Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Series Overview Review: The Realm of the Elderlings by Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Series Overview Review: The Realm of the Elderlings 

by Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Be aware that there are spoilers in this review. 

Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb are both pen names for Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, an American author of speculative fiction. As Lindholm, the stories tend to be shorter and less detailed in a variety of genres. As Hobb, characterization, settings, and conflicts are deeper and wider, producing much larger works. Hobb is best known for her The Realm of the Elderlings fantasy stories, and that's how I became a fan of hers. I'd read the novella "The Homecoming", which is connected to The Realm of the Elderlings in that it's set in the Rain Wilds positioned at the far west edges of the Six Duchies. Within this umbrella series, she's written five subseries and numerous short stories including: 

The Farseer Trilogy

Assassin's Apprentice, Book 1 (published 1995)

Royal Assassin, Book 2 (published 1996)

Assassin's Quest, Book 3 (published 1997)

 

The Liveship Traders Trilogy

Ship of Magic, Book 1 (published 1998)

(The) Mad Ship, Book 2 (published 1999)

Ship of Destiny, Book 3 (published 2000)

 

The Tawny Man Trilogy

Fool's Errand, Book 1 (published 2001)

Golden Fool, Book 2 (published 2002)

Fool's Fate, Book 3 (published 2003)

 

The Rain Wilds Chronicles

Dragon Keeper, Book 1 (published 2009)

Dragon Haven, Book 2 (published 2010)

City of Dragons, Book 3 (published 2011)

Blood of Dragons, Book 4 (published 2013)

 

Fitz and the Fool Trilogy

Fool's Assassin, Book 1 (published 2014)

Fool's Quest, Book 2 (published 2015)

Assassin's Fate, Book 3 (published 2017)

 

Note that these series have appeared in numerous formats (ebook, audio, mass market and trade paperbacks, and hardcover editions) under slight variations to the trilogy titles. 

Timeline and reading order logistics: The Farseer, The Tawny Man, and The Fitz and the Fool trilogies follow the story of the main character chronologically, so should be read first. Liveship Traders and Rain Wilds entries take place in different faraway regions and feature different characters, so can be read independently of the others. All the short stories are standalones told by different characters than any in the longer subseries installments, set in various locations around the Six Duchies, so they're only connected by the overall universe and events that enrich the context. 

"The Willful Princess and the Piebald Prince" (published in 2013, this nearly 200-page long prequel novella relating to The Realm of the Elderlings kingdom origins hundreds of years before The Farseer Trilogy) 

“The Homecoming" (a novella set in the all but uninhabitable swampland near the mountain ranges hundreds of years prior to The Farseer Trilogy but otherwise unrelated to any of the subseries; published in Legends II in 2003 and in "The Inheritance & Other Stories" in 2011). I covered "The Homecoming" in the Legends II review previously on the Alien Romances Blog. 

"The Inheritance" (a short story set in Bingham, in the far southwest of the Six Duchies; taking place between The Farseer and Liveship Trader series; published in "The Inheritance & Other Stories" in 2011). I went over "The Inheritance" in my review of The Inheritance & Other Stories previously on the Alien Romances Blog. 

"Cat's Meat" (a short story set in Buck, close to the Forge, which is a pivotal setting in The Farseer Trilogy, and taking place hundreds of years prior to that trilogy; published in "The Inheritance & Other Stories" in 2011). I discussed "Cat's Meat" in my review of The Inheritance & Other Stories previously on the Alien Romances Blog. 

"Words Like Coins" (a 10,000 word long story taking place "somewhere in the middle" of Farseer and recommended to read either before or after Book 2; published in A Fantasy Medley Anthology in 2009 and as an individual story in 2012) 

"Blue Boots" (a short story taking place "somewhere in the middle" of Farseer and recommended to read either before or after Book 2; published in Songs of Love and Death Anthology in 2010, then in Songs of Love Lost and Found ebook collection in 2012) 

"Her Father's Sword" (a short story that takes place during the early years of the Red Ship Wars and forging with Fitz visiting the setting within the story as a secondary character; set "somewhere in the middle" of Farseer and recommended to be read either before or after Book 2; published in The Book of Swords Anthology in 2017) 

~*~

The Realm of the Elderlings is a world where magic can be used to murder and danger lies all around. All the books in this series are placed in the Six Duchies, a federation of former commercial coalitions ruled by the royal Farseer lineage, four of them being coastal, two inland. 

Hobb has said that her motivation in developing Farseer and perhaps The Realm of the Elderlings as a whole was based on a question: What if magic were addictive, and that addiction destructive or degenerative? 

In the opening of the first subseries, the Six Duchies find many of their towns under assault from raiding enemies dubbed "Red-Ship Raiders". The first place hit is called Forge, a small coastal village known for their rich metal ore deposits, which has been raided, its citizens captured. The villains' message is a strange one, to be sure: Either a ransom is paid to them or the citizens will be returned. If they're returned, loved ones become violent and ravenous, little more than rabid zombies who care nothing for family or home and only want to feed. Nothing can be done to help the inflicted. They become like a plague to everyone in the kingdom and are dubbed Forged Ones, or the escralled. 

As I said, my first experience with The Realm of the Elderlings was in "The Homecoming" in which the characters find the evidence of a fascinating dead civilization in underground ruins where an extinct people once dwelled and their music was still heard--haunting the living and drawing them hypnotically toward a kind of death as they're lost to the ages along with the Elderlings. This story confused me as to what "Elderlings" actually are, and it wasn't until the last book in The Farseer Trilogy that I found out that Elderlings are actually dragons! Therefore, the lost civilization within the Rain Wild ruins probably weren't necessarily Elderlings but might be something else entirely. I suspect I won't learn the truth until I read The Rain Wilds Chronicles, if even then. 

Thus far, any mention of the Elderlings and their magic in the stories I've read has been as elusive as a butterfly. I suspect (hope) it's the overarching theme of every story in this wide-ranging series, and I admit it was the part that I was and am most looking forward to. 

Incidentally, there's a fan site for The Realm of the Elderlings you might want to check out for much more detailed series and individual story information, complete with maps, character studies, and an in-depth, clickable index that, while not exhaustive, really helped me find available data quickly: https://robinhobbelderlings.fandom.com. 

Finally, comic book counterparts to the series have been made, but, as of 2018, no television or film rights have been sold. I'd like to see a movie or TV series involving The Realm of the Elderlings. Honestly, though, I think a video game would be the most intriguing and do this series much more justice. 

Next week, I'll review the three books in The Farseer Trilogy, as there's really too much here to cover in a single post. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Lock the Clock

Once again, Congress considers abolishing the semiannual clock change between Standard and Daylight Saving Time. A Senate bill to make DST permanent is on the table, although many people advocate getting rid of it altogether instead.

Sunshine Protection Act

The history of the time change:

Daylight Saving Time

I would rejoice to have Daylight Saving Time all year around. Does anybody really WANT darkness to fall at 5 p.m. in the winter? And that's here in Maryland; think how much earlier the light vanishes in more northerly states. Opponents of permanent DST derisively dismiss the proposal as catering to after-work golfers. Rather, a later sunset in December and January offers a more significant benefit. Homebound drivers and students leaving after-school activities would enjoy the safety of daylight for an hour longer.

In my opinion, the allegedly scary prospect of kids waiting for morning school buses "in the dark" is much exaggerated. Isn't road traffic heavier in the late afternoon than in the early morning? In general, far more people are inconvenienced -- and endangered -- by dusk darkness than by dawn dimness. Also, isn't it less dangerous to move from dark into light (later sunrise) than from light through twilight into darkness (too-early sunset)?

If the semiannual "spring forward, fall back" custom is really so hazardous to health in general and sleep-deprived drivers in particular as some research claims, requiring that we "lock the clock" for the public good, it should be locked in the direction of longer daylight at the end of the day, when more people are active. At the very least, think of the benefit to people burdened with Seasonal Affective Disorder. I'd be tempted to crawl into a cave and hibernate if I had to face the middle of March (after enduring late-afternoon gloom since early November) with no immediate prospect of brighter evenings.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Don't Fear The Liquor

Don't Fear The... Liquor

Apologies to Blue Oyster Cult 

Don't Fear The Reaper - BLUE OYSTER CULT - Official Music Video

Occasionally, even the most MAHA of us has to open a tin. In my case, it was a tin of tiny shrimp

because I needed to revive a curry that I had already served 4 times. Curries generally get better every time they are cooked, especially if one adds additional fresh garlic or its cousins (leek/onion).

The concept has a respectable French name: rechauffe... which reminds me, Dave Edmunds had a song about warmed over kisses and left over love.

The liquor is usually briny/salty, but tastes fishy. Should you pour it down the kitchen sink drain? Not necessarily. 

Pour the liquor into a small saucepan, bring to fast boil, add dry barley (also, finely diced kale stalks, cauliflower stalky parts, carrot leaves, Brussels sprout nubs, any veg that is otherwise

unappetizing in the yellow-green color range, and that needs 10  - 20 mins cooking).

While boiling continues ---and you need to watch and shake or stir to be sure it does not stick-- add kernels of corn, thumbed from a raw cob of corn. Add water if necessary. Peas work, too.

This is an excellent barley and veg, pescetarian side dish... just don't serve it with other sodium rich dishes.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™ 

https://www.spacesnark.com/  

https://www.rowenacherry.com

Scams Out The Wazoo (And Spies All Over)

Most online dictionaries seem to think that the Wazoo is a region where the sun does not shine, but one cannot have "tourists out the wazoo" .... unless a multi-host parasite such as a tapeworm could be thought of as a tourist... so I prefer the Cambridge version: wazoo as an expression of great quantity.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/out-up-the-wazoo

Where to begin? 

Victoria Straus (Writer Beware), asks whether or not writers are uniquely vulnerable to scams, in comparison with actors, models, musicians and other creatives.

Are Writers Uniquely Vulnerable to Scams? - Writer Beware

https://writerbeware.blog/2025/03/07/are-writers-uniquely-vulnerable-to-scams/

I've wondered that. There are scams and scammers that specifically target writers, of course, but writers may not be the juiciest of targets, financially speaking.  There are reports of professional sportsmen (and maybe women), and professional touring musicians whose homes are targeted for burglaries when the victim is known to be playing an away gig or game.

Writers tend to write at home, when they are not at a convention or retreat. But there are other scams. Angela Hoy of Writers' Weekly has an informative link on how to spot a predatory publisher, and what their tricks and traps entail.

11 Ways to Know If a “Publisher” or Other Service Provider is an Overseas Scammer (You’ll probably only need to check #1 to prove it!) – by Angela Hoy, Publisher

And also

A List of Publishers and Services That ALL Authors Should AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

At this time of year, there are plenty of tax scams for the unwary. The IRS is not likely to telephone you, text you, or email you out of the blue, and if they do, they will not demand with threats that you go to a grocery store and avail yourself of Western Union to send funds.

Here's what the IRS says about tax scams.

https://www.irs.gov/help/tax-scams/recognize-tax-scams-and-fraud#:~:text=Tax%20scam%20warning%20signs&text=They%20pressure%20you%20for%20personal,be%20true%2C%20it%20probably%20is.

Comcast (Xfinity) has advice on tax scams and protecting yourself from fraud

https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/protecting-from-fraud?MID=ENG_Tax+Fraud+Newsletter

Docusign may be a reputable company, but Sender information can be changed, and an email from Docusign.net can look very legitimate, but if you are not expecting an invoice or a contract, it is better not to open the email.

Recognizing and Reporting Suspicious Activities

The same goes for emails that "notify" you that a major purchase was made on your account at Amazon, or Apple, or PayPal. Some of these scam heads-ups are all the more evil because they might mention some site you've recently visited. You can blame ad trackers.

The Electronic Freedom Foundation has a helpful article on what to do to protect yourself:

https://www.eff.org/press/releases/find-out-how-online-trackers-follow-you-web-effs-cover-your-tracks-tool

In the same vein, EFF reveals the spies on the street, via fake cell towers, that can switch your smart phone to a lower security level, and much more.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2025/03/meet-rayhunter-new-open-source-tool-eff-detect-cellular-spying

You are not safe from spies in your car or truck, either. Derek Kravitz of Consumer Reports explains

Your Car May Be Spying On You. Here’s How to Get It to Stop. - Consumer Reports .

Hence.... scams, spies, and stalkers out the wazoo.

PS.  There are also Toll Road text scams.  Toll Road operators do not text threats.

https://www.freep.com/story/money/personal-finance/susan-tompor/2025/04/16/toll-text-scam-payment-unpaid-violation-notice-michigan-department-transportation/83114549007/

Happy Easter!

Rowena Cherry 

SPACE SNARK™

https://www.spacesnark.com/  

https://www.rowenacherry.com

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Inheritance & Other Stories by Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb by Karen S. Wiesner

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Inheritance & Other Stories

by Megan Lindholm/Robin Hobb

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Megan Lindholm and Robin Hobb are both pen names for Margaret Astrid Lindholm Ogden, an American author of speculative fiction. As Lindholm, the stories tend to be shorter and less detailed in a variety of genres. As Hobb, characterization, settings, and conflicts are deeper and wider, producing much larger works. Hobb is best known for her The Realm of the Elderlings fantasy stories, and that's how I became a fan of hers. I'd read the novella "The Homecoming", which is connected to The Realm of the Elderlings in that it's set in the Rain Wilds positioned at the far west edges of the Six Duchies. The Rain Wilds are all but uninhabitable swampland near the mountain ranges. Within this umbrella series, she's written five "miniseries" and numerous short stories. 

"The Homecoming" by Robin Hobb was my favorite story in the review I did February 28, 2025 on the Alien Romances Blog for Legends II: Short Novels by the Masters of Modern Fantasy, edited by Robert Silverberg. I'd never read anything like it, and I wanted to know more about this "Rain Wilds" setting, as well as the lost civilizations and Elderlings mentioned in it. While I'm writing this particular review, I'm reading her very first trilogy in The Realm of the Elderlings, The Farseer. I read Book 1, and, while I was waiting for Book 2 arrive, I'd already received the copy of The Inheritance & Other Stories I'd ordered, so I thought I'd start on that. Having done some research on the author and her offerings under these two pseudonyms, I knew that the author herself said she found when writing as Hobb she "wrote with a depth of feeling that I didn't usually indulge". I did find that to definitively be the case here. 

This collection of stories written under both pen names includes: 

Megan Lindholm

"A Touch of Lavender"

"Silver Lady and the Fortyish Man:

"Cut"

"The Fifth Squashed Cat"

"The Strays"

"Finis"

"Drum Machine" 

Robin Hobb

"Homecoming"

"The Inheritance"

"Cat's Meat" 

There is definitely a marked difference in tone and style evident between the pen names. For the most part, I wasn't enamored with the Lindholm stories, though I expect a lot of readers will find meaning in these pieces that felt more like slice of life vignettes to me. For me, the stories in these comparably much shorter seven pieces seemed to form suddenly out of thin air, never gaining a lot of flesh and blood, and, just as unexpectedly, dissipated almost beyond recall. To be more specific, they reminded me a lot like of paint splatter art. Colors are thrown across the room at the page without rhyme, reason, let alone forethought. The writer almost leaves it up to the reader to decide if what's created of this has any lasting value. 

To be fair, Lindholm is a good writer and her work in this anthology was some of her earlier material. Beyond that, she's received countless awards and accolades as a writer for her work, and most of the pieces here have in fact won many honors in the industry. I believe those are well-deserved. However, what I've learned from reading this collection is that I will probably only focus on the Robin Hobb offerings from this point on. 

I think my biggest problem with the Lindholm stories is that I felt like they could have been set anywhere and in any time, in the point of view of any other character, and the outcome would have been exactly the same. In each story, there was little or no development with character, setting, or plot. They all just showed up for a single purpose, and once that was accomplished, it was over. Nothing about them will last very long in my memory as a result of what felt like intentional carelessness. I'm afraid this is exactly what the author was going for with each of these stories, no justifications and no apologies. 

"A Touch of Lavender", the first Lindholm story in the anthology, was, if nothing else, compelling in an absolutely off-the-wall way. I'd gone into it not sure what to expect of the Lindholm pen name. For that reason, I admit, I probably gave it more of a chance to win me over than any another of the other six written under this pseudonym. (Also, "Finis" gave a hell of a twist, again, if nothing else, and that's really all I have to say about the rest of the Lindholm contributions.) 

Within this collection, the author included a brief introduction to each story, telling us a bit about what inspired her to write it. I love those sorts of insights. The preface to "A Touch of Lavender" spoke of something intriguing that, to me, summed up all her Lindholm stories very succinctly. She said that she will receive at times odd sentences that intrude in her mind. She writes these down, knowing they're intended to be the first line of a story she doesn't yet know. She has a whole desk drawer full of them. She calls these "butterfly lines"--ideas that have to be captured immediately or they'll flutter off forever. Cool. But I'm not actually sure this is a good idea for any writer, as I'll explain in a second. 

Later, she plucked one of these first sentences out of the drawer and used it as the basis of "A Touch of Lavender". This butterfly line is: "We grew up like mice in a rotting sofa, my sister and I." This is the longest of the Lindholm contributions, and she then proceeded to tell a tale in which the point of view character didn't have a sister at all, not until the very end of it. At that stage, it almost felt as if the author felt compelled to tack something onto this story she'd written to justify the first sentence. To me, the "tack on" didn't really fit the rest of the story, nor did it really warrant being included, since I believe it almost intruded on the theme. 

What was the theme? I'm not entirely sure, and the reason for that is because I don't want to resort to allegory, which I distrust and even hate when it comes to fiction. There's a huge tendency these days for readers and reviewers to serve a biased agenda by forcing a story to fit some allegory about the real world. The authors may have intended nothing like what's built up to be allegorical to a modern-day trend. 

In my research of this author and her body of work, it seems to me so much of her work (especially her Robin Hobb offerings) is forced into allegorical renderings by those with an undeniable agenda. I stopped short of researching whether the author has ever commented on all of this because, honestly, I don't want to know any more. I'd prefer to accept the author's works as she's written them and not read something in that she may or may not have ever intended. 

Anyway, "A Touch of Lavender" was basically a futuristic story about a dead-beat Mom, living on aid, who's drawn to music (and, not surprisingly, dead-beat musicians who mooch off her and her kid, who was conceived of with a former dead-beat musician boyfriend whose long since gone the way of the dodo in both of their lives). Meanwhile, the Earth at this time has been invaded by aliens who have weird musical talents. The story is told from the POV of the kid. Boundaries between humans and aliens are challenged and unexpected things happen as a result. As I said, a strange, mildly compelling story that came, went, and disappeared like so much dandelion fluff, leaving not much more to linger in its wake. 

As with Legends II, my favorite story in this anthology is "The Homecoming". But since I've already reviewed that, I'll focus here on the other two in this collection: "The Inheritance" and "Cat's Meat". Both are connected to Robin Hobb's The Realm of the Elderlings, "The Inheritance" and "Cat's Meat" taking place, respectively, in Bingham (in the far southwest of the Six Duchies) and Buck (close to Forge, a pivotal setting in the first book in The Farseer Trilogy). Both feature heroines who have suffered at the hands of bad men. "The Inheritance" tells the extremely unexpected tale of a necklace cameo that the main character inherited from her grandmother. "Cat's Meat" is the story of a woman who was used by a man she'd loved, got pregnant by him, and was abandoned in favor of someone richer and prettier, and then that jackass returns to her, expecting to be forgiven and taken back as if he's done nothing wrong. The unexpected twist in this story is a cat who feels very protective of the main character and her son. 

Both stories are well-written, intriguing if not more than a little frustrating because the women displayed such love-sick stupidity until the end, when they finally became strong enough to change the course of their own lives I found that worth rooting for. All three of the Hobb stories featured women who were downtrodden by society and the men in their lives in these old-fashioned time periods, expected to be and do only what females were allowed then. I appreciated how they turned the tables on everyone--with a little help from magic. The catalyst for them doing what they all eventually go on to do in each case is packed with a supernatural surprise and consequences that are far from predictable. While neither "The Inheritance" or "Cat's Meat" had quite the depth and atmosphere that "The Homecoming" evoked for me so profoundly, both were still good and worthy of a read to enlarge the world Hobb has created in The Realms of the Elderlings. 

I do intend to review all the subseries within Robin Hobb's overall series in the future, so stay tuned for those in coming months. I have the highest hopes for all or most of them to live up to everything I'm looking for in this complex series. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Fungal Possession

I recently read THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS, by M. R. Carey. I'm not a great fan of zombie fiction or films in general, because typical zombies aren't so much characters as rampaging forces of natural destruction. This book is something else, though. The monsters responsible for the collapse of civilization are called "hungries," never zombies, although most of them fit the Z-word stereotype. Melanie and the other children in her "class" on a prison-like military base, however, are different. They're conscious and sapient. She doesn't remember any life outside the building where she's confined to a cell except when escorted to the shower or the classroom. She doesn't know she and her friends are hungries, since the staff follows strict protocols to avoid activating the instinct to attack and feed. Still less does she suspect the children are experimental subjects, kept alive solely in hope that studying them may reveal a cure for the pandemic that triggered the apocalypse. Nor does she know what happens to her friends who disappear.

Their condition is caused by a fungus that infests and takes over a human body, replacing the brain with a network of mycelium threads. The resultant fleshly automaton alternates between two states of being, passive immobility and ravenous attack mode. Children like Melanie, in contrast, have varying degrees of cognitive capacity as well as, apparently, emotion and free will. Most of the uninfected people on the base agree with the sergeant in charge that these alleged traces of humanity are just mimicry by the fungus-infected host. From observing Melanie's inner life, we know better. She's more than a "dead kid" animated by a parasite. In this next generation of hosts, the organism has established a form of symbiosis.

A fungal network also breeds "zombies" and causes societal collapse in the post-apocalyptic TV series THE LAST OF US (which I haven't seen):

Fungi Superhighways

One of my favorite horror novels from T. Kingfisher, WHAT MOVES THE DEAD, retells "The Fall of the House of Usher" in science-fiction terms as a story of biological possession. A fungus lurking in the tarn has long since crept into the walls of the Usher mansion. From infiltrating the bodies of the hares that inhabit the nearby countryside, it has progressed to invading Madeline Usher. As a single super-organism with a hive mind, the fungus becomes more than sentient -- borderline sapient. It not only spreads through Madeline's body -- ultimately keeping her quasi-alive after she has technically died -- but takes root in her brain to learn from her. As the author's afterword notes, imagine how much the human characters could have learned from the parasite (and vice versa) if only they could have explained to it why most people dislike seeing dead things walk around.

The fungus in the walls of the gloomy mansion in Silvia Moreno-Garcia's MEXICAN GOTHIC doesn't kill its human hosts. Rather, its symbiotic infestation confers healing and potential immortality. The protagonist, though, in trying to rescue a relative from her terrible marriage to a member of the family, discovers the less than desirable side of this seductive trap.

Fungal possession in horror fiction is based on a real phenomenon, the notorious "zombie ant" parasitism.

Zombie Ants

In tropical forests, a fungus invades the bodies of hapless carpenter ants and takes over their brains. It compels the ant to perform the unnatural behavior of climbing to a height and hooking itself to a leaf, where it soon dies. The fruiting body of the mature parasite bursts out of the insect's corpse and broadcasts spores.

Unlike traditional demon possession, this kind of "invasion of the body snatchers" can't be cured by exorcism. The climax of THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS discovers a way to coexist with it, but at a heavy price. On the other hand, suppose a similar organism existed in true symbiosis with human hosts, bestowing not only healing and prolonged life but enhanced intelligence or some kind of hive-mind telepathy?

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

Memorial for My Dear Friend by Karen Wiesner

 

August 28, 1982-April 6, 2025 

When I met you, I could tell you'd weathered a lot in your life. I could see the shadows lurking behind you, just barely held back from escaping again. You loved the darkest time of night, I think, because it's easy to hide from even the deepest, most menacing shadows in those quiet, isolated hours where you could be all alone in the universe. Despite everything you faced, all your regrets, you had a light that I saw in you from the first time I met you--you, the stray cat who wandered into the backyard and I never wanted to leave. How many hours we spent talking and laughing. It was so easy to be around you. You always said I mothered you, something you desperately needed, and you did the same to all those around you. I didn't ask you about the shadows that haunted you because you were so determined to start over, build a brand new life, and become the person I think you always wanted to be…the person that all the horrors in your life seemed determined not to allow you to become. You loved Monarchs, hummingbirds, cats, flowers and plants, music, dancing, football, motorcycles, storms, Halloween. You wanted to surround yourself with friends who could accept you for who you were in the present. You were trying so hard to accept yourself and plant deep roots that would never choke you. I know you wanted to be redeemed from all the heavy regrets you carried. That's why you gave everyone you met a chance, no matter what. I got to be in the garden of your new life for a few years, and I'm so grateful for all I've learned from you. I was so proud of the person you were becoming, however shaky that journey was as you moved forward, trying not to let the darkness behind you hold you back or overtake you. I believe you were so close to healing and emerging from the cocoon that kept you safe since you arrived here, broken, and I'm glad I got to love you as you put yourself back together. Be forgiven, beautiful butterfly, be healed. You're free now, and the light you wanted to bask in is waiting to embrace you. I'll miss you and I'll never forget you. I'll always see you in every sunflower along my path.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Villainous Motivations

In a presentation on Dark Lords at this year's ICFA, the author of the paper raised the question of whether villains need a complex backstory for their motivations to make them credible as characters. The author didn't think so. He pointed out that a villain can have a realistic but simple, straightforward motive. He mentioned Wile E. Coyote, who just wants to eat the roadrunner. Granted, that original goal has apparently been complicated by feelings of frustration, with a competitive drive to prove a silly bird can't get the better of him. Nevertheless, I admit appetite or greed can be a sufficient motive by itself. A bank robber or a pirate can serve as a believable antagonist if he simply wants the loot. But what about a Dark Lord (or Lady) or other supervillain?

Hannibal Lecter in SILENCE OF THE LAMBS offers an interesting example. He's a highly educated, brilliant, cultured, insightful psychiatrist who, as a villain, doesn't display particularly complicated motives. He's a sociopath who has fun manipulating people and, incidentally, likes to indulge his cannibalistic fetish. When HANNIBAL and HANNIBAL RISING gave him a backstory with what TV Tropes calls a "Freudian excuse," he underwent a fundamental change that subverted his portrayal in RED DRAGON and SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as an enigmatic, not-quite-human monster.

The Star Wars series, in my opinion, made Darth Vader more interesting by giving him a backstory to explain how the heroic Jedi warrior Anakin Skywalker became Vader, even though I think it falls short to some extent. Pre-Vader Anakin, to me, doesn't come across as a very engaging character. He grows from a rather nice kid into a whiny teenager, something of a disappointment as a future Dark Lord. And I never quite believed in his romance with the princess in the prequel trilogy. I found both characters more believable and engaging in the midquel animated series. Still, the prequel trilogy does give Anakin credible motives for turning to the Dark Side. The most prominent current example of a sympathetic villainous backstory is, of course, WICKED. It's been a long time since I've read the book, so I don't recall many details, but the movie (part one of Elphaba's story) does a wonderful job of showing the future Wicked Witch of the West as a misunderstood person who starts out good and is driven to the rebellion that gets her labeled as "wicked."

If a writer wants me to believe in a villain impelled by greed for limitless wealth or domination, I need to know more about him or her, because I can't identify with such motives. One can spend only so much money in a lifetime. As for ruling the world, why would anybody go to all that trouble? Such an antagonist, in my opinion, would be improved by a backstory to explain why he or she feels nothing will ever be enough. Otherwise, they remind me of a supervillain organization in an old cartoon series (I don't remember what) whose goal was "to destroy the universe for their own gain."

Lord Voldemort's drive to conquer wizard society in the Harry Potter series has credible roots in his bitterness about his Muggle father and his "weak" witch mother's death and, above all, his own terror of death. Fundamentally, all his actions spring from his obsession with attaining immortality.

Revenge is another motive for which I take some extra convincing. I've used it myself in my vampire novel CHILD OF TWILIGHT (direct sequel to DARK CHANGELING, although I think it could stand alone), but I consider it plausible only because the antagonist has been in suspended animation for the whole time since the event she's avenging -- the death of her brother. Therefore, her grief and rage are as fresh as if the death happened yesterday, not thirteen or so years in the past. I can imagine striking out in rage against an enemy at the moment I'm attacked or soon afterward. I can't empathize with the "revenge best served cold" philosophy. Spend years or decades brooding over an injury and plotting a complicated vengeance? What a waste of time and energy. So the avenger needs well-developed personality traits that make his readiness to act this way plausible.

One archetypal villain has generated much speculation over his motive in the past two millennia -- Judas Iscariot. "He did it for the money" is not convincing. As Dorothy Sayers explains in her commentary on THE MAN BORN TO BE KING, her twelve-part radio drama series about the life of Christ, Jesus as portrayed in the Gospels (who "knew what was in people") wouldn't have chosen an obvious crook as a member of His inner circle. Nor would He deliberately choose a villain for the explicit purpose of setting him up to damn himself by turning traitor. As Sayers points out, neither of those scenarios would make a convincing story. Judas must have begun as a loyal disciple and undergone a change that made him decide betraying Jesus was right. Two principal motivations have been proposed: (1) Judas wanted Jesus to lead a military revolt against the Roman occupation and thought being arrested would goad Him into taking that route. (2) Afraid Jesus' public actions were putting all of them in grave danger from the Jewish and/or Roman authorities, Judas hoped being arrested would frighten Jesus into behaving more cautiously. Dorothy Sayers's own explanation for the betrayal takes a third tack: Judas mistakenly thought Jesus was plotting violent revolution, became disillusioned, and betrayed Him to stop the nonexistent uprising.

The topic of supervillains always reminds me of the Evil Overlord list, which you may have read, an exhaustive catalog of things a sensible Dark Lord should or shouldn't do. It's a hilarious deconstruction of all the familiar villainous tropes and cliches:

Evil Overlord List

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.

The Deadly Silent T... or E

For a car guy, the best thing about Janis Joplin's materialistic sung prayer, was that she pronounced Porsche correctly. That might have been a happy accident owing to her use of the plural voice.

Porsche is Por-sh-eh or Portia (not Por-shhhh). It's a family name. Respect that!

One the other hand, there is a huge difference between "cache" ("cash" --a hiding place, or that which is hidden in a hiding place), and "cachet" (cash-eh) which is a quality indicating distinction.

Some TV newscasters do not know this.

Other horrible mispronunciations on TV are "perspective" for "prospective"; "prosperity" for "posterity"; gold "bouillon" (a thin French broth) for "bullion"; also in the case of criminals "perpetuated" for "perpetrated".

A slip of the tongue can be forgiven, but then there are the captions, which all too often do not reflect the spoken word... and all the while, AI is being trained on this inaccurate abuse of English.

All the best,

Rowena Cherry

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Middle of the Night by Riley Sager

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Middle of the Night by Riley Sager is his latest novel, published in June 2024. In this story, the main character Ethan Marsh is still haunted 30 years later by the disappearance of his best friend Billy from the tent in the backyard they were camping out in at the age of ten. When Ethan woke in the morning, Billy was gone, the roof of the tent slashed. Billy was never seen again. Now, as a 40 year old, Ethan returns to the New Jersey cul de sac Hemlock Circle, where it seems Billy is trying to get his attention, maybe from beyond the grave. In this place, then and now, nothing is as it seems--least of all those who populate the area. 

As usual, this novel skirts the line between horror and the supernatural, which I love in my fiction. However, all my usual complaints (when it comes to a Sager story) are here--and in ample supply. First, the book was a good 150 pages longer than I believe was actually necessary. Also, there were far too many characters to keep track of and for the author to flesh out adequately--which, I know, is what's wanted in this niche genre (made popular by Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, S.J. Watson, and Sager himself, among others) where the narrator of any given story simply can't be trusted to tell his or her own story with any degree of veracity. Sager upped my stress level by telling Middle of the Night from the entire cast of characters' point of views within this book. I've read four of his eight available titles written under this pen name, and thus far he usually keeps it to a single POV within a story. So now I had to juggle a whole host of suspicious people doing disturbing things, all sporting their own nefarious motives.

Now when most people read psychological thrillers, they know to expect unreliable narrators, unexpected plot twists, and featuring characters who are not only complex but usually also liars (to themselves and everyone around them). That's the name of the game. If you like that kind of story, there's no reason you wouldn't love this book. It's got all of that and you won't ever feel entirely sure who's the culprit while reading. 

Despite that the tension was aplenty within this tale, my pet peeves about Sager's works became overkill. Even for Sager, the sheer number of characters and viewpoints, the overabundance of motives--certainty developed far more than the individual characters were--all packed into this weighty 365 page book (hardcover) left me weary. The more I read books like this, the more I don't like and trust the author. I felt overwhelmed by all the characters, all of whom seemed guilty of something, their half-truths and skewed perceptions. What really cinched it for me was that one of the characters in the book was barely mentioned the entire length of the story until the end. When he was pulled like a chicken (instead of the expected rabbit) from a hat, all my hackles rose and I cried "Unfair! Cheater!" 

For the most part, usually I believe this author has played fair with readers--if we're really paying attention from one page to the next--we can't deny that the answers were all there, buried deep in multiple levels of deceptions on everyone's parts. Here, I argue that we weren't given the information we needed to make the leap. Or maybe the book was just too long and convoluted and I missed that vital bit. Who knows? For me, neither the ghostly aspects nor the shocking, twisted denouement could save this story, let alone top his previous endeavors. Ultimately, Middle of the Night did receive more than fair reviews elsewhere, so if this is your usual type of suspense, you may end up much more satisfied by it than I ultimately was. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

What's Horror For?

As I mentioned last week, one of the speakers at this year's ICFA proposed that horror articulates feelings and experiences for which we often can't find the words. It gives concrete embodiment to metaphors for our fears.

In IT, which I still consider one of Stephen King's best novels (even though an older one), he creates a monster that incarnates fear. It appears to people in the form of whatever they're most afraid of. I always get irked when commenters reduce the eldrich cosmic entity in IT to a "monster clown." Pennywise is only one of It's many faces. As the narrator reflects at one point, It prefers to feed on the emotions of children because their fears are more concrete, raw, and primal than those of adults. Grown-ups are afraid of dull, mundane threats such as heart disease, old age, and financial ruin. In the nightmares of children, deeper horrors show up unmasked.

King's nonfiction work DANSE MACABRE suggests that ultimately the work of all horror is to portray our fear of death in shapes we can deal with. In horror fiction, the monster can frequently be destroyed. A boy character in King's vampire novel 'SALEM'S LOT declares, "Death is when the monsters get you."

At ICFA, our panel on changing concepts of monsters in popular culture discussed the phenomenon that classic folklore and literary/film monsters often serve as metaphors. Werewolves and other shapeshifters may represent the beast within, the animalistic or savage side of human nature, as the story of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde does. Lycanthropy can also suggest the trauma of puberty, an uncontrollable transformation of one's body accompanied by strange new impulses. Body horror in general (for example, a pair of anthologies I recently read that focus on pregnancy and childbirth), too, portrays the experience of one's physical self in an out-of-control state. Characters such as the Phantom of the Opera and Quasimodo illustrate revulsion toward deformity and disability. Vampires serve as metaphors for disease, foreign invaders, forbidden sexuality, transgressing the barrier between life and death, forced transformation, toxic power dynamics, and allegedly threatening Others of countless types. Both vampires and zombies embody the horror of a loved one changing into an unrecognizable Other. Ghosts may awaken guilt about how we treated the dead during their lifetimes and what revenge they may take on the living.

Conversely, nowadays the horror of monsters often comes from the image of an inhuman or no-longer-human creature as the persecuted outsider. In stories of this kind, ordinary humans can become the real monsters while the Other represents the oppressed and abused victim. Frankenstein's creation, of course, is a classic example of body horror and a monstrous violation of the line between life and death as well as a victim of persecution.

Margaret L. Carter

Please explore love among the monsters at Carter's Crypt.