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Flash: Come Home

Photo by Thao LEE on Unsplash

“Yameru.”

I stop, staring at the teen boy with sheathed swords at ready. I know a simple shake will have the folded steel blades ready to slice through limb and body. “I was invited.” I say slowly, hoping he understands English.

“Dare ga.”

My Japanese was really rusty. I haven’t lived in this country since I was fourteen, but the half decade my parents were stationed here left their mark in more than one way. One of the reasons I returned when asked. “Watanabe-San.” Likely the boy was a Watanabe but he would understand who I meant within the clan. I squinted a bit and amended the thought to man. I’ve been around white people too long and adolescence sits on the Japanese differently. Early twenties based on the muscle form.

“Namae?”

I run through the names I could use. My fourteen-year-old self’s nickname? My father or my mother’s last names? My present one pending my divorce being finalized tomorrow? In the end I went with how the letter requesting my presence addressed me, “Child of Our Soul.”

The guard stood slowly, tucked the swords away, and formally bowed. “I am called Heir.”

Oh, shit. This is my new intended.

(words 200 – – first published 9/25/2022 – from a picture prompt for a Facebook writing group. Aim is about 50 words)

Come Home Series

  1. Come Home (9/25/22)
  2. Come Home Part Two (10/30/22)

Other Cool Blogs: ProWritingAid (12/17/2021) – Big Casts

Photo by Eddi Aguirre on Unsplash

Big Cast: How to Write Stories with Many Characters” by Kyle A. Massa (Speculative Fiction Author) – published 12/17/2021 at ProWritingAid. 

I write flashes and I’m working my way up to short stories plus a few romance novels. None of these have large ensemble casts, not like epic fantasy. Even so, making sure every character has their day on the page whether the cast is large or small can be challenging. Mr. Massa provides three pieces of advice:

  1. Narrow Your Point of View (POV)
  2. Reveal Your Cast Gradually
  3. “Zoom In” on Members of Your Cast

Find out how to do each of these by reading this Other Cool Blog post. Again the link is: Writing Stories with Many Characters: How to Do It (prowritingaid.com)

Book Review (SERIES): These Marvelous Beasts

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These Marvelous Beasts: The Complete Frost & Filigree Series by Natania Barron

  1. Frost & Filigree
  2. Masks & Malevolence
  3. Time & Temper

This is the collected works of the Frost & Filigree series which I read and reviewed as the individual novellas came out. I love Natania Barron’s voice as a writer – so rich and detailed.

While These Marvelous Beasts is an adventure throughout the United States and Europe from the Victorian era through the Roaring Twenties, the story never strayed far from the central questions: What makes a monster? When does one become a monster, and when does one stop being a monster? Using mythology from around the world, Ms. Barron explores this question in this historical Urban Fantasy. If deeper questions aren’t your cup of tea in reading (and really, they aren’t mine – I read to escape), there are battles, and romance, and monsters, and gods, and family, and vampire galore.

The first book of the series is the “weakest” of the lot. Ms. Barron works better in a novel format, and she needed to figure the pacing difference of the shorter format.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for FROST & FILIGREE – BEASTS OF TARRYTOWN

Vivienne du Lac and Nerissa Waldemar — a.k.a. la belle dame sans merci and the lamia — have been living among the elite of Tarrytown for quite some time, undetected but for the trail of goats in their wake (one must eat, after all). But just as their eccentricities begin to raise eyebrows, a dark evil arises, intent on murder. They meet a with a young woman named Christabel Crane and a group of bumbling cultists calling themselves the Circle of Iapetus, who beg for help combating the creature.

As they plunge deeper into the mysteries surrounding the New York elite, old flames rekindle, and old grudges, too. Vivienne and Nerissa agree to help fend off the darkness, but will spilled blood mean the end of their reform? And if not, at what cost?

MY REVIEW for FROST & FILIGREE – BEASTS OF TARRYTOWN

Much more complicated set of characters than I normal find in the Shadow Council shared world – almost doesn’t fit in the novella (which is a complete story). A couple of the transitions between chapter/scenes have abrupt jumps; a problem with the extremely short format of novellas.

The language is beautiful. I bet this will be an amazing audiobook.

What makes a monster? When does one become a monster, and when does one stop being a monster? The monsters in this book are not that introspective, and they know what they are and what they have been capable of in the past. But in the here and now, they want to be part of society. For Vivienne du Lac, it is because she feeds on emotions of people. The higher and brighter the better, and this was a time of high society parties. For Nerissa, well, keeps her from backsliding.

She doesn’t want to be that monster in the swamp eating people; she wants to be better than that. But when a group of humans set off a bomb at a party to maximize blood (but not death), Nerissa and Vivienne need to face their baser selves, deal with the humans willing to risk the two monster setting off a blood bath, and fight the real monster in the area. All the while being distracted by the return of an old flame of Vivienne’s who she thought was dead. Is he the new monster – or is the new monster pretending to be him?

Action packed, but turn of the 18 to 19th century beauty. A good read in the style of an urban fantasy Victorian romance.

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for MASKS & MALEVOLENCE – BEASTS OF CAIRO

Our monstrous heroes — Waldemar, Goodwin, & Crane — have suffered an unimaginable loss. Vivienne du Lac, the powerful sylph and their dear friend, has been captured, eluding all attempts at rescue for ten years.

The trio finds themselves in Cairo, Egypt, the crossroads of the old and new worlds, grasping at the limited clues they have to Vivienne’s whereabouts. As they pursue the trail, they come face to face with new monsters, new enemies, and a host of ancient gods wreaking havoc.

The hunt for Vivienne leads ever downward, to the very gates of the Underworld. Will Nerissa, Worth, and Christabel manage to stay alive, let alone keep their wits? After all, a lamia, a Questing Beast, and a unicorn, draw a certain amount of attention in a big city like Cairo… especially when one of them needs blood to survive.

With the help of new friends — including a kitsune named Kit and a Nith dwarf named Alma — the heroes launch an assault to the very gates of the Great Pyramid.

MY REVIEW for MASKS & MALEVOLENCE – BEASTS OF CAIRO

Natania Barron writes books as beautiful as her covers. This time we follow our beasts to Cairo, where the marsh-based snake, the lamia Nerissa, is less than happy about leaving the moist country-side of Tarrytown. She only left it to find her lifelong companion Vivienne, however strained their relationship might be and often was, on some level she needs the fey – who has been kidnapped by their former slave-butler Barquan, a dijinn. Joining her in the search are Worth (a, the?, Questing Beast) and Christabel (a unicorn), and a new person they pick up cheap in the bazaar (more about that little one will be spoilers except for the fact she adds much needed energy to the beastly dynamics).

Masks & Malevolence captures the time and sensibilities of the flapper era, and provides an even more complicated narrative than Frost & Filigree. The novella again packs so much into so little space yet completes the story it is telling.

Well worth the read!

 

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BOOK BLURB ON AMAZON for TIME & TEMPER – BEASTS OF LONDON

It’s been two decades since Vivienne du Lac, powerful night sylph and mysterious monster of fashion, was abducted from Tarrytown New York in a display of strange magic. Her friends Nerissa Waldemar, the lamia; Worth Goodwin, the Questing Beast; and Christabel Crane, a unicorn, have chased her shadow across two continents, down the winding streets of Cairo, and indeed, into the Underworld itself.

Just when they’re about to give up, a surprising letter indicates that Vivienne might still be alive, and closer than they think. Aided by a kitsune named Kit, a reluctant angel named Ophaniel, a dwarf named Alma, and a host of gods, goddess, monsters, and miscreants, Waldemar, Goodwin, and Crane dash through London and into Spain to try and unite with Vivienne once again. But an army of void creatures greets them, and alongside their deadly attack clues to the insidious villain who’s been lurking in the shadows for thousand of years.

Once again, it’s up to the team to sort through their own interpersonal challenges of love, jealousy, and inner desires, as they race against the clock — and time and existence itself — to rescue Vivienne, or else perish trying. Will Nerissa beat her addictions? Will Christabel get over her lost love and find her place in the world? Will Worth ever cease being a sartorial nightmare?

Tempers rise and adventure awaits in the final installment of the Frost and Filigree series.

MY REVIEW for TIME & TEMPER – BEASTS OF LONDON

With the third, and final, book of a series, one always waits with baited breath. Will the author do the voice justice? Will my investment as a reader be fulfilled? Can everything be drawn together in a satisfying manner?

Never question if Natania Barron can draw anything – whether cover art or a conclusion to a beloved series. The richness of her voice, the complicated characters, everything in Time and Temper is as gratifying as one might hope.

If you love a rich voice set in Victorian times through the Roaring twenties, with everything from angels to lamia, this is the series for you. Start at book one. I *think* Time and Temper works as a stand-alone, but you will be shorting yourself if you don’t read the whole series.

 

Flash: Are You Thinking What I am Thinking?

Photo by Andrew Ebrahim on Unsplash

Dejoy plopped down beside me at the back of the classroom. “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“Lord fuck no, I hope not.” I glanced up and made sure Ms. Leonhardt was still taking attendance.

Dejoy and me go way back; she should have never given us assign seats next to each other.

“Yeah. I hope not too.” A smile cracked his face wide.

But I know. I know we are thinking exactly the same thing.

“No.” I shook my head. “No. I’m not getting detention today.”

“Then how about…”

“Fine. Will do.”

Tamsin who sat in front of us turned around. “You guys are the weirdest.”

“A-yep.” My crooked smile matched Dejoy’s.

***

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Dejoy waved the fourth bottle of his six-pack back and forth.

Halfway through my wine bottle sans glass, because who needs extra dishes?, I respond with, “Lord fuck no, I hope not.”

Dejoy and me go way back; I should have known not to drink with him after his breakup with Tamsin.

“Yeah. I hope not too.” A sad smile had him staring into the hole at the top of his empty bottle.

But I know. I know we are thinking exactly the same thing. But I won’t be a rebound, and we will never be friends like that. I hate to see him hurting.

***

“Are you thinking what I am thinking?” Dejoy demented smile seemed to have touches of rigor mortis at the edges as he stared at me across the table from where he attempted to study for his exit exams.

“Lord fuck no, I hope not,” my response immediate and flat.

Dejoy and me go way back; don’t know why any of the teachers thought we would make good study buddies. But, hey, both of us were in the top 10% of the community college despite it. He studied my face more thoroughly than he had been studying his books. Dejoy’s overlarge head tilted sideways like Chewy, my old puppy used to do.

Hesitantly he grunted, “Yeah. I hope not too.” His smile edged away like the sun getting covered in clouds.

I know. I know he understood my dark, angry thoughts about graduation. About the war they are fighting along the coasts around the planet. About my dad’s deployment and my mother’s suicide attempt last night, which I hadn’t talked about yet but would. All those things making these final two tests meaningless enough to blow off for ice cream and running screaming through the woods afterwards like we’ve done a million times. But not today, and not likely ever again. Sorry to bring you down buddy.

***

Dejoy glanced sideways at me before whispering. “Are you thinking what I am thinking?”

“Lord fuck no, I hope not.” I met his eyes only for a moment before returning to the piles of paperwork that matched the piles on his desk, and the desks of everyone in the room. I waited two long inhales, hoping against my daily growing despondency to see if our Overseer noticed. A tiny smile curved across my downward tilted face, the unused muscles fighting the deepening frown lines. What I was thinking was very much Not Safe for Work.

Dejoy and me go way back; they never should have put us next to each other. Not that anyone was going to be telling those now in charge who knew whom before.

“Yeah. I hope not too.” His voice was a low hiss as he kept his head down.

But I know. I know we are thinking exactly the same thing.

(word 601, first published 9/18/2022)

 

Geeking Science: Chinese Missions

CHINA’S ZHURONG MARS ROVER China’s first Mars rover, Zhurong, is pictured next to its landing platform on the surface of the red planet. The rover traveled approximately 10 meters to drop off a wireless camera, then backed up into frame in order to capture this spectacular image. Image: CNSA

Of course the Chinese know how to have their robots take great selfies. Just look how cute the Zhurong is beside its buddy lander. Hi there Zhurong, I hope you have great fun on Mars, or Huoxing (the planet of fire) as you like to call it.

So the Chinese space learning curve has kicked in with successful missions piling up and more planned, each leading and building to the next as a proper space (race) nation should be. Third nation to return samples from the moon, second to land a rover on Mars. Give them time and they might be the first to send back images from Alpha Centauri.

The moon mission returned a new mineral. (Andrew, Tianwen, Sept 15, 2022)

And they packed so much into that little moon mission. Instead of a simple drop and return, they made a in-space reconnect of the sample and orbiter to practice doing the same for a Mars sample return. If they are successful with the Mars sample return on the present ambitious schedule (out and back by July 2031), they will be the first nation ever to do it. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have similar plans in works, but their calendar is looking two years beyond that.

After returning the samples to Earth, the Chang’e-5 visited the Sun-Earth Lagrange point 1 for some solar observations, then moved back to the moon for some Distant Retrograde Orbit tests. Both of these additional missions are tests and information gathering for future missions. (The Planetary Society, 2022)

Never do just one thing when you can do twenty – am I right?

This is the way of space missions now. Anything getting out of orbit is carrying a lot of CubeSats for nations and for corporations, as well as the main payload.

Can’t wait to see what all China will pack into their Huoxing (Mars) mission. And it will be fun to see what NASA and the ESA do to try to keep up. At least, some of the new space race (to Mars) will involve flying drones.

I know there will be more robot selfies. Looking fine Zhurong. I’m sure your siblings will look as great as Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance have over the years. I’m geeking humanity’s joint exploration of the solar system and the stars.

Bibliography

Jones, Andrew. “China discovers new moon mineral in lunar samples.” space.com. September 12, 2022. https://www.space.com/china-new-lunar-mineral-chang-e – last viewed 12/17/2022.

Jones. Andrew. “Tianwen-3: China’s Mars sample return mission.” The Planetary Society. September 15, 2022. https://www.planetary.org/articles/tianwen-3-china-mars-sample-return-mission – last viewed 12/17/2022.

The Planetary Society. “Chang’e-5: China’s Moon sample return mission.” (undated). https://www.planetary.org/space-missions/change-5 – last viewed 12/17/2022.

Xinhua. “China’s first Mars rover starts exploring red planet.” May 22, 2021. http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2021-05/22/c_139963090.htm – last viewed 12/17/2022.