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I consider myself lucky to have been reading science fiction for a long while (And since you didn’t ask, it’s over 50 years!) One of the things that keeps me reading is that I appreciate how much the genre has changed. Like many of my age, my first introduction to science fiction novels was through…

If you missed the second of my 2026 book recommendations events with the Ashland Public Library last night, you can watch the video on Youtube here. While last year’s program focused on both fantasy and science fiction, I’m primarily focusing on fantasy book recommendations this year. (But if you’re looking for more science fiction books this year, Elizabeth Bear has you covered!) This time, I highlighted the following: A Song of Legends Lost by M. H. Ayinde, an epic science […]

The post May 2026 Virtual Fantasy Book Recommendations first appeared on Fantasy Cafe.

I have a couple of posts I would like to write, but they must wait till tomorrow. A difficult scene is coming up, and it must be done right. The only way to do it to live through the emotions it requires.

We will walk this path with Maggie, because that is the price we pay for authenticity.

With that in mind, I bring you something light and calm. Help Kid 2 and I pack an order for Wynne. If you receiving this in your inbox and can’t see the video, you can find it on Youtube here.

If you ordered vellum with us, it will be arriving next week and most of the envelopes should get there by Wednesday. Please let me know if everything arrived safely. If you would like to order you own set, the preorder should go up next Friday.

I will see you on Saturday for a personal post.

The post Pack an Order with Us first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

Pauline Whitby/Pauline Ashwell/Paul Ash

Pauline Whitby was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire on January 25, 1926 to the headmaster and headmistress of Merchant Taylors’ School in Ashwell, the village from which she would gain her pseudonym. Whitby had a younger sister named Marie. Both of them attended the school their parents ran.

Whitby began publishing in 1941 when she was 15 years old, with the chapbook Little Red Steamer, a fantasy for children, which published by Methuen under the pseudonym Pauline Ashwell.

In July of 1942, her story “Invasion from Venus” appeared in the British magazine Yankee Science Fiction. She used the pseudonym Paul Ashwell for the story. Later, her first novelette, “Unwillingly to School” appeared in Astounding under her most famous pseudonym, Pauline Ashwell and earned her a Hugo nomination. Nine months later, her story “Big Sword” also appeared in Astounding, but again as by Paul Ash.

Little Red Steamer

In 1958, Whitby, under her Paul Ash pseudonym, was one of three women nominated for the Best New Author Hugo, along with Rosel George Brown and Kit Reed. Brian W. Aldiss and Louis Charbonneau were also nominated for the award which went to No Award (with Aldiss finishing second).

White published a handful of stories on her various pseudonyms through the mid-sixties before disappearing, partly because she found it difficult to sell to British magazines. She attended St. Hilda’s College, Oxford where she studied zoology. After taking her degree, she was a lecturer at University College London and the London School of Hygiene and Medicine.

Following her time as a lecturer, Whitby traveled to Africa, where she worked for the United Nations and a Nutrition Officer in Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Zambia. She retired from this work in the mid-1970s.

She made a reappearance as an author in 1982, when her story “Rats in the Moon” was published in the November issue of Analog. This second phase of her career lasted for fifteen stories and 19 years. All of her professional sales were to either Astounding or Analog, purchased by both John W. Campbell, Jr. or Stanley Schmidt. In 1992, she collected her four stories about Lysistrata Lee, two from each phase of her career, into the collection Unwillingly from Earth. Her third book, Project FarCry, was a fix up of the “Paul Ash” stories “Big Sword” and “The Man Who Stayed Behind.”

Whitby died on November 23, 1915 in Baldock, Hertfordshire. About five years before she died, sf fan Roy Kettle tracked Whitby down after learning that she lived near him. Kettle wrote about the experience in an article that appeared in the August 2010 issue of the fanzine Sense of Wonder Stories, edited by Rich Coad.

Steven H Silver is a twenty-two-time Hugo Award nominee and was the publisher of the Hugo-nominated fanzine Argentus as well as the editor and publisher of ISFiC Press for eight years. He has also edited books for DAW, NESFA Press, and ZNB. His most recent anthology is Alternate Peace and his novel After Hastings was published in 2020. Steven has chaired the first Midwest Construction, Windycon three times, and the SFWA Nebula Conference numerous times. He was programming chair for Chicon 2000 and Vice Chair of Chicon 7.

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Length: 4 hours and 25 minutes
Publisher: Sittin’ on a Goldmine Productions LLC
Release Date: November 05, 2021
ASIN: B09L55TBDK
Stand Alone or Series: 6th volume in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series
Source: Audiobook from Audible
Rating: 4/5 stars

“Mitzy Moon struggles to put snooping on the back burner and help launch the Duncan Restorative Justice Foundation. But her good-girl routine leaves the station after a deputy crashes the Grand Opening with a search warrant. And she’s full-steam ahead on the case when she discovers her father’s railroad is the target for a heist.

Never one to play it safe, Mitzy blatantly ignores the warnings of her entitled feline and risks everything. She even cons her interfering Ghost-ma into helping her with an alarming undercover plan. And now she promises just a few more shifts at the seedy roadhouse and she’ll have the crooks stopped in their tracks.

Can Mitzy pull off the double cross of a lifetime, or will more than her investigation be derailed?”

Series Info/Source: This is the 6th volume in the Mitzy Moon Mysteries series. I got this on audiobook from Audible to read.

Thoughts: This was an entertaining and well-done installment in the Mitzy Moon series. While these books don’t really “wow” me, they are fun little diversions. I originally started this series because I wanted an audiobook to listen to during a regular 6 hr (round trip) car trip I need to do monthly. These are the perfect length to get done during that commute. I think this was my favorite book in this series yet. I really liked seeing Mitzy and Sheriff “too hot to handle” Erick starting to work together on cases.

Mitzy is trying to be a dutiful daughter and support her father during the launch of the Duncan Restorative Justice Foundation. Then Sheriff Erick shows up with a warrant! Mitzy’s father’s railroad is being targeted by a ring of thieves. Mitzy decides to go undercover at a seedy bar to help sort out the truth.

All of our favorite characters are in the story, I really enjoyed watching Mitzy continue to mature. I enjoyed even more watching her and Erick finally start to work together on cases. When poor Piwackett injures himself bringing Mitzy of piece of evidence, I was happy to see that Mitzy finally took Piwacket seriously and paid attention to his efforts!

I listened to this on audiobook and it is well done. The narrator does character voices well and consistently, and it’s fun to listen to. This book is an easy one to listen to while driving. I don’t have to pay attention too hard and there is some humor and fun.

My Summary (4/5): Overall I thought this was the best book in the Mitzy Moon series so far. I continue to enjoy the town of Pincherry Harbor and enjoy watching Mitzy find a place she can call home. I love that people are finally starting to accept Mitzy’s detective abilities and pulling her into cases. It was fun to watch her and Erick work together. If you are looking for a light-hearted novella paranormal mystery series, this is a decent one. It takes a few books to get moving, but once it does, it is a lot of fun.

The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon) by Byron Leavitt
(Brain Waves Press, 2026.) Cover created by Miblart with interior illustration by the author.

A contemporary, cosmic-horror take on portal fantasy!

The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon) is a young-adult, portal fantasy written by Byron Leavitt.  It’s a contemporary, cosmic-horror take on the sub-genre that was a gateway for many of us. Recall the books like A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (1962), The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster (1961), The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis (1950), The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum (1900), and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)?

All of the above have adult followings as much as their young adult readerships. Which portal fantasies grabbed you and helped you become addicted to fantasy?

These share fun tropes, usually involving a band of children being quickly transported to a magical realm that reflects their child-like perspectives. Readers get talking animals and landscapes made from toys (and manifestations of Rhyme and Reason). Oftentimes, the children are out to rescue family members. There is usually an evil, sorcerous entity hell-bent on destroying the children (IT, Wicked Witches, Queen of Hearts, etc.). Of course, the party of kids makes friends with goofy-alien things like scarecrows, empty-hearted tin puppets, Mad Hatters, and strange entities that guide them (three cheers for Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which).

The beauty of portal fantasies with child protagonists is that those journeys resonate with adults too, who, after decades of trying to make sense of the world,  miss their younger, naive, adventurous take on life.  When I heard Byron Leavitt, best known as a horror writer for Diemension Games’ Deep Madness and Dawn of Madness (including the Deep Madness: Shattered Seas spin-off novel reviewed on Black Gate), released a young adult adventure, I had to check it out. We interviewed Byron Leavitt in 2021 (Interview link), and it is wild to revisit the Q&A five years later and see foreshadowings of this book.

This post shares details of Jonah’s journey, art from the author, and excerpts. But wait, there is more! We used this opportunity to reconnect with Byron Leavitt and get answers to crazy questions about salmon, and discover lost connections of Black Gate with Jonah’s inception.

The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle Back Cover Blurb

The demon ate their parents. They intend to get them back.

Jonah Hutchins didn’t think twice about finding a salmon in a puddle in his backyard. He already had a dapper troll lurking in his basement and a snarky harpy roosting in the trees out front, after all. He didn’t even flinch when the fish named Stuart announced that several nearby puddles were portals to other dimensions.

But a demon also lurked in Stuart’s puddle — and it swallowed Jonah’s parents whole.

Jonah and his sister Debbie refuse to let the demon make them orphans. So they gather Jonah’s strange friends and plunge through the puddles into the worlds beyond on a wild rescue mission.

They discover wondrous places like a cardboard kingdom where spilled water could end everything and a crumbling world full of ghosts and mouths. They meet weird new allies, including a massive plastic dragon and an octopus-headed prophetess. But the demon is still hungry, and it won’t stop until it devours them all.

This book combines the awestruck adventure of Impossible Creatures with the dark, hungry dread of Coraline. It is a celebration of the imagination’s power and a whirlwind ride you won’t soon forget.

Welcome to The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle. Are you ready?

Wardrobes, Phone Booths, Rabbit Holes, and Tornadoes, clear room for demonic Puddles! The Weird Fellowship & Key Allies

Let’s get acquainted with the children’s party.

• Jonah Hutchins: a boy with wild creativity, and as the title suggests, our key protagonist.
• Debbie Hutchins: Jonah’s younger sister, who initially thinks her brother is “weird”.
• Stuart: A highly mannered, angelic talking-salmon who appeared in a puddle within Jonah’s backyard after a trans-dimensional storm.
• Humphrey: A monstrous, but gentle, troll who can travel through shadows.
• Calisto: A harpy with powerful wings and a beautiful face framed by long black hair and jagged teeth.  She can be grumpy and is a fierce fighter.
• Ms. Finch (Loretta): A six-foot-tall prophetess with an octopus head who lives in a cozy, grandmotherly dimension. She provides critical counsel, opens the “ways” between worlds.
• Sir Reginald: A brave tin soldier with a melted left foot who initially tries to stop the party in Toy Land but joins them after realizing their honorable intentions.
• Pete: A massive, plastic red dragon that Jonah befriends and names in Toy Land.
• Dave (Lord Davros von München-Bellyweather the Fourth): A survivor living inside the demon who is part crab, squid, and man.

Art

The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle features about ten drawings by the author.  The cool thing is that Black Gate previewed some of these in 2021 with our interview with Byron Leavitt. Here’s the quick link to our discussion about his non-writing muses: OTHER DARK ARTS, YOUR DRAWINGS. Revealed there are images of Dave and Ms Finch. Those illustrations are shown in this article, with Humphry and Calistro now joining them.

Locations

• Jonah’s House and Backyard: The story begins here after a cosmic “trans-dimensional storm” leaves the yard littered with “deep puddles” that serve as portals to other realities.
• Ms. Finch’s House: Her abode can be reached through a puddle; it is a cozy, grandmotherly residence featuring a sitting room with floral prints and warm cherry wood furniture.
• Toy Land: Accessed via Ms. Finch’s front door, this world is constructed entirely of playthings; the ground is cardboard, the trees are plastic, and the sky has the texture of coarse paper.
• The Royal Castle: Situated within Toy Land, this is a massive hodge-podge fortress built from Lego bricks, Lincoln Logs, and sharpened #2 pencils. It houses a puppet theater that serves as the throne room for the realm’s rulers.
• The Dark City (Inside the Demon): This is the dark dimension within the demon’s soul. It is a bleak, “dead city” characterized by crumbling black skyscrapers, ankle-high grimy water, and a sky filled with ghostly green wisps and lightning.

Ms. Finch and David, illustration by Byron Leavitt Weird, wild, and darkly funny, The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon) is a portal fantasy where imagination is dangerously good! Excerpts Creativity Actually Creates! “I wonder if your mind can sometimes access them. Which would make the division between your world and others thinner near you.” “Huh,” Jonah said. “Care to elaborate?” “What were you thinking about when Humphrey appeared?” “I…” Jonah’s gaze darted around, and he winced. “It was a long time ago, and I was young, okay? But… I was pretending that I was a knight who had just discovered a massive troll. And then we teamed up and conquered an evil king.” … “Oh, man,” Debbie said. “Does that work for anyone? If so, I would bring my Flufferblooms to play with me. That would be incredible!” … “Flufferblooms?” Calisto asked. “What are those?” “They’re the flower people I draw.” Calisto guffawed. “And you call them… Flufferblooms?” Consuming Wonder Bread

[Debbie] picked up Jonah’s slice of wonder and shoved it into his mouth. Jonah’s senses erupted. It wasn’t that new colors appeared. Instead, those already present became so vivid they almost burst with brilliance. The world seemed so alive— so vibrant. Sounds and melodies filled the air, shimmering with details Jonah had never noticed before. The taste, too, was an explosion of flavors that danced across his tongue like a parade of sweet, sour, salty, and tangy. These sensations were unlike anything he had experienced before.

The Maw

The meaty flooring soon formed an uneven shelf that stretched as far as Jonah could see in either direction. Then, it curved upward before him into a gooey, living wall. Jonah’s gaze traveled up the surface and finally landed on the mouth that pierced it. The Maw was big enough to devour buildings. Its needle teeth were more like swords, and it had so many. Maybe a dozen tentacles slithered out like tongues from inside it, wriggling as they quested across the shelf below. The mouth ate greedily. However, it didn’t consume meat, bone, or any physical matter. Instead, it devoured light and chewed on souls.

Any Biblical Undertones Are Subtle

The biblical account of Jonah (Old Testament) describes that character as being swallowed by a “great fish” (often thought to be called a whale nowadays). He survived for three days and three nights in its belly before being vomited onto dry land. His journey and survival are linked to obeying “the Lord’s” will.  In The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle,  there is a boy Jonah who is guided by a fish (a salmon named Stuart) who enables transportation to strange realms. Near clueless agnostics (i.e., me) detect some possible connections. However, Byron Leavitt steers clear of overt religious allegories (i.e., I recall feeling hoodwinked as a youth when I learned about Aslan being more than a lion in C.S. Lewis’s Narnia). Anyway, it is wild to note that creative horror writers (like Stephen King or Anne Rice) are often religious.

This tracks with Byron Leavitt’s style. He admits his reverence for a higher power and is inspired in many ways, but his spiritual muses are masked so well that most readers would never know. His stories feel pleasantly agnostic. From our 2021 interview, we cornered him on how he reconciled his weird art with perspectives on God; check out his answers to these prompts there: (1) DO YOU THINK GOD ENJOYS HORROR? (2)  RELIGION IN WEIRD ART.

Interview Reconnect – Exclusive Arcana Revealed

We just had to connect with Byron Leavitt to ask a few questions. I’m very grateful that he was available and willing, since he revealed fascinating bits about the history of Jonah, Black Gate, and Jellyfish stomachs.

I’m curious if you eat salmon or have ever had a pet fish?

Actually, we eat salmon a lot, though our kids protested a bit after I first read the book to them. Ha! My kids have had pet fish. I’m not sure if I ever had one, but I had many pet crayfish—including one who had babies and then ate them. Her sole surviving offspring was an albino named Little Squirt who became translucent whenever he molted. He was a great crayfish. I’ve also had several pet jellyfish, one of which was named Peanut Butter the jelly. The other jellies died, but Peanut Butter lived on. Then, before her death, she gifted me with dozens (maybe more) of asexually produced baby jellyfish, which have clung to the sides of their aquarium in polyp form ever since. I was told jellyfish never have babies in home aquariums, particularly when there’s only one. But at one point in her life, Peanut Butter had five stomachs instead of the usual four, so she was never completely normal.

Also, any Easter eggs or cross-over secrets infused from your previous work in Jonah’s tale? Perhaps some of the same muses you had for so many years inspired Jonah and other characters. Any tidbits or treats for your Deep/Dawn-Madness fans?

I don’t think there are any connections with Deep or Dawn in this book. (I’ve saved those for a forthcoming novel called Under the Iridescent Sea.) However, that’s at least partially because this book predates them. The idea for this book came to me when I was a teenager. I then turned it into a novelette, which, interestingly enough, I submitted to Black Gate way back in the day when it was still a print magazine. In the end it was just a little too long and a little too different from the other stuff Black Gate was publishing to make it fit. So having the book reviewed in Black Gate is kind of a full-circle moment. The story sat for years after that. But I always wanted to turn it into a book. Jonah’s dad had mentioned there were no trolls in the basement or harpies in the trees, so I knew there had to be.

Finally, I launched a small Kickstarter for it and turned it into a very short novel. However, once it was finished, the book sat again. I had just been hired full-time at Diemension, so I didn’t have time for it. Eventually, I realized I either needed to put it out there or go back and fix a glaring error in the book: Jonah’s lack of a sister. I finally decided to do one more big rewrite. The book grew 50% longer, hopefully added more emotional heft, and got a final battle that I think is much more climactic and fulfilling than the original one. So, anyway, that’s a little peek into the 25-year epic that was this book’s journey from conception to print. It is physical proof that, if you have a trunk novel, there’s still hope it will see the light of day.

Expect More Jonah

This novel is nicely self-contained, but Byron Leavitt has more to share as he indicates in the Afterword of his book:

I hope you enjoyed The Fish in Jonah’s Puddle (To Say Nothing of the Demon). Assuming you did, you may be interested in reading another adventure featuring Jonah and his strange group of friends. Well, I’ve got you covered— and I’m going to give it to you for free. … You can also go to byronleavitt.com/more-jonah/ … Then, I’ll send you a free short story set in Jonah’s worlds. I’ll also email you once in a while to keep in touch and let you know what’s going on with me and future stories, but you can unsubscribe at any time. What are you waiting for? Get your free story right now! About Byron Leavitt

Byron Leavitt is a creator of weird fiction who lives to cultivate wonder. He wrote all the story content for the hit board games Deep Madness and Twisted Fables by Diemension Games, plus either wrote or co- wrote all eight books for the story- driven game Dawn of Madness, which one reviewer called “the best narrative I’ve ever read.” Byron also wrote the books Deep Madness: Shattered Seas and The Art of Deep Madness, as well as the true story Of Hope and Cancer, about his battle with stage- four Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He’s currently working on many more projects, including the long- gestating epic dark fantasy novel Alayaka and the science fiction novel Under the Iridescent Sea. Byron lives in a centennial Swiss- style house in Tacoma, Washington, with his wife, Sarah, his daughters Aurora and Eden, many jellyfish babies, his butler, Egad, several gremlins, and the Gargoyle Baby. When he’s not writing stories, publishing books, or making games, Byron also serves as a copywriter and editor. You can learn more about him on his website at byronleavitt.com and on his Substack newsletter at byronleavitt.substack.com.

Calisto and Humphrey; Art by Byron Leavitt Listen to the talking Salmon! Follow Jonah into the Puddle!

S.E. Lindberg is a Managing Editor at Blackgate.com, regularly reviewing books, interviewing authors on ‘Beauty & Art in Weird-Fantasy Fiction’, and running Dark Muse News. He has taken lead roles organizing the Gen Con Writers’ Symposium (2020-2023) and the Goodreads Sword & Sorcery Group; he even interned for Tales from the Magician’s Skull magazine and is an Assistant Editor for Battleborn magazine. As for crafting stories, he has contributed eight entries across Perseid Press’s Heroes in Hell and Heroika series, and has an entry in Weirdbook Annual #3: Zombies. He independently publishes novels under the banner Dyscrasia Fiction®; short stories of these have appeared in Whetstone and Swords & Sorcery online magazine, Rogues In the House Podcast’s A Book of Blades (Vol. I and Vol. II), DMR’s Terra Incognita, Tales From the Magician’s Skull (Issue #9), Savage Realms Magazine (July 2025), and Michael Stackpole’s S&S Chain Story 2 Project.

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Chapter 3

 

At Sea

 

Captain Chamas saw the trawler and noted it was flying the colors of the Nuevo Imperium. He had the surviving crew tack to get as close as they could while he readied his pistols.

It was late evening; the sloppy crew hadn't even manned a watch in the crow's nest or on deck. He slipped aboard and then took control of the ship.

"Who is the captain?" he demanded.

An anxious lad looked furitively to an old grizzled man with gray hair and beard.

Captain Chamas looked at his pistol and then put it in his waist band and pulled his dagger. He slit the throat of the old man. The old man's eyes were wide as he gargled and fell over. Blood sprayed across the room, getting on the pirate.

The other pirates laughed maliciously.

"Now, I'll ask again, who is the captain," he demanded.

"You," the lad stuttered, pointing to him.

"Better," the captain said. He nudged the body. "Strip that and then throw it over the side," he growled. "Save the boots; they may be my size," he growled.

They had been in the lifeboat a hafta. Their clothes were encrusted with salt. Having a spare set of clothes would be nice. He watched as the lad and one of his sailors stripped the body and then moved it to the stern.

"Tie off the lifeboat; we may need it again," he growled. "Search the ship. Find me some rum," he growled as he heard a splash in the stern. The lad and any other able-bodied prisoners were about to be sold into slavery once they got to the pirate island.

"Let's get this dung heap of a barge squared away and then head home," he growled. The other pirates growled in agreement.

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

 Ziyougang City, Pirate Island

 

Dominus Dirk Wheeler had been initially proud of achievements and had taken great pride over the navy. Still worried about what Imperials will do.

He was pushing innovation and the machine shops and shipyards hard to turn out new machines. The research on the technology was tricky, but knowing that it had been done while also having a physical example and paperwork helped immensely in the copying and understanding of the things.

They needed to close the gap on innovation with the mainland if they were ever going to have a chance at survival long term.

As usual there was a need for more iron for steel and more coal of course and so on and so forth. He looked at the pile of notes and shook his head.

"So many calls for iron! From ships to machines to  buildings—it seems that this is getting out of control!"

"It is just moving faster than we ever dreamed," Hala, his mate said with a smile.

"The Gaijin are devils!"

So many things had been learned from the festival spies as well as the captured PBY Catalina craft. Standardized tools, fittings, screws, bolts, so many, many things. Access panels, motors, turbine engines, the lists went on and on. He was sometimes dazed by it all.

His artisans were going crazy with the work. Of course Captain Pasha was smug since it had been his clan to bring the craft down. He was reeping a lot of what the artisan clan made from their research.

Dirk might have complained at an earlier date. Now he didn't care. They were all benefiting from the capture.

His mate ran her hands over his shoulders and then hugged him from behind. "They are just men. They have many annus of change that they brought with them. The plans for it all. We have seen some of it over the many annus, but never understood it all."

"Very little."

"Correct. Much of it lacked the basics on how it works," she said. She looked over him to a sketch and smiled.

There was an exploded diagram of an engine transmission on the paper. The sketch was ingenious; no doubt the concept had been taken from the festival spies but the drawing was new. "For the aircraft?" she asked as she picked the sketch up and examined it.

"And other things. Vehicles, cranes, all manner of machines," Dirk said as he turned to watch her. "It is all about gears and moving them about to find the right size gear to apply just the right amount of power and torque to do the job."

"Ah," she said in approval.

"They have to be made out of the right metals," he warned.

"I see," she said as she laid the paper back down again.

"We have some casting issues but I'm transitioning to diesel and gas. Primarily gas, the diesel engines are still more trouble than they are worth," Dirk said with a grimace. "They are costing a lot so I'm selling the steam engines to the market as they come online."

"Ah?" she asked in amusement. "Should you sell one or two to the duke?" she asked in malicious amusement. "He might pay richly for one."

Dirk cocked his head. "That is a thought," he admitted. He'd probably get two or three times what the market would bear locally if he sold a steam engine to the Grand Duke of Medicini. After a moment, he nodded. "Their tribute ship is due in a mens or two?"

"Something like that," his mate said. "Aren't you going on a trip again?"

He nodded. "Isaac and the others have parts to try in the plane. If they work, we will be slightly closer to replicating more of it," he said. "We leave in the morning."

"Ah. Well then, I have you all to myself then," she said huskily as she climbed into his lap and cradled his face. He smiled as she leaned in and kissed him.

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

Domina Ching Abbas had her hands tucked in the sleeves of her robe as she wandered through the alchemy building. Dominus Wheeler was pushing for more change, and she agreed with him. His work and that of the spies had improved their alchemy ten fold in only a few short annus.

She exited the building and went across the street to another which was making drugs. All sorts of pharmacuticals were being made, from medicines to those used for entertainment. She was amused that some of the other dominus like Wheeler were so trusting with her, and others didn't trust her at all. Of course it might be that they were suspicious of her because of her use of poisons. She had in fact removed an annoying dominus recently for his stupidity.

That had actually backfired when he had been replaced by Pasha. Pasha was a chuavanistic fool, a bit of a blowhard. He had youth and energy though, something that Omar had lacked. He was eager to prove himself, which was one reason that fool and the other dominus with him had raided the Nuevo Imperium.

She grimaced and nodded slightly as she made her way through the lab and then out another door and over to her office. She didn't bother checking the massage parlor, which doubled as a brothel, or the medicus building further down the street.

She had hopes that Wheeler would turn up something new for her soon. She also hoped that the Imperium would hold off a bit longer, though she doubted that they would hold out forever.

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

Happy Thursday, BDH. Mod R here, requesting Horde assistance.

Not an image of my actual apartment but like…90% there.

I am moving house.

The new place is lovely, and I am very happy and grateful to have housing, but it has also been touched by the Fairy of Modern Rental Design (much less cooler than the Fish Fairy) and leeched of colour. Stark white walls, bright fluorescent lighting, black fittings, grey floors. Add windows that do not get direct sun and the usual English grey natural light, and you get the picture.

Very much a First World Mod problem, I am the first to admit. But the more I get to know myself and my ADHD, the more I realise how much my environment overstimulates me and makes me evil.

I haven’t decorated a home in more than a decade, and I ended up really hating what I did then, which was to work with the monochrome instead of against it. When I got rid of the bigger, greyer pieces, it was like my whole nervous system breathed a sigh of relief from tension I didn’t even know I was holding.

I do not want to get to that situation again.

Now I’m leaving all of that furniture behind and starting anew, with two limitations:

1. I can only work with furniture, textiles, lighting, rugs, art, and renter-friendly tricks. The walls, floors, kitchen fittings, and permanent fixtures must remain as they are.
2. More importantly, I have no measurable aesthetic sense. As in, I can appreciate it when I see it, but I have no idea how to get things that harmoniously “go” together.

My style is…pretty much everything they dig up at Pompeii? I’m not sure what to call that particular flavour of Mediterranean, but if I could live on an Ancient Rome set design, I would. Creams, terracotta, olive greens, pops of gold and sea blues.

My mission is to lighten and warm up the place by combining the two realities. “What if a spreadsheet became a home?” meets “You wake up on a sunny afternoon in Apulia. It’s 78 AD, and the olive harvest is plentiful.”

So I come to you, wise Horde.

Where do you look for inspiration and shop for home things? I’m in the UK, but please do not let geography stop you. The comment section has never respected borders before, and I see no reason for it to start now.

Is it Pinterest accounts? Design books by…? Instagram people? Specific blogs? YouTube channels? Secret witch covens that meet inside an ancient turtle and discuss where to buy good curtains?

Please advise, because I am currently losing a staring contest with a grey floor.

The post Horde vs The Grey first appeared on ILONA ANDREWS.

LitStack Spots Here are other titles we are definitely adding to our TBR stack, including…

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

The Franchise by Thomas Elrod

Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tor Books (May 12, 2026)

Length: 368 pages

Author Information: Website

At first, The Franchise seemed exactly like the kind of speculative fiction I’d go for. While Thomas Elrod’s debut joins an increasingly popular vein of cautionary sci-fi tales about the dangers of technology, what really makes it stand out is the way it portrays reality entertainment to almost grotesque extremes.

The story begins with the meteoric rise of a beloved fantasy series created by an author who spent his lifetime fiercely protecting his work from studio executives eager to cash in on adaptations, merchandising, and every other possible spin-off opportunity. However, after his death, the rights fell into the hands of an heir far more interested in profit than artistic integrity, and before long, the franchise saw itself ballooning into a massive multimedia machine. Movies and toys were only the beginning. Using cutting-edge technology, corporations eventually figured out how to create a fully immersive fantasy world populated by real participants who have had their memories altered and identities rewritten. Some volunteered willingly, at least at first. Others became involved under far murkier circumstances.

The result is something that goes far beyond your typical theme park experience. The people inside this manufactured reality truly believe in the new roles they are given, whether they are queens, knights, wizards, or peasants living in this medieval fantasy kingdom. Meanwhile, outside the illusion are the producers, scriptwriters, hired actors, and handlers working behind the scenes to turn this entire enterprise into marketable entertainment.  An entire ecosystem is required to manipulate events in order to maintain interest and increase profits, all the while trying to stop the entire operation from collapsing under its own weight. As you can see, the comparisons to The Truman Show, Westworld, and even Game of Thrones are apt.

And really, that’s where the novel shines most: the concept itself. Elrod clearly has a lot to say about fandom, capitalism, exploitation, as well as the toxic aspects of our entertainment culture in general. The book utilizes satire in a lot of it commentary, presenting a near future where spectacle and profit matter more than basic humanity. As the story progresses, the lengths corporations are willing to go for ratings and audience engagement become increasingly absurd, but intentionally so. There’s a darkly funny thread turning through much of the book, and much of it actually works surprisingly well.

That said, a concept, even a fantastic one, can only carry you so far. Eventually, the story started losing me. As the focus shifted more heavily towards individual narratives, leaving behind the more intriguing mechanics of the plot, The Franchise gradually became less engaging instead of more. Structurally, it was also laid out in a way that was inconducive to maintaining momentum. Eventually, all the time jumps and rotating perspectives took their toll, breaking up the flow and making things feel increasingly disjointed.

Ironically, I also found myself far more invested in the happenings outside the fantasy world than within it once the situation became clear to readers. After the curtain is pulled back, revealing the inner workings of the system, the actual fantasy story line loses a lot of its appeal. Instead, more important questions are brought to the forefront relating to the ethics, psychological consequences, and horrifying implications of a society willing to normalize all this for entertainment. Exploring those speculative elements is where the novel feels strongest and most at home, and this is what I mean when I say that the concept is consistently stronger than the story built around it.

That said, I really enjoyed The Franchise, even though I found myself less invested by the end than I was at the beginning. At the end of the day, though, this is one of those novels I admire more for its ambitions than for the actual reading experience. The ideas are genuinely great, the scope is impressive, and there are stretches that absolutely work, like the intrigue in the early chapters and some of the later thematic explorations. I just don’t think the novel ever fully balances all its moving pieces into a cohesive whole. Still, for a debut, there’s a lot to like here, and I’d definitely be curious to check out Thomas Elrod’s future work.

Here are 7 Author Shoutouts for this week. Find your favorite author or discover an…

The post 7 Author Shoutouts | Authors We Love To Recommend appeared first on LitStack.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories, volumes 1-9, edited by Lin Carter and Arthur Saha (DAW Books, 1975-1983)

While people disagree on the quality of Lin Carter’s writing, most people agree he was a fine editor and tireless supporter of the fantasy field. Volumes edited by Carter brought quite a few new authors to my attention, as well as feeding me a steady diet of works by writers I already loved.

From 1975 to 1988, DAW books presented a yearly anthology called The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories. Lin Carter edited the first six and I own and have read all but #3, which I ordered recently but was sent the wrong book.

Arthur W. Saha took over as editor after that. I only have one of his volumes. I don’t know why the editorial switch, but Carter may have been suffering from ill health around that time. He died in 1988. I first read the three with Robert E. Howard content, but later read a couple of others. Here are my thoughts.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 1, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, October 1975). Cover by George Barr

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 1

Contains “The Temple of Abomination” by Robert E. Howard, a Cormac Mac Art story, and pieces by Marion Zimmer Bradley, Lloyd Alexander, Clark Ashton Smith (fragment completed by Carter), Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd/Gray Mouser), Lin Carter (Thongor), Hannes Bok, L. Sprague de Camp, Pat McIntosh, Charles R. Saunders (Imaro, & apparently the first story Saunders ever wrote), and Jack Vance (Dying Earth).

Most of these are decent stories. The Saunders tale shows a lot of power and promise but also feels like a very early effort. The de Camp tale is told in his often used tongue-in-cheek style, which I have to admit doesn’t do much for me.

It’s generally considered a faux pax these days to include your own story in such an anthology, particularly in something called “Best,” but Carter often did and the publisher didn’t seem to have a problem. He was probably a decent sales draw.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 2, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, August 1976). Cover by George Barr

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 2

Contains:

The Year in Fantasy, by Carter
“The Demoness” by Tanith Lee, beautifully written and probably my favorite story in the collection
“The Night of the Unicorn” by Thomas Burnett Swann, very short and something of a magical realism story; it was quite good
“Cry Wolf by Pat McIntosh, a werewolf tale
“Under the Thumbs of the God”s by Fritz Leiber, a good Fafhrd/Gray Mouser tale
“The Guardian of the Vault,” by Paul Spencer, a very good story with a twist ending
“The Lamp from Atlantis,” by L. Sprague de Camp, which was interesting but far longer than needed
“Xiurhn,” by Gary Myers, a Lovecraftian tale
“The City in the Jewel” by Lin Carter, a long and quite good Thongor story
“In ‘Ygiroth” by Walter C. DeBill, Jr., a decent piece
“The Scroll of Morloc” by Clark Ashton Smith & Lin Carter, which wasn’t terribly well done
“Payment in Kind” by Caradoc A. Cador, which was well written and intriguing but with an ending I didn’t get
“Milord Sir Smiht, the English Wizard” by Avram Davidson, which was glacially slow and left me scanning it

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 3, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, November 1977). Cover by Josh Kirby

The Year’s Best Fantasy 3

I haven’t read this but thought I’d include the TOC for those who are interested. Contains:

The Year in Fantasy essay by Carter
“Eudoric’s Unicorn” by de Camp
“Shadow of a Demon”  by Gardner F. Fox (Niall of the Far Travels)
“Ring of Black Stone,” by Pat McIntosh
“The Lonely Songs of Laren Dorr” by George R. R. Martin
“Two Suns Setting” by Karl Edward Wagner (Kane story)
“The Stairs in the Crypt” by Clark Ashton Smith and Lin Carter
“The Goblin Blade by Raul Garcia Capella
“The Dark King,” by C. J. Cherryh
“Black Moonligh” by Lin Carter
“The Snout in the Alcove” by Gary Myers
“The Pool of the Moon” by Charles Saunders
and the usual essay by Carter on the year’s best fantasy books.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 4, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, December 1978). Cover by Esteban Maroto

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 4

Contains “Nekht Semerkeht” by Robert E. Howard, which was a partial story completed very well by Andrew Offutt. It also has stories by Poul Anderson, Grail Undwin, Clark Ashton Smith, Lin Carter, Avram Davidson, Phyllis Eisenstein, Tanith Lee, Ramsey Campbell, Pat McIntosh, and Philip Coakley.

Other than “Nekht Semerkeht,” the two best tales were Campbell’s (which appeared in Swords Against Darkness), and Anderson’s story, “The Tale of Hauk.” Avram Davidson’s story was “Hark! Was that the Squeal of an Angry Thoat?,” which was a play on Edgar Rice Burrough’s work. I found it pretty goofy. Smith’s story was “Lok the Depressor,” good but not outstanding.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 5, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, January 1980). Cover by Penalva

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 5

It contains “Lord of the Dead” by Howard, which is primarily a crime story with fantastic elements. It also contains a Conan pastiche by de Camp and Carter, and stories by T. H. White, Tanith Lee, Pat McIntosh, Craig Shaw Gardner, Adrian Cole, Janet Fox, David Malory, Grail Undwin, Marvin Kaye, and Evangeline Walton.

“Astral Stray” by Adrian Cole was the best thing here outside of Howard. I’ve always liked Cole’s work a lot.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 6, edited by Lin Carter (DAW, November 1980). Cover by Josh Kirby

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 6

This is a pretty good collection, even if it doesn’t contain a Robert E. Howard tale. We have:

The Year in Fantasy by Carter
“Garden of Blood” by Roger Zelazny (Dilvish)
“The Character Assassin” by Paul H. Cook
“The Things That Are Gods” by John Brunner
“Zurvan’s Saint” by Grail Undwin
“Perfidious Amber” by Tanith Lee
“The Mer She” by Fritz Leiber (Fafhrd/Gray Mouser)
“Demon of the Snows” by Carter (Thongor)
“The Pavilion Where All Times Meet” by Jayge Carr
“Cryptically Yours” by Brian Lumley
“Red as Blood” by Tanith Lee
“Sandmagic” by Orson Scott Card
The Year’s Best Fantasy Books by Carter

“Sandmagic” is worth the price by itself.

Now for a surprise about The Year’s Best Fantasy series. You may notice that Grail Undwin appeared in a bunch of these Carter edited collections, although I remember nothing about the stories. Well, this fact actually calls into question Carter’s suitability as an editor for this kind of “Best of” collection, because — it appears — Grail Undwin was a secret pseudonym of Carter.

I first heard this from G. W. Thomas but it certainly has the ring and scent of truth. If it is, Carter managed not only to get one of his stories under his own name into each of these anthologies, but he got a secret one in as well (and no doubt got paid for it).

The The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 9, edited by Arthur W. Saha (DAW, October 1983). Cover by Sanjulian

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories 9

Edited by Art Saha. Cover by Sanjulian.

Contains stories by John Kessel. R. A. Lafferty, Michael Shea, Harlan Ellison, Richard Christian Matheson, Parke Godwin, Jor Jennings, Jane Yolen, Suzette Haden Elgin, and Tanith Lee.

The Year’s Best Fantasy Stories, volumes 8-14, edited by Arthur Saha (DAW Books, 1982-1988)

Saha took a much wider view of fantasy than Lin Carter and some people probably liked that. I didn’t. I wanted adventure and this presented very little of that, and most of the stories were set in much more modern milieus and tended toward the humorous.

In retrospect, I’m sure these were perfectly good stories but they just weren’t what I was looking for and were a drastic change from the stuff Carter had chosen. I haven’t picked up any more of the Saha edited volumes.

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 Superman/Tarzan: Sons of the Jungle by Chuck Dixon and Carlos Meglia. See all of his recent posts for Black Gate here.

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Length: 766 pages
Publisher: Dandy House
Release Date: May 12, 2026
ASIN: B0GJJDXG4L
Stand Alone or Series: 8th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series
Source: eGalley from NetGalley for Review
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“As chaos and mass panic spread outside the dungeon in the wake of Faction Wars, Carl and Donut find themselves on the tenth floor, where they’re forced to compete in a surprisingly normal set of tasks. Well, normal for the dungeon.

Races. Get from point A to point B, and don’t come in last. After each race, they pick an upgrade for their vehicle and the track gets more challenging. It all seems a little too normal, a little too simple.

Ignore those strange glitches that are occurring with increasing frequency. Don’t listen to those whispers about what’s happening on the mysterious eleventh floor, something the system AI calls A Parade of Horribles. Nobody, not even the showrunners, knows what that means. Just that the AI has ominously dubbed it “a coming-out party for the ages.”

Everything is fine, Crawler. I repeat, everything is fine.

Carl hates that it’s business as usual. The rules of this floor have taken away his agency. That just will not do.

So Carl is planning a party of his own. It’s a plan so dangerous, so insane, he can’t even consult his friends lest the AI put a stop to it. Because if it goes wrong, it’s not just the end of Carl and Donut. No. The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been.”

Series Info/Source: This is the 8th book in the Dungeon Crawler Carl series. I got this on ebook through NetGalley for review.

Thoughts: I was incredibly excited to get a review copy of this. This is fast-paced, action packed, and full of all the wonderful characters from throughout the series. However, I can’t help feeling like the story is a bit forced and contrived at points.

Carl and Donut are on the tenth floor. A strangely “normal” floor where they go through multiple heats of races. As more and more crawlers are eliminated Carl, Donut, and team desperately look for a way to help both NPCs and crawlers escape the dungeon completely. The AI has gone a bit wonky, and the Gods are free…so, things aren’t exactly going as planned. If they can make it through the races of the tenth floor they will have to face the mysterious eleventh floor, A Parade of Horribles.

I have a couple of small quibbles right from the start. First, the intro from Samantha’s point of view was confusing to say the least. Second, this series is starting to feel strangely repetitive despite the creative craziness. The formula is always the same…something crazy horrible happens, but our heroes figure out a way to survive! Then the situation gets even more crazy horrible…and yet they survive again!

I still enjoyed the characters and the ludicrous situations they are put into. A lot of the things that happen are unpredictable, weird, or just flat out gross. I also really liked that we get to learn more about the Primals and the AI. There are many previous plot points that really come to a climax in this book as well.

The chapters here are action packed and fairly short, which really pulls you through the story. It still took me over a week to read this massive book, but I did finish it, which is saying a lot. I have been struggling to stay focused on some of the books I have picked up, and I genuinely looked forward to sitting down and reading this one.

I have listened to the majority of this series on audiobook, and I definitely prefer that. I think the only books I have read in print form are the first book and then this one. While I do feel like I remember things better when I read them, I also am more prone to skimming things in print form. The audiobooks just bring a whole additional level of fun to the story because they are done so well. I already picked up a copy of the audiobook so I can listen to this as well.

My Summary (4.5/5): Overall I enjoyed this. I love the characters and the concept here; the story is fast-paced and action-packed. The story line is getting harder to follow and more convoluted, though. I am also starting to feel a tad bit irritated by how formulaic some of this is. Yes, there are surprises and crazy things that are constantly happening, but the core of the story is the same: something horrible happens, Carl comes up with a crazy plan to save the day, something more horrible happens, Carl comes up with a new, more dangerous plan to save the day…somehow these plans always work out in the end. Will I keep reading the series? Of course, I am this far in, and I am a huge fan of many of the characters in here.

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.

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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.

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