Since I didn’t say it properly last week, Happy New Year! Recently, I found a list of resolutions I made for 2024: some more writerly and serious, some just for fun. I failed nearly all of them, and it occurred to me that if I wanted a better chance of success, I should probably keep my list somewhere I might regularly, you know, see it, rather than hidden in some forgotten corner of a minimally used folder somewhere on my computer. We’ll see how this goes in 2025!
I have zero interest in Silly Goals Accountability, so I will not tell you any of my newfound resolutions except one: if I do return to DragonCon this year, as I am considering doing, I hope to finally complete a funny Star Trek cosplay I’ve been dreaming about for years now.
WRITING
Alas, finishing the second draft of my novel was one of those failed resolutions. I considered trying to scramble at the end and really push for it, but I didn’t quite see the point of making myself miserable for probably worse results, particularly considering I’m not on any actual deadline other than my own self-imposed ones. Currently, I’m rewriting a Big Deal Flashback Scene. I realized that I needed to change the location of said scene, which has proven … tricky.
I’m also slowly working on a horror short story that I’m maybe, IDK, a 1/3 of the way through? I’m always deeply envious of writers who are like, “Yeah, I wrote that story in a single day.” How? I think I’ve done that once, maybe twice, in my entire goddamn life. Sometimes, I don’t know how the hell I got through Clarion West. 😅
GAMES
Other than a couple of one-off D&D sessions with friends who live on the other side of the country, I’ve really never played any TTRPGs before—and even in those sessions, I felt kinda, IDK, too weirdly nervous to fully enjoy it? Look, I can’t explain why I sometimes have anxiety over incredibly low stakes shit. Truly, the brain is a marvel. The point is, I’ve finally played the first session of a game I’ve been drooling over for months now: Brindlewood Bay.
(Werther’s Original candies, obviously, were a must.)
Brindlewood Bay is generally pitched as Murder, She Wrote meets Lovecraft, and so far, it’s a lot of fun. We all play as little old ladies in a book club who, in our free time, solve the improbable number of murders in our nice seaside town. However, as we’ll eventually discover, there’s a sinister and occult conspiracy linking these seemingly mundane crimes. The game is extremely player driven: instead of trying to find the one and only correct solution to the mystery, we instead hunt around for clues and work together to create a solution that links them. I can see why that setup wouldn’t work for everyone, but I enjoy it here. It gives the players a lot of room for creativity and theorizing and silliness, which—to me—makes it a really solid gateway game. Which is great, TBH, because my friends and I are all very new to this.
Mystery #2 is scheduled for next week. Crossing fingers that no one either breaks a hip or gets sacrificed to an elder god!
TV
Black Doves
Some of my favorite movies and TV shows are set around the holidays: Die Hard, Batman Returns, multiple Community holiday episodes, Black Christmas (the original), and now Black Doves, a six-episode spy show on Netflix.
This is such a fun, witty little thriller with great dialogue and an excellent cast. It’s been ages since I’ve seen Keira Knightley in anything, and I’ve missed her; she’s absolutely fantastic here as Helen, an undercover spy seeking vengeance on the person who murdered her boyfriend. Ben Whishaw plays Sam, Helen’s rather sweet, kinda awkward gay assassin BFF; obviously, I love him. Helen and Sam’s friendship, BTW, is fucking gold: Knightley and Whishaw play off each other beautifully in every single scene. Meanwhile, Sarah Lancashire and Andrew Buchan are excellent as Helen’s pragmatic boss and politician husband respectively, and a big shoutout to scene stealers Ella Lily Hyland and Gabrielle Creevy, who are hilarious here. (Oh, and Omari Douglas, who plays Sam’s ex-boyfriend. And Finn Bennett, who I first saw in True Detective: Night Country and would like to see more of. And Isabella Wei, who’s pretty amusing in the handful of scenes where she’s actually conscious.)
If you enjoy (relatively) light-hearted spy stories that are funny, violent, queer, and character-driven, Black Doves might be something worth checking out.
Star Trek: Lower Decks (Season Five)
Damn, this season ended strong, saving its best two episodes for last: “Fissure Quest” gives us multiple realities, multiple Harry Kims (along with several other surprise guest appearances), an old character’s welcome and cranky return, a great setup for the Big Damn Finale, and a glorious moment that DS9 fans, in particular, have been waiting for. Meanwhile, the series finale, “The New Next Generation,” gives us a hilarious and heartwarming conclusion, a couple of excellent new catchphrases, and some honest to God intriguing plot developments that, theoretically, could launch a whole new Trek show. (I don’t think it’s going to, necessarily, but it absolutely could.)
Lower Decks is a parody cartoon that has always clearly loved its source material and has, in my opinion, become one of the best Trek shows there is. While I’m incredibly bummed that it’s over, I’m also very relieved that it ended on such a strong note—something that some other Trek shows have rather notoriously failed to do.
Crew of the USS: Cerritos, we will miss you. 🖤
Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror
Years ago, I watched and enjoyed Horror Noire on Shudder—I still really want to read the book by Robin R. Means Coleman—so I was definitely excited when I saw Shudder put up another documentary (this one a four-episode docuseries) called Queer for Fear. I’ve been meaning to check it out for some time now—I even put it on my Horror Bingo list, to no avail—but I finally did sit down and watch it in December, and I’m glad I did. It’s a really interesting watch: sad at times (particularly in the first two episodes), but also very funny and entertaining and educational, featuring a number of queer actors, authors, directors, and critics such as Carmen Maria Machado, Justin Simien, Liv Hewson, Jewelle Gomez, Mark Gatiss, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Kevin Williamson, Kimberly Peirce, and Tawny Cypress, among others.
One of the things this docuseries has reconfirmed for me, though, is that I’m just enormously bad at picking up queer subtext. I’d feel worse about this, but I’m also pretty lousy at picking up hetero subtext, so … equal opportunity clueless. Nevertheless, I do apologize for being such an utterly stereotypical “Wait, so that … that was like a sex thing?” ace. 🤣
Star Trek: DS9 (Season 1)
Still watching Season 1 in a very leisurely manner. My favorite episode so far has definitely been “Dax.” I know DS9 isn’t technically our introduction to the Trill, but … come on. This is our first real look at both Jadzia’s history and Trill symbionts in DS9, and I’ve just always been really into Trill shit. Also, Anne Haney is fucking perfect as Judge Renora. I adore her and would legitimately have watched an entire spinoff about our irritable judge presiding over various ethics trials across the Federation.
Also! We made it to everyone’s least favorite episode: “Move Along Home.” To be honest, I could write a whole essay on this one. Like, I don’t think it’s anywhere near the worst Trek episode I’ve ever seen—sorry, folks, some of y’all are just dramatic—but sure, it’s not great. Still, there are so many ways it could have worked. Better games, for one: I’m not saying we need Star Trek: Squid Game or Star Trek: Sisko in Borderland or anything (although I absolutely would watch both those shows), but come on now. Also, beef up some of those subplots and character threads! Like, this is a first contact episode: actually do something with that, my God. Or Quark’s desperate begging, which, IMO, actually works. Let this be a serious episode for him about consequences, instead of ‘ha ha, no winnings for Quark, what a greedy scamp.’ And how about we have three main characters who stayed true to their principles, choosing not to sacrifice anyone—and thus all died? Yes, everyone ended up fine because it’s just a game—but they didn’t know that! They can still deal with the emotional consequences of that decision, even if there are no actual physical consequences. To me, the biggest problem in this episode isn’t the core material itself, but how it totally fizzles out at the end.
Murder, She Wrote (Season 1)
Remember how I said Brindlewood Bay was like an unholy mashup between Murder, She Wrote and Lovecraft? Well, quite naturally, Mekaela and I felt inspired to check out the actual show. Much like DS9, we’re watching this one at a leisurely pace, and I have no idea if we’re gonna stick around for twelve seasons, dear God. But it’s a fun background show, one that inevitably keeps sending me to IMDb to research where I know so-and-so guest actor from. We’re somewhere in the middle of Season 1 right now. My initial takeaways:
1. In pop culture, Cabot Cove has a reputation for an unholy amount of murders for one tiny little town—obviously an inspiration for both Brindlewood Bay and The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner, my first book of 2025. But thus far, Jessica Fletcher has actually spent far more time outside Cabot Cove than in it, busy promoting her books or trying to stop terrible adaptations of her books or visiting one of her many, many, many relatives. I’m curious to see if that trend will continue, or if eventually the show will be like, “Nah, let’s just cut costs and set all the murders here.” Cause right now, this is kinda feeling like when you watch TOS for the first time, expecting to see rule-breaking maverick James T. Kirk—only to keep running into pretty by-the-book and good soldier James T. Kirk. You know, it’s not bad, just … not what I expected. Where is my murder village?
2. Speaking of Jessica’s relatives, good Lord. We have already met two nieces, one nephew, and one cousin, I believe? I cannot stress this enough: I am not even halfway through this season yet. Like, we’ve watched maybe seven or eight episodes, tops. Obviously, this prompted Mekaela to look up just how many relatives Jessica Fletcher has, which led to this utterly ridiculous family tree that someone awesomely took the time to put together.
This is beautiful. I love it so much.
My Geek Blasphemy 