award nominees (A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers), this year’s Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction and the literary speculative fiction novel of the year (The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead), a new novel by a former Clarke Award winner (Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan), a new work by an author nominated for multiple BSFA, British Fantasy and World Fantasy Awards (Central Station by Lavie Tidhar) and a Locus Award nominated novel by an established and talented, but somewhat overlooked writer (After Atlas by Emma Newman). It’s also a nicely diverse shortlist, ranging from space opera and military SF via dystopian fiction to alternate history. The writer demographics are diverse as well – after the debacle of the all male, all white shortlist in 2013, in spite of a jury consisting of several women – and include three men and three women, two writers of colour, at least two LGBT writers and one international writer. At the Guardian, David Barnett also reports on the 2017 Clarke Award shortlist and praises its diversity.

So in short, it’s a good shortlist with lots of interesting works. I have my favourites, of course, but I wouldn’t mind if any of those books won.

Shortly before the official Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist was announced, the Shadow Clarke jury (shadow juries are apparently a thing in the UK, so this is not as presumptuous as it sounds) also announced its personal shortlist. The Shadow Clarke shortlist overlaps with the official shortlist in two points, namely The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead and Central Station by Lavie Tidhar. The remaining Shadow nominees are The Power by Naomi Alderman, a critically acclaimed feminist SF novel that would not look out of place on the actual Clarke shortlist, The Arrival of Missives by Aliya Whiteley, a somewhat obscure novella that has gotten quite a bit of buzz in the run-up to the Hugos, and two to me unknown quantities, A Field Guide to Reality by Johanna Kavenna and Infinite Ground by Martin MacInnes. Both straddle the border between literary fiction and SF and are therefore representative of the sort of books the Shadow Clarke Jury tends to favour. Diversity count: three women, three men, one writer of colour, one international writer.

Unsurprisingly, the selections of the Shadow Clarke Jury tend towards the literary end of SF. Also unsurprisingly, the members of the Shadow Clarke Jury are not at all happy about the actual Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist, as they explain at great length here, even though they got two out of six nominees right, while two more actual Clarke nominees, Occupy Me by Tricia Sullivan and Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee, were on the Shadow Jury’s longlist. So their hit rate is not bad at all. Nonetheless, there is a lot of complaining, because the actual Clarke Award shortlist (or at least those books the Shadow Clarke Jury doesn’t like) is too safe, too populist, too commercial (whereas the bestselling, Pulitzer-Prize winning, Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama endorsed Underground Railroad apparently isn’t commercial and populist at all), too focussed on core genre works, too YA focussed (whereby YA seems to refer not to actual young adult fiction but to works that focus more on characters and emotions than on ideas) and too much like the Hugos and Nebulas.

They might have a point with the last bit, since IMO the biggest strength of the Arthur C. Clarke Award has always been that it honours books that the Hugos and Nebulas tend to miss, because they sit on the fringes of the genre. And it’s true that in recent years, there has been more overlap between the Clarke Awards and the Hugos and Nebulas. However, it’s not just the Clarke Awards that are changing direction (if indeed they are), but but the Hugos and Nebulas are changing direction as well and increacingly recognizing works one would rarely have found on a Hugo or Nebula shortlist ten or fifteen years ago.

As for the rest of the Shadow Clarke Jury’s complaints, those might be summed up as “The books we liked best weren’t shortlisted”. Well, the works I like best often don’t get shortlisted for genre awards either, let alone win. Since approx. 2010, the Hugo and Nebula shortlists have matched my personal preferences closer than they used to and I’m generally quite happy with the shortlists, puppy shenangigans notwithstanding. Nonetheless, in the four years I’ve been a Hugo nominator now, my favourite SFF novel of the respective year never made the shortlist or even the longlist (though at least one book I nominated always made it). SFF awards reflect the direction the genre as a whole is going in, not our personal preferences. Also, as my somewhat lukewarm reaction to the 2016 Nebula Award winners shows, sometimes the works that win awards are not the ones we’d prefer, even if they’re perfectly fine and worthy winners.

Though I honestly wonder why there is such a vehement dislike for Becky Chambers among the Shadow Clarke Jury and in the UK SFF scene in general? It’s okay not to care for her books, but the way Becky Chambers is singled out as an undeserving finalist and an example of all that’s wrong with contemporary SFF is quite remarkable. Sour grapes that Becky Chambers’ debut novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet was not just shortlisted for last year’s Arthur C. Clarke Award, but also longlisted for last year’s Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction, i.e. a literary award, alongside such writers as Anne Enright, Kate Atkinson and Geraldine Brooks? So much for hyper-commercial.

At Lady Business, Renay comments both on the actual Shadow Clarke and the actual Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlist. Unlike the “Sharkes”, Renay is quite happy with the direction the Clarke Award is currently going.

I guess the Shadow Clarke Jury provides another illustration for my “Three Fractions of Speculative Fiction” theory, since the “Sharkes” (which is what the Shadow Clarke Jury members call themselves) are an excellent example of what I’ve called the anti-nostalgic fraction. Coincidentally, they also prove that the anti-nostalgic fraction and the traditionalist fraction can often sound eerily similar in their criticisms of works they don’t like (they also tend to dislike the same works, though for different reasons), even though they would probably never agree on what makes a good book.

Comments are off, since that’s safer with awards posts.

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What is it that makes Space Opera so good?

Tor.com and the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog are still running their space opera week event, so I’ll use this as an excuse to talk some more about one of my favourite subgenres.

First of all, we have another list, for at the B&N SFF blog, T.W. O’Brien posts a massive list of fifty-five essential space operas from the past seventy years, from Lensmen and The Star Kings all the way to Ninefox Gambit. It’s a great list which shows how broad and diverse space opera really is and that it’s much more than just manly men doing manly things in space (though there’s plenty of that, too). The writer demographics are much more diverse, too, than those of the almost all-male and all-white I linked to in my last post. The early years are very white and very male, though you also have Leigh Brackett, Andre Norton, Anne McCaffrey and Samuel R. Delany in there (though they did miss C.L. Moore, probably because she wrote most of the Northwest Smith stories before the 1937 cut-off point, though Judgment Night would fit in). And the further down you get, the more women and writers of colour appear. Lots of personal favourites are included, too, though I can’t help but notice that Ann Aguirre’s Sirantha Jax series and the Dredd Chronicles are sorely missing.

Another really fascinating piece to come out of the space opera week event is Liz Bourke’s post about space opera and the question of empire at Tor.com. Herein, Liz Bourke takes a look at four different space operas, namely David Weber’s Honor Harrington series, David Drake’s RCN series, Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series and Yoon Ha Lee’s Ninefox Gambit and sequel, and analyses how these four works tackle the question of empire and imperialism and its social and political implications. She comes to the conclusion that David Weber is mainly interested in military action and does not particularly care about the social and political implications of the universe he built. He also doesn’t question imperialism at all. David Drake (whom I have to admit I keep confusing with David Weber, though I have read books by both) also focusses on military action, but places more emphasis on the political and social implications of imperialism than Weber. on the other end of the spectrum, Ann Leckie and Yoon Ha Lee are far more interested in how their characters deal with questions of identity and position in strictly hierarchical imperialist systems than in big space battles.

Yoon Ha Lee himself makes a similar point in his contribution to space opera week, when he discusses the emphasis the space opera subgenre tends to place on big space battles. Like Liz Bourke, Yoon Ha Lee takes a look at individual works and diagnoses that in Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet series and Simon R. Green’s Deathstalker series, the focus is very much on big space battles and other space opera shenangigans rather than on politics and culture (he’s mistaken with regards to Green, though, because there is quite a bit of political commentary embedded in the Deathstalker series together with all the space opera fun Green could squeeze in). Meanwhile, other works such as Ann Leckie’s Imperial Radch series and Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan series use the superficial trappings of space opera to make a sociocultural point about the effects of imperialism and the clash of cultures.

Talking of Yoon Ha Lee, Martin Cahill reviews Raven Stratagem by Yoon Ha Lee, the sequel to Hugo, Nebula and Clarke Award nominated Ninefox Gambit. I’m not sure if this is just a regular review or a space opera week tie-in, but it certainly fits. There’s also an excerpt from Raven Stratagem at Tor.com.

Now empires and imperialism (and big space battles) seem to come part and parcel with space opera, since the overwhelming majority of space opera presents imperialist powers, even if the actual system is not an empire but a republic or a federation or – rarely – a quasi-communist/socialist state. Even the cheerfully collectivist and anarchist post-scarcity society of Iain Banks’ Culture frequently comes up against the imperialism of less enlightened powers and occasionally engages in a bit of imperialism of their own. Perhaps Ian Sales had a point when he called space opera an inherently rightwing genre, because it tends to default to imperialism, regardless of the writers’ actual politics.

I have to admit that my own attempts at space opera, the Shattered Empire and the In Love and War series, are both set in imperialist systems, an actual empire in the case of Shattered Empire and an empire and a republic, both of which are equally imperialistic, in the case of In Love and War. in both cases, this was due to a worldbuilding necessity. Shattered Empire is my attempt to write the sort of story about an epic struggle against an injust system that permeates much of the SF I love most. And you can’t really have a revolution without an evil empire. Though I didn’t pattern the Fifth Human Empire and its history after such obvious suspects as the Roman Empire, the British Empire or the Napoleonic wars, but instead did what space opera writers have been doing for a long time and used the politics of my own country as a base. The history of the Fifth Human Empire as recounted in History Lesson blatantly borrows from the politics of West Germany post-1945. Interestingly, no one has ever remarked on this, even though the borrowings are very blatant indeed.

For In Love and War, I needed a universe divided between two great powers locked in a generation-spanning war, with the few independent entities squeezed to the margins. In short, it’s basically the Cold War gone hot in space. My initial idea was that the Empire of Worlds is the British Empire on steroids, while the Republic of United Planets is the US at its most expansionist and imperialistic on steroids. However, while I was actually writing the stories, the Empire of Worlds turned into a hierarchical class/caste system that is a lot more strictly stratified than the British Empire ever was at its worst, while the Republic of Worlds turned into a technocracy governed by a body calling itself the Scientific Council. Both systems are extremely nasty, even the supposedly rational, democratic and egalitarian Republic. My protagonists, Anjali and Mikhail both come from the margins of their respective regimes. Anjali is a member of the lowest class from an exploited backwater planet (and remember that so far, we haven’t actually seen any members of the higher classes of the Empire), while Mikhail is a war orphan, an abused throwaway child who was only viewed as a burden on the state to which he lost his family. They both join their respective militaries, the only way out for people like them and manage to occasionally walk the corridors of power, though they never really belong there. See Mikhail pretending to be a guard and fading into the background in Graveyard Shift, while his superiors discuss the fates of human beings over tea and pastries.

When I write, I usually start with the characters or a situation and then build the world or the universe to fit. This is what I did with both Shattered Empire and In Love and War, both of which are set in imperialistic universes by ncessity.

Talking of worldbuilding, Kameron Hurley, who also has a post at Tor.com in which she explains how she created her space opera universe for The Stars Are Legion. I always enjoy posts where authors explain how they created their worlds and what was the initiating spark for a given novel or series, especially since it’s often something that didn’t strike me as very memorable when I read the books in question. Now I haven’t read The Stars Are Legion yet, but here is a similar post by Charles Stross about how he created the world of Singularity Sky and Iron Sunrise. Now I read both books back in the day and found them immensely frustrating (and indeed they’re part of the reason I have issues with New British Space Opera, as chronicled here). However, when I read Charles Stross’ post about the building the universe of those books, I found that even though I’d read them and remembered my whole frustration with them very well indeed, I had very little memory of this whole Eschaton stuff, because frankly, I didn’t find it very interesting (and that was before I discovered that it was heavily borrowed from Iain Banks’ Culture novels). But then, my own writing process is different, as described above.

Talking of the Culture novels, also at Tor.com, Karin L. Kross celebrates Iain M. Banks, the Culture novels and their revolutionary optimism. Now I have to admit that I’m not the world’s biggest Iain Banks fan. That’s more my fault than his, because I came across other New British space opera strongly influenced by Banks before I finally read my first Culture novel. And since I did not care for what I’d seen of New British space opera, I never gave Iain Banks a fair shot, because I always associated him with those books. Things might well have been different if I’d found Banks before I found his immitators.

In another Tor.com post, Molly Templeton shares her appreciation for the Lightless series by C.A. Higgins, which I haven’t read. Other offerings for space opera week include Leah Schnelbach revisiting Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany, a space opera which hinges on linguistics. I enjoyed Babel-17 a lot, when I first read it, largely for the combination of space opera and James Bond-style spy thriller. Though the linguistics aspect – sorry – is bunk. I know SF authors love the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis, love it more than actual linguists, in fact (well, how could you not love a hypothesis that sounds as if it was cooked up by two Klingon linguists), but it’s a hypothesis and even if you accept it, no real world language will ever do what language can do in Babel-17 or Poul Anderson’s Tau-Ceti or Ted Chiang’s “The Story of Your Life” a.k.a. Arrival. I understand the fascination – hey, part of the reason why I chose sociology as my secondary subject at university was my love for Asimov’s Foundation series. But actually studying the stuff – both sociology and linguistics (I even taught the latter at the University of Vechta and wrote a paper on linguistics and SF) – tends to show you that neither sociology nor language actually work that way in the real world, anymore than FTL travel is possible in the real world.

Tor.com also reprints the space opera/military SF short story “Damage” by David D. Levine, narrated from the POV of an artificially intelligent fighter supposed to carry out the final strike in an interplanetary war. “Damage” was a Nebula finalist in 2016 and was also on my personal Hugo nomination ballot that year. It’s also a very poignant story.

Meanwhile, over at the Barnes & Noble Sci-Fi and Fantasy Blog, Ross Johnson shares a list of ten space operas in comic and graphic novel form. It’s a pretty good list, though heavy on recent works. I mean, a list of space opera comics that omits Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers? Really? None of Jack Kirby’s many space opera comics make the list either, though the Green Lantern Corps gets a mention. The list is very US dominated, while largely ignoring European and Japanese comics. Valerian and Laureline get a mention, but they’re far from the only space opera found in Franco-Belgian-Dutch comics. Meanwhile, manga is omitted altogether. At Tor.com, Natalie Zutter takes a closer look at Brian K. Vaughan’s and Fiona Staples’ multiple-award-winning Saga, one of the space opera comics on the B&N list, and how it focusses more on building a family and the theme of hope than on big space battles, even though Saga is chock-full of space opera weirdness.

Also at Barnes & Noble, Sarah Gailey offers book recommendations to what may well be the only actual opera diva in space opera, the tentacled and blue diva Plavalaguna from Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. It seems Plavalaguna likes YA fiction, which is unexpected. Or maybe not, since opera thrives on drama and modern YA has plenty of that. Besides, my time of peak opera love was in my teens (So dramatic! So romantic! So thrilling! And music, too), so Plavalaguna, prime opera diva of the galaxy*, loving YA fiction makes an unexpected amount of sense.

Tor.com offers another excellent contribution to space opera week with Emily Asher-Perrin’s post tackling the frequent accusation that space opera is just fantasy set in space (as opposed to proper hard science fiction). She pretty much answers that question in the negative in the headline and then goes on to trace the history of the term “space opera” and how it went from derogatory description of a certain kind of science fiction story to subgenre designation. Emily Asher-Perrin also points out that space opera initially wasn’t compared to the fantasy genre at all, probably because there was no fantasy genre in the modern sense before the 1960s/1070s. Instead, the genres space opera found itself negatively compared to were the soap opera and the western a.k.a. the horse opera, which is turn received their monickers via a negative view of the melodramatic plots of some operas (which still persists – I’ve seen interviews with opera directors in which they complained about the melodramatic and silly plots of many classics).

Coincidentally, the overblown melodrama was a large part of what I loved (and still love) about actual opera. What initially drew my teenaged self to opera was that it combined two things I loved, namely music and stories, gloriously wild and exciting stories full of court intrigue and swordfights, deadly feuds, crossdressing and disguise, forbidden love, betrayal, dashing heroism, sacrifice, prison escapes, torture, executions, suicides, disastrous mix-ups (I can offhand name three operas where someone winds up killing their lover or child in an easily prevented mix-up), devastating tragedies, grand gestures of mercy, dramatic dying arias and much more. I still don’t get why there are concert productions of operas, because to me, the stories are as important as the music, so concert productions omit what to me is the best part of opera (and I was a kid who read opera libretti for entertainment). Of course, stage productions often don’t deliver either, since many directors are uncomfortable with the melodramatic plots of many operas and either try to subvert them or try to find some political or social relevance in them. Bonus points, if they take an opera that actually could have relevance to current affairs and somehow manage to twist a meaning from it that totally misses the obvious, e.g. Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio (a personal favourite of mine) could be turned into a great commentary on relations between Islam and the West, so of course the director has to turn it into a treatise on the sex trade. Or Beethoven’s Fidelio, an opera about a political prisoner and his wife’s desperate attempt to free him, i.e. a story which can be so easily related to current affairs, is instead turned into a parable on deindustrialisation and mass unployment, complete with the chorus dressed up as stereotyped unemployed workers lugging discount store shopping bags across the stage, as happened in a production at the Bremen theatre in the 1990s. And of course, Bayreuth is infamous for Wagner productions that completely miss the point.

If you take a look at the plot elements that so thrilled me about classic operas that I listed above, you’ll notice that you can find many of them in both soap operas and space operas. Viewed in that light, it’s probably no surprise that my teenaged self which loved operas also enjoyed soap operas. And of course, I also loved space opera, fantasy and superhero comics, all of which I’ve been known to describe as “It’s like a soap opera, but with swordfights and dragons/with superpowers/in space”.

So while the affinity between opera proper, space opera, soap opera and epic fantasy is clearly visible, I recall that the comparison between space opera and westerns (or indeed anyone of the others and westerns) has always stumped me, because with obvious exceptions such as Firefly and Serenity, I don’t see a whole lot of similarities between space opera and westerns, at least not enough to call refer to space operas as “westerns in space”. Besides, like Emily Asher-Perrin, I have never much cared for the western genre or rather I disliked certain prominent elements of westerns so much that they turned me off the entire genre. Therefore, I was always stunned, whenever someone compared the genre I loved most to the genre I loved least, because wasn’t it obviously to anybody with half an eye that these two weren’t the same at all.

Though the question remains why I love space opera so much more than e.g. epic fantasy. The answer was always pretty clear to me. For while you can get your fix of the good stuff – adventure, love, heroics, wondrous worlds, conflict on a grand scale – in various genres, I have always preferred my fantasy with indoor plumbing. That’s why I prefer both urban fantasy, steampunk and science fiction, including space opera, over epic fantasy.

Meanwhile, the puppies or at least some of them are still pissed that they weren’t invited to the party (gee, I wonder why?), so they started their own space opera week event. All links go to archive.is, in case you’re worried about visiting a puppy site.

Jon Del Arroz complains that he is being oppressed and censored, because Tor.com moderators deleted his comments in which he promoted one of his posts at the Castalia House blog and also deleted the comments his friends left that called for Tor.com to give Del Arroz a guest post. He also quite grandiosely declares himself an important space opera writer and the leading Hispanic voice in science fiction (I guess Ann Aguirre and Malka Older might have a few words to say about that). Dude, it’s not censorship if moderators delete self-promoting posts, since I’m pretty sure Tor.com does not allow any self-promotion in comments.

Over at the Castalia House blog, Dominika Lein declares that space opera requires sense of wonder and should never be mundane, while Misha Burnett declares that space opera should follow the rules of myth and uses Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 as an example. Benjamin Cheah, who had a short story on the 2016 Hugo ballot, also weighs in on his own blog and declares that space opera should be grand and operatic and focus on adventure rather than on realism and details of mundane life. And at Superversive SF, Corey McCleary declares that “real readers/viewers” (TM) want action and adventure and heroics and not mundane realism and uses the box office figures of various recent Hollywood movies to prove his point. Ironically, he lumps American Sniper**, a film biography of a real life sniper with the US military, in on the action, adventure and heroics side (well, the movie does not question the questionable actions of its protagonist at all), while La La Land, a candy-coloured musical about two young people looking for Hollywood stardom and finding love instead, gets classified as mundane realism. Dude, these words don’t mean what you think they do. Meanwhile, at Tales of the Rampant Coyote, Jay Barnston explains what space opera means to him (sense of wonder, action and adventure, larger than life settings and characters, thrilling heroics). Barnston also shares a quote by Leigh Brackett on space opera and how it endures, when all the “important” science fiction has faded. Now I adore Leigh Brackett’s fiction, but her comments on writing and genre have never impressed me. Never mind that the reason why Leigh Brackett’s Eric John Stark stories and her Mars stories are still read today, while many of her contemporaries have faded away is because they offered something more (great characters and dialogue, mainly, cause Brackett was also a top-motch screenwriter) than just adventure in space.

Interestingly, several of the puppy contributions to space opera week specifically take issue with Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer’s post on the underrated importance of ordinary daily life in space opera, which they somehow read as “Ellen Cheeseman-Meyer hates space opera [No, she doesn’t. After all, she does the Vorkosigan reread series at Tor.com and you don’t do a reread with commentary of a genre you hate] and wants to take away our fun [Dudes, no one wants to take away your fun. We simply want something different out of the genre].”

The puppy contributions to space opera week also clearly show that they have a fairly narrow view of the subgenre, one that focusses on sense of wonder, thrilling action and adventure, larger than life heroics, usually of the military kind, a strict good and evil dichotomy and traditional gender roles. Now there’s nothing wrong about that and indeed, many of the Tor.com and B&N posters also declared their love for works that did just that, featuring heroic people, usually but not always male, being heroic in space. However – and this is something the various puppies and puppy adjacents don’t get – space opera can be more than just manly space marines (and occasionally feminine space princesses) doing manly things in space. To some people, the seemingly mundane interactions between realistic characters in decidedly non-realistic and non-mundane settings are as much as, if not more fun than the big space battles. And the beauty of the space opera genre is that it can accomodate all of those stories from the great space battles of Jack Campbell’s Lost Fleet to the small scale learning to the be human stories of Becky Chambers’ A Closed and Common Orbit.

Comments are off. Puppies, whine elsewhere.

*Or maybe not, since one of the oldest surviving characters I’ve created is an immortal telepathic singer with a taste for opera. Since she’s immortal and has access to a time machine, she can literally pop up everywhere, and may well put in a guest appearance in the Shattered Empire series (The Empire has operas. You know they do) or the In Love and War series (The Empire definitely has opera and the Republic probably does, too) one day. She may even meet the Silencer one day, because hey, time travel.

**By the way, it’s fascinating that the same actor, Bradley Cooper both plays the lead in the hyper-propagandistic American Sniper and provides the voice for Rocket Raccoon in the cheerfully anarchistic found-family space opera adventure Guardians of the Galaxy and that he played both roles in the same year.

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