The Walking Dead Volume 18: What Comes After

This volume we saw a lot more of Negan and how he runs the Saviours. We saw how he is almost a cult-like figure, demanding obeisence from his followers. In many ways we saw how he was different from Governor - or perhaps how he is the next step the Governor would have to take. The Governor was brutal and dominating - but he didn’t need a cult of personality and elaborate speeches about how he was a saviour, nor did he need a harem. But then, the Governor didn’t need to control and intimidate nearly as many people as Negan did.

In some ways a lot of this volume was padding in the same way the Governor’s rape of Michonne was an unnecessary insert. We had numerous scenes that existed to just prove to us that Negan was a bad guy - something that had already been made abundantly clear. We didn’t need him to threaten the women of Alexandria with rape, when we’d already seen him with his harem - or with him torturing men (and, by extension, his harem) with a red hot iron. Negan was a bad guy. Negan is a bad guy who likes the sound of his own voice. It is clear, we don’t need to belabor the point.

One thing that did stand out though was the vulnerability of women. While we think female victimhood is an overplayed trope in just about every media out there, at the same time it is worth noting that in a dystopian - or any situation where order breaks down - women are likely to be among the most vulnerable and that needs to be shown as well in a way that isn’t gratuitous.

As ever when we have a big bad, it’s natural to draw comparisons with other leaders - particularly Rick. What struck me was that, even though Rick is maintaining a sense of being submissive to Negan (insofar as he can manage to do so), but if anything he becomes more dictatorial. He openly threatens to kick people out of Alexandria to compel obedience. Perhaps that can be seen as understandable given the threat they faced, but Rick also made this entire plan on his own. He included Jesus because he had to. He included Andrea because she was going to walk out on him. Again, there is some excuse for him keeping most of the community in the dark - but Andrea and Michonne? Surely they deserved to be included in the plan.

Perhaps the most interesting character is Carl. Carl’s childhood has been left behind almost completely, Rick barely treats his son as a child and when he does it seems almost to be naive and silly on Rick’s part, rather than the natural way you would treat a 12 year old. Andrea doesn’t seem to include him in her chewing out Rick for failing to protect the children and Michonne even takes him beyond the wall to fight Walkers on what looks like an ordinary patrol. The group has started treating Carl like an adult.

Kabu-Kabu by Nnedi Okorafor

This book is a collection of short stories so I cannot really write a synopsis other than to say most of them are led by women, who are African or of African descent , all of them are powerful and all are set in beautiful, amazing rich worlds – or our own world with some excellent fantastic twists.

And it’s huge. In fact, it felt far huger reading it than I seemed when I first saw how big it was. There are the best part of 20 stories there – they’re not all extremely long but by the end I was beginning to feel a little fatigued. It wasn’t that they were boring or bad or dull stories – it’s just that after story 16 my brain did kind of ask me “what, it’s STILL story time?!”

This is not a criticism – this is advice. Read this book, but don’t try to tackle it all in one sitting.

Part of the reason for that is this is a book that absolutely denies any kind of skimming or lazy reading. This book is meaty. This book is complex. Many of these stories tackle big, weighty issues in stark terms. There are many different issues concerning racism, Black Americans in Nigeria and conflict with Nigerians, colonialism, exploitation of Nigeria by western powers and industry, of arrogant foreigners assuming they can step into Africa however they wish. Issues  of shaming people for their natural hair, genocide, dehumanisation, degrading beliefs as “superstition”, scapegoating population, scapegoating religion, stereotyping – both religious and racial and a whole lot of challenges of assumptions. We have societies where fat women are considered the epitome of beauty or where a veiled Muslim woman is a mechanic working in her mother’s shop.

This book is stark. I don’t mean grim-dark with lots of excess awfulness everywhere in an attempt to be gritty – but stark. It’s unflinching. It both challenges that idea that Africa in general and Nigeria in particular is some grim, desperate place (even in the dystopian stories presented – which in themselves are unique simply for being African dystopians) while at the same time not flinching away from actual problems and creating some kind of unicorn inhabited utopia.  It’s stark – it looks at the whole, the bad things depicted are not presented as uniquely African or Nigerian, they’re not sugar coated and they’re not exaggerated – but they are examined and exposed and they demand you think.

All the worlds are African-centric (primarily Nigerian), from the Nigerian-American lawyer catching the Kabu in Chicago and running into all kinds of shenanigans on the way, through to the stories set in post-apocalyptic Sudan. The stories contain a lot of African beliefs, mythology, folklore and stories bringing a lot of stories we just never see in so much of Urban Fantasy –or any genre for that matter – making them extremely unique. But it’s not just the monsters and magic that are different, there is a true sense of time and place throughout the stories with the surroundings and the food (especially the food which always takes a strong place in each story).

Sleepy Hollow, Season One, Episode Two: Blood Moon

Ichabod is running through a forest and is being chased by the headless horseman.  When he turns to look behind him, the horseman has been joined by two others - together I assume this is the four horsemen of the apocalypse. Ichabod gets tangled in some roots and vines and is then sucked into a cave where he sees his wife Katrina, who tells him that is safe there for now.  Katrina tells Ichabod that a dark spirit is rising and that he must stop her before she kills again.  Ichabod then awakes to find himself in a cheap motel room.  When he tries to leave, a cop stops him, saying that he is a material witness in an ongoing case.

Abbie is at the police station and learns that the cops who were there during her last interaction with the horsemen have recanted their story.  Abbie then brings up Andy, believing that his unexplained death is evidence enough that they are dealing with supernatural forces but she is again stymied when Frank shows her a video of Andy forcefully throwing himself at a mirror and breaking his neck. Abbie asserts that this is not what happened and says that there was something in the cell with Andy. Frank says that Ichabod is mentally unstable.  As they talk, back at the cheap motel, Ichabod tries to shower and ready himself for the day. It is a comedy of horrors but he does seem to figure out how to make coffee pretty easily.  Frank tells Abbie that he cannot explain what is going on but is aware that she and Ichabod are his only cues.

As soon as Abbie shows up at motel, Ichabod says that he will not be held prisoner there.  Abbie tells him that that is under protective custody but Ichabod is not pacified.  Ichabod then tells Abbie about his dream and when Abbie questions him, she immediately channels Scully. Abbie justifies her skepticism by claiming that she is trying to hold onto her sanity.

At the morgue, a body inside of a body bag breaks free.  It's Andy and his neck is so broken, that at first he cannot see.  The demon appears again and starts to give Andy orders.  Andy falls to his knees and coughs up a medallion.  The demon issues more order and Andy questions who he is supposed to release.

Abbie and Ichabod are in a car and he  freaks out when he finds the bill from the donuts Abbie bought. Abbie instructs Ichabod not to change the subject and demands to know why he didn't know that his wife was a witch.  Ichabod explains that the witch trials were mostly over when he met Katrina and that he believes Katrina was protecting the world and the fate of the American revolution with her silence. Ichabod concedes that it sounds strange and then goes on a rant about the high rate of taxation on the doughnuts. Really Sleepy Hollow?  There's cheese and then ridiculous cheese. Abbie tells him that he is going to need a cover, which means no more conversations about founding fathers, witches, or heavy taxation on donuts.

Andy is now all dressed and behind the seat of a patrol car.  Abbie attends the funeral of her former partner, cries and has a series of flashbacks, as Ichabod looks on from a distance.  Ichabod then walks over to Katrina's gravestone  and asks what she was trying to tell him.  Ichabod remembers that Katrina refered to the dark spirit as one of them.

Cue spooky music and Andy is now in a graveyard.  He holds the demon medallion over a tomb stone and a body emerges from it.  Andy tells the creature that he was sent to help her find the people that she is looking for.  Andy then delivers the following message, "The ashes of the pious will ordain your resurrection. Take their flesh and you will reclaim yours."

Andy then pulls over someone briefly and asks for their name.  Andy tells Jeremy that what happens won't be personal, before getting in the car and driving away.  Jeremy tries to start his car and of course it doesn't.  The dead witch hops onto Jeremy's car and bursts into flames.

Abbie and Ichabod are back at the station and he is trying to talk to her about the connection of witches and the lunar calendar.  Abbie asks for a break because she was supposed to be at Quantico but Ichabod does not give her a moment's peace and replies that he too thought they lived in a world built on logic and reason, until that meeting with George Washington.  Abbie responds that she knows what she saw with her own eyes but usual police procedure is not going to cut it in this case.  Ichabod brings up the demon that Abbie saw in the forest and asks her to help him understand.  Abbie says that after she and her sister saw the demon things got bad for them.  Abbie's sister went to an institution and she broke into a pharmacy and got caught by the sheriff. The sheriff gave her the option of changing her life or going to jail and Abbie chose to change.  The conversation is interrupted by a call over the police radio.

Abbie and Ichabod head to the scene where Jeremy died.  Ichabod looks at the body, which has a gaping hole in his chest.  Ichabod then quickly surmises that he knows who killed him.  Ichabod tells Abbie of a blood moon in the past and the burned out camp they came across.  Ichabod then sensed a presence behind them and when he turned it was a woman.  The strange murders became more frequent and that Washington thought that the red coats had formed an alliance with the dark coven. Abbie and Ichaod decide to head back to the office to look at Corbin's files.  Of course when they get back, they find the office empty and the files gone. Abbie goes off to find some answers and Ichabod and Luke have a very uncomfortable conversation.  I guess being technically hundreds of years doesn't make one too old to engage in a pissing contest. Abbie explains that Ichabod is a consultant on the case she is working on when she returns.

Cursed (Fallen Siren Series #1) by S.J. Harper

Emma is a siren, banished from Olympus by Demeter for failing to keep Persephone safe, she now must seek redemption by saving kidnapped women and girls as an FBI agent if she is to ever have any hope of returning to Olympus. And in the meantime she must avoid any romantic entanglements or risk Demeter’s spite

Which makes her new partner, Zach, who she previously had a fling with, very complicated indeed. Especially since he’s a werewolf with a difficult past and fleeing political turmoil in his pack.

But emotions aside the job calls, people are going missing, people without any apparent connection between them – it’s their job to find them, preferably alive.

The story and world are definitely appealing – Emma is a cursed Siren and we have a wonderful new take on Siren mythology (especially since siren mythology is one of those that has several different versions). Emma’s quest for redemption, without any real confidence of ever being redeemed, is a powerful one – but not one that eats up the story with angst. She seeks redemption so she gets on with her job – she’s not happy with Demeter but she isn’t going to curl up into a sobbing ball for pages of how miserable she is, but at the same time her sadness, frustration and despair is apparent.

The book is a police procedural and I know that has been done a lot in Urban Fantasy – but it works. It works because it is actually a police procedural with the law and detective work and channels and procedures to follow. “Detective” isn’t a job just used as a title to justify why the woo-woo character happens to be involved in the latest case, it actually means something. Which in turn leads to the story being compelling as Emma and Zach hunt down leads, follow up possibles actually have to interview people and work and chase dead ends and generally do police work.

It’s got a wide world that has only been hinted at but already leaves me eager for more – the different werewolf packs and politics from that, the vampire kings and their own politics. With lovely extra twists like the vampires not wanting to reveal themselves to humans because they distrust the humanity of humanity! Because human exploitation, arrogance and cruelty is such that they think it wiser to hide from them – I love that twist.

When it comes to romance there’s usually a lot of tropes going on that give me headaches – but this managed to navigate them well, much to my happy surprise.

Firstly, there’s no love at first sight or love at first woo-woo – there’s attraction that grows into more and there’s also history between them. Just the fact they have been together before, that they know each other, that they’ve worked together gives a foundation on which that attraction and emotion can actually be built upon rather than just racing to the “rawr, sexy times!”

Utopia, Season 1, Episode 6

The radio announces more outbreaks of the Russian flu and more people beginning to panic and flood GP’s surgeries while the gang gathers up their things ready to leave – and Jessica Hyde dramatically joins them. She has the manuscript which she gives to Wilson. It has everything in it – the experiments, the murder victims – all of it.

Of course, the gang aren’t especially pleased with her given her actions last time they saw her. To which she responds, in classic Jessica style, that she needed to set a trap. They were bait. “I’m sorry, let’s move on.” An apology with all the sincerity of a celebrity who just dropped slurs on twitter. Becky wants to chew her out some more but Jessica is far too goal orientated for that – specifically she wants to know where Grant is and where the pages she gave to him are, especially since those pages contain the real name of Mr. Rabbit.

While Wilson analyses the cryptic pages, Jessica loses her shit and starts tearing the place apart looking for the pages until Becky delivers an epic slap down of “killing Mr. Rabbit won’t make your father any less of a cock.” The verbal battle escalates a little until Alice hands over the pages – Grant isn’t that good at hiding things. Now she wants them to find Grant.

Which is looow on Jessica’s priority list. She and Becky continue to snap at each other, she wants Wilson to hack GCHQ and find someone of the name “Leton” who may or may not be Mr. Rabbit but he’s all distracted because he’s not entirely on their side any more.

Grant is, of course, in the Network’s hands, being questioned by the Assistant. He has Grant’s pictures he drew of the comics including the cryptic page of Janus with all the random numbers which he thinks is an essential protein code – unfortunately Grant didn’t finish it, they need 3 more 5 digit numbers and they need Grant to remember them. Seemingly impossible, but the Assistant is quite willing to lay on the pressure –including footage of Grant’s mother to show they’re watching her.

They leave him the laptop of his mother’s every activity while he struggles to remember. He manages to dredge up one number but his pleas that he can’t remember any more are ignored. Left alone again he takes apart the lap top.

And Michael and Jen have taken Anya in – and taken over her medical care (and Michael is still in the guilty dog house, naturally) and not entirely happy to see his boss, Geoff, being hailed in the news as the country’s saviour with his department’s brilliant forward planning over Russian Flu. Especially since the vaccine has been hurried through and is going out the next morning.

At work there’s a little snag to that – before the vaccine can be released it needs to be independently tested and analysed by, well, Michael (Geoff can’t do it because politics may motivate him, it has to be a civil servant). Geoff has the team –Michael’s job is to sign it off without questioning. Awww, Michael can’t wash his hands of the whole thing.

Becky does meet up with the nasty Dr. Donaldson to make it clear she is never going to help him again – she appeals for the medicine she needs as one last plea to whatever shred of humanity he has in him. Of course, he throws them in the lake, no humanity detected here. Back at the mansion, with Ian, she worries about whether Deals has started – or if she’s just imagining it and stressed. Ian promises to stay with her but she recites the awful symptoms of Deals and doesn’t think she wants someone to watch her endure it all. Instead she talks to Alice about the cryptic code page.

Meanwhile Wilson easily hacks GCHQ (he’s contemptuous of the security) but has to cover his tracks – so that means trawling through lots of databases he’s not interested in so he’ll be taken as a UFO conspiracy theorist. He also tries – unsuccessfully – to get Jessica to leave him alone so he can contact the Network, she’s a hard woman to get rid of. He almost gets a message off to the Network – just as he gets a result and has to delete the email.

The result has a reference to “Letan”, his name is redacted and changed on all official documents – but they missed the footnote (see, I love this – because it’s so real. How is a conspiracy discovered? Simply by finding the mistakes that people will make – and there will always be mistakes. It has a realness to it that adds so much context).

Knowing Mr. Rabbit was on this committee (on weaponised genetic research) they print out the committee’s pictures. 18 people, 14 men, 7 of which are dead or incapacitated. Unfortunately, none of them recognise any of the 7 men – so Jessica decides to kill them all.

Michael goes to see Anya – and is attacked by Ian who points a gun at him. Michael tries to protest his innocence – and offers to help them find the vaccine.  Michael quickly calms down the panicking Anya and gives Ian the address of the warehouse full of vaccine; Ian, intelligently, demands he bring it up on googlemaps to confirm there is actually a warehouse at the location. He offers to get them inside, to help – and then Anya grabs the gun and smacks them both down. Then she calls the Network; in a perfect English accent.

Oh I did not see that coming! Cue sputtering guppy-fish reaction from Michael. When she turns away, he pulls the rug out from under her – literally – and then rushes her and hits her in the head and she smacks her head on the glass table. She looks pretty dead. Ian leads the shellshocked Michael out before the Network team arrives.

Ian and Michael return to the mansion just as Jessica and Becky are having another fight – Becky accusing Jessica of being too emotionally attached. Everyone panics a little about Michael. He tells them about the warehouse and he recognises one of the pictures they have up – Conran’s assistant, the man really running Corvadt.

It looks like they just found Mr. Rabbit.

Grant, in his cell, fills in another number and buzzes for the Assistant. He hides a piece of sharp metal he removed and bent from the lap top. But he doesn’t  use it.

Back at the mansion, Jessica is determined to go and hunt down Letan in broad daylight – which everyone tells her is foolish and, no matter what she says, at this late stage won’t stop the warehouse of Janus vaccines going out. There’s another stand off, Ian refusing to hand over the gun and Jessica threatening more violence when Alice – she has impeccable timing that child – calls them over to where she’s been examining the Manuscript.

Spreading out the pages, she has found a pattern – lines and dots that go from one page to the next – together forming a molecular diagram. The structure of Janus. The real Janus, not just the vaccine test. Everyone leaves while poor Michael tries to praise Alice for being so clever, aww bless (Alice is, indeed, very clever – clever enough to know when she’s being patronised). Michael justifies why he handed over Grant to Alice and Alice talks about her mother and finally breaks down. They sit and talk and Michael holds her

The Volatile Amazon (Alliance of the Amazons #4) by Sandy James

Sarita, the Water Amazon, is often considered the weakest of the four and certainly the least likely to be sent out on a mission alone. So she’s surprised when Ganga insists she goes on a mission that would normally be Becca’s field of expertise.

That’s not the first surprise – from falling into the hands of Ian who has been plaguing her dreams for weeks, but has his own plans to her – to then actually falling in love in the most unlikely circumstances, things change very quickly for her.

But they need to change – including her powers – as Helen advances her plots and becomes ever closer to destroying the Amazons – and the world with them.

Putting the romance to one side, there’s a lot to say about story and character development in this book.

This feels like the last book in the series and would be appropriate as such since each Amazon has had a book of her own. The book was perfectly written to close their ongoing story arc, deal with the big bad and end in a grand epic conflict. All the Amazons have their HEA, and the future is decided. It’s closed neatly and nicely with no unresolved threads. At the same time we have a careful nudging of that door ajar should future stories in the same world happen – along with cameo or even full appearances of the Amazons and their families. There’s a couple of storylines that could be pursued but don’t need to be –it’s a nice way to wrap up a series while still leaving the option of picking it up again.

The story also had a wonderful sense of epic. The consequences of failure were grand, emotional and extremely clear, the menace was well maintained and the fight scenes were action packed, excellently written and great fun

I also liked a lot of the character development. The goddesses have frequently been presented as vain, fickle, egotistical, petty, selfish and generally unpleasant and incapable of getting anything done. All of this is true. But this book also underscores that they do care – in their self-absorbed way – they care about humanity or they wouldn’t have created the Amazons at all. We have this displayed wonderfully and it adds some great depth to the four goddesses – and even Frejyr.

Sarita also grew well, going from a woman plagued by her insecurities about her scar and being the weakest Amazon to growing in her power and confidence, determined to be treated as an equal and be firmly respected by everyone, resisting any attempts to infantilise her. It was good to see – but unfortunately the whole “Volatile” element meant Sarita had a lot of temper tantrums storming out of the room. Even when they were justified, they were childish and not the way I would have expected her to resolve her issues, especially since we’ve seen no sign of it to date. But often her sisters had a point and their input should have been respected. It was annoying.

I do like that Sarita’s power growth was pushed by goodness. Sheer, pure hearted, goodness. I know that sounds twee, but it’s nice to see a character who is empowered through tweeness rather than being super dangerous or the child of a god or other source of immense power – Sarita is powerful because she is just such a good person. Good enough to use dark magic without being corrupted. Good enough to become the very opposite of a dark practitioner.

Those are the good. The bad is that I just didn’t get the story. Parts of it were unbelievable, parts of it didn’t make sense and parts of it were too damn vague.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

Alright, I fully admit that by doing a marathon on all of the Star Trek movies, I am stepping completely outside of our stated genre, but as a life long Trekkie, this simply had to happen. Given the success of this franchise, I'm betting that at least a few of our readers are also Star Trek fans. Of course, I will stick to the usual social justice perspective, as we work our way through the series.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, is the last movie which includes all of the original Star Trek cast.  In someways, it's bittersweet because clearly the actors at that point were ready for retirement but at the same time, without them, there would have been no Star Trek.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country begins with the crew being called in three months before their retirement, after the Klingon moon Praxis has exploded.  This is a disaster for the Klingons and will mean their absolute destruction, unless they forge a peace agreement with the Federation.  Spock arranges for the Enterprise to escort  Klingon Chancellor Gorkon to earth for peace talks.  Kirk feels that Spock has overstepped and makes it clear that he does not trust Klingons.  Kirk brings up David and calls Klingons animals outright.

On the voyage to rendez-vous with the Klingon bird-of-prey, we meet Valeris, Spock's protégé and replacement for Sulu. Spock says that this will be his last voyage on the Enterprise as a member of its crew and that he intends for her to take over for him.

Upon meeting up with Chancellor Gorkon's ship, the Klingon's beam over to share dinner with the crew of the Enterprise and it does not go well.  The humans are appalled at the Klingons lack of human table manners.  Chang speaks of his admiration of Kirk as a fellow warrior but it is clear that there is more to this than just his supposed respect for Kirk.

As soon as the Klingons return to their ship, the Enterprise picks up a strong energy surge.  The crew watches in horror, as the bird-of-prey is fired upon several times.  On the bird-of-prey, two humans in Enterprise space uniforms board and proceed to wound and kill several Klingons, including Chancellor Gorkon. When Kirk finally gets in touch with the Klingon ship, he says that he is surrendering, rather than escalate the situation and then beams aboard the bird-of-prey.  Kirk and Bones are promptly taken prisoner after Gorkon's death and put on trial. They are sentenced to life without parole.

In typical Kirk fashion, he gets into several fights and just manages to escape with the help of Spock.  They discover that the saboteur is actually Valeris and make it to the new peace conference in time to stop the death of more Klingon officials and the president of the Federation. Kirk gives one final speech and heads back to the Enterprise, where he decides to go on a space jaunt, rather than showing up to be decommissioned.

Haven Season 4, Episode 2: Survivors

The sign tells us it’s Haven Founder’s Day coming up! And the crumbling man made of charcoal tells us that the Troubles are still going strong and there’s likely not going to be a lot of celebrating. And Nathan is still trying to find Audrey though Dwight points out that, with the crumbling human charcoal and all, he might want to put that on the back burner for a little bit.

The woman has been completely incinerated, her flesh charcoal, only her teeth and bits of metal unscathed. And the fire was oddly contained – everything around her is untouched. Dwight actually thought everyone could celebrate Founder’s Day without troubled shenanigans – this shows that Dwight is most certainly overly-optimistic.

In the morgue she’s identified by her teeth – Sally Marigold, who recently lost her brother Bill the firefighter during the meteor storm when a building burned down on him. It left his body looking awfully like Sally’s and Nathan and Dwight jump to the same Trouble in the family (or he was a firefighter caught in a burning building. Far be it from me to play Occam’s Razor on Haven – but their bodies look alike because they both burned. Do you expect them to look different?)

At the Gull, Duke and Jennifer talk to Duke’s brother Wade, who seems way more staid and organised than Duke. At least Duke didn’t have to come up with a good excuse, since the sensible brother knows better than to ask questions about Duke’s business dealings. Just in case, Jennifer isn’t stopping her meds even though Duke tells her it was all real and she isn’t schizophrenic – she’s not risking it. While Duke was gone, it also seems Vince and Dave Teague tried to buy the Gull (they are fabulously rich and own nearly everything – more mystery from those 2).

Duke runs to confront Vince who tells him they did it to try and get rid of his brother – the Guard doesn’t really want another Crocker around with Duke’s Trouble (if he kills a Troubled person, he removes the Trouble from their family – unfortunately this led to some Crockers running around stabbing people for funsies which is Frowned Upon). Duke wants to make sure the Guard doesn’t target Wade, and Vince (his tattoo magically appearing) agrees that if Wade leaves Haven only Duke will be running around with a target on his back (yes, he does enjoy upsetting Duke).

Jennifer checks in on the other Teague to hear how they cover up the Troubles, why the Troubles are a bad thing rather than nifty abilities, shows her a picture of Audrey and makes her a little more uncomfortable with his faith that Jennifer will find Audrey. No pressure there Jen.