Once Upon a Time, Season 3, Episode 13: Witch Hunt

Starting in the past: The Wicked Witch goes through all Regina’s beautiful shinies, slightly appalled that Regina left it all behind and didn’t appreciate it. She sends her flying monkey after Regina

Who is sad (noticed by Ruby) but also plotting how to sneak into the palace through the hidden tunnels then lower the shield – when the monkey appears (I love how Neal yells “incoming” after everyone has reacted to the screeching. That’s… real helpful there Neal. Really). Regina steps up, pulls a child from the monkey’s path then turns it into a fluffy stuffed toy.

See, that is what SHOULD happen when a flying monkey attacks the Queen. She gives the toy to the boy – Robin Hood’s son.

In the present Mary Margaret and David (damn David, are those trousers shrink to fit? No wonder the man isn’t sat down! You might want to loosen them up a bit if you ever want another child) repeat their memory loss but Hook can fill in some gaps since he did go to the Enchanted Forest with them before he rode off on his own. Naturally suspicion falls on Regina because… doesn’t it always? And Hook tells them he got a note and the memory potion and assumed it came from Mary Margaret (since when can Mary Margaret brew potions? That would mean giving her a useful skill) but apparently not.

Also dwarfs arrive to warn them that people are going missing. Apparently this is also a thing that no-one bothered to mention until now – they’re being picked off one by one. Emma naturally worries about Neal – who is missing (Leroy isn’t comforting and Hook doesn’t seem thrilled). People are camping on the edge of town… rather than living in the town. Fairy tale characters don’t need to make sense.

Emma announces they need to get their memories back. No, really? See, it’s cutting edge thinking like that that makes you the Saviour, Emma!

Back to the past and Belle the Bookworm and Regina the Sorceress Queen tell everyone that flying monkeys are from Oz and the Wicked witch has taken up residence. (Grumpy is sensible – do they need a house or a bucket of water?) After checking to make sure the Wicked Witch isn’t seeking revenge on Regina (for once Regina hasn’t met her), it’s back to the plan of Regina going in alone

Back to the present and everyone trying to deal with Henry the memory-less. Which results in Mary Margaret describing herself as Emma’s cell mate after she was arrested and imprisoned for banditry. (See above comment about Mary Margaret and useful skills). Until Regina comes in and drops everything on seeing Henry – poor Regina, that’s some excellent emotion right there. Emma takes Regina aside and we have the very expected accusations but Emma believes Regina’s innocence (I don’t know whether it’s trust, common sense or her anti-lie super power. I suspect the latter).

Robin and the Merry Men (Mulan? Is Mulan there? Apparently not…) are playing with a crossbow when Little John gets abducted by a flying monkey – at least it stops him crossing the city limits and losing his memory. Emma, David and crew arrive and they suspect the monkeys are kidnapping anyone who comes too close to the line.

This Week in Book Covers (10th March - 14th March)

We continue our weekly review of the covers from the books we read last week - the good, the bad and - actually pretty good all round this week - except for some exposed belly meat.

A Murder of Crows (The Others #2) by Anne Bishop

Ooooooooh pretty. A full head shot (no dodgy clothing with bits missing, no twisted spines or bursting cleavage) and the wind blown feathers carrying the title through and making the whole cover just a little bit sinister, along with the ominous red background and her rather complex facial expression (I see someone not liking what she’s seeing, a little awed, thoughtful and resolved). Understated, but evocative - I like it.

Silver Bullet (Preternatural Affairs #2) by SM Reine

First thing of note - the protagonist of this book is a mixed-race Latino person and it looks like that’s exactly what we have on the cover - an excellent start compared to so many others. I was actually inclined to dismiss this cover as a rather generic, “hero with gun in leather coat” cover which told me nothing about the book; but there are clues there, some crosses here, some runes there, little details suggesting more. I can’t say it’s a wonderfully compelling cover - but it’s interesting; it’s generic enough to be an indicator of the genre but unique enough to avoid being a carbon copy. I’m not sure it shows enough about the book to ensure I’d pick it up, but it’d get a second look.

Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast: 2014, Episode 10

It's Monday! Time for another episode of Fangs for the Fantasy, the podcast where we examine many of the shows we've been following this week, along with our book of the week and dissect them all from a social justice lens (though those with odd fish fixations will continue to be disappointed).

You can join us here and you can listen live on our youtube channel, here, or in our sidebar. All will also carry a recording after the show is finished. As ever all our previous podcasts can be found in the archive

The podcast begins at 7:00pm EST (technology willing)

This week we discuss The Walking Dead - look at the flowers. Look at the flowers! The Originals and Rebekah's departure, the development of the originals and the problem with having protagonists that powerful. The premier of From Dusk Till Dawn and how it has adapted the film. Grimm and the failure of the Wu storyline.

10th March - 17th March: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

17th March - 24th March: Fall of the Governor Part 2

24th March - 31st March: Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

31st March - 7th April:  The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

7th April - 14th April:  Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

14th April - 21st April: The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Night Broken (Mercy Thompson #8) by Patricia Briggs

Mercy has faced many threats over the years. Vampires, werewolves, river monsters – but now she faces a new problem: Adam’s ex-wife Christy.

She is being stalked and hunted by someone who is more than willing to kill and destroy and has already hurt her. She has fled to the only people she knows can help – her ex-husband, the werewolf, and his pack.

But her stalker is far more than just a human who won’t let go – and the whole pack may be in danger.

I really liked this story – it was nicely balanced in terms of revelations and questions. The side plots fit in well, continuing the overall story without getting in the way – but also without feeling extraneous or irrelevant. They gave a nice sense that just because the main plot is happening doesn’t mean everything else in Mercy’s life is on hold – or everything else in the world is on hold. The vampires and the fae are still present, still edging into Mercys’ life, along with the human government and its hostility to supernaturals: they’re all present but this isn’t the focus of the book. It’s a nice balance to hit.

The big bad was very big and bad indeed and really did give over a good sense of his power while not being insurmountable or being oddly weakened to make him combatable. Sure there were a few “he’s just playing with us” scenes, but the true nature of the threat they were facing and the powers they had to call on to stand toe to toe with it really came through.

And the world building is well done – no wikipedia-like info dumping we’ve seen in the past. It also drew on an area of mythology I’ve never come across before, integrated well and called on some real world history to make it work on top of that. Excellently well done, in fact

And now for something horribly horribly wrong. Adam’s ex-wife Christy needs help, she is visiting and she is evil. Of course she is. The rest of the book has a long battle between Mercy and Christie full of lots of passive aggressive digs.

Let’s remember that this is a woman who’s boyfriend has been killed, her home destroyed and she badly beaten black and blue escaping an abuser and murderer and is now desperately seeking some kind of help and protection. But no, in among all these trauma she has time to make a play for Adam and play nasty little power plays on Mercy; though even her neutral gestures are seen through the most spiteful of lenses.

Her bruises? Give her “an advantage” because she can play for sympathy. When she cooks it’s clearly so she can prove she’s a domestic goddess far superior to Mercy (not cooking to try and be grateful for the help of course. And why everyone rhapsodises over a plate of sandwiches I do not know. Seriously the cooking quality of the area must be pretty damn poor if everyone flocks for BLTs). When Christy cries, it’s manipulation. When she’s sorry she’s brought trouble to their pack, it’s more manipulation. If ANYONE shows any degree of sympathy to the woman who has been beaten and stalked by a murderer, Mercy assumes it’s more of Christy’s manipulation rather than actual sympathy.

Of course, some are just unambiguous spite from Christy as well – there’s a battle over a stained table cloth, there’s a battle over where Christy’s make up and toiletries go (she puts them in Adam and Mercy’s en suite bathroom), whenever Mercy calls Adam she answers and refuses to put Adam on the phone. She tells lies to make people think Mercy is being mean to her. 

I am actually in awe of how nasty Mercy is in this book.

All of this is watched by the three other women of the pack (because female werewolves are rare because REASONS! Female werewolves are ALWAYS rare, it’s a rule) who, naturally, pick sides and snipe and glare at each other, because women always fight and are “catty” right? Oh the men generally back Mercy (as right thinking folks) and repeatedly reassure Mercy while letting Christy have it (lots of “bitch” in there). And Mercy “jokes” about giving Christie to her abuser.

The Walking Dead: Season Four, Episode Fourteen: the Grove

We get a few through a window of what looks to be a kid taunting a zombie, while inside a the kettle whistle blows.  It's an interesting comparison to the normalcy we know and the dystopian world that is The Walking Dead.

Carol and Lizzie together keeping watch and Lizzie offers to help, if trouble arises by taking Judith. Lord, please do not hand that innocent baby to the little scary rabbit killer. Lizzie asks if there will be kids at Terminus and Carol says if they kept their kids safe.  Lizzie then recounts how she saved Tyreese by killing two people.  Carol assures Lizzie that it is fine that she shot a woman in the head.  Sure, just assure this future sociopath that it's fine to kill. What could go wrong with that? Lizzie asks if Carol had children and Carol talks about how sweet her daughter Sophia was.  Lizzie asks if her sweetness is why Carol's daughter is dead and if Carol would miss her.  Carol says that she won't have to miss Lizzie and sends her to bed. Lizzie hugs Carol and heads off to bed. Tyreese is sleeping and is having a nightmare and when he wakes, he makes eye contact with Carol.

The next day, Carol and Lizzie find something to help fight the infection on Tyreese's arm.  Tyreese and Carol talk about how far away they are from Terminus.  Carol says that Lizzie is confused about the walkers and thinks that they are just different. Carol adds that Mica is worse because she doesn't have a mean bone in her body. The group starts walking again and Carol tells them the story of Huck Finn. Mica comments that Lizzie is like Huck because she is not grossed out by rabbits. Carol and Tyreese smell a fire and agree to stop to look for water.

Tyreese holds Judith, while Lizzie initiates a game of I Spy.  When Tyreese sees something walking on the road, he hands over the baby to Lizzie and takes out his ax. Tyreese moves towards the figure which drops to the ground. When he catches up to it, it's a walker.  Lizzie stops him from killing the walker saying that sometimes they have to kill them and sometimes they don't.  In the woods, Carol informs Mica that she needs to toughen up but Mica argues that she can run.  Carol points out that her daughter ran but it wasn't enough. Mica asserts that she can kill walkers and is not messed up like Lizzie because she knows what they are. Mica says that she cannot kill people because killing people is wrong. Carol asks about people who try to kill her and Mica says that she doesn't wish she could.  Mica says that people who kill weren't like that before.  Carol tells her that she has to change or else she will die.  They see a house and walk towards it.

Lizzie, and Tyreese join them and Carol suggests staying there for awhile because there is plenty of obviously available food.. They see the smoke of a fire at a distance and Carol suggests that they play it safe.  The girls wait outside, while Tyreese and Carol prepare to go in.  Carol instructs Mica to pull out her gun because Lizzie has Judith. Why oh why do they keep letting Lizzie hold the baby?  Lizzie is worried that Carol and Tyreesee will find a walker in the house and kill it.  Mica tells Lizzie that the walkers aren't people, just as one stumbles out of the house.  Mica shoots the walker in the head and Carol and Tyrese come rushing outside.  Lizzie cries and Mica apologises for yelling and tells Lizzie to look at the flowers and count one two three.

Later, in the house, Carol cracks nuts and asks Lizzie if she is still upset.  Lizzie says that she is trying to understand.  Tyreese says that they have plenty of water and now all they to do is bag a deer.  Tyreese is content to be in a living room in a house. Mica suggests that they stay in the house.

The next day, Carol puts the kettle on the stove while outside, Lizzie plays with a walker.  Carol rushes outside screaming at Lizzie that she needs to get away.  Lizzie stands in front of the walker trying to protect it and Carol pushes it out of the way and kills walker.  Lizzie loses her ever loving mind and says that the walker wanted a friend and that Carol didn't have to kill it.  Lizzie screams repeatedly that Carol killed her friend and collapses on the ground.

New Releases 16th March - 22nd March

The following constitute either a single one off book, or the start of a new series in our genre. Please read them over and let us know if something catches your eye in the comments.

Hyde by Daniel Levine

A reimagining of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the monster's perspective, Hyde makes a hero of a villain. As a bonus, Stevenson's original novel is included at the back.

Mr. Hyde is hiding, trapped in Dr. Jekyll's surgical cabinet, counting the hours until capture. As four days pass, he has the chance, finally, to tell the story of his brief, marvelous life.

We join Hyde, awakened after years of dormancy, in the mind he hesitantly shares with Jekyll. We spin with dizzy confusion as the potions take effect. We tromp through the dark streets of Victorian London. We watch Jekyll's high-class life at a remove, blurred by a membrane of consciousness. We feel the horror of lost time, the helplessness of knowing we are responsible for the actions of a body not entirely our own.

Girls have gone missing. Someone has been killed. The evidence points to Mr. Hyde. Someone is framing him, terrorizing him with cryptic notes and whisper campaigns. Who can it be? Even if these crimes weren't of his choosing, can they have been by his hand?

Though this classic has been often reinvented, no one ever imagined Hyde's perspective, or that he could be heroic. Daniel Levine changes that. A mesmerizing gothic, Hyde tells the fascinating story of an underexamined villain.

Book of the Week

It's another Monday which means it's time for our next podcast - episode 10 of 2014 where we will talk about all of the shows we've been following this week (or as many as we can get to), our book of the week and whether Renee manages to carve through the permafrost to her home or not - all through our social justice lens. Feel free to join us, listen, ask questions or make suggestions

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

To give people a chance to read along with us we include a list of our planned books of the week for the next few shows, so people can get the books, read them and join in the conversation.

10th March - 17th March: Night Broken by Patricia Briggs

17th March - 24th March: Fall of the Governor Part 2

24th March - 31st March: Interview with a Vampire by Anne Rice

31st March - 7th April:  The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

7th April - 14th April:  Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs

14th April - 21st April: The Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice

Bitten, Season One, Episode Ten: Descent

Elena packs her bag to leave and Clay tells her that him going to Toronto, is all Jeremy's idea.   Elena is quick to point out that Clay most certainly didn't argue.  Has she suddenly forgotten how pack laws work?  Clay suggests that they head to Toronto, collect Logan and return to Bear Valley.  Of course, given her relationship with Philip, Elena has other concerns.  Elena explains the booty call last night, as her wanting to feel safe and adds that she is not always safe with Clay. Elena reveals her relationship with Philip and Clay promises that he won't hurt her, or do anything to wreck her life there.  Can we say best laid plans?

Downstairs, Nick get a call from Joey Stillwell, reporting that he has escaped the mutts who killed his father. Joey reveals his location and Nick promises to pick him up.

In Toronto, Clay and Elena head to see Logan who reveals Rachel's pregnancy.  Logan says that he is avoiding pack law which states that he is supposed to steal his newborn son and raise him alone.  Logan shows them the present he received for the baby and explains his shock, given that neither he or Rachel has told anyone.  Clay is quick to blame Santos and adds that Jeremy needs to know about this. Logan reveals his fears about being ordered home and leaving Rachel alone.  Elena advises Logan to talk to Jeremy because Logan needs the support and protection of the pack. What no one realises, is that Victor Olsen, Elena's abuser is sitting outside in a car watching them through a window.

Logan tells Elena about Philip's video and that he is asking a lot of questions. Logan adds that Philip thankfully is not focused on the wolves but Elena's necklace and clothing on the beach.  Logan explains that Philip believes that they were having an affair, so he lied and said they went skinny dipping.  Logan then pulls out the family photo Philip saw, where Elena is holding Clay's hand.  Elena promises to deal with the situation.

Joey is back at the house and he is rambling about his experience in captivity.  Jeremy says that Joey must be dehydrated and they rush around to help them.  Joey talks about his father's death frantically, while Nick tries to get him water.  Nick tells him that he found his father and buried him. Nick adds that Antonio is dead. Joey declares that they have to get the mutts.

In Toronto, Elena and Clay are at Philip's apartment so that she can grab a few things.  Clay starts to question how Elena is going to explain staying in a hotel and Elena argues back that the hotel will be easier to explain than Clay on the couch.  The argument is cut short however, when they hear a key in the lock. Elena is forced to introduce Clay and Philip and Elena is quick to say that Clay is leaving and staying at a hotel. Philip insists that Clay stay because he is family and Clay says that he will be comfortable on the couch.

Santos heads to see Olsen and reminds him that he is not working alone anymore.  Olsen reports that Elena is back in Toronto and that he still sees the lost abandoned girl in her eyes. Santos reminds Olsen that he can get revenge against Elena but he cannot touch her.  Okay, so Santos is fine with murder but he draws the line at sexual abuse?  Interesting.  Olsen reminds Santos that Cain made him, so Santos suggests that he shouldn't bite the hand that feeds because Cain is dead.

Philip is preparing the couch for Clay and they talk about Philip's ad agency.  Philip changes the subject to ask what Clay is doing here in Toronto.  Clay is quick to say that he is considering teaching at U of T and that he doesn't want to miss Elena's big show. Philip says that it is no surprise that Elena has come so far so fast. Philip and Clay chat about Elena's art and they have conflicting points of view.  Elena cuts the conversation short saying that she is going to bed.

In the bedroom, Elena tells Philip that she misses him and he asks her not to go away again.  Philip tries to initiate sex and Elena declines saying that she is not comfortable with Clay being in the other room.  They get in bed and Philip turns out the light and turns his back to Elena.  Oh things are uncomfortable in that bedroom. In the living room, Clay starts snooping through Philip's work for the vodka advertisement and finds the name James Williams - the man who hired Philip.