#FSG Originals

[esonetwork]

'Back To The Dirt' Book Review By Ron Fortier

New Post has been published on https://esonetwork.com/back-to-the-dirt-book-review-by-ron-fortier/

'Back To The Dirt' Book Review By Ron Fortier

BACK TO THE DIRT By Frank Bill FSG Originals 307 pgs

In his afterword, author Frank Bill tells us his father served in Vietnam from December of 1967 to Jan of 1969 as a Marine. We mention this reviewer was in-country between the summer of 67 and summer of 68. We were one of thousands of American that served there. For reasons we won’t get into, we generally don’t read books involving that war. Why we opted to look at this one was the slant it employed dealing primarily with the lasting affects of that conflict on the book’s protagonist thirty years later.

Miles Knox is a pragmatic middle aged veteran working a tough, dirty factory job. Since his days his Vietnam, his life has been filled with drugs, booze and merely finding a way to get by day by day. Eventually, he becomes involved with a beautiful young stripper working at a local men’s club. Though young enough to be his daughter, Shelby has suffered own hardship being abandoned by the mother and raised by an abusive father who is also a vet, but one totally twisted by his combat experience. Somehow Miles and Shelby find mutual solace together.

When her younger brother, Wylie, while strung out on drugs, murders his suppliers, a young married couple, all hell breaks loose. The couple’s young son, Shadrack, escapes and flees to the safety of his uncle, Nathaniel Timberlake, a former police officer. Enraged by the death of his brother and sister-in-law, Nathaniel, with the boy in tow, sets out to find Wylie and deliver his own vengeful justice. At the same time, Miles can’t find Shelby and becomes worried something bad has befallen her.

As the night wears on, both he and Nathaniel’s paths crisscross. When they finally meet and join forces, the true horror of what they uncover far surpasses even their worst imaginings.

Frank Bill is a terrific writer with so much courage and integrity he portrays the fragility of life with all its blessings and curses. His sensitivity is palpable in his characters and by then story’s conclusion, one is left emotional spent. “Back to the Dirt” is a brilliant work of reality…disguised as fiction. Don’t miss it.

[skeletonlvr22]

Hello! here with a question! Do the skeletons and monsters in general have any heighten senses like smell, sight, hearing, etc.

Also yoummention in the fic how Coffee was able to see Willa shake her head in the dark when she spent the night over, does that mean skeletons and again monsters in gen e al can see in the dark?

Hey!!

Yeah, they can! The general populous of monsters can see passibly well in the dark (apart from a few subspecies), but that's mostly because, well. Cave.

Different subspecies have different heightened senses! As an example, the skeletons are particularly adept with smell and hearing, while their eyesight would be mostly on par with a human's (other than the whole seeing in the dark thing, lol).

In contrast, Undyne has creepily good eyesight (for someone with only one eye) and pretty good hearing, too. However, she (and her entire subspecies) can't really smell much at all.

She just wasn't built for it. Her magic (and her ancestors' magic) never evolved the ability to be able to, so she can't.

I hope that answers your question!

Thank you for asking it 🧡🧡🧡

[dk-thrive]

After some time my husband reached over to hold my hand, which reminded me that at least there was this, at least we still had hands that remembered how to love each other, two bone-and-flesh flaps that hadn't complicated their simple love by speaking or thinking or being disappointed or having memories. They just held and were held and that is all. Oh, to be a hand.

— Catherine Lacey, Nobody Is Ever Missing (FSG Originals, July 8, 2014)

[arn359]

I got too hype and read all the Fellswap Gold setting from the blog @/fsg-settings and i want ppl to get my hype too. So here a doc. I collected and used translator on all the post except their first post. ((Other FSG settings existed in @/blackggggum @/fellswap-gold , please check those first as it’s more clear.))

⚠️ !!! | It just pure machine translated. Don’t hold it at heart. I don't have time to edit anything. You may see some shocking information in the doc, some may be error due to translation. Or some may be true. Please calm down and double check by yourself.

⚠️ FSG is a horrible world and have many trigger stuff if you wanna know what TW they have i listed it under the cut, but i may not covered all the TW as i am lacked some understanding.

I also put the links to original post, please check it as some of the original post have pictures too. Go go see baby Wine.

** there’s also some differences in the early setting and new setting in 2023, i would appreciate if you read it all before any further judgement.

I wish to get it translate properly later, whether getting help from my friends or pay someone for it. I just don’t have time right now.

Also i want to read 1984 novel by George Orwell first. I wanna gathers references from the novel that got put into FSG. So it might take some time.

I love FSG so much, thank you the creator for this AU!

TW & CW :

mention of suicide attempts, self harm, incest as in political marriages, homophobia, Toxic masculinity, death, child death, slavery, war, gun. Um… political stuff as it a world with government that got too much power.

Because it’s conservative world, it will be a lot of negative things toward queer ppl, and ppl with mental illness.

Some of what the character said(especially Wine) is harsh words, prepare yourself.

-I may not check it or get it properly translated yet. But i can confirm with the power of dictionary that they said Toriel and Asgore are siblings and got married as to keep royal bloodline.

-G mother is Gaster. In FSG, Gaster is female.

-Wine calls Gaster : Gaster, Royal scientist. But privately, sometimes he calls Gaster “mama” (妈妈)

-Wine’s name in Chinese is 红酒 (hóngjiu) it meant red wine. I just sharing this cuz- gege hóngjiu เกอเกอหงจิ่ว 🥺🍷 พี่ไวน์คะ พี่ไวน์ขา🥺🍷❤️✨

[starssecret]

Here are my skeletons for Bad reset Best outcome! :D

Hey! I have more information out now about them and their partners!

Loved doing these so much <3 I wanted to give them unique nicknames as well as outfits (tho some just fit like originally- Sans lol)

I tried to make it so all their names match Y/N in someway! Or would be like a nickname their S/O would call them.

(and dw I’ll post about Y/N next lol)

under the cut for more info!

So left to right- top to bottom we have

Meteorite and Rocket for Classic UT

Lucky and Bee for Underswap

Shadow and Knight for Underfell

Chardonnay and Silver for Swapfell

Pumpkin and Muffin for Horrortale

(Pinot) Noir and (Coffee) Bean for FellSwapGold

UT:

Y’all I think we’re sleeping on giving classic sans space themed names- like you’re telling me this man is ND and loves space and wouldn’t name himself smth Sciencey or space themed? Wrong lol.

As for Rocket- I was trying to think of smth to match sunshine, and I thought about smth like Sky- but thought Rocket and just yes lol

US:

Finding a matching name to match Lucky’s S/O was so hard lol- but I like how it works now :] Also Lucky's and Rocket's outfits are SO GOOD imo lol I like how sporty they are- but still fit their character you know?

Bee was pretty easy though lol, his S/O's nickname is Hunny, so Bee followed naturally lol and he's just cute let's be honest <3 ALSO it's a little hard to see- but he has a tooth gap in his front two teeth <3 the upper half lol I just had too- too cute to pass up <3

UF:

SHADOW- Ok so his S/O is Doll, so obvs I was drawing blanks, but I saw a website list Shadow as a nickname for a boyfriend... and spent 20 mins laughing my ass off about it. And nothing else worked better so I kept it lol. 10/10 name- I think Y/N deserves to call him Shadow the hedgehog all they like lol

Knight was easy lol- design and name wise. I already knew his S/O’s name was Prince/ss (depends on gender lol- and if you don’t like either of those just a neutral Royal title lol) so every good Royal person has a knight in shingling armor- so Knight it was lol.

SF:

Chardonnay- Ok I'll be the first to admit, I didn't originally plan on adding Noir when I started (More commonly Wine) so I was cool giving a wine name to Chardonnay and now there are two lmao. But I think Chardonnay is good for SF sans, Also his clothes? 20/10 in love.

Silver- ugh poor Silver, I'm gonna make him relive his trauma :[ but he was an addict underground, and was clean above, but now he's thrown back in the middle of it. So not happy :[ I chose silver as him name since everyone always names him after like money and such, and to semi-match Angel his S/O

HT:

Angst angst angst, Pumpkin! Took forever to decide on his name. His S/O is Lamb, so I almost went with smth like Steak, Bull, or Beast but I didn't like those. But remembered about calling people Pumpkin and fell in love <3 I would so call him that lol Also the handmade stitches in his clothes to repair them <333

ANGST ANGST ANGST, Muffin! Is so baby nil <333 Obviously an adult, but so soft and sweet. He tries so hard, tho- his poor S/O Sugar- well- you'll see soon lol. But Muffin and Sugar just felt right lol <3

FSG:

Ok I think I need to explain myself a little here lol. So his name is (Pinot) Noir, meaning his full name is Pinot Noir like the red wine, but he just goes by Noir. But I didn't want Noir on it's own without the wine context lol. So he's got like two nicknames lol. He's super classy tho lol, I almost put him in a suit but I decided that was too much- so I settled for vest and dress shirt lol.

Same for (Coffee) Bean, I kind of wanted to just keep Coffee, but I re-did everyone else so I had too T~T But I wanted them all drink themed lol. His S/O is Cocoa lol so they both match on theme <3 But also- if you call 'em Bean you could get away with calling him a Beanie Baby, so win! lmao

But yeah! These are the boys! Y/N designs soon to follow! :D

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

FSG Sans trying to be king when the skeleton uprising happened gave me an idea, you're free to ignore if it ends up too similar to the original. Something has come across all the newly created skeleton people, and they see our Skeleton as the original prime skelly and proclaim them king of all skeletons! How does our Skeleton deal with the responsibilities of being king, will war or peace? Will they accept the responsibilities, or ignore them? If ignored, the new skeletons are very persistent about the role of king, and will not accept no for an answer.

The first part of the ask is here.

Undertale Sans - He's flattered, really, but he's no king material dude. Please, he just wants to chill and live his life, he's not responsible. He's a joke to society. He can't be king. He will try to give his new powers to Papyrus, and if he doesn't want them, he's going to hide in Toriel's house hoping she will scare them enough to have peace.

Undertale Papyrus - Wowie. He never expected to be a King so soon in his life, even if somehow he has some sort of deja vu about this and he really doesn't like it! He will simply ignores all his bad thoughts about this and takes the job. He quits not two months later because he is so stressed out his own body is giving up. Why don't you become a part of monster kingdom instead and let Asgore rules you? That would be like so much better!

Underswap Sans - He thinks it's all a joke and gives stupid orders ironically like "go burn all the cars of the city my minions". He didn't expect his skeleton army to actually listen to him and start to burn cars in the city. Blue runs to Toriel to beg her for help lol. He's not ready to be king.

Underswap Papyrus - He jumps on Asgore's back like a koala, all limbs shaking, and refuses to let go. If the skeletons want him to be King, they'll have to get him out of here, and good luck with that because Asgore is really strong and will kick your ass if you're bullying him. He feels safer here. Go see Blue or something.

Underfell Sans - That's two weeks he didn't leave his house now, circled with skeletons. He's only teleporting house when he needs to fill the fridge. He's holding well. He's not going to be king, and he's patient. You'll get bored before him. Go ask someone else, he just beat a King's ass to get out of the Underground, he's not going to take the role back lol. He knows that would make him a target.

Underfell Papyrus - If you insist, he might say yes. He kinda likes being the center of the attention and having everyone treating him like some god. For the first few days at least. After that, he's starting to realise he actually has responsibilities and that people can get angry if he's not filling them. Like, you know, when they ask for homes and Edge looked blankly at them like they asked him to grow a second head or something. Edge might have a revolution on the hands soon...

Horrortale Sans - He keeps hissing and chasing skeletons delegations who comes out of his house. He's not their King and he swears one of this day he's going to kill one of them to show all the others that he's dangerous and not to bother him. He doesn't take the situation very well.

Horrortale Papyrus - Well, if you really want him to give you orders if can give you chores to do around the farm but that's it lol. He's not a ruler and he did enough politics Underground for a lifetime so it's either you're ok with taking care of the farm or you leave. He thinks you don't need a ruler, go live your life freely or something. He's not worth worshipping. He's just some guy. He might asks Toriel for advices about this situation. It makes him very uncomfortable.

Swapfell Sans - He is still in his bunker. As long he's locked up safe and can't see there are hundreds of skeletons waiting outside his house, it's not real. Someone will take care of this eventually and he just has to wait for the all thing to be other. It's alright, he prepared for a nuclear winter so he has food for two years. He can wait.

Swapfell Papyrus - Rus feels like he is high and that he is just hallucinating everything, and will act like so. You want him to be King? Sure! You want him to take over the throne out of Toriel's hands? Why the hell not! It's only when the skeletons actually take over power than he's freaking out and realising it's real and that he is now in very big troubles. Rus... Rus is going to join his brother in his bunker to wait for the situation to fix itself.

Fellswap Gold Sans - Oh course he will accept the job. He finally has a chance to show Toriel how wrong she was to treat him like a random minion and he will make all of monsterkind poop in their pants! He's starting his epic villain arc and no one can stop him now *insert evil maniac laughter*

Fellswap Gold Papyrus - He was very ok with it, surprisingly, until everyone screamed for him to do a speech and Coffee suddenly found himself in front of thousand of people. His limbs started shaking and he couldn't say a word, frozen in fear. Someone coughs in the assembly and that's too much, Coffee bursts in tears and runs back home, screaming his brother name for help.

[ratsoh-writes]

Masterlist 30

(****)= suggestive

Introducing:

lustswapfell, lustred and lustgold!

Drakeswap

Templetale

General

Seeing someone walk their cat (tt drf bs)

they hear their friend describing them in a flattering manner

something they always carry (lf bt fot tt st)

summons (os dt df bf bs)

alien invasion

SO finds a newborn (gt bs of)

what happened to the eggs? (cash ace pop cricket bruiser mal star willow cider rancher)

he saves a kid and is sent a reward (ht hd hs)

do they chase or like to be chased (nt tt fot)

friend tries to roofie SO (os bf)

they meet an evil doppelganger (ut us uf ht fsr)

kids make gross bets

SO loves to tease (ht hs hf)***

his cat has a second family (uf boss noir)

they cant cook for a week (ot of fot fs bt)

SOs contact name (of ss bs)

silliest fears (of ss bs)

a cop drops off his teenage brother

selective memory adhd SO (charm lush sparks)

heat hcs (bt fot tt)***** tempo****

skeletons on a rollercoaster (all)

brother in law finally accepts them (ss lr ot)

they rule for a day (bs bf hs)

do they have a tell for lying (lf sf fsg fsr sef)

SO is slowly forgetting them but still sings with them (us gt)

Worldbuilding

differences in lust aus

Garbees 2 3 4

trailrunner no nos

traffickers origins

bee mages

why the monks wont defend themselves

flutterbells (bug)

Side characters

Akira Todds (lf garbee)

dallas' cousin

pooch and russet

interactions/poly hcs

flambes opinion on sir

sans and wine lore and the crash

The Mafias

calling him bald

they switch bodies with his brother

underfell

fluffy edge

Royals

plague outbreak

they get cursed to be cats

SO is kidnapped

miss fun facts

Fellswap gold

coffee's braces

seafell

do they have embarrassing stories about each other?

farmfell

they find two kids that look just like them

outerswap

helios artemis and their parents

Drakeswap and Templetale

saga and hilda annoying each other

thoughts on LV

what they collect

do they want kids?

what they're like as parents

when they have a crush

marry me

dom/sub scale and heat changes

pet peeves

whats their type?

silly fears

love languages

deal breakers

internet

hiss/purr

boob or boot**

what the temple boys love about ebott

lustswapfell gold and red

best places to find them

do they like being tied up?****

fun fact

pet peeves

they see someone being harassed

pestos facial cracks 2

when they have a crush

what he likes in a partner

meeting kittens

favorite drinks

flambe and pesto favorite scents

love languages

what are they like sick

has he had a crush before?

dealbreakers

clothes that dont look good on him

how to kill them

least favorite activities

how did sir run a brothel

switching bodies with his brother

a seagull steals his food

what they smell like

why weasel loves dolls

thoughts on kids

parent backstories

what makes them purr/hiss

[masterdizzi]

Do you have any ginger hirano headcanons

Yes, yes I do.

Stacy has a purple bracelet on her right arm, I headcanon that Ginger has one as well and she is the one who made the bracelet for Stacy originally, she doesn't wear hers but keeps it as a comfort item

Stacy is Ginger's main source of comfort and vice-versa

Ginger is incredibly gifted and great at almost everything, hence why her sister is so jealous of her but in reality Stacy is great at things as well but Ginger just knows it better than her. She does her best because she wants to see her sister proud of her but instead it makes her jealous.

Stacy and Ginger do get along when Stacy dosent feel compared to her by their mom, they have their average sibling rambles (FYIO) but they still love each other.

Ginger is airheaded and has a very short attention span, just like her sister.

Despite all that, she's very devoted as a fireside girl and tries to not lose focus while on the job.

Ginger doesn't let negative things the other girls say get to her, like her crush on Baljeet.

Ginger has a very great memory and is an amazing listener (in Bee story, she listens to Baljeet's boring speech about bee communication and is able to replicate it to the girls later in the episode)

Of the rest of the FSG troop, Ginger gets along best with Adyson.

Ginger knows Japanese

If Ginger notices that Stacy is in a bad mood, she talks to her to cheer her up.

Ginger and Stacy are awful at sharing

She likes to feed the ducks in her free time.

After the events of "Bubble Boys" Ginger got herself a color coded schedule to match Baljeet, she also copies a lot of his interests so she has something to say if they come in conversation

Ginger wants to be just like her sister

She is very oblivious to a lot of things

Stacy being angry at her is one of the few things that actually hurts her feelings

Ginger wears bows in her casualwear just like her sister.

Most of Ginger's clothes are Stacy's old clothes that she outgrew

Ginger doesn't like hanging out with the backyard squad unless Baljeet is there

Ginger is the best watchman in the fireside girl troop

When on duty, Ginger often talks about Baljeet for absolutely no reason

Ginger first heard about Mishti from Phineas and ever since, she's had a deep hatred for her.

Anytime her sister is preforming, ANYWHERE, she makes sure she has a front row seat, no matter how hard she has to work to get it.

Ginger is an early-bird

Ginger and Stacy don't hide secrets from each-other so when Stacy learned about Perry's identity, she had a hard time not telling her sister

Due to parallels, Ginger is the most supportive of Isabella's crush on Phineas out of the Fireside girl troop

Ginger likes cookies and gets upset anytime Stacy eats hers, (this happens often)

Ginger doesn't have a competitive spirit Vs her sister, but Stacy does

Purple is Ginger's favourite color, but she's fond of teal solely because her sister is, vice-versa is true with Stacy

Candace had absolutely no idea the two were sisters until Stacy brought it up in a conversation once, long story short, she felt like an idiot

Ginger is third in command in troop 46321, so she leads on the rare occasion that Isabella and Gretchen are both absent, that usually involves helping Baljeet which the other girls hate but in the episode "Brain Drain", Baljeet is sick too. I headcanon that she spent that day helping her sister.

[bookcoversonly]

Title: Nobody Is Ever Missing | Author: Catherine Lacey | Publisher: FSG Originals (2014)

[tartytarttaker]

This is actually pretty fascinating when you compare it with the merch communities and how they have been profitting of non-licensed work on multiple occasions.

What I really appreciate and applaud AO3 for is laying the groundwork for the morals and legality of fan creation and their stance on nonmonetary fanwork. As we can see here, writers are really censoring themselves on how their fanworks are used and that it remains non-profit. The writers are actively detesting this act of profiting, and I think this is an important philosophy in keeping the fan community afloat. While I am torn that works are getting deleted, it's not my first time experiencing this. I fully support all fanfic writers' decisions to take their work down.

However, I can't say the same for certain small-scale merchandise sellers, especially illustrators. If you go on Etsy and type Disney, you really are not going to find official merchandise. They're not licensed, and they themselves go through the process of creating, selling, and profitting off fan works because the copyright holders don't have the time or legal resources to sue every single one of them. Just because it's "redrawn" or "inspired aka kept the character design the same" doesn't make your work Original. If it relies on the original brand for sales, can you really call that original?

This is also where I find commissioned fanwork greyer than anything. The article mentions that only material cost should be covered and to use fanworks for personal purposes, but does human labor and skill count as part of it?

I don't really criticise pull-to-publish works because they had been altered, or AU-ed, enough to be treated as separate works, and this kind of publishing isn't really new. If someone is going to bring up FSG, let me know a line in the book that quotes Twilight. The similarities in characters (sexy obsessive ML and clumsy average(read beautiful) FL sounds like a million other romance characters) aren't enough to convince me. There's a reason why the Dramione fic is getting the world setting rewritten.

I'd like to partially blame the trend of profiting off fanwork to the phenomenon of fan communities becoming more exposed to the public and becoming mainstream but it may just be the condescending old man in me talking.

P.S. To people who make a living on selling redrawn/inspired merchandise, I hope you never create anything original.

My fic (and others) have been voiced by AI / Text to Speech, posted on Youtube, and monetised via Patreon without permission

I have been contacted by another author who has kindly contacted the other affected authors. The infringing video is here. Here is the infringing channel and the Patreon. Stolen artwork is also used in thumbnails and videos (I recognise @meomoicecr 's work in the above video). My work (Your Hand in Mine) that is hosted on Archive On Our Own is free and it will always be free (because Ao3 does not allow monetisation and because of personal values).

From what I gathered, making a copyright claim report requires my personal information (eg. full legal name) which I am unwilling to give at the moment, so unfortunately I've just been reporting for spam / fraud, and hopefully with enough strikes it'll get taken down. I've checked the Ao3 Reddit and I know this is not the first instance of fanfiction being posted on YouTube with machine voiceover without permission.

There has been a worrying and disheartening trend of fanwork being monetised against the author's wishes, for example Dramione fics being used in illegal fic bindings and then sold. I recognise this is common sense and I'm probably preaching to the choir, but please do not "purchase" fanfiction or otherwise give money when the "source" is dodgy and unaffiliated with the fanfic authors. As stated on Ao3's Terms of Service, "Promotion of commercial products or activities is not allowed." and "In general, unsolicited commercial activity is not permitted on the Archive".

Apologies if I've gotten any information wrong as my mind is quite frazzled at the moment. But TLDR: my work and other's work have been stolen, I want to take it down.

[beritadarianfield]

Jurgen Klopp Kembali ke Bola Sepak bersama Red Bull Football.

Jurgen Klopp Kembali ke Bola Sepak bersama Red Bull Football. Jurgen Klopp Kembali ke Bola Sepak bersama Red Bull Football. Bekas pengurus Liverpool FC, Jurgen Klopp telah dilantik menjadi Ketua Global Bola Sepak bagi Kumpulan Red Bull. Klopp, 57 tahun akan mula menjalankan tugas pada Januari 2025. “Selepas hampir suku abad karier saya hanya di tepi padang, saya sangat teruja untuk memulakan satu karier baru dalam bola sepak tetapi dalam bentuk yang berbeza,” ujar Klopp. “Bidang tugas saya mungkin sudah bertukar namun semangat saya terhadap bola sepak dan mereka yang terlibat dalam memajukan industri ini tetap tidak akan pudar.” Menurut Red Bull, Klopp tidak akan terlibat dalam operasi harian tetapi akan menjadi penasihat bagi konsep permainan dan strategi, strategi perpindahan pemain, dan pembangunan jurulatih. Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO Projek Korporat dan Pelaburan Red Bull berkata; “Jurgen Klopp merupakan salah satu nama terbesar dalam dunia bola sepak, dengan kemahiran dan karisma luar biasa.” “Sebagai Ketua Global Bola Sepak Red Bull, beliau akan merubah lanskap penglibatan kami dalam bola sepak global dan pembangunannya.” Apa pandangan korang, gembira tak untuk Klopp? Adakah jawatan bagi Klopp ni merupakan jawatan setaraf bagi Michael Edwards di FSG? Originally posted on Instagram Jurgen Klopp Kembali ke Bola Sepak bersama Red Bull Football. Bekas pengurus Liverpool FC, Jurgen Klopp telah dilantik menjadi Ketua Global Bola Sepak bagi Kumpulan Red Bull. Klopp, 57 tahun akan mula menjalankan tugas pada Januari 2025. “Selepas hampir suku abad karier saya hanya di tepi padang, saya sangat teruja untuk memulakan satu karier baru dalam bola sepak tetapi dalam bentuk yang berbeza,” ujar Klopp. “Bidang tugas saya mungkin sudah bertukar namun semangat saya terhadap bola sepak dan mereka yang terlibat dalam memajukan industri ini tetap tidak akan pudar.” Menurut Red Bull, Klopp tidak akan terlibat dalam operasi harian tetapi akan menjadi penasihat bagi konsep permainan dan strategi, strategi perpindahan pemain, dan pembangunan jurulatih. Oliver Mintzlaff, CEO Projek Korporat dan Pelaburan Red Bull berkata; “Jurgen Klopp merupakan salah satu nama terbesar dalam dunia bola sepak, dengan kemahiran dan karisma luar biasa.” “Sebagai Ketua Global Bola Sepak Red Bull, beliau akan merubah lanskap penglibatan kami dalam bola sepak global dan pembangunannya.” Apa pandangan korang, gembira tak untuk Klopp? Adakah jawatan bagi Klopp ni merupakan jawatan setaraf bagi Michael Edwards di FSG? #anfieldmy #beritadarianfield #jurgenklopp A photo posted by BeritaDariAnfield (@beritadarianfield) on 2024-10-09 08:41:02 Originally posted at https://anfield.my/?p=45

[skeletonlvr22]

no matter what my crime - Chapter 9 - Something Good

When Coffee was small, still in stripes with his thumb in his mouth, he would get the overwhelming urge to run away. He can't recall why, really. Despite knowing the rules that his mother had given him, one day, he ran. His brother ended up finding him an hour later, sobbing silently as he wandered, lost, in the snowy woods surrounding Snowdin. Wine, barely a teenager at the time, had dragged him back home.

The feeling never dissipated, though. If anything, it worsened. And growing up underground, there isn't really anywhere to run, anyway.

On the day of his mother's remembrance ceremony, when he was 10, the itch got worse. Yet, he didn't run and let it simmer as he stood, empty, next to his brother, staring down at the urn.

Over the next few hundred years, as Coffee grew older, the itch never went away. When the resets started, the itch got unbearable. Yet, with nowhere to run, stuck in that damned cave, he remained.

Then, he and his brother were sucked into a different universe. A kinder universe. One where Wine wasn't Captain, Coffee wasn't a soldier, and the sun was in the sky. And with the sun hung freely in the sky, Coffee suddenly had everywhere to run.

---

Or: Coffee acquires a bus, a brochure, and a reason to leave Ebott so, naturally, he does. Maybe he'll find something more beyond cavern walls, universal mishaps, and his brother's suffocating reach.

[dk-thrive]

I like to think of a piece of writing as an environment for thinking, a semicontained space with some wandering-around room—a clearing in the woods, plus a little of the woods, or a house museum.

— Elisa Gabbert, Any Person is the Only Self: Essays (FSG Originals, June 11, 2024)

[otherpplnation]

933. Elisa Gabbert

Elisa Gabbert is the author of the essay collection Any Person is the Only Self, available from FSG Originals.

Gabbert is the author of Normal Distance, The Unreality of Memory, and several other collections of poetry, essays, and criticism. She writes the On Poetry column for The New York Times, and her work has appeared in Harper's Magazine, The Atlantic, The Believer, The New York Times Magazine, The New York Review of Books, and other publications.

***

Otherppl with Brad Listi is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers.

Available where podcasts are available: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc.

Subscribe to Brad Listi’s email newsletter.

Support the show on Patreon

Merch

Twitter

Instagram 

TikTok

Bluesky

Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com

The podcast is a proud affiliate partner of Bookshop, working to support local, independent bookstores.

  www.otherppl.com

[rhetoricandlogic]

The Rain Heron: A Novel

By Robbie Arnott

FSG Originals

288 pp.

Reviewed by Paul D. Pearlstein

March 12, 2021

Despite many strong parts, this fragmented, genre-defying tale makes for an unsatisfying whole.

The Rain Heron: A Novel

Reviewed by Paul D. Pearlstein

March 12, 2021

Robbie Arnott is a prize-winning Tasmanian writer who has created in The Rain Heron a phantasmagoric tale in five parts. The chapters are very loosely tied to a mythical bird whose appearance reverses a devastating drought in an unidentified rural land.

The heron is incorporeal, made of water, though it can be netted and caged. Its apparent magic becomes the subject of a deadly hunt by soldiers involved in a local uprising. It’s unclear what the military hopes to do with the bird, but perhaps the heron’s preternatural powers might give them an edge in their struggle. That “struggle” is left to the imagination of the reader, as is much of the storyline, throughout which obfuscation, minimalism, and a creative timeline are mixed with some beautifully honed prose.

Sharing this tale with the bird are three curiously engaging women. Only briefly do we meet the first, a farmer whose land and livelihood are ruined by drought. She is saved when the ethereal bird appears to end the dry spell and become her protector. This woman alone enjoys great prosperity until a jealous neighbor’s boy tries to kill the heron. The boy is found with his eyes plucked out, the drought returns, and the farmer’s prosperity reverts to penury.

We next meet Ren, whose life was ruined and whose son was conscripted by the marauding military resistance. To survive, she flees to a mountain cave, where she stays alive by hunting, trapping, and trading pelts. Ren’s character may remind readers of Ayla in Jean Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear, another savvy survivalist.

The third woman, Zoe, lives by the sea, where she and her aunt earn a living milking squid and selling the valuable ink. A stranger intrudes and tries to learn the secret of how to obtain the ink. He ends up unintentionally killing the aunt. Zoe then kills him with the help of a blood-sucking squid, promptly leaves town, and joins the military resistance.

She excels in her new life and is quickly promoted to Lieutenant Harker. While commanding an all-male unit, she is ordered to capture the water heron and bring it to her superiors. Intelligence reports indicate that if Ren can be found, she can lead the soldiers to the mystical bird.

We first meet the soldiers as they’re scouring a mountainous region for Ren, who uses her knowledge of the terrain to avoid detection. Eventually, however, she is found. When she bravely refuses to reveal the bird’s location, she is tortured by the lieutenant until she relents. The bird is caught and caged, but not without a fight. During its capture, one of Harker’s eyes is plucked out.      

The bird is taken to the soldiers’ encampment at Ren’s cave, where Ren makes one last attempt to free it. The now partially blinded Lieutenant Harker (Zoe) instinctively shoots Ren in the throat despite never before having aimed a gun at another human.

After the passing of time, the remorseful lieutenant decides to free the bird. She returns to the cave and to Ren, who is still alive but unable to speak because of her injury. Together, the women go to a spot in the mountains and release the water heron. The lieutenant then leaves. She drives to a military doctor’s office to have him examine her gouged eye, and an abrupt fairytale ending ensues.

The author scatters several acts of gratuitous violence amid the pages: the plucking out of eyeballs; the murder of Zoe’s aunt and subsequent killing of her killer; the shooting of Ren; and more. It seems unnecessary for the book as a whole; perhaps each individual bloodstained episode would fit more comfortably into standalone stories.

Much of Arnott’s best writing describes the natural beauty of the unnamed region, the climate, and concern for the environment, though it’s unclear if that qualifies this book as a work of eco-fiction. It could just as easily be categorized as a fantasy, a feminist myth, a murder mystery, or even some sort of Dickensian coincidence tale. Regardless, The Rain Heron tries to span several genres but never quite succeeds in any. While its distinct narratives are interesting, the novel’s puzzling organization left this reader scratching his head.

[jcmarchi]

Rocket Arena Will Shut Down In March

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/rocket-arena-will-shut-down-in-march/

Rocket Arena Will Shut Down In March

Rocket Arena, the multiplayer rocket-powered shooter, developed by First Strike Games as an EA Originals title, was removed from sale last month without warning or a word on why, as reported by RockPaperShotgun. Now, roughly a month later, First Strike Games has announced Rocket Arena will be sunset and its servers shut down in March. 

More specifically, Rocket Arena will come to an end at Noon PT/3 p.m. ET on March 21, 2024. As for why, the team doesn’t really address that in its announcement but presumably, it has lost the player count needed to sustain its live-service, multiplayer model. 

“It’s with a heavy heart from all of us at FSG and EA to inform you that Rocket Arena will be sunset and the servers shut down on [March 21, 2024],” the announcement reads. “We can’t thank you all enough for playing Rocket Arena and supporting us during this journey. We’re thrilled that people from all around the world got to enjoy Rocket Arena for three and a half years since it launched in July of 2020. 

“Since then, there’s been a ton of Knockouts, Megablasts, Rocketball goals, Mega Rockets captured, and coins collected. We’ve been consistently blown away by the kindness, care, and camaraderie that’s been shown from the Rocket Arena community.”

The announcement continued, thanking the community for its great input over the years, before revealing the “Sunset Community Events.” You can check out the full list of events and content changes ahead of the game’s shutdown here, but it includes content from early Rocket Arena seasons and the removal of paid bundles in the store.  

Rocket League first hit PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on July 14, 2020. For our thoughts on the game, read Game Informer’s Rocket Arena review. 

Are you going to hop back into Rocket Arena before its shutdown next year? Let us know in the comments below!