Keith R.A. DeCandido's Blog, page 4

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Summoning”

Lots of questions this week: Will Delenn be able to keep her coalition to attack Z’ha’dum going? Will Ivanova and Cole find any more First Ones? Why is it so easy to find Garibaldi all of a sudden? Will G’Kar scream for Cartagia? The Babylon 5 Rewatch asks these questions and more while looking at “The Summoning.”

An excerpt:

And then we have the tour de force: G’Kar being lashed. Part of this is the editing, as the intercutting among the various closeups is very well done, but it’s the delivery and expressions that really sell it. There’s Cartagia calmly but intensely counting off each lash, his voice growing incrementally more enthusiastic with each number, as he knows that—one way or another—he’ll get what he wants by the time he stops counting. And his head never moves, as he intently watches G’Kar being lashed. There’s G’Kar, wincing in pain with each lash but keeping himself under control until the thirty-ninth—and then there’s the actual thirty-ninth when he lets loose with the scream that is very obviously cathartic for everyone in the room, albeit for different reasons. There’s Vir, looking increasingly nauseated, as he’s likely never seen anything quite this depraved in his life.

And then there’s Mollari. First we see him regarding Cartagia. He’s standing behind the emperor, so Cartagia can’t see the expression of purest disgust and contempt on Mollari’s face. Then he looks up, and we see the same devastation that Mollari had on his face in “The Long, Twilight Struggle” when he watched the bombing of Narn. He plaintively mouths, Scream! to G’Kar. And then the look of relief when G’Kar finally relents.

Just a masterpiece of a scene.

my Sunday feeling

While missing C3 is incredibly disappointing, I have been able to accomplish things this weekend. I have, of course, been taking care of Wrenn, who’s still feeling poorly. I am aided in this by Kaylee and Louie, who have spent most of their time either on her lap, curled up next to her, or hanging out on either the easy chair or the cat tree, both of which are very close to where Wrenn sits on the recliner.

In addition, we got to go to one of the local farmer’s markets for the first time in forever, coming home with a lovely bounty of fruit, vegetables, vodka sauce, pumpkin cake, and bready things.

I also got to go to the dojo Saturday, for which I was particularly grateful, as 20 September is an important day in my own martial arts history: it was on 20 September 2004 that I took my first karate class. Twenty-one years later, I am, somehow, a fourth-degree black belt and the third-highest-ranked student in our dojo. Karate has been one of the best things in my life, and I was glad I was able to spend the anniversary helping teach (I assisted Shuseki Shihan Paul with the very very large kids color belt class) and train (I took the adult class right after that). I also got to present Shuseki Shihan with a copy of Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD.

I also got to participate in the weekly poker game, which was fun, even though I came out a loser in the end. (I made a couple of stupid bets, and I also lost some big hands where I had to stay in with what I had, but got beat). But it’s always fun to hang out with friends, and our stakes are low enough that my “losses” amounted to a buck-eighty.

Today is the B5 Rewatch of “The Summoning,” as well as more work on Dragon Precinct Origins. That collection is taking much longer to write than I anticipated — in particular, the Manfred and Kellan story, “Demon Swarm,” is taking forever. With luck, the final three stories after this will go faster.

The upcoming week should enable me to announce a new project for 2026, and I will otherwise be spending most of it writing more of DPO, as well as the overdue third-season overview of Strange New Worlds for Reactor. I also need to start the research for a “Five Things” I’m doing for Reactor that will be out in October.

Onward…

once again, cancelling C3 at the last minute

I deeply regret to say that, for the second year in a row, I have to cancel my appearance at Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity, which is incredibly annoying. Alas, this year it’s due to my poor wife Wrenn being very sick. She’s not well enough to come with me, nor is she well enough to be home alone. So I must cancel my appearance and take care of my ailing wife.

Sigh.

Hope all those attending have a wonderful time without me!

my C3 schedule (EDITED TO ADD: or not…)

EDITED TO ADD: Alas, I have to, for the second year in a row, cancel my appearance at C3, as Wrenn is ill, and I must stay home and take care of my poor wife. Sigh.

Back in 2018, I was one of the keynote speakers for the writers conference Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity. (Transcript of my speech is here.) I had a great time there, and being a keynote speaker means I have an open invite to come back any time.

This year, I’m finally taking them up on that invite. (I was going to last year, but real life intervened, as it is sometimes wont to do.) I’ll be there this coming weekend, the 19th to the 21st, at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Columbia, Maryland.

I’ll be doing a bunch of panels, too! Here’s my schedule:

Friday

2.45pm-3.30pm: “Creating a Fictional Universe,” w/Ef Deal, Serg Koren, Glenn Parris, Edward Swing, and L. Marie Wood (Columbia East)

4.30pm-6pm: group autographing (Atrium)

6pm-7.30pm: I, along with everyone else, will be attending Jody Lynn Nye’s keynote speech over dinner (Baltimore/Washington Room)

7.30pm-9.30pm: I’ll be attending Noir at the Bar (Baltimore/Washington Room)

Saturday

10am-10.45am: “The Innovation of Genre Bending,” w/Phil Giunta, Roberta Rogow, Ann Stolinsky, and S.R. Webster (Columbia West)

2.15pm-3pm: “The Business of Writing,” w/Sharon Buchbinder, John Dedakis, Tom Straw, and L. Marie Wood (Columbia West)

4.30pm-6pm: group autographing (Atrium)

6pm-8pm: I, along with everyone else, will be attending Tom Straw’s keynote speech over dinner (Baltimore/Washington Room)

8pm-midnight: I will be one of several authors interviewed by Bill Hincy for his Writers Drinking Whiskey podcast

I have nothing scheduled for Sunday, but I’ll be around for the morning stuff (the con ends at noon Sunday).

I’ll have an advanced copy of Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD to show off, plus postcards with ordering info for the book, and the bookstore will have copies of Dragon Precinct, Without a License, and The Four ???? of the Apocalypse for sale.

Hope to see folks there!

my C3 schedule

Back in 2018, I was one of the keynote speakers for the writers conference Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity. (Transcript of my speech is here.) I had a great time there, and being a keynote speaker means I have an open invite to come back any time.

This year, I’m finally taking them up on that invite. (I was going to last year, but real life intervened, as it is sometimes wont to do.) I’ll be there this coming weekend, the 19th to the 21st, at the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Columbia, Maryland.

I’ll be doing a bunch of panels, too! Here’s my schedule:

Friday

2.45pm-3.30pm: “Creating a Fictional Universe,” w/Ef Deal, Serg Koren, Glenn Parris, Edward Swing, and L. Marie Wood (Columbia East)

4.30pm-6pm: group autographing (Atrium)

6pm-7.30pm: I, along with everyone else, will be attending Jody Lynn Nye’s keynote speech over dinner (Baltimore/Washington Room)

7.30pm-9.30pm: I’ll be attending Noir at the Bar (Baltimore/Washington Room)

Saturday

10am-10.45am: “The Innovation of Genre Bending,” w/Phil Giunta, Roberta Rogow, Ann Stolinsky, and S.R. Webster (Columbia West)

2.15pm-3pm: “The Business of Writing,” w/Sharon Buchbinder, John Dedakis, Tom Straw, and L. Marie Wood (Columbia West)

4.30pm-6pm: group autographing (Atrium)

6pm-8pm: I, along with everyone else, will be attending Tom Straw’s keynote speech over dinner (Baltimore/Washington Room)

8pm-midnight: I will be one of several authors interviewed by Bill Hincy for his Writers Drinking Whiskey podcast

I have nothing scheduled for Sunday, but I’ll be around for the morning stuff (the con ends at noon Sunday).

I’ll have an advanced copy of Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD to show off, plus postcards with ordering info for the book, and the bookstore will have copies of Dragon Precinct, Without a License, and The Four ???? of the Apocalypse for sale.

Hope to see folks there!

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”

Delenn mopes, Mollari plots, G’Kar searches, Cole helps, and Sheridan is very very very confused. The Babylon 5 Rewatch asks the question on everybody’s lips, “Whatever Happened to Mr. Garibaldi?”

An excerpt:

Even if the rest of the episode was terrible, it would all be worth it for the magnificent scene in the dungeon between Mollari and G’Kar. Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas remain the best thing about this show, and their talk in the dungeon is a masterpiece.

Katsulas’ intensity is a wonder to behold, from his questioning of Isaac to his banter with Cole to his virtual hissing of his terms to Mollari. Jurasik’s sad recitation of the tortures that await G’Kar is a rhapsody in quiet devastation, while his interactions with Wortham Krimmer’s Cartagia are also spot-on, the perfect mix of deference and backbone.

excerpt from Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD Book 1 now available!

I’ve put up an excerpt from Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD Book 1: The Thin Blue Ley-Line in the hopes of teasing you and making you desperate to read the book. With luck, it will convince you to preorder the book — links can be found here.

The eBook and hardcover will be out on the 28th of October, with the audio, read by Patricia Santomasso, available on the 27th of December.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds’s “New Life and New Civilizations”

It’s the third-season finale, giving us a sequel to “Through the Lens of Time” and one storyline that has a somewhat inevitable endgame. My review of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘s “New Life and New Civilizations.”

An excerpt:

Because apparently [scripters Dana] Horgan and [Davy] Perez don’t understand how computers work, we are told that a mind-meld between two pilots is the only way to coordinate the two ships’ joint firing solution. (It would make much more sense for an independent computer system to control both ships simultaneously, but I guess that violates Trek’s long-standing inconsistent animus against automation.) Spock and Kirk are the ones who must mind-meld. First off, let me give major credit to the script for queer-coding the shit out of the scene in which Spock and Ortegas approach Kirk, which I’m sure made legions of slash fanfic writers giddy with glee. (I certainly chortled mightily.) And second of all, for all that it was dumb, it was lovely watching Paul Wesley and Ethan Peck talk in stereo as they did the thing.

talkin’ mixing fantasy with mystery on the Strand Magazine’s Mystery Center

I have a piece on the Strand Magazine’s “Mystery Center” blog talking about mixing speculative fiction and mystery in general and Supernatural Crimes Unit: NYPD in particular. Here’s an excerpt:

What makes a spec-fic story is where it takes place—generally the world we know with at least one thing changed. Sometimes that change is as simple as moving forward a couple hundred years into the future, or entering a wardrobe and finding a world run by a talking lion, or after aliens invade, or it’s Seattle but there are vampires!

            But it’s the only one like that. Horror, thriller, romance, mystery—they’re all defined by what happens, not where it happens. Spec-fic, however, can have any plot you want, as long as it’s in a speculative setting, whether it’s Middle Earth or Mars.

Babylon 5 Rewatch: “The Hour of the Wolf”

Season four kicks off by introducing Emperor Cartagia and Lorien, giving us a rather sedate setup for what will be a very not-sedate season. The Babylon 5 Rewatch sits through “The Hour of the Wolf.”

An excerpt:

The big plot here, of course, is the introduction of Emperor Cartagia. Wortham Krimmer does an excellent job of channeling 1976 John Hurt, which only makes sense, as this particular plotline follows pretty much all the non-gross beats of Caligula’s arc in I, Claudius five decades ago. (Also, if you’ve never watched that BBC miniseries, I enthusiastically and heartily recommend it. Absolutely great stuff.) What’s compelling about the storyline is Mollari’s attempt at redemption by ridding his homeworld of this particular cancerous emperor, with the aid of Vir. The exchanges between Mollari and Vir are priceless as always, with the usual mix of affection and abuse on Mollari’s part, with Vir’s continued goodness of heart and seemingly endless reserve of forgiveness for Mollari’s crimes.