Freudian Slip

Project Gutenberg is a massive digital library of public domain works. Its archives contain not merely novels, but also numerous short stories from magazines with adjectives like “Amazing”, “Thrilling”, “Startling” and “Wondrous” in their titles. I’m making my way through its vast catalogue of these speculative fiction works. Today, I’ll be looking at “Freudian Slip” by Franklin Abel, published in Galaxy Science Fiction in 1952.

Gutenberg Link

Freudian Slip

SPOILERS BELOW

“Freudian Slip” sees large portions of the world suddenly disappear, replaced by a starry void that people can’t force themselves to acknowledge. The protagonist is Herman, a psychoanalyst who is abducted by some beings who ask for his help in solving the problem: the world is actually a mental construct, they say; and Primus, the one responsible for maintaining it, has suddenly been struck by amnesia, resulting in large portions of it disappearing. Herman points out that he is completely unqualified, as he works on human minds and Primus is fundamentally inhuman; but by the miracle of plot convenience, everything works out. You see, Herman is (groan) a Freudian psychologist, and Primus’s problems are due to sexual inhibition (whatever that means for whatever type of being he is), and Herman talking him into getting over it restores the world – only everything is now suddenly much raunchier now that Primus is sexually uninhibited. Wonderful.

This story had a good hook with the premise of something mysterious happening to the Earth, but everything went rapidly downhill from there. The metaphysical thing of what we perceive as reality being the process of another being’s consciousness maybe had some potential, if explored in an interesting way, but Freudian psychology was definitely not the way to go, and I could only groan at how the story ended up playing out. A major miss, for sure.

Final Rating: 1/5

Kairos

So what if you can see the darkest side of me? No one would ever change this animal I have become. Help me believe it’s not the real me. Somebody help me tame this animal. Let’s escape into Kairos, by Ulysse Malassagne and translated by Anne and Owen Smith.

Synopsis:

In Kairos, French graphic novelist Ulysse Malassagne turns the typical damsel-in-distress narrative on its head. With stunning art, epic battle scenes, and unexpected plot twists, Kairos forces you to question where to draw the line between hero and antihero.

Nills and Anaelle are looking forward to their first night in their rustic cabin in the woods. But the couple’s idyllic vacation is suddenly thrown into turmoil when a strange flash of light bursts from the fireplace. A portal appears, and out of it spill dragon-like creatures that are armed to the teeth. They grab Anaelle and flee back through the portal, leaving a distraught Nills with a sudden decision: stay behind, or leap through after her?

He leaps. And that’s when things get really weird.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Kairos, originally published in French under the title Kairos-Intégrale, is the story of Nills, who is taking a vacation with his girlfriend Anaelle when lizard creatures (the story calls them dragons, but they look more lizard-like to me) suddenly appear and abduct her through a magic portal. Nills jumps through after them and sets out on a quest to rescue her, but his time is limited: humans who come to the dragon world end up transforming into monsters and eventually dying.

The synopsis claims that this story “turns the typical damsel-in-distress narrative on its head” and “forces you to question where to draw the line between hero and antihero”. To which I say… no, not really? Anaelle really does spend the whole story as a damsel in distress: the fact that she and Nills break up at the end doesn’t change that. And despite his body physically becoming more monstrous, Nills seemed pretty solidly on the side of justice to me. It’s not like the antagonists turn out to actually be good, decent people outside of kidnapping Anaelle just this one time; it’s made clear that they’re a tyrannical monarchy subjugating the people, and a long-gestating revolution of the oppressed populace rallies behind Nills as a figurehead. When Elea was guiding Nills to the throne, I kept expecting that this was where the dark turn was going to come, that he was going to abandon her to the guards in his mindless pursuit of his goal, thus demonstrating that his obsession was blinding him to common decency – but no, he cared for and protected her the entire way. And when Anaelle makes it clear that they’re over as a couple, Nills doesn’t flip out like Kariya Matou from Fate/Zero or anything; he respects her agency and accepts her decision. Where exactly is the “anti-” supposed to come into it again? Because he seemed pretty solidly “hero” to me. As such, the story’s intended message fell flat for me, and I came away unsatisfied.

Kairos #1-3 are collected in Kairos.

Final Rating: 2/5

1,492,633 Marlon Brandos

Project Gutenberg is a massive digital library of public domain works. Its archives contain not merely novels, but also numerous short stories from magazines with adjectives like “Amazing”, “Thrilling”, “Startling” and “Wondrous” in their titles. I’m making my way through its vast catalogue of these speculative fiction works. Today, I’ll be looking at “1,492,633 Marlon Brandos” by Vance Aandahl, published in Worlds of IF Science Fiction in 1962.

Gutenberg Link

1,492,633 Marlon Brandos

SPOILERS BELOW

At 3:00 AM in an unnamed city, all of the men suddenly become restless and leave their homes, while the narration describes various aspects of them (the look in their eyes, their smiles, the motion of their hands) as being reminiscent of Marlon Brando. They all gather in front of the house of a woman, Dorothy, until her father disapprovingly sends them all home. The next day, most of them have forgotten the experience; except one, who considers the experience a sound rebuttal of the principles of logical positivism (which Wikipedia informs me was a philosophical movement that argued that statements are only meaningful if they can be verified through empirical observation or are tautologically true by definition. You know: Moritz Schlick, Rudolf Carnap, Otto Neurath, Hans Hahn, Friedrich Waismann, Herbert Feigl, Hans Reichenbach, Carl Gustav Hempel, A. J. Ayer… they’re all just as much household names as Marlon Brando. No further explanation needed. …OK, I do know of Carl Gustav Hempel, but that’s only due to Umineko no Naku Koro Ni piquing my interest in the Hempel’s Raven paradox.)

…Just what is supposed to have happened in the story? The woman, Dorothy, has mind control powers which she used to temporarily turn every man in the city into her plaything? Or, no, her father took them away from her, so I guess he has mind control powers that he lent to her only to withdraw them when he realized how she was using them? Who exactly is her father supposed to be, to have this power? Is it a psychic ability, or a machine, or what? What does any of this have to do with logical positivism? Under LP, “beauty” is not meaningful because it is subjective rather than empirical, and Dorothy clearly has a preferred type, so, therefore, Q.E.D., apparently, I guess? I don’t know. This story made no sense. What a bunch of hooey.

Final Rating: 1/5

Anti-Ghost

Some people say you shouldn’t get too attached to the material world, it will never last. Some people say it will all go up in smoke. But until that fire burns, I’m gonna pal around with this ghost. Let’s spook Anti-Ghost, by Omutatsuikoto.

Synopsis:

One day, Toru, a young paranormal content creator, visits an abandoned hospital for research. What will this ghost skeptic encounter there…?!

Source: Anime Planet

SPOILERS BELOW

Anti-Ghost is about Toru, a content creator who produces fake paranormal videos. When commenters remark on his work become stale, uninspired, and unbelievable, he decides to go to an abandoned hospital to get ideas for his next video. There, he has his first genuine encounter with the supernatural: a girl trapped halfway in an old TV set who insists that she’s not quite a ghost, as she doesn’t remember ever dying, and a giant monster in the hallway. Discovering he’s trapped in the hospital, he makes a deal with the girl, Hikari, for them to work together to escape the hospital.

This was a decent one-shot. I actually wish it had been longer, as it had several twists which feel like they could have used more time to breathe. At its current length, they were just kind of rushed through without any time for the implications to sink in or any consequences to manifest. Still, the fact that I’m wishing there was more of it speaks to the strength of its premise: this was ultimately a good idea for a story, and I’m glad to have read it.

Anti-Ghost is fairly good.

Final Rating: 3/5

From an Unseen Censor

Project Gutenberg is a massive digital library of public domain works. Its archives contain not merely novels, but also numerous short stories from magazines with adjectives like “Amazing”, “Thrilling”, “Startling” and “Wondrous” in their titles. I’m making my way through its vast catalogue of these speculative fiction works. Today, I’ll be looking at “From an Unseen Censor” by Rosel George Brown, published in Galaxy Magazine in 1958.

Gutenberg Link

From an Unseen Censor

SPOILERS BELOW

In “From an Unseen Censor”, the protagonist’s Uncle Isadore has died. Instead of writing a will like a normal person, he set up a complicated puzzle that the protagonist has to solve in order to discover his hidden fortune. It involves trained alien Dodo birds and an altered version of Poe’s “The Raven”.

This was just needlessly overcomplicated. There wasn’t even a point to it – Isadore was just being an asshole and making the protagonist jump through hoops for no reason. No, I can’t say I liked it much.

Final Rating: 2/5

Lunita

Silver light, she turned her face up to the starlit sky and on this night began to wonder why she knew that soon the day would come. Born to be an heir of beauty and serenity, into this world she entered quietly. To her surprise, she was the one. Let’s reflect on Lunita, by Xavier Morell and Sergi San Julián.

Synopsis:

N/A

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Lunita is about Summer Fillion, a DEA agent investigating the death of an ambassador in Barcelona from a strange drug. Known as Blue Tear, it turns out to be supernatural in nature, meaning Summer is out of her depth. Enter Lunita, a witch who claims to be the daughter of the Moon, who used to work for a government agency investigating paranormal cases until being forced out by corrupt superiors with their fingers in the drug trade. The two of them team up to prevent a war between humans and mermaids by rescuing the captured mermaid that the drug dealers are torturing to create Blue Tear.

This was a decent comic. The art was a little on the weaker side, with facial expressions in particular often feeling exaggerated to the point of caricature, but the story was strong enough that it wasn’t a dealbreaker for me. I liked the various fantastical creatures that appeared throughout the story and the complications caused by the drug cartel descending into infighting as soon as things started going bad for them. My biggest complaint is that, for all that the comic teased a romantic relationship between Summer and Lunita, they never ended up hooking up.

In the extra, the creators note that Lunita was born out of a failed series, G.E.I. Debut, which would have followed the paranormal investigation group that got broken up by corrupt government officials in the backstory of this one, but which was twice kneecapped by the companies contracted to publish it going out of business. There are definitely portions of this series that hint at it being part of a larger world – references to Lunita being just one of several Daughters of the Moon, living unaware of her siblings to due being shunned and outcast by her mother for some reason – and I would be happy to see a return to this world to further explore the characters and setting. Even so, I think what we get here is good enough to stand on its own as a decent self-contained story.

Lunita #1-4 are collected in Lunita.

Final Rating: 3/5

Virgin Ground

Project Gutenberg is a massive digital library of public domain works. Its archives contain not merely novels, but also numerous short stories from magazines with adjectives like “Amazing”, “Thrilling”, “Startling” and “Wondrous” in their titles. I’m making my way through its vast catalogue of these speculative fiction works. Today, I’ll be looking at “Virgin Ground” by Rosel George Brown, published in If Worlds of Science Fiction in 1959.

Gutenberg Link

Virgin Ground

SPOILERS BELOW

“Virgin Ground” is about a so-called “Bride Ship” sent to Mars carrying 40 women to become wives for the male colonists. However, no one picks Annie, so she kills a man and takes his farm for herself.

The absolute disrespect for personhood displayed by the story appalled me. You’ve got women paraded out like chattel to be handed to the first man who asks for them; and then men are treated no better, as no one bothers to ask Bradman if he wants a wife and his disinterest in taking one is considered justifiable grounds for his murder. Vile, just vile.

Final Rating: 1/5

The Princess Protection Program #2: After Ever After

Your fairytale princess, who could ask for more? A touch of wicked, a pinch of risqué, good girl gone bad, my poison is your remedy. Let’s kiss the frog with After Ever After, by Alex London.

Synopsis:

What happens when a princess accidentally fractures her fairy tale by fleeing to the real world? Bestselling author Alex London turns classic fairy tales on their heads in this fast-paced, funny fantasy about friendship and facing your fears. For fans of The School for Good and Evil and the Never Afters series.

Princess Rana loves her friends (all fellow fairy tale escapees), loves her school (the HEA, an academy for fairy tale royalty), and loves punk rock (the best music genre). But she does not love frogs . . . especially demanding frog princes who follow her home. Rana fled her story because of one frog prince in particular, and she has no plans of ever going back to that stuffy place full of rules. But then her frog prince shows up at the academy’s gate. And he’s not alone. Dozens of duplicate frog princes have followed him to the real world. Worse still, a shadowy monster is in hot pursuit, one that dissolves fairy tale characters into nothing, erasing their stories. To save everyone she cares about, Rana will have to do the one thing she vowed she’d never to do—return to her Once Upon Time.

Acclaimed and bestselling author Alex London weaves together several beloved fairy tales in this fast-paced, funny, and slyly subversive adventure about figuring out who you want to be. The daring escapes, sinister monsters, familiar friends, and surprise twists will keep even reluctant readers glued to the pages. The Princess Protection Program is for fans of the Never Afters and the Descendants series, The School for Good and Evil, and the Fairly True Tales series.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

The second book in the Princess Protection Program series focuses on Rana, the princess from “The Frog Prince” (specifically, “The Frog Prince; or, Iron Heinrich” – the full title ends up being important to the plot). Rana doesn’t like her stuffy life as a princess, and especially doesn’t want to marry a frog (not even one who transforms into a handsome prince). She’d rather run away to the HEA and play punk rock songs. However, her story ends up following her, as the HEA sees the arrival of tons of nearly-identical frog princes from different variations of the tale. What’s more, they’re followed by a mysterious shadow monster that destroys (or “de-storys”) any fairy tale character it touches. To find a solution, Rana has to head back into her fairy tale and confront the witch who cursed the prince.

This was another very entertaining entry in the series. I appreciated the way it did a deep dive into the original Brothers Grimm version of the fairy tale to take the story in an unexpected direction, and delivered plenty of fun and amusing moments along the way. I hope this series continues and proceeds to deliver more entertaining stories.

After Ever After made for a great read.

Final Rating: 4/5

Car Pool

Project Gutenberg is a massive digital library of public domain works. Its archives contain not merely novels, but also numerous short stories from magazines with adjectives like “Amazing”, “Thrilling”, “Startling” and “Wondrous” in their titles. I’m making my way through its vast catalogue of these speculative fiction works. Today, I’ll be looking at “Car Pool” by Rosel George Brown, published in If Worlds of Science Fiction in 1959.

Gutenberg Link

Car Pool

SPOILERS BELOW

“Car Pool” is about an alien being included in a car pool of human children. 4-year old human children, too young to understand the situation or to be relied on to act sensibly. One of them bites off his hand and eats it, killing him and nearly killing herself. Goddamn stupid kids.

See, stories like this are exactly why I hate it when narratives include young children. You just know that one of them is going to do something rage-inducingly stupid, and no one is going to end up getting held to account. I mean, you can’t blame the kid, ‘cause they obviously don’t know any better; but how about some consequences for the adults who put them in the situation to begin with? They should’ve realized there was no way that was going to end well; I call it a clear abrogation of duty of care. Ugh, pass.

Final Rating: 1/5

The Last Hunt

I’m gonna cast a spell on you. You’re gonna do what I want you to. Mix it up here in my little bowl. Say a few words and you’ll lose control. Let’s burn The Last Hunt, by Hannu Kesola, Ken Janssens, and Paul Moore.

Synopsis:

In un futuro distopico lontano secoli dal nostro tempo, le radiazioni hanno trasformato la Terra in un deserto arido e inospitale, costringendo gli uomini a cercare nuove strategie di sopravvivenza. Il dramma delle colonie, costrette a ritmi inusuali in luoghi sconosciuti, viene sostituito da una preoccupante possibilità: se la Terra fosse ancora abitabile? L’inquietante tomba radioattiva di sabbia vorticosa in cui il nostro pianeta è mutato, si sta sgretolando e con le lei, forse, l’unica vera possibilità di salvezza.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

For reasons best known to themselves, Goodreads only lists the Italian edition of The Last Hunt. Sure, OK, whatever. A cargo ship breaks down while picking up a shipment from a warehouse on Earth, now a radioactive wasteland. While waiting for it to get fixed, the crew run into a team of three female scientists who ask for their assistance. However, they actually turn out to be witches who drink blood through their fingers, JoJo-style, and the ship’s crew is thrust into a fight for survival.

This book was pretty darn bad. The art was mediocre, the characters underdeveloped, the witch reveal groan-worthy (turns out the supply depot was built on the ruins of Salem, Massachusetts, because of course it was). Everything feels slightly off; like, the only way to kill the witches is with fire, which is obviously a reference to witch burning – except no one was burned at the stake in the Salem witch trials, where the accused were executed by hanging instead. Then, to take things from bad to worse, the final issue reveals that two of the witches were in a relationship with each other, meaning that their final defeat earns the book a Dead Lesbian Penalty on top of everything else.

Suffice to say, The Last Hunt did not make for an enjoyable read.

Final Rating: 1/5