Detectives in the Wild

The Capricon Project - Detectives in the Wild

My first panel at Capricon  40 was one of the three I'm scheduled to moderate, "Detectives in the Wild," about the many ways that mystery stories show up in speculative fiction.

"Detectives in the Wild" panelists, L-R: Jan S. Gephardt (Moderator), Deirdre Murphy, Mark H. Huston, and Clifford Royal Johns. (photo by a kindly audience member who didn't share his name).

Deirdre Murphy, Mark Huston, and Clifford Royal Johns joined me as co-panelists. All of us have written, or are writing, speculative fiction mysteries. Just between the four of us, we covered the mystery sub-categories of Cozies, Amateur Sleuth, Detective, and Police Procedural.

L-R: Jan S. Gephardt's What's Bred in the Bone and soon-to-be-released The Other Side of Fear feature crime-solving, super-smart police dogs. Mark H. Huston's Up-Time Pride and Down-Time Prejudice takes an alternate-history look at Austen. And Clifford Royal Johns' Walking Shadow explores the implications of a memory-erasing procedure. Unfortunately, Deirdre Murphy's book, Murder and Sea Monsters, isn't out yet. (See below for full image credits for these covers).

The panel's description made it seem as if mysteries in the speculative genres that range outside of urban fantasy are hard to find, but between us and the audience we came up with a bunch. We quickly found ourselves sub-categorizing them, too.

Alternate History 

"Detectives in the Wild" aren't hard to find in the alternate history genre, which can encompass any number of co-genres. Our panel's alternate history point-person Mark Huston gave us an excellent overview.

Mark writes in Eric Flint's 1632 Universe.  Here are just a few of the recommended alternative history mystery novels we came up with.

Randall Garrett, Georg Huff and Paula Goodlett, Julie McElwain, and Michael Chabon all have entries in this category. Garrett and McElwain each created a series after publishing their series-openers shown here. (See below for full image credits).

Noir 

No discussion of mysteries would be complete without the Noir Mystery category. For some people, it's the first kind of mystery they think about when they hear "mystery fiction." The Noir sub-genre has its own tropes and unique characteristics. 

These often extend into speculative fiction categories in distinctive ways, including stories with the feel and general optics of traditional Noir, but are played for laughs or to make a different point. Here are some of the Noir-style novels we touched on.

Some panel- and audience-recommended recommended examples of Noir-style mysteries in speculative fiction. Authors are Richard K. Morgan, Jonathan Lethem, David Carrico, and Glen Cook. (See below for full credits).

Paranormal

Yes, we know we weren't supposed to get into urban fantasy, and the line between it and paranormal stories is blurry. But there are just so many good ones! We and the audience shared ideas about some that are well worth reading. Many are the first books in enduring and well-loved series.

Lee Killough's Garreth Mikaelian, Charlaine Harris's Sookie Stackhouse, Laurel K. Hamilton's Anita Blake, and Jim Butcher's Harry Dresden all anchor satisfying series. These are covers for the first book in each. (See below for full credits).

Robots and AIs

Speculative fiction's detectives aren't always human. The unusual capabilities of extrapolated and imagined artificial intelligences--whether they're in the form of androids, robots, or other things--have made these creations a favorite for speculative fiction writers, especially since Isaac Asimov's classic team of R. Daneel Olivaw and Elijah Baley. Panelists and audience came up with several highly-recommended titles and series.

From left to right, these covers represent the Isaac Asimov classic The Caves of Steel, A. Lee Martinez's The Automatic Detective (with distinctly Noir-ish cover art to reflect the adventures of Mack Megaton, an investigative robot), Guy Haley's Reality 36 (a cyborg and an AI team up as investigators), and Donna Andrews' cozy mystery You've Got Murder, the debut outing for Turing Hopper ("a computer with the heart of Miss Marple"),

General Science Fiction

But not all science fiction mysteries fall into easy categories. That's the nature of the genre--it's grounded in the unexpected. We couldn't complete our survey of "Detectives in the Wild" without talking about some that defy confinement in traditional mystery categories.

These covers represent some of the unique places science fiction can go with a mystery. Lee Killough's The Doppelgänger Gambit explores the nature of a "perfect alibi" in a world where one's digital privacy has reached a new dimension. Kristine Kathryn Rusch explores questions of justice in a world where the presence of aliens changes the rules, in The Disappeared (first in the Retrieval Artist Series). Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes is the ultimate closed-room mystery in which seven crew members of a starship awaken to discover their previous bodies were murdered--by one of them. But they don't remember who is the murderer. And in Arkady Martine's "interstellar mystery" A Memory Called Empire, an ambassador must discover who killed her predecessor (everyone swears it was an accident) before she meets a similar fate.

I'm sorry I couldn't transport all of my readers into the panel room itself. This little overview has only scratched the surface of our discussion. I have to give a lot of credit to the breadth and depth of our panelists' knowledge--and also to our stellar audience. It took all of us to create what was for me a fun and informative panel. I hope they enjoyed "Detectives in the Wild" as much as I did.

IMAGE CREDITS:

First of all, many, many thanks to the kind gentleman from the audience who volunteered to take our picture. (Who was that nice man?) He didn't identify himself, but he has my deep gratitude! 
The images of our book covers come from varied sources. The cover art for Jan S. Gephardt's What's Bred in the Bone is © 2019 by Jody A. Lee, and the cover art for Jan's The Other Side of Fear (watch for it in late March 2020!) is © 2020 by Lucy A. Synk.  The cover image for Mark H. Huston's Up-Time Pride and Down-Time Prejudice is courtesy of Amazon. Many thanks to Goodreads for Clifford Royal Johns' Walking Shadow cover image. Unfortunately, Deirdre Murphy's Murder and Sea Monsters isn't yet available online.

ALTERNATE HISTORY and NOIR Covers:

Many thanks to Goodreads, for the cover of Randall Garrett's Murder and Magic, the first Lord Darcy book. I also wish to thank Ring of Fire Press for the cover image for A Holmes for the Czar. Many thanks to Goodreads again, for the cover image for Julie McElwain's A Murder in Time. Finally, thank you to Abe Books, for Michael Chabon's cover image from The Yiddish Policemen's Union. 
I'm grateful to Book Depository, for the Altered Carbon cover art on Richard K. Morgan's book. Many thanks to Wikimedia for the first edition cover for Jonathan Lethem's Gun, with Occasional Music. Gratitude and thanks to Amazon for the Magdeburg Noir cover image, from David Carrico of Ring of Fire. Note: Carrico has showed up previously on Jan's Artdog Adventures blog. Last but not least for the Noir section, I am indebted to Abe Books for a good image of cover art for Glen Cook's Sweet Silver Blues, first of the Garrett Files series.

PARANORMAL, ROBOT/AI and GENERAL SF Covers:

Many thanks to Amazon for the cover of Lee Killough's Blood Hunt, and to Goodreads for the cover images of Charlaine Harris's Dead Until Dark, Laurel K. Hamilton's Guilty Pleasures, and Jim Butcher's Storm Front. 
I'm grateful to Amazon for the cover of Isaac Asimov's The Caves of Steel, and to Goodreads for cover images for A. Lee Martinez's The Automatic Detective, Guy Haley's Reality 36, and Donna Andrews' You've got Murder. 
Finally, many thanks to Amazon, for the covers of Lee Killough's The Doppelgänger Gambit, and Mur Lafferty's Six Wakes. I'm grateful to Goodreads for the cover of Kristine Kathryn Rusch's The Disappeared, and to NPR (nice interview there, too!) for the cover of Arkady Martine's A Memory Called Empire. I literally couldn't have created this post without y'all! Thank you!

The Capricon Project

Let me tell you about The Capricon Project. As I noted on this blog Feb. 1, I'm planning to attend Capricon 40 this week (God and the weather willing).  While I'm there, my publishing company and I hope to join forces (and blogs) to cover the event.

As you may know, I'm the Weirdness Manager for Weird Sisters Publishing LLC (I'm half of the partnership. The other half is my sister, G. S. Norwood).  As Weirdness Manager, I also write most of our posts for The Weird Blog, and I'm in charge of preparing and posting all of them. But I can only split "me" into so many fragments.

Image courtesy of Capricon 40.

What is The Capricon Project?

Artdog Adventures and The Weird Blog will join forces for The Capricon Project. I propose to take lots of photos and do a lot of things at the convention (followers of Artdog Adventures are familiar with my process).

I like to highlight things I've seen, people I've met, and panels I've attended or helped present. We plan to cross-post the short profiles, photos, and other items I generate, to both blogs and some of our social media.

What's the plan?

I have a pretty ambitious schedule for Capricon 40. I'm scheduled for eight programming events, including five panel discussions (three of which I moderate), an autograph session, a reading, and the Indie Author Speed-Dating event.

Photo by Jan S. Gephardt. This is my Art Show display at Archon in Collinsville, IL as it looked October 6, 2019.

I also have two display panels reserved at the Art Show. I'll have a few copies of What's Bred in the Bone with me, available for sale at the con (reduced at-con price is $13, or almost $2 off the regular trade paperback price).

I also plan to attend other panels and readings, and tour the Dealers' Room. If they agree, I'll take pictures or short videos of dealers whose work I can recommend, and post them on my social media (Artdog Studio is on Facebook and Pinterest. Jan S. Gephardt-Author is on Facebook and Twitter, and Weird Sisters Publishing is on Facebook), as well as collect them for possible blog posts.

I hope you'll follow my posts, and see how well The Capricon Project turns out!

IMAGE CREDITS:

The half-header for Capricon 40 is courtesy of the Capricon Website. 

The photo of my book display at the May 24, 2019 "Mad Authors' Salon" at ConQuesT 50 is by Ty Gephardt, and used with his permission. 

Nothing is simple

Nothing is simple, although it may look that way from the outside.

I found an article the other day in one of my online research resources, Police Magazine. It reported on a disturbance in New York City's Grand Central subway station. 

A group called Decolonize this Place organized it as part of a daylong series of demonstrations. This is the third time this group has staged demonstrations since earlier in 2019.

A still from a video from New York Post, via Police Magazine, showing the protest in the terminal. (Police Magazine/New York Post)

They didn't manage to close it down, as they'd hoped.

What they did manage to do was get national TV and other news coverage, and slow things down in Midtown. Reports on the size of the crowd and number of arrests varied. They left banners and sprayed graffiti, and tweeted about it. And they made an effort to look both intimidating and impossible to identify. Seems pretty obvious this group is up to no good, right?

Well, nothing is simple.

What's the goal of the disruption?

This group clearly hates the police. According to their tweets, they want to "end all policing & destruction of public order . . . to bring public safety back to NYC." They also want all mass transit fees ended, so the rides are all free. 

Photo from 1010 WINS Radio, via Twitter. (Note the
linked Twitter video contains profanity).

Let's unpack this. First of all, "end all policing" is connected to "destruction of public order." 

The goal is "to bring public safety back to NYC."

While the article in Police Magazine did list their goals as "no cops in the MTA, free transit [and] no harassment, " they focused more on the disruption and vandalism. 

That's not surprising. Their aim, as stated by MTA Chief Safety Officer Pat Warren (quoted in the article), is to protect "transit services that get New Yorkers to their jobs, schools, doctors and other places they need to go." Simple enough.

But nothing is simple.

How can the protests promote the need for public safety?

I'd just read another article about a UK study that demonstrated a 14-21% reduction in crime when the police patrolled subway stations every 15 minutes. These platforms previously had not had a police presence--exactly what the New York demonstrators are demanding.

The article even went so far as to make a direct comparison: "London’s Underground, akin to NYC’s subway system, was the first underground railway in the world, and now services more than 1.3 billion passengers per year."

The police show up and crime goes down. That's pretty simple, isn't it? But nothing is simple.

A study showed police patrols every 15 minutes in the London Underground deterred crime. Yet Decolonize this Place is demanding that police stop patrolling the New York City subways. Does this make sense? (Photo courtesy of Forensic).

 
Who's protecting whom, and from what?

The London Underground recently has seen delays from demonstrations, too, but those were staged by climate activists seeking attention. One of the biggest worries there seems to be terrorist attacks (and with good reason).

But hardly any of the London Underground's users seem to think the police themselves are a danger to public safety. No so, for Decolonize this Place. They demonstrated to remove them from the subways entirely. 

The New York City subway system's police officers, interacting with an assortment of low-income persons of color have been captured in distressing videos that went viral. This apparently happens frequently in the subways. 

The number of homeless persons living in the New York City subways has jumped by 20% recently (screencap of a video via ABC-7 News)

The MTA recently (and controversially) hired 500 new officers to patrol the subways. They are there to address "quality of life" issues, such as illegal food vendors and the growing number of homeless people living in the subway system. 

Meanwhile, the NYPD has been cracking down on low-level crimes, and that's no surprise, since that kind of crime is up. But that often means focusing on persons of color, whether it's because of simple economics or racial bias. But addressing those issues, no matter how tactfully, is no simple matter.

Respect is not as simple a matter as it may seem. 

1981 Brixton Riots in the UK: first large-scale clash
between low-income black youths and white British
police in the 20th Century. (Photo from The
Royal Gazette)

As far as I can tell, one clear problem with NYPD and MTA officers' approach is that it never seems to be respectful. Defensive, definitely--and in the current environment, caution is warranted.

But whatever their intentions, the effect when they surround a tiny, elderly churro vender with four or five much taller armed police officers and handcuff her is pretty darned intimidating.

This is not a new thing, this antagonism between police forces and the working poor. And it's not isolated to New York City. Fines that unfairly burdened lower-income residents of Ferguson MO fueled some of the fury in the wake of Michael Brown's killing. And all too often cities' attempts to "deal with the homeless problem" turn into efforts to chase the homeless out of town--or at least out of sight.

Officials used heavy equipment to clear out a homeless camp near Moncton, New Brunswick last May (photo by Shane Magee/CBC)

Even efforts designed to be helpful don't always succeed. Many places create task forces that include social workers to coordinate with the police, but their success is mixed. "Neighborhood policing" doesn't always have the desired result.

It's not just the working poor who feel disrespected. Police officers also have every reason to feel they are not respected. Indeed, too often they are violently targeted. "Bad actors" among sworn-officer ranks get sensational headlines, and besmirch the ones who honestly struggle each day to serve their communities.

Nothing is simple. Especially not efforts to negotiate the delicate balance of respect, accountability, and public order that characterizes interactions between the police and the working poor.

But it's quite simply true that everyone's safety and security depends on finding a way.

IMAGE CREDITS: 
Many thanks to Police Magazine (and New York Post) for the coverage of the protest, and to 1010 WINS Radio and Twitter for the tweet from Decolonize this Place. I'd also like to thank Forensic for the photo from the London Underground, and ABC-7 News for the screencap of homeless people in subways. Additionally,  much gratitude to The Royal Gazette for the historic photo from the Brixton Riots, as well as The Canadian Broadcasting Company (CBC) and their photographer/reporter Shane Magee for the photo from the Moncton NB homeless camp.

Looking forward to Capricon 40

My "sf convention year" kicks off in February. I'm looking forward to Capricon 40 on Valentine's weekend, Feb. 13-16, 2020, in Wheeling, IL. And I'm already preparing for panel discussions and the Art Show.

My first Capricon was Cap 30, when my friend Lucy A. Synk was their Artist Guest of Honor. She invited me to attend as her guest. I had a lot of fun, but wasn't able to go back for several years after that.

Montage by Jan S. Gephardt, to represent her Blogging a Panel post from the Capricon 37 she wasn't able to attend.

Blogging a panel

I tried to go back in 2017, but a combination of countervailing events forced me to cancel so late in the process that I'd already been scheduled for panels. Unfortunately, one panel for which I'd been scheduled, Writing about Forensics, only had two panelists. The other, Jen Haeger, also had to cancel late in the process, so Writing about Forensics suddenly also got scrubbed.

Jen and I had been communicating online, and we decided that even if we couldn't go to Capricon and present the panel in person, we still could present the panel virtually. This led to Blogging a Panel on this blog (I think it was paralleled on Jen's blog and also that of Capricon's parent group, Phandemonium).

Since then, I haven't had to resort to such drastic measures.

This blog has followed my adventures at Capricon 38 and my Artwork, travel follies, and reflections upon Capricon 39.

Image courtesy of Capricon

Looking forward to Capricon 40

I plan to have my artwork in the Art Show, and of course I'll be on panels. I even have my schedule already! So I'm really looking forward to Capricon 40.

There's one set for Thursday at 5:00 p.m., called Detectives in the Wild (I moderate). We'll talk about detectives in science fiction (as opposed to urban fantasy, where they more often turn up).

Photo by Ty Gephardt, taken May 24, 2019.
Books, badge ribbons and bookmarks at the
Mad Authors' Salon co-hosted by Jan S. Gephardt,
Lynette M. Burrows, and Dora Furlong, at
ConQuesT 50 in Kansas City, MO.

On Friday my panels are Pronouns and SF/F at 2:30 p.m., and Weird Hobbies for Immortals at 4 p.m. (I moderate that one, too). I'm also scheduled to participate in the Indie Author Speed-Dating event on Friday at 5:30 p.m., which should be interesting (I have badge ribbons and bookmarks to hand out!)

Saturday starts early (for me). I'm scheduled to autograph at 10 a.m. and read from What's Bred in the Bone at 1 p.m., sharing the time slot with Dorothy Winsor. That evening at 7 p.m. I'll facilitate the Creating a Tropical World workshop.

Finally, on Sunday at 10:00 a.m. I'll participate in Religion and Ethics in an Age of Artificial Intelligence, which also ought to be an interesting discussion. I promise I'll come with coffee in hand, so I'm coherent.

Of course I'll also have paperback copies available from Weird Sisters Publishing. Certainly I'll bring copies of What's Bred in the Bone. If all goes well, I'll also have paperback copies of my sister's Deep Ellum Pawn novelette (as I write this, it's still only available via Kindle)!

With all of this, I hope that you, like me, will be looking forward to Capricon 40--either at the convention in Wheeling, or perhaps here in follow-up blog posts.

Photo by Jan S. Gephardt. This is my Art Show display at Archon in Collinsville, IL as it looked October 6, 2019.

Please note: My next XK9 story, a prequel novella titled The Other Side of Fear, will be available in March 2020. The second novel in the XK9 "Bones" Trilogy, A Bone to Pick, is set for release this fall.

IMAGE CREDITS: 
The "Blogging a Panel" header is by Jan S. Gephardt, with images courtesy of Reference,  Belleville News-Democrat,  National Institute of Standards and Technology, and Criminal Justice Degreelink. 
The half-header for Capricon 40 is courtesy of the Capricon Website. 
The photo of my book display at the May 24, 2019 "Mad Authors' Salon" at ConQuesT 50 is by Ty Gephardt, and used with his permission. 
I took the photo of my art display at Archon, October 6, 2019 myself. you may re-post or re-blog any of them with correct attribution to the creators and a link back to this post.

Stranger-than-usual territory

Recently I've wandered into stranger-than-usual territory in three urban fantasy books.

Actually the third one may fall more into the speculative fiction category, but it mostly takes place in a city, and some elements come across to me much more as fantasy than as fiction that's based in any science I'm aware of.

It's been a while (June 2018) since I posted any book reviews on this blog, but today I'd like to share glimpses of the stranger-than-usual territory explored in Extreme Medical Services, The SparkleTits Chronicles, and Hollow Kingdom.

Extreme Medical Services

By Jamie Davis

A paramedic's life is never dull, but that goes exponential for rookie paramedic Dean Flynn when he's assigned to Elk City's Station U. That place is definitely is located in stranger-than-usual territory.

Station U isn't your standard paramedic station. And the population it serves doesn't exactly fit into any standard class of human patients. That's because Station U serves the "Unusuals" in town.

The local vampires, were-folk, sirens, faeries, dryads, and many other people who quietly live among the rest of the humans, but are "different." As Brynne, Dean's supervising partner, puts it, "They're mostly humans, but not."

Both together and individually, they create a challenging medical specialty. And they offer some moments of delightful humor

This is a take on myths and legends unlike anything I've previously encountered. Davis poses a series of logical problems most of us have probably never imagined. What complications arise when the diabetic CPA also happens to be a werewolf? Or when a vampire has an allergic reaction? Or when a naiad (water sprite) gets severely dehydrated?

Notes on the Series

These problems and more confront Dean and his colleagues from Station U. Better yet, each patient also is a well-rounded character
 with a distinctive personality. Davis is a natural-born storyteller with a strong sense of the ironic.

Unfortunately, he's not a trained storyteller. That means the dialogue is often clunky, the pace is ragged, and the plot is more instinctive than possessing a well-thought-out structure.

The frequent use of medical jargon may be off-putting to readers who were expecting more standard fantasy tropes, but the science fiction nerd in me got a kick out of the juxtaposition.

You'll feel as if you're riding along in the ambulance with Dean and the gang from Station U (Photo courtesy of Parkway East Hospital in Singapore)

Extreme Medical Services is the first in an 8-book (if you count the prequel) series of short novels about Dean, his patients, colleagues, and others. Of course there's trouble brewing in Elk City, and Dean is uniquely suited to help deal with it. 

Whenever the series sticks close to its core identity it shines. Humorous and ironic medical-fantasy situations with a strong subtext of standing up for the rights of a misunderstood minority population provide some marvelous moments.
But the clunky writer-craft is an annoyance throughout the series. And when it ventures too far into epic fantasy and cosmic cataclysm, it falls flat for me. In my opinion, the first 2-3 books were the most entertaining.

The SparkleTits Chronicles

By Veronica R. Calisto

Veronica R. Calisto
at Westercon 71.

Yes, I know this is technically two books, but in a number of ways it's not. I normally would never have seen or heard of these books if I hadn't gone to Westercon 71, in July 2018 in Denver. That's where I met Veronica and became intrigued with her unique personality and sense of humor.

That wry sense of humor and askance view of the world comes across forcefully in her writing, too. This woman has a voice and a style all her own, and it's a pleasure to read her work.

When I want to give a full-throated endorsement, however, I've normally directed people to her Diary of a Mad Black Witch. That one's a stand-alone novel that I could have sworn I'd already reviewed in this space--but I can't find it, so I'll have to remedy the oversight soon.

Meanwhile, what's up with "SparkleTits"? 

For a while the title itself held me back. I half-feared it would turn out to be some kind of exploitation ploy. But I couldn't imagine that the author of  Diary of a Mad Black Witch would really go there. So I gave them a try.

And I've got to tell you, they don't leave Denver, Colorado, but they definitely take you into stranger-than-usual territory!

Starfish and Coffee

Greer Ianto is struggling to deal with the death of her beloved mentor Gabe when we meet her on what turns out to be the Nearly-Worst Possible Day Ever. 

Then she gets semi-literally star struck (as in struck by something that looks to others like a star), and lives to ask what the heck just happened. At this point we have well and truly ventured into far-stranger-than-usual territory.

From there we plunge through nearly-nonstop (mis)adventures in a reality where superheroes are real (but, officially, they're all men).

As a six-foot-tall black woman with an attitude, suddenly possessed of her own superpowers (that even work on the superhero men), Greer is guaranteed to rock their foundations. And I for one had a blast watching her do it.

Sins and Barbecue

Greer has a new and troublesome relationship going on in the second novel. She encounters a number of new bad guys. And she finds more clues about her mysterious origins and her late mentor Gabe, who wasn't exactly what he seemed to be.

This particular cycle-within-a-larger-story finishes, but it's clear the larger story continues. I very much doubt that the SparkleTits Chronicles are meant to end here.

The "SparkleTits" Chronicles are set in Denver, CO--but they definitely also take you into stranger-than-normal territory! (Photo By Hogs555 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0)

You knew there'd be a "however"

These books are a lot of fun. Except for the moments when they fall apart.

Calisto's writing is much better-crafted than Davis's, but there still are places where she needed a line editor and/or a proofreader (different functions!). They could have saved her from confusing constructions, infelicitous turns of phrase, typos, editing artifacts, and more.

They also would probably have reminded her that Book Two, Sins and Barbecue, might not be read immediately after Starfish and Coffee, so the reader needs a reorientation about who everybody is and what happened in Book One.

The other big problem with these books is the interior artwork. The covers are workmanlike enough to convey the idea (no artist is credited for any of the artwork). But the interior artwork is just plain embarrassing. Incomprehensible and horrendously-timed, it appears that it's supposed to convey some of the climactic action. It doesn't. Instead it stops the story dead in its tracks at arguably the worst possible moment.

So, no. I can't offer anything like a full-throated endorsement. But I can tell you it's an interesting-enough experiment that I bought and read the second book. Make of that what you will.

Hollow Kingdom

By Kira Jane Buxton

If we suddenly had a Zombie Apocalypse, what would happen to all the companion animals? That's the question underlying this much-talked-about top-seller.

Hollow Kingdom is the only traditionally-published entry in this blog post's collection. The others are Indies that probably would not have received a good reception from the gatekeepers.

Is it better? Well, the craft is clearly better. Kira Jane Buxton writes well, and she's been well-served by her editors at Grand Central Publishing. There are no amateurish issues to battle here. The publisher supported this book's roll-out with strong advertising and review coverage.

You definitely should give it a look. The animal viewpoints deliver spot-on caricatures we all recognize. In addition to the protagonist, S.T. the genius-crow, we hear occasionally from other characters such as Genghis Cat and Winnie the Poodle. Their brief cameos illuminate and provide humor--even as they also are poignant.

The animal-welfare angle

Readers not used to reading speculative fiction or thinking in animal viewpoints may find it mind-expanding. And anytime we can get people to think more fully about animals and their welfare, that's a good thing. But personally, I found it more depressing than many reviewers.

I've been associated with animal rescue organizations for long enough to cherish no illusions about what happens to domesticated animals when their caregivers cease to care for them.

All fantasy aside, domesticated animals without human care, like these feral cats, lead short, cruel lives. (Photo courtesy of Pretty Litter)

Even cats, which many people think would thrive without people around, would inevitably suffer problems (note the dangerous lives of contemporary feral cats). Far more horrifying, animals trapped inside buildings, aquaria, zoo cages, barns and pastures without food and water would die agonized, lingering deaths.

Hollow Kingdom is a fantasy, firmly planted in stranger-than-usual territory. It provides poignant moments, funny moments, and a great many improbable situations. Maybe it's better not to talk about the rest of the grimness, but I read this more as a slow-rolling horror story than as "hopeful."

IMAGE CREDITS: 
Many thanks to Goodreads, for the Extreme Medical Services cover art, and to Amazon for the series-covers image. The photo of the inside of an ambulance is from Parkway East Hospital in Singapore.

The photo of Veronica R. Calisto at Westercon 71 was taken with her knowledge and permission, and is © 2018 by Jan S. Gephardt, but you may re-post it or re-blog it with an attribution and a link back to this post. The photo of the two books in the SparkleTits Series is courtesy of Amazon. The photo of Denver, including the city park, part of the downtown skyline, and the Front Range with Mt. Evans, is By Hogs555 - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikiepedia.

The photo of the Hollow Kingdom cover is courtesy of Goodreads. Many thanks to Pretty Litter for the photo of the feral cats.

Struggling to balance

The Artdog Quote(s) of the Week

If you've been following my blog this month, you know I've been struggling to balance a range of unusually urgent demands on my time. As January draws to an end, I can close the book on several of those tasks, but the underlying challenge persists. I always have a lot to do.

(Image courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Don't get me wrong. I like it that way. But it makes me vulnerable to overload, if I need to take on extra stuff. Whenever I can, I try to anticipate when I'll be most busy. Then I'll either work ahead so I'm prepared, or cut back some obligations so I don't drop any balls.

(Image and quote from Gary Keller courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Working ahead is great in theory, but in practice it doesn't always go as I hoped. Rescheduling till later isn't always an option, either. Then I end up struggling to balance all the stuff I need to do.

(Image and quote from Betsy Jacobson courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

There are lots of demands to balance

Balancing the demands of family, friends, and health needs with work is especially difficult when you're doing work you're passionate about. Or even work that's necessary to support the work that you're passionate about. Support work includes things like running Amazon ads to sell my book, or supporting my platform by blogging.

When you're struggling to balance everything, even doing the research that will enable you to outsource some of it may take time you don't feel you have!

(Image and quote from Jessye Norman courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

Thing is, nobody can "do it all." Many of my friends have begun to retire. They don't always understand why I can't just spontaneously drop everything to do something fun, even though I'm "home all the time."

Do you get enough sleep? Eat nutritious, healthy food? Exercise enough? All of those things take time. All are essential to health. How does a person on deadline after deadline prioritize?

When I was younger, in the season of my life when I was rearing small children, I couldn't write or make artwork as much as I do now. Anyone who thinks it's easy to keep up the creative work when you're also the primary on-site caregiver for a small child either has never actually done that, was guilty of child endangerment through neglect, or didn't get as much creative work done as they claim.

A seasonal balancing act 

No matter what season you've come to, in my experience you'll still find yourself struggling to balance the load from time to time. But the struggle is worth it. For a person who does creative work, the creative work can be the thing that keeps you going in tough times.

(Image and quote from Thomas Kinkade courtesy of EnkiQuotes)

The creative work keeps our juices flowing. But the ultimate creative challenge is how we meet the challenge when we're struggling to balance the demands.

How do you meet that challenge? How do you manage the balance? Please share thoughts, tips, or questions in the comments, if you're so inclined.

IMAGE CREDITS: All of these quote-images came from the same source, for once! I am deeply indebted to EnkiQuotes' page of quotes about work-life balance. I literally couldn't have created this post without them! Many thanks!

Service dogs for first responders

In light of Wednesday's post, here's a video about service dogs for first responders.

Thank goodness, leadership in some areas has begun to cut through the "tough-guy" culture in many agencies. It's high time we recognize the huge impact of stress on first responders. When more than twice as many police officers die by suicide than in the line of duty, something is seriously wrong!

Anyone who's followed this blog for a while knows I've posted about service dogs many times before. I've featured dogs who help calm child witnesses in courtrooms, who aid deaf people, help with mobility, comfort hospice patients, and support recovery from PTSD. Especially as they've become more widely used to treat PTSD in military veterans, it's logical to expand the idea to include service dogs for first responders.

Dogs' roles have evolved

This kind of caregiving role for our canine friends isn't a universal centuries-old tradition, such as their aid over the millennia as co-hunters, herding dogs, and guard dogs. But in isolated instances people have used animals as helps in therapy or guides throughout history.

L-R in a wonderful composite photo created by Tori Holmes for Bark-Post: Mural from Herculaneum showing an ancient Roman dog used to guide a bind person,  Morris Frank and his guide dog Buddy (she is popularly considered to be the first guide dog in the US) and a contemporary guide dog with her person.

Our contemporary understanding of what a service dog can do began in Germany after World War I. Former ambulance dogs found new roles as guide dogs for blinded veterans. The idea spread to the United States, where trainers established several schools.

Developing the concept

From there, a whole new chapter in the relationship between dogs and humans has unfolded. Service dogs now help people deal with all kinds of medical and mental health issues.

But the first time I became aware of therapy dogs helping first responders cope was through stories about therapy dogs at the site of the 9/11 wreckage.

Crisis dog Tikva, a Keeshond, helped responders cope at Ground Zero. (Photo courtesy of New York Daily News)

Individual agencies have begun bringing in therapy dogs occasionally. In the 911 Call Center for Sheboygan County, WI, a team of therapy dogs visits on a regular schedule.

Back in Fairfax County, home of the police in our opening video, they also have a Goldendoodle therapy dog named Wally in Fire Station 32. Therapy dogs have been brought in to help firefighters battling wildfires in Californina (I hope in Australia, too!).

I think this trend of providing service dogs for first responders is positive. What do you think? Should more agencies should explore it as a way to offer our first responders some relief?

IMAGE CREDITS: Many thanks to VOA for the video about therapy dogs in the Fairfax VA Police Department. I deeply appreciate the three-photo composite of guide dogs through the centuries from Tori Holmes and Bark-Post. Finally, I want to thank the New York Daily News for the photo of Tikva the Keeshond, and the accompanying article about therapy dogs at Ground Zero.