The Dork Review: When The Villain Comes Home

“Heroes can save the world. But villains can change it, Rachel.”

The above quote is from J.M. Frey's story Maddening Science from the short-story anthology When The Villain Comes Home, and I think it captures the book in a nutshell. This is a collection of stories about people who are the other side of coin, the opposite of those we saw in When The Hero Comes Home. But are they?

To paraphrase another section of Villain, heroes are born of event while villains are born of intent. Any one of the protagonists in this collection could have been a hero, and some of them border on what we would consider as an anti-hero.

It's rare to find an anthology that doesn't have one or two clunker stories in it, stories that you read and go either "meh" or "huh". Like its predecessor, Villain doesn't have a single clunker amongst the bunch. I really enjoyed this collection, and I want to take a moment to highlight some of the stories that elevated this from good to wow!

Let's start with J.M. Frey's story since I've already quoted it. J.M.'s writing has this ability to be funny, sexy, geeky, and heart-wrenching all at the same time. After reading Maddening Science I can only hope my fiction can someday aspire to be half as good. I'm laying the praise on a bit thick but with good reason. The story is just that good.

Next let's talk about a story produced by one of my favorite people, Marie Bilodeau. (Seriously, she's a sweet-heart - if you ever get a chance to see her at one of her story-telling gigs or at a convention then go.) Her story, Happily Ever After, is another gem. It has Marie's classic story-telling voice running throughout it and at the same time I can see the evolution in her from from The Legend of Gluck (her story in When The Hero Comes Home) and her earlier novels. Happily Ever After feels more refined without losing any of the passion or movement of everything else Marie has produced.

Hmmm.... which one to highlight next. Oh, I know! How about Cycle of Revenge by Erik Buchanan? It's an interesting tale about a warlord who travels... oh, wait, can't reveal that as it would spoil things. Let's just say it plays around with some classic fantasy/sci-fi tropes quite well and shows what happens when we obsess about getting revenge on those who've wronged us.

I can't forget to mention Manmade by Leah Petersen. First because it's one of those stories where you can guess where it's gonna go and have a good idea how it's going to end after about half-way through but still enjoy entirely. It's also a story very much about being who you are and how trying to, ahem, compensate for what others perceive as a failing can backfire and then ultimately lead to accepting the truth about oneself. And finally because Leah scares me a bit. I mean, come on; she can knit with her hands and read a book with her feet at the same time. The woman is like a fur-less, skinny version of Beast from X-Men. Who knows what mutant powers she's hiding from us?

The truth is I could say something good about every story in this book, which is rare as most anthologies end up sneaking in a dud or two. As it stands, I recommend you check out When The Villain Comes Home, and indeed anytime Gabrielle Harbowy and Ed Greenwood get together to edit an anthology you should give picking it up serious consideration.

Here's the Amazon link, but I do recommend hitting your local bookstore to see if they can get it in for you.

The Dork Review: The Dark Side Of The Glass

Have you ever had a book you just can't put down? Something that once you start it you have to read it all the way through to the end? The Dark Side Of The Glass was such a book for me.

It helps that it was short. This book is a novella rather than a novel, which works as it's just the right size for the story it tells. In fact, considering the subject matter, it's perfect since it feels about the same length as a television episode.

Hmm...better explain what I mean by that.

The Dark Side Of The Glass is about Mary, a lowly production assistant (PA) working on a cheesy vampire TV show shot in Toronto, similar to say, Forever Knight. Mary not only works on the show, she's its biggest fan, and therefore blind to how really terrible it is. We've all been there with something or another, haven't we? If you're into genre fiction at all, whether it be on-screen or on-page, we've all had those shows that we love even though a part of us knows they really are cheesy and over-wrought, otherwise how would such things survive?

A horrible truth sends Mary on a crash-course with destiny and a Craft Services truck. The resulting impact catapults her in the world of the show. All of this happens in the first few pages. (Hey, I said the story was short. J.M. Frey is great at pacing things.)

From there Mary ends up exploring and learning the reality of the world crafted for her favorite show and has her eyes opened in many ways while at the same time trying to change the world around her. I loved the ending and felt it was very satisfying.

What makes The Dark Side Of The Glass stand out from all the other catapulted into another world stories is how aware of itself it is. Mary is a fan-girl, trust me there is no doubt about it, and J.M. imbues her with fan-girlish glee without making her seem one-dimensional. In the short time we know her, Mary is a fully-realized character and not just a Mary Sue. Mary is aware she is in a fictional world, and there is this whole meta level of commentary throughout the story that is just hilarious. I think that even someone who isn't a lit-geek can enjoy the humor, which is vitally important as it shows J.M. is aware and actively trying to make her work as accessible as possible without dumbing it down.

So to sum up, The Dark Side Of The Glass is geeky, funny, meta, accessible, and a fun read. It has all the strengths I saw in Triptych with none of the elements I found frustrating. This book would be a nice light summer read. I recommend you go and pick it up.

The Dork Review: Fighting Gravity

Being sick sucks, but having a good book to read does help mitigate things. Reading Fighting Gravity has helped sooth my post Ad Astra cold while giving my beleaguered brain something to focus on.

It helps that this book is an excellent read. I dipped my toes into it last night and then dived in fully today while sprawled out on the couch, devouring it in only a few hours. It's that good and that easy to fall into.

A lot of this has to do with the fact that Falling Gravity's main character, Jacob Dawes, is so well written. The entire book is first person in his voice, and Jacob is such a highly-self aware sort that he can comment on when he's made a colossal error without attempting to excuse himself.

This book could stand alone as a character study of one man's journey from crushing poverty to the rarest heights of scientific achievement, from obscurity to notoriety,  but it also includes themes of love, passion, and dangerous/dysfunctional relationships that form the story of Jacob's life. There is an almost fairy tale quality to this book.

Falling Gravity isn't perfect however. I finished this book with a lot of unanswered questions. With the focus being on Jacob and told through his first-person viewpoint a lot of the background of the world Leah Petersen has crafted falls to the wayside. My frustration at that could be due to the fact I'm very much a detail person. I like to know the why behind most things, especially why Earth in the future has an emperor, a variety of social classes, and so on. There are subtexts of class war/envy and bigotry that are present but not examined as much as I would have like to have seen.

One aspect that isn't explained his how accepting people of Falling Gravity's world are unconcerned about the fact that Jacob is in a gay relationship. Wait, let me correct that. People are concerned about the relationship, not over the fact that it's with another man but rather who that man is. One concern about books set in a neo-feudal setting is that the society depicted will have regressed in almost all aspects, and Falling Gravity avoids completely falling into this trope while still having some unsavory societal elements.

This is Leah Petersen's first book and I think she's done a marvelous job. What Falling Gravity does right it does very well and what it lacks doesn't prevent it from being a good read. The ending does leave open the possibility of a sequel, which I think would work great if told from a different perspective than Jacob's. Much like J.M. Frey, I think Leah has a lot of potential and I look forward to reading her next book.

The Dork Review: Triptych

Wow, it's been a long time since I've reviewed a book. Two reasons for this. A lot of what I've been reading lately is either non-fiction or older stuff that really doesn't need a review. Also, I've been so wrapped up in my own writing I haven't had time to surface for air and read something else.

So, where to start on Triptych by J.M. Frey. Hmmmm... the first thing should be, what exactly is a triptych? Some of you might be thinking "Well, isn't that some kind of weird alieny thing-a-ma-jobbie?"

Actually no. A triptych is a work consisting of three painted or carved panels that are hinged together and was a popular standard format for altar paintings from the Middle Ages. The idea of three is a very important theme in this work, and is used by Frey overtly and subtly very well.


This is a book that has a definite message about gender politics, but it doesn't thump the reader heavily over the head with it. There's drama without descending to level of cheap melodrama. There's action, romance, betrayal, love and hate all mixed together in characters that come off as believable. Especially that aliens! That, for me, is the best part. Kalp, the main alien character of the book comes of not only as a believable, well-rounded individual, but at the same time you can tell that he's alien and that everything he sees is confusing and new, without feeling that Frey is just masking a human viewpoint with a few alien words or ideas. That is a feat that many authors would find difficult, and she pulls it off without seeming to break a mental sweat. Kudos on that!

However, as much as I enjoyed this book there were mechanical elements I found distracting or slightly frustrating. I'm probably more sensitive to these things right now as I'm working on my own novel, but I did find some of the action scenes felt lacking. They felt chaotic and unfinished, at least to me. A large part of that is likely due to the viewpoint character's being used, so it may be a stylistic choice that was made. Also, some of the descriptive sections early on seemed too long, but again, I think this is more a matter of preference than anything else.

I really did enjoy this book, and look forward to reading the next thing J.M. Frey releases. It can be found here on Amazon