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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for April 2016

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 March 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. We have retro science fiction, space opera, paranormal romance, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic fiction, weird western, vampires, werewolves, wizards, demons, witches, time travel, zombies, alien invasions, flying saucers, god killers, superheroes, exiled princes, Wild West mages 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:

Realm of Mirrors by Sonya Bateman:

“The dead must answer to you, and no one else. Remember that, Gideon.”

He may be the DeathSpeaker, but Gideon Black has no idea what he’s doing. The job didn’t come with an instruction manual. That’s why his half-brother Taeral plans to bring him across the Veil to the Fae realm of Arcadia, to consult with an ancient Fae who knew the previous DeathSpeaker personally.

Those plans are violently interrupted when the royal Unseelie Guard invade their home, dragging Taeral and their father, Daoin, to Arcadia ahead of schedule. And Gideon will do anything to get them back.

But the concrete jungles of Manhattan are nothing compared to the threats waiting in Arcadia. Facing deadly wildlife, even deadlier enemies, and magic he never imagined possible, Gideon must learn quickly to wield his power as both a Fae and the DeathSpeaker — before the vengeful Unseelie Queen can exact a cost higher than death from his family, and everyone he holds dear.

Double Feature by Cora Buhlert:

1956: Judy is the designated town slut of Stillwater Creek. After getting thrown out of a sock hop at the local high school, Judy winds up going to the movies with bad boy Hank instead, where a science fiction double feature is playing. However, before the first reel of the second movie is through, the night is interrupted by a very real invasion of flying saucers from outer space…

This is a novelette of 8500 words or approx. 30 print pages.

 

The Young Vampire’s Survival Guide by Lucy Eldritch:

It started with his death.

Student Robert James never asked to be bitten. He didn’t want to be the leader of a new breed of vampires. Thing is: he wasn’t offered a choice.

Survival and destiny combine when Robert finds himself under threat from a mysterious cult known as the Dawn Warriors. Within months, many of those he cares about are dead and he vows to fight back without mercy. Robert unearths terrible truths and confronts eternal evils that threaten to break him. He may not succeed in defeating the Dawn Warriors, but he has no choice but to try.

‘The Young Vampire’s Survival Guide’ is the first book in the ‘New Breed Vampires’ book series. Described as “Anne Rice meets Kelley Armstrong”, it is set in London and Manchester and written in British English. It’s gruesome, compelling, horrifying and uplifting vampire fiction.

In the Dark: A Novella of the Undying by Kera Emory:

Chase Covington and Anne Sheffield are on the run, but Chase isn’t sure where they’re going.

She’s a centuries-old vampire, and he’s been a werewolf hybrid for about three weeks. They’ve left a trail of bodies and a shattered supernatural treaty in their wake, and they’re having major communication problems.

And when the full moon rises, things are going to get a whole lot worse.

From the author of YOUR NAME, IN FIRE, this stand-alone novella pays homage to classic Urban Fantasy traditions.

Assassin’s Charge by Claire Frank:

A cold-hearted assassin. A boy with a price on his head.

Rhisia Sen is one of the Empire’s highest paid assassins. Living a life of luxury, she chooses her contracts carefully, working to amass enough wealth so she can leave her bloody trade. She is offered a new contract on the outskirts of civilization, and almost refuses—until she sees the purse. It could be the last job she ever has to take.

But when she reaches the destination, she discovers her mark is a child.

The contract, and her reputation, demand she kill the boy—if she can banish his innocent face from her mind. But another assassin has been sent to kill her, and a notorious bounty hunter is on her trail. She doesn’t know why the boy is a target, or why her former employer wants her dead. Saving the child could be her only chance at survival.

Assassin’s Charge is a stand-alone novel, set in the same world as the Echoes of Imara series. It can be enjoyed with or without having read the other books in the series.

For the Wildings by Kyra Halland:

In the conclusion of Daughter of the Wildings, Silas and Lainie recover from their ordeal in Granadaia, while knowing that an evil is at work that threatens the freedom of the Wildings and that this peaceful interval is no more than a brief illusion. Then the unthinkable happens, the battle begins, and Lainie, the daughter of the Wildings, and Silas, the man she has claimed for herself and for the land, have to draw on all their power and strength – and on the life of the land itself – to protect their beloved Wildings and the people who make it their home.

 

Coronation by Kevin Hardman:

As the grandson of the alien princess Indigo, Jim (aka Kid Sensation) has always known that, technically, he’s royalty. That said, he’d be the first to admit that he’s never lived any kind of regal lifestyle – no titles, no castles, no crown jewels… However, the arrival of a courier from his grandmother’s homeworld changes all of that in an instant.

By royal edict, Jim is summoned “home” to the distant planet Caeles in order to claim an alien inheritance. Unfortunately, this is no warm and cuddly family reunion. Caeles is a hotbed of political intrigue, and Jim’s arrival has widespread ramifications. Not only are several factions attempting to utilize his very existence as leverage to advance their own agendas, but Jim himself is required to submit to an archaic trial known as a prexetus. Moreover, while some are content with simply trying to use him, it quickly becomes apparent that at least one shadowy individual just wants Jim out of the way – quickly, completely, and permanently.

Light years from Earth, with little family and fewer friends, Jim faces the daunting task of finding an enemy whose ultimate purpose is unknown and whose methods are extreme. Complicating matters even further is the fact that Jim’s much-heralded super powers are glitching, making him incredibly vulnerable for perhaps the first time in his life.

Let Go by Michael Patrick Hicks:

Widowed and with retirement drawing near, Everett Hart believes he has already lost everything – until the dead begin to rise.

Trapped in a cheap restaurant with a small band of other elderly survivors, Everett is forced to decide if he’ll fight for whatever scraps of a future remain, or if he will simply… let go.

LET GO is a short story of approximately 10,000 words.

 

Barrow Fiend by Amy Hopkins:

When Emma is approached by DCI Greyson to assist with a case, her first instinct is to say no. Still shaken by the attack on her life six months earlier, and balancing her friendships with a budding relationship, she’d prefer to stay clear of the danger.

However, circumstances force her hand and she throws herself into the investigation. She soon realises that her target isn’t a mysterious creature, but a dangerous man without the slightest care for human life…

Can Emma survive the biggest risk she’s ever faced, or will she have to sacrifice too much?

This Would Be Paradise, Book 2 by N.D. Iverson:

Community connotes safety and togetherness–or does it?

Bailey and Chloe head back on the road, where they come across strange markings belonging to a group intent on bloodshed and abduction. With this heinous enemy lurking in the shadows, they seek help in new and old friends along the way.

When they arrive at Hargrove, nothing is what it seems inside the makeshift, post-apocalyptic community. People are turning up dead, and for once, zombies aren’t the ones to blame. Fingers are pointed, everyone is a suspect, and no one is safe outside or inside these walls.

Page count: ~282 pages

Borrowed Tides by Paul Levinson:

The first starship to Alpha Centauri in 2029 uses a new technology which can move it through deep space at almost half the speed of light. But it requires an enormous amount of fuel, and can only carry enough for a one-way trip. A philosopher of science and his childhood friend, an anthropologist with a specialty in Native American culture, have a daringly bizarre plan, and talk the government into putting them in charge of the Light Through starship voyage.

 

The Men Who Killed God by J. Alex McCarthy:

This is it.

They have finally done it.

They have finally killed a god.

In August’s world, everything was created by a single, secular god. HE—the creator of everything. However, HE left the world to be ruled with a subtle, iron fist by less powerful gods.

It had been two years since August stepped foot into his hometown, Sotira. It had also been that long since he’d last visited his father, seen his crooked smile, and felt those familial ties.

He wished he didn’t have to return. However, at the request of his girlfriend and his family, he was heading back home. To a place where the foundations themselves were built with false truths, hidden behind the ‘utopia’ the gods supposedly created. He knew fear lay under all that outward, deceitful happiness—a terror that Sotira would be next to come under the wrath of the gods.

When August arrived home, he wasn’t prepared for what he found. His best friend had been hanged and turned into a monument in the middle of town by the order of his father and the gods. The world he thought he knew had been turned upside down. To turn it right again, August would do anything… even start down the path that would allow him to gain the power to kill God.

Doctor Wolf by Jenny Schwartz:

A werewolf in London romance.

Liz Jekyll might be the most wanted werewolf in London—wanted for dating, that is—but she doesn’t take it as a compliment. In fact, it’s a wretched nuisance because Liz has a vital secret to hide. What she needs is a disinterested werewolf who could pretend to be her boyfriend.

Carson Erving would be very interested in Liz if it weren’t for Gentiana Aeternae. The botanist werewolf from Alabama has found the legendary Elixir Gentian, and ruthless people will do anything, kill anyone, to get their hands on a plant that can grant an extra hundred years of life.

As danger explodes around them, two very independent werewolves will have to do the unthinkable and rely on one another. But when Liz’s secret is revealed, who will die?

Demon Magic & Mayhem by Stella Wilkinson:

You know that feeling when you think life is pretty darn perfect, and then a werewolf savages your best friend and a ridiculously sexy demon drags your boyfriend off to hell with her? No? Just me then…

Young witch Emily Rand is back doing what she does best – blundering her way through paranormal mishaps with limited magic and mixed luck. But with her crow on her shoulder, and a ghost by her side, Emily’s not about to let some demonic vixen kidnap and keep the hot werewolf that holds her heart.

This book also includes a bonus short story : All Hallows Eve

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2016 Hugo Shortlist: More Thoughts and Reactions – and the Clarke Awards

There have been a few developments since my last Hugo shortlist reaction post.

Warning: Lots of links and neepery behind the cut:

For starters, File 770 is back. What caused it to go down was not puppy shenangigans (cause you can never be sure) via DOS attacks nor excessive traffic due to the Hugo announcement, since File 770 is the only place where you can view the Rabid Puppy list without visiting Vox Day’s site.  There is currently a lot of good discussion going on over there – this direct comparison of the Rabid Puppies slate and Sad Puppies list seems to be the most active post. There is also a reactions round-up at this File 770 post. Moreover, there is a good discussion going on at Metafilter here.

Meanwhile, at The Guardian, David Barnett offers a recap of the puppy saga so far with quotes by George R.R. Martin, Vox Day and unwilling puppy shield Alastair Reynolds in an article that went live before the shortlist was announced. David Barnett also reports about the actual shortlist.

At Electric Lit, Chelsea Baumgarten also offers a summary of the whole mess, as does Katharine Trendacosta at io9, while at the Los Angeles Times, Michael Schaub also offers an explanation of the puppy drama, focussing on everybody’s favourite absurd nominee, Chuck Tingle and his Space Raptor Butt Invasion.

Abigail Nussbaum, who would have been a most deserving best fanwriter nominee, seems to agree with me that this year’s puppy infested ballot is bad, but not nearly as bad as it could have been and better than last year’s.

I already linked to Aaron Pound’s reaction in an ETA yesterday, but here is is again, just an case you missed it. He’s also pretty angry.

At Nerds of a Feather (one of my fanzine nominees, which didn’t make it), Joe Sherry declares that he’s not angry, just disappointed, and that he still loves the Hugos.

At Conceptual Neighbourhood, Katster breaks down their reaction in a multi-part post, of which part 1 and part 2 are already up.

Let’s get to the reactions by the finalists, particularly those who ended up in the Rabid Puppy slate without their consent or knowledge. Lois McMaster Bujold points out that her novella Penric’s Demon was conscripted onto the puppy slate against her will and that her requests for removal were ignored.

Grey Carter, artist of the Erin Dies Alone webcomic (which, at least for me, was one of the “What the hell is this?” nominees) is considerably less than happy about being co-opted by Vox Day for his culture war.

The fanbase of the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic cartoon are also less than pleased about being co-opted by the Rabid Puppies for whatever reason (since it’s not actually clear whether My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was intended to be a troll nomination a la Space Raptor Butt Invasion, whether Vox Dax is trying to drag the bronies into his culture war or whether he genuinely likes the show, because he detected a rightwing message inside a children’s cartoon about the magic of friendship). At FIM Fiction, horizon offers a pretty good summary of the background of the entire puppy mess and also offers some suggestions regarding what to do. At the furry site Flayrah, a My Little Pony fan named Brendan Kachel also offers a summary of the puppy drama.

Chuck Tingle, author of Space Raptor Butt Invasion and similar classics like Gay T-Rex Law Firm, shares his reactions to his nomination in an interview with Lauren Sarner at Inverse. Meanwhile, Mr. Tingle’s latest masterpiece Slammed in the Butt By My Hugo Award Nomination has already spawned a parody entitled Pounded in the Butt by Chuck Tingle’s Hugo by Tuck Chingle. I already said yesterday that I don’t think Chuck Tingle and his Space Raptor Butt Invasion are the worst thing ever on the Hugo ballot and in fact, I find myself quite liking him. Though I still feel sorry for whichever legitimate nominee was knocked off the ballot by Space Raptor Butt Invasion.

I already posted in my last post that we had the first withdrawal after barely twelve hours, since Thomas A. Mays has withdrawn his short story “The Commuter” from consideration. Kudos to Thomas A. Mays for what cannot have been an easy decision. Let’s hope the replacement is something a bit less puppyish.

Brandon Sanderson, whose novella Perfect State was also on the Rabid Puppy list, weighs in and explains his decision not to withdraw, though he had been asked not to be put on any puppy slates last year. Now Brandon Sanderson seems to be a good guy, though his fiction doesn’t do much for me, and given his popularity, he’s one of the nominees who might well have ended up on the ballot anyway. And I understand his decision not to withdraw.

However, I disagree with one point, namely that the Sad Puppies were treated badly by fandom and the media last year. Now I understand that some of the Sad Puppies are his friends and I’ve also stated before that the Sad Puppies have improved this year by offering a recommendation list and including even recommendations for the sort of works they dislike, which is how e.g. Ann Leckie ended up on the Sad Puppy list. However, the Sad Puppies were not treated unfairly by fandom and the media last year, because let’s not forget that it was Larry Correia who started all this, because he was butthurt about losing the Campbell Award to Lev Grossman, and who brought in Vox Day in the first place. And Brad Torgersen amped up the hostile rhetoric in 2015 and not just denied everything that did not meet his personal definition of science fiction a place in the genre, he also engaged in all sorts of hyperbole and namecalling. And I don’t think that negative media articles, wooden asterisks which really offend puppies for some reason, and people applauding “No Award” was treating them unfairly, though I felt sorry for the few decent nominees on their slate. Besides, it’s rather obvious by now that the Sad Puppies aren’t the real problem here, but the Rabid Puppies.

George R.R. Martin weighs in on the Puppy debate as well, points out that the Rabid rather than the Sad Puppies are the problem and urges those finalists who were co-opted against their will and may well have been nominated anyway not to withdraw. Oh yes, and George R.R. Martin also announces that he will continue the Alfie Awards this year.

At the Los Angeles Times, John Scalzi also points out that a people like Lois McMaster Bujold, Andy Weir, Stephen King and Neil Gaiman may very well have been nominated anyway and that Hugo voters should trust their own taste and vote accordingly. At his own blog, Scalzi also adds that he doesn’t really want to get all worked about the puppies, even though he is a direct target of two of the more noxious finalists. Which made me think, “Well, that’s nice for you, but probably not an option for everybody.” Because let’s not forget that as a straight white man, Scalzi is something of an oddity among the puppy targets, since most of those they attack and harrass are women, POC or LGBT people.

And make no mistake, what Vox Day and his Rabid Puppies (as well as the nastier of the Sad Puppies) are doing is harrassment, as pointed out in the wonderful Fangirl Happy Hour podcast by Ana Grilo and Renay Williams, which was on my nomination list this year, in their special Hugo shortlist reaction edition by very angry Renay and a rather numb Ana.

Renay and Ana also point out that many of the slots on the Hugo ballot that were taken over by Puppy nominees, particularly in the fan categories, but also in the art and short fiction categories as well as the Campbell Award might well have gone to women, LGBT people and people of colour otherwise. And yes, I know that the puppies, both sad and rabid, have their women and POC shields, Toni Weisskopf being the most obvious one. However, the puppies, both sad and rabid, are also on record that they want to erase works which they dislike – often works by women, POC and LGBT writers, which privilege emotions, characterisation and the experiences of women – from the genre altogther. They don’t just want us not to win awards, they want us gone. And that’s pretty much the definition of erasure.

Though I disagree with them about Avengers: Age of Ultron, which I enjoyed quite a bit and which was also on my ballot.

Chuck Wendig agrees with Renay and Ana and points out that pop culture has a problem with toxic men and that the Rabid Puppies are but one facet of that problem. He also explains that he hopes that the toxic men which have infected many sectors of popular culture are largely a reaction to that fact that things are changing for the better, albeit slowly.

Of course, the question is what to do now and how to react.

Philip Sandifer points out that we must fight the puppies with every tool we have and pegs his hopes on the “E Pluribus Hugo” amendment. He also points out that the Retro Hugo ballot is really good this year, though sadly he can’t resist making an anti-German crack, while he’s at it. Honestly, people of whatever political stripe, please stop with the anti-German cracks. The overwhelming majority of us is far more leftwing than the US, pretty much everybody thinks that Donald Trump is a bad joke and even the AfD probably thinks that Vox Day and his ilk are too disgusting for their tastes.

In her reaction post, Dara Korra’ti points out that with the third puppy attack on the Hugos in as many years, confirming the proposed “E Pluribus Hugo” amendment is a requirement this year. She also points out that increasing the numbers of nominators didn’t help as much against the slates as we hoped, since the almost 4000 nominators also nominated a huge range of different works.

I like the idea of having more nominators – the problem this year and in past years was that a significant group of nominators was not nominating honestly, i.e. they were nominating somebody else’s picks rather than their own favourites.

I’m also ambivalent about “E Pluribus Hugo”, though it’s definitely worth a shot. But if it doesn’t work, then maybe more radical measures are needed. I’m pretty sure that the administrators of Sasquan and MidAmeriCon could easily compile a list of all bad actors, i.e. Vox Day and his dead elk, if they compared notes. So maybe just banning their arses would be the easiest option. After all, that’s what we do with sports stars who dope and cheat.

However, “E Pluribus Hugo” won’t be effective until next year, so we still need a strategy for what to do this year. And once again, there are several strategies.

Steve Davidson of Amazing Stories proposes the radical solution of no awarding anything that was on a slate and offers a puppy-free shortlist. Again, I already linked to this yesterday, but here it is again.

Matthew Foster also calls for no awarding any finalist that was on any puppy slate, regardless of how they got there. He also claims that even if we happened to nominate some of the same choices as the Puppies (and many of us did), we should still No Award them, because they weren’t our choices, they were Vox Day’s.

Now Matthew Foster has more reason than most to be bitter and angry at the puppies, since they denied his late wife Eugie Foster her last ever shot at a Hugo last year. Nonetheless, I strongly disagree with what he says here.

I nominated Penric’s Demon and Avengers: Age of Ultron and File 770 and Strange Horizons. I nominated them, because I genuinely enjoyed them, not Vox Day. My mother nominated The Aeronaut’s Windlass and Penric’s Demon, again because she enjoyed them, not because of anything that Vox Day did. In fact, she doesn’t even know Vox Day’s/Theodore Beale’s name, she knows him as “the son of the tax evader”.

And I honestly don’t see why I should no award works I nominated and genuinely enjoyed, just because Vox Day happened to slate the same works for reasons best known to himself. It’s not that I have never no awarded something I nominated, cause I did, back in 2014. However, in that case I later learned something about the nominee in question that made me reconsider their Hugo worthiness (and no, it was not Benjanun Sriduangkaew – I didn’t know about her until several days after she was outed). However, I am not going to let Vox Day dictate how I vote. If I like something, even if he happened to like it, too, I’ll rank it accordingly. If I dislike something, under “No Award” it goes, regardless of how Vox Day feels about that. And yes, even some of the reasonable nominees will probably go under “No Award”, because I simply don’t like that author/work.

Eric Flint also disagrees with No Awarding all slate nominates, which I actually agree with (and I don’t like his books, cause no one likes having their culture and history appropriated). He also thinks we’re all silly and childish for getting all upset about Vox Day, which I disagree with, because I think people have got plenty of reason to be upset. Meanwhile, Brad Torgersen has a massive freak-out in the comments to Eric Flint’s post and blames George R.R. Martin of all people for everything. You’d figure that he’d at least pick John Scalzi.

Spacefaring Kitten offers a puppy free voting guide and then urges people to no award only the crap, not all puppy picks, and to simply ignore the trolls. I can’t help but agree with them.

Katherine Jay shares her thoughts on this year’s Hugo finalists and also declares that she will not blanket no award all puppy picks, only those she finds unworthy. She also urges people to get a MidAmeriCon membership, vote for the Hugos and help to pass “E Pluribus Hugo”, if possible.

Jim C. Hines explains that Vox Day’s strategy of mixing in reasonable and independently popular nominees along with choices drawn from his publishing house and his reliably awful taste is pretty transparent and that he believes Hugo voters have enough sense to differentiate between the two.

At Feminist Fiction, Rhiannon Thomas takes the stand that she will give the reasonable nominees fair consideration and ignore the troll nominations, though she also points out that this approach may well hurt unknown writers who may have gotten caught up in Vox Day’s machinations against their will. She also sees no good solution to the problem.

I already stated yesterday that I will do what I did last year and in 2014. I will give all nominees a fair shot and vote accordingly. This doesn’t mean that I will read everything all the way through. If I clearly dislike a work, I will abandon it, no award it and go on to the next finalist. I also won’t bother with “Safe Space as a Rape Room” or “SJWs always lie”, what little I have read of those works was more than enough.

Bookworm Blues finally points out that even if the Hugos are wrecked for the second year in a row, there are still plenty of other genre awards to pay attention to.

One of these other awards, the Clarke Award, just announced its 2016 shortlist as well and it looks very good. I’m particularly pleased to see Becky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet there, since it was one of the standout science fiction books I read last year. Plus, Becky Chambers may well have lost her shot at the Campbell award to puppy approved mediocre white dudes. The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor is also a fine choice. Arcadia by Ian Pears and Way Down Dark by J.P. Smythe (which I wasn’t even aware of) both sound intriguing as well and I have heard good things about Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Europe at Midnight by Dave Hutchinson is the only nominee I don’t care for.

Comments are closed, go and whine elsewhere, puppies.

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The obligatory 2016 Hugo Shortlist Post

So the finalists for the 2016 Hugo Awards were announced today – against tradition in the middle of the week rather than on a weekend, which will make John Scalzi happy (though since he recused himself from nominations this year, it’s not really his problem) and will make everybody who has to work during the week and would like to engage in the inevitable discussions unhappy.

Coincidentally, this year’s Hugo finalists were also announced on the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster – an unfortunate coincidence that the MidAmeriCon organisers may not have been aware of, since Chernobyl isn’t as big a deal in the US as it is in those parts of Europe who got radioactive fall-out dumped onto their heads.

What is more, just to prove that this April 26th is not a completely bad day, the inquest about the Hillsborough disaster ruled today that the 96 dead Liverpool fans were “unlawfully killed” due to fatal failings on the part of the police and emergency services. This is a very good thing – and the Hillborough disaster has always loomed large in my memory, since it happened just before my 16th birthday and many of the victims were my age – though it’s sad that it only took 27 years to get there.

But let’s get back to the Hugos. Ready? So here we go…

Warning: Lots of Hugo and general SF neepery under the cut.

Okay, so the shortlist for the 2016 Hugos was announced today and it’s once again pretty damn awful, since Vox Day and his Rabid Puppies have once again succeeded in vandalising parts of the short list, particularly in the smaller categories. Though thankfully, the Sad Puppies don’t seem to have had that much of an impact this year, except where the Sad Puppy list and Rabid Puppy slate overlapped.

The full list of nominees is here.

Thankfully, the best novel category looks pretty good and largely unvandalised. Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie, Uprooted by Naomi Novik and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin are all good choices, though I haven’t read the latter two. Ancillary Mercy was one of my nominations as well.

The Aeronaut’s Windlass by Jim Butcher could be viewed as a puppy pick, since the Butcher is popular with the puppy crowd and also was on both the Sad and Rabid Puppy lists. However, Jim Butcher is also a popular writer with a big fanbase. For example, my Mom nominated The Aeronaut’s Windlass and she’s definitely not a puppy, but likes Jim Butcher’s work. So do I, though I didn’t nominate him.

The only nominee in the novel category I really disagree with is Seveneves by Neal Stephenson, because I had a bad experience with Stephenson’s work in the past, the Baroque Cycle to be exact. And unlike the Baroque Cycle, Seveneves sounds awful and reviews like this one by James Davis Nicholl don’t make it sound any more entrancing. But even though I really, really dislike Neal Stephenson’s work, he is popular with a certain crowd and Seveneves was a much discussed book. So even though Seveneves was on Vox Day’s slate and probably on the Sad Puppies’ as well (I can’t be bothered to check right now), it’s not an unlikely finalist and might have made it anyway.

On to the novella category: Again, it’s not entirely awful, unlike last year, where I voted “No Award” in first place, or even 2014, where I voted “No Award” in second place (I disliked all but one nominee). Penric’s Demon by Lois McMaster Bujold and Binti by Nnedi Okorafor were both on my list and Penric’s Demon was on my Mom’s as well (plus, she really liked the cover for Binti). The Builders by Daniel Polansky is another Tor.com novella, though I haven’t read it, since stories about anthropomorphic animals rarely do it for me. I also haven’t read Slow Bullets by Alastair Reynolds and Perfect State by Brandon Sanderson, since I’m not a big fan of either author. Slow Bullets and The Builders were both on the Sad and Rabid Puppy lists (apparently, they forgot that they were supposed to boycot Tor), as was Penric’s Demon, though Alastair Reynolds requested to be removed. Brandon Sanderson may well have been on one or both puppy lists as well, since he seems to be popular with that crowd. Nonetheless, none of these nominees are unreasonable and any of them might have made it without canine assistance.

On to novelette: Again, this category isn’t a complete loss. “And You Shall Know Her by the Trail of the Dead” by Brooke Bolander was also on my list. “Folding Beijing” by Hao Jinfang, translated by Ken Liu, got a lot of buzz and not just from the pups either (though Vox Day liked it). Plus, it’s good to see another work in translation and another piece of Chinese SF on the fiction shortlist after last year’s surprising triumph for fiction in translation. “Obits” by Stephen King was on one or both puppy lists, but it’s far from an unreasonable nominee.

Which leaves the two entries from the There Will Be War anthology, edited by Jerry Pournelle and published by Vox Day’s Castalia House. Now I haven’t read the anthology, since military SF isn’t really my thing. And I have never heard of Cheah Kai Wai, author of “Flashpoint Titan”. Apparently, he’s a Singaporean author, so at least that’s another strike for SFF from beyond the US/UK. As for David Van Dyke’s “What Price Humanity?”, I haven’t read this particular story, but I know David personally and have read other works by him (and proofread the German translation). He’s a fine writer and good guy and really doesn’t deserve the backlash he may get over this.

On to short story, where it gets weird: Thankfully, there is at least one reasonable nominee in this category (even though it had the misfortune of Vox Day liking it), “Asymmetrical Warfare” by S.R. Algernon, which is a neat little story, though it wouldn’t have been my choice. “Seven Kill Tiger” by Charles Shao from the There Will Be War anthology and “The Commuter” by Thomas A. Mays are completely unknown quantities to me – I have never heard of either author. “If You Were an Award, My Love” by Juan Tabo and S. Harris, published on Vox Day’s blog, is just crap, a stupid parody that isn’t even remotely funny.

Which leaves what must be one of the strangest Hugo nominees ever, namely Space Raptor Butt Invasion by Chuck Tingle. The background is that last year, the Puppies insisted on calling Rachel Swirsky’s 2014 Nebula winning and Hugo nominated short story “If you were a dinosaur, my love” (which they really, really hated) “gay dino-porn”. Whereupon several of us pointed out that a) the character in the story isn’t gay, and b) it’s not dino-porn, though dinosaur erotica can certainly be found on Amazon, if one is so inclined. Apparently, Vox Day took the hint and cheked out some dinosaur erotica on Amazon and found Chuck Tingle. And instead of promptly exploding, he liked what he found so much that he promptly put it on his Hugo slate.

Okay, so he is just trolling, trying to damage the award with an obvious troll nomination, and he’s probably chuckling at having gifted the Hugos with a finalist that has the word “butt” in the title. And given that erotica writers tend to value their privacy, I’m surprised that the estimable Mr. Tingle (not really his name) did not turn the nomination down. However, the estimable Mr. Tingle decided not just to take on the hard race against “No Award”, he even decided to capitalise on his nomination by publishing Slammed in the Butt by my Hugo Award Nomination, which must be the first instance of publicly available Real Person/Hugo Award slash.

So while Chuck Tingle is definitely not a reasonable nominee and will very likely finish under “No Award”, he at least seems to have a sense of humor, which is more than you can say for the puppies. I also suspect that Space Raptor Butt Invasion will not be the worst Hugo nominee of all time – that honour goes to last year’s Wisdom from my Internet and that Campbell Award nominee who didn’t even seem to know what a novel was. It’s probably not even the worst nominee in this category – I strongly suspect that “If You Were an Award, My Love” is worse.

BTW, the Puppies are really still pissed off about “If you were a dinosaur, my love” two years later (and let’s remember that it didn’t even win), if they nominate two stories that are a direct reaction to that story.

On to best related work, where things get bad: Now best related work is a mixed bag at the best of times and has contained podcasts, filk CDs, blogposts, collections of blogposts alongside serious scholarly examinations of the genre. Since the puppy attacks, this is one of the categories which has been completely vandalised. This year’s finalists are: A biography of Gene Wolfe, published by Vox Day’s Castalia House, two exposés about pedophilia in SFF, one of which appeared on the Castalia House blog, a Castalia House blog series about the works mentioned as inspirations for Gary Gygax in Appendix N of the original Dungeons & Dragons rule book and SJWs Always Lie: Taking Down the Thought Police by Vox Day a.k.a. the book with the two chapter 5s in its original edition, which BTW was brilliantly parodied by Theophilus Pratt a.k.a. Alexandra Erin (one of my fan writer nominees this year) as John Scalzi Is Not A Very Popular Author And I Myself Am Quite Popular: How SJWs Always Lie About Our Comparative Popularity Levels.

So yes, it’s a whole load of crap with the Gene Wolfe biography and the Appendix N thing as the only remotely reasonable nominees. And having read some of the Appendix N reviews, I wasn’t overly impressed by them. As for the two pedophilia exposés, it is a common tactic among the extreme right to smear their opponents by associating them with pedophilia. Here in Germany, we’ve seen this with the AfD and others on the far right attacking the Green Party over some problematic items regarding minors and consent in old party programs from the 1970s. A variation of this are all those white man knights on the right who are suddenly so concerned about sexual violence against women since New Year’s Eve – as long as the perpetrators are foreigners and muslims, whereas none of these defenders of white German womanhood gave a damn about the many rapes and sexual attacks on women that occur every year during the Oktoberfest or Carnival. Because it’s not really about protecting women and/or children from sexual violence and abuse, it’s about using violence against children and/or women as a weapon against the opposition. Case in point: Last year, the puppy shenangigans very likely kept an exposé about Marion Zimmer Bradley and her husband Walter Breen, a convicted pedophile, off the ballot, while nominating a different version of that exposé this year.

So on to best graphic story: Last year, this was one of two categories largely untouched by Puppy interference, along with best fan artist. This year, alas, we are not so lucky. Three finalists, The Sandman: Overture by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams, Invisible Republic, Vol. 1 by Corrina Bechko and Gabriel Hardman, and The Divine, an award-winning manga by Boaz Lavie, Asaf Hanuka and Tomer Hanuka, are reasonable nominees. The remaining two, Full Frontal Nerdity and Erin Dies Alone, both webcomics, seem to be puppy picks. I’ve never heard of either of them.

On to best dramatic presentation, long form: The nominees here are Avengers: Age of Ultron, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Mad Max: Fury Road, Ex Machina and The Martian. All of them are good and worthy nominees, though I don’t care for The Martian, either in book or film form, and haven’t seen Ex Machina. Also, I’m very glad that we’re spared the usual Pixar movie on the shortlist this year.

Best dramatic presentation, short form, is a mixed bag with nominations for Jessica Jones, Doctor Who, Supernatural, Grimm and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Jessica Jones was a truly outstanding series and Doctor Who still has huge fanbase. Grimm seems to be popular with the puppy crowd, though I personally dislike it.

That leaves Supernatural and My Little Pony, both of which were on the Rabid Puppy slate and are certainly among the odder choices there. Honestly, I wonder what Vox Day was smoking when he picked those two shows. With My Little Pony, he may have tried to plug into the “brony” phenomenon, but Supernatural? Has he ever actually watched that show and does he have any idea what the fandom is like? Cause Supernatural is one of the slashiest shows on US TV, has canonically queer characters and is very critical of Christianity.

On to the editing categories: The short form nominees are John Joseph Adams, Neil Clarke, Ellen Datlow, Jerry Pournelle and Sheila Williams. All of them are reasonable nominees, including Jerry Pournelle, who was pushed by Vox Day. In best editor, long form, we have Sheila Gilbert of DAW, Liz Gorinsky of Tor, Toni Weisskopf and Jim Minz of Baen and – well – Vox Day. Sheila Gilbert and Liz Gorinsky are both good choices, Toni Weisskopf is the puppy favourite and Jim Minz is probably their pick as well. I wasn’t impressed by the two Baen editors’ contributions or rather lack thereof in the Hugo voter packet last year, but nonetheless they aren’t unreasonable nominees. As for Vox Day, well, that’s what “No Award” is for.

Regarding the two art categories, the pro artist category is full of people I have never heard of. Which doesn’t necessarily make them unworthy, just unknown quantities. As for fan artist, Steve Stiles is a fanzine artist and long-time nominee in this category and Matthew Callahan does photography featuring action figures, which isn’t bad, though I have seen better. I have no idea who the other three are, though again that doesn’t mean they’re bad choices.

On to best semiprozine: Uncanny Magazine, Strange Horizons, Beneath Ceaseless Skies and Daily Science Fiction are all good choices, which leaves Sci Phi Journal as the obvious puppy pick.

Regarding best fanzine, Black Gate and File 770 are both highly deserving choices and were on my list as well. Tangent Online is an established zine, though I personally don’t care for it. Superversive SF and the Castalia House blog are puppy poo.

Best fancast is a whole bunch of unknown quantities, at least to me. I suspect many of these were puppy picks, though again that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad.

Best fanwriter is another category with a lot of unknown quantities: Mike Glyer of File 770 is an excellent choice and would make a most worthy winner. Jeffro Johnson, the Appendix N guy, was on last year’s puppy slate as well, but was definitely the best of a bad bunch. His samples in the Hugo voter packet still didn’t do much for me, since he mostly writes about RPGs and I’m not a gamer, but at least they weren’t frothy ranting like the other puppy fanwriter nominees. I have no idea who the other three finalists in this category even are.

Finally, we come to the nominees for the Campbell Award for best new writer, which are Alyssa Wong, Andy Weir, Pierce Brown, Sebastien de Castell and Brian Niemeier. Alyssa Wong is an excellent new voice and was one of my choices for both 2015 and 2016. Andy Weir was probably unavoidable, because of his extreme popularity, though I find The Martian grossly overrated. Plus, the Campbell is an award that is supposed to honour the best new writer. And Andy Weir, though a newish writer, is IMO a step backwards into the genre’s past, since The Martian feels very much like something that could have appeared in Analog approx. 1960. Which I guess is the appeal for many. Pierce Brown is the author of a bestselling YAish SF trilogy and also won the 2015 Goodreads Choice Award. He also seems to be really popular with the puppy crowd and was on Vox Day’s slate. Sebastien de Castell is a Canadian author who writes a swashbuckling fantasy series that looks pretty good, based on the look-inside. Brian Niemeier, finally, is an indie author who seems to have attached himself to the puppies. No idea what he writes or if it’s any good.

Regarding the diversity count, the gender balance doesn’t look too good, particularly in the puppy affected fiction categories. Though it’s heartening that three of the five finalists in the novel category are women. Regarding POC and international nominees, the numbers look better, since I see several POC writers and international writers on the shortlist. It seems to have been a particularly good year for Asian writers with several nominees. Though I still suspect that the diversity count would have been better in every respect without puppy interference.

Hit rate: I got 18 out of 85 nominees, i.e. 21%. My Mom got 6 out of 85, though she didn’t nominate in every category.

So in short, this year’s Hugo shortlist is better than last year’s (and no John C. Wright, thank heavens) and contains a few worthy choices, though still far from good thanks to continued puppy interference. Though the main problem this year (and very likely last year as well) are the Rabid Puppies rather than the Sads. However, we do have fewer unreasonable nominees than last year and only one category (best related work) that was completely vandalised. But then, Vox Day’s strategy this year seems to have been to mix in generally popular choices like Lois McMaster Bujold, Neal Stephenson, Andy Weir, etc… among his more out there picks. He’s probably trying to gain legitimacy for his slate or he’s trying to make people “No Award” works they actually enjoy. Cause that worked so wonderfully last year with Guardians of the Galaxy.

I predict that “No Award” will take “Best related work” and maybe “Fancast”, because they are completely unknown quantities, but every other category will probably have at least one finalist finishing above “No Award”. And in 2017, the measures proposed to disperse the effect of slate voting will hopefully take effect and this whole three year drama will be behind us with asterisks (since those really seem to offend the puppies) behind the Puppy years.

As for myself, I will do what I did last year, namely give every nominee a fair shot (yes, even Mr. Tingle and his Space Raptor Butt Invasion) regardless of how they got there, and rank those I find worthy above “No Award” and those I find unworthy below, again regardless how they got onto the shortlist. Cause as I said in my reaction to the Sad and Rabid Puppy lists, even a blind chicken occasionally find a corn and even a puppy occasionally picks a decent nominee. And I certainly won’t let Vox Day or anybody else determine how I vote. I hope other voters will do the same, though I suspect that a lot of the slate nominees will suffer the Puppies’ bad behavious and not just the obscure or outright trollish choices either.

At any rate, I urge everybody who is outraged or bothered or just interested in the Hugos to get themselves a membership to MidAmeriCon and vote. Cause voting is the only way to influence the outcome. And please vote however you see fit and don’t let anybody influence your decision.

Lest I forget, the finalists for the 1941 Retro Hugo Awards have been announced as well. Now this shortlist looks pretty good and seems to be largely free from canine interference. Okay, so it’s rather heavy with Heinlein, but then Heinlein is popular way beyond the Puppy realm and he had several good works out that year. Even I nominated two Heinlein works and I’m normally not a fan of his. I’m also pleased to see Kallocain by Swedish writer Karin Boye and “Tlön, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius” by Jorge Luis Borges on the shortlist, though I suspect neither would have been a finalist in an actual 1941 Hugo Award. And I’m really disappointed that there is no shortlist love for Edmund Hamilton’s Captain Future, since that series is indirectly responsible for igniting my love for SF.

My hit rate for the Retro Hugos is 33 out of 50 nominees, i.e. pretty damn good. My Mom’s is 12 out of 50, but again she didn’t nominate in every category.

There will probably be a follow-up post collecting reactions from around the web eventually, though I haven’t found any yet and File 770 seems to be down. I guess their server couldn’t handle the traffic.

ETA: Aaron Pound has posted his reaction and also taken the time to break down which finalists were puppy picks and which weren’t. He’s a lot more angry and less charitable than I am.

ETA 2: At Amazing Stories, Steve Davidson offers a puppy-free shortlist. He’s also a lot angrier than I am.

ETA 3: And we have the first withdrawal, since Thomas A. Mays has withdrawn his short story “The Commuter” from consideration. Kudos to Thomas A. Mays for what cannot have been an easy decision. Let’s hope the replacement is something a bit less puppyish.

Comments are closed, go and whine elsewhere, puppies.

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Sailor’s Curry – a curious Indian-German fusion dish

I don’t blog about food all that much, but today I want to share a personal favourite with you, namely the curious Indian-German fusion dish known as sailor’s curry or simply curry, if you’re from North Germany and grew up with this version.

As the name suggests, sailor’s curry is the curry served aboard German ships during the sailboat and steamship era. It was probably based on the curry served aboard the ships of the British Royal Navy, though the North German version is always served not just with rice, but also with a selection of pickles and other add-ons. I suspect the pickles and add-ons were influenced by the Dutch-Indonesian rijsttafel, itself a European-Asian fusion dish, especially since older rijstafel recipes don’t sound all that different from the North German sailor’s curry and its add-ons that I grew up with.

Because of the many ingredients and long preparation time, Sailor’s curry is a festive dish that’s reserved for special occasions. In Bremen, it is served at the annual feast of the Bremen East Asia Society as well as at the annual Captain’s Day held for the captains and officers of all ships (and in recent years’ pilots and co-pilots of airplanes) currently in the harbours of Bremen and Bremerhaven.

I usually have sailor’s curry three or four times a year, which always includes Christmas and my birthday or rather the following weekend. And since my birthday was last week, it meant that this Sunday was curry day.

Pork curry, basmati rice and pickles.

The exact recipe and the number and type of add-ons vary and there are probably as many versions as there are people cooking it. Our family recipe, which my mother got from a chef working aboard the vessels of the DDG Hansa shipping company* in the 1960s, uses pork filet rather than the more common chicken (or maybe my parents simply preferred pork). Other ingredients are onion, tomato paste, garlic, some kind of fat (the original recipe calls for butter or margarine, though we use oilve oil these days), paprika powder, cardamon powder, cloves, bayleaves, salt and of course, curry powder. The brand used aboard the Hansa vessels was Mida’s curry powder, probably because it was the only brand of Indian curry powder available in Germany well into the 1990s, but any good Madras curry powder will do. The spices are measured in shot glasses or egg cups BTW, which is a lovely oddity of the recipe.

In our family, the add-ons are chopped gherkins, chopped pickled beetroot, chopped hardboiled egg, chopped onions, chopped banana, mango chutney and Indian lime pickle. sambal oelek also used to be included, but these days I omit it, since the curry is plenty hot in itself. We’ve also had shredded coconut at times. Apart from the lime pickle, which is a recent addition, and the mango chutney, none of these add-ons are even remotely authentically Indian, while sambal oelek and the shredded coconut (similar to the Indonesian serundeng) point back to the rijsttafel. Coincidentally, several of the add-ons also show up in the Dutchified version of Nasi Goreng. Most of the ingredients are, however, very common in North Germany. Coincidentally, several of the add-ons, namely the gherkins, pickled beetroot and eggs, are also found in another sailor’s favourite, Labskaus or Lobscouse for the English version. And of course, pickles of any kind are food that lasts a long time, which was important aboard ships in the days before ubiquitous refrigeration.

The selection of pickles and add-ons.

Other versions of the dish call for different add-ons. The gherkins, beetroot and mango chutney seem to be universal, but I have seen versions that included pickled pearl onions, pickled asparagus, pickled sardines, canned tuna, chopped ham, chopped gouda cheese, raisins, canned pineapple, canned corn, roasted peanuts and salami. What all of these add-ons have in common is that they would have been found aboard ships. In many cases, you can also see that those add-ons were familiar replacements for unfamiliar or hard to procure foods. Indian pickles were unavailable in Germany until the 1990s, but gherkins, pickled beetroot and pickled pearl onions were plentiful. The shredded coconut and roasted peanuts are obviously a replacement for Serundeng. The sardines were probably a replacement for ikan bilis, the dried anchovies served in Malaysia and Myamar. The raisins, pineapples and corn were all “exotic” before approx. 1960. The chopped ham and chopped gouda cheese probably just ended up on the add-on list, because someone liked them or because there was an abundance of them in the ship’s galley that day.

Coincidentally, I wish that more SFF worldbuilding would come up with dishes like sailor’s curry or the Dutch-Indonesian rijsttafel or Dutchified Nasi Goreng or Pataje Oorlog or Spaghetti Naporitan, where food from one culture is adapted to another and mixed with food from totally different traditions, where familiar ingredients are used to replace unfamiliar ones and the result is something that has little to do with either food culture, but is nonetheless delicious. You’d figure you’d find variations on this in space opera or also in secondary world fantasy with port and trade city settings. But then, SFF has never been very good with food, with some notable exceptions.

At the table, the rice, curry and various add-ons are all mixed up into something that looks like an unholy mess, but is in fact delicious:

Sailor’s curry mixed and ready for eating

Here are some other versions of sailor’s curry BTW: What’s notable is that all recipes stress the maritime origins of the dish and several of them can be traced directly back to a ship’s cook with DDG Hansa, the Norddeutscher Lloyd, Hapag or Hamburg-Süd.

As a kid, I assumed that this curry I grew up with was in fact an authentic Indian curry. So, I suspect, did my parents. After time spent in Singapore, Malaysia and the UK with its many curry houses, I eventually figured out that the curry I grew up with was not even remotely authentic. However, while I’m also very fond of Indian, Anglo-Indian, Thai and Malaysian curries, I still love the sailor’s curry of my childhood and must have it three or four times per year.

*The DDG Hansa shipping company specialised in routes to East and South East Asia, hence the affinity for curry and the tendency to give Asian knick-knacks (my parents have a nice collection) to its employees for Christmas. My Dad worked for them until 1974, when he switched to the rival shipping company Hapag-Lloyd.

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The Obligatory Birthday Post 2016

April 18 is my birthday.

Though I didn’t get around to celebrate a whole lot today, because I had to work. And so I spent the whole afternoon teaching German as a second language to refugees. The class is brand new, too, and only started last week, so it’s still very exhausting.

I did start off the day by watching Snowpiercer late last night. I usually watch a nice movie for my birthday, though I probably wouldn’t have picked Snowpiercer (which is an excellent movie, but also rather harrowing and not exactly a feel-good film), if it hadn’t been on TV that night.

Then today I was mostly at school. When possible, I go out for lunch with my parents on my birthday, but not today, because of school. Cause for my birthday, I don’t want to hurry and I want to have a glass of wine with my lunch, too.

I did have a birthday cake of sort, since after school, I bought some pastries at a local bakery for myself and my parents and the neighbour who dropped by.

Quarkini – little balls of deep-fried dough made with curd cheese.

Here is an explanation of Quarkini from the company that produces a batter mix. I’m quite fond if Quarkini, since they are not so loaded with icing as other deep-fried pastries such as Berliner and Victoria.

Of course, I got presents as well. Books mostly, as well as a bottle of red wine from my neighbour.

Wrapped presents.

Unwrapped presents: Behold all the lovely books

I’m really happy with that book haul. It’s also notable that except for the Adam Christopher novel, all the books are either small press or self-published. Even if you are primarily a print reader (though I own two e-readers, a Kobo Glo and a Tolino Shine), indie books are becoming a lot easier to come by.

I got a few phonecalls, too (and probably missed a few more due to being away at school), from my aunt, my cousin and a former student.

I also got another phonecall, late tonight, that was not so happy. Because the phone suddenly rang at half past ten. “Huh”, I thought, “That’s rather late for a birthday call.” Though it might have been someone who knows I don’t normally go to bed early.

So I answered the phone and found that it was my aunt, which was odd, because my aunt is a) not the type of person to make late evening calls, and b) she had sent me a card (the one with the pink roses), so I was surprised she called as well.

However, it turned out that the call wasn’t a birthday call at all. Instead, my aunt called me to inform me that my uncle had died that evening. Now this is less tragic than it sounds, because my uncle has been extremely ill for years now. He’s also been close to death several times before, so the news wasn’t entirely unexpected. Nonetheless, I was stunned, especially since I had talked to my cousin earlier that evening with no indication that anything was wrong.

Coincidentally, my uncle happened to die not just on my birthday, but also on the birthday of his mother, my grandmother (I share a birthday with my grandma), and one day before the birthday of his grandson.

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Two New Science Fiction Releases: Lovers’ Lane and Double Feature

I have two new stories to announce today, two stories that are in many ways two sides of the same coin.

Let’s have a bit of background: In November 2013, I published a short story called Acacia Crescent, in which a young boy is saved from a mafia hitman by an unexpected alien invasion (Are there ever expected alien invasions?). Acacia Crescent was supposed to be the first story of The Day the Saucers Came…, a series of first person eye-witness accounts of a B-movie type alien invasion in a alternate 1956. Alas, I never wrote the other stories, so Acacia Crescent remained a standalone. Until now…

For today I present you not one but two new stories of The Day the Saucers Came… Both stories offer not just a glimpse into 1950s small town teenager life, just before it is interrupted by death ray shooting flying saucers, they are also companion pieces, featuring two very different female first person narrators whose stories just happen to overlap.

By the way, if you want to read all three stories of The Day the Saucers Came… together, you can also purchase them for a reduced price as a handy series bundle at DriveThruFiction.

Lovers’ Lane

1956. After a sock hop at the local high school gym, teenagers Betty and Cody drive out to Lovers’ Lane together. Betty knows only too well that good girls don’t go to Lovers’ Lane with boys. But Cody is her one true love and besides, he swore that he’d love her forever or may he be struck down where he stands. But then, an alien invasion shows Betty just what Cody’s word is truly worth…

 

 

 

More information.

Length: 6200 words

List price: 0.99 USD, EUR or GBP

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

Double Feature

1956: Judy is the designated town slut of Stillwater Creek. After getting thrown out of a sock hop at the local high school, Judy winds up going to the movies with bad boy Hank instead, where a science fiction double feature is playing. However, before the first reel of the second movie is through, the night is interrupted by a very real invasion of flying saucers from outer space…

This is a novelette of 8500 words or approx. 30 print pages.

 

 

More information.

Length: 8500 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, txtr, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, Libiro, DriveThruFiction, OmniLit/AllRomance e-books, Casa del Libro, Flipkart, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

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Photos: Flowers and Sunsets… and Pirates!

Enough politics for today, let’s have some pretty photos.

The mild and sunny weather of the past week has given nature a boost with spring flowers in full bloom all over. So here are some of them. These are all mobile phone shots BTW, hence the quality is a bit lower than usual:

Some kind of violets blooming in the neighbour’s garden.

A medley of springtime flowers, also in the neighbour’s garden. There are forsythias, daffodiles, pansies, primroses and others.

More forsythias blooming over a fence.

Some kind of shrub with bright pink blossoms peeking over a fence.

Forsythias and the pink blossomed shrub peek over the fence.

White tulips and little blue flowers whose English name I do not know in the garden.

Panoramic view of a particularly pretty sunset last week.

Finally, here is not a nature photo. No, this is a group shot of the small crew of five Playmobil pirates as well as one parrot and one monkey who live on my desk. I still hope for a female pirate someday, but though Playmobil makes female pirates, they only come in the big sets, not individually packaged:

The Desk Pirates pose for a group photo.

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The Böhmermann Case

I’m one of them. One of the approximately 300000 to 500000 German TV viewers who knew who Jan Böhmermann was before last week and who regularly watched his comedy program Neo Magazin Royale in its Thursday/Friday night post-midnight graveyard slot.

Now everybody knows who Jan Böhmermann is. His case is the top news headline in Germany and his smiling face looks at you from international news sites like The Atlantic (good summary, just don’t read the comments) or The Guardian that normally would never have paid any attention to an obscure German comedian.

More neepery about German politics, German TV and freedom of speech, press and art behind the cut:

So what happened? In the March 31 edition of his show Neo Magazin Royale, Jan Böhmermann read a very rude poem about the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdo?an precisely to point out the limits of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. The background is that Erdo?an had just thrown a fit about a song that had aired in another German comedy program, extra3, a song that criticized Erdo?an’s tendency to have critical journalists arrested to the tune of the Nena song “Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann”. As satire goes, it was fairly harmless and to the point, yet Erdo?an called in the German ambassador to Turkey (who politely informed him that Germany has a little thing called freedom of press) and demanded that the song be deleted from the web. This in turn prompted Böhmermann to perform his deliberately insulting poem in order to point out the limits of satire.

A video of the extra3 song may be found here. Videos of the Böhmermann poem keep getting deleted and the one clip I found was posted on the website of a rightwing extremist magazine I refuse to link to, but a full transcript may be found here.

As might have been expected, Erdo?an (who must be an avid watcher of obscure German comedy programs) threw an even bigger fit and demanded criminal persecution of Jan Böhmermann. And unfortunately, the German criminal code contains an obscure paragraph that grew out of the lèse-majesté laws of the Imperial era and that makes it illegal to insult foreign heads of state, subject to persecution, if said head of state lodges an official complaint with the German government who will then decide whether the offender will be prosecuted. Paragraph 103 of the German criminal code is rarely invoked, though it has been in the past regarding alleged insults against the Shah of Persia (who also had his secret police beat up German student protesters in 1967 with not a peep from the German government – one protester died, shot dead by a German police officer), Ayatollah Khomeini (who objected to a doctored clip in a comedy program which showed enraptured women showing him with lingerie), Augusto Pinochet, the Kaczynski brothers (who objected to being called potatoes – coincidentally, Poland’s current prime minister also feels insulted by the same Jan Böhmermann skit due to being mentioned in a list of European politicians who would like to limit the freedom of the press) and several Popes (the latest example was a cartoon depicting Pope Benedict with condoms on his fingers). In short, it is a law that protects a bunch of very humorless people with rather tenuous ideas of democracy. And it’s a law that has no place in a modern democratic country and in fact should have been deleted long ago, as soon as the Kaiser was sent packing in 1918. Should foreign heads of state feel insulted by German journalists and comedians, they are free to sue for defamation and libel like any other person.

Now the German government had to decide to give the go-ahead to prosecute Jan Böhmermann. And today, Angela Merkel announced that she would give the go-ahead, because this was an issue not for the government but for the independent German courts to decide. Merkel has been widely criticised for this move and I have to admit that I am disappointed in her – after being extremely impressed with her conduct during the so-called refugee crisis. Though the wording of Merkel’s statement suggests that she is dumping the responsibility on the respective court (which may well decide in favour of Jan Böhmermann) to maintain good relations with Erdo?an especially in the light of the recent refugee agreement with Turkey. Coincidentally, Merkel also announced that paragraph 103 of the German criminal code would be altered or deleted.

All those (both in Germany and abroad) who complain that Angela Merkel is forced to back down in front of Erdo?an in order to safeguard the refugee agreement would do well to remember that Merkel is only in this situation because many other countries, mostly in Eastern Europe, but also the UK, France and the US, refused to take their fair share of Syrian and other refugees, leaving the lion’s share of them for Germany to deal with (which – speaking as someone who teaches German to refugees – works a lot better than many assume). As for those in Germany criticising Merkel’s decision from the right, Angela Merkel only had to push for the agreement with Turkey because of constant attacks from the right regarding her refugee policies. Never mind that the same people who now suddenly to defend Jan Böhmermann had no problem with prosecuting comedians when the offended party was the Catholic church. As for the rightwing nationalist AfD defending Böhmermann, don’t make me laugh. It wasn’t all that long ago that several AfD politicians were calling for Böhmermann’s head, since the AfD is one of his favoured targets. But I guess they hate Angela Merkel even more than they hate Jan Böhmermann.

Never mind that all the people, including politicians, including Angela Merkel, who were Charlie last year and spoke out in support of Charlie Hebdo (which IMO really does cross the line into racism and xenophobia at times and wholesale insults entire religions – whereas Böhmermann insulted a single person and not the Turkish people nor all Muslims – which is still no excuse to gun down cartoonists), are hypocrites, when they defend Charlie Hebdo and Salman Rushdie before, but suddenly turn on Jan Böhmermann. And let’s not forget those German politicians – usually on the right – who still want a certain quote by Kurt Tucholsky banned, the same Kurt Tucholsky who answered the question, “Was darf die Satire?” (What is satire allowed to do?) with “Alles” (Everything). So a lot of the time, people are only willing to defend freedom of speech and freedom of art when they approve of the message.

The bigger issue here is that – regardless of what is written in the Grundgesetz, the German constitution – art, speech and the press are not entirely free in Germany*. Now I agree with some limits on free speech, e.g. regarding hate speech, holocaust denial, etc… I disagree with others, e.g. the way that movies, TV shows and videogames are sometimes edited beyond recognition or made nigh unavailable (good luck trying to find the first two Evil Dead movies in Germany), in order to protect “the youth” from violent content. I don’t have a problem with protecting children and teens from problematic content, but adults should be free to watch or play what they want.

However as a writer, I have issues with the fact that in post-1945 Germany, the so-called personality rights of an offended person regularly trump the freedom of art. We’ve had two major court cases were novels were banned (as well as several involving works of non-fiction) because someone felt that their personality rights were violated by a work of fiction. Klaus (son of Thomas) Mann’s 1936 novel Mephisto, a roman a clef about the German actor and director Gustaf Gründgens and his collaboration with the Nazis, was banned in 1968 following a lawsuit by Gründgens’ adoptive son. So the personality rights of an (admittedly brilliant) actor and director with Nazi connections trump the freedom of art of a gay victim of Nazi persecution. Not really a great moment for German justice.

The second case is that of Maxim Biller’s 2003 novel Esra, an autobiographic novel about the troubled relationship between a Jewish-German man and a Turkish-German woman. Biller’s former girlfriend and her mother sued Biller and his publisher, because they felt the novel was a bit too autobiographic. Biller and the publisher offered to make changes, but the girlfriend and mother were not placated and demanded a ban. The case eventually went before the Supreme Court, which decided in favour of the girlfriend and mother.

Did Biller go a bit too far in his novel? Probably. As his regular appearance in the new Literarisches Quartett prove, he is something of a jerk. Nonetheless, the ban was wrong, especially since Biller and the publisher offered to make changes. Because court decisions like these put every writer in danger of getting sued by everybody who ever felt they recognised themselves in a novel. And people tend to mistake fiction for reality all the time.

Nevermind that except for people who know both Biller and the lady in question personally, no one would have connected the novel to any real person. The novel probably wouldn’t have made big waves either – Biller wasn’t exactly famous at the time. Now, however, it’s an infamous court case. And the ban wasn’t effective either, Esra is easy enough to find on the internet.

Ditto for the extra3 and Jan Böhmermann cases. extra3 airs on a regional channel with a late night repeat on a public TV channel. Every episode is watched maybe by half a million people. Neo Magazine Royale airs on a digital niche channel with a post-midnight repeat on a public TV channel. Every episode is watched maybe by 300000 to half a million people. These are not mainstream programs, they are late night niche programs watched by no more than maybe a million people altogether, probably less because there is likely some overlap among viewers. The Neo Magazine Royale episode in question probably had even fewer viewers than usual, because it was delayed till long past 1 AM because of the death of former German foreign secretary Hans Dietrich Genscher that day. I’m a regular viewer (of the ZDF repeat) and didn’t watch that day, because the show was too late for me.

The Erdo?an song would probably never have made any waves and never reached any Turkish people except for those Turkish-Germans who happen to be regular viewers of extra3. And Jan Böhmermann would never have written and performed his poem, if not for Erdo?an throwing a fit about extra3. And hardly anybody in Germany would have noticed the poem, let alone anybody outside Germany if not for Erdo?an throwing an even bigger hissy-fit. So in short, Erdo?an’s overreaction served to publicise the very pieces of satire he wanted to suppress in an excellent illustration of the Streisand effect in action.

I predict that the courts will likely dismiss the case against Jan Böhmermann as they did with the Pope case six years ago. And even if they don’t (because courts occasionally come to ridiculous decisions – see the Esra case), it’s highly unlikely that Böhmermann will actually go to prison over this. However, that poem and the extra3 song will be in the public consciousness for a long time and Erdo?an has only himself to blame for that.

*And before Americans yell about how speech is so much freer in the US – forget it. The US does not have entirely free speech either, as e.g. obscenity prosecutions regarding fringe pornography show. Their sore spots just lie elsewhere than ours.

Comments closed, because this is the sort of subject that brings out the jerks.

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Of Star Wars and Mary Sues

Last Thursday, the first teaser trailer dropped for Rogue One, this year’s Star Wars movie (apparently we’re getting one every year for Christmas now) and it looks pretty damn good, particularly considering very few people cared a whole lot about a prequel/sidequel story like Rogue One.

Though I’ve been a Star Wars fan since the age of five, I was one of those people who weren’t particularly excited about Rogue One. I wasn’t all that keen on going back in time once again (and I actually like the prequels for what they are). Never mind that what little we knew about Rogue One made it sound like “Star Wars does Grimdark” and we all know how I feel about Grimdark. To be fair, I wasn’t all that excited about The Force Awakens either (and still have some ambivalent feelings about the film), but of course I went to see it anyway and promptly fell in love with Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 like the rest of the geek world.

As for Rogue One, that teaser trailer looks pretty damn good and has made me a lot more likely to go and see the movie come December. Besides, I’ll be happy to watch something labeled Star Wars that for once is not about Jedi (I’ve never been a huge fan of the Jedi anyway – ninety percent of the bad things that happen in all Star Wars movies are the direct or indirect fault of the Jedi) and people named Skywalker. It seems that the folks of Lucasfilm have finally noticed what the various tie-in novels, comics, videogames, etc… knew all along, namely that they have got a huge universe in which you can tell lots of different stories. And not all of these stories have to be about Jedi and people named Skywalker.

Apparently, I’m not the only person who thinks that the Rogue One teaser trailer looks pretty good. Within a few hours, Twitter was all ablaze with people excited about the trailer. And within 24 hours, the Internet was full of speculation, analysis and frame by frame breakdowns.

But with the excitement also came the ugly. Because you see, the protagonist of Rogue One is a woman, Jyn Erso played by Felicity Jones. Now this isn’t exactly new – it’s been known for a while now that Felicity Jones would be playing the lead in Rogue One. Nonetheless, certain dudebros on the Internet were shocked – shocked, I’m telling you – that two Star Wars movies in a row would have a female protagonist. Never mind that we’ve had six Star Wars movies in a row with male protagonists – two Star Wars movies in a row with female protagonists and actors of colour in more than bit parts (Rogue One also promises Diego Luna, Donnie Yen and Forest Whitaker among others), now that’s political correctness gone mad and proof that the Social Justice Warriors have taken over Hollywood and that a ban of movies with straight white male protagonists is imminent (well, maybe that would solve the “Oscars so white” problem).

It’s all quite silly and part of the futile attempts of certain very insecure white men to turn back the clock to a time when every single piece of media catered to them and them alone. The same sort of people also proclaimed a “boycott” of The Force Awakens due to its stars being a white woman, a black man and a Hispanic man and we all know how much impact that “boycott” had.

The most common complaint about Jyn Erso, the protagonist of Rogue One, was that she is a Mary Sue. Now this is quite a remarkably conclusion, considering that we know next to nothing about Jyn apart from what we have seen in a ninety second trailer. Which basically comes down to: Jyn is an angry young woman with a shady past who winds up working for the rebellion not quite voluntarily. In short, she’s basically a female version of Han Solo. Oh yes, and she is a fairly slight young woman who is seen running around the Death Star (okay, really just Canary Wharf tube station) and beating up and shooting Stormtroopers (who are not exactly known for being formidable opponents, though what they lack in skills, they usually make up in numbers). Of course, the trailer also gives us a blind man with a staff (played by Donnie Yen) beating the crap out of some Stormtroopers, but seeing a able-bodied woman doing the same means that she must be a Mary Sue. Because you see, Jyn Erso is a woman, a competent and attractive young woman who is good at something. So of course she must be a Mary Sue.

I’ve blogged about the problems with the term “Mary Sue” and its current application to pretty much any competent female character before. And the dudebros complaining about Jyn Erso on the basis of a ninety second trailer, wherein most of the spoken dialogue is actually provided by characters other than Jyn, is a perfect illustration of the phenomenon. And indeed, Jessica Lachenal has posted an open letter to all the angry fanboys calling Jyn Erso and Rey Mary Sues at The Mary Sue, while at Film School Rejects, Alisha Grauso asks what’s so bad about being a Mary Sue anyway.

Now the Star Wars movies, particularly the original trilogy, are set in a universe with a seriously skewed gender balance, a universe that seems to be approximately eighty to ninety percent white and male. The prequels are a little bit better about that – indeed I still remember how stunned I was to see female Jedi – all non-human supporting characters who had barely any lines – in the prequels, because up to then I had assumed that women couldn’t be Jedi, since Obi Wan and Yoda only showed any interest in one of the two potential Jedi available, namely Luke. Even though Leia was shown to be a lot more competent at pretty much everything than either Luke or Han from the moment she was introduced. Just as Padme was a lot more competent than Anakin. But now that competent women actually get to be the heroines of their own Star Wars movies rather than supporting characters to a male chosen one, we have the usual suspects crying Mary Sue.

Never mind that everybody ignores the clearest and most obvious Mary Sue in the entire Star Wars universe (and indeed one of the clearest example of a Mary Sue in pop culture). And this Mary Sue is neither Leia nor Padme nor Rey nor Jyn, it’s Luke Skywalker.

Let’s look at the evidence: Luke is an orphan with a mysterious background who grows up in obscurity, is nigh effortlessly good at some extremely arcane skills and goes on to rescue the princess and save the day. He is severely tested, finds out something horrible about his birth family, has a limb chopped off, resists the dark side and saves the day again and topples a whole evil Empire in the process, an evil Empire that people a lot better trained and more skilled than Luke could not topple. Oh yes, and he shares a name (sort of) as well as a passion for racing with his creator. And like his creator, Luke grew up in a sleepy desert town where nothing ever happened, in a country that was billed as the best and most perfect place to live in, even though the cracks were only visible to anybody who made the effort to look. The parallels become even clearer, if you’ve seen George Lucas’ previous film American Graffiti, which is not just partly autobiographical, but also an indispensable companion piece to Star Wars. In short, Luke Skywalker is a Mary Sue, one of the most obvious male Mary Sues in popular culture along with James Bond and Conan. But for some reason, no one ever complains that Luke is a Mary Sue.

In fact, the very Mary Sueness of Luke was part of what drew me to Star Wars in the first place. Because the story of the adventurous young man from a sleepy desert town where nothing ever happens, who can see all the problems in the supposedly perfect system he lives in and wants nothing more than to get out of his sleepy little town and put everything right, written by another young man from a sleepy desert town disillusioned with his supposedly perfect country, its corrupt leaders and senseless wars, resonated across time and space with a young girl living in a sleepy small village where nothing ever happens, a girl who was told all the time by parents, teachers and the media that she should count herself lucky to be living in such a wonderful free and democratic country, even though she, too, could see all too clearly that the system and the country were far from perfect and how could anybody not see that?

I’m always amazed how many critics fail to see how political the Star Wars movies really are. After all, the original trilogy is a not all that subtle allegory for the America of the Vietnam and Watergate era and the disillusionment of the postwar generation who grew up in what was supposed to be the best country in the world, only to find that their leaders were corrupt and their friends were dying in senseless wars no one wanted. The original trilogy radiates George Lucas’ anger and disillusionment at the US of the Vietnam and Watergate era and Star Wars was Lucas creating a universe where he or rather his fictional counterpart gets to take down the system and fix everything. And though I didn’t know a whole lot about either the Vietnam war or Watergate, when I first watched the Star Wars movies, I could still sympathise with Lucas’ anger and his desire to make things right.

Leia was who I wanted to be – beautiful and good at everything with adoring men and Wookies fighting for my attention – and Han was who I wanted to have. But though Leia is a great and inspiring character, few of us are princesses, senators, spies and rebel leaders at twenty (ditto for Padme, who is a queen at twelve and a senator at twenty*). What we are instead is Luke, the kid from the nowhere town who looks up at the stars. Luke is the most obvious audience identification character, because few of us are as accomplished as Leia or as cool as Han. No, we’re Luke, the dorky small town kid with the big dreams.

Now the new Star Wars films have given us new characters to identify with and aspire to: Rey, Finn, Poe and soon Jyn and whoever else Rogue One will give us. These new heroes are a lot more diverse than the old ones and that’s a good thing, because it’s no longer 1977 and white men are no longer the only group deemed worthy of having a hero to identify with. And if certain dudebros have problems with that – well, tough luck.

*I’d argue that one of the main problems with the prequels is the lack of characters the audience can identify with. Both Padme and Obi Wan are rather inaccessible, since few of us are Jedi masters or accomplished teenaged diplomats and rulers. And as for Anakin, who the hell wants to be Anakin Skywalker?

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for March 2016

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

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

Once again, we have new releases covering the whole broad spectrum of speculative fiction. We have space opera, military science fiction, science fiction romance, paranormal romance, fantasy romance, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, horror, post-apocalyptic fiction, vampires, wizards, demons, alien invasions, flying saucers, telepathic space pirates, monstruous conspiracies, dead druids, magical wars, royal bodyguards, gods in the modern world 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:

Ishtar’s Blade by Lisa Blackwood:

Warrior.

King’s confidant.

Avenging blade of the Goddess Ishtar.

Iltani asked to be none of these things. Yet fate does not ask permission when she weaves souls upon destiny’s loom.

On the day of Iltani’s birth, an assassin tried and nearly succeeded in ending the line of the gryphon kings. Out of that bloodshed, an unbreakable bond was forged between child-king and goddess-chosen infant, and from that pivotal moment forward, Iltani was never farther from King Ditanu than his shadow. Not until her training to become Ishtar’s Blade required her to leave.

After four brutal years of training, Iltani now returns to court as Ishtar’s Blade and takes up her role of king’s shadow—a dangerous position in a court where the threat of another assassination is but a blade’s width away. But for the chance to stand at the side of her beloved king, she will endure the dangers of court intrigues, assassins, and political maneuverings.

Lovers’ Lane by Cora Buhlert

1956. After a sock hop at the local high school gym, teenagers Betty and Cody drive out to Lovers’ Lane together. Betty knows only too well that good girls don’t go to Lovers’ Lane with boys. But Cody is her one true love and besides, he swore that he’d love her forever or may he be struck down where he stands. But then, an alien invasion shows Betty just what Cody’s word is truly worth…

This is a story of “The Day the Saucers Came…”, a loosely connected series of eyewitness accounts of a B-movie type alien invasion in 1956.

Caught in the Dream by Eva Chase:

Mateo Jimenez is haunted by the death of his first girlfriend, and his fear of repeating past mistakes has cost him personal relationships and now his job. While his colleagues protect L.A. from the demonic Glowers, he’s been demoted to office work.

So when a Glower approaches him to negotiate a ceasefire, Mateo agrees to listen, planning to gather information on the demons that will prove his worth. He isn’t prepared to be so tempted by Kess, who uses her supernatural talents to bring his most buried desires to life. As he struggles to keep the upper hand, he discovers he can provoke human emotions in the demon, but the more warmth and kindness Kess offers, the more confused his own feelings become. No longer sure what’s an act and what’s real, Mateo sees a chance to stop the Glowers for good. But first he must decide whether trusting Kess is the key to succeeding or the greatest betrayal he could ever commit.

The third book in The Glower Chronicles, a steamy New Adult paranormal series.

Your Name, In Fire by Kera Emory:

Connor Black doesn’t believe in the supernatural, and that’s about to bite him in the ass.

Connor’s life gets interesting when a new writer joins his video game studio. Sparks fly; Wendy is pretty, intelligent, and definitely into Connor—but careful never to reveal much about herself.

And before long, Connor has his own secrets to worry about: a tattooed stranger attacks and nearly kills him, giving no explanation. Angry but mystified, Connor doesn’t tell anyone what happened, and tries to put the attack behind him—and he tries to convince himself that the weird little things he’s starting to notice about Wendy aren’t really that weird. Stressed and sleep-deprived, with the looming deadline of a multi-million-dollar video game launch weeks away, Connor just doesn’t have time to deal with ‘weird’.

But when the evidence trail of an horrific crime begins to lead back to Connor himself, Connor must seek out answers to the questions he’s been avoiding, even if it means risking his own life and sanity—and the lives of those around him.

Shadow Play by Domino Finn:

I’m Cisco Suarez, and a week ago I was dead.

Cursed into serving a clandestine shadow group, I have a lot of blood on my hands. Good thing I also have a juvenile problem with authority. I’m not taking orders anymore, and the first thing on my bucket list is bringing them down.

If I’m good at anything, it’s looking in dark places. But I’ve got shadows of my own. Horrific deeds coming back to haunt me, and not the metaphorical kind of haunting, either. I’m talking ghosts, mages, and that thing with the glowing red eyes.

Just goes to show you, it really is true what they say. What goes around comes around. I only hope to give more than I get.

Is resurrection overrated or what?

Destroyer by Chris Fox:

Mankind’s outer colonies are disappearing. Without warning. Without a trace. Fleet command chalks the attacks up to pirates, but Captain Dryker of the UFC Johnston isn’t buying it.

Defying command, he leads his misfit crew into hostile territory in search of answers. They encounter the mythical Void Wraith, an unstoppable legend whispered by the first race. After 26,000 years the Void Wraith have returned to begin the next Eradication. Their technology is superior, their motives unclear.

Humanity cannot stop them. Not without help. Captain Dryker’s only hope is to forge an alliance with mankind’s greatest enemy, the savage Tigris.

One maverick captain, an unlikely crew, and an aging vessel are all that stand between humanity and the Eradication.

The Wizard’s War by Angela Holder:

For the first time in its history, Tevenar is at war. The Matriarch of Ramunna, furious with the wizards she believes betrayed her, has sent the Armada to conquer and destroy. Armed with a secret weapon that makes them the unchallenged terror of the seas, the ships of the Armada descend on vulnerable Tevenar.

Elkan and Josiah, along with the rest of the Wizard’s Guild, scramble to rally the people of Tevenar to defend their home. The Mother’s power gives them a chance to stand against their foes, but alone it’s not enough. To defeat the Ramunnans, they must find a way to duplicate their enemies’ weapons. Josiah believes they can, because they’ve encountered a similar explosive before. But only one person in Tevenar knows how to make and use the deadly blasting powder—Meira, the woman Elkan once loved and rejected.

Pirate Bound by Carysa Locke:

A desperate gamble…

Sanah would do anything to protect her little sister, even if it means taking refuge with ruthless pirates. But the psychically Talented pirates terrorizing Commonwealth space are not quite the monsters she has been led to believe. When Sanah’s empathic gift shows her the truth behind the stories, she is no longer certain who the villains are in her world.

A race on the verge of extinction…

Dem’s only goal is to protect his people, especially since a deadly bio-weapon decimated their population. Only a handful of women survived, and every day is a fight to rebuild. With Sanah’s empathy and her sister’s rare ability to heal, they could be the salvation Dem and his people have been looking for.

A dangerous secret that could destroy everything…

But how can Sanah trust Dem with her life? Especially when he’d kill her if he knew the truth.

Dead Druid by Salvador Mercer:

A thousand years ago, on the world of Claire-Agon, a war raged between men and dragons, destroying both the creatures and the land’s many civilizations.

Targon Terrel accepts his fate as a Ranger, a servant of the Mother and Defender of the Arnen. Having protected his fellow countrymen, he continues his battle against the sinister Kesh wizards, but he does not fight alone. Aided by unlikely allies, he presses his attacks to liberate Ulatha and its people.

The Kesh continue to dominate the realms of Agon, enslaving those of neighboring realms and seeking to obtain the one artifact that will ensure their perpetual domination of Agon forever.

Meanwhile, ancient evils stir from their long slumbers, moving to ensnare all within their reach as Dor Akun, Father Death approaches.

Evil prepares to cover the land and only one thing stands in its way, a simple Ulathan family that goes by the name of Terrel.

Ghost of the Navigator by Tommy Muncie:

Three years on from the birthday party that left him crippled for life, Shadow is well on the way to wrecking what’s left of himself. When stealing morphine from a hospital almost lands him in prison, his family give him one more chance to clean up, and he takes it. By his 21st birthday, he’s six months sober and settling for a simple and honest life. Then an unexpected visitor turns up at Shadow’s home, with a new idea about how to get his body restored.

Everything comes at a price though, and the elusive Blake Stanford’s price is going to be more than Shadow wants to pay. Despite his loyalty to both Shadow’s family and the Talent Council, Blake has dangerous ideas. The kind that can either make history or get people put in prisons that don’t officially exist. If they live long enough to reach them.

The Serious Crimes Office are hot on the tail of Blake and his new protegé, and Shadow has made enemies out of people high up in the world’s most powerful organisation: The Seekers’ Council, known for making unpredictable people disappear without trace. A nosy journalist won’t stay out of Shadow’s personal life, and a crime boss who wants Shadow for her own plans will stop at nothing to own his allegiance. Is anyone truly his ally? The good doctor Kit Calloway still is, but keeping Shadow alive might just cost him more than his career this time.

Especially if the world’s most powerful Seekers discover Shadow’s true identity. Or the three tubes of Liquid Talent he once buried deep in a forest, and promised never to dig up unless lives depended on the secrets inside them…

That Which Dwells Beneath by Andrew Nicolle:

Detective Elliot Winter believes an innocent man may hang, framed for murders he didn’t commit. He’s convinced the condemned knows too much, and even if the man escapes the hangman’s noose, powerful people want him dead.

On the grounds of the abbey at the edge of town, the catacombs conceal terrible secrets. There are whispers of murder, ritual sacrifice, and worse. Winter cannot abide a world where such crimes are allowed to go unpunished.

In a race against time, Detective Winter risks his life and sanity to unravel a conspiracy concealing something far more sinister than even he can imagine.

Engineering Murder by T.S. Paul:

Ensign Athena Lee has finally been rescued. The galaxy has changed over the last fifteen years. She finds herself arrested, her rights taken away, and tortured. Political corruption has taken over. Now someone is out to kill her. With assassins and bounty hunters at every corner what is an Engineer to do? Use the right tool for the right job and Fix it!

 

 

 

Freemont by P.J. Post:

This romance brought to you by the end of the world…

Freemont’s River Walk is romantic, exciting and has the best cafes and restaurants in the county. And the residents intend to keep it that way. They opened up the armory, fueled the World War II trucks and even got the ancient generators working. They turned on the lights.

To improve the security of the townspeople, they put up a fence, manned by the good soldiers from Crayton Industries, selflessly protecting the refugees, and the nurses and doctors that care for them in their selectively policed triage units.

Freemont is a beacon for the survivors of the War.

Come to Freemont: you’ll be fed, you’ll be warm, you’ll be safe…

And now Lane’s here.

And somewhere among all of those River Walk cafes and restaurants, the pretty church steeples and the good intentions, the snow covered maple trees and the street lights along Main, among the Cart People and the Button Eye plague…

Sam is too.

The Girl Who Twisted Fate’s Arm by George Saoulidis:

The gods are back in town. Skyscrapers pop out of nowhere all around Athens. Corporations rename themselves as Greek gods. It all started with the Greek crisis of 2009 and it will forever change the world as we know it. Some say that CEO’s have gone mad. Others, that they know damn well what they are doing. That there is something solid amongst the myth. In the day of inter-connectivity and social media admiration, can the myths come back to life?

When the daughter of Greece’s premier singer fails to sing as expected, she finds out about a biker group of women. But will she manage to find the elusive Orosa, the bikers’ motovlogger, when all she has to go on are random street-sightings of criminal behaviour, when her family is opposed to her following this path and when her dad’s employer wants to keep her as she was for marketing purposes?

SURE by Hollis Shiloh:

Pete has a pretty good life these days: a job he likes, friends, and a boyfriend who accepts him as he is. But despite all this, life isn’t without its challenges — and dangers.

a Men of the ESRB novel

takes place after “KEEP” and contains the same characters

gay paranormal fiction

66,000 words

The Extra Sensory Regulatory Bureau rates talented individuals like empaths and clairvoyants. They have special gifts — and often some extra burdens that go along with them. The ESRB takes care of its own, but these guys still have a lot to figure out about life — and love. Stay tuned for more tales from the men of the ESRB.

Bound by Magic by Jasmine Walt:

With the silver murders solved and her training as a mage underway, Sunaya figured her life would get easier. But between the Chief Mage’s packed schedule and the grunt work demanded of her as an apprentice mage, magic lessons are few and far between. Worse, her apprenticeship leaves little time for her job as an Enforcer, and without bounties Sunaya’s money pouch is drying up — fast.

Even so, when Shiftertown Inspector Boon Lakin asks for Sunaya’s help digging deeper into the murder of a fellow Enforcer, Sunaya has no trouble making room in her life to help him. The trail leads them to a series of crimes victimizing shifters for the entertainment of vicious humans. Sunaya and her friends race to identify the perpetrators and free the survivors, and the stakes are heightened when she discovers one of the victims has a connection to her. But if Sunaya is not careful, she may end up a very dead shifter herself…

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