Breaking Bad: A Brief Analysis, And--OH GOD MY FEELS (Part 2)

Hello hello!

Welcome back to my loose analysis and reaction to Breaking Bad. I'm just going to add the warning and get straight to the good stuff.

Last week, I mentioned SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS, so prepare for those. Now, with the warning over with, get ready for some thinky bits as I explain why the show was ultimately worth the journey, at least for me.

The ultimate villain's journey

Even the ending, which shows the only Walter White plan that ever goes properly, is beautifully symmetrical with the first episode. Walter's character path leaves him somewhere between the kind-hearted and hapless schoolteacher of the first season and the ruthless bastard we see in the final season. The journey to get there--through evil and worsening deeds, rising greed and ruthlessness--costs him everything, including his jobs, his friends, his family, and finally, his life. However, Walter dies as a complete man. If most shows follow a hero's journey, this is surely a villain's journey--through loss and through  the rising price of ambition, hubris and strengths that become faults exacting their toll. Walter was a mechanically adept man and a fine chemist, and his own reliance on his ingenious mind over the good advice or intentions of others was shown clearly throughout.

Another thing that's really interesting about Walter is that there is no Mephistopheles to lead him astray. He gets the idea of cooking meth on his own, and the series consistent, even ham-fisted, about showing that everything bad that happens is basically his fault. He involves himself with criminals. He sanctions the death of children. There's no dark angel talking him into it. At the end, the character confesses to Skyler that he did it all for himself, not his family. As a viewer, one is left with disturbing reflections on how often a noble intent is rationalized to be for someone else's sake when it's really selfish at the core. Hold on, folks; I need to make a note for future works...

There isn't much I can say about this character's path and portrayal--it really is close to perfect, and certainly gave me a lot to think about as it regards a simultaneously sympathetic and despicable villain. There were many times that I wanted to reach through my computer and strangle Walter White, especially when he was abusive towards Skyler. And speaking of strangling...

Source. You can practically see the devil behind the desk.

Holy crap, violence

I wasn't prepared for all the violence, I have to admit. The thing that really got me stewing was that the crimes perpetrated by Walter White and the people he hurt. There is a lot of collateral damage in this series. I have to say, it's probably one of the most effective anti-drug advertisements I've ever seen. The drug users get off lightly compared to the meth cookers. At best, a conviction and a bad drug habit; at worst, various forms of death could be expected.

And when it comes to death, there was a certain glee in the perpetration. Counting the jet, almost three hundred people die over the five seasons. And oh, what deaths--explosions, shoot-outs, a crashed plane, death by bike lock, ricin poisoning, ATM-head-crushing, death by turtle-severed-head bomb, being strangled with a chain, and, of course, death by jury-rigged machine gun in the trunk of a car. That's not counting all the cases of people being slapped, punched, turned into organ slurry with acid after death, or brutal beatings. I do love a black comedy, and I'm not scared of death or violence in general, but I really prefer reading about it to watching it. The unflinching brutality was very disturbing, even if it was somewhat realistic.

Societal commentary 

Other commentators have mentioned that it's a show about making meth, and many stations censored the word 'fuck'. I have to agree that the priorities there seem...confused, to be polite. I do think it's an interesting statement about America that so many people's attention was really captured by this show. There were a lot of similarities to American Beauty (a favorite of mine) in terms of the themes of an ordinary person snapping and changing their priorities, but the emphasis on evil was altogether different than any other 'mid-life crisis' movie or show I've seen or heard about.

It was dropped in the last couple of seasons, but I also really enjoyed the biting commentary on racial profiling with Hispanics. It was most prominent in the first season, but Hank's racist comments, the arrest of the janitor while two middle-class white guys got off scott free, and the looks Hank's partner Gomez gave him from time to time spoke volumes. It was a real shame that all the class stuff really fell by the wayside in later seasons; I missed the incisive commentary on insurance companies and the healthcare system, too. The dynamics of his family and the brilliant depictions of addiction in the first and second season really fell by the wayside after about the third; while Jesse's travails still show the progression, the show sort of lost interest in its earlier topics to focus on how badass Walter becomes. I disapproved.

Final thoughts

All things considered, it was a very enlightening show and very much worth the time. The finale, which I praised in the previous post, was definitely the icing on the cake. Is it the best show ever created? Well, my favorite series is still a toss-up between Farscape and Doctor Who (for the love of the gods, don't make me choose), with Sherlock coming in on their heels, but Breaking Bad does deserve its place in TV history. Give it a watch and weigh in, if you haven't seen it. If you have, I want to hear your thoughts in the comments.

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find Michelle on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out! 

Breaking Bad: A Brief Analysis, And--OH GOD MY FEELS (Part 1)

Hello hello!

So, I should clarify something--I don't want TV. I really, really don't watch TV. I haven't had cable in...I don't know, at least eight years? On occasion, I will load a whole bunch of episodes for a series on Netflix, but that's it. This is fine with me, as I save a lot of time and end up reading quite a bit more.

Whenever a cultural phenomenon hits, though, I try to do some cursory investigations. I didn't bother spending time on Honey Boo Boo or Jersey Shore, apart from perhaps a basic summary on Wikipedia, but Breaking Bad was another matter. Intelligensia were flocking to the show, and a bunch of my close friends were losing their minds over it.

I waited for the series to finish, and then I binged on it, as is my preference. I really hate waiting for sequels to things I like. (And yes, the Harry Potter years were agony, thanks so much.) Breaking Bad, frankly, had me dubious. Crime isn't my thing. I like a touch of noire, and I like action, but The Sopranos and that whole genre always left me cold. Sure, I'm fond of Sherlock Holmes stories in all incarnations, and I had a childhood aspiration towards forensic science, but I prefer a nice mediaeval poisoning or a treatise on ancient weapons to a contemporary crime drama. However, writer pals kept insisting it was well-written, well-acted, etc, etc.

Well, I just finished the series tonight, and I'm still processing what I spent the last few weeks watching. I should probably stick a spoilers warning here. 

SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS

 Right. Now that you've had your freak-out, we can continue. So: let's talk basics.

Mechanics of the show

The acting was unquestionably top-notch, and the camera-work was quite good. The acting is, in fact, so perfect that I'm not going to talk about it. There's simply nothing to say about portrayals of characters that are so honest, you can't even see the actor bleeding through underneath .

As for the camera work, well, it was shaky when it needed to be shaky and steady when it needed to be steady. Shots seemed to be framed well, especially in the many desert scenes, and there was a lot of use of visual motifs in the shots. Use of the teddy eye as symbolism for Walter when he was still feeling moral qualms, the colour themes--there were a few times when one felt a bit hit over the head by it, such as the way the plane crash symbolized the breaking of Walter's world, but it was nice to see symbolism.

The other mechanics in the show were pretty good, too. No exploding cars, for instance. There were some factual issues and errors in the last season, but the understanding of addiction was certainly top-notch. The science of the show is something I can't comment on, because frankly, chemistry isn't my area of expertise, but it certainly seemed to be right.

Source.   Yeah, it's cheating, I know.

Literary structure and layers

 I'm reminded of Game of Thrones (which I've read but not seen) in a lot of ways. Most people are familiar with the phrase, "In the Game of Thrones, you win or you die"; Martin repeats it as often as the infamous "Winter Is Coming". The moral structure here reminded me of GoT, but mostly, I found myself thinking of Shakespeare a lot. In Romeo and Juliet, and quite a few other tragedies, there's a real emphasis placed on the accidental casualties who fall as a result of the hero's failure or the villain's machinations. However, this is no case of incompetence or madness, as in Hamlet, or mere cumulative misunderstandings, as in Othello. Rather, I think of Macbeth; Breaking Bad makes us cheer for the villain.

There are casualties and people who don't get what they deserve--the children who die, for instance, are as innocent as the princes of Richard III, and as undeserving--but most of the people who die, particularly in the bloodbath that is the final episode, really deserve what they get. Tuco Salamanca, Gustavo Fring, Todd Alquist, and Lydia Quayle stand out as examples of people who all fall by the hand of poetic justice. Others, such as Mike Ermantrout and Hank Schrader, fell because of their line of duty; then, too, all of the deaths mentioned are nicely foreshadowed and suggested as the characters commit moral crimes along the way. It's noteable that Jesse, like Horatio, does survive; he also consistently made moral choices that avoided the harm of innocents when possible, and that he showed repentance for his crimes far more than any other character.

What does draw my admiration, though, was the use of the proper five-act structure for the seasons, and especially for Walter's character. The seasons themselves--particularly most of three, apart from a couple episodes, and the first half of the fourth--were sometimes lopsided, but they still moved well. I have to complain a bit about Holly being a human McGuffin in a lot of cases, and the way certain elements from the beginning were just dropped (hello, Skyler's literary aspirations) haphazardly, but over all, most elements were tied in well and consistently. It's nice to see a story that follows most of its logical implications through to the very ending of character arcs.

Vince Gilligan, the writer, apparently intended a 'Biblical feel', but the clear themes of consequences didn't require deep analysis to discover. The storytelling was clear enough to convey his message without ham-fistedness (well, most of the time), and that's certainly admirable. Indeed, there were even winks to this--doubting Saul, for example, who hits the road, but never actually goes to Damascus--or becomes a believer, for that matter. If there's a message in Breaking Bad, it's that you must make your own redemption, and if you're lucky, it will work out.

A quick word on characters

As much as people praise the character for being a badass and scold his wife for discouraging his criminal activities (!), I also have to praise Skyler, Walter's foil. She constantly strives for the morally correct decision and actually reacts in a realistic way, the way an overwhelmed partner probably would. I have more than a passing familiarity with stress reactions--both academic and personal--and it was all handled in a very impressive way. She and Jesse Pinkman both count as foils in some respects, but they're dynamic characters, changing in response to circumstances handed to them and unwilling to take Walt's orders without question, especially as time goes on.

The use of other characters as foils for each other--Tuco, Gustavo, and Lydia, for instance--also reflects some of that biblical stuff with a trine structure. Clearly, Gilligan wasn't just sleeping through the board meetings, the way some writers seem to (which is the only way I can excuse some of Steven Moffat and Russel Davies' worst Doctor Who episodes). Mirroring was also evident, such as in Walter Jr's character--he does right by his mother, rejects the father he once adored, and becomes very independent. There are lots of quiet demonstrations of the way the son does not follow the sins of the father, which bodes well for the life of the character after the show, but also plenty of examples of mirror characterization between Jesse and Walter Jr. Even the 'foils' get their own lives and stories.

Now, I did mention feelings, and I'm going to briefly mention that this series will wreck you. It didn't make me cry, to my surprise, but it was quite evocative and disturbing. For more of the how and why, tune in next time!

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find Michelle on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out! 

I've Seen Enough Hentai To Know Where This Is Going. Missed It Review: Mandrake (2010)

Hello hello!

 From time to time, I will post a quick review of movies and books I either a) miraculously missed, or b) just discovered, and c) definitely think you should not miss. Or, sometimes, d) think you need to miss as hard as possible, because it is e) embarassingly mediocre or f) soul-scarringly, chew-your-own-nuts-off-to-escape awful. Obviously, this means spoilers.

Tonight's shitastrophic film is Mandrake (2010). 

Source.  For some reason, this insanely bad movie was quite hard to get photos for.

 Summary

 All right. Well, I needed something to listen to while I edited a project, and what better than a craptacular movie? I will add the note that this means I was distracted while watching the film, so keep that in mind. That said, Mandrake is not exactly a terrifically rich film. I will grant Pandorum this much--it made the pretense of having layers (even though other bloggers disagreed, I still maintain that it was a fantastically stupid movie). 

So, here's the plot--which you won't find on Wikipedia, because this film is that insignificant--some archaeologists go to a jungle in a fictional South-American country for...ph4t l00t, I guess--and there's a dagger they recover with a totally not plastic 30-carat ruby. Then the jungle comes to life and starts attacking them. No, I'm not skimming over the plot; that's really all there is to it.

 The joy in this movie really comes from the effects and the atrocious acting. In the first scene--the mandatory 'some chick running through the woods' shot--we see an unconcerned actress stumbling around and even bum-scooting down a steep hill just before she gets offed in a jump cut. Shortly after, another victim from the camp site--which totally doesn't look like they just took the casting tents and pointed the cameras at them--we see a dude trip over and get pulled into the bushes. All it was missing was a funny horn-honk, and it would have been a classic pratfall from a cartoon. Add in Doctor Exposition, a blonde who is definitely a university researcher, and some disposible, interchangeable protags and baddies, and you have the perfect cast for this goofy 'jungle' jaunt. When I say 'jungle', I mean, 'probably filmed in Florida', of course. This is definitely not a rainforest.

 The casting and writing are just what you'd expect. The female actresses, with no disrespect, look and act like they're trying to make a transition from the adult film industry; the baddies are bad, the good guys are blander than truck-stop diner rice pudding, and so on and so forth. Of course, if you're watching a film called 'Mandrake' (Mandrakes, by the way, don't grow in South America, as far as I know) with CGI vines that attack people and you expect Shakespearean writing, you will be in for a disappointment.

 I do have to mention that there's a throwaway 'fuck the conquistadors' line, and then the movie goes into the standard somewhat racist paradigm where scary first-nations people abduct a bunch of whites. One of the characters actually yells, "you can't do this to me! I'm an American!" So, of course, a wag of the finger for the cheapness of that old trope. But, again, expecting intelligence from this movie is like expecting your dog to do calculus. It involves disparate abilities compared to the goal, and while it's cute, it's not very productive. 

The biggest thing I noticed with this one is that the effects are truly something special. I'm no historian--though I will admit to a real fondness for the area--but the bloopers are obvious and blatant. Let's start with the conquistador, whose breastplate is rusted away and whose skull is perfectly white and intact. Perhaps we should touch on the fact that the movie couldn't be arsed to tell the difference between the indigenous tribespeople and the Aztec--we're shown an indigenous tribe and all the engravings, of course, are Aztec. Then there's the costume designs--I really laughed when I saw those. The indigenous people look like a Spirit Halloween store version of fairy barbarians. Of course, there was an Aztec map--even though Aztecs didn't use paper or cloth, and if it was from a Spanish conquistador, it would have been in Spanish, not just Aztec. I think one of the crowning moments was seeing a North American deer antler on the priest's staff.

Source. Yeah., definitely a high production-value film

 Pros

 It's been a while since I laughed this hard. Obviously, this movie wasn't supposed to be funny, but between characters' poorly-delivered lines, the beyond-terrible historical inaccuracies, it was just brilliant. I almost think they did this intentionally. Surely a movie this bad was never meant to be taken seriously. Right? Right? Also, there is plenty of room in the pacing for an in-living-room riff track, so this is perfect for a crappy movie night with friends. Hell, even alone, this moldy wonder is pretty entertaining.

 Cons

If you don't like bad movies, you won't like this. Also, there were plenty of set-ups for tentacle porn, and not a single joke about it, which was actually quite disappointing. In fact, the movie studiously avoids laughs, in a way I can't help finding laudable--it's as though they knew their movie was laughable enough.

Normally, I would wag my finger at mildly sexualizing the death of female characters, but again, this movie is just such an underachiever that I can't bring myself to do it. So, again, if you're in the mood for something insightful and layered, this is not the movie for you.

 Final Verdict

 8 out of 10 for sheer goofiness. I docked a mark or two out of propriety, but the writing, the cast, the monster, and the whole shebang are just too delectably silly to miss. Fire this one up on Netflix and watch it with a few friends. Drink every time it looks like someone's about to be vine-raped, and every time a character spews pointless exposition. If you don't die, make sure to report back.

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find Michelle on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out! 

Special Feature--Tracing The Stars by C.E. Kilgore

Hello hello!

Today I have an unusual feature--a release snippet from C.E. Kilgore to celebrate the release of Tracing The Stars! It's an unusual sci fi romance, so buckle your seatbelts--it's going to be a bumpy night!


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*****

Book Excerpt: Tracing The Stars , Chapter 1 – Hankarron gets a rude awakening

Ethan ran to catch up with Brom as the Orellian neared the carved-wood, double doors that lead into the solarium. Judging by the tense state of Brom’s muscles and the barely contained glare of his hazel eyes, Ethan surmised that Hank was about to get an unwanted and loud wake-up call.

Brom pushed open one of the doors and walked into the room, searching it for any sign of the Corwint. The room was dimly lit by the morning light filtered through the tinted acrylicite windows that filled the exterior wall and rounded upward to cover half of the ceiling. It smelled of old wood, musty carpet and whisky.

Brom eyed the empty, overturned bottle of whisky sitting on the carpet next to a high-back chair then looked at an identical, half-full bottle sitting next to a half-empty glass on a side-table. One of Hank’s arms dangled out to the side and gave a small twitch. With a deep breath to try and cool the fire brewing in his gut, Brom approached the chair and hit his hand against the back of it. “Get up.”

“Whoa… what…?” Hank’s brown eyes opened briefly then winced shut as the light in the room made his head pound.

Brom picked up the half-full bottle of whisky with disdain, his large fist tightening around the neck of the bottle. He’d promised Hank’s uncle, Jhonis, that he wouldn’t let the kid follow down the same path as his drunken father. “So, this is what you’re do’n now?”

Hank gave a gruff laugh of annoyance. “Not you, too. Tara pretending to be my mom is enough, thanks.” His hand raised to his temple as the room spun. “What time is it?”

Brom’s fingers clenched their hold on Tara’s jacket. “Time for you to grow the fuck up.”

“What?” Hank rubbed his eyes and attempted to open them again.

Ethan started to speak, but Brom signaled him with a shake of the head to let him handle it. “What did you say to her?”

“None of your business,” Hank grumbled.

“Wrong answer.” Brom set the whisky bottle down then tipped the chair forward and dumped Hank onto the rug. “What did you say to her?”

“The fuck, man?!” Hank tried to get up, but a wave of nausea overtook his body and forced him to stay on his hands and knees as Brom stood over him.

“I won’t ask again, Hank.” Brom hated having to do this. He loved Hankarron like a kid brother, but Tara was more like a daughter. In his world, she would always come first.

“I don’t know.” Hank sat back on his ass and tried to open his eyes again. “We had a fight, but it’s all a bit fuzzy. Everything is a bit fuzzy right now, actually.” Forcing his eyes to open through the pain, he noticed that Ethan was also in the room. “What’s going on? Is she refusing to come out of her room or something?”

Brom tossed Tara’s jacket into Hank’s lap. “She’s gone.”

“What?” Hank looked down at the jacket, his hand timidly running over one of the arms of faded brown canvas. “You sure? You know she’d never leave this behind.”

“Unless she never intends to come back,” Brom corrected.

Hank raised his gaze back up to Brom, trying to put the Orellian’s face into focus. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

Brom took in a slow, deep breath and crossed his arms over his broad chest. “That isn’t just her dad’s jacket, Hank, it’s also a promise. I was there when Garret gave it to her. Something about that mission had him worried, and somehow he knew he wasn’t coming back. He gave Tara his jacket before he left, and he made her and me both promise him something. He made me swear I’d look after her if something went wrong, and he made her promise that she’d always look after the Zera and her crew. Garret loved that damn ship and everyone on it, and so does Tara. The only way she’d ever leave that jacket and her promise to her dad behind is if you asked her to. So, for the last time, what did you say to my little girl?”

Hank’s mind stuttered as he tried to put Brom’s words into some form of comprehension through the alcohol wash swimming in his brain. His vision moved from Brom’s accusing glare down to Tara’s jacket as he struggled to recall what he said the night before. “I,” his voice broke as his eyes widened, looking to the far wall and the shattered glass pieces on the carpet next to it. “I told her to leave.” The hand still clutching the arm of Tara’s jacket started to shake as his voice fell to a frightened whisper. “I told her to leave and not come back.”

“You what?” Brom’s anger exploded as the cap flew off the bottle he had it contained in. “Do you have any idea what you mean to her? Are you really that fucking stupid?!”

“Take a breather, Brom,” Ethan finally stepped in, afraid that Brom may do something they’d all regret. Orellians were admired for their gentle natures and feared for the rare times when they did get angry. “Why would you say something like that to her, Hank?”

Hank tried to stand again, his own defences raising. He made it to his feet but remained stooped over and leaning against the mantle of the fireplace that was centered in the acrylicite wall. “I had my reasons. She’s been lying to me!”

“If this is because of what Jarren said about Orynn,”

“It’s not!” Hank cut Ethan’s words off. “Well, it is, but that’s the least of it. She knew, Ethan! She knew about Jarren and Keith, and about my parents. She’s known for nine damn years and she never bothered to tell me any of it!”

“For a damn good reason!” Brom jumped back into the conversation in Tara’s defense. “We all knew, Hank. Well, about your parents, anyway, but that’s beside the fucking point! You weren’t told because Jhonis wanted you to know the good people your parents were, and they were good people. They just made some bad choices, and Jhonis didn’t want you growin’ up with that hangin’ over you. Neither did Tara. You think it was easy for her to keep all that from you for so long? Goddammit, man, she’s in love with you, and has been since she had pigtails! So pull your selfish, hard head outta your ass and really think about what you said to her.”

“I didn’t mean it!” Hank cursed his hangover as he straightened his back and had to take in a quick breath to stop the urge to vomit. “I mean, I did, but I was pissed off, and I didn’t think she’d actually leave!”

Brom didn’t want to hear the excuses. “Well, how would you feel if the person you were in love with told you to leave and not come back?”

“How would you feel if you found out the girl you love has been lying to you for nine years?!” Hank shouted back, his chest heaving under the dead-weight of his heart and the growing urge to expel the contents of his stomach. “I get it. I overreacted. I said something I shouldn’t have, but I think I have every right to be angry and hurt, so step off your fucking box, Brom, and save it.”

With unsteady strides, he passed Brom to pick up the half empty whisky glass as the Orellian stood still, wide-eyed and staring. “You think I don’t know how long she’s been in love with me? You think I don’t know what a damn idiot I am?” He drank the stale contents of the glass, set it down and poured another. “I know I’m a coward, and I know that she can do a lot better than a fucking loser like me.”

Before Hank could put the full glass to his lips, Ethan knocked it from his hand and it spilled onto the carpet. For a moment, the ghost of the bitter, broken man Hank’s father became near the end had appeared in front of Ethan’s eyes, holding the whisky glass and saying almost those exact same words, except Hank’s father had been speaking about Hank’s mom, Elisen, and her pregnancy.  “I’ll be damned if you follow him down that road.”

C.E.Kilgore on Goodreads

All syndicate links: http://www.cekilgore.com/whispers.php

Author Links:

facebook  twitter website blog Amazon Author page

Author bio:

C.E. Kilgore (1981 - ) has always had a love of romantic stories and science fiction. Although active in the writing community during her undergraduate studies, she chose to focus on her love of history and culture. Graduating with an HBA in History and a BA in Cultural Anthropology, she puts a deep emphasis on creating characters and environments within her writing that are full of both culture and history. The relationship development between characters and the worlds they live in is also an important aspect of her stories. Sarcasm, comedy, hidden "modern" references and subtle hints at underlined universal meanings are common within her writing style, but there is always plenty of action and a darker side lurking just around the corner.

Book Links:

Book 1: Ghost In The Machine – FREE full length novel

Genre: Space Opera / Science Fiction Romance:

All syndicate links: http://www.cekilgore.com/ghost.php

Amazon:  http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009UFHA0O

Book Synopsis:

 "Love is like a wormhole. You stumble on to it blindly, it sucks you in and takes you somewhere completely
unexpected. You can’t fight it, because that would tear your ship apart. You can’t control it, either. All you can do is set your thrusters on glide and let it take you where it's going to take you."

Book 2: Whispers From Exile

Genre: Space Opera / Science Fiction Romance:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BWEF26A

Synopsis:

The Ruisks were once a fierce and proud race with courageous spirits, but after over a century of being held captive under the oppressive leash of the Xen'dari Empire, they have become defeated, hollow shells that bow their heads in submission. Can Larx help his people find their courage again to stand against the oppression, and can he find his own courage to be true to his nature and the callings of his heart?

Book 3: Tracing The Stars

Genre: Space Opera / Science Fiction Romance:

Amazon: Not yet available

Synopsis:

Hankarron Eros has loved Tara since she had pigtails, but his fear of losing the strength and support that their friendship provides leads him to keep his heart's desires locked away. When the truth about his family is exposed and leaves him grasping to hold onto his ship, his crew and his sanity, words are spoken that can't be taken back and the presence he had grown so used to having at a convenient reach is gone.

*****

Thanks for dropping by the nest once again. Don't miss any of the phuquerie. Find Michelle on Twitter, Facebook, and on Tumblr. More interviews and witty commentaries are coming. Keep checking back to see those surprise posts, too. This is your darling SciFiMagpie, over and out!