In the conclusion of “Star Trek: Chasing Reflections,” Captain Pike from the mirror universe attempts to abduct Number One on the planet Morex III, but an attack by the Klingons in the hijacked shuttle Copernicus levels the playing field.
Stay tuned next week for my final fan fiction story of the year, “Star Trek: Voyager – Q Meets Girl.”
Continuing in the Halloween “spirit,” the next book on my October reading list has also been in my collection since high school. In fact, like Great Ghost Stories (reviewed last week), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Wan Winkle was purchased from the Scholastic Book Club.
Washington Irving’s stories are classics of American literature. Both are set in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York state where Irving was born and raised.
In the quaint, isolated village of Sleepy Hollow—where fables and superstitions abound—locals are all too happy to regale newcomers with the legend of a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon ball during the Revolutionary War. Ever since, he prowls the woods atop his steed in search of his head. When meek but socially ambitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane comes to the village, he courts Katrina Van Wessel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. This immediately puts him at odds with local ruffian, “Bram Bones” Van Brunt. After Katrina turns down Crane during a party at her family home, he storms out, but his disappointment turns to fear when he confronts the Headless Horseman along a dark country road…
Hen-pecked husband Rip Van Winkle avoids gainful employment—and his wife’s nagging—through daytime jaunts in the woods with his dog, Wolf, and helping his fellow villagers with odd jobs. One morning, Rip ventures a bit farther up the mountain than usual and begins to hear thunder. He is soon beckoned by a man in outdated Dutch clothing struggling to carry a keg. Rip lends a hand and together, they enter a nearby cave where other such men are playing nine-pins (bowling). After drinking heavily from the keg, Rip falls asleep and awakens 20 years later, having completely missed the Revolutionary War…
In the spirit of Halloween, I decided to re-read a book I’ve had in my collection for nearly 30 years. This anthology of six supernatural tales, published by Watermill Classics, gathers works by such famous scribes as Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Guy de Maupassant, and Bram Stoker. My favorites in the book are “Keeping His Promise” by Algernon Blackwood and “The Hand” by Guy de Maupassant. There are two in the collection that I would not consider ghost stories but were no less eerie— “Caterpillars” and “The Squaw.”
In “Keeping His Promise” by Algernon Blackwood, a university student pulls an all-nighter to study for an exam when a former classmate from elementary school arrives unexpectedly. Seeing that the man is in dire straits, the student invites him in for a meal and a place to spend the night while he studies. Things become a bit odd the following morning when his old friend can be heard but not seen…
In E.F. Benson’s “Caterpillars,” a man staying overnight at an Italian villa has visions of abnormally large glowing caterpillars amassing in various parts of the house. The following day, one of the other guests captures, then later kills, a smaller version of the same caterpillar—and suffers dire consequences.
A boisterous American visiting Nuremberg, Germany accidentally kills a kitten, sending its mother into a rage. Later, when the American visits the Torture Tower museum and tempts fate by placing himself in one of the devices, mother cat takes advantage of the opportunity in “The Squaw” by Bram Stoker.
In “The Hand” by Guy de Maupassant, a French judge meets an Englishman living in Marseilles and is eventually given a tour of the Englishman’s villa. Among the man’s gun collection is a severed human hand chained to the wall. The Englishman explains that the hand belonged to an enemy and must remained chained—lest it escape…
Ambrose Bierce brings us the tale of two men who use an abandoned mansion to hold a knife fight. One of the combatants ends up dead—but not at the end of a blade in “The Middle Toe of the Right Foot.”
A realtor is hired to partition a haunted estate inherited by three women. During his inspection of the property, he is confronted by the town idiot, a raving wild man named Dickon. The groundskeeper explains that while the previous owner of the estate was a kindly gentleman, he despised the three women, but died before he could change his will. Legend has it that the gentleman still roams the property, causing death and madness in “Dickon the Devil” by J.S. LeFanu.
In 2084, sexually promiscuous college student Marianne O’Hara leaves her off-world colony of New New York (one of many known as the Worlds) to attend university in New York City on Earth, where she meets a Bohemian poet and artist named Benny and an FBI agent named Jeff Hawkings.
Marianne and Benny become entangled with an anti-government group that seem at first innocuous—until one of their members is murdered and Benny finds his apartment bugged. As their suspicions about the organization grow and their safety is jeopardized, Benny decides to inform the FBI about the group then move to a remote farm in South Carolina after assuming a new identity. Meanwhile, Marianne takes several months to tour the world with some of her classmates from New York University including Jeff Hawkings.
Upon returning to New York, Marianne is attacked and nearly raped. As tensions build between the Earth and the Worlds over trade agreements, Marianne and Jeff arrange to leave Earth for New New York—but not before she visits New Orleans. While there, Marianne is persuaded to audition for a jazz band as a clarinet player. She soon becomes famous on the local scene—resulting in her abduction by a wealthy businessman who demands ransom from New New York.
How will Marianne escape from her kidnappers and what will happen as negotiations between Earth and the Worlds disintegrate into threats?
Worlds is considered a classic SF novel and while I enjoyed several chapters at the beginning and end, the story suffered from a sagging middle. Marianne’s globetrotting was told in the form of diary entries and much of it was tedious. There was little character development during these chapters aside from the budding romance between Marianne and Jeff and her fleeting concern for Benny back home.
In the second act of “Star Trek: Chasing Reflections,” Spock from the mirror universe escapes capture by the Klingons and Captain Pike of the Terran Empire sets his sights on capturing Number One from his Federation counterpart.
A marvelous time was had by all yesterday evening at the book launch party for A Plague of Shadows, the latest paranormal fiction anthology by Smart Rhino Publications. The launch was graciously hosted by the Newark Arts Alliance in Newark, DE.
A special thank you to editors Joanne M. Reinbold (Director of the Written Remains Writers Guild) and Weldon Burge (owner of Smart Rhino Publications) and to emcee and fellow contributor Maria Masington who kept the evening on track. Approximately half of the contributing authors were on hand and some read excerpts not only from their own stories, but from stories of contributors who could not attend.
I had a wonderful time reading my story, “Bottom of the Hour” and signing several copies of the book in addition to asking my fellow writers to do the same for my own copy and for some of my friends who donated to the Kickstarter that helped fund the publication. I now have a few books to hand deliver.
There were door prizes and yes, there was cake! Check out pictures from the event below. There were a few writers that I missed including Jacob Jones-Goldstein, Shannon Connor Winward, and Gail Husch (who also arranged all of the food and beverages for the launch).
