Out Now! Guardians

The third Fox Pocket volume Guardians is now available from Lulu as a paperback.

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‘What if the thing you were afraid of was what stood between you and a bloody death? What if the fate of worlds was in our hands? What if God just couldn’t take it any more?’

PHASED by Colin Sinclair THE GUARDIAN by Geraldine Clark-Hellery BUFFALO DOLLS AND HEADLESS SOLDIERS by Jack Hanson ARABESQUE by Chris Galvin SWUNG by Paul Starkey OF THE GLARE by Alec McQuay GATEWAY by Jonathan Ward DEFIANT by Christian D’Amico RE-SEMBLANCE by Emma Teichman WARDEN OF VALDR by Rahne Sinclair LOST BONDS by Margrét Helgadóttir FAVOURS THE PREPARED by James Fadely WRECKED by Den Patrick FAT ANGELS by Alasdair Stuart MY GUARDIAN’S GUARDIAN by Catherine Hill WELL OUR FEEBLE FRAME HE KNOWS by Chloë Yates

What I Learned from Cult TV – Philip Thorogood

What I Learned From Cult TV – Self

Compared to some of my friends, my exposure to cult tv is somewhat limited. My journey through the phenomenon started when I stumbled onto Sir Patrick Stewart, commanding the USS Enterprise as Jean-Luc Picard. The details are blurred, but I remember being captured by the show almost instantly. I hit upon Buffy in a similar manner, and very clearly remember the episode I blundered into – The Pack (Xander is taken over by an animal spirit and effectively “goes rogue”).

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It was my father that took me from Star Trek into the darker realms of the X-Files, roaming the America with Mulder and Scully in search of the criminal, the alien and the down-right weird. From there, I continued to explore Buffy and Star Trek further, seeking out the earlier episodes and seasons (and incarnations, in Star Trek’s case). Whereas my fellows spread themselves widely over the net of Cult tv, I settled into these few.

Together, my father and I tackled Farscape. Now this, I could really sink my claws into – strange aliens, twisting plot lines and characters that were fickler than Spike from Buffy (gotta love him, though) – Farscape was a sci-fi dream. Unfortunately, as these things go, the Sci-fi Channel cancelled the show, much to fan uproar. Luckily, or unluckily, depending how you view it, less than two years later a newcomer arose to fill my Farscape shaped-void. In September, 2004, along came the glorious, the frustrating, the amazing, Lost.

 

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Lost was at once both incredibly riveting, and daringly frustrating. Each episode brought new information and even more questions to us dedicated fans, renewing the question in our minds over and over again – why do we keep watching? Whatever you think of the way they ended the series, it was ground breaking piece of television history for me; it made me realise what I gained from these shows. The characters of Lost were varied (to put it minimally), but each one held the same attribute that I suddenly recognised from the previous productions that I had fallen in love with – they were true to themselves.

The sense of self that each character had, from Lost and beyond, even when they doubted themselves, was believable. Not only were they believable, but they were admirable in their belief of their own personality. No matter what came their way, they were themselves. John Locke in Lost continually throws a stick into everyone else’s works, but he never does truly give up – he keeps on throwing that stick in there day in, day out. Buffy railed against Giles’ rules at almost every opportunity, and dammit if Jean-Luc Picard didn’t hold his own against Madred (THERE. ARE. FOUR. LIGHTS). It is this self-belief that has wormed its way into me, thanks to these shows, and others since.

There is some debate lately about whether or not shows like24 and Breaking Bad are to be considered “cult”, and I’m not here to argue the point either way. I will say that Jack Bauer did EVERYTHING in his power to do the right thing every damn time, and Walter White (Say my name), whilst he fooled himself on his motives for a long time, continued to produce that lucrative Blue Sky right up until the end of the series.

Walter White 

Whatever the truth about the above shows cult status, I learnt from these programs that you are who you are. It may change subtly from time to time, and some people may disagree with how you think and what you do; but thanks to these character’s perseverance I know that remaining true to yourself is the best course of action for everybody, and that’s a lesson I have taken to heart.

What I Learned From Cult TV – Jay Andrew

No Assembly Required

I grew up in a very dislocated, fractured and otherwise dysfunctional family. Any closeness and bonds were formed in pain and of secrets, of showing the world a united normality while hiding our wounds. I left as soon as I could.

All of my fandoms have bands of brothers and sisters, if not of blood then of spirit and purpose, brought together by happenstance. The various crews of the Enterprises, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Firefly, the Liberator and Galactica. The Scoobies and the Dollhouse actives. The Doctor and his companions. With my father dead and estranged from my mother and brothers, I set about building my own team of loyal compatriots who would have my back and supply the kinship I craved.

Fortunately for me, I found my life partner very early on in my search. He’s my Wash, my Paul Ballard, my Imzadi. That was the easy part. Slightly less easy but most satisfying was the child we have together. There aren’t a lot of good examples of parent-child relationships in the fandoms. I’ve tried hard to be more Joyce Summers or Beverley Crusher than John Winchester.

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I set about auditioning likely candidates. Over the next 20 years, I tried and failed to bring together disparate people to fill the roles I was hell-bent on casting them in. I tried workers’ co-operatives, anarchist groups, theatre companies and I even dabbled in paganism.

The problem, as I was so very slow to grasp, was that I was not Gene Roddenberry, creating a world of harmony. I was George RR Martin and Joss Whedon at their most brutal. When these people didn’t come up to scratch, I killed them off. Not literally, you understand (although there were some who, if I could have got away with it I would have) but they were written out from the series in my head. And like George and Joss, I didn’t care that other people had become attached to them – when they failed to live up to my expectations or let me down as I saw it, they were gone.

I was not Captain Janeway, uniting the Federation and the Macquis. I was not Buffy, fighting the good fight at the Hellmouth (or Glasgow, same difference) no matter how much I tried.

This year the sharp truth finally dawned. I was destructive and controlling. I was Boyd Langton in the penultimate episode of Dollhouse –

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“You’ve proven yourselves in so many ways. I-I-I wanted you all with me – except for Paul.”

There have been too many Pauls. I am Angel, sending Lorne off with Lindsey to do his dirty work for him (I have a soft spot for Lindsey – so sue me!) and Angelus at his raging worst. I am Bennett Halverson, trying to make dolls out of real people. I am Echo at her worst–

Paul Ballard: I think you’ve got a hundred people living inside your head, and you’re the loneliest person I know.

Echo: That’s kind of sweet.

Paul Ballard: Not for the person who’s with you.”

It’s hard to admit to yourself that you’re not the hero in your own story, not the captain of your ship. That you’re not even the wise-cracking Zeppo-like Xander or horror of horrors, the Neelix of the crew.  That maybe, you’re the one that’s broken. Alpha. Willow. Faith. Starbuck. But as in all the best stories, the most damaged and fucked-up person can be redeemed. It’s never too late to turn that corner. And I am trying. I’ve realised that the best people in my life are not the ones I put there but the ones who turned up and stayed. People I’ve known for decades, people I have grown up with who have always been there. My watchers, if you like. Yeah, I’ve been lost in the Delta Quadrant but I’m bringing this bird home. It just turned out I was the one in most in need of a rewrite and an edit.

“Love. You can learn all the math in the ‘Verse, but you take a boat in the air that you don’t love, she’ll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down, tells you she’s hurtin’ ‘fore she keens.”

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Tales of the Fox & Fae… going live.

The long awaited (sorry about that) Tales of the Fox and Fae is going live this weekend in paperback via amazon.

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Deep in the woods where wild things lurk you’ll find foxes and rarer creatures, the fae. Join us for tales of faeries at the bottom of the garden, foxes falling foul of their own nature, battles fought in the night where human lives hang in the balance. Not all faeries are good, not all foxes are hunted. Welcome to our Tales of the Fox & Fae.

The ebooks will follow in the near future. Ebooks, because the Outfoxed comic strip will be made available separately for free in ebook version rather than being included in the main ebook for formatting reasons.

 

What I Learned from Cult TV – E J Davies

Gender, intelligence, background, job description, humour level, sense of humanity, number of guns, allergy to sunlight, being the chosen one, sexuality, marital status – none of them form an impediment to being a badass.
That’s right, folks, it’s the old EJ hobby horse of equality.  That’s principally what I learned from Cult TV, and it’s all thanks to Joss Whedon.
It was the delightful exposure to the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer at the tender age of 22.  Through the delightful eyes of Whedon I was exposed to the world of a typical teenage American high school girl, albeit one that looked like Sarah Michelle Gellar, her British watcher – Giles; and her geeky, outcast friends.  As someone who perpetually failed to fit in, it was an interesting cast and an interesting story.  I slowly fell out of love withBuffy as it strayed from its beginnings, as the stories got more convoluted and the cast got bigger.  Yet is still remains a genre defining TV show.
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Angel, on the other hand, remains as a perpetual favourite.  Not least for the way that almost every character tickles the ribs of another.  It was through Angel, Wesley, Cordelia, Fred, Gunn, and Lorne that no matter who has the upper hand – strength or smarts-wise – each character is a badass in their own right.  Green, black, higher power, daemon hunter – rogue daemon hunter; genius abandoned in Pylea, vampire, reformed vampire, lawyer, female, male – it didn’t matter.  Though it never reached the popular heights of its sister show, it is still a firm favourite of mine.
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Firefly, watched six times over in 2013, exemplifies Whedon’s work; and it is my favourite of his shows.  Its cast, clearly enjoying their characters and scripts, hit the ground running from episode one; and bring us such wonderful and enticing people to spend time with.  Each and every one of them strong, flawed, funny, interesting, complex, motivated, and individual.  The reasons I love this show are many and varied, but at Mal’s table every crew member has a voice and a job; even if the final say is his.
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Dollhouse too feature ensemble casts of diverse characters, each a badass in their own right, and each contributing to a collective, making the whole greater than the sum of its parts.
Whedon’s shows, sadly, are not typical.  His work challenges the preconceptions of the TV establishment – those that listen to focus groups, that talk in terms of racial diversity – meaning they need to get a black person, a gay person, a woman who isn’t the romantic lead, and an Asian person on the show full of white men.  There are too many TV shows these days that focus on diversity – or completely ignoring it – whilst forgetting about equality, and in doing so they lose what is magical to viewers like me.  I could care less what colour, gender, or sexual orientation my lead character is, or the group of people they surround themselves with.  What I want is something interesting to watch with a character that makes me laugh, and makes me think
Then I found this video:
Joss Whedon has been a pioneer in this field, crafting shows that appeal to the outsider, the forgotten, the smaller demographic.  He gives us an ensemble of characters so that we can choose who we identify with, without having to be told.  He gives us characters that understand that being together, and working together makes things all the sweeter in their victory, and failures are softened.
Yet, through everything, the one abiding message I have from all of the Whedon shows is this:
Heroes can come from anywhere.  They can be anyone.  They can do anything.
You don’t have the buy or be sold that the hero is black/gay/female/fat/short/an alien/not super smart – if the character does the heroic deeds with humility and is as flawed the next person, then you have a well written character regardless of who they are.
Equality means anyone can be a hero, and it’s Whedon’s world in which I choose to live.

Getting Foxy 4 – Sarah Cawkwell

 

Sarah Cawkwell is an established and fabulous writer of fantasy, comic fantasy and sci fi and probably anything else she wants when it comes down to it. She’s also a total games geek, which can really only be a good thing.

Sarah is also an utterly lovely human bean and a fantastic panelist so if you ever get the chance to hear her speak at a convention, take it!

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Sarah has published a novella in a fairly traditional fantasy set up, Blood Bound, which has left audiences wanting more from the creepy mage and his warrior companion.

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She also created the hapless but heroic Gilrain and his fatherly squire Therin, for Tales of the Nun and Dragon and will be revisiting the humorous fantasy world of this duo in Tales of the Mouse and Minotaur. We are also gently nudging her towards a collection of short adventures with these popular characters.

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