Dalí - E.M. Hamill

Dalí Tamareia has everything—a young family and a promising career as an Ambassador in the Sol Fed Diplomatic Corps. Dalí’s path as a peacemaker seems clear, but when their loved ones are killed in a terrorist attack, grief sends the genderfluid changeling into a spiral of self-destruction. Fragile Sol Fed balances on the brink of war with a plundering alien race. Their skills with galactic relations are desperately needed to broker a protective alliance, but in mourning, Dalí no longer cares, seeking oblivion at the bottom of a bottle, in the arms of a faceless lover, or at the end of a knife. The New Puritan Movement is rising to power within the government, preaching strict genetic counseling and galactic isolation to ensure survival of the endangered human race. Third gender citizens like Dalí don’t fit the mold of this perfect plan, and the NPM will stop at nothing to make their vision become reality. When Dalí stumbles into a plot threatening changelings like them, a shadow organization called the Penumbra recruits them for a rescue mission full of danger, sex, and intrigue, giving Dalí purpose again. Risky liaisons with a sexy, charismatic pirate lord could be Dalí’s undoing—and the only way to prevent another deadly act of domestic terrorism.

Review:

Dear E.M. Hamill, I stumbled upon your book by accident when I was reading Amazon reviews for another book and decided to check out more reviews by somebody whose review I enjoyed.

I decided to take a chance on your book, and I am very glad I did. However I want to warn romance readers that this book IS NOT A ROMANCE. The last sentence is not trying to signal the beginning of romance either – not at all! It signals at something dark, dangerous and complicated, something Dali did as part of the rescue mission (even if it ended up being sexually satisfying for him too). 

There is another person in the book whom Dali met early enough but ended up having strictly business arrangement with for 99 percent of the story. At the end basically this person is raising the question whether the flirting is out of the question and Dali seemed to be okay with that, but nothing happens on page and if the story were to continue it may or may not happen in the next book. I strongly suspect that the second book is possible, because this book ends without answering pretty big question Dali needs answered and it is hinted that it could be answered later, but we shall see I guess.

Now when I told you what this book is not, I can tell you what this story is. I thought it was a great science fiction with the excellent, detailed world building, complicated political fights taking place and great narrator called Dali.  In the blurb Dali is called gender-fluid changeling and that’s how I imagine them and think about them – gender-fluid human being. However, in order not to misstate the author’s intention as to who Dali is, I will quote from the glossary at the end of the book.

"Third-gender: An intersex human being, usually with a dominant set of male or female reproductive organs.

Changeling Third-gender: A genetic mutation within the third-gender population, these individuals possess neither male nor female gonads and are incapable of reproduction. Their anatomy has specialized hormonal glands, which allow them to assume of a male or female, at will. They possess a vaginal-like organ without a cervix or uterus, and spongy, nerve-filled tissue in the mons, or pubic area, which can become internally or externally engorged. When externally erect the mons can serve the sexual function of male genitalia."

The book is very well written and as blurb tells you at the beginning of the story, Dali is in the spiral of self – destruction. Dali’s career in the diplomatic corps was doing very well and their emphatic talents and pacifist leanings made them very well suited to the work he excelled at.

Till one day his beloved young husband and pregnant wife were killed in the explosion and Dali had been reliving that explosion for several months. The reader can feel Dali’s grief and Dali is self-destructing, they are looking for the fights, for the dangerous sex, for the alcohol, anything that can give them oblivion. One of his oldest friends suggests Dali visit the planet where he learned the defense system which is part of the philosophy Dali tried to live by before the attack claimed the lives of his family.

Visit to the planet seems to help Dali a little bit to start living although of course their grief does not magically disappear or anything like that. However very soon after Dali’s stay on the planet began, somebody from the mercenary organization that is mentioned in the blurb recruits them. They learned that changelings had been disappearing and as much as Dali concentrates on his own grief they decide to participate in the mission that may help them to shed light on what was going on.

Dali was such an interesting character, somebody who lived his whole life as a pacifist (Dali served and very well trained in self-defense, they just never killed a person before), but who is now discovering where darker desires may lead them , even if such dark desires serve good purpose.

The large scale political fight in Dali’s home system was mixed up with the fight for the third gender folks’ rights and of course some of the political stuff invoked easy parallels with the today world, but I did not feel that it was anything else than part of this specific story, it made sense in this specific fictional world as well if that makes sense.  

I think most of the characters in this story which had more than one sentence to speak were interesting and several had nice shades of grey, I would love to learn more about them as well, not just about Dali.

I want to end with another note about what this book was not. Despite throwing me into the detailed and interesting world, I did not feel that this book was an escapist read. I am not only talking about associations with the real world, not at all. I am talking about Dali’s state of mind. Dali at the end of the book feels better than in the beginning and it felt that the new path they chose to travel on suited them. However, I felt that for the most of the story they were in the dark state of mind, which made perfect sense, but we are in their head all the time and to me this was not a comfort read at all.

Grade: B+/A-

One thing to keep in mind is that TKJ was never meant to be canon; it was an alternate story.  It simply steamrolled past its original purpose and became one of the most compelling & galvanizing events in comics history, even more so now with having garnered so much mileage out of it DC made the utterly ridiculous decision to retcon the whole thing, which only cements the movie’s role as a cash cow than the next step in cinematic continuity.

The R-rating is both well earned and deserved.  In both stories we get graphic violence – dismemberments, gunshots, bodies, etc- and while not so much nudity some very direct handling of mature and sexual themes.  Notable is the fetishization of Batgirl by the villain in the first story- down to having a call girl wearing a bat mask- and that one scene everyone’s talking about.

What’s Bad: The disconnect the first part has with the rest of the movie.  It’s a completely separate story and you’d think it would tied into the bigger story but ultimately has no bearing on anything, other than perhaps to build the emotional connection to Barbara.  There’s literally nothing to tie the two together other than the characters, and it makes you wonder why they bothered.

As a nitpick there was one part of the Joker's speech about madness to Batman that I noticed was left out: about how a key factor to the start of World War I was how many telegraph poles Germany owed their creditors.  No idea why that one didn't make the cut.

What’s Good:   I did like the first story about Batgirl’s relationship with Batman.  Is it hero worship or something more?  As Barbara Gordon, she voices her frustrations to a co-worker, who naturally doesn’t quite understand the dynamics of this “thing” she has or doesn’t have with her “yoga instructor”.  (She likes the “yoga”). “He’s demanding; he’s always been demanding- and controlling!  But I can’t just find another class!  There isn’t one; this is it!  And I’m good!  He won’t say it, but I’m the best damn student he’s ever had!  So if he’s gonna start making decisions based on emotions- of which he has ZERO- then I think we’ve got a problem!”  Ok, then.

It works well as a standalone.  It’s actually pretty good; it completely drew me in before it fizzled out. The story opens with Batgirl assisting Batman on what seems like a simple getaway after a robbery, but the thieves are more resourceful that expected, giving Batgirl the slip.  But the embarrassment of the incident leads crime boss Francesco to order his nephew Paris Franz, to reimburse him for his losses or else.  Paris already has his eye on his uncle’s businesses and, in true psycho-sociopathic fashion, happens to have a ‘thing’ for Batgirl.  Bats doesn't want her involved; Paris' attraction to her makes it even more dangerous and  can lead you right to the edge of the abyss.  And it's not a view you want to take in.

A lucky break leads Batgirl right to Paris, but he gets away again.  Batman, recognizing what Paris is all about, orders her not to take him on without him there, which gets her back up.  Paris lays a trail for her to follow- right to his uncle’s body.  This leads us to *that scene*.

Now I wholly understand the outrage, I do.  Aside from the squick factor both the buildup and the scene itself was awkward and felt literally just inserted in (pun intended).  But I think the outrage has more to do with Batgirl's reaction in the aftermath than the sex itself.

If there was somewhere to go with this, if it had built towards something, I think it would've all worked out fine.  But it didn't.  After the case is wrapped up, their big talk is Barbara informing Batman she's retiring as Batgirl and... that's it.  The only acknowledgement of what happened between them is that they're too close now and it's time for her to step back from the abyss.  So I guess she got her wish after all.

When we finally get to the Killing Joke itself, it's a faithful adaptation of the comic.  It’s stellar in that regard, but not without a few flaws.  Like all adaptations, familiarity with the material is both helpful and harmful.  It helps because it takes a few shortcuts with dialogue; some things could’ve been expanded and fleshed out a little without missing a beat.  But writer Brian Azzarello must’ve figured the fans already knew, so just stuck to the story panels, making for some choppy exposition; without captions to expound on the situation we have to rely on the script, and the script needed some beefing up. The animation is also great: the visual style is directly drawn from Brian Bolland’s artwork, right down to Batman’s ears on his cowl. 

The mix of CGI into the animations is pretty flawless, even when obvious in some scenes.  All the iconic visuals are present: the Joker’s appearance at Barbara’s apartment (his eyes!), the moment the Joker sees his reflection and finally goes mad, Batman’s visit to Arkham, Jim Gordon’s ghost ride through the tunnel- all there, as well as the flashbacks of the Joker’s past leading up to that fateful night at the chemical plant.  There’s also a few new wrinkles: the Joker performs a musical number while Gordon rides through the tunnel and sees the up close photos of his daughter, Batman’s search for his prey who oddly hasn’t returned to his usual haunts.

And I'd be remiss without mentioning the outstanding work of Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy reprising their roles.  Felt like old times.

The finale remains ambiguous, as it should.  The idea of Batman strangling Joker to finally put an end to their conflict is left to the imagination, and since it’s an alternate storyline, whatever ending suits you is fine.

What’s Left: overall an odd offering from DC.  The first part, while entertaining, is rendered pretty meaningless other than for shock value and, according to the internet, they got it in spades.  You really can skip right past it and go straight to the main event, which won’t disappoint in the slightest.  In fact, it’ll put a smile on that face.  Batman: The Killing Joke kills it.

4.5/5 stars

I received this on the same day that I learned I need to refocus on kinetic theory of plasmas...

    Werewolf Nights was an interesting read! One of my favorite parts of this story was the setting! Wereville kind of reminded me of Star's Hollow from Gilmore Girls, if it were overrun with paranormal enthusiasts, that is. It was small town America, where everyone knows your name and every detail of your life, and it had a very rich history of some pretty fierce werewolf legends. I loved that the whole town adamantly believed in the existence of werewolves and werewolf hunters, and they celebrated it with gusto.

  I thought the legend of Wolfern was almost Shakespearean, a tragic sort of love story. It made it conflicting on how I felt about Wolfern in the present, as I almost pitied him and his endless search for his true love. I actually found him to be one of the most interesting characters in the story! I also really liked Greg, so their inevitable connection only intrigued me further! I never really connected with Catherine. I didn't dislike her by any means, but I also never really got invested in her either. While I did feel bad for some of her circumstances in life, I felt as if there was just something missing from her that really pulled me in. But Greg and Wolfern easily gave me two characters to be actively engaged with, and the plot was strong.

   I also thought the addition of filming a movie in this quirky town, while all this werewolf chaos was happening, added a whole new level of interesting. One you're a few chapters in the things are happening at a steady pace which made it effortless to keep flipping through page after page to see what would happen next. All in all I enjoyed this story, it reminded me of a more old school approach on werewolfs, with a more compelling plot line of man struggling with an inner wolf, like Wolfman or Silver Bullet. It was a nice change of pace from the more new age smexy Alpha pack stories that are all I see anymore,

   I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Mari Hamill has generously offered to giveaway a $10 Amazon gift card! All you have to do to be entered to win is add Werewolf Nights to your to-read shelf on Goodreads, which you can do here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/27252588-werewolf-nights

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