Christmas Curry & "Jingle Blam!"

Blog Post- Christmas Curry and Jingle Blam!

Hello, lovely readers and fellow writers! We’re coming into the end of the year, and now I’m mostly recovered from eye surgery and on the mend, I wanted to be sure to send you something fun before the holidays really and truly begin. Stay tuned at the end for my Christmas message to all of you.

We’ve had our last Odyssey game for the year—that’s a private player ship that plays in the Starship Valkyrie Advanced system—and I have to say, Rob ran a banger. Great mysteries to solve, tantalizing hints about the old Galactic Council, the Archive, and a planet in the Dark Reach full of androids and pyrokinetic toads. And of course, we’re kiting yet more pirates like baby ducks. I know all of that probably sounds like some wild MilSF-meets-space-opera weirdness, but that’s the ERS Odyssey’s story line for ya… and much of Valkyrie, in fact. Each ship historically has had its own storyline and tone, and Odyssey is all about big galactic mysteries and old ruins… and befriending pirates. Yar!

Odyssey always has homemade curry for lunch before game begins, since we run out of my house, and I like to make different versions over the course of the year. We have an established Thanksgiving curry with sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce, and we serve it over stuffing instead of rice. That’s an old favorite. This year, I wanted to try my hand at some Christmas Curry.

Christmas Curry

Shopping list: Canberry or cranberry sauce, stuffing mix, 1 pear, 2 apples (one for the curry, one for the stuffing), 1 onion, two carrots, 2-3 potatoes, ¾ lb cooked ham, green beans, celery, curry roux (if using) or curry spices, broth (chicken, veggie, or turkey are all great here), fresh sage (if available)

What you’ll want to do is start with mild Japanese curry, however you make it (whether you make your own roux or buy curry roux blocks). If you make your own roux and spice mixture, I highly recommend adding some clove and cinnamon for this. The key to the alteration here is to fry up some cubed Christmas ham in your pot or Dutch oven (leftover is great), and add green beans, apple, and celery to the potatoes and carrots typical of Japanese curry rice. I also added a couple tablespoons of orange juice to the broth, which enhanced the flavor of the cloves and made the curry very Christmasy, and I added a spoonful of canberry sauce as well. I served it on pear-and-apple sage stuffing, with more canberry, and I liked it… though I plan to keep iterating in the coming years.

(For our vegetarians, I made a version with baked teriyaki tofu and udon noodles. They liked it!)

~*~

Jingle Blam!

If you follow me on Substack, you’ll know I post little bits of writing there, mostly responses to MOTE writing prompts and bits of my serializing novel, What Remains. Last week’s prompt for me was: “The wreath survived, if blacked by fire.” Rob suggested it sounded like something funny from a Valkyrie player ship, so I decided to set it on the ERS Odyssey, and folks have been enjoying it. I wanted to share it here as well, and if you like it, maybe you’ll like my other bits and pieces on Substack. It’s all free.

So here it is, without further ado: Jingle Blam!

~*~

Jingle Blam

ERS Odyssey, Kalur Planetary Orbit, Sekam System (Skelow Sector), December 2155

Teli had just managed to fall asleep when the explosion rocked the ship.

Her feet hit the floor before her brain fully roused to wakefulness, blanket half-tripping her as she stumbled toward her boots. She still wore her black ship knits, barely having the energy to unpin her command chevrons and fall into bed. Post-battle, the ship had belched itself out of hyperspace into the comparative safety of Kalur’s orbit; they’d asked for resupply, and her XO, eagle-eyed, pointed Teli off to bed. Now she managed to shuffle into her boots, grabbed her comm, and pulled her short curls together into a messy bun as she ran, not bothering with anything else. Not like anyone on the ship could fail to recognize the captain.

She hit the bridge to find Janie Margaret, her XO, speaking frantically over the comm.

“No hull breach? Is everyone okay down there?” She ran to the Personnel console. “Deploying an engineering team your way.”

Teli scanned for red lights on consoles. “What happened? Where’s Rendogon?”

“We sent him to bed once he came down from the stims.” Ensign Miley Jones, the least senior of her officers, sat manning the DAISS display without lifting a finger to help Janie. She watched Lieutenant Margaret run around like she dearly wished for a bucket of popcorn, in fact. Typical.

Janie listened over her comm, held close to her ear, then slammed it down. She looked at Teli and went ramrod straight. Her top button had come undone on her formal black uniform… a sure sign of disaster.

“Ma’am. There’s been a fire and explosion in the Machine Shop. They’re assessing damage now.”

Teli tried to be patient; no one had called a red alert, and when she strode over to DAISS, she saw nothing but the heavy merchant, freighter, and transport space traffic around the planet Kalur, capital world of the Skelow Trade Federation.

“I take it we’re not under attack?” Teli felt her heart slowly receding from the hollow of her throat; she knew she sounded both sarcastic and testy. Janie drew up straighter.

“No, ma’am. No signs of the Pyramids. Everything’s been quiet around Kalur since we entered the system.”

Teli could see she’d need to pry this out of Janie like a pair of cracked molars. She looked down at Miley, eyebrow raised, finding her junior ensign grinning and snacking on a packet of Kalurian legumes, dried and seasoned with surshet smoked salt.

“Janie said ‘yes’ to Monty Kniffin while you were sleeping.”

Teli turned sharp eyes on her XO. “Lieutenant! What have I told you about saying ‘yes’ to anything that man suggests?!”

Janie muttered something into her high collar. Teli made a show of cupping her ear with a sarcastic hand.

“I’m sorry, what was that, Lieutenant? I couldn’t hear you over the machine shop burning.”

Teli’s comm chimed—one of the Chiefs of Section. She picked it up, a dangerous gaze still pinning Janie, who finally spoke louder.

“I said… he just wanted to decorate for Christmas, ma’am.”

Teli grunted, opening her comm. “Go ahead.”

“Uh, ma’am.” She recognized Abercrombie’s honeyed drawl immediately—and the strain in his voice. “I’ve just come up to Engineering, and there appears to be a… a holiday-related catastrophe down here.”

The line would have been a little funny from anyone on the ship… but from Abercrombie in that near-extinct Louisiana accent, she almost laughed out loud, despite her exhaustion and annoyance. Teli shook her head.

“Yeah. I’ll be right down.” She looked at Janie again. “Me and Lieutenant Margaret.”

~*~

Smoke, stinging and acrid, burned Teli’s eyes the moment she clattered down to the main deck. A yellow haze choked the passageway as scientists, Med Techs, and engineers ran towards or away from the fire, as their jobs and dispositions dictated; more smoke billowed demonically from the open door of Engineering at the end of the corridor. Teli cut a path through it, projecting all the annoyance of thirty-six hours on her feet, fourteen of them in pure sphincter-tightening battle, followed by an ugly wakeup. Crewmembers avoided her eye like mice hoping not to be noticed on a cat’s dinner table.

Abercrombie emerged for air, coughing and pulling on the rest of an EV suit, before she arrived at Engineering. He didn’t notice her until Janie cleared her throat.

“Captain on deck, Sergeant-Major.”

Teli smiled when Abercrombie, still coughing, raised a single finger to signal they needed to wait. He didn’t speak until he had his oxygen pumping in the EV suit; she could see the slight inflation of the flaccid covering over his face. Then he straightened and saluted properly, the old infantryman at heart.

“Ma’am. Permission to give Corporal Kniffin Confinement? Or will our fine Executive Officer be issuing some NJP today?”

Teli folded her arms. “She authorized this, apparently. What happened? Is it safe to go in there?”

Abercrombie slouched his long, noodle-like body and swung his arms for a moment, then righted himself again. Teli noted it as something he did when processing—almost like a human reboot. He looked at the ceiling, evidently struggling.

“I see. Well, Corporal Kniffin felt that morale in Engineering might be a touch low at the moment, us being so far from home on a long deployment and everything, so he’s taken it upon himself to decorate the machine shop with an assortment of… now unrecognizable holiday hoopla.”

Teli’s folded arms tightened. “I gathered that, Abercrombie. What happened, though?”

Abercrombie struggled to put words together. He’d been in a mess of infantry fighting during the secessionist and insurrectionist movements after the creation of the Earth Republic and World Parliament, fighting for the Army of Earth, and he’d taken shrapnel and laser blasts to every part of his body—including his brain. Teli knew to be patient with him, especially when anger got the better of his processing power.

“The good corporal took it upon his ownself to add a garland near the intake chain connecting repair bay to machine shop to the hangar, ma’am. Upon reentry, we had repairs to make to the Calypso, and naturally, the team drew her up into Starfighter Repair Bay 2. Upon which time, the garland was unluckily drawn up with the chain and pulley system, and there caused friction where friction is… unwise.”

Teli let out a sound that wasn’t quite a sigh, groan, or moan—just a small, pained sound, like the one you hear when someone’s been winded. It surprised her own ears, but she knew Engineering and physics well enough to envision the scene: a friction fire setting light to the plant oil along the chain, engulfing the intake’s engine, finding the rush of oxygen in an updraft from their capacious hangar, and whoosh. A fireball.

She could feel her face frozen in a large grimace. “How’s the hangar?”

Abercrombie answered more quickly this time. “No need to worry on that account, Captain. I’ve radioed down. Pilots were in their ready room at the time, having a debrief, and all the small craft and supplies are untouched. The High Sail was nearest the repair intake at the time, and its Aranell sheeting took the brunt of the fireball. Not even singed.”

Teli thought instantly of Rendogon, asleep in the High Sail—he often slept in his little ship when coming down off stims—happily dreaming away, unaware of his hull tanking a huge fireball. She dragged her brain back, trying not to think of her Skelow helmsman and how much she irrationally wanted a reason to go check on him.

“And the Calypso?”

“So burnt to a cinder by close encounter with starhearts that I can’t tell if it’s sustained damage, ma’am.”

Teli closed her eyes and chuffed. “Well. That’s something, I guess. What needs doing, other than updating me?”

Abercrombie ducked and straightened again, showing her two qualifying fingers from each hand, as if warning her.

“In an attempt to be fair and force him to clean up his own messes, Captain, I’ve ensured the good corporal is wearing an EV suit and shut the door on the machine shop, while he puts out the remaining fires and cleans up his hoopla. I hope you find that acceptable.”

Teli laughed; behind her, Janie did likewise, in one quick, surprised bark that she quickly buried in a high collar, like all her other feelings. Glancing her way, Teli waved them all through the door to main Engineering, where the intermix reactor sat unscathed. Thank heavens for that, anyways. 

She found a pile of burnt, largely homemade Christmas decorations, assembled from various ribbons, tissue, and other craft materials acquired on STF Compact worlds and Kalur. Some “ribbon” on a garland appeared to be made from red bandages—the precursor to ClotWrap—stolen from Med Bay. Flammable Kalurian evergreen fronds, allowed to dry for an indeterminate period of time, composed the majority of the salvaged garland and a wreath, which had been tossed into the body of Engineering for safekeeping. The wreath survived, if blacked by fire.

Beyond the view portal in the machine shop door, Teli saw Kniffin aiming one of Engineering’s substantial fire extinguishers through the door into the repair bay, still fighting the flames of a flickering, hungry fire. More burnt garland, nearly charred to cinders, coiled at his feet and over the machine shop surfaces and tools. He’d fashioned some sort of false mistletoe, and it hung, burning ominously, just over his head between the machine shop and the repair bay.

“Why exactly did you say yes to this, Janie?” Teli asked conversationally, feeling her XO at her shoulder.

“Well, ma’am. He presented it as a morale choice between decorating and another movie night… and I just cannot stand Republic Christmas films. It’s all sickening sweet pablum.”

Teli laughed. “A movie night sounds fun—maybe with Christmas curry.” She heard a tiny groan escape Janie, hearing her punishment declared.

Abercrombie readied another fire extinguisher, maybe preparing to trade it out with Kniffin’s current one.

“NJP, ma’am? Or can we give him Confinement and put a mark in his jacket?”

Teli looked around at the carnage, reaching out a hand to stop another engineer from picking up discarded and blackened garland snaking its way along the ground. The smoke had started to clear as Life Support filtered, churned, and pumped out fresh air.

“What, you don’t think cleaning up his mess and putting all of this back to rights by himself is punishment enough?”

Abercrombie brought his hands up near his face, which of course they couldn’t touch through the EV suit screen.

“I can’t let him clean up every scintilla of damage and mess! I’ve got a ship to repair and combat damage to assess and starfighters black as tar in the bay! Kniffin’s primed to punish me at that point.”

Teli sighed, seeing his argument. “Alright, then, I’ll tell you what. I trust you. Do what you think is right. Punish him like you were the XO. Whatever you want to do to him, Janie’s to sign off. She’s here to say ‘yes’ for the next twenty-four hours—short of shooting him or doing anything illegal under Republic Law.” She looked over at Janie, eyebrow raised. “Understand?”

Janie sighed, looking down at the sooty deck. “Ma’am.”

Teli clapped her hands together. “Good! Now, I have a movie-and-curry night to plan. What do you think, Janie? Rudolph and the Tenth Reindeer? Ooh, or maybe a Christmas sugar rom?”

Janie groaned loudly in true pain, and Teli walked off grinning, leaving her with Abercrombie’s demands for justice to manage. She needed to check on Rendogon in his fireballed ship…. Telling him all about the fracas would be a good time.

~*~

More Stuff to Enjoy!

It’s the holiday season, and you might be taking a break and want to know where you can find more writing by me—stuff you can read for free, or books you might like to acquire for yourself or a loved one, or stuff to enjoy on KU. So, obligatory sales/navigation stuff, to get it out of the way.

Free stuff! You can find little bits of writing by me on Substack, of course, but did you know I’m serializing a novel? Check out my sci-fi romance What Remains and stay tuned for new chapter drops, happening about every two weeks. All the chapters in Part 1 will be free, so please do enjoy!

The romance anthologies, Moonlight and Margaritas and Midnight, Mischief, and Mistletoe, are now on Kindle Unlimited, in addition to being available as ebooks or beautiful paperbacks. I’m proud of these ones, and each volume includes a story by me, as well as stories by my friend Urna Semper. You can also find Suzy Langevin in each volume, stories by Annie R McEwen, and in Mistletoe, my friend Marissa has her story “Packs and Negotiations.” They’re great collections, and Mistletoe is perfect for getting into the holiday vibes. I got copies for some loved ones this year, in fact, at their request.

If you like dime detectives and murder mysteries, you can find my story “Prompt Critical” in the anthology Bourbon and Lead. It’s all gritty dime detectives in there, wonderfully pulpy with a grizzled tone. My story is one of a couple science fictions in the collection, along with a story by Urna Semper (yes, we do flock together, lol). In “Prompt Critical,” Eridanian PI Kestrel Soltani chases a shadowy liquidator from the past onto a Saturnian cruise and encounters a murder and a labor conflict… and some new friends, Geras Vantage and Shan Reis. The editor on this collection, Deej, is really a standout expert on pulp and put together something special here. I speak earnestly when I encourage you to give it a look; I'm so proud to be in this one.

If you like high-octane action, you can find a story from me in Mercs and Mayhem, also available on KU, ebook, or paperback. My story there is “Power Play,” which is set during the Corporate Wars, part of the setting of Starship Valkyrie, and features Svetlana Volkova, call sign “Baba Yaga,” a kickass old lady merc and medic. The volume also features a number of fantastic merc stories from cyberpunk, sci-fi, modern, and fantasy settings, and it held a spot in the #1 Releases on Amazon just a day after it published. Great for the action and science-fiction lover in your life.

Last but not least, I am doing layout and editing for an anthology of my own shorter stuff, called Contact Unknown. I’ll let you know when that’s available. If you’re interested in being an ARC reader, please let me know.

~*~

My Christmas Message to You

Phew! It’s been a crazy year, and I feel honestly transformed as I come into the end of 2025. I started this year submitting to my first anthology, with no real author presence on the internet to speak of. I end the year with this blog, my Substack, What Remains serializing, anthologies out, working as social media manager at a press, with a zine I get to edit this year… and all of you! It’s been wonderful befriending so many wonderful writers and getting in touch with new readers, as well as writing material and seeing the fantastic and enthusiastic support of the Valkyrie community. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.

As I said on Substack, I am recently reminded of the brave and stubborn kindness of others. I had a difficult moment recently, and there were a number of people who checked on me, said something kind, went out of their way to include me, or gave me good advice. These are people who strove to act in accordance with their values. To those folks, I say this: I see you, I appreciate you, and I thank you. To everyone, I say this: Be stubbornly and profoundly kind, this Christmas and all the time. Go be with them, read something good, take care of yourselves, and enjoy some curry. Merry Christmas, God Jul, Happy Holidays, and a Bright New Year to you and yours.

To Valkyrie: United and Strong!