I know I normally do these on Friday, but I’ve been saying I need to dip into this more so I can catch up. Also, (and pettily), I’m not going to let the distractions of the last 24 hours break my streak (884 days once I hit “publish”). Something big can derail me, and I’ll be okay with that. But not trivia.
The Ballad of Bonaduke—
Episode 34: Three to Four Times The Charm
DETAILS: Series: The Ballad of Bonaduke, #34 Format: Kindle Vella Story Read Date: September 19, 2023
Asphalt bounced off the car. I was tossed into the side of the trunk as we dodges a massive fiery crater. Behind us the squatters leader was standing through the sunroof holding a rocket launcher.
Of course.
A rocket launcher.
The Story So Far…
A drunken Michael Bonaduke decides to use a grift (with maybe some sort of magic/magic-like “help”) to win on a scratch-off lottery ticket so he has money to buy more to drink. He pulls off whatever he did, gets his money and some booze and stumbles off into the darkness to drink himself into oblivion so he can start again the next day. He’s hit by dark memories (probably what’s driving him to the drinking) of fire, pleading, and screaming. There’s going to be a price to pay for his grift, and he’s trying to be ready.
He’s abducted by some representatives of a mysterious group who subject him to a test—if he passes, everything will be explained to him (and hopefully the reader, too). He passes—and is brought somewhere for answers, or maybe training, or maybe another test. Time will tell (or things are going to get really annoying). Answers aren’t quick to come—but the mysteries and questions keep piling up.
Things get hairy and Bonaduke leaves and finds himself back in the neighborhood he started from. He takes refuge in a homeless encampment shortly before a police raid. He’s apprehended and finds himself an interrogation room and shortly escapes after using his grift (but with results he didn’t quite intend). He finds himself by a group of squatters who seem to have strapped a woman to a chair for reasons that can’t be good. He attempts to rescue her before he even realizes what he’s doing, and seems to have succeeded—well, the two of them got away from the group anyway—breathing but bruised. They make their way to a fast-food taco joint and Bonaduke really needs to refuel to keep going. He tries, but fails to get food because he keeps passing out. Thankfully, the clerk is the same guy from the liquor store and he both recognizes him and gives him first aid. The woman (Zero) wakes up and shows some abilities of her on as she helps them escape from her captors who’ve tracked her down. One thing leads to another—Zero and Bonaduke’s magics don’t mix well (at least until they understand what each other can do?), and they end up in a video-game race against the squatters in a tricked-out version of Eric (the clerk’s) car. Note, I said video-game race, not a video-game-style race. They’re actually in one.
What’s Three to Four Times The Charm About?
This episode gives us slightly over half of the first(?) lap of the race. Eric and Zero are manning the wheel and the phone controls, Bonaduke does what he can to help by climbing in the trunk to act as a look-out for the cars behind them and to do what he can to slow them down (mostly by throwing miscellaneous objects at them).
That’s it. That’s the sum of the episode (unless I was going to get into a play-by-play).
So, what did I think about Three to Four Times The Charm?
I’m trying not to complain about Slaywood’s editing (which has greatly improved)—but there’s a section in which I lost track of pronouns and antecedents, or Zero’s gender changed. I’m pretty sure it was a slip of the finger, but it was at such a bad time for me—the last thing I needed at the moment was to stop and read a couple of paragraphs 5 times to see if I could track pronouns.
This is all action—that’s it. And it’s fast-paced, too—try not to read this at a speed worthy of Mario Kart (or whatever your preferred racing game is). There’s an effective cliffhanger, too. Good stuff, and I’m fighting the impulse to read on.
The note from the author at the bottom of this episode made me smile—and forgive (but not forget) the pronoun bit.
I’ll note again that Zero’s arc has put a lot of fun into this series.
1. 
Twenty Palaces—the prequel to the whole thing 
