Trans Day of Visibility - A Bit of My Story.

So today is the Trans Day of Visibility. I'm already expecting some people are rolling their eyes and preparing nasty comments about how trans is evil or whatnot. I'm not really going to engage in any arguments with transphobes, I'll just block you. But I do want to share a little about my own journey, and whilst it's not going to be something that's true for every trans person it's true to me.

I never knew I was trans when I was a kid. There are some people that do, and there are some that don't figure it out until later in life. Both are valid, there's no set rules to things like that. That being said, looking back at it now I really should have know, because the signs were all there. I guess I just thought it was stuff that everyone felt or thought about.

When I was a kid I wanted to be a girl. I hated that I was a boy. I'd go to sleep at night hoping that somehow I'd magically wake up as a girl the next day, that some kind of fairy godmother would make it happen. I didn't know why I wanted this, I just knew that it would make me really happy.

I wanted it so bad I'd do those things like wish upon a falling star, or wish upon the first start you see that night, and it would always, 100% of the time be that wish. Some nights I even cried myself to sleep wishing it.

When my teen years came part of me hated that I had to hang out with boys. Don't get me wrong, a lot of close friends have been male, and I know that there's no rules that say you have to only have certain types of friends, but this was late 90's Britain, we weren't great at breaking gender stereotypes and norms. Hell, section 28 wasn't repealed until my mid teens, and we're still dealing with the effect that's had 20 years later.

Puberty was the worst for me too. I hated the changes that were happening to me. As my body became more and more 'male' I despised it. This was when my depression really started. I used to want to die. I literally didn't care if I lived anymore. I'd not want to take care of myself. I'd hurt myself. I'd have to stop myself from stepping into traffic because I hated who I was and wanted it to end.

These feelings continued into my twenties, and it was only through medication, self harm, and repression that I was able to keep going; but even then I was absolutely miserable. This misery and these explainable feelings made some friendships hard for me, and romantic relationships were just impossible. I feel so utterly alone.

Then one day I suddenly knew what was wrong with me. It wasn't a gradual realisation, it was like a switch going off in my head. I knew what trans people were, I'd looked into it as a 'just curious to learn' thing, and never thought it was related to me.

I was doing something completely normal, packing away some laundry, when a voice in my head suddenly said 'your trans'. It stopped me in my tracks. I suddenly knew why I'd been suffering for so long. I knew why I was miserable. I knew why I wanted to die. I knew it was right.

I fell to the floor and wept, for hours. I knew what was going on, but I had no idea what that meant. I didn't know what I was supposed to do next, how knowing this helped me. I was convinced that there was going to be nothing that I could do, no way that I'd be able to actually transition. And I felt in my heart that even if I tried I'd never be seen as anything more than an ugly freak, worthy of ridicule and scorn, because that's what society had told me trans people deserved.

But, I knew I had to do something, so I started to do some research online. I found some forums hosted by trans people, where I was able to go through and read what others had gone through and learn more. I made some friends, so incredibly kind and patient women who didn't mind taking me under their wing and helping me out. But ultimately I knew that this was something that I was going to have to one day do something about, and that meant telling the people in my life.

So one day I made up my mind to tell a friend of mine. I picked him because I trusted him, because he'd trusted me with the information that be was bi, something he'd never told any of his friends before (don't worry, he's open about it now so I'm not outing anyone by saying this). We were just hanging out one night, watching Alien, when I told him. I don't know how long it went on for, how long I was fighting through the tears to get the words out, but I started telling him at the opening credits and when I was done the facehugger was on John Hurt, so it was at least an hour.

But in that hour he listened. He was patient. He showed me a kindness I never thought I'd get from saying those words. And when I was done we just carried on hanging out and restarted the movie. He was the first person in my life to make me feel normal, that this thing inside me wasn't something that was going to destroy my life.

After that I knew that I had to tell my family. I chose to tell my mother first. I'm close with her, and I thought that she would be the most understanding. She was surprised by the news, but she was supportive. She asked me to go see my doctor, to make sure that I was right, and if so, get whatever help I needed.

This started a long process of actually getting treatment, something that I thought was never going to happen. My doctor, as good as he was, wasn't really sure how to help me, but sent me to a counsellor to talk through what I was going through. I knew that you had to get evaluated by mental health professionals before you got sent to the Gender Clinic, so was prepared for something like this. Over the next year I went to meetings and spoke to a woman with no experience of trans people about what I was going through. After that year she told me that I didn't need to see her anymore. I asked her if this meant I was moving on to the Gender Clinic she had no idea what I meant. You see, she wasn't part of that process, I'd just been sent to her to talk through my feelings in hopes that they would just go away.

I went back to my doctor and asked him to please send me to the Gender Clinic, and he informed me that I would have to go for a mental health evaluation first, and that the whole thing could take a few years still. This was the point where I felt at my lowest.

I knew what I needed to do, what needed to happen to make myself better, to actually be me and be happy, and it wasn't happening. Knowing that I was trans didn't make the mystery depression go away, if anything knowing I was trans and being unable to anything about it made it worse. I went into the deepest depression I'd ever had. That's when I tried to kill myself. Twice. Thankfully, I never managed it, and somehow kept going; and a year later I finally got that appointment and eventually my referral to the Gender Clinic.

Another year later and I'd convinced the staff at the Gender Clinic I was actually trans, and got prescribed my hormones. I was on my way to actually being me. It was also in this time that I began to tell others, that other friends found out what was happening. I knew that as I was starting treatment I couldn't keep it secret forever, and that I wanted my friends to know the real me. For the most part this went well, and the people I actually lost from my life weren't real friends anyway. I even made new friends through hose that stuck around, and even though these people met me when I was presenting as male, before I'd begun my treatment, they accepted me as female. They still called me Amy.

Things started to get better. The HRT saw me go through changes, and I started to feel more like who I was meant to be. I was happy. But, things still weren't perfect. I'd still get nasty comments. I'd get spat on in the street, threatened with physical violence, rape, and even death. People saw me and thought that it gave them free reign to be vile towards me.

This was the worst at my job. I'd been there for a few years, knowing that eventually I was going to socially transition and that it was going to be something I'd have to bring up eventually; but it wasn't something I was rushing to tell them. This was in part thanks to having seen the management team mercilessly mock a trans customer one day, and seeing the rampant homophobia they exhibited towards some of the staff.

One day I came into work and one of the girls there told me that one of the other managers had told her something about me, that I 'like to call myself Amy and dress as a woman at night for sexual thrills'. It turns out the guy who told her this was a friend of one of those people who walked away from me for being trans, and was busy spreading rumours around the workplace about me. This put me in a position I wasn't ready for. After a discussion with the manager, who didn't think he could actually do anything about it as my colleague was 'just gossiping', I made the choice to have to out myself to the rest of the staff. This guy was spreading rumours, and god knows who knew what, so I thought making it clear to everyone what was happening was the best thing.

I prepared a statement, but I couldn't do it. It was just too frightening. Luckily, a friend there, who knew what was going on, stepped in and read it out for me whilst I had a panic attack in the office. It would have been better if I'd done it myself, but I couldn't face that; and the management team who said they would support me had just not turned up, so I was left with little choice. Thankfully, this seemed to put things to bed for a while and stuff got better, and the majority of people were supportive, even if the manager wasn't. I was told the company were concerned with what customers would think them having a trans person in a leadership position, and how they were prepared to go against the Equality Act because they didn't agree that I should be permitted certain rights.

When the manager changed and a new one came in thing got even worse. All the staff were called in to work extra after hours one Sunday. I was away from home that weekend, visiting my new partners, so was presenting as the real me. This meant when I had to go in to work I wasn't going to be able to change first, and that most of the people there would be seeing the real me for the first time. This was fine with most of the people there, and no one made a thing of it; but the new manager was furious about it.

A week later I arrived to work and was immediately dragged into the office, where I was presented with three charges of gross misconduct and suspended. I was completely shocked, and I was afraid for my job. Without my job I wouldn't be able to keep my home. Luckily my partners had me come and stay with them, and I prepared to argue my case.

I managed to get two of the charges dropped, but the third stuck; so I lost my job. Despite it being conducted by another manager my store manager was interfering with proceedings, and told the man in charge to fire me. So I was fired. No more job.

This event broke me. I felt like I was losing everything to a manager who was being openly hateful because I was trans. But, like I said, I had some good support, and my partners took care of me. They helped me find a temporary job in another town where they lived, and I went to stay with them. This was when I began a long legal battle against my former employer. I collected information from their records that showed I was systematically abused and discriminated against, and it was only when they finally got their court summons that they finally stopped going on the attack and listened to me. The head of HR for the company (a very large company) met with me and admitted that I was discriminated again, that my life had been smashed to pieces because one man hated what I was. I could have taken things further at that point, pushed for more legal action, but I was so ill because of it I just wanted it over.

From that day things got better for me. In moving out of my old place into a new town I realised that my small hometown had some very small town minds, and that the amount of transphobia I was experiencing there wasn't right. I moved to a place that was more diverse, and the level of abuse I went through dropped.

That being said, I still receive almost constant harassment online, abuse and threats, simply for being trans. I normally block these people and try to ignore it, but it's a struggle all the time. And that's just those I can block out. You can't block out people screaming at you in the street, the constant anti-trans press coverage, or the government 'debating' your rights to exist.

In the almost a decade of being trans I've lost friends. I've received abuse. I've had nasty comments from medical professionals. I've lost jobs. I've had to fight for my rights. I've been close to ending my life because of how awful things have been. But despite all of this, I know that my journey, my experiences have been far from the worst. I've been incredibly lucky to have the amount of support and love I do from those around me.

Other people aren't as lucky. They don't have friends and family to stand by them. They don't have a secure home. They don't get to have treatment because the waiting lists are so long. 

I'm not entirely sure why I've told you all this, why my story even matters. I don't expect it to change any minds or win over any bigots. But I hope that it shows some people how difficult it is for trans people, and how every single difficulty I've been through, all the challenges and pain, comes from the fact that society has been taught to hate trans people; that our suffering is fine. Things are getting better for trans people generally, there's more understanding for us, and more people are getting support; but there's also more open hate now too.

So please, stand up for the trans people in your lives. For your friends and family. Even if you don't think you have trans people in your life the chances are good that you do know one, that someone you care about is trans, or cares for someone who is. You could have a child that turns out to be trans. I know that you don't want the people that you care about to suffer, you don't want them to experience hate, to feel that the only way to escape the constant pain is to take their own life. So please, even if you don't think you have trans people in your lives, challenge transphobia, call out hate, and push for trans equality because believe me, it will help save lives. 

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The Banishing – Film Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

Director Christopher Smith returns to horror to deliver the tense and unusual haunted house movie The Banishing.

The Banishing begins in a small English town in the 1930s, where a local priest is working away in his home one evening before being drawn to one of the bedrooms by a strange noise. Once there he’s confronted by an awful vision of himself killing his wife. When no one hears from the priest for a few days, Bishop Malachi (John Lynch) is called in, and discovers the priest and his wife dead. He orders the town doctor to cover this up, and then the house sits empty for three years.

We then get to meet Linus (John Heffernan), the new priest for the town, and his new wife Marianne (Jessica Brown Findlay), along with her daughter Adelaide (Anya McKenna-Bruce). Linus has been sent there by Malachi to return the locals to the church. However, when Marianne and Adelaide begin to have strange visions inside the house, of odd things in the mirrors and ghostly monks, Marianne soon begins to suspect that something evil is happening inside her home and turns to a local occultist, Harry (Sean Harris) for help.

From its very first scenes The Banishing seems to want to disturb its viewers, with the awful vision of a priest butchering his wife a striking image to open the film on. It’s so shocking that it took me a second to realise that the man was actually seeing himself do it, that the actor was in two places at once on screen. This feeling of unease, in making the viewer question what they’re seeing, is something that viewers will come to know quite well throughout the film, as events take on an almost dream-like quality at times.

This is one of the things that makes The Banishing so unnerving, that you’re often unsure at what you’re seeing, whether events are real, hallucinations, or premonitions. This is the chief way that the film tries to frighten you, with atmosphere, with a constant feeling of unease where you’re not sure whether or not you can trust what’s happening. Though, as my partner can attest, there are a couple of jump scare moments that could cause you to yell out loud whilst watching it (I’m not ashamed the film made me scream like a child).

Another thing that makes the film really strong is the casting, with the lead actors being really well suited to their roles. John Heffernan is great as Linus, a priest who seems constantly on edge, always nervous and unsure of himself, yet has an underlying anger within him. Heffernan is able to make him feel incredibly flawed, yet a little sympathetic too, and you can see why Marianne would love such a distant man despite his flaws. Marianne herself is played brilliantly by Jessica Brown Findlay, who instead of being a meek and subservient priest’s wife has a fire and passion to her. She’s outspoken and isn’t one to sugarcoat how she thinks and feels, and whilst she in some ways feels ahead of the time she lives in you kind of love her no nonsense attitude and willingness to get on and do what needs to be doing.

The two best performances, however come from John Lynch and Sean Harris, whose characters seem to be constantly at war with each other. There’s a good sense of history between the two of them, and the scenes where they’re together are a particular highlight. But what’s best about them is how they kind of subvert expectations, and how you’re never quite sure what side they fall on. Bishop Malachi should be a ‘good guy’, someone on the side of the family, whilst you’d expect the occultist to be somewhat sinister, and the two of them are presented this way at first. However, as the film goes on the two shift and move around so much that it’s not clear which is the good guy and which is the villain until the very end of the film.

The Banishing tries to be a little different; it’s a film that’s adding its own spin on the normal haunted house story and trying out a new direction. It doesn’t always work, and perhaps a slightly longer run-time to flesh things out a bit more would have helped. But what it does do it does pretty well, and it’s got some creepy visuals, some good scares, and a damn fine cast, all of which adds up to a pretty good British horror film.

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Star Wars Bounty Hunters #10 - Comic Review

 

I have to be honest, when it first started I wasn't sure if I really liked Star Wars Bounty Hunters or not. The lead was a character I'd never come across before, over some of the better known and popular bounty hunters that make up the Star Wars universe, and the story seemed a little slow. However, now that the Terminus Gauntlet story-line is coming to a close I really do enjoy this title, and getting to see Valance go through the captured Rebel ship taking out pirates from the shadows was a ton of fun.

Picking up where the last issue left off, we rejoin the captured Rebels as the New Ohnaka Gang have managed to board their ship and take it over. With the lives of the crew hanging in the balance, and their former commander having betrayed them to the pirates, all hope seems lost until a mysterious figure starts taking the pirates down one by one, vanishing into the shadows before they've had a chance to react.

With so many of the bounty hunters in Star Wars either having strong individual looks or specialist skills there didn't seem to be much to set Valance apart from most regular people in Star Wars. Even his extensive cybernetic parts didn't do much other than make him look like a Terminator, but, a bounty hunter who's like a ninja, who comes out of nowhere, takes his target down, and disappears just as quick? I think that's a Valance that I can not only get on board with, but one that I think makes him a pretty stand out addition to the large host of bounty hunter characters.

Ethan Sacks manages to make Valance into a fierce opponent in this issue, one who is using his smarts and his skills to tackle a group of opponents that they might not have been able to in a straight fight. This also plays into the backstory that we're learning about over the course of the last few issues, of Valance being a former Imperial cadet, someone who's been taught strategy and to think outside the box.

The flashbacks also seem to have been building towards something too. Whilst they've been giving us great insight into the character they've also been providing a connection between Valance and Han Solo, who was not only a fellow cadet, but someone who saved Valance's life. This seems to be building towards the upcoming cross-over event 'War of the Bounty Hunters' when Valance learns from Dengar that Boba Fett has Han prisoner, and is taking him to Jabba. It seems like the debt Valance feels he could owe Solo is going to be something that could spur him on into conflict with Fett, and lead to his inclusion in the upcoming event.

This issue of Star Wars Bounty Hunters is a fast paced and fun one, it manages to balance some interesting character developments, as well as some great action sequences. We also get to see even more of the fun things that Valance's cybernetics allow him to do. Overall this might be one of the best issues of the series yet, and sets our lead onto a path that will take him into conflict with Boba Fett himself.

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Dark Lullaby by Polly Ho-Yen - Book Review

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

'For fans of Black Mirror and The Handmaid's Tale, in Dark Lullaby a mother desperately tries to keep her family together in a society where parenting standards are strictly monitored.

'When Kit decides to have a child, she thinks she's prepared. She knows how demanding Induction is. She's seen children Extracted. But in a society where parenting is strictly monitored under the watchful gaze of OSIP (The Office of Standards in Parenting), she is forced to ask herself how far she will go to keep her family together.'

Dark Lullaby is the latest release from Titan Books, one that presents a grim future for Britain, but one that seems so plausible it’s absolutely frightening.

The book follows the life of Kit, a woman who’s struggling to keep her family together in a world where the slightest deviation from what those in authority see as good parenting can cause your child to be taken away from you forever. Set in a future where the vast majority of humanity has become infertile, new technology has been developed to enable people to become pregnant, though it’s not without significant risks.

We follow Kit through two different periods of her life, with chapters alternating between her as a young single woman and her as a mother who’s trying to prevent her daughter daughter from being taken away. Through these intertwining narratives we start to unravel why Kit goes from someone who never wants to go through the dangers of having a child, to someone willing to go on the run to protect her daughter.

One of the things that makes Dark Lullaby so engrossing, that really makes you want to keep on reading even though it’s a pretty depressing book at times, is how much it feels like what you’re reading here could actually come to pass. The Britain presented in Polly Ho-Yen’s story isn’t too far removed from what we have now, but for a few differences.

There’s an almost constant state presence in public and people homes, as government approved films and broadcasts are streamed out over devices, and not allowed to be turned off. We also learn that through some sly political manoeuvring there’s only a one party system now, and that those in charge are pretty misogynistic, and unforgiving towards people. I’m sure some will argue that that doesn’t seem realistic, but given some of the violence against women in the UK these last few weeks, and the government trying to make protest illegal, it strikes me as very plausible that a government could reach that stage, especially if something like world wide infertility became an issue.

Despite setting up this new version of the United Kingdom the story isn’t really about this future, but about one family, and the trials they go through. Over the course of the two time periods we learn a lot about Kit, and her sister, and the struggles they go through with their family. When Kit is at the point in her life that she doesn’t want to be a parent her sister is going through the lengthy process of becoming a mother, followed by the frightening trials of keeping her child from being taken away. Kit is able to show her sister support, and can try to be there for her, but as she gets closer and closer to losing her son their relationship strains and the two sisters drift further apart, to the point where when Kit herself is a mother and finds herself in a similar situation to her sister she’s suddenly alone and without her support.

The book examines family relationships, and how extreme stress and trauma can shape and change those dynamics. We see people who openly fall apart as the government breathes down their necks, and others who put on a brave public face. We see some marriages flourish, with partners coming together stronger than ever, whilst others fall to pieces thanks to the pressure of the loss of their child looms on the horizon. And this is what I think makes the book so engaging and affecting. It puts you in these people’s worlds at the most awful times in their lives, at times when they risk losing the thing they love the most.

I’m not a parent, and I have no intention of ever becoming one. Parenting isn’t for me for a number of reasons. However, even as someone who never wants a child, Polly Ho-Yen managed to make me feel something whilst reading this book. She got me to feel like I was in these people’s shoes, experiencing the stress and trauma that they were living with; the desperation to hold onto their children as the world around them turned against them. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to feel like you’re having to be constantly on the lookout, to not be able to trust anyone because you believe they could try to take your child from you, but I feel like I’ve had a little glimpse into that thanks to this book.

Dark Lullaby isn’t a light read; the ‘dark’ in the title really gives that away. There aren’t many moments of happiness, there’s a constant fear and dread that permeates the book, yet despite that I wasn’t able to stop reading it. I couldn’t help but be drawn into this world and these characters, and I feel like it’s a book I’m going to be remembering and recommending for a long time.

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The Hazards of Love Volume One by Stan Stanley - Book Review

 

'Collected and in color for the first time, The Hazards of Love follows the story of a queer teen from Queens who makes some mistakes, gets dragged into a fantastical place, and tries to hustle their way back home.

'Amparo's deal with the talking cat was simple: a drop of blood and Amparo's name to become a better person. Their mother and abuela would never worry about them again, and they'd finally be worthy of dating straight-A student Iolanthe. But when the cat steals their body, becoming the better person they were promised, Amparo's spirit is imprisoned in a land of terrifying, flesh-hungry creatures known as Bright World.

'With cruel and manipulative masters and a society that feeds on memories, Amparo must use their cleverness to escape, without turning into a monster like the rest. On "the other side," Iolanthe begins to suspect the new Amparo has a secret, and after the cat in disguise vanishes, she's left searching for answers with a no-nonsense medium from the lesbian mafia and the only person who might know the truth about Bright World.'

The Hazards of Love is a popular web comic that's been brought to print for the first time, now in bright colour. The book follows the non-binary teen Amparo, a kid who's something of a troublemaker, but doesn't want to be a 'bad' kid. When a strange talking cat climbs into their bedroom one night and offers them a magic wish Amparo thinks that this might be their chance to finally change their life. I mean, why work on yourself and put the effort in when a talking cat can just magic you into a better person right?

Unfortunately for Amparo, this cat's a bit of a liar, and after making the deal the cat takes on Amparos form and steals their name. Amparo now finds themselves unable to speak their own name, and unable to affect anything in the world. Worse still, they're suddenly drawn into the strange Bright World, a place outside of regular reality filled with monsters and bizarre creatures. Here Amparo has to find life as an indentured servant to avoid getting eaten by some of the more nefarious denizens of Bright World, whilst trying to figure out if they can break free from this strange place and get back home. 

Meanwhile, the cat that's now posing as Amparo seems to be holding up their end of the bargain, in a sense, and is being a better version of Amparo; it's even managed to win over the smart and pretty Iolanthe, starting a relationship with her. But Iolanthe senses that there's something not quite right about Amparo, and wants to get to the bottom of it.

At first I wasn't sure what to make of the story, The introduction to Bright World was a bit confusing, with talk about licenses and sponsors for humans, the whole thing felt a bit clustered, but after a while, a few issues in, the book became a lot more enjoyable and easier to read. I think this was because Stanley stopped trying to give the reader all of the information, like the previously mentioned scene where the laws for humans were being explained, and just allowed the story to unfold naturally. Things flowed better allowing the reader to discover things with Amparo, and making the quest to get these answers part of the journey.

I think that it also took me a while to get to the point where I liked Amparo, and sound them a bit off-putting to begin with. They're very full of themselves, and they definitely think they're smarter than they are, which leads to them getting knocked down a few pegs during the book. They seem to assume they're the smartest in the room, and think that their plots and plans to get back home are going to work, and them learning to fail a few times definitely makes them a more relatable and enjoyable protagonist.

One of the biggest of these learning mistakes comes in the form of Amparo thinking they're being clever by getting themselves employed by El Ciervo, something that backfires for them quite a but. I especially enjoyed the book once El Ciervo entered the narrative. One of the more frightening inhabitants of Bright World, this creature takes the form of a black skinned human with the head of a deer. They're deeply unsettling due in part to the reader often being unable to discern their emotions or their intentions just by looking at them, but also because of his quiet calm and calculating nature. They seem like one of the more human, more relatable creatures from Bright World at times, whilst at others they're so predatory and evil that they're the stuff of nightmares.

The relationship that forms between Amparo and El Ciervo is fascinating, with the creature seeming to show genuine consideration to the teen at times, correcting their use of pronouns when they first meet, and seeming to care about Amparo's gender expression and comfort; yet other times he'll be brutal to them, doing completely inhumane things. Despite the book being about Amparo and their journey to get back home, this relationship is what grabbed me the most, and became the thing I loved best about the book.

The overall plot, of Amparo finding a way back to their normal life, doesn't get to move forward too much in this volume, but that never felt like a bad thing, as Stanley did so much world building and character development that the book was still packed with content. I'm eager to read more, to find out what happens next, the only question is do I wait for the second volume, or do I go and start reading the web-comic so that I can find out quicker?

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Teen Titans Academy #1 - Comic Review

 

Over the decades since they first appeared the Teen Titans have been through a lot, with the original line-up, and many of the second generation members moving out of their adolescence and into adulthood, even taking on different personas. It's a book that sees a lot of change as the characters move on and the universe around them alters, so making a big change like having the Titans open a school for young heroes feel like not only a logical step, but a brilliant new energy to the series.

One of the things that makes this title so good is that it's essentially DC creating their own version of the X-Men. It's a school for young powered individuals to come and learn the craft of being a hero, whilst some core members of the institute go out in bright costumes and save the day. It might not be the most original thing, but it's a dynamic I like, and one that the X-Men aren't even doing anymore, so it's filling a void really.

Here the people in charge of the academy are the original members of the team, Starfire, Nightwng, Donna Troy, Raven, Beast Boy, and Cyborg. These former teens, now just Titans are the teachers, the ones who are making it their mission to help the new generation of heroes; whilst the previous incarnation of the Teen Titans, with characters like Crush, Red Arrow, and Kid Flash are upper class-men, and still go out on missions between lessons.

Coming in fresh is a new batch of young heroes, and they're an interesting bunch. There's Gorilla Gregg, Tooby, and Stitch to name just a few. The new group are mostly unknowns, and gives writer Tim Sheridan a lot of room to do new and interesting things, and take the series in new directions. And these kids seem like a nice bunch for the most part, even from the brief time we get with them here. As much as I'm looking forward to seeing how the Red X mystery unfolds I'm just as excited to get to know these kids more. Especially Stitch, something about them has really grabbed me.

The one thing in the book that doesn't seem to work for me at the moment, and might not even after a while, is how the faculty staff have their titles before their super hero names. There's Miss Starfire, Mr Nightwing, and Mister Beast Boy; all of which just sounds really, really weird. I understand that these heroes probably don't want to just out their identities to these kids, and want a degree of respect shown to them, but Mr Beast Boy just sounds bad. I'm hoping this is something that won't last for long, and the kids will just call them by their hero names instead.

The first issue of Teen Titans Academy has a lot of work to do, it introduces a new status quo for the team, brings in a host of new characters, and tries to give us a taste of how this school will be going forward, all whilst setting up a mystery that's going to be an important part of the first story arc. Despite juggling all these balls it manages to make it a really interesting and entertaining issue, and that's not an easy thing with so much stuff going on.

I've always liked the Teen Titans and the Titans, and love this concept of turning them into teachers for the next generation. The series seems to be wanting to try new things, whilst also acknowledging things from the history of these characters. It's fresh and familiar at the same time, and has a lot of charm. Plus, any book that has non-binary characters in it, and calls out JK Rowling for being 'problematic' is always going to get extra points too.

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Alien #1 - Comic Review

 

With the Disney Corporation buying Fox it was only a matter of time that the decades long partnerships between the Alien and Predator franchises came to an end with Dark Horse Comics, a company who have been producing successful and popular entries to both worlds (and their shared cross-overs) for as long as I can remember. Not only does Marvel face the daunting prospect of producing a well made and well received Alien comic, they have to compete with what came before and win over the fans of Dark Horse's works. Not an easy feat by any means.

The comic follows Gabriel Cruz, a Weyland-Yutani security chief who's retiring from company life following a career that has caused him damage to his family relationships, the loss of friends, and some pretty deep and dark trauma. We see brief flashes of Gabriel's past scattered throughout the issue, of a time where he seems to have been on a failed mission where most, if not all, of his team were killed by Xenomorphs. The details on this are still very light on the ground, and I expect that the slow revelation of this information will be an important point for this story.

The information we do get is fairly interesting, however, as it seems Weyland-Yutani sent their team to capture a Xenomorph in their continued effort to weaponize the creatures. There's also hints that there was something inside the hive that we've never seen before, some kind of bio-mechanoid like woman who bears a striking resemblance to H.R. Giger's Li 1 painting. It's not clear if this is some kind of new Xenomorph variation that we've never encountered, or a strange kind of hybrid, or even possibly an hallucination, but it does look like Wey-Yu are experimenting with Xenomorph hybrids later in the issue so it could all very well be related.

What I really liked about this mystery back story, however, was that it was being explored in a way where we could see how it was affecting Gabriel, how it all still haunts him. Through conversations he has with his psychologist, a Bishop model android, we get to get inside his head and see that inner workings of a man who I'd imagine doesn't normally open up much.

The issue isn't all about Gabriel though, as we also meet his now grown up son Danny. Danny visits his father once he's back on Earth, and we see the very strained and damaged relationship between the two of them. Danny also uses this as an opportunity to steal his fathers access to the orbiting research station Epislon. We discover that he and his girlfriend are opposed to Wey-Yu, and are something like activists and corporate terrorists, and that they believe the company is up to no good (spoiler alert, they always are).

Once on board the station Danny and his friends expect to find a server farm, but instead find a lab filled with bizarre Xenomorph experiments and hybrids, and as you should expect from a story like this, things go wrong and the creatures begin to escape. 

I'm very much expecting that the relationship between Gabriel and Danny will be a big part of this story, and that Gabriel will either have to go to Epsilon to save his son, or ends up joining with the anti-Wey-Yu faction if Danny ends up dying on the station. Either way, I think this relationship is going to be a major catalyst for bringing Gabriel into conflict with the Xenomorphs, and probably the company too.

I liked that the book put Weyland-Yutani front and centre in things, that it wasn't just a shadowy group pulling strings in the far background like in the original trilogy of films, but an active participant in events. Decades after the events of the films they've finally managed to get their hands on the creatures they've wanted, and seem to be getting away with their dangerous experiments. Fans of the series have always been told how bad it would be if they ever got hold of an alien, but now we're actually going to see it unfold, and I'm definitely okay with that kind of story.

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Zack Snyder’s Justice League – 5 Other DC Teams To Check Out

 

Originally published on Set The Tape

The release of Zack Snyder’s Justice League has revitalised interest in DC comics amongst cinemagoers and those that might not read comics much. With so much attention on the Justice League it might be a good time to check out some other DC hero teams, especially now thanks to the DC relaunch with Infinite Frontier, meaning that many of these teams have new #1 issues. Here are five worth checking out.

Teen Titans

Chances are you might have heard of the Teen Titans, due in part to the popularity of the animated series from 2003, and the recent follow up series Teen Titans Go!. Despite receiving more popularity in recent years the team has been around for a long while, originally appearing in The Brave And The Bold #54 in 1964. This version of team had only a handful of members, the original Robin, Kid Flash, and Aqualad, with Wonder Girl joining them a few issues later

The original Teen Titans were very much the sidekicks of the heroes who were starring in the Justice League series, and it wasn’t until a revival in the 1980s, named The New Teen Titans, that the team began to introduce new, original members. This included characters like Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, and Beast Boy; characters that would become a mainstay of the title for decades.

Over the years the team has been through a lot of changes, with dozens of members coming and going. But whatever changes they’ve been through they’ve been a consistent favourite, showcasing some of the best younger heroes DC has to offer.

Suicide Squad

Another name that people may be familiar with thanks to the film of 2016, with a sequel in the works at the moment. The original version of the team appeared way back in The Brave And The Bold #25 in 1959 for a single appearance, before being revived the miniseries Legends in 1987.

The Suicide Squad, also known as Task Force X, is a team made up of villains from across the DC universe. However, they’re not a group of villains out to do bad, but instead bad guys who’ve been been forced to take part in secret government created missions. Overseen by the fearsome Amanda Waller, the team are sent into dangerous places, controlled by bombs in their necks, and tasked with completing classified objectives in exchange to a reduction in their sentences.

What makes the Suicide Squad stand out is that as well as being made up of villains, the team is also expendable, which has led to a number of members dying over the years. This means that there’s usually a good turnaround of members, even across a single volume. Over the years the team has included big named villains, as well as lesser know ones, including Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, King Shark, and Hawkman.

Justice League Dark

Whilst the main Justice League protects the world, a second league operates in the shadows, guarding the Earth from dark forces. One of the newer teams on this list, the JLD was formed in Justice League Dark in 2011, and saw a number of magical members of the DC universe coming together to face the kinds of threats that the regular League can’t. There have been two incarnations of the JLD so far, with a new run starting as a back-up feature in the new Justice League comic this month.

The first team came together in the wake of the defeat of the magical villain Enchantress, and included a number of characters over the course of its run, including the ghost Deadman, the shape-shifter Black Orchid, vampire Andrew Bennett, and magician and exorcist John Constantine as it’s leader for a while. The second incarnation featured a smaller roster, this time being lead by Wonder Woman, who discovered a deep connection to magic in her past. It also featured Zatana, Swamp Thing, and even the Batman villain Man-Bat.

As well as their appearances in the comics the Justice League Dark have had a number of animated outings on the small screen, with straight-to-DVD movies like Justice League Dark: Apokolips War.

Justice Society of America

The original superhero team, the Justice Society of America have been around since 1940, when they debuted in All Star Comics #3. Like the modern day Justice League, the Society saw several heroes that had already been established in their own titles coming together to form a team to take on bigger threats.

The original team featured a number of heroes, including Doctor Fate, The Spectre, Flash, Green Lantern, The Atom, and Sandman. Some of these heroes heroes didn’t originate with DC, however, and this marked the first inter-company superhero title, and team-up. As the team became more popular other characters would join the line-up, including Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman.

Over the decades, as continuity changed, the JSA would be relegated to another Earth (Earth-2), and when eventually it merged into the regular universe the inclusion of some characters, Batman, and Superman, were retconned out. The team remains a mainstay of the DC universe, and features the ‘first’ generation of heroes, characters that inspired those who came after, and help to guide and teach the newer generations of heroes.

Doom Patrol

One of the weirder groups in DC, the Doom Patrol are a group of super-powered misfits who sometimes view their powers as a curse. First appearing in My Greatest Adventure #80 in 1963, an anthology book that was at risk of cancellation. Writer Bob Haney created the team in an attempt to give readers something new and interesting to grab attention.

Over the years the team has gone through a number of changes, but the core theme of a group of misfits who argue, get on each other’s nerves, but ultimately love each other remained the same. Since their first appearance the team have featured characters like Elasti-Girl, Robotman, and Negative Woman, as well as being the first book to feature Beast Boy, who would go on to join the Teen Titans.

Despite being something of a niche comic the group have endured for decades, and have even received a live action television series on HBO Max, which includes Timothy Dalton, Alan Tudyk, and Brendan Fraser amongst the cast.

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Harley Quinn #1 Comic Review

 

Harley Quinn has gone through a lot of changes in the last few years, and having now left the Joker behind and moved on to being her own person she's back in Gotham trying to make amends for her past deeds in the first issue of her new ongoing series. 

The last we saw the character, in Future State: Harley Quinn, she had gone through yet another change, leaving behind some of the wackiness and weirdness that have become synonymous with the character, and was being used by the forces of the Magistrate, and Jonathan Crane, to hunt down other Gotham criminals. Writer Stephanie Phillips had made Harley into an almost Hannibal Lecter like character who was being pumped for psychological insight whilst being held in her cell. This was an interesting new take for the character, and one I particularly liked.

Phillips has continued on with the character in this new series, and whilst Harley isn't at the same point she was in Future State she does seem to be on a similar path. The Harley presented in this issue is a woman who's put her crimes behind her, thanks in part to having her record wiped clean thanks to the Suicide Squad, and is trying to fix a lot of the wrongs she has done.

This is easier than said, however, particularly in a Gotham City where anyone who looks like a clown can become a target for mob vengeance. Despite this, Harley is trying to do her best, and we even get to see her trying to make up with Killer Croc, complete with gluten free cake. But despite the set-backs she faces as she has to deal with angry crocodile men, and even angrier citizens, she's determined to do good; and this is the real heart of the issue.

We get to see that despite not quite having everything together, with only a half-baked plan and a rundown apartment, she's genuinely trying. Even when confronted by Batman she refuses to back down and shows him that she's earnest in her goals, and that she truly believes that she's one of the good guys now. And even if she's not an official member of the Bat-Family yet she's still given the seal of approval from Batman, a nice toasty seal of approval.

Whilst not a huge amount happens in this first issue it does a lot to set important groundwork. It shows readers the state of Gotham following the events of the Joker War, what's motivating Harley, and even sets up an antagonist for her in the final pages of the issue. Thanks to some artwork from Riley Rossmo and Ivan Plascencia that feels very playful and uniquely Harley-ish the book always feels bold and bright, even when it's set in dingy sewers and dirty apartments.

With so much exciting promise set up in Future State: Harley Quinn I'm super excited to see what Stephanie Phillips has in store for the character, and the places that she's going to take Harley.

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Colony by Benjamin Cross - Book Review

 

'Harmsworth. A remote, mist-shrouded island in the Russian Arctic. Archaeology Professor Callum Ross makes the discovery of a lifetime: a prehistoric ice mummy preserved for thousands of years by the sub-zero temperatures. Only, they didn't die of natural causes...

'As Callum races to unravel the mystery of the mutilated corpse, others race to sabotage the expedition, and he and his team are left stranded on the island. And they are not alone. Someone, or something, relentless is stalking them. As the arctic mist descends and the death toll rises, the team is thrust into a nightmare fight for survival, involving submarines, cyber warfare and Spetsnaz. But none of this can prepare them for the real terror that survives deep within the island’s heart: a secret so ancient it's been overlooked by time itself.'

Colony begins in the distant past as we follow the journey of a Neolithic hunter as he makes his way across the frozen expanse of the Arctic, searching for something. After falling into a deep ice cave he soon finds himself at the mercy of some unseen creature, one that makes short work of the brave warrior. With this one small scene writer Benjamin Cross sets the tone for a book that is steeped in atmosphere and fraught with danger.

Jumping forward several thousand years, we join archaeologist Callum Ross as he's pulled away from his holiday with his son by a colleague of his who needs Callum to take his place on an expedition to the remote Russian Arctic, where a team of scientists are exploring Harmsworth island as part of an investigation that could have a big impact for the Russian companies that want to begin drilling for oil on the remote wilderness.

Callum is just one of several scientists, from all kinds of fields, and expects to find little archaeological evidence on the island, but when he discovers the frozen remains of an ancient hunter it sparks a mystery as to what could have killed this man all those centuries ago. Unfortunately for Callum, he will get his answers when corporate sabotage and eco-terrorism leads to him and several others being stranded on the island when their ship is destroyed. Not only do they have to find a way to survive in the extreme conditions of the Arctic, but they're also being hunted.

Over the course of the book we begin to discover what these creatures are, though there's a pretty big clue early on that makes it an obvious leap of logic as to what these things used to be, though it's one that the actual characters seem to take a little longer to get to. It makes it somewhat amusing to see them trying to puzzle out what's really on the island using scientific processes, when if they took a step back a moment and took a less precise examination they'd get to the answer a lot quicker. But then a lot of the fun of these kinds of stories is being a step or two ahead of the characters and seeing them trying to play catch up with the reader.

In a lot of ways the book reminded me of the Meg series by Steve Alten. It deals with a group of scientists having to fight for their lives against vicious killer creatures that are the stuff from history and legend; and like some of the later books in that series and it's sister series The Loch, it takes place in a remote, frozen location. It definitely made Colony more enjoyable for me, reminding me of a series that I love, and much like those books it doesn't just rely in killer creatures to keep things interesting, throwing in corporate espionage and shady dealings too so that there's a much more recognisable and human enemy in the mix.

The characters make for an interesting mix of people too, and none of them are perfect. It would have been easy to have Callum end up being a big hero, for example, when things started to go wrong, but he's not. He's imperfect. He struggles in survival situations, having to grab for nearby weapons and hoping they'll work; he's not an expert gunman mowing down hordes of creatures whilst he protects his new girlfriend. He's also very human in his personal life thanks to the relationship he has with his son, and the struggles he goes through to try and be a good father whilst juggling his work. It makes him feel like an every-man, the kind of person you yourself might know and be friends with, and it helps to ground the more fantastical elements of the book.

The supporting characters are equally well made, and most of them get small moments to shine along the way. We get a good sense of what drives them, and quickly begin to learn how they're going to react in certain situations; who will step up to the challenge and who will falter under pressure. Even those characters who end up being revealed to have ulterior motives, who end up bordering on villainous, manage to make you feel something, and you end up rooting for them to do the right thing because you just don't want to hate them. There was one particular character in the book whose death actually made me cry a little, but I'm not going to tell you which one.

Colony is a fun book, one that takes a fantastical premise and takes it seriously throughout. It doesn't enter hammy or silly territory, and works so much better because of that. This is the kind of story that under other writers could easily be seen as ridiculous or over-the-top, but Benjamin Cross manages to make it engaging, tense, and emotional throughout.

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All The Murmuring Bones - Angela Slatter Interview

 

‘All The Murmuring Bones’ takes place in a world where the fantastical is real, where water creatures and spirits exist, yet it feels so grounded and realistic, how did you manage to walk such a fine line, and what real world inspirations did you draw from?

A friend of mine wrote an article about how you shift the reader into the “fantastic” – starting with the “ordinary world” first and making them feel at home, then introducing the unreal elements a bit at a time. I guess it’s a bit like the specious frog in increasingly hot water theory! Kelly Link does it brilliantly (“The Fairy Handbag” and “The Summer People”) and Neil Gaiman also (obviously) – the “Harlequin Valentine” is the one of his that stands out for me. 

So, I started out with a world that feels recognisable and like a version of ours (except Gothic-y and almost Irish-y), then I start adding in the destabilising details until it’s clear that the world is not like ours. Eventually you’ve got a critical mass of mer, selkies, wolf-boys, kelpies, ghosts, and the reader goes “Hey, wait! How did I get here? Oh, it’s too late now, I need to find out what happens…” And if you’ve done your job as a writer well, they’ll stick with you.

When I was looking for visuals of the location of Hob’s Head and the house of Hob’s Hallow, I found images online of Howth Head and Malahide Castle, both in Ireland. While what’s in my head isn’t exactly the same, these pictures gave me a shape to start with – it’s important to me as a writer to “see” a version of the concrete setting when I’m writing.

Malahide Castle, Ireland

There are a lot of fairy-tale and mythological creatures that appear in the story, were there any that you wanted to include but weren’t able to for any reason?

I try to not throw in too many creatures all at once or it just feels like fairy-tale soup, and it’s hard to distinguish one from the other. There are a lot of mythical sea creatures, but they’re in the same ballpark, so that felt to me like it worked well and helped weave the story together. I would have liked to do more with wolves, but it wasn’t really the right thing to make a focus of in this novel. But I’m doing something more with wolfish things that go sometimes on four feet, sometimes on two in a new novella called The Bone Lantern (also set in the Sourdough world), and with a character who appears in All the Murmuring Bones. And I think he’ll pop up in another story somewhere along the way … 

Folk stories and fairy-tales have had something of a resurgence in recent years, with modern retellings and updates, do you think that these stories lose something of their original meanings and intentions when this happens, or are they the next step in what are evolving folk tales?

I think they’re very much cyclical. They reflect the society they’re told into and they are changed by it and in spite of it, and I think they change it in turn. Folk and fairy tales are our oldest stories. I think they’re a kind of small revolution on the tongue and in the mind because every teller tells them differently, adds something, takes something away, adapts it as required. They get sanitised by the Brothers Grim, then Perrault, then Disney … and then we take them back. Writers like Angela Carter and Tanith Lee and Marina Warner bring out their inherent darkness again. And there’s a whole new generation of writers doing that again and again, and in different ways, for example Rivers Solomon’s The Deep, Cassandra Khaw’s “And in Our Daughters, We Find a Voice”, Christina Henry’s The Girl in Red, Alix E. Harrow’s A Spindle Splintered, the Cursed Anthology from editors Marie O’Regan and Paul Kane. That’s just to name a very few. They’re tales we always pass on and on – and they evolve. 

The book feels really Gothic, even when there’s nothing particularly spooky happening there are times where the story just drips with atmosphere, is this a genre that appeals to you? Did you know the book was going to have a dark quality before writing it or did it happen through the process of creating it?

I think anything I write will have darkness in it – it’s more just a question of how much! I don’t need to think about it – in fact, if I wrote something light and fluffy, someone would need to take my temperature and ask if I was feeling okay. As younger reader I read fairy and folk tales, myths and legends, and of course the full suite of the Brontës. Daphne Du Maurier, Shirley Jackson, Poe, Wilkie Collins, Henry James and M.R. James. It would have been a miracle if I hadn’t written something Gothic-y. I loved those stories as young reader even though they’re problematic – and I can see that now as an older writer, so what I try to do is reinterpret elements of those stories. Especially the really unhealthy fairy-tale “true love” elements in so many of them – hint: Mr Rochester was not a good catch! He was not misunderstood!

Miren is a really strong main character, one who always feels has a plan, who knows her own mind, even when others around her are plotting things or trying to manipulate her. Was it difficult writing someone like her, who is so competent and strong, yet is being pushed around by others?

She wasn’t difficult to write – I think we get so many heroines who are pushed around and so we’re only supposed to feel sorry for them when they’re get gin kicked. And we only expect them to become active after extreme ill treatment. I like to think that Miren actually starts plotting to extricate herself from this situation well before that – but things move more quickly than expected. She also thinks, for a wee while, that others around her might be reasonable – but once she realises they aren’t going to be, she becomes very pragmatic and ruthless to save herself. You’ve got this dichotomy with her that she’s been brought up to be obedient by someone she loves BUT that someone (or those someones) have also taught her to be strong and to think for herself. So Aoife and Óisín sort of made a bit of a rod for their own backs. And the example she had in front of her for her entire life was her grandmother Aoife, who was very strong and very wilful – and what you can see, you can be. So she picked the characteristics of her grandmother than would serve her best, but also I think rejected the ones that were really selfish and unfair.

I loved the journey Miren went on after she left home, and the things she encountered as she crossed the country, were there any other small adventures along the way that you almost included?

No, I had a very strong idea of this journey between two houses – and showing the differences between the two, but also the similarities. The fairy-tale version of story very much came out the way I had imagined it in the first place. 

The story had a lot happen in it, with Miren leaving her home, searching for her parents, and then the mystery that happens once she reaches her parents’ home, were you ever tempted to split the book up, to have one book with her journey to her parents and another on what she finds there?

Again, no. I felt it would not have stretched over two books. I wanted that contained adventure and a definitive ending rather than writing a never-ending series of sequels. I’ve written three mosaic collections set in this world and what I love is the nature of the shorter tales that are interlinked – so doing a “proper” novel in this world really only had one shape for me. And I really like the emotional highs and lows of this book, which I don’t think I’d have been able to maintain as well stretched over a larger frame.

Sourdough and Other Short Stories, & The Bitterwood Bible

‘All The Murmuring Bones’ is a part of the same universe as your ‘Sourdough’ and ‘Bitterwood’ story collections, what kind of things can readers who liked this book find there, and can we learn more about the briefly mentioned vampire kingdom in those books?

Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales (Tartarus Press) are all mosaic collections set in this same world. They stretch across several centuries, there are some long-lived characters who recur over the three books so we get to see them as young women, middle-aged women, then some as crones, but also some as eternal creatures. There’s also a novella called Of Sorrow and Such (Tor.com) that revisits some of the characters. Basically you’ll get fairy-tale creatures, witches, monsters, a lot of determined female characters who know their own minds and fight for what they want and need in the world. The Tallow-Wife and Other Tales actually has a cross-over with All the Murmuring Bones in the form of a character called Bethany Lawrence – you get her early story in the collection, but you can absolutely read them as standalones. Another thing you can have a look at and download a free ebook at the Brain Jar Press website – it’s a novelette called “No Good Deed” and it’s about the ancestress of Bethany Lawrence from way back in the Sourdough mists of time.

I guess my stories always have a darkness to them, but I also hope there’s hope for them. Characters come out battered, but I think wiser, but generally they do come out alive! 

Your blog features articles on other writers’ work, and you offer services to help others with story development and editing, is having a good sense of community in the publishing world something you believe in?

It is! I didn’t really find much of a one when I started writing. I didn’t come up through any fandoms so I had no connections or community. I try my best to encourage a sense of community and networking among writers. Just trying to be helpful where you can, sharing opportunities, helping to spotlight authors in different areas who don’t have the same chances for exposure. Trying to encourage other people too, to offer a hand to those lower on the ladder, so it’s not just about a few people all doing the helping, but something everyone thinks to do automatically. That’s a pipedream, obviously, but one lives in hope! And always remembering that this business is a game of snakes and ladders – one three-book deal doesn’t make a career, you won’t always be the top of the pile – but also, one three-book series that doesn’t sell well also doesn’t necessarily end a career either. So, be nice to people when you’re on your way up, because you mind want them to remember you kindly when you’re sliding down …

What can readers expect from you after ‘All The Murmuring Bones’?

I’m finishing off another gothic fantasy for Titan (currently) called Morwood. I keep describing it as a kind of fairy-tale Frankenstein … has the character of Asher Todd travelling to a remote house to become a governess. The family there seems respectable – but of course they’re not really. But Asher has her own secrets and her own agenda. And there are the usual sorts of creatures you expect of a Sourdough world story, and a new city – the university city of Whitebarrow where doctors learn their trade and join forces with the princes of the church to try and wipe out witchcraft. But the university library holds some surprising secrets. And Asher will do some terrible, terrible things. So, a cheery little tome!

And as I said before, I’m finishing off a novella The Bone Lanter, which is three nested tales also set in the Sourdough world. 

After that, I have two uncontracted Sourdough novels to finish, The Briar Book of the Dead and The Crimson Road.

For anyone interested in seeking out more of Angela's work you can purchase her books Sourdough and Other Stories, The Bitterwood Bible and Other Recountings, and The Tallow Wife and Other Tales from Tartarus Press, or via the links provided above. The free book Brain Jar is available for download from Brain Jar Press.  And Of Sorrow and Such can be purchased from Tor Publishing. You can also visit Angela's website www.angelaslatter.com where you can find information on all of her work, and her blog.

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