Book of the Week

The Winter holidays are now over - yes again because technical issues are now vanquished and it's really time for our podcast to return! Along with our usual shows and our books of the week!

You will be able to listen to us on our youtube channel, or by the link in the sidebar or by the post here that will be posted. We hope to see you there

Like all  the Fangs for the Fantasy podcasts (archives here) we read a book and discuss it on the show. 

Because we missed last week we will discuss the last 2 books of the week

Because of availability issues, we've had to change this week's book of the week

22nd December - 5th January: Burn for Me by Ilona Andrews
5th January - 12th January: Dark Currents by Jacqueline Carey
12th January - 19th January: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde
19th January - 26th January: A Storm of Swords by George R R Martin
26th January - 2nd February: A Lady Integrity by Shelly Adina
2nd February - 9th February: The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

The Leftovers, Season 1, Episode 4: B.J. and the A.C.

Somewhat randomly, we start by watching a doll being made in a factory (something which makes the doll even creepier than it is), it being bought and dressed up as baby Jesus for a nativity scene. After a few days of being out in the open, the Jesus doll goes missing

Over to Kevin interviewing Patti, leader of the Guilty Remnant who, predictably, is completely silent (she does twitch a little that almost suggests a smile). There’s a library fundraiser coming up and Kevin would like the GR to skip protesting this one. He says he won’t protect them because it’s the holidays and no-one has any time for their shenanigans and people want to spend time with their families. She writes back “there is no family.” When he asks her to clarify this cryptic statement she just takes down a picture of Laurie (and Gladys) and puts it on his desk. In between mentioning how eager they are to arrest the GR, one of his officers tells Kevin the baby doll has been stolen. Unsurprisingly, Kevin really doesn’t care.

Kevin makes one of his many calls to Tom – only to hear his phone isn’t in service (Wayne destroyed Tom’s phone).

At home, between digging out Christmas ornaments, Kevin tries to ask Jill about her brother – but she claims ignorance. Aimee and Jill also disapprove of Kevin’s plan to replace the baby Jesus doll; Kevin’s clear that it’s certainly not worth his time for more drama with Jill.

What is Kevin’s responsibility is a dance at the school where they will be able to arrest the GR if they show up. The mayor also shows up and argues with Kevin over replacing the Jesus doll with Mayor Lucy telling Kevin to fake finding it because he needs something to improve his reputation. But when Kevin goes to the shop he decides not to buy a new one and to find the original instead.

While driving, Kevin’s car cuts out on him but he manages to stop safely (spooky music plays because car failure is spooky now). This means he has to drive around suspicious guy’s truck instead which he uses to harass the Frost twins because they hang around with his daughter and for some reason he’s decided Jill stole the Jesus doll. Also because one of the suspects was wearing a hoody (in winter? No, surely not Kevin!) one of the twins calls that profiling (no, really really no. Absolutely not)

And time for a late night party where, yes, Jill did take the doll. Aimee insists, again, on trying to be the voice of reason (or what passes for reason in their group). Jill doesn’t listen and plans to burn the doll – then decides not to.

Kevin goes home to find Meg and Laurie on his doorstep. He invites them in and tries to remember his awkward manners. Laurie’s written a letter for Meg to real aloud to him. During the recital Laurie describes Kevin as a good husband and we learn that Tom is her son from a previous relationship. Kevin tries to stop Meg talking and address Laurie directly but Meg keeps speaking. This is all a precursor to divorce papers Laurie is carrying. Kevin is not exactly thrilled to have Laurie refuse to contact him for 6 months then come home with divorce papers. He demands Laurie say their marriage is over – not Meg, Laurie. Laurie stays silent as he shouts at her – and Jill walks in. She takes a present from under the tree and gives it to Laurie, before leaving. Kevin asks Megan and Laurie to leave.

Resurrection, Season Two, Episode Ten: Prophecy

In the past, a young Lucille checks the calendar and heads outside looking for Jacob.  In the present, a storm is brewing outside while Lucille frantically calls out for Jacob. Henry and Lucille struggle to find a flashlight and when Henry looks out the window, he realises that their other car is gone.  Henry tells Lucille that Margaret took Jacob.   Lucille grabs the phone but discovers that it is not working, so Henry tells her to try the emergency radio.

Preacher James sits outside praying in the storm and it looks like he is hit by lightening.

Maggie and Fred tell Bellamy that Jacob is missing and explain about the people who showed up at Tom's vigil.  When Fred says that it seems as though Jacob disappeared, Maggie rushes to check Jacob's blood sample.  When Maggie finds Jacob's blood, she informs Fred that Jacob didn't really disappear, adding that they have to tell Lucille and Henry.   Fred tries his cellphone but does not get a signal.

Elaine is at the bar  and Preacher James stumbles in mumbling that he has to find the boy and save him.  When he doubles over in pain, Elaine questions if has been hurt.  Deciding to check on James, Elaine opens his shirt to find what looks like a tree burned into his body. Elaine grabs the first aid kit but when she returns to the bar, James has left the bar.  Elaine heads outside with a flashlight but James is nowhere to be seen.

Henry struggles but is unable to get the radio to work. Lucille announces that she cannot sit around there doing nothing and is headed out.  Henry reminds Lucille that Fred promised to meet them there if he couldn't contact them by phone.  Right on cue, Fred, Maggie and Bellamy show up. Lucille quickly tells them that Margaret took Jacob but when Bellamy asserts that this is a good thing because it means that Jacob is not alone, Henry informs them that the last time he saw Margaret, they had a horrible fight.  The power suddenly comes back on as Bellamy questions whether or not Margaret could hurt her own grandson.  Franks admits that he confronted Margret when Barbara disappeared and Margaret didn't deny having something to do with it. Lucille starts to gather her things and Henry tries to encourage her to stay behind in case Jacob comes back but Lucille screams that her son is missing.  After making eye contact with Maggie and Bellamy, Lucille asks them to call her if they hear anything.  Fred interrupts to inform them about Elaine meeting a stranger in the bar who said he had to save the missing boy.  Maggie volunteers to stay behind with Lucille and the men head out into the storm.

Margaret and Jacob are in some kind of barn. 

Frank and Henry are driving and he suggests checking the factory but Franks says that he has already checked every inch of that place.

We get a flashback to young Margaret sitting and crying in a wedding dress.  In the present, Jacob asks Margaret if it will hurt when they go away and if it will be like when they died.  Margaret says that she doesn't remember much of what happened when she died and that she imagines that it will be like a wonderful adventure, where all the people you've ever loved will think well of you.  Clearly, Margaret is still stinging from her fight with Henry. Jacob says that he will miss his parents and hopes to see them again after they die.  Jacob asks what Margaret was thinking about and Margaret admits that she was hiding here on her wedding day the last time she was here.  When Jacob asks for more information, Margaret suggests that Jacob should get a little more rest.

Frank and Henry continue to drive together through the storm and Henry admits that he was blind all this time about Margaret. Fred simply says that Margaret has a way of making people see what she wants them to see, causing Henry to add that Frank always understood that about her.  Fred tells Henry that he is a different person now than before Margaret died.

We get a flashback to young Lucille calling Henry to say that Jacob is missing and something is not right.  Lucille hangs up and agrees to wait for Henry's call.  In the present, a panicked Lucille stares into space while Maggie tries to assure Lucille that they will call as soon as they get any word on Jacob and that Margaret probably took Jacob somewhere to stay out of the storm.  Lucille says that she has to sleep or will be useless and Maggie assures Lucille that she will be there with her.  Maggie suggests they have some tea and try and relax.

Fred runs back into the car and reveals that another location is empty.  Henry says that Margaret wouldn't leave Arcadia because that is all she knew.  Henry then says that Jacob's death changed both him and Lucille and adds that he doesn't know if they can survive another blow like that.  Fred assures his brother that they are going to find Jacob.  A call comes through the radio, giving a lead to Preacher James.

In yet another flashback, Jacob comes across baby Maggie down by the lake.  In the present, Lucille tells Maggie that they never talked about the day that Margaret and Jacob died.  Lucille says that the evening of Jacob's death, she had a biology exam and was pursuing her masters degree. Lucille admits that Henry was worried about her because she would stay up all night studying.  The day that Jacob died, she feel asleep with a book on her chest and when she woke up, Jacob was not in the house.  Lucille feels guilty that she was sleeping while Jacob was drowning.

The sun is shining, as Jacob gets up to ask his grandmother about what happened on her wedding day.  Margaret says that it's a sad and scary story.  Margaret tells Jacob that her father was a foreman who was supposed to watch over the workers but he worked for a bad man, who made her father do bad things.

We get a flash to the past with the factory on fire and Margaret's father trying to free the men, only to be stopped by his employer. Then we get a flash to mobs killing the Returned repeatedly.  Margaret explains that in return for her father's loyalty, he was told that Margaret could have a better life by marrying into the Langston family.  On her wedding day, Margaret cries, begging not to be forced to do this.

The Winter Long (October Daye #8) by Seanan McGuire

October has a long and difficult past – but at least she understood it. She’d also left a lot of it behind – she had a new life, new loves, new friends and was an honoured hero of the kingdom

But when old, long vanished people return, she quickly learns nothing was how she imagined it – and people close to her have been keeping vital secrets about her life, her past and her family

This book hit that wonderful sweet balance between EPIC and PERSONAL which is very hard to do.

We have a lot of epic because the antagonist is immensely powerful and threatens pretty much everything October knows – including the entirety of North America. She is vast and all consuming and not a power that October can reasonably match. More, this series is truly excellent at invoking the great forces of faerie, it really conveys the epic power of these beings as well as their truly alien, unknowable nature. When this series decides to bring out an epic power, there is absolutely not doubt at all how powerful it is – everyone one of the epic faerie forces has a sense of age and power that is really well conveyed even when showing their oh-so-human frailties as well. The book never really forgets what they are – epic, powerful, the stuff of legend. It’s what I’ve always loved about this series and this book doesn’t disappoint.

On the personal side – much of this book covers a lot of October’s past. Way back at the beginning of this series we knew October had recently been cursed by Simon and that this had seriously disrupted her life; Simon had also gone on to cause some trouble for Sylvester, October’s liege’s family as well. But his motives (and, relatedly, Oleander who also showed up to cause havoc) remained very opaque and in the later books we’d moved so far beyond that period in her life that it was rarely remembered. In fact, every now and then October would mention something like her fear of water and I’d suddenly remember. That isn’t a criticism – the October of The Winter Long is a very different person from the October of Rosemary and Rue, she has grown a lot and the things that once were such major issues for her have faded and been replaced by the far greater and more epic. But that growth and development makes it all the more important (and fascinating) to revisit October’s past with new perspective, knowledge and power, filling in all the gaps about her old friends, allies and enemies (and people who have moved from one category to another as well). I can’t say much more than that because I’m risking spoilers – but it is epic and fascinating and really adds to October’s backstory. And adds a whole lot more mystery to October as well – I really want to know who her grandmother is.

We also have some interesting world building on the Liudaeg who is definitely a favourite of mine – and also the interesting bindings that can restrain even the greatest and mightiest of the fae. It’s a really nice balance of surprising weakness in beings that are so incredibly powerful. There was other interesting world building elements, including what it means to be a child of Titania or Maeve (the two great fae matriarchs) with added elements of marriage in fae culture – and just what a faerie race’s First Born actually means to them.

American Horror Story, Season 4, Episode 11: Magical Thinking

A brief backtrack – Jimmy in prison and Stanley offering his terrible bargain: let him cut off his left hand and sell it in exchange for enough money to hire a lawyer. Desperate and reminded of what happened to Meep in prison, Jimmy struggles but finally agrees. Of course trusting Stanley is a bad idea:

Jimmy drinks something Stanley gets him which makes him violently sick – Stanley then has him sent to the hospital, having his co-hort/hookup/hustler pose as an ambulance driver.

Jimmy wakes up, chained to a bed with a very unsympathetic nurse (who thinks he’s a murderer, is absolutely terrible at her job and refuses pain medication) – and both his hands cut off. Stanley lied – how shocked are we not?

To the freak show with Bette and Dot using the diary for some internal musing – and praising their fellow “freaks” who are pressured to hide away - but instead celebrate themselves and they’re also all happy pleasure seekers, refusing the message that pleasure is wrong that is foisted on everyone else. Bette and Dot are focused on this – particularly sex – and they also burn their diary: they no longer want to keep secrets from each other. It’s a nicely symbolic moment for the twins’ relationship after so much resentment.

There’s a new visitor to the show – chameleon salesman (yes, really) and war veteran Chester. Chester sees Dot and Bette as totally different people which I suspect the show will link to the metal plate in his head. Bette and Dot are focused on him as their first sex partner. Chester also puts on a magic act

He tries that act – and creepy ventriloquist act – on Elsa who isn’t impressed. But she agrees to let him warm up the crowd in exchange for him also doing the book keeping. He’s fawningly grateful. And when he’s alone he argues with Marjorie, the creepy ventriloquist doll – she criticises him and he gets upset… oh… this is not going to go well.

He goes to the twins, giving them the gift of a music box and asking them to be his magicians assistant when he saws women in half (Dot and Bette are a little wary about being sawn in half given their history of attempted separation) – he explains the trick to them and also tells them how beautiful he thinks they are. They remind him of someone – that someone apparently being women he used to watch have sex with each other along with his creepy doll Marjorie.

The performance goes excellently – but there’s a man in the background watching all suspiciously (or with suspicious camera angles anyway).

Bette and Dot get all dressed up to seduce Chester that night – interrupting him arguing with Marjorie. They kiss him and grope him and he has a migraine and more flashbacks to Chester refusing to join his wife and her lesbian lover in bed. He comes back to the present and after another screaming headache looks like he’s going to have sex with Bette and Dot –but he wants Marjorie to be involved as well…

Super damsels - Strong Women in Peril

Urban Fantasy, as a genre, is no stranger to “strong female characters.” It’s not perfect, by any stretch of the imagination - we still have a lot of female characters who make us want to tear our hair out, and Spunky Agency is, alas, so common that we’ve run entire posts trying to decide which Spunky character takes the prize for the worst decision ever. We also have a lot of “strong female characters” who are little more than weapons with breasts - which often also comes with “strength” being misinterpreted as “anger management problems”.

So, yes, problems. However, putting these aside for a moment, this genre has no shortage of women who can kick arse, claw faces, chop off heads and, occasionally, throw various kinds of magical death. These women are dangerous. These women are lethal. These women can take on small armies and come out the other side with nothing more than a snarl on their face and a very big cleaning bill.

So, with all these kick arse female protagonists and main characters, why do so many of them end up in peril? Why are so many of them severely weakened, traumatised, rendered helpless and, in all too many cases, in need of rescue?

I’m using the word “peril” here for a reason. When I do a google image search for the word “peril” I get picture after picture of women largely tied up and helpless. (Even when removing deviant art from the equation). Peril, the way it is used in fiction, has very different connotations than “danger”. I would expect any Urban Fantasy protagonist to face danger on occasion, it’s an obvious part of many books with any kind of action in them. But “peril” conjures images of helpless damsels tied to train tracks while some mustachioed villain cackles over their helpless forms.

It is peril - weakness and helplessness - that differentiates this trope from the classic action-hero who gets terrible beaten up but keeps on going because they are just that tough and awesome. Or the action hero who is taken prisoner and cooly spits defiance at his captors even when they use torture and prepare the slow-killing-laser. We are not meant to be awed by these women’s ability to suffer incredible damage and still keep moving, we’re not meant to be impressed by the will of these women to keep fighting like Harry Dresden carrying on the fight while his hand is seared to the bone, or Atticus fighting on with terrible burns all over his body. Those are scenes that use danger to emphasise the protagonist’s strength - not peril to bring them low.

Kelley Armstrong’s extensive Otherworld Series is, perhaps, the poster child for this trope, so much so that her own characters even lampshade it - with Savannah commenting on how she’s starting to match Jamie in the number of times she’s been kidnapped (yes, the female protagonists in this book can have a kidnapping league. It’s almost unrealistic for them to be scared because it should be such a mundane occurrence). It’s especially vexing with Savannah because so much of the series emphasises her power (when it’s convenient to have her as a loose cannon) then we have two entire books where her power is stripped from her - and she is imperiled. Jaime sometimes manages to be captured and imprisoned several times a book but Hope could quite likely take the gold from her in the kidnap olympics. They’re truly impressive damsels. Elena is little better, despite her being one of the most lethal women in the series: being kidnapped in Bitten (where her plan involves running off alone to the bad guys to be captured because Spunky), the whole plot of Stolen revolves around Elena being captured and abused (after she drove off alone seconds after being warned of disappearing supernaturals because Spunky). Broken is another book that revolves around Elena’s peril (made more perilous by Elena being pregnant) exacerbated by her deciding to go see the bad guy alone (because Spunky).

Misery Loves Company (Miss Misery #3) by Tracey Martin

Jess decided she was going to have nothing to do with the Gryphons any more, regardless of their blackmail, not after what she learned about her childhood

That’s until her best friend Steph’s cousin is turned into a ghoul by the Goblin who owns his soul. How can she refuse to be involved in the investigation and turn her back on her friend?

Of course, going back to the Gryphons isn’t helping her rocky relationship with her satyr boyfriend, Lucen, who wants her to accept the multiple sex partners that are necessary for satyrs. And that’s before she tackles her own conflicted feelings about her own Pred heritage.

Looming over all of this, several prophecies are aligning – and the end of the world may be nigh.

This book is moving the story to a whole new level – in some ways it’s a transition book; but usually that would mean a weaker novel but that’s far from the case here. It feels like Jess has reached the end of her journey of self-discovery and all the conflict there and it has been done excellently. I’ve loved every step of that.

On top of that we have an introduction of the next stage of the meta-plot – the ominous prophecies we’ve been hearing for a while. We can see this looming, it has been introduced and the series has some excellent deduction

And, among that, we have a decent mystery that is both personal to Jess and relevant to the meta-plot but still stands up sufficiently on its own to make sure the book isn’t all about setting up the next book. We have an investigation, a clear book-specific story arc as well.

All three of these elements are really well balanced, really well paced and work extremely well together – it made the book fun to read while still serving up plenty of hooks for the fourth book.

On top of all this, as I said in the previous books, the world building of this series – the Preds and their feeding on different emotions, their forming of circles of addicts – is really original. I love reading something so very different from everything else I’ve read

The cornerstone of this book is Jess’s identity issues and they’re complex and really well done, especially how it relates to the greater world building. Jess was raised as a human, raised, like most people, to hate and fear Preds and even aspired to join the Gryphons, a kind of magical police force that exists to control and, at one time, war against the Pred races. But she has learned that, no, she isn’t cursed, she’s a pred. She’s a kind of satyr. And she’s a satyr because a segment of the Gryphons experimented on her and others while they were children – which has definitely flipped the script she’d always lived by as to who the good and bad guys are.

Forever, Season 1, Episode 12: The Wolves of Deep Brooklyn

A rich CEO is having dinner and the waiter (and son of the restaurant owner) who wants a job with his company seems to think that a) CEOs are likely to make entry level hiring decisions in huge, powerful companies and b) that he wants to have impromptu interviews over dinner.

And it actually works (kids, don’t try this at home). 5 years later he’s not only hugely successful but the rich CEO is calling him “like a son” and giving him a fancy car as a gift in which he then has sex with a woman

The next day his waterlogged body is the centre of a crime scene. Cut to Lucas and Jo who are very bored and sad that the new medical examiner is not as insightful, interesting or kooky as Henry. He also actually does his job (examine bodies) rather than engage in amateur detective work.

Henry is being kookier than usual, dissecting rats. Abe tries to talk him into going back into work and not feeling guilty about killing someone in self-defence – but it’s not entirely guilt that has Henry hiding. Henry was manipulated into killing someone, Evil Immortal Guy Lewis, outsmarted him. Abe also gets news that one of his old friends has recently lost a son.

Back to the morgue where new-medical-examiner-who-does-his-job is being all stuffy and repressive and dismissing random litter as super-important evidence and being mean to Lucas which is kind of on par with kicking a puppy. Henry swoops in to save the day (the dead man, Jason, is that friend’s dead son) to point out all the evidence bad!pathologist missed and ask a whole lot more questions. Bad!pathologist gives Jo the choice between a quick, easy resolve or Henry’s random “insanity”. Jo chooses insanity

After a brief check in with Lt Reece who is wary about Henry coming back to work because of how killing someone can hurt you, they go out to investigate: first talking to Abe’s friend Marco, Jason’s father, who didn’t see as much of his son as he’d like and was upset that his ritzy, money-obsessed life consumed so much of Jason’s time.

Then to Jason’s girlfriend at his house (who went home while Jason drove around more) who tells them how much joy Jason had in the life he was living. Henry uses genius to find a stash of cash and a key (but his girlfriend, Abigail, points out that $100,000 stashed isn’t actually a huge amount with their assets).

To Jason’s employers, an investment company, where they find people who drink champagne at work and a man, Val, already hiring decorators for Jason’s office (yes, decorators) between disparaging references to Jason’s upbringing. They also find blood in the office. Followed by a big motivational speech by Oliver Klauston, the big boss who likes to make his employees chant “kill”. Interviewing him reveals lots of arrogance and a cocky sense of his own ruthlessness and generally not helpful