I’m still sick (or again, since I caught a new bug my Dad brought back from the hospital), but nonetheless, here is your regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery review. For my takes on previous episodes, go here.
Warning! Spoilers under the cut! Continue reading
Before we get to our regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery coverage (for my takes on previous episodes, go here), I first have some links to share.
For starters, I have a new article up at Galactic Journey. This one is about modern architecture written from a 1964 POV. Meet the pregnant oyster, the hollow tooth, the Bull Ring and other classics of postwar architecture. There are lots of vintage photos, too, some of which were not easy to track down. And modern photos usually don’t work, even if the building is unchanged, because there generally are people, cars, other buildings, etc… in the shot that clearly don’t belong into the mid 1960s.
Then, I have a book in another StoryOrigins giveaway, where you can get free e-books in exchange for your e-mail address. This giveaway is called Action Reloaded and is thriller and adventure fiction themed. If you always wanted to try the Silencer series or want to check out some of the other thrillers and adventure novels on offer, head over to StoryOrigins and sign up. And don’t worry, if you’re already signed up for my newsletter. You can download the free e-book anyway, if you enter your e-mail address. The system filters out any doubles.
And now let’s talk about the latest episode of Star Trek Discovery, fittingly enough entitled “The Red Angel”.
Warning! Spoilers behind the cut! Continue reading
Our monthly round-ups of new speculative fiction and new crime fiction releases by indie authors are a perennially popular feature. Therefore, we now offer you a round-up of our favourite St. Patrick’s Day mysteries by indie and small press authors.
The holiday mysteries cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have plenty of cozy mysteries, culinary mysteries, animal mysteries, paranormal mysteries, police procedurals, crime thrillers, noir thriller, legal thrillers, amateur sleuths, crime-fighting witches, crime-fighting bakers, crime-fighting ghostwriters, crime-fighting dogs, murders, pranks, missing gold coins, murdered leprechauns and much more. But one thing unites all of those very different books. They’re all set on or around St. Patrick’s Day.
As always with my round-up posts, this round-up of the best indie holiday mysteries is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime 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:
Struck by Shillelagh by Amy Alessio:
Struck by Shillelagh: A St. Patrick’s Day novella mystery! When her friend is arrested for attempted murder of the Mayor at the St. Patrick’s Day parade, Alana O’Neill tries to learn who really hit the unpopular politician with the black thorn shillelagh. A new booth owner with a questionable past, a secret author featuring the antiques mall and recipe failures are unable to distract Alana for long on her quest for justice. Vintage recipes include Edible Blarneystones, Refrigerator Cake, Lime Ribbon Delight and more. This story is 11,000 words.
Includes Bonus Story Thankful for Pie: In this Thanksgiving holiday novella, Star tries to learn who is sabotaging her family’s struggling bakery. She also wonders why her new karate instructor drives her so crazy.
Murder on Saint Patrick’s Day by P. Creeden:
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and 20-year-old Emma Wright is working hard at training five-month-old Molly, her foster puppy, to become a therapy dog. But her training coach and neighbor gets an emergency call, cutting the lesson short, and Emma volunteers to pick up her daughter at a St. Patrick’s Day concert in town.
When Emma arrives, the concert has just finished up, and the teenage girls are visiting with the band. Then the lead singer stumbles and falls to the ground, dead. Emma becomes the only level head in the crowd and calls for help. When the Sheriff and Colby arrive, they investigate it as a potential accident. But Emma finds subtle clues that something more sinister is going on. Did the leader of the band die in an accident, or was it murder?
Shamrock Shenangigans by Kathi Daley:
Zak and Zoe travel to Ireland for their first Valentines Day as husband and wife. They have been invited to attend a murder mystery weekend in a real haunted castle. During their first night at the castle, they find one of the guests dead. Really dead. As they delve into the murder they begin to see that not only are things not as they appear, but several of the other attendees are not who they claim to be. During the course of her investigation Zoe discovers a secret about herself that is more than just a little shocking.
Shamrock Snakes by Tom Dots Doherty:
Set in Dublin during a St. Patrick’s Day Festival, Shamrock Snake is an exciting Irish crime thriller that’s told from a male and female perspective as Doyle tires to find out what is behind a series of gruesome murder-suicides.
Shammed by Bernadette Franklin:
At R.K. Legal & Associates, office hours are between ten to six, pranks happen after hours, and evidence of all shenanigans are removed before doors open to clients.
When Alice’s boss, Mr. Kenton, starts a prank war with Lance McCarthy, an up-and-coming attorney from a rival firm, she thinks it’s just business as usual.
She’s never been so wrong in her life.
Chosen to be Mr. Kenton’s accomplice, Alice must face off against Lance in what quickly becomes a winner-takes-all game of hearts.
Paddy Whacked by S. Furlong-Bollinger:
Inspector Helmes and his trusty sidekick, Watkins, know they have their work cut out for them in solving the murder of Paddy O’Toole, the Grand Leprechaun. However, nothing can prepare them for the strange lineup of suspects they encounter at the annual Holiday Icon Convention.
St. Patrick’s Day by Andrew Gonzalez:
St. Patricks Day is a story about two brothers who had a terrible history in the past and takes place in Celina, Ohio. The older brother Jimmy Marsh tries to kill his younger brother Jacob Marsh out of anger and jealousy when they were kids. At the age of ten the older brother Jimmy Marsh did his part in killing his parents. Because of doing so, Jimmy was abused by his parents and Jacob the younger brother was treated like a prince. Jimmy failed to kill his brother Jacob and was sent to a sanitarium for ten years but then he escaped and went after Jacob again. Through the years Jacob had delusions of seeing his brother, and now that Jimmy is free, he has another chance of going after Jacob and his friends. So now its up to Jacob not only to save himself but also the people he loves.
Sleuthing for the Weekend by Jennifer L. Hart:
It’s St. Patrick’s Day in Beantown, and Mackenzie Elizabeth Taylor needs the Luck of the Irish to solve her latest mystery—namely, who was the mysterious Uncle Al, the man who left her his apartment building as well as his PI business? But that personal investigation has to take a backseat to raising her teenage genius Mac, and dealing with her immature baby-daddy and demanding mother. Not to mention taking on a job that will actually produce some green.
The case is a gnarly dispute by two Irish pub owners who happen to be brothers as well as rivals over a missing inheritance. With the entire city out pub-crawling, Mackenzie goes hunting for a pot of gold…but winds up with a body instead.
With an assist from Mac, Mackenzie must slip into her gumshoes and go toe-to-toe with Detective Hunter Black, her neighbor, protector, and main squeeze, in order to solve her case. this case and claim the reward before someone else. Can the mother daughter team successfully investigate in the middle of a city-wide chaos? Or is their luck about to run out?
End of the Rainbow by Michelle Ann Hollstein:
It’s St. Patrick’s Day and Aggie, Betty and Roger are celebrating at an Irish pub in Palm Springs when Betty’s leprechaun-love-interest drops dead. Could it be murder? Join Aggie and friends as they embark on a celebration they won’t soon forget.
Duffel Bags and Drownings by Dorothy Howell:
Fashionista and event planner to the stars Haley Randolph is staging a St. Patrick’s Day bash for one of Hollywood’s biggest couples. When she visits the catering company to check on preparations, it looks like the green ice sculptures will be the hit of the party — until Haley finds a server floating face down in the water tank.
Haley becomes the prime suspect in the murder. With a killer — and a giant leprechaun — on the loose, she must do some fast sleuthing to find the pot of gold at the end of this rainbow. Will she kiss the Blarney Stone — or the hot new detective on the case?
Haley will need the luck of the Irish to find the killer — and the hottest handbag of the season!
Shamrock Pie Murder by Carolyn Q. Hunter:
Indulge yourself in a sweet slice of murder!
It’s Saint Patrick’s Day in Culver’s Hood and pie shop owner, Bertha Hannah, has been asked to cater the dessert course at a local chiropractic luncheon. Unfortunately, what seems like a fun event is hampered by persistent protestors, professional disagreements, and jealous lovers. The unpleasant situation goes from bad to worse when one of the event’s attendees is murdered, under most unusual circumstances.
Bert has her hands full trying to prove one man’s innocence while hunting down ghosts of the past. Will she be able to “crack” the case, or will she find herself permanently on pins and needles?
Lucky Strike by Madison Johns:
When Sheriff Peterson is injured during a high-speed chase — Agnes and Eleanor spring into action.
Agnes Barton and Sheriff Peterson’s working relationship is shoddy at best. He’d rather balk at the idea of Agnes and Eleanor independently investigating his cases. That changes though when he’s injured in a high-speed chase. While the good sheriff is laid up at a secret location for his own safety, the girls are on the case.
It’s hard to investigate the true nature of the sheriff’s accident though when Rodney Scott is murdered at the local bowling alley and all they have to rely on is the Interim Sheriff Karl Roberts. Agnes needs to quell her suspicions about Roberts as the girls launch an investigation that has them at their wits end and it will take more than luck to solve this case.
St. Patrick’s Day Secret by Linda P. Kozar:
When seventeen-year-old Sean visits his eccentric Irish grandfather, he discovers a secret that his Gramps is obsessed with—finding the family’s cache of gold coins, stolen, according to his grandfather, by leprechauns. Though Sean doesn’t believe in elves or leprechaun’s he decides to spend his last summer before college with his grandfather, and joins him in his quest to find a purloined pot of gold.
Four-Leaf Clover by Amanda M. Lee:
Clove Winchester is feeling lucky at life, and that’s before a mysterious stranger drops into her magic store and gifts her with a special coin. Suddenly things can’t go wrong for Clove, and she’s the center of attention in the Winchesters’ world – especially because Aunt Tillie wants that coin.
When a near-death experience rocks Clove and her boyfriend Sam, Clove takes a closer look at the coin and realizes there’s a lot she can do with her new luck streak. Unfortunately for Aunt Tillie, Clove is determined to keep the benefits to herself.
When a brazen armed robber hits Hemlock Cove and goes after Bay, all of the Winchester witches band together to solve the crime and save the day. Of course, they may need a little luck to do it.
SOME KILLERS ARE BORN, SOME ARE CREATED…
After a night of exuberant sex with a college coed on St. Patrick’s Day, club bouncer Declan McGilvery discovers something quite unsettling about himself. What transpires over the next few weeks for this Irish-born Boston native is nothing short of unthinkable. As circumstances grow beyond Declan’s control, his life heads in a direction he could’ve never possibly imagined. Declan comes to realize in an all-too-real way, that one night stands can hold implications beyond lust and risky behavior. Sometimes they can even lead to death.
Go Bráth (‘Til Doomsday) by Christopher Ryan:
NYPD Detectives Frank Mallory and Alberto “Gunner” Gennaro (from the award-winning debut novel CITY OF WOE and the popular short story collection CITY OF SIN) are just trying to enjoy the St. Patrick’s Day Parade when all Hell breaks loose….
The Luck of the Ghostwriter by Noreen Wald:
Jake O’Hara and her colleagues are looking forward to a complimentary weekend in Manhattan’s swanky Plaza Hotel, the venue for the Greater New York Crime Writers’ Conference. The conference kicks off on St. Patrick’s Day, making the atmosphere a bit more festive—and chaotic—than usual. But things get way out of hand when senator-turned-writer Charlie Fione and actress-turned-writer Holly Halligan partake of some green beer—that leaves them permanently green around the gills.
Now Jake’s Irish eyes are far from smiling as she delves into a mystery and tries to rewrite a murderer’s plot—as only New York City’s finest ghostwriter can.
Today’s Star Trek Discovery review will be somewhat abbreviated, because I’m still pretty sick and showing very little sign of improvement. For my takes on previous episode of Star Trek Discovery, go here BTW. And if you want some insight into the costume design of Star Trek Discovery and the ideas behind it, Gavia Baker-Whitelaw has a great interview with Discovery costume designer Gersha Phillips at The Daily Dot.
Warning: Spoilers behind the cut! Continue reading
If the main problem of season 1 of Star Trek Discovery was that it often seemed to forget that it was supposed to be Star Trek and not Game of Thrones in space, the main problem of season 2 is that it relies too much on Star Trek nostalgia, particularly Original Series nostalgia (my thoughts on previous episodes of Star Trek Discovery can be found here, BTW). Sometimes, this works well – for example, I was highly skeptical of bringing in Christopher Pike, but Anson Mount has given Pike characterisation and charisma that Jeffrey Hunter’s blank slate was missing in his two and a half appearances in the original series. At other times, Star Trek Discovery seems to check off locations and characters of the Original Series just to show that they’ve been there. “If Memory Serves” is an example of the latter.
Warning: Spoilers under the cut! Continue reading
Our monthly round-ups of new speculative fiction and new crime fiction releases by indie authors are a perennially popular feature. Therefore, we now offer you a round-up of our favourite Mardi Gras mysteries, crime novels and thrillers by indie and small press authors.
The holiday mysteries cover the broad spectrum of crime fiction. We have cozy mysteries, hardboiled mysteries, small town mysteries, big city mysteries, paranormal mysteries, historical mysteries, crime thrillers, legal thrillers, psychological thrillers, paranormal thrillers, private investigators, amateur sleuths, ghost whisperers, crime-busting nuns, crime-busting beauty queens, lawyers, serial killers, missing children, missing mothers, missing masks, faked suicides, cursed doubloons, poisoned king cakes and much more. But one thing unites all of those very different books. They’re all set on or around Mardi Gras.
As always with my round-up posts, this round-up of the best indie holiday mysteries is also crossposted to the Indie Crime Scene, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things crime 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:
Krewe of Souls by Elaine Calloway:
Mardi Gras, Mayhem, and Murder…
Tristan Pleasance is a ghost whisperer extraordinaire, but talking to his living father is another story. Family conflict prompts Tristan to bolt from his lifelong home in St. Francisville, Louisiana, to make a new life in New Orleans. But six months later, a family tragedy forces him to return home and he is thrust into a murder investigation where his past and future will collide.
Grace Lansing is a New Orleans columnist who yearns to write feature articles rather than puff pieces. To prove herself to her editor, she travels to the quaint town of St. Francisville to research their big Mardi Gras Krewe competition. But what seems an innocent cultural practice quickly turns into a web of intrigue—and getting too close to the handsome Tristan puts her in danger of becoming collateral damage.
Together, Tristan and Grace must find out who is responsible for the murders—before the Krewe of Souls is trapped forever.
The Secret of the Other Mother by Laura Cayouette:
It’s late 2009 and the Saints are undefeated on their way to the Super Bowl. Fresh off the Los Angeles red carpet of the movie she produced and starred in, vivacious Charlotte Reade heads to her family home in New Orleans for the funeral of Sassy, the woman who helped raise her mother.
When Sassy’s “adopted” twin daughters ask brainy and tenacious Charlotte to help them find their birth mother, she heads down a path that starts in a laundromat in the 1950’s and winds through costume experts and a burlesque tour before landing her on the infamous Bourbon Street.
Along the way, Charlotte reconnects to her own family history, uncovering clues to a family secret and the ghost who’s said to protect it. As her funeral trip extends through the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, Charlotte struggles with her dedication to the career she worked so hard for and the intoxicating draw of the culture, romance and soul of the city she’s always wanted to call home.
Street kids are disappearing, but how do you report that to the police when, from their standpoint, the missing people didn’t exist to begin with? Hustle is certain that something bad has happened to his friend Jinx, and the only person he can turn to for help is private investigator Shaye Archer. Because Hustle helped the young PI while she was investigating her first case, Shaye has already formed an opinion as to his character and believes he’s telling the truth. As she digs deeper into Jinx’s disappearance, she discovers that Hustle’s friend isn’t the only one missing. As a frightening pattern emerges, Shaye wonders if she can find the missing kids…before it’s too late.
Ms. America and the Naughtiness in New Orleans by Diane Dempsey:
Who better than Ms. America Happy Pennington to grace Mardi Gras festivities in never-say-die New Orleans? She packs good looks, party moves, and sleuthing smarts—which come in handy when the king for an elite old-line krewe is bumped off during a Carnival parade.
All too soon Happy learns the centuries-old French Quarter is not all jazz, Creole cuisine, and cocktails: evil lurks there, too, even amid the pageantry of the Big Easy’s most gleeful season. Yet no ghost, vampire or even voodoo spirit will keep our scrappy beauty queen from nabbing the killer—not when the stakes are sky-high for someone near and dear to her heart.
Find out why readers call the Beauty Queen Mysteries “super-fun reads” they can’t put down until the last page is turned …
Mardi Gras Murder, edited by Sarah E. Glenn:
Thirteen tales of crime set during the bacchanalia that is Mardi Gras. Featuring stories from Harriette Sackler, Marian Allen, Debra H. Goldstein and Nathan Pettigrew. The mayhem of Mardi Gras is served with a healthy dose of Cajun dishes and an unhealthy number of deaths. Dig into Bourbon Street Lucifer, Voodoo Honeymoon, a dish of Red Beans and Ricin, and other deadly treats.
The Mardi Gras Murder by Jackie Griffey:
Like bananas, Sheriff Cas Larkin’s troubles are ripening in bunches.
A fully dressed woman is found drowned in the lake. He has a citizen no one can find, but hasn’t been reported as missing and all of her known acquaintances are standing in the way of Cas’s investigation. Then Judge Carpenter’s fiancée lands in jail, accused of a bloody murder way down yonder in New Orleans!
Now Cas must pick up the pace and connect the dots… before he goes bananas himself.
Murder at the Mardi Gras by V. Hurst:
The Bryans and the Flannerys from ‘Murder at the JC’ and ‘Murder on the Cruise Ship’ take a vacation in New Orleans during Mardi Gras Season. They are soon recruited by their old friend FBI Special Agent Don Hobbs to search for a serial killer who murders a young woman each Mardi Gras for her kidneys. Clues lead the foursome to the killer and to a huge twist at the end of the story.
Murder at the Mardi Gras by Linda P. Kozar:
When an esteemed professor of Louisiana history is found face down in a King Cake, young detective Annie Fournier suspects foul play and begins an investigation to find the person responsible. Her partner has little patience for Annie’s inexperience or gender and seems to enjoy mocking her at every opportunity. And to top that off, the crazy melee of Mardi Gras seems to hamper their progress at every turn. Will they weigh in on the identity of the murderer before Fat Tuesday ends, and will Annie prove that she has what it takes to be a detective?
My name is Eugene Doyle Babineaux, Krewe to my friends. I’m a private investigator in Sacramento, California. My life is unassuming, and I like it that way. Things changed when I received a call from my brother. My mom was dead–suicide, he says. I didn’t believe it for a minute. So, I returned home to New Iberia, a small town in southern Louisiana, to look into Mom’s death. Once there, I reunited with old friends and foes alike. It seemed there were nefarious forces who did not want me poking around into Mom’s death. Rich people who keep company with bad people and who would stop at nothing to keep their plans hidden. What do Mardi Gras krewes, sugarcane production, and mob enforcers have to do with my mom’s death? I was about to find out, and things would never be the same.
Voodoo Dreams by Alana Lorens:
When her big trial goes bad, corporate attorney Brianna Ward can’t wait to get out of Pittsburgh. The Big Easy seems like the perfect place to rest, relax, and forget about the legal business. Too bad an obnoxious–but handsome–lawyer from a rival firm is checking into the same bed and breakfast.
Attorney Evan Farrell has Mardi Gras vacation plans too. When he encounters fiery and attractive Brianna, however, he puts the Bourbon Street party on hold. He’d much rather devote himself to her–especially when a mysterious riddle appears in her bag, seeming to threaten danger.
Strangely compelled to follow the riddle’s clues, Brianna is pulled deeper into the twisted schemes of a voodoo priest bent on revenge. To escape his poisonous web, she must work with Evan to solve the curse. But is the growing love they feel for each other real? Or just a voodoo dream?
A Masquerade of Saints by Nicole Loughan:
In the third installment in the best-selling Saints Mystery Series small town Cajun, Fanchon, finds herself in some hot water, along with a few nasty crayfish. The heat gets turned up when she receives an invitation to join New Orleans high society. She’s ready to party until she receives a puzzling message from her favorite psychic to stay alert and wash her hands all night. When the warning seems all but forgotten the phone rings and Fanchon learns she should have been more careful. This adventure takes Fanchon from the bayou to the top of the floats at Mardi Gras with new characters and old friends to help along the way.
The Gay Mardi Gras Murders by Sylvia Massara:
Mia Ferrari, smartarse, older chick, super sleuth, is back in her 2nd murder mystery and this time, she is up to her neck in drag queens, a rare diamond with a curse and murder most foul against the backdrop of Sydney’s world famous Gay Mardi Gras.
A female impersonator is found dead in her hotel suite bathtub and a rare diamond worth twenty million dollars is gone. The Gay Mardi Gras is fast approaching and Mia Ferrari, senior duty manager of the exclusive Rourke International Hotel Sydney, has to juggle a bunch of drag queens, a number of fabulously handsome gay men, a transsexual with a dark mystery, a young cop with sex on his mind, a close friend from the UK who is having marital problems and a mounting body count.
As Mia pits her investigative skills against her archenemy, Detective Sergeant Phil Smythe to solve the case, she not only becomes embroiled in the life of the people around her, but it looks like she is the next target for a serial killer with a grudge against gay men.
Mardi Gras Madness by Ken Mask:
While trying to free a lawyer friend convicted of a crime he didn’t commit, New Orleans private investigator Luke Jacobs is drawn into an international web of real estate fraud, pharmaceutical corporation misdealing and murder. Mardi Gras may have to be put on hold.
Mardi Gras Gris Gris by A.C. Mason:
Susan Foret is thrust into a murder scene when one of the town’s wealthiest citizens dies near her as the local Krewe’s parade is ending. A gris-gris bag containing tarot cards and several other fetish items is left dangling from the knife in his chest.
Living up to the family name comes with a price.
When Felix is told his big brother committed suicide by throwing himself under a train, his gut screams foul play. But as the Mardi Gras season descends on the Big Easy, no one is interested in the conspiracy theories of a drug-addled rich kid.
Except, perhaps, one Carnival organization in particular…
A krewe that hasn’t been heard from in decades.
Felix will need the help of a police detective long past his prime, the family’s honor-obsessed butler, and a massive pork fortune, all in order to find justice for his big brother.
His name, his family, and his very life may hang in the balance.
Burgundy Doubloons by T.J. Spencer Jacques:
You caught a doubloon at a Mardi Gras Parade – that was a bad thing.
Trent McGowan is going home. Home to his ailing mother. Home to the city of his childhood. Home to New Orleans. As Trent deals with the peculiar circumstances surrounding his mother’s illness, his family gets swept up in the excitement of Mardi Gras and all of the festivities of that intoxicating day. The jubilant crowds, breathtaking carnival floats, and oh yes, the throws! His youngest daughter Zoe catches one of those throws, a sparkling red doubloon, and that is where the story ends and begins.
Burgundy Doubloons is more than just a suspense thriller, it is everything that makes New Orleans the party capital of the world: only bloodier and darker.
For those who love a parade, Burgundy Doubloon answers a terrifying question: What if your child simultaneously caught a bead, and a murderous spirit? In this heart-palpating novel, you will meet the entire McGowan family, and the people determined to destroy them.
Finally, a paranormal thriller that takes place in New Orleans – as told by a native son who knows where the bodies are buried.
The Mysterious Masks of Mardi Gras by Connie Trapp:
A 2.5 million dollar Harlequin Mask has been stolen right under everyone’s noses!
It was never out of sight—how could this have happened? The auction was invitation-only, which means only one thing: the thief is among them.
The New Orleans police are on the case, the room where the auction was being held is in lockdown, and no one can leave—not even the Mayor and his wife. Everyone there is a high roller and everyone there is a suspect.
Yet before the police can even begin their investigation, they already have their sights set on a prime suspect…the insider responsible for the distraction that allowed the thief to steal the mask without anyone even noticing. One Jane Dough, of Little Rock…
How in the world did JD get herself into this mess? Follow along as JD struggles to prove her innocence and uncover the real thief…
Mardi Gras Marathon Murders by Diane L. Twilley:
Mardi Gras has come to Galveston Texas, and with it the excitement of a new event, the first ever Mardi Gras Marathon. Gina Malloy, a young journalist, is very involved in the planning of the event. When she enlists the help of her aunt, Sister Catherine Malloy, she is delighted to discover that Sister Catherine’s friend, Martin Iberson, is the agent of one of the big stars of marathon events, Billy Champion. Gina is eager to meet Martin Iberson and his family, and perhaps get a chance to meet and interview Billy Champion.
All goes well, until evil shows its face, and two of the marathon runners are killed. With the help of their friend, police lieutenant Richard Tierney, the nun and her niece embark on the task of finding out who murdered the runners, and as things progress, they find their lives in danger as well. But from whom? And why?
Things become even more somber as they realize that the culprit could be someone they know. Eventually Sister Catherine deduces that to solve the murders she must understand the character of the killer, and she finally comes up with the shocking solution to the Mardi Gras murders.
The Mardi Gras Two Step by Barry M. Vass:
A series of young girls, strippers, are found mutilated and abandoned in the streets and byways of the French Quarter in early 1972. As more bodies turn up, at first in the Mississippi River, and then across the river in Algiers, the detectives assigned to the case are baffled: what sort of deviant could be responsible for such horrific behavior? And then, as the chaos of Mardi Gras crashes in like a wave around them, they begin to suspect that the killer they’re looking for might not even be human…
Our monthly round-ups of new speculative fiction and new crime fiction releases by indie authors are a perennially popular feature. Therefore, we now offer you a round-up of our favourite Mardi Gras speculative fiction by indie authors.
These Mardi Gras stories cover the broad spectrum of speculative fiction. We have a lot of urban fantasy, horror and paranormal mysteries, but also historical fantasy, dark fantasy, religious fantasy and even science fiction. There are angels, demons, Lucifer himself, dragons, ghosts, ghost whisperers, vampires, monsters, zombies, voodoo, cursed doubloons, human sacrifices, space cruises, precognition and much more. But one thing unites all of those very different books. They’re all set on or around Mardi Gras.
As always with my round-up posts, this round-up of the best indie holiday speculative fiction is also crossposted to the Speculative Fiction Showcase, a group blog which features new release spotlights, guest posts, interviews and link round-ups regarding all things speculative fiction several times per week.
As always, I know the authors at least vaguely, but I haven’t read all of the books, so Caveat emptor.
And now on to the books without further ado:
Southern Monsters by Cora Buhlert
Three tales of monsters and terror in the Louisiana bayous.
When a young bride goes missing on her wedding day in Acadiana, the locals blame the Terror, the legendary monster that stalks the Crimson Bayou.
Remy Theriault does not believe in the Terror and he’s pretty sure the bride has done a runner. But the groom is his cousin and family is family. So Remy goes out to look for the runaway bride, only to find that sometimes, the old legends are true…
When their car crashes into the bayou on a dark Louisiana night, the swamp creature known only as Big Puffball might just be one family’s salvation…
When fishing boats go missing on the Mississippi River Delta, few people link these disappearances to the mysterious light that lit up the Louisiana sky only weeks before. But an astronomer from Tulane University makes the connection and discovers the horror that is the sphere that ate the Mississippi delta.
This is a collection of three short horror stories of 7700 words or approximately 27 print pages altogether.
Krewe of Souls by Elaine Calloway:
Mardi Gras, Mayhem, and Murder…
Tristan Pleasance is a ghost whisperer extraordinaire, but talking to his living father is another story. Family conflict prompts Tristan to bolt from his lifelong home in St. Francisville, Louisiana, to make a new life in New Orleans. But six months later, a family tragedy forces him to return home and he is thrust into a murder investigation where his past and future will collide.
Grace Lansing is a New Orleans columnist who yearns to write feature articles rather than puff pieces. To prove herself to her editor, she travels to the quaint town of St. Francisville to research their big Mardi Gras Krewe competition. But what seems an innocent cultural practice quickly turns into a web of intrigue—and getting too close to the handsome Tristan puts her in danger of becoming collateral damage.
Together, Tristan and Grace must find out who is responsible for the murders—before the Krewe of Souls is trapped forever.
Mardi Gras Maiden by Michael Dreysher Sr.
New Orleans 1854: A young woman, driven by curiosity sneaks into a brothel and stumbles into a Mardi Gras masquerade. She discovers that the ball is in reality an erotic ritual paying homage to Lucifer, the Great Prince of Evil and she is the guest of honor. The Archangel Gabriel sends four warriors from a dying world to rescue her but they arrive too late; the cult has slaughtered the girl, offering her as a sacrifice to Lucifer.
Rural Pennsylvania 1954: The same cult takes control of an entire town when their High Priestess seduces the land baron who owns it. They engineer a series of extramarital affairs among the residents which culminates in ritual debauchery. Gabriel has his avengers return to Earth with orders to wipe out the cult but Heaven has a dark side. A rogue spirit with an agenda of its own plans to kill these out-world warriors and the archangel’s champions find themselves defenseless in the center of a titanic struggle between two opposing forces from the Kingdom of Heaven.
Carnival in Sorgenbach by Raymund Eich:
Hans returned from the Great War, haunted. Not only by the horrors of the trenches, but haunted by visions of a more terrifying war to come. Would the parties and parades of Carnival 1919 offer him love and hope? Or doom him and his country to the devastation he foresaw?
My name is Cimmerian. I’m a dragon shifter living in New Orleans. Someone is screwing up my pre-Mardi Gras plans by leaving mutilated human bodies all over town. I have to find out whether or not a demon is behind this. If so, are they building a human to animate with demon magic? If not, we have a human serial killer just in time for the town to flood with tourists.
Things were so much quieter on vacation.
Damn, I’m glad to be back at work.
Voodoo Dreams by Alana Lorens:
When her big trial goes bad, corporate attorney Brianna Ward can’t wait to get out of Pittsburgh. The Big Easy seems like the perfect place to rest, relax, and forget about the legal business. Too bad an obnoxious–but handsome–lawyer from a rival firm is checking into the same bed and breakfast.
Attorney Evan Farrell has Mardi Gras vacation plans too. When he encounters fiery and attractive Brianna, however, he puts the Bourbon Street party on hold. He’d much rather devote himself to her–especially when a mysterious riddle appears in her bag, seeming to threaten danger.
Strangely compelled to follow the riddle’s clues, Brianna is pulled deeper into the twisted schemes of a voodoo priest bent on revenge. To escape his poisonous web, she must work with Evan to solve the curse. But is the growing love they feel for each other real? Or just a voodoo dream?
Battlefield Z: Mardi Gras Zombies by Chris Lowry:
He found them!
Two of his three children are alive and now that he’s found them he won’t let them out of his sight.
It’s time to find his youngest daughter.
The last he knew she was heading to a refugee camp with her Mom and step-dad. He’s got a map of the camps back at Fort Jasper waiting.
All he has to do is keep his kids safe as they search for answers and a trip back to Alabama. The safest route floats them down the river. It keeps the Z at bay, but delivers them straight into a fortress that feels like paradise.
He has a choice. Hide behind the walls with two thirds of his heart and let the world burn or take a chance and continue the hunt.
An easy job if it weren’t for all the damn zombies.
The Outer-Universe Cruise Ship Mardi Gras by E. Miguel:
Space, there is a lot of it. Like really, a lot. As much space as there is though, it also happens to be very crowded. It is for this exact reason the Outer-Universe Cruise Ship Mardis Gras was created. While other cruises throughout the universe offer excitement and adventure, the Mardis Gras offers the mundane for those vacationers that are allergic to such excitement and adventure. The ship’s only constant inconstant is a Mardis Gras party held every other day.
Unfortunately for two passengers on the ship, this week’s cruise offers more than they signed up for. Escape pods, a slumbering Old God, and a Voodoo priestess robot all happen to show up on the unplanned itinerary this week.
Nocturne by Irene Preston and Liv Rancourt
It’s Mardi Gras, cher, but this year le bon temps kick off with murder…
For generations, the White Monks have treated the vampire Thaddeus Dupont as a weapon in their battle against demons. However, when a prominent matron drops dead at a party, Thaddeus and his lover Sarasija are asked to find her killer. Their investigation leads them to an old southern family with connections everywhere: Louisiana politics, big business, the Church, and an organization just as secret as the White Monks.
Meanwhile, an esoteric text containing spells for demon-summoning has disappeared, Thaddeus is losing control of le monstre, and Sara is troubled by disturbing dreams. These nightmares could be a side-effect of dating a vampire, or they could be a remnant of his brush with evil. As the nights wear on, Sara fears they are a manifestation of something darker – a secret that could destroy his relationship with Thaddeus.
Krewe of Hecate by Sim Shattuck:
A group of Mardi Gras wizards descend to the Underworld and capture the goddess Hecate so that they can display her during Carnival. But they didn’t understand that having the goddess of the Uncanny upon the face of the Earth would do to three unlucky New Orleans residents.
Burgundy Doubloons by T.J. Spencer Jacques:
You caught a doubloon at a Mardi Gras Parade – that was a bad thing.
Trent McGowan is going home. Home to his ailing mother. Home to the city of his childhood. Home to New Orleans. As Trent deals with the peculiar circumstances surrounding his mother’s illness, his family gets swept up in the excitement of Mardi Gras and all of the festivities of that intoxicating day. The jubilant crowds, breathtaking carnival floats, and oh yes, the throws! His youngest daughter Zoe catches one of those throws, a sparkling red doubloon, and that is where the story ends and begins.
Burgundy Doubloons is more than just a suspense thriller, it is everything that makes New Orleans the party capital of the world: only bloodier and darker.
For those who love a parade, Burgundy Doubloon answers a terrifying question: What if your child simultaneously caught a bead, and a murderous spirit? In this heart-palpating novel, you will meet the entire McGowan family, and the people determined to destroy them.
Finally, a paranormal thriller that takes place in New Orleans – as told by a native son who knows where the bodies are buried.
Razor Valentine by Roland Yeomans:
MARDI GRAS … MAGIC … MURDER
In 1947 New Orleans THREE KINGS DAY marks the start of the official Carnival Season. Carnival, coming from the Latin words, carne vale, meaning “farewell to the flesh.”
Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte, Our Lady of Holy Death, is stalking the French Quarter streets killing apparently at random. What does the psychotic actress, Irene Dupré, know of this entity and what lies behind the murders? She remains silent, only smiling. Santa Muerte’s strange acolyte lurks in the shadows watching, waiting. Waiting for what?
Frank Capra is filming a historical fantasy in the city with Jimmy Stewart, Cesar Romero, and the enigmatic Irene Dupré. Former O.S.S. operative, now the film’s Prop Master, Lucas, finds himself in the middle of the mystery with more questions than answers.
His lost love back from the dead, Ingrid Durtz, and his best friend, Mitchell Mack, are at a loss on how to stay alive, much less catch a supernatural killer.
Then, there is Lucas’ former O.S.S. team mate, Father Darael, whose gift of a Seraph Blade is literally a two-edged blessing. You see, Darael is a Seraphim Provocateur. And Lucas is unsure whose side he is really on, the Celestial or the Fallen?
This post is something of an experiment, inspired by Kristine Kathryn Rusch who posts a free short story every week on her blog. I like the idea. However, I don’t have nearly as many stories as Kris, so I’ll post a free story on every first Monday of the month. It will remain free to read on this blog for exactly one month, then I’ll take it down and post another story.
And because today is Rose Monday, the day before Fat Tuesday a.k.a. Mardi Gras, what better way to celebrate than with a Mardi Gras story?
And so I give you “Big Puffball”, a tale of a friendly swap monster with a taste for shiny things that may also be found in the collection Southern Monsters, available at fine e-book retailers everywhere:
All right, so listen, cause this — like — really happened. I should know, cause I was there. I looked into the eye of the swamp monster and lived to tell the tale. And if you buy me a beer, I’ll tell you all about it.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. Swamp monster stories are dime a dozen here in bayou country. Pretty much everybody here in the bayous claims to have seen a ghost or a vampire or a swamp monster and most of the time, the so-called “monster” is no scarier than an alligator. Though alligators can be pretty fucking scary, if you ask me.
But my story is different. Because it’s one hundred percent totally true, cross my heart and wish to die and all that jazz. And for only the price of a beer, you get to hear it.
Okay, so it happened a long time ago, more than thirty years now, when I was but a little boy. It was February, Mardi Gras time, and me, my Mama and Papa and my sister Cally had gone to New Orleans to watch the parades. And now we were on our way home, Papa behind the wheel of our Pontiac Le Mans, Mama in the passenger seat and me and Cally on the backseat, counting our doubloons and beads. I was seven and Cally was five, both of us totally carefree, like children will be.
I still don’t know quite how it happened. One moment, we were happily chattering on the backseat, while Mama and Papa were quietly talking among themselves on the front seat. The radio was playing Zydeco music and the car was cruising along a dark backroad in bayou country, the headlights the only illumination. The next moment, there was a shadow, sharply outlined by the headlights, as something crossed the road.
I never knew what it was, a possum maybe or a raccoon or maybe something bigger. All I remember is that Mama screamed and Papa pulled the wheel around. The Pontiac swerved, avoiding the thing on the road. But Papa couldn’t get it under control again, so the car careened off the road, down a slope and right into the Bayou Marron.
Cally and I were wearing our seatbelts, which probably saved our lives. But nonetheless I was thrown forward and knocked my head against the back of the driver’s seat. I was out for a few seconds and when I came to again, our car was gradually sinking into the brackish water of the Bayou Marron.
Already water was seeping into the footwell, muddy and icy cold. On the backseat next to me, Cally had pulled her knees up to her chin to escape the water. In the front seat, Mama and Papa were rattling on the doors, but it was to no avail. The doors were jammed.
***
This story was available on this blog for one month only, but you can still read “Big Puffball” in the collection Southern Monsters. And if you click on the First Monday Free Fiction tag, you can read this month’s free story.
Even though the Nebula Award debate has dominated the past two days, there also was a new episode of Star Trek Discovery last night. And if you want to see my posts about previous episodes of Star Trek Discovery, go here.
Warning: Spoilers under the cut! Continue reading
I promise you that the regularly scheduled Star Trek Discovery review is coming, especially since they have finally found Spock (spoiler white-out). But for now, there have been some new developments on the Nebula front. For those following along at home, my previous posts on this year’s Nebula Award mini-drama may be found here and here. The second one went viral after N.K. Jemisin shared it on Twitter. I’ll also repeat some of the ETAs from my last post, for those who haven’t seen them yet.
To recap, this year’s Nebula ballot contained an unusual number of indie finalists (six in all fiction categories except for Best Novel), which in itself wouldn’t be that surprising, since the SFWA opened its membership to indie writers some time ago. A bit more surprising was that five of those six finalists were action heavy space opera or straight military SF of the “pew pew” type, i.e. not the sort of works that the Nebula electorate normally goes for. And upon closer examination, it turned out that all of the six indie finalists are members of a group called 20Booksto50K (for more explanation, see the previous posts). Camestros Felapton dug into the group and unearthed a recommendation list that is in the grey area to a slate.
Camestros Felapton dug in further and noticed that four of the six indie finalists were either published by or otherwise connected to LMBPN Publishing, a publishing company operated by Michael Anderle and Craig Martelle, who also founded and run the 20Booksto50K group, and that several other works and authors listed on the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate were also connected to LMBPN Publishing. Richard Fox, indie writer and Nebula finalist in the best short story category, also showed up in the comments to make a spectacle of himself, determined to fill every square on the SFF awards slate bingo card.
Camestros Felapton has also taken it upon himself to review all six Nebula finalists for best short story. So far, he has reviewed “Interview for the End of the World” by Rhett C. Bruno (who behaves graciously in the comments and clarifies some points regarding his story), “The Secret Lives of the Nine Negro Teeth of George Washington” by Phenderson Djèlí Clark (where a supposed fan of Richard Fox’s shows up in the comments to explain how he really does not like that story for its unusual narrative structure), “And Yet by A.T. Greenblatt (no drama for once, just a discussion of the story), “A Witch’s Guide to Escape – A Practical Compendium of Portal Fantasies” by Alix E. Harrow (again no drama, just discussion of the story), “The Court Magician” by Sarah Pinsker (once more no drama, just discussion of the story – I sense a pattern here) and “Going Dark” by Richard Fox (who is clearly not a fan of criticism of his work and once again shows up to make a spectacle of himself). Camestros Felapton also offers an summary of his reviews and finds that some finalists are not like the others.
And talking of Richard Fox, at Bounding into Comics, John F. Trent interviews Richard Fox. The interview is mostly about his books and his comic work, but Fox talks a bit about his Nebula nomination and gripes about traditional publishing and sensitivity readers.
On the front of authors and their fans behaving badly, Annie Bellet, an indie writer who found herself a Hugo finalist due to the Sad and Rabid Puppy slates in 2015 and withdrew, once she found out how her nomination had come about, spoke out strongly against the tactics used by 20Booksto50K. Today, she shared this piece of hate mail from fans/friends of Yudhanjaya Wijeratne, a finalist in the novelette category together with R.R. Virdi.
Yudhanjaya came at my calling out of the slate from a positition of condescending arrogance, engaged with me, and I blocked him. At no point did I say his work was shit or name him at all.
This is uncool and I hope he fixes it by apologizing to me and telling his friends to stop— Annie Bellet (@anniebellet) March 1, 2019
Stuff like this is just rude and awful. And everybody who has actually read Annie Bellet’s Twitter exchange with Yudhanjaya Wijeratne will see that only one party comes off badly in that exchange and that’s not Annie Bellet.
ETA: Though Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and Annie Bellet seem to have come to an understanding now, as this Twitter thread shows, once Annie Bellet clarified that she was not accusing Wijeratne and his co-author of cheating (which I never read that way, but then I wasn’t the target) and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne read about Annie Bellet’s experiences as a Sad/Rabid Puppy slate nominee.
ETA2: Meanwhile at Facebook, Mary Anne Mohanraj claims that there was a racist element to the complaints about the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate, at least regarding the nomination for Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and his co-author R.R. Virdi. Or at least, it was viewed that way in Sri Lanka, from where both Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and Mary Anne Mohanraj hail. She also explains the background of the situation for Sri Lankan writers. Found via File 770, where Mike Glyer also quotes from a good response by N.K. Jemisin refuting Mary Anne Mohanraj’s racism accusations (which I can’t seem to link to, not being a Facebook member).
Now I can’t speak for anybody else, but I for one have zero problem with Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and his co-author R.R. Virdi being writers of colour and Yudhanjaya Wijeratne being a writer from Sri Lanka. In fact, when I first saw the 2018 Nebula shortlist, their nomination didn’t stand out to me, unlike the ones for Jonathan P. Brazee, Richard Fox and Rhett C. Bruno, whose names I recognised as indie writers who write the sort of work the Nebula electorate doesn’t normally go for. However, I didn’t recognise the name of the anthology Expanding Universe as a 20Booksto50K anthology – in fact, I got it mixed up with a Strange Horizons offshoot mag called Expanded Horizons, where writers of colour and South Asian writers wouldn’t seem out of place at all. And while a nomination for that magazine would have been a surprise, it wouldn’t have been that much of one. It was only when I googled Yudhanjaya Wijeratne and R.R. Virdi, because I did not want to accidentally misgender them in my post, that the Dragon Award nominations of R.R. Virdi as well as the anthology with a very indie military SF cover and Craig Martelle listed as the editor popped up. And that’s when I got a little curious.
As for Annie Bellet’s tweets, I did not see them as singling out any of the 20Booksto50K finalists as unworthy. And though Annie Bellet’s tweets were sweary, I saw them as being directed at the slaters and not the slatees, because Annie Bellet after all knows what it’s like to be slated without your knowledge and against your will, though it’s understandable if any of the slatees read that differently. I also have sympathy for Yudhanjaya Wijeratne (and R.R. Virdi, for that matter), since it seems that they did not know why the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate was problematic. However, Wijeratne did not react well to Annie Bellet’s tweets, though he isn’t the worst behaved author in this kerfuffle by a mile. Never mind that six of the seven authors from the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate are Americans and five are white (and several of the other Nebula finalists are writers of colour and/or international writers), so you really can’t say that Wijeratne was singled out for racist reasons.
ETA3: Yudhanjaya Wijeratne shares his own view of his Nebula nomination and the aftermath.
ETA4: Brad Torgersen (remember him?) feels compelled to weigh in and present his version of the Sad Puppy saga in the comments of Yudhanjaya Wijeratne’s post as well as on his own blog (Archive link). According to Torgersen’s latest version of the Sad Puppy saga, it was now all about plucky upstart indies trying to stick it to the traditionally published establishment. Torgersen also really cares about the plight of international authors, which he certainly never did before (and indeed, the Sad and Rabid Puppies kept several international authors off the ballot in 2015). Torgersen also seems to assume that everybody who opposed the Sad and Rabid Puppies was American and traditionally published, even though plenty of Non-Americans and indie authors spoke out against them. There are also some Nineteen Eighty-Four comparisons, which as Camestros Felapton points out, is kind of ironic for someone so intent on rewriting history as Brad Torgersen.
Of course, if you actually look at Torgersen’s original Sad Puppy 3 slate from 2015, you’ll see very few indies. Instead, you have Tor, Roc, Baen and 47 North in the best novel category, i.e. two Big Five imprints, a medium-sized company and one of Amazon’s publishing imprints. In the short fiction categories, you see a lot of Analog stories, a Baen anthology, two Castalia House novellas (and Castalia House is a small press) and one story each from Galaxy’s Edge, Intergalactic Medicine Show, Fireside Fiction and Sci Phi Journal. Best related work gives us yet more Baen and Castalia House as well as a small press called Merry Blacksmith Press, while the Campbell nominees are two hybrid authors and someone who had a story in a Castalia House anthology. The only actual indies on Torgersen’s original slate are Annie Bellet’s story, which was published in an indie anthology (and which, let’s not forget, was withdrawn) as well as Michael Z. Williamson’s Wisdom from the Internet and the graphic story finalist Zombie Nation. So much for Sad Puppies 3 promoting indie authors, neither of which serve as advertisements for indie publishing, because they’re both bloody awful. Oh yes, and apparently Brad Torgersen has a new book out. From Baen.
ETA5: Vox Day also weighs in on the Nebula debate, which was probably inevitable (archive link). He reposts Brad Torgersen’s post and also delcares that SFWA is irrelevant and claims that he was the first to propose admitting indie authors to SFWA. Of yes, and both Tor and Baen (now that is new) are apparently dying and Amazon is evil. In short, it’s business as usual and everything is happening once again just as Vox Day has planned.
ETA6: Jon Del Arroz decides to weigh in as well with a lengthy article at a rightwing site called The Federalist (archive link). Basically, he repeats most of the usual puppy talking points, the traditional publishing is dominated by leftwingers who want to keep conservatives out, that traditional publishing is rigging the Hugo and Nebula Awards, that traditional publishing is failing, because they publish too many political books, and that indie writers are winning, because they are writing unpolitical books that readers want to read. Now I don’t doubt that there are readers who enjoy the “kill all the aliens” military science fiction that is filling up the Kindle store, but stories about manly and usually white and American space marines killing the evil other in space are many things, but they sure as hell are not unpolitical. And let’s not even talk about the military science fiction novel with a cover that looked like a Nazi recruiting poster (and it was not alternate history – I checked) that was in the also-boughts for one of my In Love and War stories a while back. But then, Del Arroz also believes that Robert A. Heinlein and Frank Herbert were unpolitical writers.
Del Arroz also repeats that those who criticised the 20Bookto50K not-a-slate were all traditionally published authors afraid of the plucky indie upstarts, when in fact most of those who spoke out against the tactics are indie writers themselves. Camestros Felapton is very amused by the idea that he is now an “elite commentator”, by the way.
Finally, regarding Michael Anderle’s claim (restated by Jon Del Arroz in his article) that he founded the 20Booksto50K Facebook group after he was run out of several indie writer forums because of his business-minded approach, I am a member of one of the forums Anderle was supposedly run out of and that’s not how it happened. Instead, Michael Anderle showed up to post a shorter version of his manifesto. Some people asked critical questions and he flounced, never to be seen again.
ETA7: Lela E. Buis also shares her view on the 2018 Nebula finalists. She does not seem much troubled by the 20Booksto50K finalists, probably because their works are to her taste, and also seems happy that there are more male writers on the ballot. However, she is troubled by the supposed dominance of Tor, even though only eight out of thirty finalists in the fiction categories were published by Tor or Tor.com, which isn’t that much for an imprint that is the biggest English language publisher of science fiction and fantasy. So no, the Tor conspiracy does not exist. Besides four of the eight Tor finalists are in the novella category, which Tor.com Publishing dominates because of their high quality novella line, while one of the two Tor.com novelette finalists was also published as a standalone in the Tor.com novella line, though it does not quite meet the wordcount requirement for a novella. Everybody who likes novellas should be grateful to Tor.com Publishing, because they were at the forefront of the novella renaissance. However, Tor.com’s marketing dollars and the high quality of their novella line do make it difficult for other publishers (and most novella publishers are small presses or magazines) let alone indies to be noticed, which is a potential problem. Though it must be pointed out that two of the six finalists in the novella category were not published by Tor.com. Aliette de Bodard’s excellent Sherlock Holmes retelling The Tea Master and the Detective was published by Subterranean Press, while Jonathan P. Brazee’s Fire Ant was self-published.
Lela E. Buis also points out that several of the 2018 Nebula finalists are members of the SFWA board and/or candidates for office. I noticed this as well and it is potentially problematic, though it is apparently not against the rules. Besides, none of those finalists were unlikely or unexpected.
Not everybody was happy to find themselves on the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate, especially since it appears that many authors were not asked. For example, World Weaver Press, a small press one of whose books, The Continuum by Wendy Nikel, was on the 20Booksto50K not-a-slate, point out that they have no idea how the book got onto the last and renounce slating tactics.
Finally, for those who are confused what is and is not considered acceptable in putting your work forwards for awards consideration, Jim C. Hines has posted a handy overview about how to get nominated for a Hugo or Nebula Award and what is and isn’t okay.
ETA: And if you want a longer read on the subject, at Amazing Stories Steve Davidson delves into the history of science fiction fandom and explains just why slates and recommended reading lists that cross into slate territory are considering so taboo in the SFF world.
Then today, Jonathan P. Brazee, whose novella “Fire Ant” was a 2018 Nebula finalist, posted a statement at File 770. A statement by the SFWA about the issue may also be found in the same post. I encourage you to go over there and read the whole statement, because it’s well worth it. But in short, Jonathan Brazee apologises and takes full responsibility for asterisks and wink-wink nudge-nudge remarks that pushed an initially unproblematic recommended reading list into problematic territory. He also states that neither the people on the list nor the 20Booksto50K group had anything to do with it and that the mistake was his alone. Finally, Jonathan P. Brazee also offers to withdraw his nominated novella Fire Ant from consideration. It’s a classy thing to do and if every writer on the 20Booksto50K list had behaved with as much class and grace as Mr. Brazee, this situation would never have escalated as it did.
The SFWA statement confirms that SFWA is aware of the issues and that they are investigating what can be done to make the Nebula ballot more proof against slating and logrolling, regardless the intention behind it. SFWA also repeats that they want to represent all writers of science fiction and fantasy, whether indies, hybrids or traditionally published. Finally, they ask everybody to give all Nebula finalists their due consideration, regardless how and where they were published. It’s another classy response.
In the comments on the File 770 post, Camestros Felapton also shares the gist of a statement by Craig Martelle posted to the 20Booksto50K group, which is only visible to group and Facebook members. Though Martelle later posted a shorter version of that statement (apparently, he omits a lengthy anecdote about golf, which can only be a good thing) on his personal Facebook page which is visible to the public. He still has no idea why people are upset – after all, he only wants to help indie authors – and feels denigrated, even though Martelle was only tangentially mentioned in the debate. He also still hasn’t understood that a book that sells well does not equal am award-worthy book, but then that’s pretty typical for the more business minded indie authors (and certain traditionally published authors, for that matter).
I really hope that this is the last Nebula post I have to write until the winners are announced later this year.
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