Purchase the latest issue of the Doctor Who Appreciation Society's official zine, or download a free copy! Read my reviews of the Fifth Doctor-centric CT annual and the new 15th Doctor book Spectral Scream. Plus, there's a review of my own Black Archive on Mawdryn Undead!
My first foray into the UNITverse is now available for pre-order! Pick up a pair of linked stories by yours truly and James Middleditch. Mine, titled "Wiltshire Drift," follows a retired Benton through the countryside in search of a car with some serious alien power under the hood.
My new flash fiction piece is now available to read free on Dream Theory! Even in a world overrun with kaiju, sometimes spite is still the best motivator.
I find myself increasingly drawn to Erin Cotter's work with every new release. By Any Other Name was an interesting story burdened by anachronism, but A Traitorous Heart largely did everything I'd hoped its predecessor would do. And now, A Dangerous Bargain is absolutely magnificent, blending historical flavor, romantic undertones, and fantastic worldbuilding with an unsubtle but extremely timely metaphor.
The novel takes place in 15th century Florence, following young art apprentices Virgil Pitti and Leonardo da Vinci (yes, that one). While Leonardo seems to make his art effortlessly while also sketching impossible machines, Virgil trades away memories and weeks of his life to perfect his work. You see, this version of Florence is filled with angels: uncanny creatures who accept bargains from artists to imbue their art with magic. Virgil has done this quite a lot, whittling his life away to patch up his less than stellar work.
But Virgil has a lot on his mind. When the studio's angel must be put down, he's put in charge of their new angel, whom he names Lupa — and she refuses to accept bargains from him. Meanwhile, the departure of the previous angel means all of Virgil's bargains are null and void, and he feels he has no talent left. Leonardo offers to help him, and the pair prepare to put their bid in to paint Lorenzo de' Medici's wedding portrait... and Virgil discovers that Niccolo, his long-lost older brother, may be alive and working with the House of Medici.
Virgil also has an unspoken crush on Leonardo, but that's a whole other set of problems. Not to mention that, given the time he's spent with Lupa, he's beginning to realize what angels really are.
A Dangerous Bargain is equal parts political intrigue, paranormal drama, and tribute to Dante's Inferno. What stuck out the most to me, though, was how the angels of Florence are a fairly up-front metaphor for the modern rise of generative AI. Artists are pushed by the wealthy and by their studios to use it, whittling their lives away for everything from commissions to (effectively) silly memes. The cost is massive but ignored until it's too late, with the deeper truths of the system being legitimately dire even for people who don't bargain. And as Virgil relies more and more on bargains, he feels his artistic skill stagnating until he becomes unafraid to start fresh and make mistakes again. That isn't all this book is, mind, but it's pretty unapologetic about that particular.
This is absolutely Cotter's best so far, and it's gratifying to see her excel more and more with each new story. A Dangerous Bargain feels like a perfectly mixed cocktail, with each ingredient complementing the others. I can't wait to see what's next.
TEA PAIRING: Letters of Lavender This lavender bergamot blend may be inspired by love letters rather than art, but it still seems very appropriate for our protagonists. It's also one of my favorite blends from the company, hands down. Use my code KARA15 for 15% off this and more book-inspired teas from Chapters Tea & Co.!
FEATURED CANDLE: Owens' Apothecary This month's limited-edition candle seems to go with everything. Its blend of herbs and chocolate reminds me of Leonardo and Virgil eating breakfast together and Lupa going out of her way to bring Virgil birthday sweets. Be sure to check out more bookish candles from Frostbeard!
WHEN I WAS REINCARNATED, I WAS THE HEROINE AND HE WAS THE HERO Vol. 1 by Mizunomoto Available September 29
It's always interesting to see when a new (or newly-popular) genre moves into the realm of parody and deconstruction. Isekai stories are as old as the hills, and even in anime they've been around since the 1980s, but the current boom is nothing to be sneezed at. We've already had parodies and "anti-isekai" (No Longer Allowed in Another World being a personal favorite example of the latter). Now comes When I Was Reincarnated, I Was the Heroine and He Was the Hero — which is actually pretty darn cute.
The series follows two high school boys, Azumi and Taiga, who appear to go through the typical motions of a reincarnation isekai: they're hit by a truck and awaken in new bodies in a video game-adjacent world. And they have roles to play. Taciturn Taiga is the Hero, and Azumi is... oh, he's the cute heroine. More pressingly, though, the two need to defeat the Demon Lord, as doing so might well allow them to return home. But getting to his lair will require a lot of gold, so it's time to quest and build up their reputation.
The novelty of a female body wears out quickly for Azumi, meaning now she's more acutely aware of the chemistry between herself and her childhood friend. Taiga is taking the whole thing in stride, seemingly even welcoming the changing relationship between the two. So why is Azumi suddenly feeling nervous around her old friend?
This manga has every opportunity to be fanservicey... and yeah, sometimes it absolutely is. But it's a surprisingly sweet story that has a lot of potential. The isekai tropes are there, but more time is given to the central relationship and how it evolves when the dynamic is altered. It doesn't have that same heavy, crunchy feeling that so many magic-system-centric isekai do. It feels lighter somehow, and that's a welcome feeling. Now we just cross our fingers that it sticks the landing as it continues.
DRINK PAIRING: Elixir of Hydration The magical pink vibe of this one very much suits the transformed Azumi! This elixir from Velvet Hammer has electrolytes for hydration and is designed for daily use. It's got a sweet pink lemonade flavor and blends well with cocktails, mocktails, or other Velvet Hammer mixes. Check out more of Velvet Hammer's book-inspired elixirs!
Finding your way in the world as a young adult is never easy; doubly so if your family is especially difficult. The heroine of The Secret to Belonging knows this all too well, and unravels what it means to escape from a toxic life and find oneself abroad — all in second-person verse.
Because, well, "you" are the protagonist of this story: a young woman in the 80s who goes to the top of the world to find out who she really is.
Our narrator lives in a home in which she is all but invisible, her parents' focus being entirely on her self-destructive brother. When her college fund disappears, she takes another opportunity: studying abroad in the north of Norway. She leaves for 13 months knowing none of the language, learning as she goes. She finds friends along the way, warmth from a welcoming host family, and even love with a local boy. With time to live for herself, she discovers life's highs and lows: the joy of learning a language, the beauty of creativity, and the heartbreak of betrayal from friends. And all these experiences together give her the strength to make a life-changing decision when the time comes.
If you come from a difficult family yourself, The Secret to Belonging isn't an easy read. But that's the sign of a good and relatable book. If it hits something in you at some point, no matter how painful, it's doing its job. And this book is equal parts beautiful and difficult, pulling the reader from the glory of the Northern Lights to the tragedy of a family tearing itself apart from the inside.
The form of this book isn't just for show, either. Freeman's free-flowing verse throws the reader right in the midst of the protagonist's feelings, the second-person format inviting you to really feel these moments in your own heart. It's a book that's easy to lose yourself in, one that moves quickly but still feels full. It's a warning to recognize when your life is at a dead end and needs changing. And it's a testament to the transformative nature of travel, even (and especially) when you plunge in with no safety net.
TEA PAIRING: Magical Library Butterbrew This butterscotch black tea reminds me of candy and comfort during cold, dark winters. Use my code KARA15 for 15% off this and other book-inspired teas from Chapters Tea & Co.!
FEATURED CANDLE: Owens' Apothecary This month's featured candle blends cocoa cake and rosemary scents to give the ambience of a cozy shop... or, perhaps, a cozy family home like the one our heroine visits. Be sure to check out more seasonal and book-inspired candles from Frostbeard!
The first episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 I ever saw in full was The Day the Earth Froze. My uncle would bring over VHS tapes recorded from Comedy Central (my grandparents didn't care to pay for cable at the time), and even though I didn't get many of the jokes, I knew I loved this show.
MST3K and its many offshoots — Cinematic Titanic, Film Crew, and (of course) RiffTrax — have been part of my life since I was a kid. Sometimes in very literal ways, since family friend Harold Buchholz worked on the show's return. It's become so entrenched in the nerd subculture that multiple conventions I've been to have had their own MST one-offs. RiffTrax was, and remains, my comfort watch if I'm ever having a bad mental health day. (My friends know if "Fun in Balloonland" is on the big screen, it's been a tough one.) And right around this time five years ago, my uncle was sitting at the dining room table transcribing Santo in the Treasure of Dracula for the Gizmoplex writers' room.
And now, we have Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments, starting with "The Sting of Death." I was a Kickstarter backer, so I grabbed tickets for myself and friend Katy early. So, was it worth it?
Yes, absolutely.
So I'll be honest. At no point during the Kickstarter process did I ever doubt this would go well, both because of RiffTrax's two-decade track record and the look of the campaign in general. There was no "scope creep": they were making four episodes, and any extra money raised would go into making those four episodes better. RiffTrax has always had a solid business plan, as evidenced by how long it's been around and the directions in which it's grown. So success and being "worth it" was never a worry. At this point it was all about the vibe.
Frankly, it's all summed up in the new intro:
In-camera effects, models that are obviously models but still look nice. I don't dislike or resent the direction that the Netflix/Gizmoplex era took, especially considering how much of it was made during lockdown. But this has that home-grown small-team feel that enticed so many people in the first place.
The easiest way to do a proper review is, I believe, a breakdown of all the bits that make an MST3K episode:
The Intro See for yourself above. Jonathan Coulton didn't get fancy with his cover: he went for the original sound and stuck with it. Again, no beef with the brassy Netflix-era opening — those trumpets get me going. But Netflix/Gizmoplex era was always meant to bring MST3K into the 21st century; this is an unapologetic throwback, so an unapologetic throwback tune is the best choice.
And the visuals get the job done. I love the new SOL model with the sign out front, I love seeing familiar set pieces floating though, and it's fun to wonder about what's coming in the next episodes given the clips we see.
Anyway, 10/10 opening.
The Host/Mad Segments This consists of both a brief cold open before the intro and the banter between the hosts and Mads before the film. The intro gets right down to business; while it doesn't really matter how or why Mike and the Bots are back on the SOL, a good enough reason is given that ties back well enough to the 1999 finale. And, of course, Pearl has a new evil scheme in play: one that is fairly relevant to the here and now. (And is just a reminder of how evil she is.)
Understandably, this had to be a bit more front-loaded with "where have they been?" jokes, so it's expected that this segment would be primarily narrative. I'm hopeful that we'll get to see a few more straight-up antics in the following three installments.
The ending segment was short and sweet, mainly delivering on punchlines and giving us some extra silly costume moments. Again, it's great to see that homegrown, low-budget look (even though the Kickstarter did gangbusters, that doesn't mean we have to gild the cow town lily).
Other Host Segments This is the one place where I think things fell a little short, but that's an issue with modern MST3K of any stripe. The mid-movie host segment was very good. It had a funny song and goofy costumes, and it felt very reminiscent of the more unselfconscious era of the show. I loved it.
That said. I did say host segment, singular. We got one within the movie proper. And I'm not sure if that's down to runtime or what, but I feel like we've been getting fewer of these mid-show skits in the modern era. Which is a shame. We're here for the riffs, obviously, but these bits in the downtime are a big part of why we care about these hosts.
Fortunately, there were mid- and post-credit ones. We had a letter segment during the Kickstarter backer listing (and boy was it nostalgic to see that Fan Club address pop up on the screen), and there was a post-credits skit between Mike and Servo that was one of the funniest things of the night. Unfortunately, my friend Katy and I were the only ones still in the theater when that popped up, and I'm kind of wondering why they went with an MCU post-credit instead of letting this one live naturally within the runtime.
The Doors WOW. Okay, they've gone absolutely nuts with these. They're still miniatures and practical effects, but they're less styles of doors and more scenes that you move through. (Scenes from much better movies, generally.) I won't give away what they are for those who've yet to see it, because the reveal of the scenes was delightful, but I really love this approach to the doorway segment.
The Movie Itself Sting of Death was such a good starting point because it's everything a "good" cheesy movie should be: predictable, poorly acted, oddly shot, filled with laughable effects, and with that sort of X factor of weirdness that gives the hosts a lot to talk about. It's also got more gratuitous butt shots than a Taishi Tsutsui manga. It's a great warm-up, especially considering how many "effects" shots there are that don't even need a joke to get a laugh.
The Riffs With a strong team of both MST3K and RiffTrax alums and (what looks to be) a smaller writer's room than Netflix/Gizmoplex, the riffs were pretty tight.
This may just be me being overanalytical (as I tend to be), but I think when it comes to riffs, there's an MST3K cadence and there's a RiffTrax cadence. In other words, Mike and Tom and Crow sound different from Mike and Kevin and Bill, despite being the same people. The first 10-15 minutes of riffs had (in my opinion) the RiffTrax cadence. But the further the movie went on, the more it sank into classic MST3K delivery. In hindsight, I actually remember my eyes being drawn down to the silhouettes more in the second half of the movie — like I was crediting the in-theater characters more than just listening to RiffTrax's disembodied voices.
That doesn't mean I think part of the riffing was "good" and part was "bad." (RiffTrax is good, after all.) It's just something I noticed that kind of fascinates me on the performance end. It's a weird mix of "coming back" and "never left."
So that's a lot of talk about one episode of a funny movie puppet show. What's the short version?
The short version is, Mystery Science Theater 3000: The RiffTrax Experiments feels like home. It feels like weekends on the sofa with my uncle watching his VHS recording of The Human Duplicators, like waiting for my MSTie newsletter in the mail. The Gizmoplex years proved that MST3K can move and advance with the times: The RiffTrax Experiments prove it doesn't need to.
THE ASSASSIN LAUGHS AT TWILIGHT Vol. 1 by MeguriKukuru, illustrated by Paneguma Available September 15
Chisato trained to be a doctor so he could wake his beloved sister Kayo from her thirteen-year-long coma. But tragedy strikes on the day of the surgery, killing both siblings before the operation can take place. But it's not the end for Chisato. He finds himself reborn in the fantasy world of Aberrant. And like all isekai heroes, he's got an impressive new power... unfortunately for him, he's been reborn as a master assassin!
Accompanied by the soft-spoken Mil, Chisato seeks out jobs that blend his passion with his talent: autopsies and, if necessary, revenge. His new role sees him coming in contact with goblins, ghouls, angels, and much more. His prices are steep, but his results speak for themselves. And maybe, despite his change in fortune, he can do something to help others on his new career path.
I'm unfamiliar with the original light novel of The Assassin Laughs at Twilight, but that doesn't spoil one's enjoyment of the manga. It's a nice change from the typical isekai fantasy tropes. Yes, there's a superpowered reincarnation, but this series is (at least for now) free of so many of the now-bland building blocks that make this fantasy subgenre so samey. The chapters in this volume are about half setup, half mystery, and the mystery chapters are engaging. Notably, these are the types of mysteries you can play along with, with hints scattered throughout that an astute reader could pick up on.
While this is a darker title, that doesn't necessarily mean it's grim. Our protagonist has a lot of heart, even if his methods are unusual. This is one I absolutely recommend to readers who are burnt out on traditional isekai, or readers looking for that often-overlooked fantasy/mystery blend.
DRINK PAIRING: Elixir of Serenity For a story set in a world where potions have effectively replaced physicians, a selection from Velvet Hammer felt appropriate! This is their evening blend, with ingredients designed to help you relax and get a good night's sleep. I love mixing this sparkly cherry-flavored powder with a decaf tea as I do some late-night writing!
I've been on a bit of a mystery kick lately, likely because the 'ber months are kicking off and it just feels right. So Art Attack, the latest installment in James Ponti's middle-grade mystery series The Sherlock Society, hit at the perfect time. And once again, The Sherlock Society does for detective fiction what Ponti's City Spies did for spy fiction.
For those late to the party, the Sherlock Society is a group of five: Alex Sherlock, his sister Zoe, his school friends Lina and Yadi, and his retired journalist grandfather. Together, the unlikely group scours Miami for cases cold and hot. They're even being called on to solve cases for others. But one catches their eye: a behest to find Funky Munky, an anonymous graffiti artist whose "guerilla gorilla" has earned them both fans and notoriety across the city. With Miami Art Week coming up, a hotel developer wants to hire Funky Munky to paint a mural for him, and he's willing to pay top dollar to both the artist and the detectives. After all, if anyone can find an unfindable artist, it's the Sherlock Society!
As Alex and his friends immerse themselves in the Miami art scene, they continue to hone their detective skills. Alex and Yadi even learn to do detective work without the aid of the Internet, thanks to getting grounded after pulling an especially dangerous stunt. But when they finally do track down Funky Munky, there are bigger problems afoot. Like the arsons spreading across the city. And the true intentions of the Society's latest client.
I love Ponti's City Spies because they're a gentle but competent introduction to the wider world of spy fiction. And The Sherlock Society does the same for detective stories: presenting mysteries that are both entertaining and relatable, while teaching young readers critical thinking skills of their own. As educational as these books are about the sleuthing process, they never feel like they're talking down to readers of any age. The stakes are the exact right height for young readers new to the genre: dramatic and meaningful without being outright deadly.
It's also exceptionally rare for adult writers to write kids well. I've been reading a lot of middle-grade and teen fiction lately, and so many stories are packed with kids who are nothing but cutting-edge, trendy, and TikTok-obsessed. Each member of the Society has their own interests and priorities, with mysteries being their common interest. The narrative is more interested in presenting believable, well-rounded characters than getting modern kids "right" — and thus it achieves both.
I'm hopeful that The Sherlock Society will go on for a long time. Both of Ponti's series are so enjoyable regardless of age, accessible no matter where you start, and a great way to introduce young family members to a beloved genre.
TEA PAIRING: Sunrise Breakfast While Chapters does have a Sherlock Holmes-themed tea on offer, it's not coming out 'til later in the month. In the meantime, Sunrise Breakfast is my perfect pairing for this latest read. It's a simple and straightforward black tea that works well on its own, iced, or as a latte, while also keeping you nice and awake for whatever new mystery awaits. Use my code KARA15 for 15% off this and more book-inspired tea blends from Chapters Tea & Co.!
FEATURED CANDLE: Moriarty's Mind Games While the Sherlock Society might not have their own Moriarty equivalent (yet), this smoky candle just feels appropriate. The blend of oud, tobacco, and rain brings to mind a dark parlor where crimes are solved... or perhaps schemed. Check out Frostbeard Studio for more bookish candles!
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