Paul Michael Peters’ “Mist and Moonbeams: Stories from the Great Lakes Edge” features five novelettes set around Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. Peters organizes the stories based on the mnemonic “H.O.M.E.S.,” with that sense of home running through each novelette. The Huron story, “You Can’t Start a Fire with Moonlight,” focuses on a forbidden love and the pain of its loss. Turning to Ontario, “A Hummingbird in Winter” takes place in the twenty-second century with human connections driving the narrative as main character Dash finds his world changed after a chance encounter. As Peters reaches Michigan, “Confessions of an Efficient Cause” takes on a noir tone as the dark winter of 1992 parallels a threat to students in Chicago and the detective who seeks justice on their behalf. On Erie – the shallowest of the lakes that empties the quickest – “Careful, Icarus” is a heist story in Cleveland featuring a character who hopes one big score can change his life for good. Finally, Peters closes out with Superior and his story “Love in Her Big Two-Hearted,” which follows recent widow Sonny as she seeks out a new adventure through a canoe trip in order to quench her sense of unfulfilled dreams. The stories are entertaining in their own way with their brevity often working to their strength. The book will appeal to those looking to try something new and would find a good home at any library or rental cabin along the Great Lakes. In fact, I was struck while reading this by how perfectly this book would fit in hotels or private rentals along the lakes for vacationers to have something to read after a day exploring the sights. The variety and brevity of the stories are perfectly suited to this type of reading while the local settings would entertain readers as a diversion while they visit the Great Lakes Region.

In “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – A Stitch in Time,” author and actor Andrew J. Robinson explores the backstory of his character Elim Garak. The novel alternates between three different time periods. In the present, Garak is dictating a letter to Julian Bashir after the events of “What You Leave Behind” as he helps with the clean-up on Cardassia Prime, finally able to return to his homeworld but finding that it is no longer his home. In the recent past, Garak is struggling to decode Cardassian codes prior to the invasion of Cardassia. His meetings with Dr. Julain Bashir force him to examine what it would mean to return home while he hopes for a chance at redemption both for himself personally and for the Cardassian people after actions such as the occupation of Bajor. Odo similarly begins to wonder what it would mean to return to the Founders. Finally, in the distant past, Robinson explores Garak’s life from a young boy through his time in the Bamarren Institute of State Intelligence. Following the lessons he learns there, he goes on to the Obsidian Order, eventually learning the truth about his father Enabran Tain and becoming enmeshed in Tain’s webs of intrigue. Robinson reads this audiobook adaptation himself, bringing the author’s voice to his own story and adding a touch of verisimilitude to these entries as a voice message for Dr. Bashir. Of great delight is hearing Robinson switch from his melodious voice to imitations of Julian (Alexander Siddig), Quark (Armin Shimerman), and Odo (the late René Auberjonois). In addition to the regular “DS9” cast and recurring guests, he incorporates other Cardassian characters such as Gul Madred as portrayed by the late David Warner in the “Star Trek: The Next Generation” two-parter, “Chain of Command,” revealing that Madred survived the Dominion War and seeks a new position in the changing Cardassian society. Garak in Robinson’s writing does not understand Sisko’s guilt over the death of the Romulan senator – as seen in “In the Pale Moonlight” – but attributes Sisko’s breakdown at the end of “Tears of the Prophets” to a combination of these actions as well as the loss of Jadzia Dax. Seeing Garak’s side of these events is particularly poignant given the larger role his character took on in later seasons of “Deep Space Nine.” This novel is a must-read for any “DS9” fan with the audiobook being a particular treat!

In “The Vice President’s Black Wife: The Untold Life of Julia Chinn,” Dr. Amrita Chakrabarti Myers argues, “Lying at the crossroads of race, sex, and politics, Julia’s life illuminates how some Black women in the Old South utilized interracial partnerships to negotiate and acquire a modicum of power for themselves and their families while simultaneously highlighting the clear limits of that power: the farther away the Johnson women moved from home and their networks of privilege, the less authority they had” (p. 1). Dr. Myers thoroughly researches Julia Chinn’s family from the historical record, including what personal correspondence survive as well as contemporary letters and newspaper coverage, while also incorporating later popular historiography and family histories to contextualize Julia Chinn’s legacy. Acknowledging the gaps in the historical record, Dr. Myers acknowledges that “to reconstruct the lives of enslaved women, to write Black women back into the historical narrative,” she “must use materials created by white folks, white men, who never intended for their documents to highlight Black women’s voices” (p. 7). Dr. Myers argues, “Although sexual unions in the Old South between white slave owners and Black enslaved women were common, these ‘relationships’ were always complicated affairs, where enslaved women had limited options, none of which were good, and little choice in the matter because of the intersection of slavery, racism, and patriarchy” (p. 35). Julia Chinn’s narrative, then, should not be read as one of romance as there always existed a power imbalance between her and Richard Johnson while the society in which they lived inscribed its own rules on all relationships. As Dr. Myers notes, “The Johnsons’ relationship was…never a love story. Richard was always a slaveholder. Julia was always his property” (p. 85). Despite these constraints, Dr. Myers argues, “This was Julia Chinn’s main mission. Like Black mothers well before her and those who would come long after, every step she took was carefully planned so her descendants would rise up higher, and go much further, than she herself ever would” (p. 55). When Richard Johnson opened the Choctaw Academy on his property for Native American children, it revealed the complicated racial hierarchy that shaped the lives of white settlers, enslaved and free Black people, and Native Americans. Dr. Myers argues that the episode reveals “how settler colonialism and white supremacy warps everyone” (p. 88). Similarly, the liminal semi-public space of the church afforded another realm in which Julia Chinn and her daughters might enjoy an elevated position due to class within the confines of race due to the church’s place outside of civil governance (p. 91-115). Though most modern national histories may offer only a brief discussion of Richard Johnson’s political career, Dr. Myers reveals how his relationships played a critical role in shaping that career in his own time. She examines contemporary newspaper coverage and argues, “Having sex with a Black woman and fathering children of color hasn’t prevented other white men from running for political office in the United States… The problem for Richard, however, was that he… was open about his relationship with Julia. He never married a white woman for cover” (p. 132). Going public nearly derailed his national political ambitions. As it was, Johnson became the first – and only – Vice President elected under the Twelfth Amendment (p. 157-158). Even then, he could not secure a second term as Vice President. In death, his brothers sought to disavow his and Julia’s union as well as their children (p. 169). As a result, “National attitudes toward Blackness, slavery, and interracial sex all played a role in erasing Julia Chinn and her daughters, Imogene Johnson Pence and Adaline Johnson Scott, from US history textbooks as well as from the memories of their own families” (p. 189-190). Their descendants crossed the color line, though some retained an inkling of their family’s history. Dr. Myers’ book reveals the critical intersection of race and gender in U.S. history with a focus on local, state, and national politics. Julia Chinn’s connection to a Vice President of the United States makes this history all the more important as Johnson and Chinn’s connection was known in their own time, but has since faded into the mists of history. The Vice President’s Black Wife reveals the complicated narrative of U.S. history while recovering the story of a forgotten figure who helped shape that history. This book is critical reading for any historian of nineteenth-century America.

“Star Wars: Vader Down” collects the titular one-shot issue, “Star Wars” #13-14, and “Darth Vader” #13-15 written by Jason Aaron and Kieron Gillen with art by Mike Deodato and Salvador Larroca, colors by Frank Martin Jr. and Edgar Delgado, letters by Joe Caramagna and Chris Eliopoulos, and cover art by Mark Brooks. The story begins with Darth Vader in pursuit of Luke Skywalker following the destruction of the Death Star. Having learned from Doctor Aphra that Luke is on Vrogas Vas, Vader stumbles across three Rebel X-Wing squadrons at a secret refueling base with Luke among them. He destroys two squadrons only for Luke to commence a kamikaze run at Vader’s TIE Fighter, downing the Dark Lord of the Sith on the planet’s surface. While the Rebels work to take Vader down, Aphra works to ensure Vader gets Luke Skywalker as his prize in order to prove herself to Vader. Meanwhile, Han Solo seeks to save Luke while Princess Leia supports the Rebels troops in the field. All find themselves in a trap when Mon Calamari cyborg Karbin reveals himself as the architect of the conflict in a bid to usurp Vader’s place in the Empire. The story proves Darth Vader’s prowess in a way that few have, showcasing him defeating an entire Rebel base single-handedly. Meanwhile, the plot focused on Luke Skywalker helps fill in elements of his early Force instruction between “A New Hope” and “The Empire Strikes Back.” Leia continues to prove herself a leader as Han demonstrates that, for all his swagger, he remains loyal to his friends above all. Finally, Dr. Aphra steals the show as a secondary character continuing to build her own narrative. The result is a solid story within the larger narrative of the “Star Wars” comics set between Episodes IV and V. A great treat for fans.

James Sturm and Joe Sutphin’s adaptation of Richard Adams’ “Watership Down.” The story faithfully retells the tale of a group of rabbits who seek a new home following the destruction of their warren, encountering other creatures, rabbits from different warrens, and elements of the human world that take on monstrous forms in the minds of the rabbits. The rabbits have their own mythology, though the allegory of their adventures was inspired by Adams’ experiences in the Battle of Arnhem in 1944. Sturm and Sutphin’s adaptation uses the graphic medium to visually capture the scale of the rabbits’ world as well as their emotions. Their adaptation will serve as a nice introduction to new readers or a supplementary volume for teachers incorporating “Watership Down” into their classroom syllabi.

Esmé Louise James’ “Kinky History: A Rollicking Journey through Our Sexual Past, Present, and Future” explores the history of sexuality in a compelling manner that will entertain and educate readers from academics through to casual readers while building on her social media and graduate work. She structures her book into five main subjects: sin, pleasure, queer identities, kink, and pornography. Each explores these works using classical texts as well as current historical analyses. Discussing contraception under the heading of sin, James explores historical forms of contraception, many of which may horrify modern readers. In the modern era, she links contraception to syphilis in the early sixteenth century following Jared Diamond’s research (p. 24). Similarly, in exploring sexual toys as a form of pleasure, James argues that correcting the false history of the vibrator is of critical importance. She writes, “It matters how we tell history. In linking the story of hysteria and the vibrator, we achieve a story that is funny, cheeky, and a little bit sexy – perfect for Hollywood and Broadway adaptations. It’s also insanely harmful. It paints women from recent history as mindless creatures who would allow doctors to essentially assault their bodies because their husbands said they’d been acting irrational. This isn’t the story we should be telling” (p. 84). Addressing queer history, James argues, “These stories have always been in the history books – we just need the right reading tools to be able to find them again. This is a task of great importance” (p. 95). To illuminate these stories, James highlights the lives of Elagabalus and Julius Caesar from ancient Rome, Anastasia the Patrician from sixth-century Byzantium, François-Timoléon de Choisy from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and an unnamed person from newspaper reports in the 1930s (p. 121-123). Further, she highlights cultures that recognized an intersex or third sex including the Galli in ancient Rome, the Mahu from pre-colonial Hawai‘i, and he Muxe people among the Zapotec community in pre-colonial and modern Mexico (p. 125). Though she cautions against mapping our current concepts of gender onto the past, James illuminates how LGBTQIA people have always been part of the human tapestry and have played a role throughout history while understanding gender as much more than a simple binary in their own times and terms. Turning to kink, James uses sources from the ancient world through James Joyce. She questions, “How much more could we learn about the function of a human if we stopped treating these desires as ‘freaky quirks’ and instead worked to show that they function in a holistic view of a human?” (p. 166). She moves from body parts to clothing to pain and more, alternating between literature, letters, scientific studies, and evidence from the ancient world through early modern history. In her final section, James examines pornography, though she touched on notions of pornographic materials throughout her study. She writes, “While we have a range of erotic art and literature dating back to the ancient world that we now classify as pornography, this was not even considered as a distinctly separate category until the early nineteenth century” (p. 210). Further, “pornography – a genre now often associated with heteronormative depictions of sexuality – was actually popularized as a genre by two (likely) queer men who wrote through the eyes of female sex workers” (p. 215). Above all, ethical production and consumption is important and James notes how one may healthily consume the material under these conditions, bringing her to her conclusion. James argues that sexuality is a form of empathy, best understood as a way to connect and worthy of understanding while dispelling myths. “Kinky History” is critical reading for the public with research that straddles the boundaries between popular and academic writing.

In “Challenger: A True Story of Heroism and Disaster on the Edge of Space,” Adam Higginbotham examines the history of the Space Shuttle from its initial concept and early experiments conducted by Maxime Faget and Dottie Lee through the selection of Astronaut Group 8, nicknamed “TFNG,” which included the first American woman in space with Sally Ride, the first African-American man in space with Guion Bluford, the first American woman to perform a spacewalk with Kathryn Sullivan, and the first Asian-American in space with Ellison Onizuka. After the wind-down from Apollo and the Moon, the Shuttle opened up a new way for Americans to envision space. Despite technical and historic achievements, the portrayal of the Shuttle as safe and entirely reliable by NASA, its contractors, and politicians belied the complex system at the Shuttle’s heart and how thoroughly it depended upon new technologies with little to no room for error. Higginbotham continues to demonstrate how Morton Thiokol underestimated the danger of their O-ring system at a management level while NASA’s own management sought to meet impossible launch schedules in order to appease government and private interests. Of a Morton Thiokol presentation on O-rings, Higginbotham writes, “obscured amid the blizzard of charts, data-filled binders, and Viewgraph slides, the rocket engineers failed to realize that they had reached a critical inflection point. Over the course of the years they had been developing and flying the solid rocket motors, the men at Thiokol and Marshall had slowly expanded the parameters of what they regarded as acceptable risk in the joints” (p. 206). Even when the quick-thinking of Jenny Howard saved a Shuttle launch with an abort-to-orbit, NASA did not pause to seriously examine and reconsider every part of the launch equipment (p. 239). In the end, Richard Feynman’s conclusion proved particularly prescient given the latter disaster involving the Columbia: “For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations… for nature cannot be fooled” (p. 450). Higginbotham’s book is an authoritative account of the Challenger disaster for those who don’t remember it or who want a book that explains the technical information without aiming for a technical audience. Eminently readable, he manages to balance a cast of hundreds and weave their narratives together as part of an organic whole that inexorably led to disaster amid institutional failures. “Challenger” is a warning to all such institutions to carefully examine their systems and avoid allowing outside pressures from business or politics to influence their decision-making away from safety.

Marjorie Liu and Jason Aaron’s “Star Wars: Han Solo” collects “Han Solo” #1-5 written by Liu, penciled by Mark Brooks, inked by Brooks and Dexter Vines, colored by Sonia Oback and Matt Milla, lettered by Joe Caramanga, with cover art by Lee Bermejo, Tula Lotay, Olivier Coipel, and Kamome Shirahama as well as “Star Wars” #8-12 written by Aaron, penciled by Stuart Immonen, inked by Wade von Grawbadger, colored by Justin Ponsor, lettered by Chris Eliopoulos, with covers by Stuart Immonen, von Grawbadger, and Ponsor. The first five issues from the “Han Solo” miniseries focus on Han and Chewbacca entering the Dragon Void race as cover to pick up Alliance spies within the first year after the Battle of Yavin. They do this as a secret mission for Princess Leia in a story that explores Han’s morality and sense of duty. The story evokes Brian Daley’s “Han Solo Adventures” from the late 1970s, though using the current aesthetic of the “Star Wars” galaxy. The “B” story, from “Star Wars” #8-12, alternates between Han Solo and Leia Organa’s encounter with Sana Starros, who claims to be Han Solo’s wife and wants to collect the bounty of Leia, and Luke Skywalker traveling to Nar Shadda seeking a covert way to Coruscant in order to learn more about the Jedi. The Han/Leia/Sana story has the types of romantic misunderstandings that characterize Han and Leia’s relationship in the Original Trilogy. Meanwhile, the Luke story affords a deeper look at Luke’s process of learning more about the Jedi and the Force following Ben Kenobi’s death but prior to his trip to Dagobah. In this, it resembles elements of Kevin Hearne’s “Heir to the Jedi.” The addition of these stories to the “Han Solo” collected book feel somewhat disjointed. They work well as “Star Wars” books, but are tonally and thematically different than the “Han Solo” series. That being said, fans of the Original Trilogy will enjoy this collection and its character-driven stories.

David Bushman and Ken Deep’s edited collection “The Companions of Doctor Who” features essays exploring the importance of the Doctor’s companions throughout the sixty-plus years of “Doctor Who.” They structure the book in reverse-chronological order beginning with Donna and Wilf as they appeared in the sixtieth anniversary specials, though those episodes had not yet aired when essayists Shaun Lyon and Joseph Dougherty wrote so they mostly focus on their time with the Tenth Doctor, alluding to the Fourteenth Doctor in their conclusions. From there, Mackenzie Flohr examines Yaz and the Thirteenth Doctor; Amanda-Rae Prescott looks at Bill Potts and the Twelfth Doctor; Scott Ryan examines the role of Clara Oswald; David Bushman takes a look at Amy Pond and the Eleventh Doctor; Dr. Gina Rosich explores the complicated legacy of Martha Jones and the Tenth Doctor; Joshua Lou Friedman takes a look at Rose’s time with the Ninth and Tenth Doctors as the first companion after Doctor Who’s revival in 2005. This first half of the book covers the revived “Doctor Who” while the second half begins with Yee Jee Tso looking back on his own character, Chang Lee, in the 1996 “Doctor Who” movie. Following Tso, Joshua Lou Friedman and Sophie Aldred write about Aldred’s character Ace and her time with the Seventh Doctor; Paul J. Salamoff examines Sarah Jane Smith, who traveled with the Third and Fourth Doctors before appearing in special episodes, spin-offs, the second series of the revived “Doctor Who,” and even her own show; Charlie Ross, Lucy Chase Williams, and Amy Krell all give insiders’ insight into Ian Marter, who portrayed Harry Sullivan alongside the Fourth doctor; Edwin Thrower writes about Jo Grant, who traveled with the Third Doctor before reappearing in the “Sarah Jane Adventures” and “Tales of the TARDIS”; Ken Deep discusses Jamie McCrimmon’s time with the Second Doctor; Barnaby Edwards writes about Ian Chesterton’s travels with the First Doctor as the model for other male companions, who are often outliers when many of the most well-known companions are women; and Ken Deep closes out the book with an interview with Carole An Ford, who played Susan Foreman alongside the First Doctor. The book is a nice companion to the franchise and a good introduction for newcomers who might feel overwhelmed by the Doctor’s long history and numerous companions. Each author brings their own insights and clearly writes about their favorites, so the chapters are a joy to read. A lovely volume for Whovians to purchase for themselves or as a gift for fellow fans.

James Tynion IV’s “The Sandman Universe: Nightmare Country – The Glass House” collects the first six issues of the “Sandman” spin-off comic as well as “The Sandman Universe Special: Thessaly” #1 featuring art by Lisandro Estherren, Patricio Delpeche, and Maria Llovet, colors by Delpeche and Llovet, letters by Simon Bowland, and covers by Reiko Murakami. In the story, the new Corinthian and the cat that was Madison Flynn investigate the Prophet organization and its connections to a new club, The King of Pain. The angel Moroni continues to work to spread the life story of Madison in order to attain new power while the owner of The King of Pain, Azazel, seeks to tempt the Corinthian to embrace his old ways. Drawn into the investigation, Thessaly finds herself an unlikely ally of Lucien, Madison, and the Corinthian, though she remains at odds with the Dream King. The story reveals that all of these occurrances connect to the larger conflict between Dream and Desire, with Desire launching their plan back during the events of “Three Septembers and a January” from “The Sandman” #31. These additions to the Sandman Universe continue to expand the world beyond Neil Gaiman’s original epic, though Dream only makes minor appearances so as to leave his narrative largely intact should Gaiman return at a later date. Tynion ably adds to the larger meta-narrative than began in the 1990s with various “Sandman” spin-offs. This second volume resolves much of a story points from the first volume, though it leaves the door open to continue exploring Desire’s plans. The ending may strike some readers as abrupt, however. Hopefully the larger narrative of Dream and Desire continues to play out in future volumes.