This seemed appropriate

So, along about the time the Stay-At-Home orders started, I wound up ordering a new copy of Stephen King's The Stand, which, thankfully, unlike my old copy that I think I donated to the local homeless library a few years back, is the Complete and Uncut version. (There are noticeable differences between versions; the first time I read it was right after the release of the long version. Then several years back, I picked up the original published version on paperbackswap.)

Anyway, for those who've never swam across the ocean that is the 1200 pages...

The set up revolves around a superflu that breaks out in 1990. A manmade shifting antigen flu. With 99.6% fatality rate. That escapes from a California lab with a security guard who gets out before everything locks down. Most of the first hundred pages take us through the initial outbreak and the plethora of death that accompanies it, giving us glimpses of our main characters before the world after gets going. We meet Stu, a quiet man in East Texas, who is one of the first immunes identified by the government, since he was one of the first in contact with Patient Zero. We meet Frannie, of Ogunquit, Maine, who has just found out she's pregnant. We meet Larry, who's new single is going up the charts, but whom is in deep debt following living the high life on the royalties. We meet Nick, a deaf-mute who we first meet getting mugged in Arkansas.

And people die. Quite a few people die. If not of flu, but of the aftermath. Stu, who was sent first to Atlanta, and then to Vermont, winds up meeting Glen, and then hooking up with Frannie and Harold, who is the brother of Frannie's now deceased best friend. Larry escapes from New York with Rita, who ends up ODing upstate. He then meets Nadine and Joe, who have their own issues. Nick meets Tom, a mildly retarded man, and they eventually meet Ralph. In the background, we have The Dark Man, Randal Flagg, and Mother Abigail, the 108 year old black woman who still bakes her own biscuits. And Lloyd. Lloyd who's in prison after being part of a tristate murder spree. The Dark Man breaks Lloyd out of jail eventually, and they head west. Oh yes, and we can't forget The Trashcan Man, who's a pyromaniac who starts turning refineries on Lake Michigan into giant bombs.

Anyway, survivors are all having dreams of both The Dark Man and Mother Abigail, so everyone starts moving West to Nebraska or Vegas. Mother Abigail is in Nebraska, and is other directed by G-d. Although G-d sends a vision to Mother Abigail, so everyone winds up in Boulder, where a rumor during the plague meant a large scale evacuation and the lack of humidity makes for a lack of rot.

Everyone has adventures getting cross country, picking up people as they go. Boulder tries to restart a government, Vegas is ruled with an iron fist by a psycho who's crucifying those who cross him. Nadine and Harold end up switching sides, cause issues, and four of the men end up walking from Boulder to Vegas. Then we get a few hundred pages after the climax of two people trying to get back to Boulder.

In any book this large, any reread is going to uncover things you missed on previous readings. Like, in modern parlance, Harold is essentially an Incel. Like the ending likely taking place somewhere other than the Earth of the rest of the book. (Mind you, if you wade through The Dark Tower, The Dark Man shows up quite a bit there, as well as in The Eyes of the Dragon, so this makes sense.)

Is this my favorite King? No, that still belongs to either It or The Waste Land. Is it good King? Yeah, because the pacing, despite the volume, keeps it going for the most part. Mind you, it's the hundred of so pages of story afted the Climax that keeps it from being downright stellar, but....

Desert Rose

I seem to recall reading Gregory Hinton's Cathedral City many years back, based on reviews comparing it to Tales of the City. It's not quite like Maupin, but I can see where that review came from.

We're in the very late 90's in the Coachella Valley, outside of Palm Springs in Cathedral City, which is slowly transforming from a desert oasis filled with those not welcomed to live in the higher end desert communities to a modern city, complete with megamalls and ice skating rinks. We're centered mainly around Nick's a bar run by Nick and Kenny, a gay couple who've been together a few decades. Nick's become a drunk over time, running the front of the house, while Kenny runs the kitchen with some newly minted citizens of the United States. We hear of Nick's upbringing in an orphanage and Kenny's out out rejecting by his campus priest after confessing to a random encounter with another guy. Indeed, Kenny seems to almost enjoy tormenting Father Gene at the local parish, although Father Gene does eventually admit to waiting to retire to be who he is. Jealous of Father Gene's obsession with Kenny is Inez, who lives across the alley from Nick's. Inez is a very hard woman, having issues getting her citizenship due to a problem with some blood work. Inez was upper class in Mexico, but now is cleaning houses and rooms at one of the local gay hotels. She cleans Ruthie and Sam's house; they own most of the tar paper shacks lived in by the immigrants and the land Nick's sits on. Ruthie was a lounge singer, but she suffers from sever depression. Sam is Jewish, and fights against the constant racism he encounters in the area. We have Pablo, who comes from very rich stock in Mexico, but enjoys hustling in the desert; and we have Maria, who we meet through Kenny when he winds up joining her and her grandmother in an illicit border crossing.

As the book progresses, we watch as all of these relationship stretch, break, expand, heal, and grow in new directions. We watch as Sam tries to protect his quadrant of town from developers, we watch as Marcella the bar maid tries to get a cut of the developer's funds to set up herself. We watch at how hard she falls and how she ends up redeeming herself. We watch Inez and Pablo heal rifts in each other. We watch Kenny and Nick, as Nick dries out in Betty Ford. And towards the end, we, as readers, are privy to all the secrets these people have been hiding from each other.

It's hard reading in places, as I think most readers can fully understand some of the emotional places everyone visits within, the loneliness, the separations, and ultimately, redemption for most. While not all of us will ever get that last, it's worth the hope invested.

Underrated book. A good one for fans of Maupin or Rechy.

Cocoa for Cuckoo puffs!

In a nice break from the current situation, I finished Seanan McGuire's Imaginary Numbers, book 9 in her InCryptid series. Here, we're following our favorite Jhorlac, Sarah, who is mostly recovered from wiping the memories of most of New York City 5 years ago. For the most part. We also spend some time with Cousin Artie, the half-Lilu incubus, who's relationship with Sarah borders on soap opera.

So, we start with Sarah traveling from Cleveland to Portland and the family compound. When she lands in Portland, she runs into another Cuckoo, whom she promptly beats the crap out of. That order of business taken care of, Sarah reunites with Antimony and her gang at Roller Derby. She and Artie drive back to the compound, having an accident along the way caused by the Cuckoo from the airport.

Long story short, Sarah gets lured out of the compound by the hive of Cuckoos in Portland, who are trying to make her evolve into a Queen. Sort of. (Jhorlacs are sort of humanoid wasps from another dimension, so there are a few insect metaphors in here that get more complex as the plot begins to resolve. For the sake of keeping this simple, run with this.)

Anyway, this all happens after Sarah and Artie finally admit to their feelings and kiss. Which is when Artie becomes the focus of the narration for a while, as he and the family deal with the fake Sarah in the living room and the great Cuckoo rite they're trying to get Sarah to run.

Eventually, Artie and Sarah start trading chapters as somehow everyone ends up in Iowa and Sarah starts the metamorphosis into her fourth and final instar. We end on kind of a cliffhanger, although based on several mentions of the Aeslin mice in both the main novel and the Follow the Lady novella tucked in at the end, one expects that they might be able to resolve some of the conflict unanswered at the end.

Said novella takes place between the last book and this one, as Antimony, Sam, James, Fern, and Cylia break down near the Healy family hometown in Michigan and meet Grandma Alice. While the main novel is very good, the novella has the gut punch for me, as Antimony finally discusses how she feels like the expendable spare in the family.

Once again, a great entry in one of my favorite series.

Elves from California

It took quite a slog to get through Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory's Crown of Vengeance, but it was mostly worth it.

As a prequel to two other trilogies in the same world, it took some time getting used to centering on only the elvish race, with occasional interludes to the Endarkened. The map this time, however is basically the Western US, with Elvish kingdom's stretching from the Mississippi to the Pacific even though most everything is centered around what we would consider California. (We end somewhere near El Paso.)

For the sake of my sanity, we'll refer to our heroine, Vielliessar, as V, and use initials for any other characters needing named, since Elves seem to enjoy long freaking names that put everyone else to shame. V is the last of House Farcarion, who's father died in battle, betrayed by his allies and who's mother died in childbirth at the Sanctuary of the Star. the Astromancer in charge of the Sanctuary believes V to be the fulfillment of the prophecy that will doom the Hundred Houses and lead the Elves in battle against a greater darkness. Which doesn't help when she gets schlepped back to the Sanctuary at 12 by the Lady of the most powerful house after the fall of V's original house.

Anyway, V is exiled by the Lady, basically. She does eventually figure out who and what she is, and most of the rest of the book is her figuring out how powerful she is, uniting most of the Houndred Houses, figuring out she's love bonded with R, Heir Apparent to the House she grew up in (and neither of them are exactly happy about this) and essentially leading everyone into a war that violates all the old rules.

It's a long trek.

It's a good trek.

The plotting in this setting is much more involved than what one might expect, and war and politics dance under the stars, and the reader is never sure exactly who is actually a decent person.

When Exes Collide

Ok, so Morgan Brice's Loose Ends continues the story of Italian Cop Vic, and his psychic boyfriend Simon in Myrtle Beach. Only this time, both of their exes are on the warpath, for different reasons.

In Vic's case, we met Nate previously, during a Christmas caper. He evidently has escaped prison and is pursuing a vendetta against Vic with the help of a Strega. That the help is also proving to be detrimental to his health is of no matter, he may die, but not before screwing over Vic.

In Simon's case, Simon's  WASP mother and Jacen have teamed up to get Simon back to Columbia attached to Jacen. For her, prestige. For him, a partner to help him get a grant.

One of the bigger subplots in the book concerns Simon and Vic both dithering over proposing to the other (Vic has bought the rings, but Simon is headed to the jeweler), and most of what goes on are, as the local witches point out, reflections of powerful love, both good and bad. From ghosts in a statue who loved each other too much to be separated by death to a painting haunted by ghostly lovers enchained by an accidental love spell; to the main romance and their evil exes, it all revolves around love gone good and bad.

And boy, does love go bad. Nate is downright vicious in his revenge, and Jacen is not exactly a nice person either.

A good addition to the ever growing world, and one wonders is a wedding might be in the next book.

Murder on the Bath Express

Simon R. Green's new Ishmael Jones novel is actually pretty well written, although I was kind of sad that I was pretty sure on whodunit well before the reveal. Not that the red herrings weren't distracting enough, but....

Night Train to Murder takes a lot of inspiration from Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, even if the solution is different. It also takes place over roughly an hour or so, since Sir Dennis dies about 30 minutes into the express ride between Paddington Station and Bath. Sir Dennis is a rather unpopular British Politician, having not done much beyond shady dealings and influence peddling. He's recently been promoted to head of the Ministry of Defense's Psychic Division, and is headed First Class to Bath to take on the role. As such, The Organization sends Penny and Ishmael on the train to make sure he survives the trip, since the Organization would love to have the Division owe it a favor.

It doesn't work out that well, as Ishmael discovers Sir Dennis dead of a broken neck in a locked lavatory. The car behind first class is empty, and there are only four passengers in First class besides Penny and Ishmael, all of whom had hidden motives for wanting Sir Dennis dead, as well as a host of other reasons for being on the train acting suspiciously. We also have the Conductor and the lady selling snacks running around as the only ones who seem to be passing through cars.

In the end, Ishmael figures it out not long before the train enters Bath, and almost everyone gets a semi-happy ending.

As I said, half the reason I like these is that, unlike his over the top other series, this series acknowledges the hidden world, but it's at best flavor for very real, human killers and motivations.

Sam and Dean go to the Carolinas

So, ended up finishing Morgan Brice's Flame and Ash this afternoon, which would be the next book in the Witchbane series. We're again following Seth and Evan as they track down witch disciples, this time in Boone, North Carolina, and this time with Milo and Toby, Seth's mentors in the hunt.

They're roughly two years ahead of schedule, as the current victim to be, Steve, is known, as is the probable identity of the disciple, and Steve isn't due to become a victim for another two years. (This would also be the third disciple they've gone after, and the third who's victim is a gay man. I'm beginning to wonder if part of the curse is each victim enjoys the pleasures inherent in the touch between two men.)

Anyway, the chase is almost secondary, as much of the book is spent examining the parallels between the hunter couples, and everyone getting mirrors into their relationships, as well as a reflection on Seth's time in Iraq, as one of his platoon lives in Boone.

We also get a reversal on the boyfriend in jeopardy, as this time Seth gets in trouble instead of Evan. Which is good, since it gives us some much needed insight into the disciples and how they operate.

This isn't exactly undying fiction for the ages, but it does hold attention pretty well and remains fun to read, which beats undying literature to be sure.

Muy silencio

So, while we had a hint some of Mercedes Lackey's old series were getting revamped with new characters, Breaking Silence (Co-written with Cody Martin) at least mentions characters from the series as it existed prior to the reboot. (Yes, I know this is the second book in the reboot. However, this one actually talks much more about Fairgrove Industries.)

Anyway, we're again following around Staci and Tim, mages, and Wanda and Seth, who aren't.

Anyway, Tim is training Staci to be a mage, which she's having some success with. Wand is learning to fight, and Seth is becoming an accomplished trapper. Silence is finally lifting from the horror of Unseeleigh rule under the Blackthorns, but...

In the meantime, Fairgrove is in town, and trying to get the industries restarted, with some success. Mind you, Tim bears prejudice again the elves, Staci still feels betrayed by Dylan, and the elf clan in Maine doesn't trust humans.

And something is in the woods and unhappy.

All of which literally blows up in the last third, as we find out Beth's secret, David's secret, how the preacher has actually been healing people, and why a rather large storm is trying to level the town.

While this is really centered around Young Adult readers, it does bring back good memories of the original novels. I'm happy to think that new readers are getting to enjoy the series now.

Cape May Capers

I couldn't help but feel that reading Morgan Brice's new series intro, Treasure Trail, that the new characters and plotlines were less there for entertainment, but more to serve as a tentpole for a mege novel at some point, since again, more characters from series written under Brice and her Gail S. Martin characters show up at various point. Indeed, the epilogue includes a stinger on par with Samuel L. Jackson showing up and asking Iron Man about the Avengers Initiative.

But anyway, We're in Cape May, New Jersey, as former art fraud and art theft investigator Erik is preparing his new shop, Trinkets, for opening. He's also dealing with a pushy agent who wants him to narrate a PBS show dealing with art and antiquities fraud. He's a recent transplant, deciding to get out of his old business after a cursed Faberge Egg investigation in Flanders goes very badly, followed by walking in on his boyfriend at the time screwing his junior partner on the dining room table.

Then we meet Ben, the possible new owner of a local rental agency, who was formerly a Newark cop. Whose boyfriend also dumped him. Erik's aunt has semi retired, and her son doesn't want to run the business.

Eventually, the two meet, when Erik thinks his date is Ben. This does wind up working out, as they eventually do end up meeting under different circumstances as Ben and his cousin find a fake clock that's somehow wrapped up in a murder at a cursed local hotel that burned down prior to the start of the story. I shoudl mention here that Erik has a form of touch magic, where he can see glimpses of the past of objects and spirits attached to them, while Ben sees ghosts. It's a match made in Urban Romance heaven.

Anyway, it doesn't take long before a few people who showed up for a page start dying off, old Mafia hits start popping up as ghosts, and one of the pair winds up in serious danger.

I mean, it's a fun read, but I feel like we're really getting bones here instead of fully fleshed out characters, and even then, those bones are trying to support a larger support beam for some kind of paranormal romance meganovel.

Abi Normal

So, as is prone to happening, I had missed the release of Mercedes Lackey's continuation of her Family Spies Series, Eye Spy, following around the second child of Megs and Amily, Abi.

Like her brother before her, Abi has a gift that doesn't quite fit in with the mind-magic so prevalent in Valdemar. In her case, she discovers early on she can detect stress in architecture, and indeed, figure out when something is going to collapse. She figures this out when the bridge she's crossing starts to go.

From there, she gets enrolled in with the Artificers and learns to use her gift for other things, like finding hidden rooms. Mind you, while in school, she also has to defend herself from Dudley, who ends up saying the quiet part out loud. (Much of Dudley's actions seem to be a cypher for certain people. "When you're rich, they let you get away with it.")

And then, after coming up with her Masterwork, a bridge to replace the one that collapsed at the beginning, she, along with 3 other Master Artificers get sent to a strip outside Valdemar and Menmellith that wants to join Valdemar. Unfortunately, while things go well at first, their third stop results in agents who came ahead before and ruined the reputation of the Valdemarians.

As we go about trying to resolve that, we find out the Merc escorting them is a lesbian, and after she kissed Abi, we find that Abi is Asexual.

While I enjoyed reading this, and indeed enjoyed some rather thinly veiled political commentary and a few hidden memes, the plot stretches over several years, and it reads less like a novel than a series of connected stories. Still fun.