#Danny’s death echoed across alternative universes

[noxcheshire]

I am sick, dizzy, and can barely think but you know what would be WILD?

If the DC universe was an echo of Danny’s world. What if the continents of their planet shifted enough where Amity is now in New Jersey and had then become Gotham.

And when Danny died underneath the portal a part of his death fractured and imprinted itself into those various worlds. One of them being Gotham, where Danny’s home ironically used to be where Wayne Manor used to be.

So just imagine it, you’re coming back from patrol, grimy, sweaty, and with questionable intentions by dressing as an overgrown bat when suddenly the lights dim. It dims and brings darkness, only enough light to catch the beady marble eyes of the bats you fear.

And then electricity jumps in the middle of the room, flinging itself around like an agitated snake in wide open circles.

Everyone is backing away, some weary, some cursing, some just half way out of their own suit.

And then a child — barely as old as your youngest now, flickers to life before you, screaming and screaming, wailing in pain as the scent of burning flesh mingles into the air. You can see the boy, black hair and blue eyes that underneath the bright light that burns them is causing black to turn white, and blue to turn green.

The electricity crackles and when the boy is about the drop, limp, certainly lifeless, he vanishes as if nothing had ever been there.

But he comes back, he always comes back, in the moment of calm and in the moment of despair, echoing that painful wailing of death.

It’s so wrong.

It’s very, very wrong.

It didn’t even matter anymore why the boy showed up, only that this moment of pain continues to haunt the cave of heroes.

Continuously haunting, even as some whispered apologizes when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as some provided songs of comfort when the boy appeared. Continuously haunting, even as stories of Gotham are told and promises (though uncertain and flimsy at best) are spoken to the wailing boy who always drops fast and disappears just as quickly.

Always, it was the same.

Until one day it wasn’t.

The electricity crackled like it always did. A spark, and then a calamity of light. And the boy would be there, uncurling himself into a tense position as he would wail.

But not this time.

Instead the boy curled himself in the air, calm as can be, almost as if he were sleeping. Even the electricity that they have learned to dance away from was calm, gentle, like ocean waves.

And when the electricity vanished, the boy did not, instead dropping to the floor where Dick was quick to catch him, grunting in preparation of weight only to show alarm at how thin the boy truly was.

On that face that has haunted them all for months is just a boy, sleeping, and scarred. A boy breathing very slow, slower than what they would like, but here in the physical realm with them.

Dick brushed back bangs of black hair, and slowly, ever so slowly, glazed blue eyes stared back.

[vibraniumarm]

I posted 857 times in 2021

6 posts created (1%)

851 posts reblogged (99%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 141.8 posts.

I added 320 tags in 2021

#queued my mind - 107 posts

#destiel - 70 posts

#castiel - 23 posts

#louis - 23 posts

#art - 19 posts

#bucky barnes - 18 posts

#cas - 17 posts

#tfatws - 15 posts

#about writing - 14 posts

#bucky - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 102 characters

#the best part was putting the sound on and finding out they're speaking my mother tongue. extra funny!

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

Chapters: 31/31 Fandom: Supernatural, The Hunger Games (Movies), Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester Characters: Dean Winchester, Sam Winchester, Castiel (Supernatural), Benny Lafitte, Charlie Bradbury, Crowley (Supernatural), Bobby Singer, Claire Novak, Jack Kline, Garth Fitzgerald IV, Carver Edlund, Other Supernatural Characters, Coriolanus Snow, Hunger Games Characters, Finnick Odair, Plutarch Heavensbee Additional Tags: Fusion - The Hunger Games Universe, The Hunger Games Compliant, Alternate Universe- No Supernatural, baker!dean winchester, Wealthy!Castiel, Protective Dean Winchester, Possessive Castiel (Supernatural), Angst with a Happy Ending, Strangers to Friends to Lovers, First Relationship, First Kiss, First Time, Explicit Sexual Content, Top Castiel/Bottom Dean Winchester, Very light dom!cas and sub!dean, Farewells, Death Threats, Minor Character Death, No one is a tribute, SPN MBB 2019, dean teaches cas how to dance, Dean cooks for Cas, swimming together, Cute date on the rooftop at sunset Summary:

In the Capitol of Panem, Dean Winchester, best baker from District Four, leads an unfortunate life to provide money for his father John and uncle Bobby back home.

At Reaping Day, once more Dean is forced to revisit the memories of his brother Sam, who he hasn't seen in almost ten years, and he attends one of the Capitol’s fancy parties in hope of using alcohol to cope and forget. What Dean least expected from that night was to meet the owner of a pair of captivating bright blue eyes belonging to Castiel Edlund, a man from the Capitol who despises the Hunger Games as much as him.

Against all odds, friendship and love bloom amidst the threat of war. When the Mockingjay rises, the Revolution wreaks havoc across the nation, threatening everything Dean holds dear.

2 notes • Posted 2021-04-04 22:35:17 GMT

#4

Always Winter, Baby turned 10 today!

3 notes • Posted 2021-07-08 14:21:17 GMT

#3

With horror I realized I was about to sneeze and I had a cup full of hot coffee in hand but nowhere near to put it on.

7 notes • Posted 2021-04-03 11:44:32 GMT

#2

"What?

Steve McGarrett is clearly confused. He knows that and he hopes Kono notices it and just drop the subject. He usually doesn't think much if he is showing his emotions in the right way or not, but it feels important right now. Unfortunately Kono seems to ignore his expressions and keeps waiting for the answer.

"It's not a complicated question, boss."

I know, it's just that... Where did this come from?"

Kono, who is staring her boss from across his table, changes her weight to the other leg before answering his question. "Well, it looks like it."

A laughter skips from Steve's mouth. "It looks like that I'm in love with Danno, you say?"

Kono sighed because doesn't want to discuss that if Steve doesn't what to take it seriously. She steps out his office, when she doesn get an answer, but McGarrett goes after her. He reaches her halfway to her office and when he speaks his voices echoes thorugh the empty headquarters.

"Hey Kono, Kono. What's wrong?"

"It's just that you two are just stupid"

"Wait a minute let's talk this through. Why do you think I'm in love with Danny?".

"First because you say it all the time. Second because everybody can see it"

"What do you mean everybody?" Now Kono has Steve's full attention. "Everyone thinks I'm in love with Danno?"

Kono simply nods.

"Well, I'm not. I love him as my best bro, my partner, and that's it. I don't know where you see more than that"

Again Kono nods. Just nods.

But there's also that look and Steve knows she is agreeing because she doesn't want to argue and not because she actually agrees with what was said. "Ok boss, if you say so. Jus drop it. See you tomorrow, okay?"

[not finished. this was just something I started and was sitting in the drafts for like two years.

Ps: of course steve loves danny]

9 notes • Posted 2021-04-13 18:54:19 GMT

#1

I'll make an effort to queue things and tag stuff... So basically:

Main tags (might edit)

Queued my mind (queued stuff)

Bea talks (personal stuff)

Destiel (Dean and Castiel as a couple)

Cas (Castiel solo)

Dean (Dean Winchester solo)

SPN (general supernatural stuff)

Bucky (Bucky Barnes)

Stucky (Steve and Bucky as a couple)

Louis (Louis Tomlinson solo)

About writing

About reading

Animals

Random Stuff (memes, facts, curiosity)

There will be other and I'll try to tag them accordingly but I think these are the main ones. Thank you and I love you all.

Ps. I might ramble in the tags because I enjoy it.

10 notes • Posted 2021-08-06 13:18:41 GMT

Get your Tumblr 2021 Year in Review →

[mischief-and-tea-by-the-sea]

First Lines

Rules: list the first line of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). see if there are any patterns, choose your favorite opening line, and then tag 10 of your favorite authors!

Tagged by @mcfiddlestan  Thanks for the tag!

20. Don’t you draw the queen of diamonds (She’ll beat you if she’s able)

Scott Summers/Logan; Words:3914

"I can't believe you're making me do this, Emma."

Scott held the cellphone to his ear with one bare shoulder and stared at himself in the mirror.  He tried to adjust what he was wearing.  What little he was wearing, and he wrinkled his nose at his reflection.

19. The spheres are in commotion

Bruce Banner/Jane Foster, post-Endgame.  Words: 2526

Tony's words echoed in Bruce's head, so much so that he nearly fucked up the experiment he was running with two very volatile chemicals that would've destroyed the freshly rebuilt Avengers base.

18. They Bid Me Take My Place Among Them

Loki + Tony Stark, post-Endgame AU, pre-Valhalla ship. Words: 2293

Tony screamed as the pain of a million suns flayed his right arm and side of his face.

17. She told me to come, but I was already there

Emma Frost/Tony Stark.  Words: 1488

"With this ring, I thee wed.  I, Emma Grace Frost, take you, Anthony Edward Stark to be my husband, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, until death parts us."  

16. Take me with all of my beautiful scars

Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes. Post-Civil War (MCU), pre-cryo Bucky. Wakanda. Words: 817 

He slept most of the way from Siberia to Wakanda, but T'Challa nudged him awake for the view of sunrise over paradise.

15. The indefinite unshapen dawn with vacant gloaming

Loki/Tony Stark. Post-Endgame AU.  Words: 1370

All around the battlefield, the wounded were tended to.

14. Yet what can I give him, give my heart

Scott Summers/Logan.  Words: 3470

He came up to his lonely cabin in the middle of nowhere to get away from the after-holiday fuss.

13. And white the fading forests grow

Emma Frost/Loki/Tony Stark, Kate Pryde/Danni (tattoo artist from the comic, I named her because the comic didn’t), Bobby Drake/Christian Frost.  Words: 2643

If anyone had told Kate Pryde years ago that she'd wind up spending a whole holiday season at a quaint little (little being relative) cabin in the New England wilderness instead of the Xavier School or any other large gathering of mutants, she'd have laughed them right out of her face.

12. Now is the Winter of Our Discontent Made Glorious

Loki/Tony Stark.  No powers, college AU.  Words: 12510 (technically posting two lines of this one because the first is short dialogue.)

"Wanna listen to something else?"

Tony glanced over at his passenger.  He couldn't tell if Loki was bored or depressed or just lost in thought, but the screen on his tablet hadn't changed from the same page he'd been 'reading' for the last hour.

11. I know you’ll be a star In somebody else’s sky

Scott Summers/Logan, Emma Frost/Scott Summers.  Words: 482

Scott let out a soft moan when Logan's mouth crushed onto his.

10. Seemed like he knew me, he looked right through me

Loki + Tony Stark. Post-Infinity War AU. Words: 1296

It took months before Tony was well enough to leave the Avengers facility he'd built for a team he'd stopped 'consulting' for after Steve went rogue and disappeared.

9. All the losing and the knowing

Loki + Thor. Thor: Ragnarok canon divergent. Words: 542

The third time Thor's fist connected with his face, Loki heard the crunch of his nose.

8. Ghost of a Chance

Steve Rogers/Bucky Barnes, Steve Rogers/Peggy Carter, Bucky Barnes + Peggy Carter.  Words: 1341

Scratchy tunes faded in and out from the radio in the training facility.

7. Behind Blue Eyes

Loki/Emma Frost; Loki/Tony Stark, Emma Frost/Scott Summers. Canon divergent comic’verse, involves shapechanging and mind-bending.  Words: 19142

Emma hissed as the cup burned her bottom lip, and she set it down with a scowl.

6. Supernaut

Loki + Tony Stark.  Post-Infinity War, pre-Endgame AU. Words: 2553

Whatever pieces of Loki were left in the wreckage of The Statesman were intact enough that healing from death...again...took only as long as Thanos' snap that ended half of all life across the known universe.

5. We Were Never Boy Scouts

Loki/Steve Rogers. Canon divergent, post-Civil War. Words: 5319

*

A frost giant and a once-frozen centenarian walk into a bar...

*

That's where the joke ends.  That bar isn't really a bar.  It's the middle of nowhere in the North Siberian Lowland, and there isn't a structure or building or person in sight.

4. Far away you were made in a sea just like me Part 1 of Hemispheres

Loki/Tony Stark. Canon divergent, alternate reality.  Words: 6730

It was the gray light that gently tugged him from sleep.

3. A spirit with a vision (Is a dream with a mission) Part 2 of Hemispheres

Loki/Tony Stark. Canon divergent, actual reality. Slow burn.  Words: 41901 (WIP)

"Tony, this is madness."

Tony finished his third cup of coffee and poured another for himself.

2. A Warrior’s Wound

Kurt Wagner/James Howlett (Logan).  Words: 596

In the near-two centuries since he’d been alive, Logan had been stabbed, sliced, gutted, burned, shot, survived grenades, canons, arrows, magic, inter-dimensional weaponry, Dracula’s bite, Sabertooth’s claws, Hulk’s smash, Black Widow’s knives, Cyclops’ eye-blast, Jean’s mind-punches, Hank eating his leg, Remy’s flying sparky cards, Rogue’s touch, Emma’s diamond slaps, Reed’s rubbery choke-holds, S.H.I.E.L.D removing his head, Mystique’s...everything, and sometimes, his own clumsiness.  

1. Hey Jealousy

Loki/Tony Stark, but...not exactly.  Loki’s jealous that Bruce has gotten into Tony’s pants.  Thor: Ragnarok, canon...tweaked.  Words: 1011

“Surpriiiiiise.”

Okay, seriously MY first line for this is: 

Before they split up to take care of their escape plans, Bruce tugs at the crotch of the pants again.

I’m not sure what patterns I have here other than maybe starting a fic with dialogue or starting with something short and punchy.  

Tagging: @scottxlogan @izhunny @kleenexwoman @iamanartichoke @mistressofmuses @stephrc79 @elvenferretots @oceanplait @gold-from-straw @gaslightgallows 

[elevenspond]

it’s absolutely staggering how many people insist amy pond and clara oswald are nothing more than idealized caricatures while in the same breath claim rose tyler and donna noble are the most relatable companions in doctor who. if you ask me, amy and clara are two of the most realistic female characters i’ve ever seen in fiction.

let’s start with amy. in season 5, one of the central difficulties she has to overcome is her fear of commitment to rory and her initial reluctance to get married. a fear of commitment in fiction is usually portrayed in male characters despite it being common in reality across all genders, and it doesn’t come from a lack of love for the other person. amy experiences a fear of devoting herself fully to someone after all of the abandonment she suffered throughout her childhood (parents that were mysteriously never around, the doctor leaving her waiting, etc). but she overcomes this fear after being confronted directly with the loss of rory and finishes the season happily wedded to him. she faces realistic, internal challenges in her life and conquers them over the course of her own character arc. amy does this again in season 6, when she has to face the fact that the doctor is not the fairytale hero she’s seen him as ever since she was a child; that he won’t always be able to save her, and that he is as imperfect and vain as anyone else. and although it’s heartbreaking, amy accepts this about him and moves on from her own idolization of him. this arc of her character represents the moment we all experience when we stop seeing the world through the eyes of our childhood selves and realize its imperfections, as well as the moment when we learn to accept those imperfections for what they are. after this, in season 7, amy is ready to move on from a life of adventuring with the doctor to a life of normalcy with her husband. an ordinary lifestyle may not seem appealing to many of us, but to most people on this earth, it’s all we will ever have, and amy’s development into someone who can leave behind her childhood fairytale in order to live out normal days with the person she loves--- it’s so applicable to real life, and quite frankly, so inspirational.

now, on to clara, whose arcs are a bit in the reverse order of amy’s. when we first meet clara oswald in season 7, she’s an ordinary young woman who is swept away into adventures across time and space with the doctor. she’s witty, clever, bossy, confident, and wholly unique as an individual, and despite all of that, so much of clara remains ordinary. in season 8, she works as a school teacher, one of the most mundane (yet extremely important) jobs in the world, and she falls in love with a fellow teacher. she balances a life of traveling with the doctor with an exceedingly ordinary life. “normal is overrated” she says, but the fact remains that she’s still an ordinary woman even while being so clever and brilliant, and her arc in season 8 is about clara accepting that she can do ordinary things while still being extraordinary, which is honestly so inspirational.  then comes season 9, and therein lies the tragedy of her character. clara has suffered a personal loss of incredible magnitude in danny pink’s death, severing the strongest tie to her ordinary life, and in attempting to move on from her grief, she throws herself fully into her travels with the doctor. she becomes more reckless, more unafraid, more confident in her own dangerous choices and actions. it’s such a realistic way of dealing with, or in this case, suppressing immeasurable grief. not everyone reacts to loss this way, but many do, and for many, the reckless lifestyle they embrace in order to forget the pain is more destructive than the pain itself. and this is exactly what happens with clara. she continuously takes risks throughout season 9, always confident in her own ability to calculate the odds and pull through, until her overconfidence leads her to a risk that proves fatal. clara oswald is killed by the self-destructive way she dealt with her own grief. this is unbelievably realistic and tragic. it’s also something that, like amy’s fear of commitment, is an arc that’s usually only written for male characters. although the doctor manages to bring her back with a time stream loophole, her fate is sealed, and she’s forever destined to die in that moment of time. so she goes off into the universe in her own tardis, traveling through time and space, always running from her own fate, from her grief, from everything that will ever hurt, plunging herself into the ultimate distraction from all things ordinary, just like the doctor does. it’s a bittersweet ending for her arc, and it echoes something that is very real in a lot of people’s lives.

tldr: amy is relatable in the childlike wonder she retains and the way it’s consistently challenged; in the fear she feels toward devoting herself to others that is rooted in issues of abandonment; clara is relatable in the absolute normalcy of her life outside of the doctor; in the overwhelming grief she experiences over a loss and how she avoids that grief. they aren’t mere idealized caricatures. they are flawed, and they face distinct challenges in their own personal outlooks with arcs that give them proper resolutions, whether happy or sad, to these challenges.

now, let’s look at rose tyler and donna noble, the two companions people most often relate to.

rose is a completely regular teenage girl. her school grades were consistently average, she has no particular talents to speak of, she works in a shop, she has no future prospects for a better job or higher education, and nothing special has ever happened in her entire life. rose is the absolute peak of ordinary, which is why so many people relate to her. we could all easily fit ourselves into her shoes. i also like eating chips and am bored 24/7. but then the doctor whisks her away, and her life begins to revolve solely around him. this is where the relatability nose dives for me. we’re all searching for the escape that will let us ignore how boring or awful the world around us is for a little while, whether that’s music, books, a new fandom, anything at all. traveling with the doctor is rose’s permanent escape from her world. the thing is, this is never portrayed as anything but a good thing. the doctor is rose’s whole new life. she occasionally visits home, but it’s only a visit, nothing to indicate that life on earth is something she’ll ever want to dabble in again. she’s been completely liberated from all the troubles she once faced. i can’t relate to this at all, because there will never be anything that will whisk me away from needing a job, needing money, or needing an education. what rose experiences is a full blown pipe dream. yes, it’s fun to watch, and think about, and wish for, but it isn’t exactly relatable. rose is never portrayed as a character who is avoiding the challenges of regular life--- she’s just having a great time. even when she’s trapped in a parallel world, she doesn’t have to return to the mundane life she once knew. she works with torchwood and continues on in that same vein of alien threats, time and space, alternate dimensions, etc., where her brand new true potential thrives. she gets to focus on reuniting with the doctor, and the only challenge she faces is the actual act of crossing worlds, not any kind of personal challenge. one might say she has to deal with the difficulty of living on with a meta crisis clone of the doctor instead of the real doctor, but that’s a different rant. rose simply never had an overarching character development in which she could confront her own personal flaws, which is something that made amy and clara so relatable. she simply had a great time with a handsome doctor she fell in love with, and then circumstance pulled them apart.

now, for donna. i do love donna. i love the friendship she has with the doctor, but the foundation of her character is very similar to rose’s. donna is an incredibly average woman who has worked a series of temporary jobs, never feeling important, but always wanting more. it’s another character template we can all easily fit ourselves into. donna does have an arc where she confronts her own lack of self worth over the course of season 4, an arc that is met with her being told that she is the most important woman in all of creation. every companion has a title associated with them: amy is the girl who waited, clara is the impossible girl, martha is the woman who walked the earth, and donna noble is the most important woman in the universe. donna’s struggle with self worth is met with the fact that she is the most important woman in creation because she's the woman who saves all of reality from davros and the daleks, however this is where this arc still loses all trace of relatability for me. donna doesn’t become the most important woman in all of creation in light of her own ordinary qualities--- she only becomes this by becoming part time lord and, in her own words, by gaining “the mind” of the doctor. donna as herself already had great potential, but her arc of dealing with her own self worth is resolved by giving her the attributes of someone else, and only by happenstance. it’s played off as destiny or fate, but all she had to do was touch the hand and the meta crisis happened on its own. and yes, the narrative insists that it’s donna’s human traits that make her even more intelligent than the doctor when she’s part time lord, but the fact still remains that she required part of him to reach that potential at all. like rose being liberated entirely from her own boring life, this just isn’t realistic, and therefore isn’t relatable.

donna and rose are both people who need the doctor in their lives, and without him, they feel either worthless or as if their life has no meaning. contrarily, amy and clara develop themselves as characters who are able to exist separately from the doctor, who have their own personal conflicts apart from him and who forge lives outside of him. amy and clara are both involved in the overall stories that are led by the doctor, but they also both have internal struggles that are independent of him and are resolved as part of their own development, sometimes with his help but never because of him.

maybe someone out there reading this disagrees with me. but this is my observation after seeing so many people claim that amy pond and clara oswald are worse, less likable, and less relatable than rose tyler and donna noble.

(and if anyone is wondering why i didn’t talk about martha or bill, it’s because i don’t see anyone calling them either relatable or unrelatable. in fact i don’t see people really talk about them at all, which is an entire problem in and of itself, and is why i didn’t include that problem in this rant)

[clubofinfo]

Expert: Wealth maketh many friends; but the poor is separated from his neighbour. — Proverbs 19:4″ James “Mad Dog” Mattis spoke this week, at a pentagon press briefing, saying, among other things, that it was a time for all civilized nations to unite. The use of this trope ‘civilized’ echoes colonial sensibility. It is part of general shifting of meaning in the rhetoric of Empire over the last, say, 80 years. Never mind that the occasion of this speech, as seems increasingly the norm, was based on mostly propaganda. No evidence for a chemical attack was actually provided. Just as the evidence in the Skripal (attempted) murder (sic) is conspicuously lacking. This is a time when war criminals (unprosecuted, of course) can simply count on the utter amnesia of both the public and the quisling western press. So let’s go back and check a few boxes on Mattis. This is the man who oversaw the war crimes of Fallujah and then helped cover them up. One can read about it here… So how is it that Mattis can so confidently count on the silence and complicity of the corporate press? Mattis is no doubt sociopathic. He is a lizard eyed lisping sadist and yet he is fawned over and described as the ‘the most revered Marine in a generation’ by the same prostrate press. The adoration of the military in western media is at an all time high. And entertainment today is laden with the most jingoistic and nativist rhetoric imaginable. Hollywood today produces fiction that is uniform in its opinions and values. Watch this season of Designated Survivor. I know that is asking a lot, but do it anyway. Kiefer Sutherland is one of those actors who in middle age has begun to take on the tight lipped appearance of an aggrieved or constipated Quaker. The show is so stunningly reactionary that one finds some difficulty in arriving at the right words. But it is not an anomaly. Half of network prime time drama is military-based in theme. And today Hollywood staff writers can count on CIA or Pentagon “advisors” taking an active part in the creation of scripts. The blurring of fiction and Imperial fiction, as it were. There are ongoing themes in this Sutherland show about Russian interference in US democracy and most recently a story built around a tiny Asian nation with an insane dictatorial leader who wants nuclear weapons. The depictions of the Asian characters is only slightly less cartoon like than Charlie Chan. And always there are the requisite evil Muslim terrorist. But back to the disturbing figure of Jim Mattis. His call sign is “chaos”. He is reported to be worth in the neighborhood of five million dollars. This is an absurd low ball figure, but whatever. He is a graduate of Central Washington U. and something called the National Defense University. A quick iinternet search reveals this is a special educational institution on the grounds of Fort Leslie in DC and chartered by the Joint Chiefs. One does wonder what a typical class at NDU looks like. As for the “pacification” of Fallujah. Brett Wilkins wrote… According to witnesses and survivors of the assault, Marines indiscriminately killed men, women, children, the elderly and disabled alike. Civilians waving white flags of surrender were cut down by snipers, who also targeted ambulances carrying the wounded and dying to the few functioning clinics not destroyed by US bombs. “I see people carrying a white flag and yelling at us, saying, ‘We are here, just try to save us,’ but we could not save them because whenever we opened the ambulance door, the Americans would shoot at us,” Dr. Salam Ismael, head of Iraq’s young doctors association, told American investigative reporter Aaron Glantz, who covered the battle as an unembedded journalist. “We tried to carry food or water; the snipers shoot the containers of food. No civilizational norms violated there. Nope. Mattis also was the man who had all charges dropped against the soldiers that took part in the rampage at Haditha. Civilians shot point blank, often women and children, and the elderly — in their homes.  Callsign “Chaos”. Gary Kohls, MD, writing at Veterans Today…. Several of the PEOTUS’ cabinet appointees are high-ranking “lifer” military officers who have an innate disdain for democratic values (as would be expected for anybody whose career has been lived in the bubble of a hierarchical culture whose main junk values are 1) shoot first/ask questions later and 2) the use of dominative power over “enemies” via military violence. Kohls was primarily writing about Jim Mattis. But honestly, even a cursory examination of ANY four star General will yield similar biographical facts and similar personality disorders. You don’t rise through military ranks without a core ruthlessness, and an innate sadism. After the bombing of a wedding party in the Iraq desert, Mattis is quoted as saying… Ten miles from the Syrian border and 80 miles from the nearest city and a wedding party? Don’t be naïve. Plus they had 30 males of military age with them. How many people go to the middle of the desert to have a wedding party? The rank Orientalism of this comment, the arrogant indifference to the history and culture of Islam, to the Arab world in general, is also the hallmark of the successful military commander. Kill em all and let God sort it out. Of course, at the time of his nomination the NY Times published an op ed whose headline identified Mattis as a “pontential force for restraint”. That crazy old paper of record. And Mattis is routinely described as an intellectual, a ‘warrior monk’, and yet he doesn’t know anything of nomadic desert societies and culture. He didn’t even consider there might be a cultural gap here, or consider he might need to check alternative readings of the Muslim world, ones not provided for by that steller education at National Defense U. Mattis is not an intellectual, not even by the standards of that warped sub phylum of humanity that is the military. The media coverage of Syria, in the UK and US, is blatantly biased and pro intervention. The fact that FOX news reactionary Tucker Carlson is the sanest voice in mainstream media is very telling. Carlson hasn’t “woke”…. he just saw a niche demographic that might boost his ratings. Still…he was, in fact, correct. Danny Haiphong wrote… Tucker Carlson understands that he must appeal primarily to Republican voters weary of US interventions they see as products of Democratic Party-led wars even if establishment Republicans are no less hawkish than Democrats. Meanwhile, Goodman and her funders have subtly aligned with the Democrats as the new leaders of the War Party. War is the only tool at the disposal of imperialism, and there isn’t a single voice in Washington or the “liberal” media unwilling to use it. Under these conditions, infantile leftists and faux socialists in the Democratic Party camp have felt compelled to choose a side in the imperial madhouse. They claim that Democrats are “Presidential” while Putin and Assad are villains of humanity. No criticism is thrown at the Democratic Party, which sent a delegation led by Nancy Pelosi to Israel just days prior to the planned gun down of Palestinian resistance forces in Gaza. It doesn’t seem to matter how many Syrians or Palestinians are killed by the forces of imperialism when the so-called left is under the swoon of the CIA. So-called US leftists have caught anti-Putin fever at the expense of all other political questions. This includes the murder of Black people by the police in the US. Barely any attention was paid in the US to the murders of Stephon Clark and Saheed Vassell over the last few weeks. Only community members and the usual left organizations made any noise about these state-sanctioned murders. The same goes for Israel’s wonton massacre of participants in Gaza’s Great March for Return. In the absence of a mass movement, people in the US and West are becoming mere onlookers in a changing a world. This last few months has revealed as never before both the callous cruelty of the ruling class in the U.S. and UK, but also the degrading of education … for lack of a better description. At the UN, British envoy Karen Pierce, mistakenly thought Karl Marx was a Russian. In a prank phone call Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, thought there was a country called Binimo. And Trump himself noted something or other about an imaginary African country called Nambia. Boris Johnson began an extemporaneous recitation of a Kipling poem (Road to Mandalay) in a temple in Myanmar. And then was told it was inappropriate by an aid, trying to save him further embarrassment, and STILL Johnson didn’t understand. All of these examples are not mere gaffes, amusing mistakes, but rather a general indifference to the cultures of the world, in fact, an indifference to the world beyond their own small corner of it. Indifferent and hostile. Remember when George Bush, now in full rehabilitation mode by his media handlers, mocked Karla Faye Tucker, on death row, who was begging for her life. That is exactly the cruelty one sees across the board in the leaders of the West today. One wonders does Mattis or Bush or Bolton think the use of Agent Orange transgressed civilizational norms? Did Hiroshima? What strikes me most acutely, these last few months, is the extraordinary cultural chauvinism of the U.S., or rather mostly of white U.S., as well as an institutionalized orientalism. Most White Americans, as a general statement, think they are better than the rest of the world. And most Americans have scant knowledge about the rest of the world. So the belief in cultural (and moral) superiority is based on what? The answer is not simple, but as a general sort of response, this trust in “our” superiority is built on violence. On an ability to be effectively violent. Most British, too, think they are superior to those ‘wogs’ south of their emerald isle. But since the setting of the sun on Empire, ‘officially’, the British hold to both a sense of superiority and a deep panic inducing sense of inferiority — at least to their American cousins. They are still better than those fucking cheese eating frogs or the krauts or whoever, but they accept that the U.S. is the sort of heavyweight champ of the moment. Meanwhile, the tragic and criminal fire at Grenfell Towers in London elicited a public discourse that perfectly reflected the class inequality of the UK, but also reflected, again, the colonialist mentality of the ruling party and their constituency. Stephen Brenner wrote of the fire and the government response to it.. There is Sir Martin Moore-Bick,** the former High Court Judge, who has been appointed by May to head a board of inquiry. Fears of a protracted inquiry producing an anodyne report were aroused when Moore-Bick went out of his way to declare that the scope of the investigation would be severely limited to determining the immediate cause of the fire and why it spread so rapidly. Answers to both questions already are known. The Sir Inquisitor-to-be has given the game away in adding that “I do not expect everyone to be pleased by the conclusion of the inquiry” – yet to begin. Moore-Bick’s unprompted utterance shows just how pervasive is the Americanization of British political culture. Unnecessary, embarrassing ejaculations like this have become impulsive – defying the dictates of prudent restraint. No one is confused as to who the “everyone” he has in mind refers to. An impression reinforced by the denial of the residents’ right to ask questions in person as to the scope and form of the inquiry. The only open question is the exact tint that the whitewash will take (stitch-up in British dialect). The first testimony will not be heard until mid-September when panel members, as yet unnamed, get back from their holidays. Graham Peebles adds… Grenfell Tower forms part of the Lancaster Road West Estate in Notting Hill Gate. An area that, like many other parts of the capital, has been subjected to a gentrification assault accompanied by systematic social cleansing that goes back decades and has intensified over the last 10 –15 years. In addition, the Grenfell affair demonstrates that the United States is not alone in its tolerance for actions that should be a national disgrace but are slighted by a political class incapable of feeling shame. The callous, off-hand treatment given the Grenfell victims is reminiscent of how colonial administrators dealt with expendable natives. If a proper criminal process were undertaken, a reasonable verdict would be Involuntary Manslaughter. But that is exactly it. The colonial template is one etched in acid in the collective imagination of the West. At least the English speaking West. Expendable natives…which is what Jim Mattis sees everywhere that he dumps depleted Unranium and Willy Pete. It is what Madelaine Albright saw in Iraq or Hillary Clinton in Libya or Barack Obama in Sudan, Yemen, and…well… four or five other countries. It is what most U.S. police departments see in neighborhoods ravaged by poverty. As in those old Tarzan films, when the sound of drums is heard, the pith helmeted white man notes…”the natives are restless tonight”. When one discusses Syria, the most acute topic this week, remember that for Mad Dog and Boss Trump, or for the loopy John Bolton, these are just natives in need of pacification. Giving money to ISIS or Daesh, or whoever, as a cynical expression of colonial real politik, is nothing out of the ordinary. It is what the UK and US have done for a long while. It’s Ramar of Jungle handing out beads to the *natives*. Domestically, take the example of Flint, Michigan. At the drinking water. When the unelected state appointed emergency manager switched from the Detroit River to the Flint River to supply water to the residents of Flint, the result was a spike in all diseases of insanitation. Everyone knew this was going to happen. The General Motors plant had stopped using Flint River water because it was corrosive to the auto parts they were manufacturing. But poor black kids, who cares. The U.S. has a long history of such stuff, from Love Canal, New York, to the chemical dump in the Elk River in West Virginia. You will notice a theme here. It is class. You don’t find ash spills like what happened near the Emery River in Tennessee occurring in Mill Valley or Scarsdale or Bel Air. Inflicting suffering on the poor is perfectly acceptable to the ruling class. To them, privilege is a sign of superiority. And the less deserving are only there to serve. The problem with the current wave of propaganda from western sources is that very little, if any, evidence is given. The term ‘very likely’ is much in vogue, probably because it leaves such a huge ‘walk it back’ escape route. Except there is less and less effort to even bother. In one sense the solidification of class power came out of neoliberal policies in the 1970s. The top 1% (really, the top half of one percent) increased their wealth dramatically, with the same occurring in the UK. Clinton pushed these principles even further and then Bush and Blair further still. We are now living the dream of the Washington Consensus economists. And it worth noting the founding statement of Hayak’s Mt. Pelerin Society, in 1947. For Hayak was the godfather of neoliberalism and Milton Freidman his heir. The central values of civilization are in danger. Over large stretches of the earth’s surface the essential conditions of human dignity and freedom have already disappeared. There is that word again. Of course, this was really only justification for the 1% to expand the reach of Western capital. To exploit labor and extract resources. And when recalcitrant countries did not submit quickly enough, the CIA was always available (ask Iran, or Chile, or Angola. The latter more of a symbolic lesson for those uppity nations even thinking about not following orders. It also marked open U.S. cooperation with apartheid South Africa. And in opposition to the troops Castro sent to assist the MPLA opposition to the ruthless US supported Jonas Savimbi). This restoration of ruling class power, though, was and is always looking over its shoulder. For the reality is that such profound inequality means life becomes unsustainable, even for the top 0.1% is repressed. And such repression takes effort. And that effort is giving birth to the madness one sees today. From Grenfell Tower to Flint Michigan, to Gaza or Libya or Syria — the principles driving the violence are the same. And it matters not if the urbane and articulate Obama is President, or if the troglodyte Trump, if it is Blair or May, for they are only reciting from a small financial Catechism of financial laws, and these laws are breaking down in the face of environmental degradation and an inequality so extreme that its almost impervious to calculation. They are only the voice of their class. This idea of civilized man has come to be an almost code-word for class hierarchy. The violence against Palestinians is simply inseparable from the violence that killed Stephon Clark. The violence that makes children sick in Michigan is the same one that causes oil spills or disasters such as the Lac-Mégantic train crash near Quebec, Canada. And, it is the same bigoted smug confidence of bourgeoise identity political thinking. The one that demands Islam rid itself of veils, or that ridicules ANY thinking or practice divergent from Western norms. You cannot expect the system to produce change if the system is based on punishing change. The status quo must be protected. For the ownership class world poverty is mostly the fault of the poor. The admission that neoliberalism has failed in terms of its announced goals has forced its proponents to a tactical retreat—defending the broad thrust of the neoliberal policy agenda under cover of “reform.” The result is an augmented Washington Consensus that blames client states and not international institutions or transnational capital for the failures of neoliberalism. It is the poor who are expected to make still further adjustments along neoliberal lines. From this point of view, what comes after neoliberalism must be more neoliberalism. — William K. Tabb, “After Neoliberalism“, Monthly Review, June 1, 2003. This idea of civilizational norms is connected to a deeply rooted assumption about the virtue of Democracy. Israel is described as Democratic but Cuba is not, for example. The reality, of course, is that the CIA and US ruling class spend most of their energy in deterring democracy (to quote Chomsky). Any real discussion of democracy needs to be extended beyond the undemocratic nature of the global economic institutions to a larger discussion of democracy, one that goes beyond whether votes are counted fairly, opposition candidates allowed to participate on an equal basis, and the voices of ordinary people heard by their elected leaders. Democracy needs finally to be discussed in relation to class rule in capitalist societies. — William T. Kabb, “After Neoliberalism“, Monthly Review, June 1, 2003. As Samir Amin pointed out, the “international community” (the G7 plus that bastion of democracy, Saudi Arabia) is utterly unconcerned with the opinions of 85% of the world’s population. So, both on a political/economic level, and on a cultural level, the Imperialist U.S. sees it as an innate right to decide the policies of the global south. It is anti democratic. The ruling class sees the right to enforce inequality as something of a Natural law. The anti Russian propaganda was born when Putin refused to sign off on the Nazi putsch in Ukraine. The US/Japan/NATO alliance is one that demands both economic submission and increasingly a cultural submission as well. And any rejection of this means a military forced submission. Democracy has come to be a shorthand for submission to neo-liberal economic policy dictated by Washington. Freedom is what happens after *we* destroy your country. That Mattis or May or various other servants of Empire can talk of civilzational norms with a straight face is actually pretty remarkable. The list of crimes is so extensive that one barely knows where to begin. We could ask about Gary Webb and cocaine and the CIA. Or about the School of the Americas, or My Lai or the siege at Waco. Or….but I feel this stuff really should be well known by now. I am more concerned in a sense with the small cultural appropriations and the gestures of an Orientalist sensibility that I see almost daily in western media. And the growing anti-semitism which one finds even on the left. And the seemingly intractable racism of white America. I just stop having the ability to keep track of it all. How can the white bourgeoisie demand adherence to their values with such tenacity? Do they really see themselves as somehow representative of some ideal? Tolerance means only adherence to their worldview. To their values. It is this nattering about ecological issues while never questioning the US military machine. But these refrains seem to stick in the collective consciousness of the west…”gas your own people” is one. As if gassing someone else were less objectionable. It is a media universe of entrenched meaningless slogans. It always reminds me of the outcry about steroid abuse. Maybe ask why big Pharma manufacture so many steroids. The medical uses for which are very limited. But no, it is easier to punish this or that athlete who in their desperation is looking for an edge, a way to reach that economic pinnacle so few reach. But question Eli Lilly? Never. The ruling class has always made money, always been ruthless, but again, the 1970s marked the solidification of systematic plunder, a cohesive and seamless river of money upwards. And enforced by the CIA. One should not forget that the CIA was founded by rich white ruling class scions of banking and finance. Allan Dullus, straight out of Wall Street, William Simon, Richard Mellon Scaife, Frank Shakespeare, and Bill Donovan. I mean the CIA calls itself “the Company”…bit of a tip off, that. If one struggles to grasp foreign policy decisions, always look at US business interests in the region. Remember these are ruthless people (MK ULTRA, Operation Mockingbird, etc). And the media was always part of this. The Graham family of Washington Post fame were directly linked to the CIA. William Paley, Henry Luce, Arthur Hays Sulzberger, and hundreds other are all intimate with the CIA. And it is no different now. It was the Clinton cartel that spent inordinate energy and time infiltrating Hollywood. The result is House of Cards, Homeland, Designated Survivor, and all the countless rest. Uniformity of message. Uniformity of values. I do wonder at times the role of Evangelical Christianity as it runs smack into the Catholic stake-outs in the corridors of power. Perhaps they cooperate, I don’t know. Religion is second to money, anyway. And then there is the role of Israel, that anti democratic neo colonial apartheid state in the Middle East. The ascension of the settler fanatic mirrors the ascension of Dominionists in the current US government. Fanatical zealots. Intolerant and profoundly ignorant of most things outside of their narrow set of concerns. And again, anti democratic. Israel serves the U.S. ruling class, not the other way round. There is no global Jewish plot as I keep reading in social media. The feeding of this bit of classic antisemitism is probably sourced by Israel itself. Nothing serves their PR better than spikes in antisemitism. But Israel is, for sure, more powerful than ever before. More influential. There is, best case scenario, a new Cold War in place. Worst case scenario, well, doesn’t matter. The real danger is the generalized ignorance now on display. Ruthless and sadistic one can predict, but irrational zealotry and stupidity…that is harder to deal with. And this is for certain the Age of Stupid. As for civilization, I’m coming to think we might well do fine without it. http://clubof.info/

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Science Fiction New Release Roundup – 17 Feb 2018

This week’s roundup of the newest stories in science fiction features robot geneticists bringing humanity back from extinction, serendipitous discoveries, space-fairing demon hunters, and the return of The Four Horsemen Cycle’s Jim Cartwright–and his giant mech.

The Abyss of Savagery (The Wolfpack #5) – Toby Neighbors

The Amazing Conclusion To The Wolfpack Series

The humans have won their first victory against the Kroll empire, but it wasn’t without great cost and sacrifice. Captain Dean Blaze of the Wolfpack Recon Platoon has captured three Kroll vessels and will take them back to Earth as ordered, but what kind of reception will he find? Many people believe that humanity should turn a blind eye to the predatory Kroll, even sacrificing human held colonies in order to consolidate the strength of the Extra Solar Defense Force around Earth. There are rumors of power struggles, hints of mutiny, and threats on every side. If the human race is going to take the fight to their new enemy, it will be up to Captain Dean Blaze and the other officers who have fought the savage Kroll to convince the rest of EsDef that the time to act is now.

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The Battle for Lashmere (A Faded Star #3) – Michael Freeport

A forgotten colony of humans live on a water world circling a tiny, faded star on the edge of the galaxy. With the aid of the mysteries of the origin tablet, they discover the true origins of their colony. These may be the last humans in the universe. Can they survive against their ancient enemy? Their only choice is to embrace an unknown past and fight with everything they have.

Admiral Stokes’ forces are scattered and beleaguered with no safe haven. The forces of the Woduur have decisively defeated the Lashmere Navy and invaded Lashmere itself. Humans are on the verge of defeat. Their only hope lies in the ancient ship, held by an alien race that may want them all dead.

“Action, adventure and aliens, what more do you want out of a classic science fiction story?” – Amazon Reader Review

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CASPer Alamo (The Four Horsemen Cycle #9) – Eric S. Brown and Jason Brannon

CASPers—Combat Assault Systems, Personal—are the lords of the future battlefield. The massive mechs were created to give humanity an edge against the rest of the mercenary forces in the Galactic Union.

Just like today’s tanks, though, massive amounts of armor and weaponry just make the CASPers “hard to kill,” not “invulnerable.” There are things in the galaxy even stronger than the CASPer, and when Humans run up against them, it’s up to the Human inside to figure out a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

CASPer Alamo includes two new stories by Eric S. Brown and Jason Brannon, loosely recreating the Battles of the Alamo and Isandlwana on a galactic scale. When all seems lost, it’s up to the mech operator to save the day!

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An Echo of Earth (Children of Earthrise #3) – Daniel Arenson

We are the last humans. We are hunted. We are refugees. We must return to Earth.

The alien scorpions attack us across the galaxy. They butcher millions. Humans are now an endangered species.

But we have not given up.

We still have a few starships. We still have some hope. And we have a map home.

On Earth, we can be free again. On Earth, we can stand tall. On Earth, we can rebuild what we have lost.

Earth is but an echo, calling from beyond the darkness. We will answer her call. We will find our lost world. We will defeat our enemies. We will rise again!

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Engineered Tyrant (Robot Geneticists #5) – J. S. Morin

Those who learn history can doom others to repeat it.

A new generation of humans has entered adulthood. Raised by robots, these freshly minted citizens of Earth struggle to fit into a society that has gotten by without them for a thousand years. Until Alex Truman shows them a new path. Raised by Charlie7 and cloned from the original Charles Truman, Alex feels that it’s his right to rule mankind. With the entirety of human history as his guide, he learns from the successes and failures of the Human Era and puts them to use against a society that’s completely unprepared to oppose him. Who can stand up to this budding tyranny? Abby Fourteen asks that very same question and comes up with just one answer: her.

For fans of old-school science fiction where robots are people and any problem can be solved (or created) with enough scientists. If you’ve ever wondered what the world would be like if scientists who’d read I, Robot created a race of robots, or if you ever wondered what might be more dangerous to clone than dinosaurs, this is the series for you.

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Karma Upsilon 4 (The Four Horsemen: Jim Cartwright at Large #1) – Mark Wandrey

Jim Cartwright is commander of Cartwright’s Cavaliers, one of Earth’s storied Four Horsemen mercenary companies. He’s not your typical merc commander. He’s overweight and, at 20 years old, he’s the youngest person to ever take the reins. After a series of successful contracts, though, Jim’s brought the Cavaliers back from the brink of financial ruin.

Having discovered a functioning Raknar—a 20,000-year-old, 100-foot-tall war machine left from another era—Jim was able to use it to win a decisive battle. But now Jim wants more. Lots more.

He knows there must be more Raknar out in the galaxy, and he’s determined to find them. Follow along with Jim and his partner, Splunk, a member of the enigmatic race known as Fae, as they search the galaxy for more Raknar. Before it’s too late

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The Last City: a Dust Anthology – presented by Dust Publishing

Twelve outstanding authors come together to bring life to The Last City, a shared-universe anthology from Dust Publishing.

The City, built upon an asteroid, is the last stronghold of humanity in a star system ravaged by a long-ago war. Now, centuries after the apocalyptic conflict, the City thrives — a utopia for the rich, built on the labours of the poor.

From the home of five million souls come twelve stories of adventure, love and loss. Take a leap with Tinashe Arcaid, super-rich brat who thinks adventure is a trip to the dangerous lower levels; crawl through tunnels with Chthenia, a child ‘apprenticed’ to a scavenger who dwells deep beneath the City; or have a drink with Sam Nero, private investigator, dealing with gangsters on the mean streets.

Life in the City can be harsh, but the alternatives are far worse.

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Neither Here nor There – Mackey Chandler

So many scientific discoveries have been serendipity rather than a goal to which someone worked as a logical progression. Instead, it was a spill or a misplaced item.

An ingredient measured out in error or from the wrong bottle. Often, a mistake over which someone was bright enough or curious enough to say: “Oops, but that’s interesting, isn’t it?” Uranium ore left next to photo plates, adhesive that wasn’t as permanent as hoped for, but still usefully tacky, or foreign growths in a Petri dish acting strangely…

A major revelation could be a blessing indeed, or if it was big enough to be a life changing development, one might have a tiger by the tail. Wouldn’t that be interesting?

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Neutron Dragon Attack (Galactic Demon Hunters #2) – Aaron Crash

Hell-spawned dragons, a haunted planet, and an unstoppable ancient evil…

After defeating the archduke of necrotechnology, Blaze Ramirez and the crew of the Lizzie Borden are still on the run, wanted dead or alive by the Interstellar Presidential Corporation. Despite their problems with the law, the demon hunters have never been closer to destroying the Onyx Gate and freeing the universe from its evil.

However, the one person in the galaxy who might know the location of the gate is trapped on a haunted planet, doomed to die as its two stars collide. And standing between Blaze and his mysterious quarry is an army of the walking dead, vicious specters, and a clan of psychotic clown-worshipping cannibals. A galactic demon hunter’s job is never done.

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Pride of the Fleet (The Ixian Legacy #2) – Scott Bartlett

The Galaxy’s Never Had It Darker.

Armed with new tech that could revolutionize space combat, Captain Husher must now try to convince the Interstellar Union to implement it in time to defend against the godlike Progenitors.

When a new alien ally shows up in the galaxy, it’s a mixed blessing. Their military might could prove a boon to the war effort, but what secrets lurk in their past, and how might they shape galactic society for centuries to come?

It’s a lot for one supercarrier captain to contend with, especially when tensions are escalating aboard the IGS Vesta herself.

Husher can only stand on his well-worn principles:

Do right by his crew. Do right by the galaxy, even when the galaxy fights him every step of the way.

If death comes anyway, make it an honorable one, and make it count.

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Scimitar’s Glory (Swordships Odyssey #1) – Dietmar Arthur Wehr

Human-explored space lies between two alien races, the Tong (definitely hostile) and the Jabs, who might be. The Treaty Organization Space Force (TOSF) is feverishly trying to build up a big enough force to defend against the Tongs while keeping an eye on the Jabs..

7th Fleet discovers that one of those races is moving to attack. In a moment of panic, the commanding admiral orders the fleet to attempt a risky jump through hyperspace. They miss hitting their target star’s gravity well and end up deep in unexplored space with a shockingly long trip home and not nearly enough food to last that long. With war now raging in their home systems, the officers of 7th Fleet must find a way to put aside their egos, ambitions and fears in order to make it back, and they know that not all of them will.

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World of Hurt (Mech Command #2) – George S. Mahaffrey, Jr.

Time to take out the galactic trash.

Danny came, he competed, and he conquered.

Now a member of the Icarus Project’s elite mech operations team, Danny is tossed out of the frying pan and into the fire in WORLD OF HURT: MECH COMMAND BOOK 2.

Not only does he battle bands of rogue aliens and ginormous extraterrestrial fighting mechs in the desert and out on the ice, but he also uncovers evidence that forces him to question everything he thought he knew about the man who brought him into the shadowy Icarus Project, former billionaire technologist Jonas Xavier Vidmark.

Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, Danny also finds himself snared in a love triangle, while discovering that another alien invasion is likely just around the corner.

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Planetary: Venus (Planetary Anthologies #2) – presented by Superversive Press

Venus, the second planet from the sun, a world of sulfurous gas and tremendous temperatures where the landscape features—mountains and valleys—are all named for love goddesses. Venus herself is the goddess most known for allure and romance.

Here are twenty stories featuring Venus, the planet, the goddess, or just plain love—both romantic and otherwise. Planetary Fiction explores the themes associated with these heavenly bodies as well as their astronomical, mythological, and in some cases even alchemical significance.

Science Fiction New Release Roundup – 17 Feb 2018 published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames