'Nathan Burgoine's Blog, page 27

Short Stories 366:323 — “Queer Esther, Unmasked,” by Hallie Alexander

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Okay, I loved this story pretty much from the get-go. Found in Love All Year: A Holidays Anthology, this story drops us into 1890, just before a Purim spiel, and gives us Frieda, who has just recently broken it off with a fiancé who was a cheating jerk. She’s squinting her way through an awful evening (her mother doesn’t let her wear glasses to events because she thinks it does her looks no favours) and dreading the moment where she’ll be opposite her ex during the Spiel. She’s getting by on willpower and fury (and stubbornness) so basically as a heroine I fell in love with her immediately and was 100% on her side.

But when it’s time for her ex to appear in the Spiel (as Esther), the voice (and sheer size) of the man in front of her makes it clear this isn’t her ex. And a few fumbled lines followed by improvisation later, the two of them have stolen the show—if set tongues to wagging—and Frieda finds herself more than a little captivated with this masked man (not that she could make out his face anyway without her glasses). They manage to find a small space to be alone, and Frieda finds herself wanting to do what she can to salvage her reputation after tossing aside her ex, but also… not caring at all if she gets to spend more time with this man. It’s an impossible choice, really.

The end result is a lovely bit of will-they/won’t-they, and there’s some great moments of personal triumph (especially for Frieda, but also the man in question). I have to admit to a love of rough-faced but gentle-hearted lugs, so the love interest here was totally up my alley. The arc of this one is both sweet and sizzly (sharing chocolate hamantashen, who knew?) and ultimately a feel-good that I enjoyed whole-heartedly.

Short Stories 366:322 — “Roger That, Team Rusty,” by Eytan Bernstein

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Okay, if you don’t think it’s possible for a superhero short story to be adorable but also affecting and, at the same time, really cute, then may I point you in the direction of Powered Up! An Earth Prime Anthology and Eytan Bernstein’s story about Kid Robot? Because… Aww! Seriously. This is so adorable. Taking the hero pre-generated and packaged in the Emerald City setting of the Mutants & Masterminds role-playing game and giving him his first ever day of school as a backdrop is so cute I couldn’t even.

Okay, so Kid Robot is a superhero, but he’s also, well, a kid and a robot. He’s got the emotional range of roughly a ten year old, and little-to-no life experience. He’s also packing a serious amount of technology and is in the care of the scientist who created him, and also a mechanic he met when he had to run away from the megacorp who want to use him as a weapon. Oh, and he’s on a team of superheroes, too. It’s a lot for anyone, really, and just because he’s a robot doesn’t mean he’s not gonna freak out over making sure he has the right pencil case, okay?

The adventure mixes the anxiety of being new in school, the desires a kid has for his guardians to be a cohesive family, making new friends (and an enemy or two, and maybe befriending former enemies), and a healthy dose of bad guys into one larger whole that just works. It almost has an 80’s sitcom feel in places, with piped in audience “aww!”s, but in the best possible way, and I was there for it. All in all, this was just, well, cute.

Short Stories 366:321 — “A Bunny Hug for Karl,” by Mike Remar

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This story, found in Masked Mosaic: Canadian Super Stories, is more like a glimpse into a character origin than a narrative, but I am here for that kind of story, and also, it pokes more-than-a-little-bit of fun at the Superman/Lex Luthor dynamic, so, y’know, bonus points. Set in the fields of Saskatchewan, the Karl of the title is meeting up with his friend, Lars, who is for some reason standing on top of a grain elevator. Before Karl can find out what’s going on, Lars jumps… and survives.

What follows is mostly Karl’s thoughts about Lars’s developing abilities (he’s strong, he’s pretty much indestructible, he can fly—sound familiar?) and then what Lars would like to do with those abilities: help people. It’s at this point that Karl’s take on things becomes clear: helping people? But people are pretty much generally awful, and also there’s truly no profit in it, and if Karl had powers like that, he knows exactly what he’d do with them. And that becomes his goal: to get Lars to see the folly of his way, and the positives of Karl’s.

Remar’s story takes that typical set-up we’ve seen before, moves things from Kansas to Canada, and plays with the reasons for everyone becoming who they become in a fresh (if cynical) way. I don’t normally end up wanting to follow a villain’s story, but when Lars does what he does to show Karl how important it is to use his powers for good, I found myself nodding along with Karl’s reaction. It’s the tiniest of adjustment to the usual take, but it’s a clever one, and the end result had me walking alongside Karl, curious to see where he’d end up next.

Short Stories 366:320 — “Untangling Tristan,” by Geoffrey Knight

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So, hey, if you’re in the mood for a sizzling, short, Christmas-themed erotica story, today’s story is totally going to fit the bill. In “Untangling Tristan” we meet said Tristan while he’s dashing through the snow (well, slush and ice) trying to get home while calling an electrician while also trying to make sure he’s got time for a meeting with a client in ninety minutes and… well. Life is a rush for Tristan, and he never really slows down.

He needs the electrician because his apartment building decided to put on a holiday display, and he’s on the top floor and his fire-escape is the gold-star on top of what’s a building-sized tree of lights. Except he couldn’t get the damn gold-star lights to work, or untangle them, and the rest of the building is ready to light up and he’s… not ready. At all. Luckily, at the last minute, he finds someone willing to send someone to his apartment, and he dash-aways himself to his door (passing by worried, caring, and/or cantankerous neighbours) to find the fellow in question has already arrived.

And woah, has this man arrived, as it were. He’s gorgeous and fit and it’s possible that Tristan needs to be at that meeting soon but now he’s a not entirely sure he’s in such a rush to get there because hello, electrician. What follows is a couple of cute zig-zags as the magic of the season plays out with mutual, er, happy endings, and then Knight pops in a little teasing dose of some actual magic of the season, which was a cute close-out to the tale. “Untangling Tristan” is cute, short, delivers exactly what’s on the tin, (and would be a happy addition in any erotic holiday collection, to my mind) but it’s available solo if you’d rather have a sip than a whole mug.

Short Stories 366:319 — “Triple Dog Dare,” by Georgia Beers

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Before I begin, I feel like I need to underscore how this trio of novellas was one of the most singularly best timed reading experiences of my life. Ottawa had been dumped on with snow and ice and I was not ready for that (even though it’s November and I should be). Also, the news was… well. We all know. It’s 2020. I eyed my kobo, saw All I Want for Christmas, a trio of women-loving-women holiday romances and thought, yes.

The first of the trio is “Triple Dog Dare” and the title is 100% a reference to A Christmas Story so you already know it’s both magical and funny and a favourite-to-be, but if the title alone doesn’t snare you, allow me to follow up with the following: it’s a fauxmance! I mean, basically this is peppermint-scented novella catnip for me. The set-up is perfect: successful middle sister Sasha has an older sister and a younger sister and a mother and all three of them can be a bit… much. Especially about her being single. Sasha knows it comes from a good place, but it can be relentless, so she makes up a girlfriend to get them to leave her alone, which works for a little bit, until her eldest sister tries to call her bluff and dares her to bring her home for the holidays.

That’s where the neighbour comes in. She’s beautiful, she’s available, and—bonus—she’s also an actress and in need of a gig, and it couldn’t be more perfect. Except, of course, that quickly becomes a bit of a problem, too. Kennedy is wonderful, and beautiful, and a perfect fake girlfriend and Sasha is soon wishing things weren’t so fake. With well-meaning family, a wee doggo, and some roller-rink revisiting, “Triple Dog Dare” quickly hopped right into my heart, and I can’t express how much I loved the low-angst simmer of the story. The two women connecting even while they’re pretending, and the genuine emotions forming among the act was this gentle, happy sigh of a progression. And honestly, the scene where they eventually come clean about the deception? I howled.

I reached out to Georgia Beers to ask if she’d mind dropping a few words my way about where this novella came from, and she was kind enough to let us in on the magic:

My idea came from the fact that I have always, always wanted to write a fauxmance and have just never been able to come up with the right storyline. But fake relationship is one of my very favorite holiday tropes, so when I was asked to write a holiday novella, I realized it was my chance. Plus, the lead in my novella is a secondary character in my novel “16 Steps to Forever” (also out in December). She’s a character I really liked, so I was thrilled to give her a story all her own. I had a ton of fun writing it!

— Georgia Beers

Short Stories 366:318 — “She’s So Lovely,” by Suleikha Snyder

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Okay, this story closes Prem Numbers and I don’t even know how to explain how freaking hot and wonderful “She’s So Lovely” was at closing out the collection with… okay, I was about to say “a bang” and then I wanted to think better of it but holy flying crap this story. Ahem. Okay, anyway. Uh, have you ever seen the movie Roadhouse? Oddly enough, my husband and I watched it recently just because, and honestly we both had a moment where we eyed each other and said ‘Sam Elliot?’ and nodded meaningfully and then went back to watching. So, basically, imagine the heroine of Roadhouse was an Indian woman who’d grown up in a small town, was similarly divorced, and there was a bar with two hot men working at it much like said Sam Elliot and a certain mullet-sporting 80’s heartthrob and you’ve kind of got the set-up here.

Y’know, if the two hunky gents were also known for taking women to bed together, and also they’re as much with each other as those women and did I mention this story scorches? Well, both men have a definite thing for the woman—Lovely Singh—and she’s definitely got crushes on the men, too, but they never seem to make a move on her, and she’s losing patience that her life will ever change, and then she finally reaches her limit, says something she can’t take back, and then…

Well. Scorching.

Moving through all three of the POV characters in a kind of dance that just cranks the tension up moment by moment, and a point of crisis that had me scowling in frustration and wishing I could reach into the story to slap the offender a bit, and then—ultimately—the HEA that left me with a giant smile on my face and threw Prem Numbers right into my “you must read this!” pile.

Short Stories 366:317 — “Must Be Santa,” by Annabeth Albert

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“Must Be Santa,” found the charity anthology Gifts for the Season, is a revisit with Teddy and Nick from Better Not Pout, which I listened to on audio and enjoyed a couple of years ago. That means this story isn’t about a romance, since the fellas already got their happy-together-ending in the novella that came before, but now Nick and Teddy have been together for a while, settling into their jobs and new lives as husbands, and have decided they’re open to being foster parents. They’ve taken the classes, gotten their home ready, created a bedroom with bunkbeds for a boy (or two) that may or may not happen any time soon.

And then “any time soon” happens after all, but not quite how they expect, with not a pair of tween boys, but a ten year old girl and her younger brother, both of whom have had a double-rough ride in losing their mother first, and then the grandmother who was taking care of them having a major health setback. Nick—Mr. Gruff, former military man, organized and structured, and local cop—and Teddy—social worker, holiday elf, ball of extroverted energy—have to change direction on a dime, and make it all work for the holidays. I should also note that I think, despite this being a revisit of characters (something that happens a lot in this anthology), this particular story does hold up on its own merit as a complete story rather than being an extended epilogue, and gives characterization aplenty to the characters involved for those who haven’t read the romance where they debut.

Ultimately, this is still a holiday happy-ever-after kind of story, so you know things will work out, but Albert quite cleverly keeps the focus a bit more on Nick and Natalie. Nick, who isn’t as sure he’s capable of all this as Teddy is, and who is someone who likes a plan of attack, quiet time, and organization, is at first sure he’s in over his head. (And, of course, they both are, because two foster kids with multiple recent bad events is more than anyone is ready for). But a few scenes with Nick and Natalie in particular form these wonderful turning points in the tale as Nick realizes what kind of little girl she is, and they bond even as they occasionally lock horns. For the “They need a system!” line alone, this story won my affection, but as a whole it was a lovely treat of a holiday story of a family coming together.

By the time I closed Gifts for the Season, I found a quartet of stories I enjoyed, and I want to take a moment to point out that it’s a charity anthology and a good cause, so I don’t regret the purchase, but if there’s a singular flaw in this anthology it’s that most of the stories aren’t stories, exactly, but brief revisits with characters from previously published novels, and my experience reading them was mostly feeling disconnected with not enough of an idea of who the characters were, as the authors assumed readership would come into the tale pre-loaded with that knowledge. So, I can’t really recommend the anthology in and of itself as a whole on its own merit, but as a charity donation, the four stories I’ll be mentioning felt worthwhile.

Short Stories 366:316 — “It Happened One Yule,” by Celestine Martin

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Okay, so this story, the second from Love All Year: A Holidays Anthology, was everything I wanted. A bit of contemporary-with-a-healthy-dash-of-magic, we meet a witch, Tilda, getting ready for the family Yule event who is, well, dreading it. This is not how you’re supposed to feel about Yule, but when your successful, famous ex is going to be there, it’s a lot to handle alone. When you’ve been pining away for your handyman in what you’re sure is a one-sided fantasy, it’s even worse. So, what’s a witch to do? Whip up some magical oil, get her scent on, and attract someone. Even just for a night.

When she bumps into said handyman in the bar, and he reacts to how lovely she smells, Tilda is in a quandary. The man seems to be enjoying her magical scent, but that’s not great because it’s exactly that: a magical scent. It’s supposed to find someone for her to have a good time with, and though she’s dreamed about having said time with Duncan, this is so not how she wants to have it play out. Especially given how the spell will break if they do, y’know, play it out. When he finds out about the Yule party and offers to come along as backup, she’s not sure if it’s him being friendly or the oil, but she accepts and oops, there’s only one bed.

This is basically the magical Yule holiday movie I wished there was. Plus sized Black woman witch, her wonderful family, her not-an-asshole-but-still-kinda-jerkish-Ex, and the good guy dude handyman who absolutely has feelings for her, but needed a little bit of a magical push to believe it’s worth finding out if she feels the same way. Someone option this, please. I’m begging.

Short Stories 366:315 — “Before They Knew Him,” by Richard Lee Byers

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Back to the Mutants & Masterminds world today with another story from Powered Up! An Earth Prime Anthology. This time, we get a story featuring Dr. Metropolis, which is a character oft-referenced in the TTPRG rulebook, and a kind of sentient being birthed out of a city itself. He’s the living embodiment of Freedom City, and a champion thereof, able to manipulate all the materials of the city itself as an extension of his consciousness, to the point where he can form a body out of concrete and metal, and has awareness of the city as a whole.

Oh, and he’s under attack.

Byers leaps right into the action here, and while the enemy he faces is a familiar one, said enemy is using a new power against him: a power that seems to be shoving Dr. Metropolis further and further back through time. At first, he’s not sure why this is the game plan, but it’s not long before he realizes that the further back he goes, the smaller the city itself becomes, and the lesser he seems to be: less powerful, less connected, less to work with…

It’s a clever idea for a short fiction story, keeps the pacing set to high, and explores a really unique character through a lens that exposes so much about what makes that character so fascinating and interesting to begin with. I’ve always enjoyed the “outsider” characters, and Dr. Metropolis, in Byers’ hands, is right up there with a Data or a Spock, frankly, which is hopefully both nerdy enough and praise enough for you to get what I mean.

Short Stories 366:314 — “The Man in the Mask,” by Emma Faraday

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My exposure and awareness of steampunk writing is pretty small—it’s not a sub-genre I find myself bumping into much, and beyond some stories I’ve really enjoyed from Matthew Bright, I can’t clearly recall many of them at all. Emma Faraday’s entry from Masked Mosaic: Canadian Super Stories, however, was a delight, and the addition of aliens to the alternate history/Canadian steampunk setting is really, really enticing (and, it turns out, there are novels in this same world, which maybe adds clarity to how fleshed out and cohesive the world-building felt in this short story).

We meet a woman, Violet, taking a flight to the North of Canada on a small airship (literally just her and a captain) to scatter the ashes of her dead sister over the place where her sister’s fiancé passed. She is very much alone; her parents have died in an accident, her sister passed after a sudden illness, and her remaining family is neither supportive not compassionate. Despite all this loss, Violet comes across as strong and determined, which is why it’s not surprising she survives the sudden turn of events that leave her scrambling for her life and the airship falling from the sky.

What follows is a steampunk speculative-fiction murder-mystery set in the Canadian north, with unexpected allies, shoot-outs, and a dash of the alien alongside Violet, a character who is really, really easy to root for. I was genuinely a little sad to see this tale end, and wanted more, which, happily, is rectified in learning Emma Faraday does exactly that with her novel Backli’s Ford, under Marcelle Dubé. Definitely a highlight of the anthology as a whole.