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Thundarr the Barbarian (Ruby-Spears Productions/ABC, October 4, 1980 – October 31, 1981) Thundarr the Barbarian (21 episodes; 1980-81)

Created by Steve Gerber (Howard the Duck; The Defenders).

The look of the main characters was designed by Alex Toth. After he was unavailable to continue working on the series, Jack “King” Kirby was brought in, at the recommendation of Gerber and Mark Evanier (who would later write a biography of Kirby). Kirby designed the look of most of the villains and supporting characters.

What is it?

What is it?? Lords of Light, it’s awesome, is what it is!

It’s an animated series that aired on ABC on Saturday mornings between 1980 and 1981. It aired in reruns on NBC in 1983.

Created in part by the legendary Jack Kirby and Alex Toth, it brought a Conan-style barbarian warrior to a distant, post-apocalyptic future, teamed him with a sorceress and a monstrous ally, and pitted the trio against all sorts of menaces that combined super-science and sorcery.

Thundarr’s companion Ookla Noteworthy

The show is worth it just for the character designs by Toth and Kirby. Warriors, wizards, mutants and monsters all clash amid the crumbling remains of our own civilization.

The network insisted Gerber include a monstrous Wookie-like ally for Thundarr. Gerber reluctantly agreed, but needed a name for the character. When he and writer Martin Pasko went to dinner in the Westwood area of Los Angeles, Pasko looked up at the front gates of the UCLA campus and suggested the name “Ookla.”

Thundarr The Barbarian issue 1, by Jason Aaron and Kewber Baal (Dynamite Entertainment, February 4, 2026)

As of 2026, there’s a new Thundarr comic book being published by Dynamite Entertainment, featuring various artists and written by Jason Aaron (Avengers; Conan).

Cartoon Network aired the show in the 1990s. The complete series was released on DVD and Blu-ray home video as recently as 2021.

The world of Thundarr the Barbarian Quick and Dirty Summary

The opening credits of each episode present us with an origin story for Thundarr’s world, but not so much for the character himself.

The world is our own, two thousand years in the future, after a “runaway planet” (likely a comet) tears our moon in half and brings down Earth’s civilization. We are left with a world of super-science, sorcery, and savagery.

Thundarr breaks free of the slave pens and somehow acquires the “fabulous Sunsword,” enabling him to go toe-to-toe with the mightiest monsters and evil beings. Teamed up with his allies, Ookla the Mok (a furry, savage beast, in the Chewbacca mold) and Princess Ariel (a sorceress who never reveals much of anything about her past), they travel across the wrecked remains of Earth, battling evil at every turn!

Thundarr the Barbarian Fantasy/SF/Sword and Sorcery Elements

Because the show is set in the far future, after a massive, worldwide catastrophe, it is able to blend elements of science fiction (flying vehicles, lasers, and so on) with more traditional elements of fantasy and magic. The result is a particularly appealing type of Sword & Sorcery, in which the familiar tropes of the genre stand side-by-side with the ruins of contemporary settings and futuristic characters and weapons, in a sort of goulash of everything that’s cool.

There’s a proud tradition in Sword & Sorcery of that one really extra-cool weapon in a story, from the famous sword Excalibur (as in Excalibur and other films) to the Glaive (Krull) to the awesome, three-bladed rocket-sword we discussed previously (The Sword and the Sorcerer). Thundarr has just such a weapon: “the fabulous Sunsword.” We never learn exactly where he acquired it, but it’s a hilt that generates an energy blade, and is remarkably similar to the lightsaber of Star Wars. It also magnetically attaches to his wristband for easy transport when he’s not using it to hack giant rat-men to pieces.

Thundarr’s fabulous Sunsword

Thundarr’s two companions are familiar Sword & Sorcery archetypes. Princess Ariel is able to cast all sorts of offensive and defensive spells, and Ookla is a mighty warrior who needs no weapons to wreak havoc on his enemies (or on helicopters, when he gets frustrated trying to fly one). All three heroes ride horses, though Ookla’s is alien in appearance and is called an “equort.”

Thundarr and company confront a wide variety of foes familiar to all sword and sorcery fans. There are mutated humanoid rats and lizards, giant monsters, werewolves, and a number of colorful wizards and sorcerers. There’s even an alien monster in the mold of The Thing! (Think Kurt Russell, not Ben Grimm.)

The intermingling of these fantasy elements with the technology of post-apocalyptic science fiction makes for an irresistible combination.

Thundarr the Barbarian, Episode 1: “Secret of the Black Pearl” High Point

For me, the high point of the series is the premiere episode, “Secret of the Black Pearl,” in which Thundarr’s team clashes with the villain called Gemini.

One thing that perhaps held this show back a bit was its lack of an iconic recurring villain. Gemini had the potential to be that, and he did make a second appearance later in the series.

The two faces of Gemini

He is such a perfect Jack Kirby villain, and a perfect Thundarr foe. He wears a sort of combination space-suit and Medieval armor that would let him fit in at a New Gods or Eternals family reunion. Beneath his space helmet, his face is exposed. Normally, it’s a benign face; perhaps even jolly.

But when he’s angered, his entire head swivels around 180 degrees and a different visage is revealed: One with burning red eyes that fire energy beams! Gemini embodies the “super-science meets sorcery” idea arguably better than anyone else on the show. And nobody conveys such scorn for his opponent as Gemini, when he addresses Thundarr as, “BARBAAAARIAN!!”

Thundarr the Barbarian: The Complete Series (Warner Archives, April 6, 2021) Low Point

All of the episodes are written primarily for a younger audience. So, while the series is of very good quality compared to most of the shows that aired on Saturday mornings during that era, they still lack a bit in terms of stories. The potential is tremendous, but the show mostly fails to live up to the very heights it was clearly capable of reaching.

The fashionable villains of Thundarr the Barbarian Standout Performance

Robert Ridgely, a “that guy” actor who appeared in nearly everything over the years, provided the voice of Thundarr, unleashing famous catchphrases such as “Demon Dogs!” “Lords of Light!” and of course, “Ariel–Ookla–RIDE!!”

With his supremely heroic voice, Ridgley also played the title character in the fantastic 1979 animated New Adventures of Flash Gordon series.

Nellie Bellflower voiced Princess Ariel, as well as a number of other female characters.

The road goes ever on Overall Evaluation as a Movie and as Fantasy/SF/Sword & Sorcery

It’s not a movie, but Thundarr the Barbarian is as Sword & Sorcery as you can get. The genre comes in a number of sub-forms, and I’d call this one the “post-apocalyptic fantasy world” variety, where you’re as likely to encounter a giant, sorcery-animated Statue of Liberty as a werewolf or a rat-man.

Blackthorn Thunder on Mars, edited by Van Allen Plexico (White Rocket Books,‎ November 26, 2011)

For a Saturday morning cartoon, the writing is surprisingly intelligent and clever. It’s unfortunate they never gave us more backstory to the characters, but that was a common thing among TV shows and cartoons of that era: Minimal information to get us up to speed, and then off we go.

Unfortunately, we never did encounter those danged Demon Dogs!

Van Allen Plexico once edited an anthology of tales set in a Thundarr-style post-apocalyptic future of super-science and sorcery, called Blackthorn: Thunder on Mars. He is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a Grand Master of Pulp Literature (2025 class) and a multiple-award-winning author of more than two dozen novels and anthologies, ranging from space opera to Kaiju to crime fiction to superheroes to military SF. Find his works on Amazon and at www dot Plexico dot net.

UPDATE from ModR: “They’ve sold out before I got the chance to format the pictures and write the caption for Instagram…” Level of BDH chalantness: 100. Okay, let us get this processed.

Here we go. ::deep breath::

We are doing the first trial run of This Kingdom Vellum Overlays. This is our chance to iron out shipping and logistical issues, so this first batch is limited to 10 sets. We felt that vellum needed a bit more with it, so we are offering a Vellum Media Envelope.

Vellum Media Envelope contains 6 gorgeous vellum prints of the character art by Helena Elias. These prints are 6 x 9 inches and are printed on 45 lbs vellum.  Vellum is stiff and translucent, and tends to stay in the book.

The envelope retails for $24.99 with flat $9.99 shipping.

ORDER HERE

A word about this: we are seeing vellum overlays retail for between $4-$10. We are going with $4 per print for this run. We may up the price in the future to be around $6.

These prints fit

• US Hardcover Edition
• OwlCrate

These prints do not fit

• UK regular hardcover

For some reason, the regular UK hardcover is 1/4 inch narrower. I don’t have the Waterstones to compare.

For this reason, this trial batch is US only.

PS: If your are in US and have one of the following editions of This Kingdom:

• The Waterstones edition with painted edges
• The French Edition
• The Polish Edition
• The German Edition

please comment here and we will send you a complimentary vellum print of your choice to test it. This is a first come, first serve.

Back to the envelope

Character List

• Solentine Dagarra
• Man from the Garden
• Clover
• Doran Arvel
• Colart Jennicor
• Ramond vi Everard

What’s in the box?

• 6 vellum prints
• 1 bookmark
• 1 signed bookplate
• 1 large sticker (3×3)
• 2 small stickers (2×2)

There are three sticker designs available: Demarr Crest, Assassins, and Survive, Get Paid. 

During the checkout, you can input order notes. Please indicate which sticker you would like to be 3×3. If you want your bookplate personalized with your name, please add that in the order notes as well. If you leave it blank, you will get the bookplate with just a signature.

And the cat. The cat is also for sale.

Please somebody take this feral cat off my hands. I cannot reach for anything without her being in my way.

The contents will come in a dark blue padded envelope with a cardboard insert. Once again, this item has a flat shipping rate of $9.99.

ORDER HERE

When will this be mailed?

As soon as the orders are in.

I am Erin, the giveaway winner.

Erin, you are getting yours mailed tomorrow. I have the label.

I am Cad.

I saved you a set. That is going out with Erin’s tomorrow.

I want that cat on a mug!

Me too. This is being made.

I missed it!

This is the trial batch. Once it is mailed out and everything is good, we will start taking preorders. You will absolutely get your set.

I want just one print.

That can be arranged. The individual prints will retail for $6. The shipping will likely be the same or only slightly cheaper. It’s because of the envelope. We are mailing a bubble mailer with stiff cardboard in it.

That’s it. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to take this poll. If you cannot see the poll because you are getting this through your inbox, please click here.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll. Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

The post This Kingdom Sells Vellum first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Zompoc

When the world ended Vicki was quite happy drinking herself into oblivion. Until her neighbor hammered on her door and asked her to look after her two young girls, Gabby aged 5 and Tina aged 2 while she went out looking for her sister. Her neighbor never returned and now Vicki a borderline alcoholic has found herself looking after two young children the oldest of whom is quite happy pointing out her flaws.

As they navigate the fallen world they make friends and lose friends, they encounter bandits and live with the ever present threat of zombies as they search for a safe place to be.

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If you enjoy Post-Apocalypse / Zompoc there aren’t too many better than this series. I read her previous <i>Sundown</i> series, well I read the first two books and the novella and didn’t like it nearly as much. Babysitter of the Apocalypse is right up there with Sarah Lyons Fleming. Great and it joins my list of “must read” books when the next instalment comes out.

 

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Publisher: St. Elmo (July 14, 2024) Length: 385 pages Formats: ebook

Raymond St. Elmo’s Colleen the Wanderer is the second book set in the same world as Barnaby the Wanderer. It’s a tighter story with fewer pages, fewer characters, and a much more personal focus. For me, that shift worked well. We spend most of the time following Colleen as she moves through a strange world full of saints, monsters, and the occasional odd conversation.

I liked it. That’s not exactly a surprise. I generally like St. Elmo’s writing, and this book delivers many of the things that make his work distinctive.

Colleen herself is a good lead. She’s practical to a fault. She doesn’t want adventure, destiny, or glory. She wants people to leave her alone so she can make pots. Alas, the world has other plans. Saints interfere, monsters appear, dreams intrude, and somehow she ends up wandering whether she wants to or not.

The wandering really is the point. The plot exists, but it’s loose and often takes a back seat to encounters along the road. Colleen meets a steady parade of odd creatures, hermits, and supernatural oddities ("miscreates," as the book calls them) Some are funny, some unsettling, some just strange.

The tone sits somewhere between classic fantasy adventure and something more whimsical. St. Elmo has said he was aiming for a style similar to Andre Norton’s Witch World books, but he admits he can’t quite write without humor creeping in. That’s obvious here. The world may be full of saints and fate and mysterious forces, but the dialogue often undercuts any attempt at solemnity. Characters talk like people who are aware that the situation is absurd. It keeps the book lively.

As always with St. Elmo, the prose is one of the main draws. It’s sharp, playful, and occasionally very funny without trying too hard. The dialogue in particular works well.

That said, the structure is a little uneven.

The opening takes a while to settle in. The first stretch is slightly confusing and slow, partly because the world operates on its own strange logic and the book doesn’t rush to explain it. Things improve once Colleen properly hits the road and the story finds its rhythm.

The ending goes the other way. After spending so much time wandering and meeting odd characters, the conclusion arrives fairly quickly. It ties the threads together, but it felt a bit abrupt. I wouldn’t have minded another chapter or two.

Still, the experience of reading the book is enjoyable. The story has a dreamlike quality where events make just enough sense to keep you moving forward. You don’t always know where things are going, but you trust the author to get you somewhere interesting.

If you’ve read Barnaby the Wanderer, you’ll notice a few familiar faces showing up briefly. They’re more like cameos than major roles, though, and the book mostly stands on its own. The focus stays firmly on Colleen.

In the end, Colleen the Wanderer is imaginative, occasionally funny, and full of peculiar creatures and conversations. The pacing wobbles a bit at the beginning and end, but the middle stretch - the actual wandering - is consistently engaging.

Book links: Amazon, Goodreads
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Luke Dumas is the USA Today bestselling author of Nothing Tastes as Good, The Paleontologist, and A History of Fear.
He is the winner of a 2024 ITW Thriller Award for Best Paperback Original, was nominated for the Silver Falchion Award for Best Supernatural, and his work has been optioned for film and TV.
He received his master’s degree in creative writing from the University of Edinburgh, and has worked in nonprofit philanthropy for more than a decade with organizations including San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance and the American Red Cross.
Luke was born and raised in San Diego, California, where he lives with his husband and dogs and works for a biomedical research institute.
Publisher: Atria Books (March 31, 2026)  Page count: 352 Formats: audiobook, ebook, paperback Genre: Horror (ish)

I ended up liking Nothing Tastes as Good quite a bit. It’s easy to fly through it. I listened to the audiobook and kept telling myself "just one more chapter" most of the time. 

This leans much more toward thriller than straight horror for me, even with the body horror and cannibalism stuff lurking in the background. The story follows Emmett and how badly the world treats him because of his weight. That part felt believable. The book does a really good job showing how exhausting it is to constantly feel judged, dismissed, or turned into a "before" picture by society.

Emmett worked well as a protagonist too. He’s funny, insecure, and desperate to finally feel comfortable in his own life and body. When he joins the clinical trial for the weight loss drug Obexity, you immediately know this cannot possibly end well. And yet I completely understood why he kept going even after things started getting very weird and very bloody.

The horror elements are there, but they’re sparse. This is more about paranoia, obsession, body image, social media, and the realization that people suddenly treat you better once you look different. Actually, some of the most uncomfortable moments weren’t the gore. It was seeing how differently people reacted to Emmett after he lost weight.

I also liked the mixed format with blog posts, interviews, and reports scattered throughout the story. It kept things moving and made the audiobook especially fun to listen to.

The final act gets pretty over-the-top, and I can't say I was a fan. The villains and their motivations turned paper-thin and shallow and the rushed ending disappointed. I'm ok with Emmett's fate, but not of the road that led to it. 

Anyway, it's a good book, and very engaging most of the time. Luke Dumas clearly had a lot to say about diet culture and self-worth, but never forgot to make it entertaining too. Maybe not especially scary, but definitely engaging, gross in places, and very hard to stop listening to.

Anybody who has read Sarah Gailey knows she crafts unflinching narratives. Make Me Better is the third novel I’ve read by Gailey and it is something to experience. Set in Kindred Cove, a location separated by the world at large, Gailey introduces readers to Celia. Who is Celia? She’s a woman looking to become better,…

As a woman in the Middle Ages, Maude knows her place. But her husband’s early death means she must fulfill his duties until their son comes of age.

When a woman appears on her doorstep bloodied and broken, Maude must decide how far she will go to protect her son’s estate. Will she follow the cultural rules, or will she find a strength she didn’t know she possessed?

“Improvements” is free on this website for one week only. If you would like an ebook copy of the story, you can get it at WMG Books or on any other ebook retail site. Enjoy!

 

Improvements Kristine Kathryn Rusch

When the strange woman appeared, Maude was in the buttery, speaking with the clerk of the kitchen about his latest round of purchases. He went to market too often, she thought, and was too extravagant for the types of meals he produced. She would, if he did not modify his expenditures, have to fire him.

He would be the first servant she fired since her husband died.

The very idea filled her with dread. She had run the household since her marriage ten years before, but her husband had handled the money, the hiring and firing of servants, and the overall management of the large estate.

Now she managed it, in trust for their only child, a son who was still in swaddling. Still, some duties made her hands shake.

The clerk of the kitchen was a large florid man whom her husband had hired shortly before the baby was born. She had had misgivings about him then, but had been too tired to speak of them. Then her husband became ill, the baby had been born, and her husband had died, all within half a year’s time. She felt as if she woke up only recently to find herself in a life that only resembled the one she had once had.

The buttery was a small room off the kitchen. Beer and candles sat on the shelves. The stairs from the beer cellar descended down one side, and the main door of the buttery opened into the hall. She had sent the yeoman of the buttery—he was such a gossip—into the garden for a brief rest. Not that he needed one. His services were rarely used this early in the day.

The clerk of the kitchen was explaining, in his condescending voice, how some foods tasted poorly without the proper ingredients. She had her hands folded inside her sleeves, her wimple pinching her chin. She had been listening to him for too long, but she didn’t know how to make him stop.

And that was when they heard the screams, coming from the kitchen.

The clerk looked at her as if he had never heard such sounds before. She pushed past him into the Hall, through the Court, and into the kitchen.

It stank of grease and smoke and roasting meat. Even though no one was yet cooking the evening meal, the smell from last night’s lingered.

The kitchen staff was huddled near the outside door. One of the kitchen maids had her hands over her mouth. She was doubled over away from the door, as if she had seen something horrible.

Maude hurried past the worktable to the door itself. The servants parted as they saw her, all but the chief cook who blocked her way with his large body.

“Milady,” he said. “This is not for a lady to see.”

“Move aside,” she said.

He stared at her a moment, his blue eyes red-streaked from smoke, his lips thin and pursed as if he had tasted something bad. Then he stepped away from the door.

A woman lay on the flagstones leading into the garden. Her ragged clothes were blood-covered as was her face and hair. When she saw Maude, she raised a thin hand as if beseeching her.

“We shall take care of this, Milady,” the chief cook said. “It is nothing that should bother you.”

But they hadn’t taken care of it so far, had they? Besides, how could she leave a creature in such obvious distress?

“It is simply a beggar woman,” the chief cook said. “We see many of them at the kitchen. She was probably beset by thieves—“

“A beggar woman, beset by thieves? That does not seem likely.” Maude stepped outside. She knew why the staff was protecting her. The woman wore garments that Maude recognized from the town’s stew.

“She is a harlot, Milady,” the chief cook hissed. “Please. It is not right for you—“

“Enough!” Maude said. She crossed the flagstones and crouched beside the woman.

The woman smelled of sweat and fear. She was so thin that all the bones in her hand were visible. Her face was swollen and bruised, her teeth blackened and nearly gone. Yet Maude was certain the woman was younger than she.

Her surcoat had once been a rough wool, but time and use had worn it to nothing. There were several tears in it, recent tears, that rendered it nearly useless. She wore nothing underneath, and Maude could see scars beside the fresh bruises.

“Milady,” the woman murmured.

Maude put a hand on the woman’s forehead. No fever. She could not see where the blood came from. “Who did this to you?”

The woman touched her bloody garment. “Not mine.” She spoke so softly that Maude could barely hear her. “Anne’s.”

Maude felt a shiver run through her. “Where is Anne?”

The woman looked toward the forest beyond, and the road that led back into town. “I could not help her any longer…”

It was then that Maude looked at the woman’s feet. She wore no hose and no shoes. Her right leg, Maude suddenly realized, was twisted in an unnatural way.

“Help me get her inside,” Maude said to the chief cook.

“No, Mistress,” the woman said, but Maude ignored her.

The chief cook crossed his arms. “Milady, she is—“

“One of God’s children,” Maude said. “We shall take care of her.”

The chief cook sent out scullions and the indoor grooms. Apparently the cook was too good to help a woman in need.

The men slipped their arms beneath the woman and she moaned. Maude wondered how many other bones had been broken.

“Place her in the servants quarters and send for the wet nurse,” Maude said. Her wet nurse knew potions and herbs and healings. She had cursed the doctors when she saw what they had done to Maude’s husband, saying that if Maude had brought her in sooner, she could have saved him.

Considering that she saved the steward, who later fell to the same disease, Maude believed her.

The quarters where she had them take the woman were for the greater servants. They had rooms of their own, with cots stuffed with straw, instead of mattresses on the floor. This room had been empty since her husband died. She had lost a few servants and hadn’t had the energy to replace them.

The men laid the woman on the bed. She was paler than she had been before, and her eyes were glassy with pain.

“What are you called?” Maude asked.

“Mistress, your man, he is right about what I am.”

“Do not argue,” Maude said. “You are here now. What are you called?”

“Joan.”

“Joan,” Maude said. “Who did this?”

Joan closed her eyes. At that moment, the wet nurse appeared. She held a towel as if she had just left the young lord, and her surcoat was not properly fastened.

When she saw the woman on the bed, her gaze met Maude’s. “Milady, you know—“

“I know,” Maude said. “See what you can do. She’s been badly beaten and her arm is broken.”

The wet nurse nodded. She came inside, put a hand on Joan’s forehead, and then began to examine her. Maude stood.

The men were still crowded inside the room. It was as if they saw Joan as a curiosity and nothing more.

“Come,” Maude said. “We shall find this Anne.”

***

Halfway to town, they found what remained of Anne. She lay in a crumpled heap beside the road, her limbs bent at unnatural angles. Her face was bloodied, as if her nose had been broken, but that was not where all of the blood came from.

She had knife wounds on her hands and arms, and another through her belly. The dry road contained a black trail, as if she had lost blood the entire way.

Joan had carried her on a broken leg, until she could come no farther.

Maude turned to the head groom who had accompanied her. She took one of Anne’s cold, damaged hands, and held it out to him.

“What do you think of this?” she asked.

He shrugged. He could barely look at her. “This is not your concern, Milady.”

“Of course it is,” she snapped, startled at the tone that came out of her mouth. Had she ever spoken to anyone so harshly? “This is my land.”

He looked at her then, and it seemed as though there was pity in his eyes. It made her bristle.

“What becomes of these women,” he said, “is their choice.”

“I doubt anyone would choose to die like this,” Maude said. She ran her fingers over the deep wounds. The skin had parted so far that she could see muscle. “I believe she was trying to defend herself.”

“Be that as it may, Milady,” the groom said. “She knew what such a life would bring.”

Did she? Did anyone? Maude remembered the day after her marriage, as she rode in her husband’s carriage to her new home, the estate she now ran. Had she known that day how many miscarriages she would have? How the first babe born to them would die three days later in pain so bad that his little wails broke her heart? Had she known then that she would love her surviving son so much that it hurt?

Of course not. And the greatest surprise of all had been how badly she missed her husband, now that he was gone.

“You know something of these women then?” she asked her groom.

He flushed. “Only what I have overheard in taverns, Milady.”

She narrowed her eyes, not believing him. “They are from the stew, are they not?”

He nodded.

“Is such treatment common there?”

His flush grew deeper. “Milady, I am not—“

“I am a woman married and widowed,” she said. “I am not unfamiliar with such things.”

“There are perversions, Milady, that I cannot speak of to a gentleborn lady.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Perversions that would result in this?”

He looked away from her. His skin was the color of dark wine. “There are men who enjoy inflicting pain.”

She shuddered once, and decided that perhaps he was right; she was not ready to hear such things. Still, a woman had died on her land and another had come to her for help.

“What do you think they were doing here?” she asked. “Where do you think they were going?”

He shook his head. He knew, as well as she, that no one would have taken the women in.

The hand did not feel human. It was too cold, the flesh hard.

“We shall give her a Christian burial,” Maude said.

“Milady! She deserves no such treatment.”

“Did you know her then?” Maude asked.

He shook his head.

“Then you do not know who and what she was. Like me, you can only guess. And I choose to guess that she was a Godly woman. You shall send some men to bring her back to the house. We shall place her in the chapel, find her suitable clothes before the priest arrives, and have him say a few words over her.”

“He will not like this, Milady.”

“He will not know,” she said.

“How will he not learn of it?” the groom asked. “So many have seen her, so many already know.”

She raised her head, anger making her feel stronger than she had for almost a year. “If anyone speaks of this,” she said firmly, “he will be fired.”

The groom’s eyes widened. She had never been this cold before.

He nodded once. “As you wish,” he said.

***

Because of her duties to young Henry, the wet nurse enlisted the aid of two kitchen maids and a chambermaid, all of whom, the wet nurse said, also had knowledge of healing.

Maude was amazed that she knew so little of her staff. They bowed to her when she came into the room. It now smelled of wine and camphor. While Maude was gone, Joan’s sore feet had been cleaned and bound with cloth, her bruises rubbed with hot stones, and her broken leg set and splinted.

But she was awake, her eyes dark against her pale face.

“Leave us for a moment,” Maude said to the servants.

They bowed again, and slipped through the door. Maude took Joan’s hand. It was fragile as a bird’s wing, but at least it felt alive, warm and callused, the bones delicate against her palm.

“Anne is dead,” Maude said.

Joan closed her eyes for a moment, and nodded. It was as if Maude’s words made the death real.

“I am giving her a Christian funeral,” Maude said. “She is in the chapel. If you are well enough, you may attend.”

Joan bit her lower lip. “You do not want me there.”

“Of course I do,” she said.

“’Tis not a place for me.” Joan bowed her head.

“Our Lord did not think so,” Maude said. “Mary Magdalene was of your profession, yet she was at his side.”

Joan squeezed Maude’s hand. “You are a good woman. I did not mean to burden you.”

“It is no burden.” Maude put her other hand on top of Joan’s. “Who did this to you?”

“Milady, it is not for you to hear.”

“I am so tired of everyone telling me what I may and may not hear,” Maude said. “I have lived more than a score of years, and I know of the stew and the men who frequent it. Now, stop protecting my dainty ears and tell me who did this to you.”

“A man,” Joan whispered. “I do not know his name.”

“Is he the same one who killed Anne?”

A tear eased out of Joan’s right eye. “No.”

“Yet you left together.”

“She would not have been hurt if not for me.”

“Tell me,” Maude said, and so Joan did.

***

The story came out in fits and whispers, sometimes lost beneath the choking sound of Joan’s heavily drawn breath. A man—a customer—had ill used her, and Anne, seeing how badly Joan was hurt, went to William, the stewholder, asking him to send for a doctor. He refused, and demanded that Joan, who was popular, finish her night’s work.

Anne returned to Joan’s room, and bundled her up, taking bread from the kitchen, and rolled it and some clothing in two blankets. Anne had heard of nunneries that took in Daughters of Eve—the Order of Saint Mary Magdalene—and they would travel until they found such a place.

Anne was helping Joan out of the stew when William found them. He accused Anne of stealing and he drew a knife. He cut her and that brought him to a frenzy. He attacked her like a madman, and did not stop. Joan could not help her.

Blood spattered her face, and then his, and that seemed awaken him from his fit. He left them in the road outside the stew, left them, Joan believed, to die.

She managed to lift Anne over her shoulder, holding her in place with her good hand. Somehow she managed to make it to the middle of the forest before she fell, unable to go on. There she realized that Anne’s eyes were open and unseeing, that Anne was not drawing a breath.

She remembered no more.

“I do not even think I saw your manor,” she said. “I was just walking because I did not know what else to do.”

***

Maude did not know what to do either. She sat in her private chamber, head bowed. But she did not ask for God’s aid. Somehow she felt that God’s presence was in none of this.

The stewholder, she knew, had rights over his women. He could prevent them from leaving. He could punish them for an obvious theft. But Maude did not believe the theft of bread and blankets was sin enough for this. She did not believe that women, who sought to better themselves, deserved to die by the side of the road, to be left there like discarded clothes.

It took her an hour to come to her decision.

And then she sent for her steward.

***

He was a man of some years, thin after his illness, his hair gone except for graying tufts at the sides. Her husband had trusted him implicitly and Maude had trusted him as well. His advice had been sound, his care for the estate excellent.

He seemed uncomfortable to be in her private rooms. He waited, with the door open, for her instruction.

“Have the sheriff arrest the stewholder,” she said. “His name is William.”

“Milady,” the steward said. “Since your husband’s death, we have had no magistrate.”

She nodded. “I will sit in judgment,” she said.

He stared at her for a long moment, as if she were not someone he recognized.

“What would be the charge, then?” the steward asked.

“Murder,” she said.

***

She held the hearing the next day. She sat in her hall as the sheriff brought in William the Stewholder. He was a portly man whose scarlet tunic was made of an expensive serge and whose shoes were lined with fur.

He looked as if he could afford the loss of a blanket or two.

His hands were shackled, but his feet were not.

When he saw her, his face flushed the color of his tunic. “I’ll not sit before a woman!” he cried.

“You have no choice,” she said in her new voice, the voice that had been born of this experience. “I am the trustee of my husband’s lands, and until my son comes of age, I am the one who runs them.”

“That means she’s the magistrate,” the sheriff said, shaking William.

“Did you,” she asked, “stab a woman named Anne?”

“She stole from me.”

“Enough to warrant two dozen wounds?” Maude asked.

“The price of theft is death!” he shouted, spittle coming from his mouth. Apparently he felt that she would only understand him if he yelled.

“I determine the price of theft on these lands,” Maude said, amazed she could sound so calm. “Those women were injured. They wanted medical care.”

“Only one was injured,” he said.

“Yet you wanted her to work.”

He shrugged. “She done it before.”

Maude stared at him for a long moment. He stared back, unrepentant.

“I sentence you,” she said, “to a pilgrimage. You shall visit holy sites until you learn the meaning of humility.”

“How shall that be judged?” the sheriff asked.

“I believe it will take many years. Perhaps,” she said, “your pilgrimage shall be eternal. I shall think on it, and come to that decision by the morrow, when you shall be shipped out.”

“You cannot do this,” he said.

“We’ve already established that I can.”

“Those whores you’re so worried about will have no one to manage them.”

She felt cold. She hadn’t thought of that. She looked at the sheriff. “You shall bring them here. They shall learn useful work.”

“Milady, they may leave but that will not stop someone else from opening a stew,” the sheriff said.

“I am aware of that,” she said. “But at least it will not be William here.” She waved in dismissal. “Take him away.”

***

That evening, she sat alone in the chapel as the priest sent Anne’s soul on its way. Joan had been too ill to come. It would take many weeks for Joan to heal.

By then, Maude hoped the men she had sent to find the nearest Order of Saint Mary Magdalene would have returned with good news.

For it did not matter how a woman was born, as a daughter of Eve, or a daughter of Mary, she deserved to live a life free of brutality and pain.

Maude lived such a life, but she had not known it until now. And it had taken a sight that most would have shielded her from to teach her that she had strengths she had never expected.

She would hold these lands in trust for her son. And when he came of age, she would give them to him gladly, better than they had been when she came to them.

Better, because she had made them so.

 

 

Improvements

Copyright ©  Kristine Kathryn Rusch

Published by WMG Publishing

Cover and Layout copyright © WMG Publishing

Cover design by WMG Publishing

Cover art copyright © Alvaro Ennes/Dreamstime

This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

Any use of this publication to train generative artificial intelligence (“AI”) technologies is expressly prohibited. The author and publisher reserve all rights to license uses of this work for generative AI training and development of machine learning language models.

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Chapter 2

 

Imperium Capital

 

Dean Eratosthenes worked with the engineers to open a series of trade schools. Not everyone needed to go to the university to learn a trade, many of the hands-on jobs needed just that, hands-on training. What they set up was essentially a trade university—engineers, machinists, carpenters, plumbers, electricians,  and so on. Many worked off of an apprentice system which the natives were intimately familiar with.

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

Doctor Sue Carter recieved detailed files from Doctor Cassie O'Connell and her 3D printed organ and limb project. She was keen to implement such a practice in the Imperium.

They had some long-term cases in wards and hospicies in the city. There was also an institution for people with disabilities. Many elders were retired in homes across the kingdom. They tended to families and the hearth but would go hungry if the farm lacked food. Fortunately, that practice was ending in all but a few of the most isolated farms.

The doctor would love to help those people and more. There were so many that needed help, and like any good doctor, she was frustrated by her lack of tools in some cases. They had some cases where they had to sadly watch someone die and just comfort them in their end time.

She had made great strides with her students to improve things in the kingdom, but she was always aware that there was so much more that could be accomplished. Hopefully, Doctor O'Connell could arranage the time for a visit.

She had recently become aware of an institute for dead, dumb, and blind people in the capital and in several of the duchies. They were hovels, living off of whatever charity was thrown their way. She had started to change that for the better, giving the folks there a new lease on life. Just instituting better care practices, teaching brail and sign language, and basic medicine had made a large impact.

She was not sure about curing all of the blind folks; however, an exam had weeded those with a degnerative disease out from those who had cataracts or just very poor vision. The optotrician had performed a series of cataract surgeries for nearly a mens, what the natives called a month. Just that had gone a long way to clean out some of the folks in the properties.

The truly blind folks had to wait until they could find a means to surgically correct their eyes. She was still leery about attempting replacing an entire eye. Hooking up the optical nerves was scary.

They had also gotten to work on deaf people. Sadly so many deaf people had not been taught how to communicate by sign language. They had learned some rote activities but were considered stupid. She lacked corrective measures beyond the very basic and rudementary. That was changing though.

The time with the institutes had made her reconsider mandatory eye, nutrition, and hearing exams for children. Many children had poor grades and dropped out of school because of one of those three things. Getting to them early helped to change their lives for the better.

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

Diedra was overseeing the preparations for the upcoming Harvest Festival when word came in about the attack. She called the cabinet in and they listened to the radio as Ginger described the strike.

"Hopefully, this will serve as a lesson to them?" Winston, the treasurer, asked.

"Only if there were any survivors,"  Ciara, the dominus of textiles stated.

"And if they can get home safely. This happened off the coast of the Nuevo Imperium,"  Eugene frowned as he studied a map. "Ginger, any ideas on if any survived?"

"One small lifeboat got away. I don't know how many people were on it," the pilot reported.

"Okay," Eugene said with a nod. "So, they'll either flag down another of their ships or a merchant or fishing vessel."

"If they flag down one of the latter two, all money is off on the safety of the crew," Sergeant Waters, their gaijin expert in military matters, growled. They turned to him. "Remember the crap that pirates pulled off the coast of Africa? Small boat raiding or capturing ships at sea?"

Eugene, Charlie, Sue, Mary, and Max winced. The natives looked confused.

"Warlords off the coast of Africa sent small boats to attack shipping that was coming out of the Persian Gulf region," Mary explained. "They had small fast boats with weapons. They would run up to a bigger ship, many of which didn't mount a watch, then get on board and take the crew hostage. Sometimes they tortured and killed the crew. They would then sell the cargo and ship back to the proper owners."

The natives grimaced.

"The navy got involved. Many navies actually," Ginger stated. "They did like we did or sent in commandos to rescue ships. The pirates are still a threat, but they are not pulling off many raids anymore, at least before we left that is."

Eugene nodded. "So, the crew of any ship that they encounter might be in danger and there is no way to warn them."

"Sorry," Ginger stated.

"Not your fault, Ginger, you did the right thing. We can't have it all our way," Eugene stated. He made a slight puttering sound. "Any other issues?"

"No. Well, yeah, I'm about out of munitions," Ginger reported. "I had four missiles, and it took all four to hit."

"Darn."

"The good news is that they don't have many of those ships," Ginger stated. "But I could use a replenishment."

Eugene looked to Max. He grunted and spread his fingers in a flicking motion. "We'll work on that," Eugene said slowly as he looked back to the radio. "How are you on fuel and parts?"

"Okay. When do we have another PBY coming?"

"Two more and two more DC-3s and then I'm done building them and the Douglas for the time being. I'm switching everything to the Hercules project," Max growled.

There was a long silence. "Hercules?"

"Yeah, we're going for that instead of a bomber. That platform has more flexibility, and the Bootstrap folks have the plans already," Max stated. Eugene nodded.

"Damn good idea!" Ginger stated. "Good range, lots of stuff we can do with that bird. Awesome. When do we get them?"

"We need the plans first. I just got a lot of stuff to sort out from them, and we're going to build the infrastructure too. Plus as many common parts with the other birds as we can."

"Good," Ginger said. "I can't wait to get my hands on the controls," she said. There was a slapping sound and then rubbing. Eugene snorted. Those that knew her knew that the pilot was eagerly rubbing her hands together in glee.

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

LitStack Spots Here are a few other titles that we’re definitely adding to our TBR…

The post Spotlight on “Bridging the Rivers of Difference” Catherine Meeks appeared first on LitStack.

Paint me like one of your French girls, Jack.

Not this again.

I’m more of a Rubens type…

I am trying to delete this entire thread with my mind.

I was trying to touch my toes, but well, it’s a LOT of work.

It’s mid-May, and I’ve been in something of a hardboiled mood lately. So with Summer looming, here’s a Black (Gat) in the Hand. More Pulp is coming, like a gumshoe with a gasper and a rod.

I am fortunate to be part of a star-studded roster of writers who provide intros to Pulp reprints from Steeger Books. More and more classic, and forgotten, Pulp is continually being brought back to print – and electronically as well. I just finished my tenth intro, and that will roll out with number eleven, later this year.

Below you can find links to all nine of the intros that have been printed so far. Plus a bonus one that didn’t quite make it. If you like what I had to say, you might be interested in checking out the books themselves. You’ll likely recognize at least a couple of the names below. But I cannot praise the Max Latin stories by Norbert Davis, enough. I have the audiobook, and that’s my bedtime listening multiple times a week, all year long. Love those stories.

FAST ONE (Paul Cain)

Lead Party has all of Paul Cain’s short stories, as well as his lone novel, Fast One. Mine is one of five essays in this deluxe hardback. And I got to write about Fast One!

Raymond Chandler referred to it as “some kind of high point in the hardboiled manner.” I think this is a nearly flawless book, and it rivals The Maltese Falcon as my favorite Hardboiled novel. If you haven’t read it, you’re missing out on one of the best works in the genre.

PETER KANE (Hugh B. Cave)

My first intro for Steeger covered the six Peter Kane stories. Kane worked for Boston’s Beacon Agency. He was big, and the closest he got to sober was dry drunk. Other ‘hard-drinking’ Pis are pikers compared to him.

Cave was a master of Weird Menace, but only one of the stories ventured down that path. Maybe a little odd here or there, but Cave knew how to write ‘straight’ hardboiled, and I think Kane was hist best example.

MAX LATIN (Norbert Davis)

I’ve said many times, if there was a Norbert B. Davis fan club, I’d probably be the President of it. And his Dime Detective stories about a shady PI who operates out of a restaurant booth, are in my Top Five mystery series’. John D. MacDonald’s last paid work was a cranky intro to these stories. I was thrilled to write a new one – ‘replacing’ my favorite writer from any genre.

These stories have humor, but fall short of screwball comedy. And the cast of characters make these very re-readable. HIGHLY recommended.

BEN SHALEY (Norbert Davis)

This is the first collection of Black Mask stories from Davis – including his Ben Shaley tales. These are mostly ‘straight’ stories, with only glimpses of the humor that Davis was known for.

There were only two Shaley stories, which is a shame. Davis definitely could have had an ongoing series in Black Mask with him. Raymond Chandler said that “Red Goose” impressed him more than any other tale he read when he decided to become a hardboiled writer.

MR MADDOX VOL 3 (T.T. Flynn)

I jumped in late for this series. Mr. Maddox is a bookie, making the rounds of the thoroughbred racing circuit each year. He regularly runs across a murder, and bad guys push him into going up against them. He essentially functions like your typical private eye. It’s neat to get an inside look at the horse-racing world of the forties.

These are long stories – legitimately novella length. They are not quick reads like most of the short stories I do intros for. But by using a horse track bookie, they stand out from the more common PI/cop/reporter tales.

CONTINENTAL OP – VOL 1 (Dashiell Hammett) CONTINENTAL OP – VOL 2 (Dashiell Hammett) CONTINENTAL OP – VOL 3 (Dashiell Hammett)

Steeger is reprinting every Continental Op story from Hammett. The short, fat, honorable – and unnamed – private eye for the Continental Detective Agency, showcases the best of Hammett. And Red Harvest (which will be covered in Volume 4) is right up there alongside Fast One for hardboiled action.

CASS BLUE – VOL 2 (John Lawrence)

In between his Dime Detective series’ Sam Beckett, and the Marquis of Broadway, the prolific thirties Pulpster wrote about tough guy Cass Blue. Though there was something of an Agatha Christie ‘country manor’ vibe to several of the stories. It was a bit of a change up for Dime Detective readers.

MIKE & TRIXIE (T.T. Flynn)

So, I missed the deadline for the first Mike & Trixie book from Steeger (there have been three so far). I ended up with a homeless intro, so I posted it here at Black Gate. Click on over. You can be one of the very few people on the planet to have read it.

Though that applies to quite a few things I’ve written.

It’s gonna be another Summer of Pulp, and I’m hoping to have a Frederick Nebel surprise in the Fall. Next up, maybe I’ll dig a little deeper into Rex Sackler. I wrote a post after having only read one story. I like him even more after finishing off Volume 1 from Steeger.

We’re a hundred-ish years into Pulp, and I still enjoy reading it. So do a lot of folks I know. Look at the links below, and check out an essay or two written by myself, and some friends. The Pulp world lies at your feet.

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2025 (12)

Will Murray on Dash(iell Hammet) and (Lester) Dent
Shelfie – Dashiell Hammett
Windy City Pulp & Paper Fest – 2025
Will Murray on Who was N.V. Romero?
Conan – The Phoenix in the Sword in Weird Tales
More of Robert E. Howard’s Kirby O’Donnell
More Weird Menace from Robert E. Howard – Conrad and Kirowan
Hardboiled Gaming- LA Noire
Western Noir: Hell on Wheels
T.T. Flynn’s Mr Maddox
Dashiell Hammettt’s The Scorched Face (my intro)
Will Murray on Raymond Chandler’s Other Lost Stories?

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2024 Series (11)

Will Murray on Other Lost Raymond Chandler Stories?
Will Murray on Dashiell Hammett’s Elusive Glass Key
Ya Gotta Ask – Reprise
Rex Stout’s “The Mother of Invention”
Dime Detective, August, 1941
John D. MacDonald’s “Ring Around the Readhead”
Harboiled Manila – Raoul Whitfield’s Jo Gar
7 Upcoming A (Black) Gat in the Hand Attractions
Paul Cain’s Fast One (my intro)
Dashiell Hammett – The Girl with the Silver Eyes (my intro)
Richard Demming’s Manville Moon
More Thrilling Adventures from REH

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2023 Series (15)

Back Down those Mean Streets in 2023
Will Murray on Hammett Didn’t Write “The Diamond Wager”
Dashiell Hammett – ZigZags of Treachery (my intro)
Ten Pulp Things I Think I Think
Evan Lewis on Cleve Adams
T,T, Flynn’s Mike & Trixie (The ‘Lost Intro’)
John Bullard on REH’s Rough and Ready Clowns of the West – Part I (Breckenridge Elkins)
John Bullard on REH’s Rough and Ready Clowns of the West – Part II
William Patrick Murray on Supernatural Westerns, and Crossing Genres
Erle Stanley Gardner’s ‘Getting Away With Murder (And ‘A Black (Gat)’ turns 100!)
James Reasoner on Robert E. Howard’s Trail Towns of the old West
Frank Schildiner on Solomon Kane
Paul Bishop on The Fists of Robert E. Howard
John Lawrence’s Cass Blue
Dave Hardy on REH’s El Borak

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2022 Series (16)
Asimov – Sci Fi Meets the Police Procedural
The Adventures of Christopher London
Weird Menace from Robert E. Howard
Spicy Adventures from Robert E. Howard
Thrilling Adventures from Robert E. Howard
Norbert Davis’ “The Gin Monkey”
Tracer Bullet
Shovel’s Painful Predicament
Back Porch Pulp #1
Wally Conger on ‘The Hollywood Troubleshooter Saga’
Arsenic and Old Lace
David Dodge
Glen Cook’s Garrett, PI
John Leslie’s Key West Private Eye
Back Porch Pulp #2
Norbert Davis’ Max Latin

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2021 Series (7 )

The Forgotten Black Masker – Norbert Davis
Appaloosa
A (Black) Gat in the Hand is Back!
Black Mask – March, 1932
Three Gun Terry Mack & Carroll John Daly
Bounty Hunters & Bail Bondsmen
Norbert Davis in Black Mask – Volume 1

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2020 Series (21)
Hardboiled May on TCM
Some Hardboiled streaming options
Johnny O’Clock (Dick Powell)
Hardboiled June on TCM
Bullets or Ballots (Humphrey Bogart)
Phililp Marlowe – Private Eye (Powers Boothe)
Cool and Lam
All Through the Night (Bogart)
Dick Powell as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
Hardboiled July on TCM
YTJD – The Emily Braddock Matter (John Lund)
Richard Diamond – The Betty Moran Case (Dick Powell)
Bold Venture (Bogart & Bacall)
Hardboiled August on TCM
Norbert Davis – ‘Have one on the House’
with Steven H Silver: C.M. Kornbluth’s Pulp
Norbert Davis – ‘Don’t You Cry for Me’
Talking About Philip Marlowe
Steven H Silver Asks you to Name This Movie
Cajun Hardboiled – Dave Robicheaux
More Cool & Lam from Hard Case Crime

A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2019 Series (15)
Back Deck Pulp Returns
A (Black) Gat in the Hand Returns
Will Murray on Doc Savage
Hugh B. Cave’s Peter Kane
Paul Bishop on Lance Spearman
A Man Called Spade
Hard Boiled Holmes
Duane Spurlock on T.T. Flynn
Andrew Salmon on Montreal Noir
Frank Schildiner on The Bad Guys of Pulp
Steve Scott on John D. MacDonald’s ‘Park Falkner’
William Patrick Murray on The Spider
John D. MacDonald & Mickey Spillane
Norbert Davis goes West(ern)
Bill Crider on The Brass Cupcake

A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2018 Series (32)
George Harmon Coxe
Raoul Whitfield
Some Hard Boiled Anthologies
Frederick Nebel’s Donahue
Thomas Walsh
Black Mask – January, 1935
Norbert Davis’ Ben Shaley
D.L. Champion’s Rex Sackler
Dime Detective – August, 1939
Back Deck Pulp #1
W.T. Ballard’s Bill Lennox
Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Phantom Crook (Ed Jenkins)
Day Keene
Black Mask – October, 1933
Back Deck Pulp #2
Black Mask – Spring, 2017
Erle Stanley Gardner’s ‘The Shrieking Skeleton’
Frank Schildiner’s ‘Max Allen Collins & The Hard Boiled Hero’
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: William Campbell Gault
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: More Cool & Lam From Hard Case Crime
MORE Cool & Lam!!!!
Thomas Parker’s ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’
Joe Bonadonna’s ‘Hardboiled Film Noir’ (Part One)
Joe Bonadonna’s ‘Hardboiled Film Noir’ (Part Two)
William Patrick Maynard’s ‘The Yellow Peril’
Andrew P Salmon’s ‘Frederick C. Davis’
Rory Gallagher’s ‘Continental Op’
Back Deck Pulp #3
Back Deck Pulp #4
Back Deck Pulp #5
Joe ‘Cap’ Shaw on Writing
Back Deck Pulp #6
The Black Mask Dinner

Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every Summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Length: 368 pages
Publisher: Hay House LLC
Release Date: June 9, 2026
ASIN: B0FQG3SPC1
Stand Alone or Series: 1st book in the Tressport Magic series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Struggling against a tide of anti-magic sentiment amidst the city’s rapid industrialization, the shop is slated to close in six short months unless Josie can save it. Luckily, she’s no stranger to impossible odd—she’s applying to study magic at the local university, something women are typically excluded from—even as the shop’s prickly apothecarist, Aufidius Reid, seems determined to dislike her.

Reid finds her unbearably insistent. She finds him infuriatingly uptight—nothing like the sensitive scholar Josie has been exchanging anonymous letters with as they study together for entrance to a graduate magic program. A scholar who just so happens to be Reid himself, unbeknownst to either of them.

Letter by letter, they fall in love. But at work, Josie and Reid clash constantly about the direction of the business. As pressure rises, they discover the threat to the shop is more dangerous than they could have ever imagined, and working together to save it might be their only chance at true purpose, and at each other.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 1st book in the Tressport Magic series. I got this on ebook for review through NetGalley.

Thoughts: This is the first book in the Tressport Magic series. I really love how much detail and thought the author puts into developing the magic system here. However, this is incredibly slow for the first 50% of the book, to the point where I almost set it aside. Luckily, the pace really picks up mid-book, and I ended up being very happy I stuck with the story and finished it.

The story switches POV between Josie and Reid. Our main heroine, Josie, practices the more structured form of magic (which is frowned on for women) and is determined to go to the magical university to advance her studies. However, she needs a job over the summer while she waits to find out if she’s been admitted. She ends up with a job at an apothecary to make ends meet. Reid is also trying to get into the same magical university but is stuck helping to run a nearly bankrupt apothecary shop while he waits for his admission response. Josie is a disruption to Reid’s summer that he was neither prepared for nor wanted.

This is set in a sort of generic Victorian city, but a city where magic is real. There are a couple types of magic, a more intuitive magic and a more structured magic.

Between each chapter, there are letters between Josie and a man that she met via correspondence. These alternate with intervals between chapters in which we read letters between Reid and a woman he met via correspondence. This was a unique way to format the book and enables us to get to know Josie’s and Reid’s internal thoughts much more quickly. Unfortunately, this is part of why the book was so slow. Some of these letters feel very drawn out, and it slows the story down. As you might guess, this gives the story a similar feel to Rebecca Ross’s “Letters of Enchantment” series. This book would have felt a lot more unique if I hadn’t already read “Letters of Enchantment,” which uses a similar mechanic of secret letters.

After the first half, I ended up enjoying this book and finished it very quickly. It took me four days to read the first 50% and one day to finish the rest. There are a lot of themes here I like; a woman pursuing research studies in the face of adversity, a tight family, and a sort of enemies to lovers relationship that grows from daily work and understanding. I liked the magic in here and found this to be an interesting world as well.

My Summary (4/5): Overall the first half of this book was painfully slow, but the second half made up for that. I enjoyed the magic system and world-building here. I also liked the idea of getting to know our characters’ inner thoughts through letters, but the way this was done was so similar to Ross’s “Letter of Enchantment” series that it felt copied. Reid and Josie were fun characters to read about and I look forward to spending more time with both them and this intriguing magical world in the next book in this series. I would recommend this to readers who enjoy a sort of magical alternate history Victorian setting, like a scholarly theme to their stories, and enjoy a good enemies to lovers sort of romance.

 Sitrep:

So, dad's out of the hospital and recovering nicely. I'm better from this flu crud, and I'm starting to get into Trial by Fire.

I sent PRI 4 off to Rea Wednesday and she got it back to me Friday. I got it sorted and off to Goodlifeguide and here we are.

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Chapter 1

Imperium Capital

 

Work around the capital screeched to a halt with the arrival of the Bootstrap Colony shuttle. They first got warning of the craft’s arrival as it was coming down. Several of the Memes came with it as escort.

The craft did a series of S turns to burn off its excess speed and then came into land at the main runway which had been cleared of all air traffic.

Eugene and Deidra had hastily cleared their schedules to meet the visitors.

They met Jacklynn Smith and her copilot as a truck with a staircase was wheeled up to the still steaming craft. Jacklynn shook hands with each of them. “Sorry, a lot has happened since we last visited.”

“Ah. So, where is Mister Chambers?” Deidra asked politely.

“Ah. Yes. About him, that’s why we had a delay …”

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

Deidra was still quiet as she settled in with Eugene late that evening. The newcomers had been given guest quarters and were the talk of the city. Everyone wanted to meet them. They had agreed to a radio interview in the morning and a tour of one of the aircraft factories with Max.

She was still struggling with the idea of Mitch Chambers and his … what did she even call it?

How would she react if something like that happened to Eugene? She cuddled to him, spooning into him until it was hard to tell where one began and the other ended.

“It’s okay,” he finally said when she squeezed him again.

He rolled over and then looked in her eyes, stroking her face in the dark.

“I …”

He smiled a wan smile. “He isn’t dead.”

“But … if that ever happened to you …,” she was near tears.

“Or you? We’d make the best of it one day at a time. And we’d still love each other irregardless,” he said.

She smiled and kissed him. That turned into something more, and they made love gently, as much a renewal of their love as solace in each other’s arms for another couple’s misery.

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

“You have done some impressive things here. I mean, really,” Jacklynn said with a shake of her head. “That production run is impressive.”

“It is,” Eugene said with a nod.

“We’ve got what, Cessnas, the shuttle, C-130s, and the tanker at the moment?” Jacklynn asked. “Oh, and the helicopters and a couple of other birds. But you started with just a couple of computers and a CNC machine? Damn impressive.”

Eugene nodded but he had something else cooking in his mind. The arrival of the shuttle had finally poked a thought to the surface of his mind. He’d grabbed it and was ready to act on it.

He had finally realized what he’d been thinking about earlier when Deidra had mentioned Mitch Chambers.

“Speaking of your C-130s,” Eugene said with a slight lilt of inquiry in his tone of voice.

“Yes?” Jacklynn asked. They were eating lunch in the great room. She was a guest next to him.

“Do you think we can trade for a couple?”

She snorted. “How would we get them here? They aren’t space worthy,” she reminded him.

“Oh. Damn,” he said with a grimace. “I forgot that.”

“The amount of energy to transport a bird is insane,” Jacklynn said with a shake of her head.

“Besides, we’d need parts …,” Eugene sighed in defeat. “Never mind."

“Manuals … Training … mechanics …” Jacklynn said thoughtfully and then stopped. She shrugged after a moment. “Besides, the Memes won’t allow warcraft to be transported.”

“Oh. So, I guess that is out,” Eugene stated.

“But, I bet we could trade you the plans,” the pilot said thoughtfully.

Eugene was about to say something. Instead he blinked and slowly closed his mouth.

Jacklynn smirked a little at his expression.

“You think we can work that sort of a deal out?”

“Sure. I love your PBY design. We could use it on our colony. And you’ve got a few things we could use too,” she said. “Like that medicine your pharmacology people identified that could lead to faster healing drugs and that other one that fights cancer and aging.”

Eugene nodded slowly. “Think you could throw in a run of ICs for a half a dozen birds?”

“For, oh, a full shipment of what I said, and most of the stuff on my shopping list, sure,” she said with a shrug.

He blinked. After a moment, he stuck his hand out. She took it and shook it and then laughed. “Sorry, I’m a bit sticky,” she admitted.

He chuckled and wiped his hands on a cloth napkin. “I don’t mind. I’ve got kids; I’m used to it actually.”

She smiled.

---+--+-{0}-+--+---

The Chronicles of Amber and The Second Chronicles of Amber by Roger Zelazny (Gollancz SF Masterworks editions, April 14 and August 18, 2022). Covers uncredited

There are few authors whose works bring me greater joy than Roger Zelazny.

Zelazny was a master of craft and style who could present in a terse style that seamlessly evolves into evocative prose without any awkwardness or jarring transitions. His strengths as a writer were myriad: incredible storytelling, plot development, vivid descriptions, character development, and boundless imagination in the creation of strange worlds — sometimes a shade different from our own; other times wholly alien.

In The Chronicles of Amber, Zelazny exhibits all his strengths as a writer. It’s almost frustrating to read him, because he seems to perform his craft so effortlessly.

[Click the images for master craft versions.]

Roger Zelazny

Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber is an absolute classic that I am about to revisit. I recently reread his novel Jack of Shadows, which is another fantastic work. But the Amber stories were perhaps his finest achievement.

Zelazny’s style of prose is something I really appreciate. It fluctuates from economical and concise, to poetic, to stream-of-consciousness — and it never jars the reader. It’s so smooth. I admire his work quite a bit.

I am a part of the evil which exists to oppose other evils. I destroy Melkins when I find them, and on that Great Day of which prophets speak but in which they do not truly believe, on that day when the world is completely cleansed of evil, then I, too, will go down into darkness, swallowing curses. Perhaps even sooner than that, I now judge. But whatever… Until that time, I shall not wash my hands nor let them hang useless.

—Roger Zelazny, The Chronicles of Amber, Book 2: The Guns of Avalon

Jack of Shadows (Signet, May 1985). Cover by Vicente Segrelles

There’s much more to Zelazny than the world of Amber, of course.

Jack of Shadows is a novel that I can read again and again. It’s a perfect fusion of science fiction and fantasy, conceived by a true master of genre fiction. It could make a great film in the right hands.

Jack of Shadows (Signet, May 1989). Cover by Richard Hescox

Shadowjack, Master Thief of Hell!

Who are his foes? All who would despise him or love the Lord of Smage of the Jackass Ears, the Colonel Who Never Died, the Borshin, and Quazer, winner of the Hellgames and abductor of the voluptuous Evene. One by one, Shadowjack would seek them out and have his revenge, building his power as he goes. And once his vengeance is obtained, he would come to terms with all others who are against him, he would unite the World of High Dudgeon, destroy the Land of Filth, and bring peace to the Shadowguard. But to accomplish all, Jack of Shadows must find Kolwynia, the Key That Was Lost…

A Night in Lonesome October (AvoNova paperback reprint, September 1994). Cover by James Warhola

A Night in Lonesome October is an absolute masterpiece. His final “solo” novel, this story is told from the first-person viewpoint of Jack’s watchdog, Snuff. Without giving away too many spoilers, Jack is loosely based on the infamous Jack the Ripper, and Snuff functions not quite like a pet, but a familiar spirit, one of several familiars (a bat, a cat, an owl, a rat, etc.) in the story, each with their own agendas, each with an eccentric master of great notoriety.

Zelazny’s prose often slows me down, as I pause to reread passages that are so well-wrought. Allow me to set this scene: Snuff is trying to remove a dead (murdered) body that was deposited on Jack’s property. He’s doing it not because Jack is the killer, but because he’s concerned about how it will look. Night after night he drags the body closer to a local river…

James Warhola’s cover for A Night in Lonesome October

First time out yesterday I got him farther through the muck, but he was still in it when I left him. I was tired. Jack was sequestered with his objects. The police were about, searching the area. The vicar was out, too, offering exhortations to the searchers. Night came on, and later I made my way back to the muck, chasing off a few vermin and beginning the long haul once again.

I’d worked on and off for over an hour, allowing myself several panting breaks, when I realized I was no longer alone. He was bigger than me even, and he moved with a silence I envied, some piece of the night cut loose and drifting against lesser blacknesses.

He seemed to know the moment I became aware of him, and he moved toward me with a long, effortless stride, one of the largest dogs I’d ever seen outside of Ireland.

Correction. As he came on I realized he wasn’t really a dog. It was a great gray wolf that was bearing down on me. I quickly reviewed my knowledge of the submissive postures these guys are into as I backed away from the corpse.

Quoting for emphasis:

He was bigger than me even, and he moved with a silence I envied, some piece of the night cut loose and drifting against lesser blacknesses.

That was a line I read again and again. True genius.

Jeffrey P. Talanian’s last article for Black Gate was a look at the The Enduring Legacy of Jack Kirby. Jeffrey is the creator and publisher of the Hyperborea sword-and-sorcery and weird science-fantasy RPG from North Wind Adventures. He was the co-author, with E. Gary Gygax, of the Castle Zagyg releases, including several Yggsburgh city supplements, Castle Zagyg: The East Mark Gazetteer, and Castle Zagyg: The Upper Works. Read Gabe Gybing’s interview with Jeffrey here, and follow his latest projects on Facebook and at www.hyperborea.tv.

I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.

Dead Weight by Hildur Knútsdóttir

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Nightfire (May 26, 2026)

Length: 160 pages

Author Information: Website

After enjoying The Night Guest, I was pretty curious to see what Hildur Knútsdóttir would do next, especially since her style seems tailor-made for weird little psychological horror novellas. Unfortunately, Dead Weight ended up being a bit of a letdown. First off, I don’t think it was marketed correctly. While it’s pubbed by a horror imprint, I agree with a lot of other reviewers who felt this didn’t feel like horror. For me, it was barely even a thriller. Maybe a low-key suspense story would be more accurate? And yet, the tension hardly builds. Instead, the book mostly drifted along in a kind of muted haze before arriving at a strangely underwhelming ending.

The story follows Unnur, a lonely and emotionally detached woman living a quiet, isolated life in Reykjavík, when a black cat suddenly begins showing up in her apartment uninvited. Trying to do the responsible thing, she tracks down the cat’s owner, a young woman named Ásta, who arrives looking visibly flustered and more than a little unsettled when she comes to collect her pet. It quickly becomes clear that Ásta is dealing with serious problems of her own, though Unnur initially wants no part in getting involved. Still, the cat, Io, keeps returning to her apartment, almost as if it has chosen Unnur for itself. Before long, the situation becomes even harder to ignore when Io unexpectedly gives birth to a kitten in Unnur’s bed.

Distraught over moving the mother and newborn, Ásta convinces Unnur to let Io stay temporarily so that the kitten can be raised in a safe and stable environment. Ásta admits that her own home doesn’t have that kind of security right now, though she promises to stop by regularly to help care for the cats. Reluctantly, Unnur agrees, and what begins as an awkward arrangement slowly develops into an uneasy friendship between the two women. As they spend more time together, the story begins exploring their personal lives, their loneliness, their unhealthy relationships, and the things they’ve quietly convinced themselves to tolerate. Beneath the surface, a growing unhappiness hangs over both women, tied up in the emotional weight of the choices they keep making.

To be fair, the setup itself isn’t bad at all. I did find myself drawn to the atmosphere and to Unnur’s character at first. While Knútsdóttir’s writing style is admittedly a little rigid and aloof, I can’t help but wonder if some of the original prose’s texture and nuance might have been lost in translation. Regardless, it works surprisingly well for a story built around people navigating emotional scars or dealing with hardship. There’s a quiet strangeness to the novella that kept me reading, especially in the opening chapters, where just enough intrigue is established to hold your attention and carry you forward.

But the further I got, the more I found myself wanting from the story, which became a problem when the book never really delivered what I hoped it would. Despite delving quite intimately into both Unnur and Ásta’s lives, Dead Weight never quite develops the momentum or depth required to make their relationship feel fully realized, which made the ensuring crux of the novella feel less significant than it should have. I didn’t feel much urgency or escalation, even when darker elements started unfolding. Everything felt oddly distant and rote. Quite honestly, the cats ended up being the most compelling part of the whole book. Between Io and her kitten, there were genuinely more cute moments than tense ones (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I guess).

The biggest issue for me, though, was the lack of payoff. The novella spends its entire runtime hinting at something more, but when it finally arrives, it barely feels like a climax at all. To be fair, I might just be used to reading more intense horror and thriller, thus making this feel way more subtle and tame. Even so, I had expected more impact to justify all the buildup. I don’t think the short length was the issue either, because the ending itself feels abrupt in a way that doesn’t make the book feel complete. It just kind of stops, and I was left wondering, beyond the obvious metaphor of ridding yourself of life’s burdensome liabilities, what was the point?

Still, I can’t say I disliked Dead Weight. A bite-sized novella, it’s an easy enough read and it worked perfectly well as a palate cleanser for me between heavier books. Although it was mildly frustrating because I wanted more, it still works as a decent diversion for an afternoon.

Romantic Suspense

Olivia Cruz lives with the demons of her kidnapping three years earlier Save Your Breath (Morgan Dane Book 6). In an effort to exorcise those demons and get on with her life she agrees to talk with her friend, true crime podcaster Zoe March. But when she shows up for the meeting, Zoe is nowhere to be found. She has vanished off the face of the earth. 

Police are called but it quickly becomes obvious that Olivia and her boyfriend Lincoln are the only ones who really care about Zoe. 

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The Olivia Cruz series has been a long time coming. Melinda Leigh has focused on Bree Taggert for the last few years but now that series is winding down and there is some clean air to explore Olivia’s story. This story is great, it offers the familiar characters we know and love while introducing a few new characters who no doubt will come forward in the next few books. It is solid romantic suspense done well.

Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, issue 1 (Dark Horse, October 2001). Cover by Humberto Ramos

From Dark Horse Comics and DC comes Superman Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, written by Chuck Dixon with interior art by Carlos Meglia. Cover art on the original issue covers was by Humberto Ramos.

This is a 3-issue comic arc that riffs off the original Tarzan story by Edgar Rice Burroughs. The mutiny aboard The Fuwalda takes place as usual, which is the start of Edgar Rice Burrough’s 1912/1914 serial/novel Tarzan of the Apes.

[Click the images for Superman-sized versions.]

Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, issue 2 (Dark Horse, November 2001). Cover by Humberto Ramos

John Clayton and his pregnant wife, Alice, are about to be marooned on the coast of Africa when a flaming meteor sweeps over and crashes right where the crew was set to land. The crew takes that as a bad omen and instead returns to Cape Town to drop off the Claytons. Thus, the infant who would have become Tarzan is raised by his living parents in civilized Britain instead of by Kala and the Apes in the jungle.

Before that twist is completed, though, we find that the meteor which crashed was actually the ship carrying the infant Kal-El from Krypton to Earth. Kala ends up adopting “Superman” instead of Tarzan and he is named Argo-zan (fire-skin). That must have been quite an experience for the apes, though we don’t get to see any of Argo-zan’s earliest years.

Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle, issue 3 (Dark Horse, May 2002). Cover by Humberto Ramos

By the way, this appears to be the earliest incarnation of Kal-El where he is not so superpowered and can’t fly, but he is still far stronger than any human and cannot be physically injured.

Some spoilers ahead: The last 2 issues of the comic suggest that “fate” cannot be escaped because circumstances conspire to bring the man who would have been Tarzan and Jane Porter back to Africa, and they are accompanied by none other than Lois Lane.

La of Opar is set up as the bad guy and she’s discovered some Kryptonite that she hopes to use to control Argo-Zan. You gotta figure how that works out, and at the end, fate brings everyone back to the places where they should have been in the first place.

Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle collected edition (Dark Horse, September 30, 2002)

Here are my thoughts: It’s a cool idea and generally well done. Chuck Dixon does a smooth job with the story itself and the art facilitates the story.

My criticisms are twofold. 1. There’s a lot more story here than could adequately be told in 3 comic book issues. It’s a rich tale and because of word and length limits we only get parts of it.

I understand why but I’d still have liked more story, such as Argo-zan’s childhood and his interactions with the African wildlife, and John Clayton’s early growth as well. We see that John is “unsatisfied” with his civilized life and knows something is missing, but there were many scenes I’d have enjoyed getting a look at. (I’ll just tell them to myself in my head.)

Interior art for Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle by Carlos Meglia

My second criticism concerns the art. Let it be known that I have no artistic abilities myself and both Meglia and Ramos are immensely more talented than I am. I admire their skills, but I didn’t personally like many of the human images presented here, although I liked a lot of the jungle backgrounds.

The characters, though, are hugely exaggerated, particularly their faces. Superman looks like he has acromegaly on the covers, and some of the interiors are close to caricatures. (See the interior illustrations I include here.)

This may have been done on purpose as a style choice, but I mostly didn’t love that choice. I did like the pool reflection on issue #1’s cover. Your appreciation may differ and that’s perfectly fine.

Charles Gramlich administers The Swords & Planet League group on Facebook, where this post first appeared. His last article for us was a a review of The Iron Tower Trilogy by Dennis L. McKiernan. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Other Titles by Andy Weir Here are a few other books by Andy Weir that…

The post Desperate Characters Find Ways To Survive “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir appeared first on LitStack.

Welcome to Stacking the Shelves, hosted by Reading Reality.

This is my haul of books that I got for review over the last 5 months! Click on the book image to go to Goodreads to learn more about them.  Hope you all got some great books and that you have a great week (or many months) of reading ahead of you! Review Books:

Audible now has a listing for the L’Heure du Loup, Volume 1, the unabridged audiobook of the French translation of The Wolf’s Hour, just recently published in two volumes by Monsieur Toussaint Louverture. The French audiobook is narrated by Hadrien Rouchard. It will be available on May 29, 2026, and can be pre-ordered from Audible now.

L’Heure du Loup Volume 1 audiobook from Audible

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