Photos: Magical Hoarfrost

Posted on January 22, 2016 by Cora

Our current cold spell is still continuing with temperatures as low as minus nine degrees Celsius last night.

My students, who hail from Syria, Iran and Eritrea, are not used to such weather at all and a lot of them were notably unwell today. “Is winter in Germany always like this?”, one of them asked me. “Not always, but sometimes”, I said.

However, the winter also has its pretty sides. And today it showed one of them, for I woke up this morning to find all trees and bushes in the neighbourhood covered in hoarfrost. And since that sight is quite rare, I also took some photos:

Tree with hoarfrost

A hoarfrost covered tree

Hoarfrost branches

Looking up at the hoarfrost covered branches of a birch tree.

Hoarfrost bush

The hoarfrost covered branches of a bush in the neighbours’ garden.

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Photos: Snowy Winter Woods 2016

Posted on January 20, 2016 by Cora

Last weekend, we had snow again, quickly followed by an extended period of frost. And since I had the time and inclination, I took the opportunity to go for a stroll through the snowy winter woods.

The woods in question are Westermark forest near Syke, which is a favourite hiking spot of mine and which has been featured in these pages before.

Of course, I took my camera as well and snapped some photos of frosted branches and snowy winter woods: Continue reading →

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SFF, Romance and Abuse Narratives

Posted on January 12, 2016 by Cora

Yesterday, I came across this great post by Foz Meadows about the frequency of abusive romance narratives particularly in media aimed at teenagers. The post is a response to a post by someone named The J. Gatsby Kid, in which they point out that Rey/Kylo Ren shippers tend to be primarily teen girls, because Kylo Ren is exactly the sort of tortured, brooding and abusive figure that YA romances present as boyfriend material to teen girls.

Much as I would love for Finn and Poe Dameron to end up together (though that wouldn’t make them the first gay Star Wars characters seen on screen, since it’s pretty obvious that Obi Wan is gay), it also triggers a “Please, don’t have Rey end up with Kylo Ren” reaction, because Kylo is a relationship disaster waiting to happen, regardless of the potential incest that some fan theories suspect. No, better for Rey to follow in the footsteps of Jedi celibacy (and I was never a fan of Jedi celibacy, never mind that the films themselves point out that it doesn’t work) than to end up with Kylo of all people.

It’s not just Rey/Kylo shippers either (and there are shippers for pretty much any conceivable and inconceivable pairing out there). When Jessica Jones dropped in late November (and I should probably do a post about Jessica Jones some time), a fandom sprang up that focussed on Kilgrave, the mind-controlling villain brilliantly played by David Tennant. Now Kilgrave is probably one of the vilest characters to pop up in popular culture of late. Kilgrave makes Kylo Ren seem like a whiny little emo boy by comparison and yet there are fans who have a crush on him. And yes, I know that the fact that both David Tennant, who plays Kilgrave, and Adam Driver, who plays Kylo Ren, are handsome men (though neither does it for me personally) certainly has something to do with their transformation into romantic figures for a subset of the viewership of the respective works.

Nonetheless, Foz Meadows and the J. Gatsby Kid are right. The proliferation of narratives that romanticise abuse and abusers is troubling. If anything, the situation has gotten even worse in recent years. Because until fairly recently, growly alpha males and flat-out abusers as romantic heroes were on their way out, at least in the romance genre, as reader tastes finally shifted away from the rapetastic bodicerippers of the 1970s/1980s and the Harlequin Presents type tycoon/billionaire romances with their ultra-possessive heroes. But then the success of Fifty Shades of Grey and to a lesser degree Twilight brought the growly, ultra-possessive, borderline (and frequently crossing the border) abusive alphajerk back with a vengeance and the rise of the so-called “new adult romance”, which pretty much exclusively features these jerky heroes, has only exacerbated that trend. As a result, I’ve largely stopped reading romance except for a few trusted authors.

Now a lot of the time, whenever someone dares to criticise Fifty Shades of Grey and its copycats or rapestastic bodicerippers or growly, ultrapossessive alpha heroes or Rey/Kylo Ren shippers or Jessica/Kilgrave shippers, the response is, “How dare you criticise other women for their sexual fantasies?”, usually followed by an explanation how rape and domination fantasies are extremely common and what that signifies.

So no, I’m not criticising other women for their sexual fantasies. If you want to fantasise about Christian Grey or Edward Cullen (who doesn’t really belong into this company, for while Edward’s behaviour is problematic, it’s not outright abusive and/or rapey, as with the other characters) or Clayton Westmoreland or the hero of Stormfire or Kilgrave or Kylo Ren, then fantasise away. I won’t stop you nor can I.

Nonetheless, we still need to ask ourselves whether the reason that rape and domination and “Heal the abuser” fantasies are so very common may be that our pop culture is absolutely saturated with such stories. Because, as Foz Meadows points out in her post, we quickly internalise the common patterns in the stories that we consume to the point that she was initially confused when she came across King’s Dragon by Kate Elliott in which the handsome but abusive guy is the villain and not a romantic hero, because that was not how the story was supposed to go.

Worse, because narratives romanticising abusive relationship dynamics are so pervasive in our culture, they also tend to become invisible, even to those of us who are pretty attuned to problematic relationships in the fiction we consume.

A few years ago, there was a space opera series with a strong romance element that I liked a whole lot. I eagerly devoured the series until about halfway through the fourth book, when the heroine’s lover (and the couple had already been through hell and back in the previous volumes) suddenly decided they had to call it quits for the greater good and began behaving abominably towards a woman he claimed to love. I somehow finished the book, increasingly angry, and started the next one, only to see that it was more of the same – hero and everybody else mistreating the already psychically damaged heroine – and stopped reading. There was one more book in the series which I never read at all.

Now a few months ago, I suddenly got a hankering for space opera with romance and a strong female protagonist. And since there aren’t a whole lot of those around, I remembered the series I had abandoned and thought, “Why don’t I read the last two books of that?” After all, I had really enjoyed that series when it was still good. And who knows, maybe the problems I had were really just a temporary blip caused by the need to artificially keep the central couple apart, because happy couples are considered boring, even if they free slaves and fight flesh-eating aliens and all that. Never mind that there are plenty of series that prove that happy couples are not boring at all and can still have adventures. See Eve and Roarke from J.D. Robb’s In Death series, Hawk and Fisher from Simon R. Green’s eponymous series (plus John Taylor and Suzy Shooter are together and mostly happy for several of the latter books of Green’s Nightside series) or Silas and Lainie from Kyra Halland’s Daughter of the Wildings series.

To refresh my memory, I grabbed the previous books in the series and began to reread the relationship bits. And was horrified, because I realised that the great love of the heroine’s life had not suddenly become a jerk halfway through the series – no, he had pretty much always been one.

Now the hero’s jerkiness was obscured by the fact that the series is written in the first person from the heroine’s POV and she is not always a very reliable narrator. She is deeply traumatised, not to mention paranoid in the first book, so I was inclined to dismiss her fear of the hero as the result of her unfounded paranoia (so does the heroine, once she is no longer afraid of him). Except that the heroine’s paranoia was not unfounded, because the hero had explicitly threatened her in the dialogue.

And once the narrator has fallen in love with the hero, she idealises him to the point that she is blinded to his very obvious faults. And because the novel puts us firmly in her head, so are we. What is more, the romantic bits are really, really well written, so we root for these people to get together, though come to think of it, I never liked the hero all that much as a character. Okay, so he is no Kilgrave or even Kylo Ren and he does have his good bits, e.g. he is nurturing and protective towards those he cares about (and indeed an interlude caring for an alien infant in the first book goes a long way towards redeeming the character) and does some genuinely heroic things. Nonetheless, the relationship is deeply problematic. And in fact, I mainly liked the hero because the heroine loved him and because these two deeply damaged people seemed to be good for each other.

Of course, it’s quite possible that the heroine decided to ditch the hero in the end – as I said, I didn’t read the last two books. And there definitely were other romantic possibilities for her, which I for one would have preferred.

Nor do I intend to rag on this particular series (which you’ll note I didn’t name, even though you may be able to guess, if you’ve read it), since I have enjoyed other works by the author. No, my point was to illustrate that these problematic and downright abusive relationship dynamics are endemic in our culture, so endemic that they can become invisible, especially when there is enough to like about the work in question otherwise. And so it’s really no surprise that a lot of women and girls fantasize about taming the domineering, growly alpha hero and redeeming the tortured abuser, because our culture keeps feeding such stories to them.

Even if you try to avoid such stories – and I do, because I’ve never liked abusive jerk heroes – it can still be damned difficult, because this stuff is everywhere. Trigger warnings only offer a limited help, especially since a lot of the time, there was zero warning at all about problematic relationship dynamics, even if I read reviews beforehand. Quite the contrary, often heroes described as “swoonworthy” in reviews turned out to be abusive and controlling jerks, when actually reading the book. What is more, sometimes the abusive dynamics only become apparent upon rereading.

So is it any surprise that many women will write the sort of stories they have internalised, whether as fanfic or profic? Especially when there is economic pressure involved and writers are clearly told that beta heroes don’t sell, cause no one wants to read about them (never mind that plenty of people do like beta heroes). I don’t even exclude myself here, some of my early stories have problematic gender and relationship dynamics as well, particularly those written for a specific market which liked that sort of thing and bought pretty much everything I sent them. I usually kept the outrightly abusive behaviour confined to the villains. And there is a reason that Hostage to Passion ends the way it does, because at that point the hero does not deserve the heroine. I always intended to write a sequel and I still may on day, but at this point in my life that story is no longer as appealing as it was when I first wrote it more than ten years ago.

Nowadays, I make a point to write positive relationships, particularly in ongoing series, but also standalones like Christmas Gifts and Christmas Eve at the Purple Owl Café, which happens to be my bestselling title in two languages. Because there are plenty of ways to generate conflict without artificially keeping a couple apart or having one or both characters resort to controlling or outright violent behaviour. It’s even possible to write about darker themes without resorting to standard “love and heal the abuser” narratives.

For example, I am currently working on what will eventually become a space opera series with strong romantic elements (because there aren’t nearly enough of those, so I have to write my own) and a central couple. Now the hero and heroine start out on opposite sides of a conflict and the hero does some things that are unquestionably wrong. He lies to her, captures her and she even finds herself his prisoner for a while. However, what the hero does not do is abuse her in any way. And in fact the realisation that the people he works for are planning to abuse and very likely kill the heroine is a large part of what causes the hero to turn against them. Nor does the heroine forgive him that quickly, though once she does they face everything I can throw at them as a couple.

Of course, I still write problematic relationships on occasion, but only in contexts where it is clear that this relationship is far from ideal. For example, no one could mistake Alfred and Bertha von Bülow for a model of a happy couple (plus the Alfred and Bertha stories are pretty obviously parodies). Several of the stories in Bug-Eyed Monsters and the Women Who Love Them parody the problematic gender dynamics of golden age science fiction, including such ugly tropes as forced breeding, while Kiss of Ice has the supposedly evil queen turn the tables on the knight sent to slay her. And the relationships depicted in the The Milk Jug (the second crime shot in Spiked Tea) and the two crime shorts collected in Seeing Red as well as the marriage from Family Car are so clearly problematic that they all end in murder. And no, I have no idea why I have the tendency to write domestic conflicts that escalate into violence and murder.

The question remains, what do we do about the proliferation of abuse narratives disguised as romance? Shaming people for their fantasies and reading choices is obviously not okay, but nonetheless we should call out problematic content when we see it. Even or especially if we otherwise like the work or the author. After all, the romance genre had largely moved away from the excesses of the bodiceripper era largely because a lot of readers, critics and writers began to call out and discuss problematic things in the books they read. And it is possible to criticise a work and its problematic aspects without shaming those who happen to enjoy said work.

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First Snow of the New Year 2016

Posted on January 4, 2016 by Cora

After an exceptionally mild December, we are currently experiencing a cold spell. And last night, it did not just get cold, it also began to snow. Over the day, the snowfall only increased.

I would have loved to go hiking in the snowy woods, but I didn’t have the time for that today. Though I did forego watching the umpteenth rerun of NCIS to take a walk around the neighbourhood this evening.

I also took some photos of the first snow of the year and here they are:

Snowy night

A somewhat moody early morning shot of the neighbour house with lit windows.

Snowy neighbour house

The same view as above, only by daylight and after more snowfall.

Snowy garden

A look out across the snowy yard and back garden. Note the snowdrifts formed by the heavy wind.

Department store mannequin

Else, a department store mannequin I bought at a going out of business sale a few years ago, is looking pensively out at the snow.

Snowy star

A shiny star ornament in the window with the snow seen behind it outside.

Black hellebore

Black hellebore a.k.a. Christmas rose in full bloom. This was taken on New Year’s Day before the snow came.

Black hellebore

And another shot of the black hellebore plant in full bloom.

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New Year’s Night 2015/2016

Posted on January 1, 2016 by Cora

2016 is approximately five hours old where I am, so a Happy New Year to all readers and followers of this blog.

As always, WordPress/Jetpack offer a yearly report and the 2015 report for this blog may be found here. I do notice that I have been less active than in previous years due to a combination of being very busy and preferring to spend whatever time is left over on writing fiction rather than blogging.

Meanwhile, we had a lovely, if quiet New Year’s Eve. Like the past few years, we had dinner at Ristorante Romantica, a great Italian restaurant in Brinkum, North Germany. You can see the menu in the following photos:

Antipasti

Starter: A mixed antipasto platter.

Pasta

Second course: Fetuccine with pesto and parmesan

Roast lamb

Main course: Roast lamb with potatoes and Mediterranean vegetables.

Hot chocolate

And finally, a cup of hot chocolate with cream.

I also posted the photos live on my Instagram feed, to the amusement of my family (“What is this?” “What are these other photos?” “Why did you take a photo of that?”). I would have livetweeted the pics as well, except that I had exceeded my smartphone data budget for December, so my provider put me in the slow lane. Instagram still works, tweeting photos doesn’t.

We were home at around eleven PM and switched on the TV to watch the great party at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin for the final hour or so. At least, the Berlin party still took place, unlike the New Year’s Eve paties in Munich and Brussels.

Meanwhile, in her New Year’s address, Angela Merkel thanked both volunteers and professionals for helping the refugees who have come to Germany. This is actually the first time that a politician has ever addressed me and thanked me for my work, albeit indirectly. A pleasant change from e.g. Merkel’s predecessor Gerhard Schröder, who infamously called teachers “faule Säcke” (lazy sacks). I particularly liked the fact that Merkel did not forget the many professionals working to give refugees a new home, since so far politicians have only thanked the volunteers. Not to discount the great work that volunteers are doing, but administrative personnel, doctors, nurses, police officers, teachers, etc… are also doing great work and it shouldn’t be discounted, just because they are paid for it. Angela Merkel’s speech is very good in general, so why don’t you just watch it?

There was a time where I’d have been stunned to even manage to watch a New Year’s address all the way through, because they were usually boring blather. Though I did see Helmut Kohl’s infamous mixed up 1986 New Year’s address (a technician got the tapes mixed up and the TV station broadcast the previous year’s address) live on TV and even remember saying to my parents and their friends, with whom they were celebrating, “Hey, did you hear that? That idiot just wished us a good 1986. He’s so stupid he doesn’t even know what year it is.” None of the others had even caught it, since no one was listening.

Now Helmut Kohl had something of a reputation as clumsy and a little thick in the first term of his reign, so everybody assumed the 1986 bit was a slip of the tongue. And of course, it’s telling how very samey those speeches were that no one (except Mr. Kohl himself who was reportedly furious) realised that they were broadcasting the wrong speech, until Kohl got the year wrong. Even the background and the suit look the same, only the tie was slightly different.

Back to 2016: At midnight, we had champagne and then went outside for the fireworks. We had a package of rockets and a fountain/battery type thing with sixty shots. Fireworks batteries are getting increasingly popular and they look lovely as well. Total 2015 fireworks budget: approx. 15 Euros.

It was somewhat foggy, not to mention smoky from the fireworks, but nonetheless, I managed to get a few good shots:

Fireworks

The fireworks battery launches a shot into the sky.

Fireworks

Another rocket launches, this time in green. Note the smoke trails from previous shots.

Fireworks

Another shot launches, this time purple and rather phallic.

Fireworks

Finally, sparkle stars.

Fireworks

A rocket captured in the second of its explosion.

Fireworks

Another shot that came out really well.

Fireworks

This is probably my best fireworks shot for this year. The multiple explosions are due to (someone else’s) fireworks battery.

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Indie Speculative Fiction of the Month for December 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Cora

Indie Speculative Fiction of the MonthIt’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 November 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, paranormal romance, epic fantasy, urban fantasy, weird westerns, Steampunk, cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic science fiction, fairy tales, werewolves, dragons, aliens, empaths, ice maidens, doomed knights, demon hunters, transgender time travellers, black magic outlaws, monkey queens, spaceships next door, Wild West mummies, South East Asian steampunk 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:

Second Skyn by Damien BoyesSecond Skyn by Damien Boyes:

If it weren’t for his Digital Life Assurance, Toronto Police Detective Finsbury Gage would be dead—smeared across the highway by a crazed man in a stolen urban assault vehicle. Finsbury hung together long enough for the recovery team to arrive. His wife wasn’t so lucky.

Now, six months later, his mind restored to a prosthetic brain, wrapped in a healthy new body, and technically immortal, Finsbury is back to a life that no longer exists. He’s all alone, his home a shrine to everything he lost. He’s been reassigned, knocked from Homicide to busting bit-heads and chasing after lost minutes of the idle rich. And his thoughts connect directly to the internet.

The only thing keeping Finsbury from blowing his plastic brains out is the memory of his wife’s death. It’s 2.57 seconds long and plays on repeat, every time he closes his eyes. But from within this loop of pain and grief he discovers a reason to go on—the haunting glimpse of the wild-eyed man responsible for his wife’s death.

Finsbury’s gonna find this guy, no matter what he has to do.

But Finsbury isn’t the only one on the hunt. Something is coming for him. Something like the world has never seen. Something that will force Finsbury Gage to abandon everything he believes—everything he is—to survive.

Kiss of Ice by Cora BuhlertKiss of Ice by Cora Buhlert:

The Winter Knight is sent out to execute the Ice Maiden who has already killed countless men. So far, none of those sent to bring the Maiden to justice have ever returned. But the Knight is confident that he will succeed where they failed, for he is protected by powerful magic.

When the Winter Knight finally reaches the castle of the Ice Maiden, she is strangely calm in the face of death and does not even try to resist. But has the Winter Knight truly succeeded where so many before him have failed or does the Ice Maiden still have a trick or two up her sleeve?

This is a dark and wintery fairytale of 4700 words or approximately 16 print pages altogether.

Redblade by Robert DahlenRedblade by Robert Dahlen:

“I want to be a hero. Like the Monkey Queen.”

Michiko Koyama, the hero known as the Monkey Queen, and her partner in adventure Beth McGill are happily adjusting to finally being more than friends. But Beth has made a new friend, student and fellow geek girl Abigail Main-Drake, and Michiko is trying very hard not to be jealous.

Meanwhile, a rise in assaults by ogres is putting Emigre communities in danger. A hero has risen to help defend them, the swashbuckling sorceress who calls herself Redblade. Michiko is thrilled to have a new ally, but Beth is feeling left out, unneeded.

But what Michiko and Beth don’t know is that Abby is Redblade. And that secret, and the magic sword Abby carries, could spell doom for the Monkey Queen.

Join the adventure with Michiko and Beth in this fifth book in the Monkey Queen series, written with new readers in mind! Fantasy with heroines, humor and heart!

The Spaceship Next Door by Gene DoucetteThe Spaceship Next Door by Gene Doucette:

The world changed on a Tuesday.

When a spaceship landed in an open field in the quiet mill town of Sorrow Falls, Massachusetts, everyone realized humankind was not alone in the universe. With that realization, everyone freaked out for a little while.

Or, almost everyone. The residents of Sorrow Falls took the news pretty well. This could have been due to a certain local quality of unflappability, or it could have been that in three years, the ship did exactly nothing other than sit quietly in that field, and nobody understood the full extent of this nothing the ship was doing better than the people who lived right next door.

Sixteen-year old Annie Collins is one of the ship’s closest neighbors. Once upon a time she took every last theory about the ship seriously, whether it was advanced by an adult ,or by a peer. Surely one of the theories would be proven true eventually—if not several of them—the very minute the ship decided to do something. Annie is starting to think this will never happen.

One late August morning, a little over three years since the ship landed, Edgar Somerville arrived in town. Ed’s a government operative posing as a journalist, which is obvious to Annie—and pretty much everyone else he meets—almost immediately. He has a lot of questions that need answers, because he thinks everyone is wrong: the ship is doing something, and he needs Annie’s help to figure out what that is.

Annie is a good choice for tour guide. She already knows everyone in town and when Ed’s theory is proven correct—something is apocalyptically wrong in Sorrow Falls—she’s a pretty good person to have around.

As a matter of fact, Annie Collins might be the most important person on the planet. She just doesn’t know it.

Twiceborn Endgame by Marina FinlaysonTwiceborn Endgame by Marina Finlayson:

Half human, half dragon, all vengeance.

No one said being half dragon would be easy, but Kate O’Connor’s life has gone completely off the rails. She thought she’d won the succession war between the daughters of the dragon queen, until a shocking betrayal changed everything.

Now seven new sisters have joined the fray, a sinister government taskforce is gunning for her, and the Japanese queen has hit town, bent on snatching the throne for herself. Worst of all, her beloved son has been abducted.

The shifter world has never seen a proving like this one, but then, there’s never been a dragon quite like Kate before. She’ll need her human ingenuity as well as her dragon magic to save her son and everyone she holds dear. The final moves in the deadly endgame take her from goblin caves to Japanese palaces as she races against the clock to snatch victory from the dragon jaws of defeat.

Twiceborn Endgame is the third book in the urban fantasy trilogy The Proving.

Dead Man by Domino FinnDead Man by Domino Finn:

I’m Cisco Suarez: necromancer, shadow charmer, black magic outlaw. Sounds kinda cool, doesn’t it? It was, right until I woke up half dead in a dumpster.

Did I say half dead? Because I meant 100% dead. Full on. I don’t do things halfway.

So here I am, alive for some reason, just another sunny day in Miami. It’s a perfect paradise, except I’m into something bad. Wanted by police, drenched in the stink of dark magic, nether creatures coming out of the woodwork, and don’t get me started on the Haitian voodoo gang. Trust me, it’s all fun and games until there’s a zombie pit bull on your tail.

I’m Cisco Suarez: necromancer, shadow charmer, black magic outlaw, and totally screwed.

The Bizarre Half Life of John Fortune by James GideonThe Bizarre Half-Life of John Fortune by James Gideon:

John Fortune is a street kid made good. Thanks to a genius for maths and physics, he carves out a successful career in interstellar engineering. But there’s something not quite right about John. Something not quite human. His one true friend, Frank Patterson, is sure he knows the secret. Frank can’t afford to be wrong. Mankind’s survival depends on it.

This 10,000 word short SF story/novella is perfect for fans of Ray Bradbury and Mike Resnick.

 

Omega Baggage by Eileen GlassOmega Baggage by Eileen Glass:

Liam doesn’t have a plan, but he’s got the basics covered. As far as food, shelter, and clothing are concerned, he does right by his omega. But still the smaller wolf flinches from him, never speaks. And every mild suggestion is obeyed to the letter. Something’s not right, he knows that, but maybe it’s for the best.

Skye wouldn’t stay if he learned the truth.

Baggage is a novella of about 26,000 words.

 

The Sea is OursThe Sea is Ours: Tales from Steampunk South East Asia, edited by Jaymee Goh and Joyce Chng:

Steampunk takes on Southeast Asia in this anthology

The stories in this collection merge technological wonder with the everyday. Children upgrade their fighting spiders with armor, and toymakers create punchcard-driven marionettes. Large fish lumber across the skies, while boat people find a new home on the edge of a different dimension. Technology and tradition meld as the people adapt to the changing forces of their world. The Sea Is Ours is an exciting new anthology that features stories infused with the spirits of Southeast Asia’s diverse peoples, legends, and geography.

Mission Improbable by J.J. GreenMission Improbable by J.J. Green:

In the deepest reaches of the galaxy there are places and beings that aren’t impossible, just very, very improbable.

Carrie Hatchett is a low-achieving daydreamer, and the last person on Earth who should be resolving disputes for the Transgalactic Council. After providing a good home for her butt-ugly dog and psychotic cat, her biggest challenge in life is to avoid being fired, again.

But a strange green mist sucks her beneath her kitchen sink, and an unusual clerical error leads to an offer she foolishly doesn’t refuse.

In settling a conflict between the mechanical placktoids and the mysterious oootoon, Carrie reveals a threat to the entire galaxy.

Mission Improbable is Book One in the light-hearted, fast-paced Carrie Hatchett Space Adventures series.

Flowers in a Dumpster by Max Allan GunnellsFlowers in a Dumpster by Max Allan Gunnells:

Seventeen Tales to Frighten and Enlighten

The world is full of beauty and mystery. In these 17 tales, Gunnells will take you on a journey through landscapes of light and darkness, rapture and agony, hope and fear.

A post-apocalyptic landscape where it is safer to forget who you once were… An unusual support group comprised of cities dying of a common illness… A porn star that has opened himself up to demonic forces… Two men battling each other to the death who discover they have much in common… A woman whose masochistic tendencies may be her boyfriend’s ruin… A writer whose new friendship proves a danger to his marriage and his sanity.

Let Gunnells guide you through these landscapes where magnificence and decay co-exist side by side.

The Fredorian Destiny by Adair HartThe Fredorian Destiny by Adair Hart:

The timeline is wrong. This is discovered when Dr. Albert Snowden and his niece, Emily, travel with Evaran to a galactic cultural exhibition event on Kreagus, the capital home world of the Kreagan Star Empire and galactic superpower near Earth. The Fredorians should be presenting an ancient artifact, known as the Arkaron, to the Kreagan emperor. The problem is they aren’t. Evaran has decided to step in and help the Fredorians achieve their destiny while stabilizing the timeline.

They must find the three lost Arkaron crystals in order to assemble the Arkaron. To make matters worse, Seeros, a powerful industrialist, has a bounty on their heads, causing bounty hunters to harass them each step of the way.

As if that weren’t enough, an unknown faction is hiring freelance mercenaries to hunt them down as well. Evaran is joined by others, and together, they will have to navigate these perils to assemble the Arkaron and achieve the Fredorian destiny.

Choosing You by Jaylee JamesChoosing You by Jaylee James:

Collin is in high school when he is visited by a time traveler – a woman who claims to be his wife in a hypothetical future… only the timeline has been disrupted, and the two will never meet unless he makes four key choices in his life that will guide them together again.

“Choosing You” is a short story in a conversational, first-person voice, about what happens when deciding to love someone becomes a literal choice. It’s 7300 words long and features a transgender protagonist.

 

House of the Healer by Jim JohnsonHouse of the Healer by Jim Johnson:

The Scales Are Out of Balance

After surviving a brutal cultist attack on her village, Ruia led the other survivors to the safety of Fort Sekhmet with the help of Tjety, a Ranger of Mayat. With Tjety’s life now hanging in the balance, can Ruia gather enough help and learn to use her newfound hekau magic to heal Tjety before the forces of darkness close in and snuff out all hope?

House of the Healer is the third episode in PISTOLS AND PYRAMIDS, a monthly series best described as an ancient Egyptian-themed weird western with magic. And mummies. Lots of mummies.

The Fourth by Floyd LooneyThe Fourth by Floyd Looney:

Tara is “The Fourth”.

She woke up inside of a cylinder in an underground chamber with no memories. She is told that the world has been devastated by war, disease and mutations. Humankind had evacuated Earth and fled to hundreds of different worlds far away. A quarantine was declared, but this did not prevent pirates and slavers from raiding the villages of the remnant left behind.

Tara feels strangely compelled to “fix” Earth, knowing this could take decades and generations. She is “The Fourth”.

Greyson was born and raised as the only child of a high government official on the world called Roma, which modelled itself after the Roman Empire. The women of Roma are created artificially and have no rights. Thus, Roma is a pariah among civilized worlds.

As a young man Greyson is framed for a crime and his own father exiled him from his home world.

Tara wants to find out what it means to be “The Fourth” and to bring Earth back from the dead. Greyson wants to go home and clear his name. Their paths are destined to cross.

Chaos in the Starless Nights by J. Alex McCarthyChaos in the Starless Nights by J. Alex McCarthy:

Time is relative.

For one person, time flies by at a rapid pace. In a blink, hundreds of years pass. A life begins and ends, a million-year-old traitor returns to the place he once betrayed, an eyeless assassin questions his mission as he takes an innocent life.
In a flicker, an omnipotent leader’s rule crumbles beneath his feet, a treacherous woman revels in her plans as they come together to bring down those around her.
In a single second, four paths cross. As each story ends, the next begins in A Universe Without Stars.

Of One Skein by P.J. PostOf One Skein, Part 1 by P.J. Post:

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

Emily.

Samantha.

Cam.

Lost children.

Treachery.

Biological weapons.

Hostages.

The Cart People.

and…

A puppy.

Forgiveness has never been so far away.

This is episode 3 of Feral, an ongoing serialized story.

Snowberry Blossom by Missy SheldrakeSnowberry Blossom by Missy Sheldrake:

Follow the knight Azaeli and her best friend Rian the Mage on a quick adventure to seek the Snowberry Blossom, a bloom that holds magic only if picked at midnight on Midwinter’s Eve.

Grab a cup of cider and sit back to read this tale of romance, adventure, and fantasy told Mya, Bard of His Majesty’s Elite of Cerion.

This short story takes place in between Call of Sunteri, book 2 and book 3 of the Keepers of the Wellsprings series, but there are no spoilers and it reads as a stand-alone tale.

KEEP by Hollis ShilohKEEP by Hollis Shiloh:

Pete might always know when people are lying, but that doesn’t make him a good judge of character. Will he ever find a man who wants to keep him?

Pete’s the kind of guy who gets on people’s nerves. He can’t sit still. He talks too much. He doesn’t know when to shut up. And he always knows when people are lying.

While his talent wasn’t strong enough to get an empath rating from the ESRB, he now has a second chance with the new testing system they’re using. If he makes it, he’ll have some well-paying job offers from people who actually appreciate his gifts.

Maybe this time things will work out. Maybe his life will finally take a turn for the better. With some hot guys in it, too.

The Prime Rift by Veronica SicoeThe Prime Rift by Veronica Sicoe:

Taryn has risked everything to free the first human colony from the tyranny of the TMC. With the help of her mind-linked ally, the alien warlord Amharr, she has finally succeeded.

Now Taryn must free the other colonies too, before the Ascendancy’s world-crushing ships reach human space.

But when she needs him most, Taryn must let Amharr go, or their Link will kill him. The others who stood by her side have seemingly turned against her. And the sadistic TMC General Hurst, who craves the power of Taryn’s Link, is now hunting her down.

With time running out, Taryn is about to face her greatest challenge yet, and she must do so alone.

Grand Master's Mate by Aurora SpringerGrand Master’s Mate by Aurora Springer:

Young empath, Violet Hunter, and her crafty Grand Master, Athanor Griffin, tackle the villains threatening civilization.

Their worst enemy, the Red Queen, rampages across the galaxy evading capture, while blocked portals restrict normal commerce among planets. Compounding their problems, half the Grand Masters on the Council fear Violet is the agent of their doom as her father foretold, and vow to eliminate her. To restore peace, Violet and Athanor embark on a hazardous quest for a weapon hidden by the ancient psychic masters on one of four planets. But, the weapon proves elusive, dangers lurk in the ancient sites, and new alliances forged with bizarre entities may not be sufficient to foil their enemies and save the galaxy.

Reminiscent of science fiction stories by Frank Herbert and Andre Norton, this rollercoaster adventure offers weird characters and deadly horrors balanced by lighthearted moments. Grand Master’s Mate is Book 3 of the Grand Master’s Trilogy.

Echoes of a World Gone by Elliott WebberEchoes of a World Gone by Elliott Webber:

After finding a mysterious radio signal, Luke and his sister, Ada, journey through the deadly environment of the post-apocalyptic desert, risking everything for a chance of a better life.

 

 

 

 

Nameless by Mercedes M. YardleyNameless: The Darkness Comes by Mercedes M. Yardley:

Luna Masterton sees demons.

She has been dealing with the demonic all her life, so when her brother gets tangled up with a demon named Sparkles, ‘Luna the Lunatic’ rolls in on her motorcycle to save the day.

Armed with the ability to harm demons, her scathing sarcasm, and a hefty chip on her shoulder, Luna gathers the most unusual of allies, teaming up with a green-eyed heroin addict and a snarky demon ‘of some import.’

After all, outcasts of a feather should stick together…even until the end.

This is volume one in The Bone Angel Trilogy by Mercedes M. Yardley,

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Christmas 2015 (with Photos)

Posted on December 27, 2015 by Cora

Christmas 2015 is officially over, though the fact that December 27 is a Sunday sort of makes it an unofficial fourth Christmas day.

I spent Christmas at my parents’, as usual, eating food, decorating and gazing at the tree and watching TV. Pacific Rim was on tonight, which my Mom has never seen before, but thoroughly enjoyed. Though it was interesting that I had to explain what kaiju are and what mecha are and how they work to her. For those of us steeped in genre lore, it is easy to forget that mainstream viewers, even those who like SFF films, aren’t necessarily familiar with kaiju and mecha. Though I know that my Mom has seen kaiju films before and she very likely watched anime featuring mecha with me (definitely Neon Genesis Evangelion). But I guess it didn’t quite register with her.

BTW, rewatching Pacific Rim I was struck by how it is very much a Japanese movie made by a Mexican director with mostly British actors. It’s also a movie that is NOT about either the US or Europe to a degree that is rare in western cinema. Yes, there are scenes in Alaska and San Francisco, but most of the action takes place elsewhere and Europe doesn’t figure at all. Plus, you see kaiju attacks on cities like Manila, Cabo or Lima that are usually completely ignored by the destruction orgies of contemporary Hollywood summer spectaculars. I guess the fact that Pacific Rim is an effect-laden summer spectacular that is NOT your typical US-centric blockbuster is also why the planned sequel never got under way.

What is more, I finally persuaded my parents to replace our aging 37-year-old fairy lights for which you can’t get replacement bulbs anymore with LED lights. Or rather, I bought two strings of LED lights, put them on the table and said, “Look, I got us new Christmas lights.” The new LED lights look great on the tree BTW, since they have a lot more lights (120 per string compared to 35 for the fairy lights) and make the various ornaments sparkle. My parents like them, too. They still insist on having a few real beeswax candles on the tree, though.

Talking of which, the research I did for Alfred and Bertha’s holiday adventure, The Tinsel-Free Christmas Tree, bore unexpected fruit when I realised that some of the oldest ornaments in our collection, which my parents bought as newly-weds some 50 years ago, are actually made from the tin/lead foil called Stanniol that was also used to make tinsel (which I didn’t put up this year and ours is Mylar anyway). The texture and look are completely different from Mylar and other modern materials, for starters. Not that I have a problem with that. The older ornaments are products of their time and besides Stanniol is not dangerous unless you eat it or casually discard it.

Our Christmas was pretty quiet this year, since my uncle – who usually visits on Christmas Day or Boxing Day – elected to spend the holiday elsewhere this year and decided to inform us of this fact only two days before. Continue reading →

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Two new Christmas stories available – Zwei neue Weihnachtsgeschichten erhältlich

Posted on December 23, 2015 by Cora

As promised, here are the last two new story announcements for 2015. And as befits the season, both are announcements for Christmas stories, one in German and one in English.

Let’s start with the English language story.

Bertha and Alfred, those two crazy kids of the twenty-first century, are back along with the world’s most obnoxious omniscient narrator. This time around, Bertha and Alfred prepare the celebrate Christmas, twenty-first century style. There is bad athropology and wall to wall Latin, there is roast Anser anser domesticus and a sustained debate over the merits of Picea abies versus Abies nordamanniana, there is an argument about how to decorate the Christmas tree as well as the persistent question whether Ricky Hoppenstedt will manage to destroy the world.

As always, Bertha and Alfred’s adventures are described in best bad hard SF style complete with lots of info-dumps, clunky overexplanations, wall to wall Latin, gender dynamics straight from the 1950s and bonus bad anthropology and history (But who cares? Those are the soft sciences).

So enjoy:

The Tinsel-Free Christmas Tree
The_Tinsel_Free_Christmas_TreeBertha and Alfred, married for twenty years, enjoy a truly science fictional life in the twenty-first century. But in spite of all the technological marvels surrounding them, an argument about how to decorate the Christmas tree escalates and threatens their marriage.

This parodistic piece is a mundane short story of 2900 words or approximately 12 print pages, written in the style of science fiction’s “golden age” of the 1940s and 1950s.

 

More information.
Length: 2800 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, Oyster, Smashwords, Inktera, txtr, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, Libiro, Nook UK, DriveThruFiction, OmniLit/AllRomance e-books, Casa del Libro, Flipkart, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

My second story is one that will already be familiar to regular readers of this blog as last year’s sweet lesbian Christmas romance Christmas Eve at the Purple Owl Café.

Now the story is available in German and has already hit a subgenre bestseller list at Amazon DE.

***

Reguläre Leser dieses Blogs kennen wahrscheinlich noch Christmas Eve at the Purple Owl Café, meine weihnachtliche lesbische Liebesgeschichte vom letzten Jahr.

Jetzt gibt es die Geschichte auch auf Deutsch unter dem Titel Heiligabend im Café zum Lila Kakadu und sie hat sogar schon einige Unter-Bestsellerlisten bei Amazon DE erobert. Falls sich jemand über die Namensänderung wundert, der Grund ist, dass eine echte Bremer Musikkneipe als Vorbild für das Café diente.

Heiligabend im Café zum Lila Kakadu
Heiligabend im Café zum Lila KakaduNach einem heftigen Streit mit ihren Eltern über unerträgliche Verwandte findet Katie sich an den Feiertagen ganz alleine wieder. Also macht sie sich auf zu dem einen Ort in der Stadt, wo am Heiligabend jeder willkommen ist, dem legendären Heiligabend im Café zum Lila Kakadu.
Das Heiligabend im Café zum Lila Kakadu hat eine bewegte sechzigjährige Vergangenheit. Heutzutage ist es aber nicht nur ein Ort, wo man gute Musik and nette Leute finden kann, es ist zufälligerweise auch eine Lesbenbar.
Katie ist das egal, außerdem war sie bisher sowieso immer viel zu beschäftigt mit Studium und Karriere für romantische Beziehungen irgendwelcher Art. Aber denn trifft Katie die unkonventionelle Jess auf der Weihnachtsparty im Heiligabend im Café zum Lila Kakadu…

More Informationen.
Länge: 5000 Worte
Preis: 0,99 EUR, USD oder GBP
Erhältlich bei Amazon Deutschland, Amazon USA, Amazon UK, Amazon Niederlande, Amazon Frankreich, Amazon Italien, Amazon Spanien, Amazon Canada, Amazon Australien, Amazon Brasilien, Amazon Mexico, Amazon Japan, Amazon Indien, Kobo, Apple iTunes, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Der Club, BOL, Otto-Media, Donauland, buecher.de, buch.de, eBook.de, Barnes & Noble, Scribd, 24symbols, Oyster, txtr, Inktera, Smashwords, Casa del Libro, Flipkart, e-Sentral und XinXii.

Diese Geschichte gibt es auch auf Englisch.

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A Colony of Groots and the Quest for Star Wars Toys

Posted on December 22, 2015 by Cora

I didn’t have school today, but I went out anyway to run some errands and do some grocery shopping for the holidays. This wasn’t the main pre-holiday grocery haul – that’s on Wednesday. But I was glad to get some purchases out of the way.

I also stopped at the bank to get some money. Now the bank is directly adjacent to the cemetery of Brinkum (you can take a virtual stroll across the cemetery in this YouTube video – apparently, virtual cemetery strolls are a thing) to the point that the bank parking lot is always full whenever there is a funeral.

While walking back across the parking lot of the bank to my car, I chanced to look across to the cemetery and noticed something I’ve never noticed before, namely that the willow trees growing near the cemetery boundaries looked rather familiar.

“Say?”, I said to my companion, “Don’t they look like Groot?”

We agreed that the willow trees indeed bore an uncanny resemblance to Groot. So I snapped a photo. Take a look for yourself:

A colony of Groots

A colony of Groots has invaded the cemetery of Brinkum.

Most of my errands today involved banks, grocery shopping and other practical things. But I also took the opportunity to stop at the Werder Karree mall, which I know has a pretty good toystore, to look for Star Wars action figures, because I wanted some figures of the new Force Awakens characters. I’d already looked at a big box grocery store, but their selection of Star Wars toys was limited to a handful of Stormtroopers, Kylo Ren and some figures of characters from the prequels and the original trilogy (which I already own, if I ever wanted them). Oh yes, and Star Wars branded alcohol-free champagne, which must rank pretty high on the list of the most absurd Star Wars tie-in products.

The action figure selection at the toy store was somewhat better, though The Force Awakens toys still seem to sell out faster than they can ship them. Plus, the Star Wars section of the “boys aisle” (oh, how I hate the gendering of toys) looked like the aftermath of a First Order attack. Still, I got lucky and found Finn and a nice Poe Dameron figures sans helmet. And Stormtroopers and Kylo Ren, of course. Lots of Stormtroopers and Kylo Rens. Alas, no Rey and no BB-8. And isn’t it telling that even though Star Wars toys are still labelled as “boys’ toys”, the figure that’s hardest to find is the lone female figure? Okay, maybe not the lone female figure, since there’s also Captain Phasma, who coincidentally was sold out as well. Still, I snapped up Poe and Finn and decided that I’d pick up Rey and BB-8 later.

On the groundfloor of the same mall, there is a Rossmann drugstore. Now I don’t normally shop at Rossmann, but I needed some cosmetic items and I just happened to have a “10% off everything” Rossmann coupon. So I went to the store, picked up my purchases and made my way to the cash register. Since I don’t normally shop there, I’m unfamiliar with the layout of Rossmann stores and so I ended up in the toy aisle.

I spotted the familiar Star Wars logo and thought, “It’s a long shot, but why the hell not?” Rossmann‘s selection of Star Wars toys was much smaller than the one at the toystore, but they did have a few action figures. Lots of Stormtroopers and two Kylo Rens and – lo and behold – a lone Rey figure. Of course, I snapped her up and I also got her cheaper because of the 10% off coupon. Still no BB-8, but I’ll find one.

At home, I set up my brand new Force Awakens action figures on the table to show them off to my parents who were coming over for coffee and Christmas cookies. And here they are:

Finn, Poe and Rey

Finn, Poe and Rey look ready to take on the First Order – or maybe just to attack a plate of Christmas cookies.

In the top left corner, you can see my laser projection clock, which looks uncannily like a laser cannon from this angle.

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New Fantasy Story Available: Kiss of Ice

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Cora

I’ve said before that I’d have a couple of promo posts and new book announcements coming up in the run-up to Christmas and here is the second of them.

This announcement is for Kiss of Ice, a dark and wintery fairy tale. At any rate, it’s quite dark for a fairy tale by American standards, for when compared to the original undisneyfied Grimm’s fairy tales or Hnas Christian Andersen’s, it does not seem all that dark.

Kiss of Ice is what we call a “Kunstmärchen” in German, i.e. a story written in the style of a fairy tale that can be attributed to a specific author. For example, Hans Christian Andersen and Wilhelm Hauff were both authors of “Kunstmärchen”.

The counterpart of the “Kunstmärchen” is the “Volkmärchen”, i.e. the fairy tale that is a genuine folktale not attributable to any specific author. The fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault or Ludwig Bechstein fall into this category.

For some reason, the English speaking world does not make the distinction between “Kunstmärchen” und “Volksmärchen”, to the point that there is no equivalent word to “Kunstmärchen”. I have no idea why this distinction does not exist in the English speaking world, since it is so immensely useful.

Anyway, here is the story:

Kiss of Ice
Kiss of Ice by Cora BuhlertThe Winter Knight is sent out to execute the Ice Maiden who has already killed countless men. So far, none of those sent to bring the Maiden to justice have ever returned. But the Knight is confident that he will succeed where they failed, for he is protected by powerful magic.

When the Winter Knight finally reaches the castle of the Ice Maiden, she is strangely calm in the face of death and does not even try to resist. But has the Winter Knight truly succeeded where so many before him have failed or does the Ice Maiden still have a trick or two up her sleeve?

 

More information.
Length: 4700 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, Oyster, Smashwords, Inktera, txtr, Thalia, Weltbild, Hugendubel, Buecher.de, Libiro, Nook UK, DriveThruFiction, OmniLit/AllRomance e-books, Casa del Libro, Flipkart, e-Sentral, 24symbols and XinXii.

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