Sundark (Elle Black Penny Dread #1) by Elizabeth Watasin

Elle Black lives a happily domestic life with her wife in the darkly gothic world of Victorian London; certainly an unconventional relationship but one she lives with pride and joy and love.

But Elle isn’t just a housewife – she’s a psychic and she considers it her duty to help those that Prince Albert’s Royal Commission cannot or will not handle – and when Josephine Durfish comes to her door with tales of Sundark, the haunted hotel in which guests have gone missing, Elle is spurred into action.

This book is set in the same world as the Dark Victorian series – and it has those same wonderful elements. We have the darkly Gothic Victoriana (which, I admit, I love so completely) with it’s beautiful style and aesthetic. And it’s not just conveyed by the description but the joyfully elaborate style of the writing. This is from me, someone who doesn’t like over-elaborate writing and find Dickens to be incredibly torturous – yet this elaborate joyful language is so evocative of style and location. Just reading the style of the writing, the way people talk to each other, the setting it’s all so gloriously Victorian. The writing is beautiful and it oozes style and setting, it’s perfect.

I also love Faedra and Elle’s relationship. They’re married (using legal contracts) and are proud and passionate about their marriage. Their love and passion for each other is never hidden and it’s wonderfully omnipresent. Even though Elle spends most of this book separated from Faedra, her wife is always on her mind and their love permeates the entire book. It’s a beautiful relationship

And it’s not just a beautiful relationship because of their love, but because of how these characters are portrayed. I often feel how the book wonderful touches on a lot of stereotypes of lesbians and bisexual women, but never ever makes that a reason for the character – Faedra goes out and earns money while Elle stays home and prefers to keep house and be domestic, they even refer briefly to the idea of Faedra being a “husband” (because of the stereotype, especially in the age, of the man being the one to earn money) but reject it because they think they’re imposing a power imbalance on their relationship. And even when they do that, they then turn round and make Elle the active character throughout the book and Faedra be the one who loves bright colours and beautiful clothes. These are traits of the characters, not tropes they embody it’s that well balanced and it works for them. I love these characters.

I do feel that Elle’s open pride in her relationship faces a dubious lack of reaction from everyone around her, but it could as much be the setting; guests in a hotel and everyone being properly polite to each other.

With this beautiful relationship and wonderful world we have a twisty plot with lots of investigation of creepy paranormal events in this haunted hotel. The setting of this hotel is beautiful and creepy and with an odd cast of characters (some of which really worked and some of them just seemed… a little random and ill-defined).

Lost Girl, Season 5, Episode 7: Here Comes the Night

Let more meta commence!

Well Bo, Dyson and Tamsin helping people stuck in cars after a tornado blew through. It’s super super devastating and Tamsin is being super-duper-creepily clingy to Bo. “You’re my girl” really? Is now the time? Bo’s still not happy with this

The tornado has left a giant Triskele on the road.

Big bad Elizabeth – Zee (apparently Zeus) has 3 chained oracles to chant for her as she dramatically channels the storms. She likes a good setting

Super powerful localised storms are causing chaos through the city and Lauren’s clinic is swamped. Bo & co arrive to fill Lauren in before Dyson convinces Bo to stay in case someone takes advantage of the chaos to steal Lauren’s de-faeing serum. Dyson and Tamsin head out to do hero stuff. Tamsin is still clingy. Also the power goes off – which is a bad thing since Evony decided to give Lauren a monster of supreme scariness in a box that needs plugging in. The box counts down – and demands they evacuate. Bo and Lauren order the clinic cleared while they prepare to face the super-evil fae within.

It opens… and there’s nothing inside. They assume it was a bad joke by Evony (personally I assume the fae is tiny/invisible) and decide to slow dance so Lauren can use the noise of the music to tell Bo how she’s manipulating Evony to get lots of money to live her dream of running the clinic and it has nothing to do with making Evony fae). Lauren and Bo kiss

At the Dal, Trick has to host lots of fae and Vex and pointless-mini-wolf. Poor Trick. He manages to do this while also reciting a story about Zeus flooding the world and expositioning Iris, Hera’s messenger, god of rainbows. This also expositions the whole uber fae thing and Vex generally not appreciating being around.

Also Miniwolf Mark really loves storms and aggressively comes on to Vex – which Vex puts down to the storm messing with his mind – until he gives Vex a blowjob while Vex protests who very pissed off Dyson will be before Mark kisses him. Now there’s a twist.

Except later, Mark doesn’t seem to understand what Vex is talking about. And Evony drops in to flirt with Mark and Vex gets kind of possessive over “Teen Wolf”. Anyway she’s there to recruit Vex to help her recapture the thing in the box (though it’s super menacing, Vex seems more… well… vexed than scared). They do confirm that the fae is evil and invisible so I’m going to help myself to a big glass of “I told you so.” It’s a fine vintage

Over to Dyson and Tamsin who note that for all the big scary storm and blackout, there’s surprisingly few fatalities. But Alesha is still putting up missing person posters for her husband (Horatio, presumably Hera) and Dyson wants Tamsin to remove them and any other evidence of the gods running round. This segues, somewhat clumsily, into Tamsin’s clinging to Bo and her jealousy of Lauren with Dyson reminding Tamsin that Bo cannot possibly be monogamous since she’s a succubus. Tamsin can cope with other people – but not Lauren.

Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast 2015, Episode 2

It's time for episode 2 of the Fangs for the Fantasy podcast! We continue our critical analysis of the genre in all it's many forms, all through our social justice lens

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

This week we discuss the new show 12 Monkeys, Resurrection, Leftovers, Helix, Grimm.

We also discuss meta and the need for overarching plot and "Enigma Shows" and the use of religious themes in Urban Fantasy

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




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

12th January - 19th January: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

19th January - 26th January: Unbound by Jim C Hines

26th January - 2nd February: A Lady Integrity by Shelly Adina

2nd February - 9th February: The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

9th February - 16th February: Fury’s Kiss by Karen Chance

16th February - 23rd February: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

The Fourth Bear (Jack Spratt Investigates #2) by Jasper Fforde

The Gingerbread man, a lethal serial killing cookie, has escaped from prison and is rampaging through Reading. But Jack is off the case – his unfortunate miscalculation that involved Little Red Riding Hood being swallowed by a wolf has left him with a bad reputation and he’s officially suspended – but also free to pursue a related missing person’s case.

As he deepens the search (and continues to haunt the Nursery Crimes offices) for the missing Goldilocks, clues eventually lead to the Three Bears and the greater Ursine community and soon a whole conspiracy is revealed involving Porridge, an MP, a huge multi-national corporation and some giant cucumbers.

It’s another whacky mystery in Berkshire, where fairy tales are real, where anthropomorphic bears roam around and get high on illicit porridge. Where characters from a nonsense poem run one of the world’s biggest corporations, where Dorian Gray sells unaging cars, a serial killing gingerbread man and binary-speaking aliens manage to be even more dull than most people.

This has so many of the classic elements of the first book – taking fairy tale dramas and working them into reality often hilariously (even in tiny little side dramas – like the Dish and the Spoon eloping to Gretna Green) and generally filling a very twisty, fascinating and nuanced mystery with lots of the fantastic, the silly (and outright recognised as such) and humour. And that’s important – because it does take a twisty, fascinating and nuanced mystery with lots of epic conspiracy and clues and knotty problems that would be good on its own right – it doesn’t rely entirely on the excellent silly fun to make this book work.

There was also some excellent character moments – Jack and Madeleine, for example but also Mary and the alien officer Ashley were quite fun together

I think there is a slight moving away from actual fairy tale characters in this book – though they are still very much apparent (such as Godlilocks and the three bears), since a large number of the characters are actually from a nonsense poem by Edward Lear. Equally, I think there was less of the detective snark and parody that I so loved in the first book – the Guild of Detectives was less in evidence and the newspaper excerpts were less apparent. We did have some great ongoing jokes about the various plot devices the detectives use to run their investigations which always made me laugh.

The book went deeper rather than wider – rather than covering more fairy tales and fictional elements made real, instead it poked a lot more on what it means to have the fictional be part of reality. So we have Punch and Judy living their bizarre, violent lives and being drawn into it time and again, unable to avoid their cycle of constant violence (even if they are amazing marriage counsellors). We have Goldilocks who, when entering the house of 3 anthropomorphic bears, could only go one way or Jack Sprat simply cannot bring himself to eat fat. Punch and Judy also bring another nuance – their stuck narrative has left them anachronisms in the modern world – their constant violence against each other grossly repellent to modern sensibilities even while the ongoing telling of their story keeps forcing them down the same narrative path.

12 Monkeys, Season One, Episode One: Pilot

The pilot begins in the year 2043.  Two men walk through a clearly destroyed city, as the narrator asks what if the only thing you could do is survive?  The men head into a quarantine area, where the narrator asks what if you could hit a reset switch.

It switches to the year 2013 with Dr. Cassandra Railly giving a speech about her belief that it is only a matter of time before humanity faces its next epidemic or pandemic.  Railly tells the audience that  while they cannot predict the future, they can plan for it.  Later that evening, Cassandra gets a call from her partner Aaron and they chat about when he is coming home.  Aaron promises to make up for his absences with a long weekend in a cabin.  Aaron then promises to head home, as soon as he can.  When Cassandra gets into her car, she discovers James Cole is in her back seat. Cassandra tells Aaron to call the police and Cole threatens that he has knife and will use it if he has to.  Aaron grabs his other phone to call the police, as Cassandra struggles to get out of the car.  Cole demands that Cassandra put the car in gear and Cassandra complies. 

Cassandra offers Cole money and he says that he doesn't want her money and is not here to hurt her. Cole adds that he is running out of time and that it took too long to find her because there are too many dead people.  Cole again questions Cassandra identity, causing her to ask how he knows her name.  James rattles off Cassandra's history, including what she does in the future (in 2015) for the CDC.  When Cassandra points out that it's 2013, James again affirms that she is the right person.  Cole then asks where Leeland Frost is and Cassandra says that she doesn't know anyone by that name.  Cole again says the name Leeland Frost, saying that he needs to find him and gets more and more agitated, when Cassandra continues to say that she doesn't know anyone by that name.  When sirens sound in the background, Cole demands that Cassandra pull into a dark alley and drags her out of the vehicle into an abandoned building.

As Cole is tying Cassandra to a chair, she starts to ask him about himself and instead of answering,  Cole complains that he was sent back to early. Cole tells Cassandra that he is in the past and that 2043 is the present.  Cassandra asks why he was sent back and Cole explains that 40 years from now, most of humanity has been wiped out by a plague and all of it is because of a man named Leeland Frost.  Cassandra then assumes that Cole saw her lecture and is delusional but he is emphatic that he is not "crazy". Cole shows Cassandra her watch, which he brought back from the future and instructs her not to take her eyes off of it.  When Cole scratches the surface of Cassandra's watch, the lights flash and the same scratch appears on the watch Cole brought from the future. Cole tells Cassandra that it is hard to wrap your mind around.  Cole says that he has one minute left, as they once again hear cop sirens.  Cole drags Cassandra back into the alley and  they find that they are completely surrounded by cops. Cassandra again tells Cole that he is not traveling through time and begs him to put down the knife.  Cole says that he can feel it and that it's happening.  When Cole sticks his head out, he is shot by the cops.  Cassandra tries to go to Cole's aid but he tells her that if she really wants to help, to find him two years from today, at the John Adams hotel.  Cole then disappears, leaving Cassandra in shock. 

It's now the year 2015 and Cassandra sits at a bar having a drink.  Later, Cassandra falls asleep on the hotel sofa and is awoken by the bartender who served her. Cassandra decides to check out of her room, when she hears security trying to stop Cole.  Cassandra rushes forward and tells the security guard that Cole is with her.  Cole is still bleeding from when he got shot in 2013 and though Cassandra suggests that he should be in the hospital, Cole instead asks her to take care of him.  Cassandra starts to treat Cole, explaining that she came because she had to see if he was real.  Cole then passes out.

We flash to Cole in the future in a cell.  He is asked if he believes in karma by Jones and is told that something led the both of them to this place and this moment.  Cole is told that he has a destiny and that he is going to help Jones change the world.

Next, we see Cole injected with a substance and he is told that time is different for him now.  Cole is specifically told that Cassandra is not his mission but a puzzle piece.  Cole is reminded that everyone he sees is already dead and to focus on his mission.

Back in 2015, Cole wakes up to find out that he has been unconscious for three days.  When Cole tries to sit up, Cassandra tells him that he is not 100% yet and is lucky that the bullet passed clean through.  Cole questions if Cassandra believes him now and she seems excited about sewing up a bullet wound Cole got two years ago. Cole stands and says that they have to move because he doesn't have a second.  Cassandra has to scream at Cole to stop and tells him that he has no idea what the last two years have been for her.  Cassandra reveals that she is no longer a doctor and was unable to keep her practice because everyone thinks she is a lunatic.  Cassandra then demands that Cole answer her questions, to which Cole concedes that she is right.

Cole explains that the plague started in 2017 and killed 7 billion people.  Cole says that the virus is mutating and humanity is on its way out, because only a few people are immune.  The scavenging happened then with people turning violent, fighting for the few resources still left.  The people then move underground, until a group of scientists return to the surface to gather information and discovered a reset switch which was started in Cassandra's time.  Cole says that the only option is to stop the plague from ever happening in the first place.  Cassandra asks why he came for her and he explains that when the world was falling apart Cassandra was with the CDC and though she died there, she was able to send a message to anyone who would listen.  The message that they have is broken and the data has been corrupted.  The message says that the plague stars with Leeland Frost and even says Cole's name.  Cole again asks who Leeland Frost is but Cassandra still has not met him.

Fangs for the Fantasy Book of the Week

It's another Monday and time for another episode of the Fangs for the Fantasy Podcast!

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.  For those wanting to read with us, our next books of the week are

12th January - 19th January: The Fourth Bear by Jasper Fforde

19th January - 26th January: Unbound by Jim C Hines

26th January - 2nd February: A Lady Integrity by Shelly Adina

2nd February - 9th February: The Diabolical Miss Hyde by Viola Carr

9th February - 16th February: Fury’s Kiss by Karen Chance

16th February - 23rd February: Vision in Silver by Anne Bishop

The Leftovers, Season 1, Episode 6: Guest

This week it’s Nora’s story, the woman who lost her entire family during the Departure and now has a job performing the huge number of interview questions for Departure compensation (looking for similarities in those who Departed).

We have a brief montage of Nora’s life showing how torn she is still by the Departure – her watching kids playing, her still buying children’s treats and cereals, her kids’ bedrooms still exactly how they left them despite 3 years having passed (including a half-finished jigsaw puzzle). She shops for a household of four then throws the food away, unopened and untouched just to replace them with exactly the same products.

She makes an appointment with a sex worker, Angel, to come and, much to Angel’s horror (it’s an extremely emotional and powerful scene with Angel finally agreeing for $3,000) shoot Nora in the chest: she’s wearing a bullet proof vest – it isn’t suicide, it’s a simulated suicide. And it isn’t the first time Nora has done it. Angel even asks “what happened to you?”

Nora goes to court to have her marriage to her Departed husband ended (a new legal process that has been allowed), but she chooses to keep her married surname. There she runs into Kevin also there for his divorce from Laurie, now a member of the Guilty Remnant. She, rather randomly, invites Kevin to Miami – she has a work conference in Manhattan and has suddenly decided to miss it and go to Miami with Kevin instead. Kevin points out he lives with his daughter so can’t just drop everything and Nora says “fuck your daughter” quite light and bright about it. Her brain catches us up with what she just said and she apologises and leaves as fast as she can.

She goes to work for a meeting with her boss to prepare for the conference and flag a concern with the questionnaire interview she performs: everyone she interviews answers “yes” to one of the questions, question 121 – and it’s just her, not anyone else performing interviews. She herself answered “yes” to that question on her questionnaires – all three of them.

Nora arrives at the conference – and there’s a horde of protestors, cultists and others outside she has to walk past. She books into the hotel and hears that last year there were behavioural issues with the attendees. At registration there’s lots of posters for a book written by an author who lost 4 people during the Departure and finds her badge is missing, someone else has picked it up. She’s offered a Guest pass instead – but she doesn’t want to lose her name, or the fact she’s a Legacy (someone who has lost someone and who get specially marked badges).

She goes into the mixer as a Guest and runs into Marcus who babbles away trying to attract her attention – and she’s very very not interested. She’s more interested in checking the attendee list to find out who has her badge – and finds someone has signed her name. She goes looking for the person through the conference (while a lecture about the rise of prophets and cults goes on). She decides to follow one woman who won’t look at her, assuming she’s the one who stole her badge, but it turns out the woman was avoiding Nora because last conference Nora tore strips off her for pointing out a high percentage Departed children eating sugary cereals which Nora took to be an attack on her children.

Grimm, Season Four, Episode Nine: Wesenrein

"He had them

brought before

the court, and a 

judgment was handed down."

This episode begins where the last ended, with Juliet screaming into the mirror after voguing.

Hank and Nick head to see Wu in the drunk tank and Wu is adamant that there is no excuse for what he did.  When Wu is resistant to coming with them, Hank offers him the answers he has been so desperately looking for.  They drive Wu out to the trailer and he is very suspicious and asks to be told what is going on.  Wu is clearly concerned that the two plan to kill him, so Nick brings up the book Wu found in his house and adds that he has more books, before giving Wu the chance to leave and never talk about this again. 

The men head to the trailer and Wu is still extremely cautious.  Nick explains that this is where they come to figure out what they are dealing with.  Nick opens up the book at points to a Wesen saying that this is what Wu saw.  When Wu says that he is unsure, both Nick and Hank confirm that they saw it.  Nick then starts to flip through the book, pointing out different Wesen to Wu. Hank and Nick confirm that Wesen are real and Hank adds that they sometimes see them but Nick sees them more.  Nick reveals that he is a Grimm, just like his mother and that Trubel is a Grim as well. Nick explains that Truble knew what Westen was and that was how she was able to kill him.  Wu questions if he is a Grimm as well and Hank says that no and reveals that Nick confided in him because just like Wu, he was having a problem with what he has seen.  Wu declares that he is not going anywhere.

Rosalie is making a sandwich in the kitchen and she answers the phone when her mother calls.  Rosalie calls out for Monroe, after looking outside but gets no answer.  Rosalie then heads out to the cop car and sees the sandwich and the broken plate on the ground.  The police officer staggers out of the bushes and Rosalie rushes back to the house to get help.

Monroe is in a van and is starting to regain consciousness to find himself face to face with a masked man.

Back at the trailer, Wu finally realises that Nick and Hank have been lying to him all along.  Wu questions where the Wesen are and how many there are.  Nick explains that not all Wesen are bad and that some of his closest friends are Wesen.  They are interrupted by a call from Rosalie, who informs Nick that Monroe has been taken. 

Still in the bathroom, Juliet continues to feel pain and when she walks into the bedroom, she starts to break all of the glass in the room.

Nick, Hank and Wu arrive at Monroe and Rosalie's.  Hank and Nick tell Rosalie that they have someone talking to neighbours to find out if they heard anything and ask her to calm down and tell them what they saw.  They decide that Rosalie needs to head to Nick's and promise to forward all calls to her there.  Nick then calls Julia, who is sweeping up the broken glass and informs her that Monroe is taken.  Nick says that Juliet is going to be dropped off at the house.

Monroe is dragged into a silo and laid on the ground still handcuffed. Monroe regains consciousness as he is surrounded by masked men chanting.  Yes, the ominous Wesenrein.

Back at the station, Nick and Hank once again interview the cop who was watching Monroe and Rosalie's home. They confirm again that he didn't see anything but Nick is suspicious that he waited to call it in. Nick and Hank head into Renard's office and hand him a list of people whom they believe to be Wesenrein, explaining that Truble did some work on this before she left.  Nick is adamant that they need to get moving now and asks to start with the first name on the list.  Renard gives permission and when the men move to leave, Renard asks how they are going to handle Wu.  Nick explains that they already did but kept Renard's identity private.

Nick and Hank pull up to Shaw's house and he is quick to assert that he has no beef with Nick.  Nick demands to know where Monroe is, adding that he knows that the Wesenrein have him.  Shaw makes a run for it but he is quickly tackled by both Hank and Nick and placed in handcuffs. When Hank searches Shaw, he finds a Wesenrein mask on him.

Lying on the ground, Monroe calls out for water.  Jonah, he kid guarding Monroe, pours him a glass of water asking him not to reveal this incident because he is not supposed to be talking to you.  When Monroe takes a sip, he finds out that he was given vodka and not water.  When Monroe spits out the vodka Jonah tells him that he should know that Blotbods don't lie with Fuchsbau, before slugging Monroe.  Jonah then goes back to his music and Monroe notices that there is another captive named Terry.  Terry asks about his wife and reveals that he doesn't know if she was taken captive as well. Terry starts to cry and tells Monroe that he doesn't know that the wesenrein do to them. The conversation ends, when Jonah walks over and tells both men to cease communication.

Renard meets with Sam Damerov and Sam promises to see what he can do.  Wu then makes his way into the office and Renard brings up the conversation Wu had with Frank and Nick.  Wu is still in a lot of shock and Renard affirms that he understands that everything Nick sees is all real.  Wu is surprised that Renard knows all about Wesen and assures Renard that he didn't tell anyone.  Wu asks if Renard is a wesen and Renard simply informs him that he doesn't want to go there.

A group of Wesenrein arrive at the silo and Jonah is threatened because he was not wearing his mask.  A group Wesenrein make their way towards Terry, announcing that it is time and Terry quickly hands off something to Monroe, asking that it be given to his wife.  Jonah snarks that it is heartbreaking and when Monroe opens his hands, he finds Terry's wedding ring.

Prince Viktor wakes Adalind to inform her that she is going to be returning to Portland.  When Adalind balks, Viktor informs her that she won't be returning alone.  It seems that Viktor plans to be Adalind's traveling companion.Oh, no good can come of this.