Everything Is Better With Dragons

“It just wasn’t their night.” (Richard Speck)

On the evening of July 13, 1966, an intoxicated Richard Speck broke into a townhouse at 2319 East 100th Street in Chicago to rob a group of student nurses. Speck woke the residents and ordered them into a room, calmly requesting money in exchange for their safety. The young women obliged. They believed that he was just going to take the money and leave, but Speck had other plans.

He tied them all up with strips of bed linen and led one of the girls into a separate room to “talk alone”. The situation took a turn for the worse when two more resident nurses burst into the townhouse, surprising Speck in the act. What transpired in the following hours would grip the nation with fear and forever change the perception of society.

The Townhouse Massacre is a chilling and gripping account of one of the most brutal and gruesome true crime stories in American history. Ryan Green’s riveting narrative draws the listener into the real-life horror experienced by the victims and has all the elements of a classic thriller.

Caution: This audiobook contains descriptive accounts of abuse and violence. If you are especially sensitive to this material, it might be advisable not to listen to this book.

Today I’m helping Love Books Tours and Eoghan Egan to celebrate the release of Hiding in Plain Sight by Eoghan Egan. The official launch is on the 11th of January in Ireland and you are cordially invited. Your invitation below, for now here is more information about the book and the author.

The stunning debut from Ireland’s hottest new crime writer
A vicious serial killer roams the Irish Midlands, with his sights set on the next victim.
A successful businessman has found the perfect recipe for getting away with murder.
No bodies, no evidence.
No evidence, no suspect.
High art and low morals collide when graduate Sharona Waters discovers a multi-million euro art scam in play. She delves in, unwittingly putting herself on a direct trajectory with danger as the killer accelerates his murder spree.
When Sharona gets drawn into the killer’s orbit, she peels away his public persona and exposes the psychopath underneath. Suddenly, the small town has no hiding place…

Sounds good doesn’t it?

If you happen to be in or near Ballinasloe, Ireland on Saturday:

A native of Co. Roscommon, Eoghan studied Computer Programming in college, works in Sales Management & Marketing, but his passion for reading and writing remains.

Eoghan’s work got shortlisted for the 2018 Bridport Short Story Prize, and Listowel’s 2019 Bryan McMahon Short Story Award Competition. His novel was a contender in literary agent David Headley’s opening chapter Pitch Competition, and during March 2019, Eoghan’s entry won Litopia’s Pop-Up Submission.

A graduate of Maynooth University’s Creative Writing Curriculum, and Curtis Brown’s Edit & Pitch Your Novel Course, Eoghan’s novel Hiding in Plain Sight – the first in a crime fiction trilogy based around the Irish Midlands – will be available in paperback and audio on January 11^th 2020.

www.eoghaneganwriter.com

By Ron Turnbull
Imprint: Pen & Sword True Crime
Pages: 236
Illustrations: 32
ISBN: 9781526758668
Published: 18th November 2019
https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/From-the-Flying-Squad-to-Investigating-War-Crimes-Hardback/p/16871
Price: £15.99

For over ten years he was the first detective on the scene when a murder was committed in south London. In the confusion and horror of the crime scene he identified the forensic clues that would later be needed to convict the killer in the calm and measured atmosphere of the Old Bailey; calling out the necessary experts from pathologists to ballistics specialists; protecting the scene against contamination. One slip and a case would crumble; one moment of inspiration and the Yard would have its man.

He was the natural choice when the UN were looking for an experienced detective to create a trail of evidence linking the mass graves of Bosnia to the people who ordered the worst war crimes seen in Europe since the Second World War.

From the Flying Squad to Investigating War Crimes tells of the rise of forensic evidence against the true story backdrop of a detective who has spent a career at the front line in the war against murder – the ultimate crime. It traces the development of forensic science and techniques from the days of the fingerprint to the battery of tests now available to homicide investigators. It is told in the no nonsense style of a pioneer cop who has seen the worst that human beings can do to each other.

I might have mentioned I’m doing a course with the Distance Learning Unit at Grimsby Institute at the moment. It’s a free one, ‘Level 2 Understanding Autism’, and I’ve been getting a bit frustrated by the way the first part presents autism. For instance the insistence on using, even when it makes things linguistically and grammatically awkward, the phrase ‘individuals with autism’, rather than ‘autistic people’. The organisations they recommend to find out further information are ones run by non-autistic people. And they have an extremely poor description of neurodiversity. Seriously, the learning material are really out of date.

By about thirty years.

This is a review of Testing Pandora (Xandri Corelel #0), Failure to Communicate (Xandri Corelel #1) and Tone of Voice (Xandri Corelel #2), but that would make the blog post title really long.

I am caffeinated, sorry. Been to Maccys for breakfast with my sister and we had two Millionaire’s Lattes each. Might make this review a bit bouncy.

In the far future, genetic engineering is used to strip all sapient species of disability. But when humans have a brief fad of natural birth, disabled children start reappearing. They’re quickly termed “Pandoras,” the value of their very lives brought into question, and laws are put into place to prevent their births from happening ever again.

Xandri Corelel is one of these Pandoras, a young autistic woman scorned by her family and fighting to eke out a living on the streets of Wraith. Then she meets Chui Shan Fung, captain of the first contact and refugee ship Carpathia. Captain Chui has been watching her, and knows about the talent for understanding alien species that Xandri has cultivated. She wants Xandri as part of her crew–but first, Xandri must pass a test to see if she’ll even fit in.

Wary but hopeful, Xandri joins the Carpathia at Psittaca, a newly-discovered planet peopled by parrot-like sapients. Learning to understand this new species is the easy part compared to trusting her new crew mates. As Xandri continues her diplomatic efforts with the Psittacans, it becomes apparent that the Carpathia’s crew aren’t the only ones to have discovered the planet, but these other visitors don’t have good intentions. In order to protect this beautiful new world, Xandri must find it in herself to overcome years of abuse and neglect, and trust in her new crew.

As one of the only remaining autistics in the universe, Xandri Corelel has faced a lot of hardship, and she’s earned her place as the head of Xeno-Liaisons aboard the first contact ship Carpathia. But her skill at negotiating with alien species is about to be put to the ultimate test.

The Anmerilli, a notoriously reticent and xenophobic people, have invented a powerful weapon that will irrevocably change the face of space combat. Now the Starsystems Alliance has called in Xandri and the crew of the Carpathia to mediate. The Alliance won’t risk the weapon falling into enemy hands, and if Xandri can’t bring the Anmerilli into the fold, the consequences will be dire.

Amidst sabotage, assassination attempts, and rampant cronyism, Xandri struggles to convince the doubtful and ornery Anmerilli. Worse, she’s beginning to suspect that not everyone on her side is really working to make the alliance a success. As tensions rise and tempers threaten to boil over, Xandri must focus all her energy into understanding the one species that has always been beyond her: her own.

Xandri Corelel has spent six months living among the Ongkoarrat after her unceremonious firing from the crew of the Carpathia, and though she misses her home, she has settled into her new life. Then Diver arrives with news that changes everything.

The Hands and Voices–squid- and whale-like symbiotic aliens–are masters of bio-engineering and grow a wide variety of species of coral. Now they are in the process of creating coral that can withstand vacuum, with a most stunning end goal: To grow entire spaceships out of living organisms. The Starsystems Alliance is desperate to lure the Hands and Voices into the Alliance and bring this new technology into the fold. And the Voices and Hands are willing, with one stipulation.

They will only negotiate with Xandri and the crew of the Carpathia.

Returned from exile, Xandri is given the lead on this new mission. She quickly discovers that willingness isn’t the problem; the Hands and Voices want to join, but they want full equality in their membership–including the ability to attend council meetings in person. Amid the sunshine and surf of the tropical, idyllic planet of Song, it seems the biggest hardship Xandri and her friends will face is the task of re-rigging a spaceship to carry creatures the size of killer whales.

I’ve got Testing Pandora and Tone of Voice as ebooks, and Failure to Communicate as a paperback, and I’ve just realised I can get Tone of Voice as a paperback too, so I’ve ordered it. As I write I’m still only 43% of the way through Tone of Voice, but I love these books so much I had to tell you all about them.

You’ve read the very comprehensive book descriptions, right? You don’t need me to re-cap, do you? Because I can. But there might be spoilers.

I won’t then.

Just talk about the writing, Rosie, and try to focus.

Kaia Sonderby is a very fluid writer and her characters spring to life. There are no stereotypes or caricatures. In Xandri we have a sympathetic, realistic depiction of an autistic woman. She is complex and traumatised from years of abuse, and the Carpathia is the first place she feels at home, but she struggles to trust her colleagues.

She battles the inner voice that tells her not to show too much emotion, or any, in case it’s the wrong one; it’s her mother’s voice. The same voice tells her she’s not good enough and nobody will like her, and why can’t she be ‘normal’? The voice of abuse, control and punishment. Her new crew, and friends, help to drown out that voice with acceptance and love. She’s confused by these feelings, too.

She’s not supposed to be able to feel them or empathy. Not according to her parents. Or the ‘experts’ they took her to as a child. Yet, she is an expert at identifying the mannerisms of other species, at reading their body language and negotiating with them. She’s learnt to be, in order to survive. She’s fascinated by the universe, by all the wondrous beauty around her. The descriptions of synesthesia make me slightly jealous, to hear colours and taste sounds must add so much depth to perception of the world. I love the descriptions of Xandri’s experiences as she navigates life. I recognise those experiences as something we have in common. The feeling of utter joy in beauty and beauty in everything, the wonder at the universe, confusion in personal relationships, the feeling of the physical power of a crowded place forcing air out of the lungs, something you can touch. Shutting down. The need for quiet. Forgetting to eat. Being absorbed in an interest to the exclusion of all else.

Kaia writes from personal experience of being autistic and assigned female at birth. Her characters range across species, gender and sexuality, relationship arrangements, as well as neurological designations. They are sympathetic, even when totally alien and/or the bad guys.

I adore the Psittacans, introduced in Testing Pandora. They are parrot-like and very playful, and their relationship with Xandri is a lovely continuing storyline. The Hands, in Tone of Voice, cephalopod-like symbiotes of the whale-equivalent Voices, are also creeping into my ‘aww they’re so cute, I want one!’ book. I hope they make appearances in future novels.

The developing friendship/romantic relationship between Kiri, Diver and Xandri is by turns sweet and frustrating as they all try to work out where they stand with each other. The alternating perspectives of Xandri and Diver inTone of Voice really illustrate this well as they reflect on events as they happen and the reader sees things from different angles. They love and support Xndri for who she is, not who they think she should be.

The planets the Carpathia crew visit are interesting and different. They make reference back to Ancient Earth when they want to explain something, like the gravity or the air. Song is mostly an ocean planet with heavier than standard gravity, Psittacca is a jungle, with a thick atmosphere and lighter than standard gravity, Stillness has invisible predators, Wraith is dark and heavy, highly populated and urban.

The tech seems reasonable. An advanced sentient species from another solar system that develops FTL travel (slingspace), arrives on Earth and saves humanity from ourselves by sharing tech and finally inviting the Earth sentients to join the Alliance is a different take; normally humans centre themselves in that bit of the back story or plot. As the humans are the ones who are a bit behind, it’s perfectly reasonable for the tech to be a bit different. The AI is particularly advanced, Carpathia is a character in her own right.

I found the idea that people would use gene editing and screening to remove disability from the different species in the universe quite disturbing. Not unexpected, given that in Iceland people selectively abort foetuses with Down’s Syndrome and genetic screening of embryos can be used to prevent Tay Sachs during IVF treatment even now. While germ-line genetic manipulation is illegal, gene therapy for single-gene mutation disabilities and diseases can be treated – although it is extraordinarily expensive. Autism, and neurodivergencies in general, are much more complex, very few autistic people have the same genes that are related to the differences in brain wiring, so deleting us is not happening soon, but frighteningly, it’s something some researchers are working towards in the name of ‘curing’ us.

The only way to cure us is to kill us off and screen all embryos for any of the 1000+ genes involved.

Sonderby touches on this in her novels as the ‘Pandora Question’ is brought up in Tone of Voice. After the fad for children au naturale shows that disabilities continue to exist in germ lines, it’s banned and all people are given free embryo screening if they want children. Later, after the Anmerill muck-up, the questions return. It’s debated in the Starsystems Alliance council meetings and on the news casts. Even Carpathia crew are scared of Xandri. Whether people like Xandri should be allowed to exist, whether they’re dangerous, or even real people, are normal topics of conversation.

Sounds familiar if you have any understanding of the history of autism and the way autistic people are treat still.

I love that the author touches on these subjects, as well as the abusive ‘treatments’ Xandri was subjected to, while other characters try to find out more information from Ancient Earth to change the narrative about the Pandoras, just as Neurodiversity activists work to change the narrative about us now. They may be set 4000 years in the future but they reflect our current situation. Children are subjected to abusive ABA, autistic adults are discriminated against, people debate whether we have the right to exist or should be ‘cured’ as though it were a perfectly reasonable thing to do.

These strands to the narrative aren’t heavy handed, they’re background and if you aren’t involved in the online autistic community you might not pick up on them. I like that, these novels are good stories, not polemic. It’s good autistic representation within a complex universe and with a strong plot.

Highly recommended.

Happy Hogswatch,

Glad Yuletide,

Joyous Solstice,

Merry Christmas,

Happy Hanukkah,

Sorry if I’ve missed anyone.

I’m not massively into the festive season, mainly because I find it loud, bright and busy, and people are massively hypocritical. The fuss is massively overstimulating for me and makes we tired, grumpy and generally not well. I find hiding in my house with the lights low and no sounds except possible low nature sounds or classical music in the background to be the only way to cope. I’m already finding it hard to focus if there is too much going on.

There’s the expectation of being around people and I can’t really cope with it. I like visiting people but I need to be able to escape when I want. Going to spend 25th with people has a lot of expectation that I’ll be there for a certain amount of time and because I can’t drive I need the other people to get me there and back, so I feel reliant on people. I don’t like being reliant, I don’t like feelings of expectation, I don’t like not being able to escape when I want to.

I do like giving gifts but I struggle to know what to give people. It’s easier if people just give me a list of the things they need. I don’t like buying people things that’ll get put on the shelf and forgotten. I’d prefer them to actually want and need what I give them. There are a lot of books being given this year.

The hypocrisy of people spending two weeks pretending to care about less fortunate people when they spend the other 50 weeks of the year being selfish and only caring about their immediate family gets right on my tits. Don’t do stuff just because it’s Christmas and New Year or because you want people to think you’re so wonderful (charity gifts for example); help people because you actually care and want to help people.

Also, if you don’t want to spend shed loads of money on gifts, don’t just to keep up with the neighbours (or the in-laws). Actually, if you don’t want to do the whole traditional roast dinner/Christmas day thing, don’t. It’s not compulsory. If it’s the only day you’re getting off for a month and you want to spend the day in your jammies eating chocolate, do that. If you want to go on an adventure, go on an adventure (a friend has the week to herself for the first time in almost 30 years, and is going to the West Country with friends – because she can and she wants to). Don’t let other people’s expectations and demands stop you dong what you want to do, if doing that makes you happy.

Right, I’m getting off my soap box now and getting dressed. I’m going to see my bestie, exchange gifts and eat mince pies.

Have you heard the story of the mysterious woman’s body found in a tree in the West Midlands in 1943?

A group of boys out hunting rabbits found her, and a few months later the phrase Who put Bella in the Wych-Elm? appeared on walls around the area. There’s been a lot of folklore built up around ‘Bella’, but from what I’ve read she was probably a Dutch refugee murdered by her boyfriend, a Dutch smuggler, and hidden by the boyfriend and an English friend. The English friend made a death-bed confession to his wife decades later.

Bella has inspired the poet R.M. Francis and he’s produced a book of poetry. Please enjoy the cover reveal.

High Heels & Beetle Crushers

A compelling memoir of post-war Britain. Jackie Skingley grew up with limited career choices but joining the Women’s Royal Army Corps offered her a different life, living and working in a military world, against the backdrop of the Cold War. Packed full of stories reflecting the changing sexual attitudes prior to the arrival of the pill and the sexual revolution of the mid 60s, Skingley’s memoir denotes a shift in the political and social fabric of the era. Follow her relationships with the men in her life from finding her first true love, which through a cruel act of fate was denied her, to embarking on a path of recovery.

Purchase Links

UK – https://www.amazon.co.uk/High-Heels-Beetle-Crushers-Officer/dp/1789042909/#

US – https://www.amazon.com/High-Heels-Beetle-Crushers-Officer/dp/1789042909/#

Giveaway to Win 2 x Paperback copies of High Heels & Beetle Crushers (Open UK / US Only)

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/33c69494321/?

*Terms and Conditions –UK & USA entries welcome. Please enter using the Rafflecopter box below. The winner will be selected at random via Rafflecopter from all valid entries and will be notified by Twitter and/or email. If no response is received within 7 days then Rachel’s Random Resources reserves the right to select an alternative winner. Open to all entrants aged 18 or over. Any personal data given as part of the competition entry is used for this purpose only and will not be shared with third parties, with the exception of the winners’ information. This will passed to the giveaway organiser and used only for fulfilment of the prize, after which time Rachel’s Random Resources will delete the data. I am not responsible for despatch or delivery of the prize.

Author Bio –

For Jackie Skingley, adventure has been her quest since childhood. Life with the British army allowed Jackie to live all over the world and gain huge appreciation for different cultures and customs. Since 1999, Jackie and her husband have lived in the Charente region of South West France where Reiki, jewellery making, painting and mosaics, as well as writing keep her fully occupied. Member of the Charente Creative Writing Group, mother and grandmother.

Social Media Links –

https://twitter.com/skingleyj

https://www.facebook.com/skingleyj/

Everything Is Better With Dragons

Blog tour calendar: Victory Day, by Rachel Churcher

Blog tour calendar: Monkey Arkwright, by Rob Campbell

Audiobook Review: The Townhouse Massacre’ by Ryan Green

Autistic need for sameness: an intrinsic part of autism or a soothing mechanism to cope with anxiety?

Review: Xandri Corelel Series by Kaia Sonderby

Yuletide wishes

Cover Reveal: ‘Bella’, by R.M. Francis