Frat House of the Dead (Salt Lake After Dark #1.5) by J.K. Walker

Rachel has finally and reluctantly been coaxed out of her quiet, happy solitude for a Hallowe’en  -party – thanks to Tammy’s determined insistence.

It looks like they may be right – Cassie, Angel, Tammy and Jazz definitely know how to have fun

Then zombies ruin everything. And zombies and frat houses do not mix.

This book was immense fun with a lot of humour and some really great movie references and geeky references. It’s references like this that really build these four women as friends because you can feel the movie nights behind it, the constant back and forth, the long comfort with each other; and poor Rachel’s out-of-placeness simply because she’s way more geeky than them. But they are happy to engage with her geekiness and her geekiness doesn’t mean they’re all less intelligent than she.

It’s awesome interaction and excellent character building. It would have been great if they’d been out camping together or performing an onerous but non-stressful task or any number of other scenarios

It doesn’t work during a zombie outbreak. Especially not one that relies on a lot of powerful pathos to sell scenes of self-sacrifice, the greater good and the intense caring between the four and especially Rachel for Tammy.

It’s hard to put scenes of loss, of terror, of horror in a book where characters are joking and giggling during; not even black humour. It was great, fun, silly humour – and it didn’t work for me. We had excellent humour and excellent horror with a side order of powerful grief and put them all together it was like the most delicious pizza covered in the most decadent ice cream. Separately I’d be in heaven. Together, it tastes really weird and is kind of soggy and cold.

I loved that we had some confirmation of the strong hints on Rachel and Tammylast book – they like women (though, again, we’re dodging around actually using any of the LGBT letters because authors are terrified of them for some unknown reason). Tammy and Rachel care for each other, have finally forged a relationship in the aftermath and showed some real emotion for each other. I think I would have liked to see their friendship develop more, we do seem to have had several weeks pass since the last book and the friendship is just taken as a given, but I do think that will happen in later books as we follow the four women.

The 100, Season One, Episode Eleven: The Calm

The 100 are hyper vigilant, firm in the belief that the Grounders are coming.  Bellamy informs Clarke that Jasper believes he can make more gunpowder and Raven thinks that she can turn that it into landmines. Clarke comments on the irony of surviving 100 years and returning to earth so that humans can go back to slaughtering each other and wonders if there is another way.  Clarke adds that maybe Abby was lucky because she died quickly on the Exodus and that no one is coming down to save them.

On the Arc, Cain slowly comes to consciousness and finds himself alone, so begins to look for fellow survivors.

Back on earth, Octavia is supervising the smoking of meat and Bell snarks that she learned how to do this from her Grounder boyfriend. Murphy questions why Octavia didn't talk to Bellamy about getting a better job and she simply replies if she didn't do it, someone else would have to do it.  Am I the only one wondering what the hell Murphy is still doing in camp?  Octavia is working with ammunition and she is joined by Finn, who says that he keeps wanting to apologize but Raven assures him that they are good.  Raven adds that she isn't just keeping busy but is keeping the 100 alive.  Finn starts to leave and Raven assures him again that they are good and that she just wants him to be a happy.  Okay the Grounders are probably coming, they have lost contact with the earth, and the Exodus has crash landed but by all means, take time to angst about the love triangle.. Calls of  a fire break up the conversation and when Finn and Rave head outside, the smoke house is on fire.  Octavia asks what they are going to do because the smokehouse contained all of the food.

Later, with the ashes of the smokehouse still smoldering, Bellamy tells Clarke that Bell kept feeding the fire because Octavia told him it was a bad idea. Yeah, we didn't need another reminder that the 100 are juveniles but I suppose that this sufficiently puts them in jeopardy.  Clarke questions if they should believe Murphy and then brings up the scant supplies they have left, suggesting that they have to hunt.  Bellamy questions if this is a good idea because of the Grounder army but Clarke makes it clear that they cannot defend themselves if they are hungry.  Later, Bellamy organizes a hunting party and makes it clear that the bullets are for Grounders only and that the 100 are to use spears for hunting.  He orders that they are all to return before it gets dark. Finn asks Clarke to go with him and she turns him down but Finn invites himself along, as Raven of course sends him pained looks.  Raven returns to her tent to pack supplies but Bellamy tells her that she is not leaving. Raven points out that on the Arc, Bellamy was a janitor.  Bellamy points out that it's too dangerous to go alone and asks Raven what else she has in her head.  Raven brings up building radios so that the 100 can talk to each other. Bellamy says that they need her because she is smart.

On the Arc, Cain continues to look for survivors.  Cain come across a survivor named Wood, who informs him of a hull breech in engineering. The two start walking, looking for more survivors and Cain comments that it's like they are on a ghost ship.  They come across a group of people.

Back on earth, Miles, Finn and Octavia find themselves following suspicious tracks.  Miles is shot with arrows, (yep, I knew Miles was the red shirt of that little team) so Clarke and Finn decide to leave him but they don't get far before the are knocked unconscious by Anya and a group of Grounders.

On the Arc, Cain realises that the temperature is dropping and says that it must be a message that they are being monitored.  He is however told by Wood that he must have hypoxia. Cain says that they have to get moving now.

On earth, Clarke ad Fin are marched into a holding area.  Finn whispers that he knows where they are because he tracked their distance along with memorizing markers.  Clarke suggests that this doesn't matter because they weren't blindfolded because the Grounders didn't care what they saw. Clarke believes that they are going to be killed. Anya joins them and uses her sword to free Clarke.  It seems that one of them is sick and so Clarke is ordered to make her better.

Cain and the rest of the survivors come to a collapsed area.  Wood  uses a communications device to contact the earth monitoring station and discover that Jaha survived. Cain reports that he has one dozen survivors with him.  Jaha tells Cain to lead his people to the mess hall because Sinclair is re-rooting power and heat there.  Cain agrees to do so only after he gets Jaha but Jaha says that fire burned through most of the oxygen in his section and all access to it is blocked off.  How many times is Jaha going to play the role of brave hero by offering to die? Cain tells Jaha that he is not going to let Jaha die but Jaha orders him to gather as many survivors as he can.  Cain decides to go on a one man rescue mission and orders the rest of the survivors to the mess hall.  Instead of leaving Cain behind, the other survivors work with him to free Jaha. Exactly why are the survivors interested in saving Jaha when it has been revealed that all he has done is lie to them? I think I would have left him there.

The Art of Inserting a Token

 One of the prevailing problems with minority representation (beyond erasure - which is still a major issue) is tokenism. The minority character who is dropped in to, basically, be a minority. They’re there to tick some boxes on the inclusion check sheet so the writers/producers/creators can all sit down and pat each other on the back for being all modern.

Of course, “random minority” may be an accurate description of a cast member, it does become awkward actually coming up with a reason why your super special protagonist has, say, a Black lesbian following them around. Of course, you could actually create a fully rounded character with actual goals and a life and issues that blend into the plot line and fully integrate them with the story. But that’s a whole lot of effort for some inclusion box ticking! That might mean working for those precious inclusion cookies!

Instead, here are some handy-dandy tried and tested methods to get your characterless token seamlessly shoe-horned into the cast, following you precious protagonists around while you bask in the warmth of your benevolent diversity.

The Friend

Wait, I hear you cry, this sounds like a lot of effort! You’ve got to establish an actual relationship and make the protagonist care about them and give reasons why they’re friends; that’s a lot of bother!

Ah, but you can just take all that as given. Start the story with your Token Minority clearly labelled as your protagonist’s friend (“Bestie” or “bff” also works) and we can assume all that pesky development stuff happened already. That way when the story starts, they can get right into the good stuff - following the protagonist around, listening to every problem the protagonist has, telling the protagonist how awesome they are, being fully invested in all the protagonist’s issues and being obedient to the protagonist’s whims. After all, they’re FRIENDS! Instant motivation!

Examples: Bonnie (The Vampire Diaries), Hale (Lost Girl), Mulan (Once Upon a Time: friend/love interest/servant), Aaron (Switch), Russell, Astrid (Tomorrow People), Tara, Lafayette (True Blood), Akeldama (Parasol Protectorate Book Series)

Family

Ok, you didn’t want to go with friend because you still thought you’d have to have your protagonist at least PRETEND to care about the friend’s issues. And then you’d actually have to give the friend some issues which is just so much effort for a random token. So, go for family instead! After all, you choose your friends but you’re stuck with your kin, right? As an added bonus your protagonist doesn’t even have to like them - or be remotely likeable - that familial love is an automatic given. All the bonus of a friend, for even less work.

If you’re really good, you can also pull this off with a love interest. After all, they love the protagonist so that gives them plenty of reason to hang around; but this is tricky since you have to present them as someone your protagonist actually loves without actually wasting time giving them a personality.

Examples: Felix (Orphan Black), Priscilla (Revolution), Wells (The 100), Sean (Otherworld Book Series), Alec (Mortal Instruments Book Series)

The Colleague

This has all the bonuses of a friend, but also lets the character keep them around on the job - and no need to worry about them having any of their own storylines, they should be leaving that personal crap at home (unlike your protagonist who is special and different, of course). We have the same instant, development-less motivation to be around and to serve - and because it’s their job we can even count following the protagonist around as fulfilling their job!

Examples: Hank, Wu (Grimm), Barbie (Witches of East End)

Support Worker

The trouble with the colleague is that they’re ALWAYS THERE. And sooner or later someone’s going to point out that they’re a moveable cardboard cut-out. So, get someone in who is a little less high profile - someone whose job means they’re always kind of around the protagonist but not all that involved. Then you have a minority to tick those boxes without the demand to actually do something with them

Examples: Leena, Abigail (Warehouse 13), Many minor pathologists (Blood Ties, Alcatraz)

Fevered Souls Season 1 by S.K. Falls

Cara dreaded returning home from Chicago – but with no job and no job prospects, she didn’t really have much choice but to return to the small town of Eden

And get a job with the mysterious and wealthy Dax Allard – but an encounter with a hellhound and a strange mystical connection has made this small town far more exciting than she imagined.

I am often wary of romance in books – not because I’m against a romance plot, but because there are so many ways a romance plot can be written to guarantee I’ll hate it. What are those ways? Well there are several. And they’re in this book.

All of them.

Cara and Dax meet and LOVE STRIKES! Special Woo-woo love that means she is now his betrothed (which totally doesn’t mean the same as what we usually mean by that word – it also includes a compulsion to murder as well). She is dramatically attracted to him at first sight, tearful at the idea of his rejection and neither of them can stay away from each other.  No development, no character (at all), no relationship, no interaction – just ZING INSTA LOVE FOREVER! Not only insta-love, but she is addictive to her – even her smell (like a certain sparkly vampire we may know) meaning it’s almost impossible for him to be around her without a relationship happening (at least in the beginning of the book, not so much by the end because consistency is not one of this book’s strong points).

Dax is a demon which makes him super dangerous and deadly to Cara – but she doesn’t care! She has known him for precisely 2 seconds and will now be with him forever EVEN IF HE MAY EAT HER SOUL! Of course he nobly warns her several times which she just completely ignores, maybe pausing long enough to insist that he’d never hurt her because she just knows. She’s also the one to keep pushing for the deadly soul eating sex because life and limb meaning nothing to this woman.

Being a noble love interest, Dax decides to protect Cara by staying away from her – something she takes as devastating, tearful rejection. In a job interview. Yes because he’s a complete stranger looking to employ her and him not doing so is enough to cause an epic tantrum of “it’s not fair!!!!” Frankly, I wouldn’t have hired her anyway, because she went to this interview for a job she needed and wanted and didn’t bother to research it first – not even realising Dax was a person, not a company. She googled him after the fact.

And while Dax is a demon he’s a super-special nice demon, not only abstaining from human souls (a demon vegetarian? Do they have golden yellow eyes) but being a special kind of demon that has SUPER BINDING LOVE.

We have a love triangle – but not really. There’s a guy, James, who’s really into Cara but she doesn’t like him that way – so she invites him to talk in the middle of the night, hugs him a lot and generally keeps him hopeful and he remains on call. He constantly worries about Cara being in an abusive relationship because Cara, well, basically keeps sending up red flags that she’s in an abusive relationship.

Review and Recap: The 4400 Season One

Though I very much enjoyed season one of Resurrection, many of the discussions online kept bringing up The 4400 as a referential.  The curiosity finally  got to me and I decided to give it a go myself.  The 4400 is about a group of humans who are abducted and suddenly returned all at once.  We aren't originally told who took them but by the end of this season, we learn that they were taken by humans from the future to avert a catastrophe which would lead to the near extinction of all humankind.  Many of the 4400 who returned were also given special powers.  NTAC (The National Threat Assessment Command), which is a division of Homeland Security, is the unit assigned to keep watch over the 4400, for both the protection of the 4400 themselves and the general population.

Much of the first season deals with the 4400 trying to adjust to the new timeline.  Some are able to continue on as though nothing went wrong and others, like Richard Tyler, an air force pilot who disappeared in 1951
discover that most of their family is gone, along with any trace of the society they once knew.  This is what makes the season compelling to me. Because of the large number of returnees, The 4400 does occasionally engage in a returnee of the week story; however, due to the fact that the 4400 quickly become organized and the same NTAC agents work each case, the story never lost its cohesion and it managed to keep the meta plot moving quite nicely. As much as there is strong sci-fi element to The 4400, it's the human relationships that keep this showing moving.

The 4400 is very much a White centric show despite being located in Seattle and the 4400 consisting of people across the globe.  Unsurprisingly, The 4400 is also overwhelmingly U.S. centric.  I am not surprised by the Whiteness of the show because sci-fi has a long history of excluding people of colour.  Richard Tyler seems to be very central to the show itself but his position as the only man of colour very much tokenizes his character. The 4400 does a great job of depicting the racism he faced as a Black man in the military in 1951; however, in the  present time, race disappears as an issue for Richard.  He is told about Blacks in high level government position and racism is depicted as something which is an archaic idea.  It is further problematic  that when Richard has problems gaining and maintaining employment, he then compares the oppression he faces as a member of the 4400 to Jim Crow.  To be clear, these words were placed in this character's mouth by the writers.  Not only is it a false equivalency, it's absolutely racist.

This Week in Book Covers 19th May -23rd May

This week we have a lot of pretty to feast our eyes on - but also a lot of books that, for various reasons, just have bits that seem out of place. Either the book itself hasn’t been consistent with the setting, or the cover isn’t really conveying what lies within the pages.

Deep Blue by Jennifer Donnelly

There seems to be an odd link between compelling, beautiful covers and pretty bad books. Not always, by any stretch, (Steampunk tends to break the rule); but here we have a pretty beautiful cover and a not very compelling story

It does a good job of showing the story, but in some ways it has been too faithful - like showing the burning building under water. And showing the very book-accurate gown on the mermaid which just makes me think how incredibly awkward it must be Serafina to actually swim in. The cover’s too accurate! It shows how silly some parts of this world are!

Mountain Echoes (Walker Papers #8) by C. E. Murphy

A lush, beautiful scenario full of the natural wonder that is so important to the series. Subtle Native American accents to Joanne’s clothing which fits with her so well and makes the link that so underpins this book without resorting to feathers etc.

And Joanne apparently wanting us all to look at her breasts. Why is she laid in the middle of the forest (she’s probably laid on a rock. Or a pine cone. It looks damned uncomfortable)? Why do we have a protagonist who has an enchanted sword and wears an ankle length white leather duster not looking cheesey-awesome and badass on the cover? Did she get lost on the way to saving the world and instead end up in a magazine shoot?

Tales of the Hidden World by Simon r Green

This short story collection has an excellent, coherent, link between the best stories in the book (something that many collections miss) – they’re all extremely, incredibly eerie. There’s a sense of darkness, of creepiness that permeates every story here. Not otherness – speculative fiction lends itself to otherness and weirdness – but crawl down your spine creepiness. For most of them

Then there’s a few extra stories slotted in there which just feel more questionable

There is a theme of death that carries through many of these stories – the nature and fear of death in particular and even a question of whether death is worse than life. A Question of Solace takes an old man who has lived an exciting and productive life, finally slowing down and losing his touch but not realising it; his memories, his doubts, his guilt over his legacy all combine to be a beautiful, powerful and moving goodbye scene for him – a time when death is certainly not to be feared or grieved, but a life celebrated. Dorothy Dreams is a powerful story of Dorothy from Oz growing old, being forgotten, neglected in her old age, finally getting to return to Oz. It’s a beautiful interpretation of that old story – and so many other stories – and another story that celebrates death even as life is seen as something painful to endure.

Find Heaven and Hell In the Smallest Things takes it to the next level, with Paul, the protagonist, enduring a living hell after his life was “saved” after a terrible accident; saved but now doomed to work the rest of his days imprisoned in a mechanical suit, enduring horrendous conditions to serve the government with the incomplete memory of his dead wife in the suits computer for company – a wife who cannot remember the last 3 years of their marriage or that it had fallen apart before her death. The excellent writing really does bring home a fate worse than death and any release as a relief.

Down and Out in Deadtown also follows the theme of death but to a far more cutting degree – the dead rises in a zombie horde… that doesn’t hunger. They’re dead… but moving. Not moving much or doing anything – they’re just… there. And people are happy until they realise the returned dead aren’t who they want them to be so they’re shuffled away and forgotten, rendered invisible; and all of this is told through the eyes of a homeless man – shuffled away and forgotten, rendered invisible. The comparisons and insight is razor sharp and very very true.

Many of these stories make me want to read more in the universe – A Question of Solace certainly will have me looking up the rest of the Drood series – supernatural James Bond’s trying to deal with world wide supernatural and sci-fi problems, with a side order of moral quandaries as they have to do terrible things for the “greater good”? Sign me up for that – exciting, well written and full of surprising depth and characterisation, I’m sold. I’d already read Street Wizard in another anthology and what I said then still applies. It’s All About The Rendering is probably the only story in this book that isn’t a little dark in some way – it’s a surprising break among the deep, dark, grittiness, hard choices, and uplifting death: a fun, whacky story of a house on the border between normality and wonder. And I really want to read more. It does seem completely out of place in the book, however.

In the Flesh, Season 2, Episode 4

Amy starts her day with an attempt at breakfast – which is a little odd since the PDS don’t eat and she spits the bar she eats into the sink.

Phillip, by his dreams, is still obsessed with Amy – and he comes downstairs to find his mum, the awesome Shirley, talking to Henry’s mum and they’re pretty upset that absolutely no-one cares about Henry’s disappearance. That also includes Phillip

Which brings us to Maxine who also doesn’t care – since she’s poring over her records to find the first risen; so much so she threatens the PDS with being listed as non-compliant for not listing their times of rising (which, since most of them don’t know, is likely to just get everyone to make it up). While she does this, Dean leads the “give back” PDS on how not to alarm living people (which is every bit as awful as you can imagine). Simon is missing and Kieren notices, so is Amy.

Back at the Walker household, Jem tells her mum, Sue, that she’s going on patrol again and everything is totally fine while Sue worries massively about her daughter (and for pretty good reason).  

Kieren comes home and his dad is still all positive and upbeat about the whole give-back scheme while Kieren can see exactly how useful Dean’s guide to civilised humanity actually is and it’s little more than ritual humiliation (showing sufficient cynicism to remind us that Steve is a northerner even if he is upbeat, he points out that that’s the work place). He also wants to go out, probably to spend some time looking for Simon, though his parents are pushing him for family time. Ahhh even as a PDS, the old dramas remain – a little normality to contrast wrenchingly with everything else.

Phillip delays his meeting, drawn to the PDS brothel again (unknown to him, a nosy neighbour is making note of everyone going in and out), studiously avoiding the eyes of the other patrons to meet with fake-Amy-sex-worker which, in a show about zombies, still manages to be the creepiest thing. While he sleeps it off, Maxine notices his absence. Phillip wakes in the brothel and realises he is late – but as he hurries off he is confronted by the nosy neighbour who rants at him and spits on him

Kieren does go to Simon’s, all dressed up – only to find Amy and a whole room full of PDS congregants. Awkward. Simon continues to talk some very good sense though – about PDS not being ashamed of who they are, not trying to hide who they are etc; but Amy doesn’t here because she has to hurry away with a nosebleed. Simon greets Kieren as a congregant and Kieren, after the kiss last episode, is not impressed. He warns Simon that all his followers (who he calls brainwashed) are going to get into trouble for not complying and gets irritated with Simon for not being a “normal person” for 2 seconds – I think this is more related to his recruitment pitches than failure to conform though. Amy interrupts to stop them all arguing while both of them jump – because Amy still has a crush on Simon. She’s also showing signs of confusion, trying to do a task she’s clearly already done.

When she leaves, Simon tries to kiss Kieren but he stops him – Amy’s right out there and she deserves to be told rather than her continue to desperately crush on Simon.