#I still have my prime free trial for a couple of more days…

[tariah23]

What is fallout even about

[cynthiav06]

hi hello! i hope you're having a good day

i love reading your writing and analysis/takes on percy jackson ( the character and franchise ), and i wanted to know your opinion on perpollo. just anything you have to say on the topic. i find it so interesting as a concept itself and when it's explored.

I am sorry for the delay. I hope you and everyone else who sent me asks has found the pinned post regarding my hiatus. I will answer as many asks as I can in this week but I have exams coming up so I won't be very active for a while after this.

Back to the point, I really like the possibilities that the Perpollo ship presents. I know I have not made any Perpollo centric posts but given its popularity and how many prominent blogs have analyzed it along with some of my mutuals @ackerlikesmen , @deliajackson , @hermesmyplatonicbeloved I really haven't felt the need to. They will probably have great stuff to add on or correct in my analysis.

I have mixed opinions on the ship. My parameters for analyzing this ship may not align with you, but I just feel better when factual and practical nuances are considered. This is one of the few ships where the cons can be used as tropes to further bolster the pros of the ship. So let's start with that:

PROS:

1.It's a mutually respectful relationship with no toxicity.

Apollo greatly respects Percy even before the events of Trials of Apollo. He votes to save Percy in the Titan's Curse and also actively helps him and begins respecting him after he saves Artemis.

In Singer of Apollo, Apollo tells Percy that he is Apollo's favorite hero.

In the Hidden Oracle, when Apollo realizes that he is human, he wants Percy to be his master. Apollo the ( God of Ego) thinks that if anyone is worthy of commanding him it's Percy.

When Meg is being hesitant about trusting demigods, and Apollo wants to prove that some of them are good and reliable, he picks Percy as the prime example. Not anyone else of the Seven or even his own children but Percy.

In their initial conversation where Apollo is still repulsively high handed and egoistic and considers Percy declining him as self-centered he doesn't complain too much on it an even follows up by the thought that Percy has done him much goodwill. And this is before his transformation so Percy is that influential that even pre ToA Apollo can't really pick faults at him.

Now Percy began with disliking Apollo as much as he dislikes any gods. But he does remember Apollo thanking him at the end of Titan's Curse and declines Apollo's offer for free Archery lessons.

Percy acknowledges the change in Apollo and respects Apollo for it. Despite his annoyance Percy is one of the few to help him initially and consistently throughout the series.

2. Common family/friends circle and culture

Initially, one would question why this matters, but I think it's generally a comforting space to be involved with someone who knows your roots and is on good terms with your family. It's both wise and fosters a stronger bond. It's even more reassuring and I dare say easier when a couple shares similar cultures/family roots. It automatically trumps the trial and error phase of adjustment with another person's family and cultural norms.

Percy is a family oriented person and therefore likes that Apollo respects and thinks highly of his mother and his family.

Apollo is despite his progress, someone who considers status quo important, and he appreciates that Percy is such a high profile person on Olympus and obviously the most influential out of all demigods. Plus, he is a sea prince.

Percy is on good terms with Apollo Cabin and Will, Kayla, Austin and formerly Michael all respect Percy and are fond of him. Percy despite being mid battle and exhausted from his fight stopped everything and looked through the bridge rubble to try and save Michael and retrieve his body.

Percy is the only male demigod Artemis acknowledges and likes and he has saved her before and they are on extremely good terms. Apollo loves his sister very much so it's unlikely he would accept someone who wasn't on good terms with Artemis. No other demigod has that advantage.

Percy and Apollo also have an exclusive friend in common being Rachel, who is Apollo's Oracle and Percy's very good friend. In fact, Rachel was led to being the Oracle by meeting Percy and Apollo adores Rachel.

Percy is possibly the demigod that has been through the most hardships and Apollo has had a taste of what demigod hardship is like so he knows what it is like being in Percy's situation. And there's full understanding there.

Percy knows many gods and is aware of godly ways so he isn't a novice to divinity or the world of gods or what gods do in general. So, it's unlikely that Apollo's functions, roles and responsibilities will cause any misunderstandings between them.

3. There is no god mortal power gap that usually exists.

Percy is a prince of the Sea and Poseidon's favorite child. He has also been offered godhood before and is hailed throughout Olympus as it's Savior twice. Essentially, he is on equal footing with Apollo.

He might be mortal but given his high profile status in Olympus and in both camps, Apollo [yes Apollo already absolutely respects and thinks highly of Percy] would not be able to mistreat or hurt Percy in any major ways.

4. They have similar goals of bettering lives of demigods and are both in positions to do so and therefore collaborate frequently even in their work life. This is healthy in a relationship.

5. With Sally's own affair with Poseidon, Percy and Apollo dating create a nice sort of generational parallel.

6. Percy respects the domains Apollo stands for, and that's very important, I think to a god. Percy is grateful to healers, is friends with the Oracle and is Rachel's protector to some extent, is fond of music and is fairly artistic (writer as he does write/ narrate the whole orignal series himself) on his own. Though he sucks at Archery, it seems to amuse Apollo rather than anger him, and he offers Percy archery lessons from himself, so that could be a fun dynamic.

7. Percy and Apollo are very complementary, and their dynamic can really help both of them.

Percy has extreme self esteem issues and Apollo, proud and egoistic as he is can help Percy develop self assuredness and inner confidence. Apollo is narcissistic without understanding how damaging his narcissism can be. He learns about as much from his Trials so he can and I think he would like to learn from Percy his compassion and humility. I think they could really help each other and match each other quite well.

They are both very open-minded, so they can always try out new interests that the other likes and can develop completely new hobbies together. They both like not having important tasks thrust upon them, lol so they can find ways to dodge godly affairs together.

CONS:

1.Apollo's lovers often meet disastrous ends either at his hands or another's.

Percy is the one person who deserves to have a very relaxing and enjoyable life devoid of any excess trouble after all he's been through. So another death prophecy might not be something Percy wants and given how tormented Apollo is by memories of his past lovers, another relationship might not be the best idea especially with one he thinks of so highly. Apollo might intentionally stay away from Percy to not bring him any misfortune.

2. Percy dislikes gods.

No matter what, after all that's been done to demigods and all the wars they have suffered are direct results of godly mistakes. He generally tolerates gods and likes only Hestia and Poseidon and has antagonistic take on all other gods, rightfully so.

Therfore Percy might not be at all interested in pursuing a relationship with a god, changed or otherwise. He might have come to see eye to eye with many gods and he clearly respects Apollo now, it might still be a bit too far of a leap for him to consider getting together with a god.

3. Percy wants a quiet and peaceful life

Apollo loves grand things and grand gestures. He also loves being the center of attention as you know he is quite literally the Sun God. It might not align well with Percy's mindset for thea future or Apollo's mindset for a relationship.

-------------------------------------------------------

There can be a compromise found for all of these. And they all make for good fic ideas.

For the first one,Apollo being extra careful towards Percy's safety or considering the threat of Apollo's own enemies targeting Percy and making arrangements accordingly might help along with Percy's own reassurances as a powerful demigod.

Secondly, Percy might be convinced through seeing things with Apollo's eyes that even those inside Olympian systems suffer the wrath or Zeus regularly and chafe under the chains of ancient and archaic rules. He might decide to help them so that they can better help their own children. And he has made exceptions for certain gods before. Like Hestia, Pan and his father. So it's not far fetched to think that Apollo could also be potentially added to the list.

Lastly, Apollo might make Percy realize that wanting a peaceful and quiet life doesn't mean he should give up perks of enjoying his powers or his status and can and should be able to experience the joys of both.

That's my honest thoughts on Perpollo. I like them. I like their dynamic. I certainly have enjoyed my fair share of Perpollo fics and they could make a great pair together. But regardless of that, they can really help and understand each other. I love and I mean absolutely love the fics where Apollo hypes Percy up. I need more of those fics so would love recommendations. Also, fellow greek mythology enthusiasts, feel to chime in with obscure Apollo facts.

[yutzen]

The Mandatory(?) Masterpost

Welcome to my page! ...again. Website shutdowns aren't going to stop my sinful hands, but hopefully that won't be a problem.

Expect stories about weird underground creatures and their troubles most of all, but there will be other tales to be told here (and possibly actual illustrations in the future, but that's gonna take a while). A lot of this started as prompt stories spun completely out of control (this will be a recurring theme), so be warned about that one. I'll be outlining what I have under the break to browse more easily if you want to see more, as well as providing a couple extra links if you want to read my work in other sites (or just follow me elsewhere too). Here goes!

First things first: Other accounts to track me in

Archive Of Our Own (I'll probably link to it for cross-posts. Also contains stories that are either too 18+, too fanfic or too personal for me to toss out here)

DreamWidth (May be easier to read)

BlueSky (Maybe you want to be updated easier, but obviously I can't post whole stories there)

Next up: Tags to keep track of when it comes to my stuff. This will probably be the main way for me to sort these things out, since I got used to it back on Cohost and still know the value of proper tagging. Much as there's a few other things I don't know.

#yut-fiction - Any story I actually write will be going under this, no matter the origin

#yut-musings - This one's gonna be stray thoughts and occasional shitposts probably.

#subterraneum (yut) - Subterraneum stories, no matter who they follow and where they're set

#subterraneum: lightless road - Subterraneum stories following what I call the main crew.

I also keep individual characters diligently tagged whenever they recur (or I think they may recur), if that helps!

Finally: Stories so far! I will try to keep this updated but feel free to hit me with a question or comment if I forget anything in the future.

The Subterraneum: Lightless Road - Days in the life of an outlaw gang, plying their trade across the seemingly caverns that form the Subterraneum, the world beneath worlds

A White-Knuckle Climb

The Hard Way

Where the Thrills Lie

Left in the Cold

Reminiscing by Candlelight

Trial by Fire

Of Silk and Fangs

Where the Heart Is

Off the Beaten Path

Behind Every Scar (Part 1)

Behind Every Scar (Part 2)

The Subterraneum: Restless Compendium - The caverns are grand, and full of mysteries, and with mysteries come those eager to figure them out for the world to see. Here are fragments from the work of one such individual, one only known by the title of "Ever-Restless Nirrhamidh"

A Quick Biological Primer on Subterraneum Citizens (not in character)

Rock Bottom: The Subterraneum and its Known Exits

The Last Time Around

The Tree and the Worm

Perfect Echoes

Until the Rains Come

Castles in a Black Sky

From Dust to Dust

Tak-Fizun, the Chained City

The Subterraneum: Other Tales - Day-to-day life in the caverns can be quite a thing. Here, a smattering of tales about other individuals, away from smuggler and scholar alike.

Rainbows in the Dark

Party-Crasher

Just Prime

The Events of Windchime Hill

What's in a Name?

A Raven's Rambles - Just because you're a grand necromancer hungry for conquest and treasure doesn't mean you can't have off days. Here, a few less serious stories about Raven Lord Kaspar Swartrabe and his faithful shrike, Al-Kaud.

Animal-Proofing

Cramped, or Cozy?

Written in Blood(?)

A Root That Wouldn't Square - What was meant to be a quick oneshot fanfic of Arcen Games' Heart of the Machine, quickly spiralled out of control, into the tale of an artificial intelligence using some spare cycles to introspect, and write it all down...

Germination - In which the journey has begun, and an intelligence can finally ask itself who it is.

Desert Bloom - In which an internal monologue becomes an internal dialog, and a fall is turned into a rise to unfathomable heights.

Other stories - One-shots unrelated to any of the above. For now; just about everything before this point started as a one-shot too, once.

The Silver Revolution - In which a dragon finds himself involved in politics just for doing what he always did

More Times than You Could Count - In which an ever-stretching series of time loops is finally put to an end

The Rise and Fall of the Emporium - In which the idea of mid-dungeon shops is given a closer look

Where No One Calls Your Name - In which an angel of Diligence outlines unexpected complications brought about by how little some understand mortals

[thisbuildinghasfeelings]

Ok, someone is using my Amazon Prime Video account! Last week, I got an email saying I subscribed to a free trial of Brit Box, which I definitely did not do. It was weird, but I just assumed maybe it was some kind of mistake. I canceled it, there was no charge since the free trial hadn't run out yet, so no big deal.

Now today I get an email saying I have until December 14 to watch my rental of Inception, which I definitely did not rent! (side note: very tricky of Amazon to send an email reminding me to watch a rented movie one day after the deadline for canceling an unwatched rental for a refund) So I go onto my account and look at video purchases and rentals and there are 5 rentals and one purchased movie since October!

I share my account with my mom, but she swears she didn't do any of this. Most of the movies are not her taste anyway. But then I remember that I gave an old apple tv device to my uncle a couple years ago. It may very well have still been logged into my Amazon account at the time...but I swear I've changed my Amazon password since then! Also, why would he wait like 2 or more years to start renting and purchasing movies?

Regardless, I have changed my password again and added a purchase restriction that requires a pin. Also, the old apple tv was still a registered device, so I removed that. I don't really want to accuse my uncle of this, so I guess I'll just hope it stops now 😂

[shewhoworshipscarlin]

Tim Moore

Tim Moore (December 9, 1887 – December 13, 1958) was an American vaudevillian and comic actor of the first half of the 20th century. He gained his greatest recognition in the starring role of George "Kingfish" Stevens in the CBS TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show. He proudly stated, "I've made it a point never to tell a joke on stage that I couldn't tell in front of my mother."

Moore was born Harry Roscoe Moore in Rock Island, Illinois, one of 13 children of Harry and Cynthia Moore. His father was a night watchman at a brewery. Tim Moore dropped out of grammar school to work at odd jobs in town and even danced for pennies in the streets with his friend, Romeo Washburn.

In 1898, Moore and Washburn went into vaudeville in an act called "Cora Miskel and Her Gold Dust Twins." It was booked by agents and traveled through the United States and even Great Britain. As Moore and Washburn grew older, the act became less effective and Miss Miskel sent them back to their parents in Rock Island. Shortly after this, Moore joined the medicine show of "Doctor Mick" (Charles S. Mick), who sold a patented quack remedy called Pru-ri-ta. Doctor Mick travelled through the Midwestern states, with songs and dances provided by Moore and four Kickapoo Indians. The young man also worked in a carnival sideshow and gave guided tours as a "native" tour guide in Hawaii.

Moore left Doctor Mick, first to become a stable boy and later a jockey. He also tried his hand as a professional boxer under the name "Young Klondike" in 1905, and found it lucrative. He returned to performing in 1908, with a troupe of minstrels called "The Rabbit's Foot Company." By 1909, he was back in vaudeville and had met and married his first wife, Hester. They performed as a team, "The Moores - Tim & Hester", appearing in the United States and abroad.  In 1910, the couple was part of an act called the Four Moores.  By 1914, both Moores were co-stars of an act that was billed as Tim Moore and Tom Delaney & Co. The couple toured China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands and Hawaii with a vaudeville troupe. The marriage ended in divorce in 1915, and in September, Moore married a vaudeville actress named Gertrude Brown. After more than a year on the road in vaudeville in the United States, the Hawaiian Islands, Australia and New Zealand, he returned to boxing once more as "Young Klondike", training in New Zealand. He fought there and in Australia, England, and Scotland. Before this, Moore fought as "Young Klondike" in the US, with Jack Johnson and Sam Langford as some of his opponents. Moore also made his way into films by 1915, playing the part of an egotistical musician in His Inspiration. 

 Moore became well known for his one-man presentation of Uncle Tom's Cabin, where he would play the role of both Simon Legree and Uncle Tom, applying white chalk to half his face, and burnt cork to the other. Moore literally took his one man act into the street of San Jose, California, for the sale of War Stamps in 1918.

n 1923, Moore and his wife co-starred with Sandy Burns, Fannetta Burns, Walter Long, and Bobby Smart in a silent film comedy, His Great Chance, directed by Ben Strasser (North State Film Corp.) The following year, the Moores toured vaudeville together in "Aces and Queens". Subsequently, he went on tour as one of the stars of producer Edward E. Daley's "black and white musical comedy sensation", Rarin' to Go, for three seasons on the Columbia Burlesque Wheel (1925, 1926 and 1927 editions).

In 1928, Moore took time off from his vaudeville bookings to try his luck once more on the Great White Way – Broadway. This time he met with enormous success as the star comedian of Lew Leslie's hit musical comedy revue, the Blackbirds of 1928. Moore's co-stars were singers Adelaide Hall and Aida Ward and renowned tap dancer Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. The hit musical scored high in Paris and London as well as on the road throughout the states. In 1931, Moore and his then vaudeville straight man at the Alhambra, Andrew Tribble,  performed one of their funniest routines in Oscar Micheaux's first talking picture, The Darktown Revue. 

 At the time the troupe was booked in 1936 in the United Kingdom, King Edward VIII had just abdicated the British throne for love of American Wallis Simpson. There was a wave of anti-Americanism, with women picketing performances of the Blackbirds, carrying signs disparaging American women. Yet the next season saw the return of the revue as Blackbirds of 1937, its last edition in England. Two years later, on Broadway, Lew Leslie presented the last edition  of the Blackbirds (1939); the principal singing star was Lena Horne. Moore's last Broadway show was Harlem Cavalcade (1942), produced by Ed Sullivan and Noble Sissle. During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Moore was one of the top comedians headlining at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He also performed on radio as a dramatic actor.

In 1948, CBS hired Flournoy Miller as a casting advisor for the planned Amos 'n' Andy TV series. They had failed to locate Tim Moore for the role of George "Kingfish" Stevens, a role which was created and voiced on radio by white actor Freeman Gosden. It was Miller's job to trace the actor's whereabouts. Meanwhile, in January 1950, Moore went to New York to perform at the Apollo and appear as guest star on CBS-TV's Toast of the Town. After fulfilling these engagements, Moore returned to Rock Island. A few months later, Flournoy Miller called the manager of the Apollo and finally received Moore's address.  Moore did voice tests at CBS radio studios in Peoria and Chicago, and then was brought to CBS-TV in Hollywood for a screen test. He returned to Rock Island. Shortly after this, he was signed by Columbia Broadcasting System to star in a new television adaptation of Amos 'n' Andy.  As the radio series had developed in prior years, the scheming but henpecked Kingfish had become the central focus of most of the plots. In the television version, Moore played the character more broadly, with louder and more forceful delivery and a distinctive Georgia drawl, exaggerated for comic effect. Moore's Kingfish dominated the calmer and soft-spoken "Amos 'n' Andy" characters. Early in his career, Moore had developed a "con-man" routine he used for many years while in vaudeville; re-working some aspects of his old act produced the television character Kingfish.

Moore was very popular in the show and for the first time in his career became a national celebrity as well as the first African American to win stardom on television. When leaving a train in Albuquerque to buy some Native American pottery, the proprietor recognized him immediately, saying, "You, you Kingfish." This was the first time it happened in Moore's 52 years in show business. The show aired on prime-time TV from June 1951 to June 1953. Although quite popular, the series was eventually canceled due to complaints about ethnic stereotyping. Shortly after the television show left the air, there were plans to turn it into a vaudeville act in August 1953, with Moore, Williams, and Childress playing the same characters.  After the series was canceled, it was shown in syndication until 1966 when increasing condemnation and pressure from the NAACP persuaded the show's owners (CBS, which still owns the copyrights) to withdraw it from further exhibition.  It was resurrected in the early days of home videotape through public domain video dealers who had acquired episodes from collectors of used 16mm TV prints, although the copyright was never in the public domain. Illegally produced copies continue to be sold over the internet.  The series itself would not be seen on a regular basis again until independent network Rejoice TV began re-airing episodes in 2012.

Moore married his last wife Vivian Cravens (1912–1988) eight months after Benzonia's death; Moore fired a gunshot in his home because of his "mooching in-laws" (stepson, stepdaughter, and her husband) when he found that the last of the New Year's roast beef had been eaten by them. Moore related, "These free-loaders have eaten everything in the house. My wife protects them and every time we talk about it, we get into an argument. The argument got a little loud and the next thing I knew, the big boy (his stepson Hubbard) jumped out of his chair.  I ran upstairs and got out my old pistol.  I didn't want to hit anybody."

When the police arrived at the home, Moore, pistol still in his belt, told them, "I'm the old Kingfish, boys. I'm the one you want. I fired that shot. I didn't want to hit anyone, although I could have. Anyway, you should have seen the in-laws scatter when I fired that gun." The shot Moore fired hit the china cabinet; he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, with police calling him the "funniest prisoner in police history." Moore was initially ordered held on $1,000 bond; the judge changed his mind and released Moore on his own recognizance. Tim and his wife reconciled, with Vivian's pleading for the charges to be dropped. Moore entered a not guilty plea before the case went to trial on March 24.  He received a $100 fine and a year's probation as his sentence.

Because of the "Roast Beef Scandal," Moore was once more in demand and even received a testimonial tribute dinner from the Friars Club of Beverly Hills, and appearing on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar. The publicity also won him an extended performance engagement at the legendary Mocambo nightclub.

Moore died at age 71 on December 13, 1958 of pulmonary tuberculosis in Los Angeles, four days after his birthday.  There was no money to pay for his hospital care or for his funeral, Moore having received his final $65.00 residual payment from Amos 'n' Andy in January 1958.  At one time, Moore had made $700 per week.

After a large funeral at Mt. Sinai Baptist Church, he was buried at Rosedale Cemetery. At the funeral service, 10,000 fans and mourners passed his open coffin; attendance was star-studded and included Groucho Marx, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Louis Armstrong, Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Charlie Barnet, Noble Sissle, Erskine Hawkins, Louis Prima, Freeman F. Gosden, Charles Correll, Spencer Williams, Jr., Alvin Childress, Ernestine Wade, Amanda Randolph, Johnny Lee, Lillian Randolph, Sammy Davis, Jr., Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Andy Razaf, Clarence Muse, Roy Glenn, Mantan Moreland, Pigmeat Markham, Willie Bryant, Earl Grant. Sammy Davis, Jr. later related that Frank Sinatra organized the effort to pay Tim Moore's funeral expenses. Moore's grave remained unmarked from the time of his burial until 1983; fellow comedians Redd Foxx and George Kirby raised funds for a headstone. There is now one marking the graves of Moore and his wife, Vivian, who died in 1988.

In spite of his achievement as the first major African American television star, Moore is still not honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Moore_(comedian)

[bobbyshaddoe80]

Liberated Audio Reviews

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2

RELEASED AUGUST 2012

Recorded on: 18 October and 25 November 2011, and 15 March 2012

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

The Magnificent Four by Simon Guerrier

'A mission to steal data from the planet Mogul goes badly wrong when Cally and Avon are outflanked and outgunned. And then they are teleported to safety – to an alien spaceship stolen from The System, which is crewed by Gilden Trent and his small team of rebels.

For Avon it’s the opportunity to start over again without Blake.

But can Trent be trusted?'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Countdown and Voice From the Past.

Magnificent. Defined in the dictionary as 'impressive, deserving of admiration, especially due to an unusual quality involving size'.

The word is often used when describing something vast in size and scope, but magnificence can also be attributed to the quality of something that involves a small group. A prime example would be the title characters of the classic Western The Magnificent Seven. Even the accomplishments made by the John Wick character could be described as magnificent despite them being done by one man.

Magnificent is an apt word to describe the impressive storytelling quality that Guerrier has pulled off with this Cally focused story.

Cally, as played by the exquisite Jan Chappell, was always one of my favorites from the original cast. She was someone that wasn't a hardened cynic like Avon (who provides much needed support for Cally in this story), nor was she cowardly like Vila. She was someone that genuinely believed in doing the right thing and saw fighting against the oppressive tyranny of the Federation to be a very serious responsibility.

I was also always fascinated by her stance as someone that, for all intents and purposes, was the alien of the group (due to her coming from a race of telepaths). I have my own thoughts and theories about the Auronar, but that can wait for another day. Despite having powers of the mind, I always felt that Cally was very much the heart of the team.

I love that this story has Cally and Avon meeting up with a group like Blake's, on a ship like the Liberator, only to learn that they are little more than highly skilled pirates.

I love that the events of the Series B episode 'Redemption' are brought up and how the crew of the Libertine are a result of the aftermath of the events from that story.

I love how the story showcases in the crew of the Libertine a distorted reflection (and perhaps a retroactive premonition) of what would happen to the crew of the Liberator should they lose their way by abandoning their morals and scruples and just give in to blind self interest... Which for the most part is exactly what started to happen during Series C and ultimately came to fruition in Series D.

A minor nitpick, but I always thought the planet Cally came from was called Auron and her people were called the Auronar. And yet in this story and others, they refer to her as being an Auron. Is it a case where one singular person is an Auron but the collective term for the species as a whole is Auronar? It is a minor thing, I know, but still something that stuck out.

Something else that is a bit of a minor flaw is that at one point in the story the voiceover narration switches from Cally to Avon. There is a specific reason why this happens in the narrative, but it still comes about rather unexpectedly.

Given the stories in these chronicles are events being recounted AFTER the fact, there is the inevitable problem of how to create tension and intrigue with life threatening peril for the characters when most fans know the show backwards and are fully aware of what the inevitable fates for many of the characters are.

Luckily for Guerrier and many other writers, they do create moments that make you wonder how such and such will be able to survive whatever life threatening peril is thrown at them, and manage to cleverly pay off how they survive without falling into 'Oh Come The Fuck On' Territory.

8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Anyway, this story is very well done and is the first of many plots that involve coming across potential allies for the Resistance movement, only to learn the would be allies are often a lot worse than their enemies in the Federation. Definitely give it a listen.

False Positive by Eddie Robson

'Dr. Lian has a mysterious new patient – a man who was found shot in the leg near Engel City, a man who is delirious and talking about the most extraordinary acts of rebellion.

She prescribes drugs and the use of the alleviator – a device that will dig deep into his memories – to unlock the truth about Carlin Guzan.

But the truth that she exposes is far more shocking than she bargained for...'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B after LC Vol. 10's Retribution, between the episodes Horizon and Pressure Point.

This story is definitely a step up in quality from volume 1's 'Counterfeit' and is an excellent Blake-centric story. The framing device for the recollection of the events is actually quite clever as it ties in with the adventure itself in a very naturalistic manner.

The dialogue scenes between Blake and Dr. Liam are excellent. Kudos to Beth Chalmers for giving the character of Dr. Liam the right balance of professional intrigue and personal curiosity as she learns more and more about her 'patient'. But this story belongs to the late Gareth Thomas through and through and it is great to hear him be afforded better material than during his first go round back in 'Counterfeit'.

I always rather liked Blake from the start, and a large part of that is down to the performance of the late Gareth Thomas. The character of Roj Blake was a passionate idealist fighting for a noble cause, someone who could be diplomatic but understood the need for action rather than simple civil disobedience. As someone that broke free from an oppressive government, he immediately gains our sympathies... even if his passions occasionally bordered on overzealous fanaticism. This is largely due to what the Federation did to him personally by trying to rewrite his mind, killing his family and even destroying his public image by falsifying accusations of paedophilia.

Since the Federation enact the same tactics on countless others without any hesitation, morals or scruples, it is no wonder why Blake is so overwhelmingly passionate about wiping out the corruptive and cancerous tumor that is the Federation. Not only to avenge family, but to ensure that people are given the freedom to choose for themselves and not simply be coerced into following the rules through propaganda, torture, drugs or mind control.

Speaking of drugs and mind control, that goes to the heart of the plot: Blake going undercover at a Federation research facility that is conducting a clinical drug trial for the development of a new pacifying sedative, which the Federation hopes to employ in order to ensure total compliance and obedience to Federation doctrine.

Ironically enough, that is exactly what would come to pass towards the tail end of Series D... But we already know that, don't we?

7 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

All things considered, it is a pretty good story. This story, like a few others in the Liberator Chronicles range, could work as a two-hander stage play with a couple of tweaks. It also could easily have worked on TV or even as a full cast audio. Give it a listen.

Wolf by Nigel Fairs

“I heard his death cry. I felt it. And there was a word. ‘Wolf’. You, Servalan. You were the “Wolf”. You killed him. I want to know why.”

'Some time ago, Blake and his crew were helped by a revered Auron scientist named Gustav Nyrron. He stayed aboard the Liberator for a time and then disappeared.

Cally wants to know what happened to Nyrron, and only Servalan knows the answers.'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Pressure Point and Trial.

This is a very intriguing Servalan focused story, featuring Cally and a return appearance by Gustav Nyrron from Volume 1's 'Solitary'.

They say that a protagonist is only as good as the antagonist created to provide drama/conflict. This is especially true when the character of Supreme Commander Servalan (along with the equally excellent Space Commander Travis) was introduced as the Liberator crew's primary antagonist in the Series A episode 'Seek-Locate-Destroy'.

A large part of why the Servalan character has left such a lasting impression on the minds of fans had to do with the casting of the late Jacqueline Pearce, and the way she played the role. Her grace, charm, beauty and seductive allure went hand in hand with a ruthless ambitious edge along with a keen strategic mind.

In many ways, Servalan, as played by Jacqueline Pearce, reminded me of Alexis Colby as played by Joan Collins. Although Servalan was a bit more reserved than Alexis.

As such, it makes perfect sense that the Liberator Chronicles would provide ample opportunities to explore the villains as well as the heroes. This story does well to explore Servalan's character along with her thoughts, beliefs and how she carries herself as she recounts events. The recollection is pretty interesting cuz it comes about in multiple ways.

We learn a little bit about Servalan's childhood in reference to a game she used to play with others. Its interesting how this story, along with the upcoming 'Kerr', 'President' and 'Three', provides more insight into the character than the show ever did. The aforementioned upcoming stories do provide some great insight into why Servalan is the way she is... But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I love the scenes between Servalan and Cally, as I do not recall the two of them having much screentime during the series proper... If ever. But I could be wrong.

This story has some great twists and turns as it deals with exploring how Servalan used Nyrron as her personal plaything in her efforts to lure the Liberator into her clutches.

Although Nyrron will be featured again in the story 'Brother' off of Volume 11 (which I will talk about eventually), I think this is the story that features him the best. We learn the most about him as a character, and much kudos to Anthony Howell for bringing much pathos and nuance to the Auron scientist.

The story also lends itself quite well to philosophical debates regarding how each side views the other. Naturally, Blake's crew view Servalan and the Federation as an evil and oppressive tyranny, while Servalan and those within the Administration view Blake and his ilk as little more than terrorists wanting to bring down the only force for law and order in the galaxy.

It is that clash of ideals and personal morals that will be explored to great effect in future volumes as well as in the full cast audios.

9 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Final score for Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2 in its entirety is 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts. It is a profound step up in quality compared to Volume 1, and it demonstrates that things can only go up from here in terms of character exploration and engaging plots.

Special credit to Craig Brawley of the Big Finish Listeners Facebook Group for his tireless efforts in mapping out the chronology of the audios and determining his they fit in with the established TV continuity.

[lockdownuk]

Lockdown Diary Part 3

A personal account during the lockdown in the UK due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

23/03/2020 8:30pm Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister, gives a live address to the nation to, effectively, put the country on lockdown to stem the spread of the deadly coronavirus strain, Covid-19.

Many of us have been self-isolating for days but this latest development within the UK in reaction to the pandemic feels very serious and very scary. I decided to keep a simple diary and where better but online.

Day 61: Writing this in the afternoon on day 62. An exercise driven day. Two walks and stair climb as usual plus I popped round Jeff’s early evening. First time I’ve been to his house, 1 Garden Row, Elmington. It’s further than I thought so, with walking there an back, I managed a daily total of 14km. It was good to see him and have a social (but social-distanced) beer. When I got home, @9:45pm, I made thai green chicken curry, watch The Report (a great, if worrying film) and then TikTok-ed until gone 5am!

Day 62: Typing this on day 64! Beer round Karen’s. Missed Sam’s quiz.

Day 63: Typing this on day 64! Beer round Karen’s. Again! Well, it is bank holiday Monday! Had dirty pizza for tea and watched The Heat. Again! It is the most piss funny film.

Day 64: Well, I have been feeling guilty about treatung the bank holiday w/e l;ike a bank holiday w/e. It’s dawned on me that that guilt is way too self-disiciplned. I got up about midday, usual two walks and stair climb but that’s it. I need to clean the house from top to bottom, get on top of my online courses, get the garden done, get the car fixed, go shopping…fucking hell - if only I had the time…

Day 65: Today I swapped Amazon prime free trial for about the 5th time in my life. Same card and address - will they get wind of my skullduggery. This is all so I can finish watching Hunters and catch Homecoming S2. I went shopping at Asda near Raunds. I wish I hadn’t, it’s no good for a comprehensive shop. Received an email from RCI inviting me to a Zoom meeting with Pal Mulcahy for a business update. I fear the worst. And it’s at 10:00am, FFS!

Day 66: Logged in an attended zoom forum with Paul Mulcahy and over 250 RCI staff this morning. The message was that there is going to be redundancies. I expected this and expected to fall victim. All staff that are going to be put through cionsultation would be contacted today. I however wasn’t! Very, very surpised. meanwhile, Nick Reilly asked to connect via LinkedIn (including become a LinkedIn staff team member -  that’s new to me so I’ll see what it is but I accepted the invitation) Later, I WhatsApp-ed him and asked who has been affected from IT. All he could tell me was no one on Jon Rodger’s team is under threat. Also, Mark C emailed - I’ll respond tomorrow. I got up at 09:00ish and had my mornming walk before the 10:00am meeting. I am now, at 09:30pm, fucking knackered. Dinner and then bed, methinks but not before one more episdoe of Hunters!

Day 67: Typing on Day 68. Got pretty drunk last night. I’ve got blisters from walking (new boots) so I don’t think I’ll walk tomorrow (well, today!).

Day 68: I did fuck all today. Got up after 1pm, no walking. I did manage to clean the bathroom (and smash my little mirror) and do my 26 stair climb. I am typing at 9pm and I feel whacked!

Day 69: I have an abscess. It’s not too painful (today) but I am going to call the dentist tomorrow (Monday). I think antibiotics are in order. I watched a film, which I actually started yesterday, called The Voices starring Ryan Reynolds, Gemma Arteton and Anna Kendrick. Fuuuuuuuuuuuucking weird. The closing credits are the most bizarre, in context, I’ve ever seen. But, in general, a very good film. Back to normal exercise regime today plus hovered the hall and stairs. Get me. It’ll be interetingh to see my Google Fit figures for May tomorrow.

Day 70: Contacted the dentist who advised salt water rinsing and ibuprofen. But, tbf, it’s a lot better today and the swelling has gone right down. The dentist I called was the Oundle House (Rodericks) one. I was not hopeful since last time I saw them they referred me to their Northampton clinic for root canal work which was quoted at over £600. However, the dentist was very nice, had my x-ray to hand from that last visit and seemed more interested in making sure I’m OK than gaining a paying customer. He still wants to see me when possible though! I must mention the weather. It has been glorious weather nearly every day throughout May (it’s June 1st today). Seriously sunny and like a holiday every day. The news mentioned it today - the level of sunshine throughout the transition from spring to summer is unprecedented, apparently. My T shirt tan is, quite frankly, ridiculous!

Day 71: Today’s ‘must mention’ is what’s going on in the US and it’s not particularly related to Trump. There was a black man killed while under arrest. George Floyd died Monday 25th May (8 days ago) A policeman, who knelt on his neck for minutes while he complained of not being able to breathe, has been charged with murder. Now there are riots and curfews and military intervention all over the country. It’s similar to the English riots of 2011. It’s worrying, sad, scary and not what the fight against the pandemic needs. Most of all, it’s racism rearing its ugly head yet again. I’ve had a normal-ish day. received an email from Jim checking in, talked to a recruiter about a promising job lead (although the hours are 8-5 which I am not happy about), talked to Barry across the road and sent Barzzy a WhatsApp. And I logged in Shaw Academy and started lesson one of module 2 of web Design. It’s been a while, so long overdue, but I only did about 15 minutes. Must try harder / do better! As I type, late (10:10pm) I have dinner cooking and a strange pain in my left side and am in the middle of No Country for Old Men. Don’t think I’ve seen it since the cinema (13 years!)

Day 72: As soon as (well, within a couple of days) I mention the weather, it turns. It’s rained a little and is a lot cooler (15° rather than mid-20s). Much better for walking, I have to say. I finished Hunters today (Amazon Prime series). While I enjoyed it, it got too surreal at the end. It is loosely based on the real story of Nazi hunters in the US in 1977 but the straying from loosely based to down-right ridiculous fiction annoyed me. If it goes to S2, I will watch it, however. Received some of my rental deposit back today (the law changed so that only 5 weeks rent can be demanded as deposit). Over £600. Nice.

Day 73: I made a short video for Marc and Clare’s 26th wedding anniversary. I ‘dressed up’ for it. I enjoyed doing it and I think it was appreciated.

Day 74: Typing on Day 75 for no other reason than I couldn’t be bothered on day 74! I received a letter either today or the day before (well, yesterday or the previous day!) from Mr Minos at the eye clinic informing me that, while there is some stuff going on in both eyes (garnered from the photo scans done at the last hospital appointment), he wants to see me in three months. Always a refief when that happens. Been getting into two series on Amazon: Alex Rider and Modern Love. One is a male Hanna, the other is soppy affairs of the heart based on real life stories (from essays written in the NY Times). Both enjoyable for totally different reasons.

Day 75: Lazyish day. Well, not really, just that I only went for one walk, alebit 6km andI got pissed on. Wehn the rain hit, it was also fucking freezing! Some of the clouds were stunning today, made for great photos. As I type, it’s 21:12, I’m listening the wonderful Phoebe Bridgiers. Now, I’m gonna make some tea and sup a few ales, I reckon.

Day 76: Done lots of walking today (over 13,000 steps) I made sausage casserole with too much chilli (scotch bonnet and birdeye). I had an online (fb) debate with Sam over whether the George Floyd murder was a racial.

Day 77: Received a new (used) wing mirror for the car. £18 with delivery, I reckon that’s a bargain. I cashed in £20 from Prolific as well, so I’m satisfied at the financial full-circle. Dropped the car off at Barnwell (Nene Valley Body Shop) and walked back - 7km. Just about to dive into tea - finishing the blazing hot sausage casserole from yesterday. Then I’m going to do some more Rubik’s cube practice with my recently acquired GoCube.

Day 78: Lots of daily walking, 26 stair climb, press-up and late nights watching TikTok (gone 3am this morning) are making for a constantly knackered Tim Stubbs. Today I made veg soup and cooked up some meatballs. Both are delish. How did I ever to learn how to conjure up such stuff? The Rubik’s cube learning is coming along except that I need good daylight to distinguish between the yellow and white faces on the flipping thing!

Day 79: Listening to Radio 6 most the day and the news is making for dire listening. Forecast of severe recession, especially if there is a second peak of the virus, which I think there will be. Plus, an offshoot of the George Floyd murder and the #BlackLivesMatter movement, institutions and town councils are being lobbied by campaigners to remove statues of anyone associated with things like slavery (one was toppled in Bristol at the w/e) and rename buildings etc. that were named after historical characters with any links to something that now is deemed wrong or offensive. I agree with it but it’s not pleasant to hear amongst other bleak news. Walked to Barnwell to collect my car - front trim reseated and new wing mirror fitted, £20 - bargain (I source the replacement wing mirror). But, also, forked out £165 on car tax! Cleaned the lounge from top to bottom. Knackering!

Day 80: Chatted with Dad and Rita - he’s pissed off with the slavery backlash but otherwise they are both OK. I saw Baz in the Tesco queue where I mentioned my disgust at the Thursday market being allowed (I found I could not maintain 2m at all times just walking to Tesco’s!) and that I really don’t want to catch Covid19 as I will probably die. Maybe a bit dramatic but he messaged me later today to say he’d been thinking on what I said and offered to shop for me. I replied that I am OK to shop but am scared at how people are taking things so much less seriously than when lockdown started yet the virus is still out there just as it was then! I am very touched at his massage. I thoroughly cleaned the bedroom and changed the bedclothes today. House work really knackers me out!

Day 81: Spare room cleaned today. Not much else to type about. It’s Friday, I making curried mince and I don’t feel like a beer. How I’ve changed!

Day 82: I did have beers last night. Ended up going to bed with daylight and dawn chorus for company. Today, when I woke, gone 1pm, I have been greeted by what can only be described as thoroughly depressing news from every quarter. This includes violence in the capital, further virus outbreak in Beijing. Fog’s political posts on FB make for depressing (but vaild) reading. I’m feeling thoroughly fed up today. Not even music can lift my mood…

…but, I am currently listening to Craig Charles on BBCR6 and, I have to say, he’s putting in quite an exceptional effort - there may be hope that my mood might lift, even at gone 8pm! I might have a beer or two and grab something postivity and enjoyment from the day after all.

Day 83: Another late one last night but up before noon today. Started watching something called Condor on Sky One. It’s OK - there’s stuff I wanna waytch on Amazon Prime but, more often than not, it keeps telling me there’s ‘a problem’ when I try to play anything. Pissing me off. I just checked and I have two weeks of the initial 12 of furlough to go. I shall started asking the questions about what might happen on the Connections website.

Day 84: Typing this on Day 85. On the way back from dropping off some shoes for Sean Davies at his brother’s (martin) I met Karen and she said why not pop round for a beer so I did. Certainly not used to a drink on a Monday so that, and the genral upheaval to my evening, while good fun and a nice change, put pay to my usual diary entry! I sorted Amazon Prime out by leaving the TV turned off for over an hour. Day 85: Tim did the garden today and it looks great. The pipes in the bathroom have been knocking loudly, on and off, for a couple of weeks now. Last night, they were so loud that today I took it upon myself to resolve it or ring Woodfords. So, having turned off the water, run the taps dry to get rid of any trapped air and then turned the water back on slowly, I discoved it’s the cistern and its pipes. Woodfords are arranging Corvee to visit. Meanwhile, leaving the water turned off at least stops the noise which is, otherwise, costant and unbearable! I emailed HR a couple of days ago about what’s happening in a couple of weeks time in terms of furlough when the 12 weeks will be up. Sue Cockimngs got back to me attaching an email Deryn sent on 15th May which I never received. Basically, they’ll extend furlough if need be and an update should be forthcoming late May/early June. Well, that time has passed, so who knows what is going to happen. The furlough scheme (CJRS) has been changed by the govenment, I’ve read, and it looks like any new people would have to have been furloughed by June 10th (it’s the 16th today) so no furlough rotation, which is annoying. The CJRS ends 1st October with employer contributions required from 1st August - that’s D-Day as far as I am concerned….so job hunting will have to step up a notch! Day 86: Pete’s birthday and he bought himself the same speaker as me. When I asked if it lived up to his expectations he mentioned it’s better through WiFi than Bluetooth. That confused me as I haven’t got WiFi available on mine…..long story short, I bought the wrong fucking speaker. I got a AudioPro AddOn T10 instead of C10. To say I am fucked off is an understatement. To think I was so pleased at the cheap price I paid. Now I feel like I have wasted  €200. Bollocks.

Day 87: Finished Alex Rider last night. Another series that started off so well and ended a litte weak but, overall, not bad. I’ve started keeping strange meal times…lunch very late (4pm) and dinner really late (11pm). I need to sort it ‘cos it’s playing havoc with my sugar levels. I had a huge hypo while having my second walk today, second day on the trot that’s happened. My late dinner was Chinese chicked curry with a quarter of a scotch bonnet and two birdeye chillies. Delish.

Day 88: I have managed to be bitten yesterday or the day before on one of my walks. There are strange, itchy lumps on my right inner forearm. And I do mean itchy. I trimmed my sideburns today, I was very pissed off with them. My hair looks just a little less shit. I did a shop at Tesco in Corby today. Mainly booze as follows: 20 cans Sam Miguel £18 18 cans Stella £15 20 bottles Bud £10 8 cans Tyskie £9 3 lrg bottles Warsteiner £5 £57 Bargain.

Day 89: Lazy day. One short walk and usual stair climb. Howard and Sue popped round to give me a pressie - bottle of Monkey Shoulder. I’m building up quite a collection of whisky!

Day 90: Dad called and we chatted for an hour or so. I had to apologise for not sending a father’s day card! Dan messaged me and offered to pay for a pizza delivery which I declined.

Football has started again this past week…Prem and Championship only. L1 and L2 season was cut short and Posh missed out on the play-offs by one place. As I type, Everton v Liverpool is on Sky Sports on a Sunday evening - it’s very strange with no crowd. There’s crowd noise being played thorugh the tannoy.

[colorisbyshe]

fuck it, i haven’t done this in a while, so i guess, i’ll do it again quickly because i’m bored and it’s nice to share these things, so

stephanie’s masterpost of how to get free shit online

amazon: amazon giveaways (sorted by item type); you get a free prime trial every year (save those for when you’ll be buying a lot); rate 10 2 minute clips of songs to win a GUARANTEED $5 gift card every single week (disclaimer: that is my referral code to get points, I have won about $200 from this site, i won $25 last week from a raffle)

books: hoopla (with library card), libby/overdrive (with library card)

crunchyroll guest passes: reddit link, crunchyroll link (those links expire sometimes, just google “reddit crunchyroll guest pass thread” and “crunchyroll guest pass thread”; crunchyroll also does a free 14 day trial)

domino’s: if you subscribe to their emails, every month or so they have a “quikly” competition where if you reply to a text they send you fast enough, you win gift cards and even if you respond slowly you still get 20% off an order

movie streaming (check tv streaming too): 123movie,  babytorrent, hdonline, hoopla (with library card, phone app), kanopy (with library card)

movie tickets: win advanced movie tickets (ie screenings of movies before they come out or sometimes the day they come out, this is how i won tickets to the dunkirk premiere and yelled at christopher nolan to his face... rip), follow this twitter to enter time sensitive competitions more quickly (organized by state)

random giveaways: masterpost of a shit ton of giveaways sorted by category and updated daily, search here for items you want to see if they are being given away, search /r/giveaways for items you want

scholarly articles: unpaywall

tv streaming: couchtuner, live tv streams, solarmovies

Tips:

Free Trials: If the free trial requires credit card information, ALWAYS make sure you make sure ti is not auto-renew (that it will charge you when the trial is over). If it is auto-renew, turn that off. If you cannot, set a reminder on your phone to cancel it the day before it is set to renew. Always check for free trials before you subscribe to a service. You can use multiple email addresses to get around most free trial limits.

Giveaways: Lots of giveaways require info like your email and signing up for newsletters. Make a separate email account for this because you end up getting a lot of emails. Check this email account every couple days to see if you won. NEVER give information besides your email address and (if you win a physical prize) your home address. You should never have to pay for an entry unless you can confirm that it’s a certified and legit raffle but just... don’t do those anyways unless it’s for charity and something you couldn’t get elsewhere (like winning tickets to a movie premiere).

Streaming: Streaming sites tend to be hella sketchy. Have an adblocker (like uBlock origin), something that blocks websites using you for cryptocurrency, probably have something that detects viruses but I haven’t run into that in any of the websites I linked. While not linked here, websites like kissanime (and all affiliated websites like kisscartoon and kissasian) especially need the thigns that block crypto mining. I feel less comfortable wholesale recommending those sites, though I personally haven’t had problems using them.

Most important tip for GUARANTEED FREE SHIT:

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY! Many libraries not only have books but also have audiobooks, cds, dvds, and video games! Check out what services your local library provides, some even have it so you can borrow audio books, ebooks, and videos straight through their website (don’t even have to go there!). Local libraries also may have clubs and teaching services (like how to write better resumes, code, etc) as well. If your library has a website (it should), you can check their catalog and make sure they have what you want before you even go!

[shipping-n-handling]

hey idk if your still doing the writing prompt thing, but can you do one for bellarke?

Hey anon! Sorry for getting to this late, I’ve been doing a ton of schoolwork recently. I’ve been obsessed with the 100 and bellarke for a couple years now, so this was a nice change of pace from my normal content. Hope you enjoy, and I will be sending my therapist bills to you ;)

In the end, even stars must eventually die.

Clarke had been organizing the newly elected leaders of Sanctum and instructing them on the responsibilities of their roles. Raven was revamping the radiation shield surrounding the sanctuary and manufacturing more mobile stations to eventually expand it as the population grew. Murphy and Emori were somewhere in the Prime’s compound making that same population grow, while Indra, Octavia, and Diyoza were instructing Sanctum’s Wonkru-infused guard in hand-to-hand combat to further their skills. Gabriel, Niylah, and Jackson attempted to establish a larger hospital amongst the buildings of the sanctuary, while Gaia had taken it upon herself to create a history of the settled moon for posterity. Madi and Hope (reluctantly) were finally taking part in normal activities like school, while Bellamy, Echo, Miller, Jordan, and a dozen of Sanctum’s residents combed the nearby woods for supplies and isolated Children of Gabriel cells.

After Wonkru’s slow integration with Sanctum’s citizens and the downfall of the Primes, Clarke was beginning to imagine for the first time that they might finally be ready for peace. Russell Lightbourne had been exiled by demand of the people, realizing that a slow and sure death was a fitting punishment for one who had been running from it for so long. Octavia’s disappearance into the temporal anomaly along with Diyoza and her daughter’s reappearance had been enough of a headache for Clarke, who was now dealing with rebuilding a once-functioning society. The elected leaders, though they meant well, were very new to their positions and needed careful guidance. If left to their own devices, Clarke was almost certain Sanctum would starve or be embroiled in another war by the year’s end.

With an involuntary huff of frustration, she plopped down on the chair that headed the large table and rubbed her temples slowly. One of them, a native to Sanctum, droned on about the seasons on the moon and the traditions that came with the first harvest of the year, most of which had been centered on the Primes. In her mind, Clarke’s thoughts drifted outward beyond the meeting hall towards the woods, where Bellamy was undoubtedly trekking with the scouting party. A small smile flitted across her lips as she imagined him enduring Jordan’s growing love of corny jokes, which he had learned from book discovered in Sanctum. In her mind, she could almost picture both Bellamy and Miller rolling their eyes at the end of each punchline.

In the intervening months since the collapse of the temporal anomaly, Bellamy and Echo had slowly drifted apart. There was no big fight, no public declaration, but it soon became apparent to everyone that they had decided to call it quits. Both Echo and Bellamy separately told Clarke that they had just realized they were too different, their outlooks on the world too disparate. Despite their split, both remained friends and continued to build the sanctuary alongside Clarke and the others. Despite herself and the friendship she shared with both Bellamy and Echo, Clarke had felt a surge of hope when she pieced it together. Inwardly, she chastised herself over these feelings, that a relationship that appeared to make Bellamy happy had failed, but she could not help it. Sometime over the past several years, she had fallen in love with Bellamy Blake.  

While she could not point to a single moment that caused it, Clarke remembered vividly how she came to the realization. It was over a year into her isolation with Madi on Earth, when they had just gotten done with a fishing excursion. Like a ritual, Clarke had retreated to the rover and was beginning to set up the equipment to initiate her daily radio call towards the Ring. Madi had followed her to the rover and began watching her with a curious expression.

“Clarke,” She asked in Trig. “Why do you still do that?”

“Do what?” Came the muffled reply as she leaned forward to grab a particularly uncooperative cable.

Madi eyed her efforts with slight exasperation. “Call him. You said it’ll be a few more years before the ground is livable for everyone, and he hasn’t responded to any of your calls so far.”

Clarke paused before answering. Though she had assured Madi otherwise, there remained a possibility that Bellamy and the others had not been able to make it to the Ring. Or worse, that they did exist up there and were never able to come back down. The thought of never seeing Bellamy again haunted her nightmares. Oh, no. “I have to hope that h-they can hear me.” She responded finally, earning an raised eyebrow from the small girl. “It’s important to have hope. Besides,” She added teasingly. “If I don’t give them directions, they’ll completely miss us and I’ll be stuck alone with you forever.” Madi rolled her eyes and began walking back towards the camp.

“Whatever,” She called over her shoulder. “Say hi to Bellamy for me.”

Clarke’s heart lurched, the realization hitting her like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t the group she was desperately trying to reach, not entirely. Though she missed them terribly, it was Bellamy that she tried to contact each day. The thought of hearing his voice on the other end had been the only thing that staved off the nightmares, the image of him suddenly appearing enough to quell the despair she had gathered in her heart. Reaching back in her memories, it had always been Bellamy that she reached for when the situation turned sour, whenever they needed to face some great threat, it was always his hand that she grasped tightly like a lifeline. Through all the trials and heartaches, he had remained a constant in her life since their arrival on the ground.  Now that he was gone, Clarke was desperately trying to keep him alive in whatever was she could.

She loved him. Damn it, she thought. Love was a weakness. In the distance, Madi was cursing in Trig as the fish she was holding slipped from her grasp and landed on the ground. A small smile spread across Clarke’s face as she beheld the tiny warrior, who was angrily dusting off the fish with a rag. Warmth filled her heart and with it, the knowledge that she would fight to the death to defend Madi from whatever danger the future might hold. The strength her feelings caused Clarke to think again of Bellamy and the love she now realized coursed through her veins. Perhaps love was not weakness after all, she thought distantly.

Clarke’s memories shifted to the months following the fall of the Primes. With Bellamy and Echo no longer together, the former had begun spending most of his free time around Clarke. It wasn’t until Madi and Octavia separately pointed it out that she realized that he may feel the same way about her that she did for him. That revelation, Clarke remembered, had nearly knocked her off her feet. After all the things she had done, after everything that had happened to both of them, she still found it hard to accept when good things happened. The thought of Bellamy actually loving her back was reminiscent of the daydreams she used to have during her time with Madi.

Despite her knowledge of his supposed feelings and their near constant proximity, the two of them had been dancing around each other for the past several weeks. It was that sweet, sweet tension before one of them decided to take the final leap and openly state their feelings. Though they had already waited so long, Clarke could not deny the appeal of the buildup. Her thoughts constantly strayed towards him, her heart pounded furiously inside her chest whenever he was in the room, and he filled her every dream. She nearly kissed him yesterday when they had been sitting outside the compound watching the sunrise, seeing how the light caught his eyes and the way he seemed to instinctively lean into its warmth. It was maddening. Beautifully maddening.

Clarke was ripped out of her memory by a question fielded to her by one of the elected leaders, causing a flash of irritation. As she gave her answer, a sudden drop in her stomach preceded a loud alarm blaring across Sanctum. After years of constant fighting and danger, Clarke and the others had developed almost a sixth sense for when trouble was around the corner. While she ushered the leaders out of the room and rushed to see what the problem was, her heart began to clench in a way that told her everything was not right. Something was wrong.

She saw him before they managed to tell her.

A motionless figure was being carried by the remaining scouting party, covered in what appeared to be Bellamy’s coat. Looking around, Clarke could not see the coat’s owner, scouring the small crowd that had gathered around the returning group. Worry turned to panic as her breaths began coming out in short rasps, eyes still scanning the crowd. Octavia was there, so was Echo and Miller. Jordan was being carted away by two of the scouting party, looking slightly bloody and bound for some reason. Where was Bellamy?

Octavia walked slowly over to her, looking like someone had hollowed out her body and taken away her spirit. Tear-streaked cheeks lifted and bloodshot eyes found Clarke’s. A dull feeling appeared in the back of her head, her neck soon stiffening in panic to appear frozen as Octavia took a breath.

“Clarke,” She rasped, her voice sounding hoarse. Like she had been yelling. “Clarke, something happened.” The look on her face and the flat tone in her voice sent chills down Clarke’s spine.

Realization it her. No. “Octavia?” Her voice trembled, as her vision became blurry.

It had happened so fast.

Unknown to them, the influence of the Primes still ran deep in Sanctum. As part of the Adjustment Protocol, several members of the Sanctum populace had been indoctrinated to be loyal to the Primes. Quietly, over the past several weeks, they conspired to assassinate the new leadership and seek out the exiled Russell Lightbourne. The scouting mission had been suggested by one of the agents as a ruse to kill Bellamy, Octavia, Echo, and Miller. Jordan, it seemed, had been forcibly converted to their philosophy during his time recovering from his stab wound. Without warning, the loyalists turned on them once they had gone far enough from Sanctum, intending to kill them quickly and quietly.

Only the honed instincts of the group saved them, having sensed the movements of their would-be assassins only milliseconds beforehand. While Miller fought a crazed Jordan, trying to calm him down, Bellamy, Echo, and Octavia engaged the remaining party. In the chaos, one of the loyalists had thrown a knife at Miller. Without hesitating, Bellamy had jumped in front of the knife, hitting him squarely in the chest. This enraged the others, who quickly finished off their attackers and subdued a stunned Jordan, who seemed despondent after Bellamy’s actions. Octavia numbly told Clarke how she was with him as he died, having only a few precious seconds before the light left his eyes forever. The last words on his lips had been her name. That was too much for Clarke, who blinked back tears and shook her head furiously, refusing to believe this was all real.

He couldn’t be gone. Not now. Not when they were finally seeing what peace looked like.

Her throat constricted and she couldn’t speak. Her heart felt like it was being forced apart by hand, each half held by icy cold fingers. Wordlessly stepping away from Octavia, who still appeared to be numb, Clarke desperately made her way through the crowd towards where she guessed the body had been taken. Before long, she found herself standing in the hastily constructed medical wing, with both Jackson and Niylah looking at her worriedly. In front of her laid the long covered body of Bellamy Blake.

With shaking hands, Clarke removed the coat that covered his face and fell to her knees at the sight of his lifeless face. A strangled sob escaped her lips as she beheld him, the expression on his face strangely blank without the worries and burdens that she normally saw on it. One of her hands found the front of his shirt while the other came to rest on his cheek. Tears streamed down her face as she let out a wail, the sound of her heart breaking into a million pieces. She never got to tell him. Never got to tell him how much she loved him or live the life that she had finally dared to imagine with him. As Jackson and Niylah slowly left her alone with what remained of Bellamy, Clarke felt the despair that she had kept at bay all these years start to creep back into her heart. All was lost, and now she was alone. Alone against the growing darkness.

Madi found her hours later, still clinging to Bellamy with white-knuckled hands. Her bloodshot eyes staring blankly at his face, as if the sheer power of her gaze could somehow bring him back. A small hand carefully covered the one she had gripping Bellamy’s shirt. Clarke did not look at her, never taking her eyes off the face that would never smile again for her. Another one found Clarke’s shoulder, bigger and with more weight. Octavia had walked in and sat down beside her. Despite herself, Clarke found her gaze pulled toward the younger Blake sibling. A stab of pain flashed in her chest. The only Blake left.

While Octavia’s eyes were no longer red with grief, the expression behind them was reminiscent of how she appeared after Lincoln’s death. But she had grown, had faced her demons and defeated them, and now she looked at Clarke who seemed to be empty inside.

“I know that look.” She said carefully. “You can’t give up, Clarke. Not now.” Madi’s hand squeezed tighter as if to punctuate her Octavia’s words.

Clarke looked back at Bellamy, fresh tears streaming down the familiar paths on her face. “He’s g-gone.” She choked, her voice shaking. “Gone, Octavia. And I n-never…“ She couldn’t finish her sentence, but both Madi and Octavia understood.

“He knew, Clarke.” It was Madi that spoke this time, her voice cutting across the air like a bell. “He knew. We all did.” This statement did not comfort her, it only reminded her of all the wasted years.

“Look at me.” Madi’s voice rang again, its tone causing Clarke to meet her eyes. “It’s important to have hope,” She reminded her. Those words stomped on whatever remained of her heart, echoing in the chamber it used to reside in.

“He wouldn’t want you to give up.” Octavia added, forcefully this time. Almost enough that Clarke believed her.

In the end, all stars eventually die. Even the brightest, most extraordinary light in the sky must one day fade away. And all that will remain is the dark promise of an empty night, forever stretching beyond the world towards the infinite horizon.

[mybarricades]

The Dangerous Art of Pyotr Pavlesnky

His spectacular acts of self-mutilation and vandalism have landed him in jail in both Russia and France — and blurred the lines among art, protest and crime.

By Fernanda Eberstadt (The New York Times Magazine) July 11, 2019

On a fall day in Paris, in the luminous courthouse built by Renzo Piano near the Porte de Clichy, the Russian artist Pyotr Pavlensky sat in the dock, listening to an interpreter’s translation of the proceedings against him. Pavlensky had spent the past 11 months in a French jail, primarily in solitary confinement, for what he considers an artwork and the French government considers a crime. 

In the early hours of Oct. 16, 2017, Pavlensky set fire to the ground-floor windows of a branch of the Banque de France on the Place de la Bastille. A video showed him standing in the doorway of the fortresslike building, a black-clad figure framed by wings of flame. The site had been carefully chosen. The Banque de France is the French equivalent of the Federal Reserve, and this particular outpost was erected where the Bastille prison, stormed by revolutionary mobs in 1789, once stood. In the text accompanying the work, titled “Lighting,” Pavlensky declared the bank a symbol of modern-day tyranny and central bankers the new despots. 

In an aftermath common to his artworks (which Pavlensky calls “actions”), he was arrested on the spot, hauled off for psychiatric examination and put in jail — this time with his longtime partner, Oksana Shalygina, who was assisting that night. The couple were charged with “property damage involving risk to others.” Shalygina, who is also the mother of their two young children, was released on probation after two months. But in September, almost a year after “Lighting,” Pavlensky was still in prison awaiting trial. 

Seated before the panel of judges hearing the arguments for his pretrial release, Pavlensky, a hollow-cheeked man with enormous yellow-green, tigerish eyes, was dressed in his customary outfit of black scoop-necked T-shirt, black cargo pants and black sandals. The courtroom was packed with his supporters. One, a red-bearded artist named Sébastien Layral, had chopped off his earlobe for the occasion — recalling Pavlensky’s 2014 performance piece “Segregation,” in which Pavlensky climbed naked onto the wall of Moscow’s most infamous psychiatric institute and cut off his right earlobe to protest the political abuse of psychiatry. Outside the courthouse, six young women from the feminist group FEMEN stood bare-breasted, their lips sewn shut, their chests and backs painted with the slogans “Free Pavlensky” and “Activism Is Not a Disease.” Policemen raised a curtain of gold-foil blankets to hide the women’s naked torsos from onlookers, but their silent fists pumped high above it. 

During his incarceration, Pavlensky held two dry hunger strikes (no food, no water); one was broken only, he says, when the prison authorities force-fed him. His right to daily exercise in the prison courtyard or to receive visitors was frequently denied. 

This harsh treatment, Ariane Mnouchkine, founder of the avant-garde company Théâtre du Soleil, contended in an open letter to the judge, was an “unheard-of practice” in a country that prides itself on its tradition of artistic freedom. Before his arrest, Pavlensky was widely praised by critics for being, as one British newspaper put it, “the patron saint of Russian dissidence.” He was showcased in a prestigious 2017 survey of Russian art at the Saatchi Gallery in London and granted asylum in France the same year. But once he shifted the object of his critique from Putin’s Russia to the Western democracy that gave him refuge, the French government — and even some of his art-world supporters — grew decidedly less enthusiastic. In a country rattled by terrorist attacks, Pavlensky’s “action” took on a sinister resonance. Just two weeks before “Lighting,” the French Parliament passed a sweeping counterterrorism bill, making permanent most of the government’s state-of-emergency powers.

In the courtroom, waiting to be questioned by the judge, Pavlensky’s co-defendant, Shalygina, a tall, lunar-pale woman with a peroxide semimohawk, was pessimistic about her partner’s release. She had sat through half a dozen hearings in this case, and each time the judge had prolonged Pavlensky’s detention another three, four months, with no trial date in sight. 

What made the case particularly uncertain was that the artist himself was not asking to be freed. For Pavlensky, the judicial process is an integral part of the artwork. “The government’s aim is to suppress or neutralize art, to reduce me to a vandal, a madman, a provocateur,” he told me earlier, “but the criminal case becomes one of the layers of the artwork, the portal through which you enter and see the mechanisms of power exposed.” 

The presiding judge that day was Président Jean-Marie Denieul. Balding, bespectacled, genial, Denieul flipped through Pavlensky’s hefty dossier, summarizing his career with the relish of a doctor presented with a particularly rare medical specimen. Here was an artist who thought nothing of chopping off body parts “to make a political point,” Denieul remarked. “A skeletal Homo sapiens, but pretty tough!” 

“This sounds like a homage!” said Pavlensky’s lawyer, Dominique Beyreuther-Minkov. 

“It is, in a way,” the judge replied. 

The prosecutor was not so well disposed. The defendant faced a prison sentence of 10 years, she pointed out. Since he had no job, no bank account, no legal home, she believed he posed a high flight risk. Moreover, since he refused to recognize the legitimacy of the French judiciary or that his act of arson was a crime, there was nothing to stop him from setting more buildings aflame. “He lives for his political acts,” she declared. If they released him “he will do it again.” Public safety, she concluded, demanded that Monsieur Pavlensky be kept in prison. 

I first encountered Pavlensky in the summer of 2017. He and his family arrived from Russia six months earlier and were living in a series of Paris squats and collective apartments. Their latest hosts didn’t allow journalists, so Pavlensky suggested a rendezvous in Père Lachaise, the French cemetery where such luminaries as Balzac and Jim Morrison are buried. 

Until “Lighting,” Pavlensky, who is 35, worked only in Russia. Most of his “actions” involved spectacular acts of self-mutilation or endurance. For the 2013 “Carcass,” he had himself deposited, naked and cocooned in barbed wire, outside the St. Petersburg Parliament, in response to a series of new laws restricting personal freedom. Later that year, in “Fixation,” he attached his scrotum with a Crucifixion-style nail to the paving stones of Red Square to symbolize the passivity of the Russian people. He was inspired, he told me, by “zeks,” imprisoned criminals in Russia who “sometimes do this to protest administrative decisions.” 

Unyielding in his public stances, Pavlensky in person is unexpectedly warm, a little shy. Perched on a graveyard bench under a pitiless sun, he kept his head ducked, smiling often as he spoke about his path to political art. Born in St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) in 1984, he was 16 when Vladimir Putin first became president. Putin closed down independent TV stations, made regional governors his direct appointees and seized banks and industries, imprisoning their oligarch owners or driving them into exile. He embraced the Russian Orthodox Church as a power base, encouraging the traditionalists’ vision of Russia as a “holy nation” whose destiny owed nothing to liberal democracy; art became a pawn in this cultural struggle. In 2003, Orthodox extremists attacked and defaced a Moscow exhibition called “Caution, Religion!” The charges against the vandals were dismissed, but the show’s curators were convicted under Russia’s infamous Article 282, known as the “blasphemy law.” A few years later, one of the curators was again fined for an exhibition called “Forbidden Art.” To many, these high-profile art trials recalled the Soviet-era trials of dissidents like Joseph Brodsky.

In the fall of 2011, Putin and Dmitri Medvedev announced that they would swap jobs (Putin had been serving as Medvedev’s prime minister since 2008 because Russian law barred him from serving a third consecutive term) and Putin would once again assume the presidency. This announcement, followed by what were widely seen as rigged parliamentary elections, sparked a nationwide wave of demonstrations. Many were characterized by an “Occupy”-style exuberance. The punk feminist group Pussy Riot, whose members specialized in guerrilla actions, seemed to embody this spirit of revolt. Shortly before the presidential election, Pussy Riot performed a “Punk Prayer” in The Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. Clad like cartoon ninjas in lollipop-colored dresses and balaclavas, they pranced and kickboxed as they shouted a song whose refrain went, “Mother of God, chase Putin out!” The church was almost empty and the “prayer” lasted less than two minutes, but three of the performers were nonetheless arrested and charged with “inciting religious hatred.” 

At the time, Pavlensky was 27, an art student who hadn’t yet found a mobilizing subject for his work. “Even among my friends, there were few who understood Pussy Riot’s action,” Pavlensky told me. “I was shocked by the violence of people’s reactions. These women had touched nothing, but people wanted to burn them at the stake; even so-called dissidents condemned them.” 

When Pussy Riot went on trial that July, Pavlensky decided to stage his first “action.” He stood outside the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, his mouth sewn shut, carrying a sign likening Pussy Riot’s performance to Jesus’ expulsion of the money-changers from the Temple. 

“At first, I just wanted to go out in the street with my poster, like a one-man strike,” Pavlensky recalled. “I’m an atheist, but I wanted to show that the Russian Orthodox Church was in conflict with its own teachings, that it was just another instrument of state power. But then I started thinking: What if the police question me? What will I say? I realized if my mouth were sewn shut, there would be no possibility of answering, then I’d be the one with the power. People helped me sew my mouth; I got in a taxi, my mouth covered with my hand. I was frightened, but I tried to understand, Is this an objective, a rational fear, or is it just because I’ve seen that normally people don’t do this? It was the moment of no return, when I managed to overcome my own fears and become the political artist I am today.” 

Titled “Seam,” the work was captured by several photojournalists, including Maxim Zmeyev, who cropped the photo to an iconic headshot. Pavlensky’s emaciated face, lips zigzagged in blood-red twine, radiates an almost Christlike suffering. By choosing this gesture, he also inscribed himself in a powerful lineage of artistic resistance, referencing a seminal 1989 work by David Wojnarowicz, “Silence=Death,” in which the artist sewed his lips shut to mark the Reagan administration’s refusal to address the AIDS epidemic.

The Pussy Riot trial ended with the conviction of three members. Two of them, Nadya Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, would spend nearly two years in a prison camp; the third, Yekaterina Samutsevich, received a suspended sentence on appeal. Tolokonnikova later expressed her joy that Pussy Riot had found a worthy successor. “Pavlensky,” she tweeted, “is the mind, honor and balls of our epoch.” 

Pavlensky’s work draws on a venerable tradition of performance art in which the body is used to interrogate cultural norms and power dynamics. In the 1960s, the Viennese Actionists staged performances using their own blood, urine and excrement to expose Austria’s willed amnesia about its Nazi past. In 1971, the American artist Chris Burden made a video of a friend shooting him with a .22 rifle in a kind of commentary on the Vietnam War. 

As an art student, Pavlensky encountered the work of the Moscow Actionists. One, Oleg Kulik, pretended to be a dog: naked, chained, he barked at passers-by in a reminder of the animality beneath our civilizational veneer. Another, Alexander Brener, stood in boxing shorts and gloves in Red Square, demanding that President Boris Yeltsin, who had just started the First Chechen War to prevent the republic from gaining independence, come out and fight him. 

The Moscow Actionists, with their guerrilla happenings in unsanctioned public spaces, insisted on a kind of art that couldn’t be bought. Pavlensky operates with a similar ethic, always choosing sites under high police surveillance. “If there is a scale of expression, with opera at one end and terrorism at the other,” he told me, “political art is closer on the scale to terrorism than to opera.” 

For Pavlensky, the initial action is just the beginning of a larger process. Even as every element is precisely calculated — “I have to practice each gesture carefully, where I’m going to put my foot, my hand, because once I’m there, everything moves very quickly and there are so many unforeseeables,” he told me — what interests him is the state’s involuntary collaboration in his work. A recent exhibition at Milan’s Galleria Pack included photos of his Russian police dossier: grainy close-ups of embossed lettering on a gas canister, CCTV shots of a hooded figure on a wintry street corner — images that, as he points out, anonymous Interior Ministry employees have cropped, edited and laid out with deliberate artistry. “What I’m doing is turning the tables, drawing the government into the process of making art,” he said. “The power relations shift, the state enters into the work of art and becomes an object, an actor.” 

In 2014, Pavlensky embarked on a more direct confrontation with the state. It was the year Putin began a war in Ukraine, cracking down on Ukrainian activists opposed to the invasion by imprisoning them on trumped-up terrorism charges. The filmmaker Oleg Sentsov was convicted of supposedly plotting to bomb a series of buildings and monuments and is now serving a 20-year sentence in the Russian Far North. 

Pavlensky was an active supporter of the protesters gathering in Ukraine’s Maidan, and in what now seems a precursor to his Banque de France action, he set ablaze the doors of the Lubyanka, the headquarters of the Russian security service, then waited for the police to arrive, gas canister in hand. The “action,” which Pavlensky titled “Threat,” referenced Sentsov’s supposed plot. Pavlensky was arrested, sent to a psychiatric ward for a few weeks and then imprisoned for seven months, awaiting trial. In solidarity with Sentsov and other incarcerated activists, he demanded to be charged with terrorism. Instead, he was convicted of vandalism and let off with a fine, which he refused to pay. 

The incident that would drive him into exile occurred just a few months after his release. An actress named Anastasia Slonina, associated with the Moscow theater group Teatr.doc, filed charges against Pavlensky and Shalygina. She claimed the couple assaulted her with a knife when she resisted their sexual advances. Pavlensky and Shalygina, who had an open relationship, denied the charges. “There was no violence, no knife,” Pavlensky says. (Anastasia Slonina did not respond to requests for comment.) 

The charges created bitter divisions in Russian intellectual circles, the writer Masha Gessen told me. “On the one hand, ‘If she says it happened, we have to assume it happened.’ On the other, ‘No one should ever go to the police’ — an unimpeachable argument in Russia, where whatever the court system doles out is a priori unjust.” Pavlensky and Shalygina’s supporters insisted the couple had been framed. Although Gessen says she has no opinion on the case, she notes that “Russia loves to put dissidents in jail on sexual charges, because who’s going to stand up for a sexual predator?” Gessen cites the case of Yuri Dmitriev, a historian uncovering Soviet-era mass graves who is currently imprisoned on charges of sexual abuse and child pornography, widely regarded as having been fabricated. After “Threat,” “it was inevitable they were going to get Pavlensky one way or another. I think they wanted to get him out of the country.” 

Pavlensky and Shalygina say they were warned that if convicted, they could each be sentenced to 10 years in prison, their two small children placed in a state orphanage. They decided to seek refuge in France, which Pavlensky chose because it was the “alma mater of revolution.” “I’m not scared of prison,” he said, “but I won’t go like a sheep to the slaughter for something I didn’t do.” 

Two months before “Lighting,” I visited Pavlensky and Shalygina at their latest home, the eighth in seven months. They said that the French state had offered them housing, but, as Shalygina explained to me with a laugh, they didn’t want to be “fed by the monster.” 

Pavlensky’s and Shalygina’s politics are loosely anarchist. They describe themselves as living by an alternative economy of foraging, donations from well-wishers and the occasional lecture fee. (French authorities were particularly irritated by Pavlensky’s telling German TV why Paris is a great place to live: When you’re hungry, you shoplift from supermarkets, and when you need to get somewhere, you jump the Metro turnstile.) None of Pavlensky’s art is for sale, and issues of Political Propaganda, an art magazine Shalygina began in Russia, are distributed free. 

The address they’d given me was fairy-tale unexpected: a cottage in a cobblestone alley festooned in climbing roses, tucked behind a boulevard of grim high-rises. Inside, Pavlensky and Shalygina greeted me beaming. How had they ended up here? I asked. 

The couple’s approach to house hunting, it turned out, was characteristically guerrilla. They’d fallen out with the inhabitants of their previous squat. One night, while on one of their regular family rambles around Paris, they came upon a bucolic alley and spotted a cottage that looked abandoned so they moved in. Twenty-four hours later, the owner showed up with the police, but evicting squatters from a Paris property that is not your primary residence can be a slow business in a legal system that favors tenants over landlords. 

When I arrived, handymen were hooking the house up to the electricity mains. We climbed the steep broken stairs and emerged on a balcony, with views across Paris. Their daughters — 6-year-old Lilya playing a joyous peekaboo; 9-year-old Alisa, grave, reserved — clambered along the balcony railings, then scampered off to their bedroom to draw pictures. In Russia, Pavlensky and Shalygina had home-schooled their daughters, teaching them kickboxing, poetry, chess. Now, reluctantly, they’d enrolled the girls in the local primaire so they could learn French. Alisa liked school; Lilya didn’t. 

Sitting on the balcony in the crisp sunlight, Pavlensky talked about his own upbringing in a high-rise complex on the western edge of St. Petersburg. His parents were “conformists shaped by the Soviet system, people who above all wanted a comfortable life.” His father was a geologist who spent his entire career at a government institute. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the elder Pavlensky fell into acute alcoholism. “My father died alone at 49, choking on a piece of raw meat. His example taught me how not to live. I saw how his reliance on the state for comfort, his disappointment at the state’s abandonment, led to this horrible death.” 

Pavlensky’s mother, a retired nurse, is still alive. In a book of interviews, Pavlensky described her exasperation with the life he and Shalygina had chosen. “My mother is someone who thinks you have to stay on good terms with the police and beware of the neighbors. She would unleash this stream of clichés on me: ‘The children have to go to school. If they’re sick, you send them to the doctor. Why don’t you have a job? How are you going to feed your family? Why don’t you have any money?’ The apotheosis of her arguments was, ‘If you don’t work, how are you going to save enough money to go on vacation?’ ” When he was first sent to a psychiatric hospital after one of his “actions,” Pavlensky had a flash of recognition. The nurses’ way of bullying patients into compliance was exactly how his mother had always treated him: Unless you were catatonic, you were considered dangerous. 

Now, looking out at the bluffs of the Buttes-Chaumont park, Pavlensky recalled how at art school, he came to regard culture as just another state institution, with its own levers of power. “When I dropped out, my true education continued,” he said. “I can honestly say my life was changed by art — by the example of artists like Caravaggio, Van Gogh, Duchamp, Malevich. I saw that art helps liberate — that real artists’ work was in constant collision with power.” 

A year later, Pavlensky sat impassive in the prisoners’ box in the Porte de Clichy courtroom, as the panel of judges returned from their deliberations. From his bench, Judge Denieul pronounced their decision. The trial date was set for January. In the meantime, the terms of Shalygina’s probation were to be eased — from now on, she would report to the police only once a week, and the sole area of Paris from which she was banned was the 11th arrondissement, where the Place de la Bastille is located. As for Pavlensky — Denieul paused — “the same.”

In slow motion, Pavlensky’s lawyer wheeled on her heels to face the audience. Pumping her fists high, she let loose an ecstatic, “Yes!” 

Four hours later, I was on my way with Oksana to pick Pavlensky up from prison. Stéphane Chatry, a tall black-bearded Frenchman who runs a program called Artivism Contemporary Art, was driving; riding shotgun was a young photojournalist, Flavien Moras. Our destination was Fleury-Mérogis prison, 12 miles outside Paris, where Oksana had also served her pretrial detention. The mood in the car was jubilant; Oksana blasted a tape of a Metro-busker singing an Arabic rendition of “Billie Jean.” 

Fleury-Mérogis, a ’60s-era polygonal complex that has held some of France’s most notorious bank robbers and accused terrorists, is the largest prison in Europe. At the entrance, a guard behind bulletproof glass told us that Pavlensky had not yet returned from his hearing. There were only two transfers a day, and the prison bus had to make the rounds of all the Paris courthouses. The waiting room was closed at night, so we sat outside in the floodlit cold. Periodically, we heard muffled roars of prisoners deep within the complex. A loudspeaker crackled intermittent orders at us: No photographs; no smoking. Every hour or so, there would be a carload of people who had come to meet a friend or relative who was also being released. Like us, these groups — invariably young and French-African or Arab — were loud, raucous with nervous excitement. 

Stéphane and Flavien drove off to a nearby fast-food chain for coffee and pizza; Oksana didn’t want to budge. She talked about her upbringing in Norilsk, a nickel-mining city in the Arctic Circle that is reportedly one of the most polluted cities in the world. Her father and brother were both miners; at 16, hungry “for light and joy,” she escaped to St. Petersburg. Twelve years later, she met Pyotr in a bar. The little finger on Oksana’s left hand is missing: Some years ago she chopped it off as an act of restorative truth for having concealed a sexual dalliance from Pyotr. (Though their relationship wasn’t monogamous, the deal was total transparency.) “In Russia, there’s this saying that a woman’s word means nothing,” she told me. “I wanted to show that I was good for my word.” 

Oksana described Pyotr as her “best friend.” She helped him plan and execute his “actions”; when he was in prison, she campaigned full time for his cause while looking after their children. Tonight — now that Pyotr was finally being released — she was wondering who she would be without him. “The only thing I know how to do is help artists get in trouble,” she laughed. 

At 11:30 p.m., the prison bus arrived from Paris, and Fleury’s metal maw opened to let it through. Two hours later, the doors opened once again, and three men walked out, their silhouettes backlit. One disappeared into the industrial wasteland. The other, a bearded youth carrying his belongings in plaid shopping bags, was greeted by his friends with whoops and fist-bumps. The third figure was Pavlensky. He looked chalky-gray, but happy. “Salut, le Russe,” the other shouted. 

On the drive back to Paris, Pavlensky spoke in an excited tumble of English, French and Russian, supplemented by pantomime. He told us stories about elderly Georgian inmates and TV remote controls as intramural currency and how much he’d enjoyed reading Voltaire and Madame de Sévigné and why he kept getting thrown into the punishment cell. He wanted us to know everything about prison and also to appreciate its fundamental unknowability — how you could spend 20 years in one prison and only be able to testify to what you’d witnessed in your particular block; how Building D3 at Fleury was a different universe from Building D5. 

When we reached downtown Paris, it was 2:30 a.m., and Pavlensky was looking for a bar in which to celebrate. He had a wad of bank notes, money that had been returned to him by prison authorities on his release, and though he usually doesn’t drink, he wanted to treat everyone to a few rounds of vodka shots. 

“Where to?” asked Stéphane. 

The Place de la Bastille, of course, Pavlensky said. It fit his philosophy of resistance that we go to the one place that he and Shalygina were forbidden from going. Stéphane parked on a side street. Even at that hour, the Place de la Bastille was lined with police cars. Stéphane wondered aloud how long Pavlensky would manage to stay out of prison — a month? 

“A happy month,” he replied. 

We stopped outside the Banque de France, so Oksana and Pyotr could examine the aftereffect of “Lighting.” It had cost 18,000 euros to repair the damage, the bank claimed in its civil suit. 

“Not bad — 18,000 euros for a work of art,” Pavlensky reflected. “It’s beautiful, the Place de la Bastille, one of the most beautiful places in Paris. But not a good place for a bank.” 

In January, Pavlensky returned to court and was given a three-year prison sentence. The 11 months he spent in pretrial detention were credited as time served; the remaining two years were suspended. The couple were fined roughly $25,000, for material and “moral” damage. Pavlensky says he has no plans to pay it. 

Since his release, he told me in an email, his personal life has been “catastrophic”: Shalygina ended their 12-year relationship, throwing him into what he termed a “double exile.” (She and their two daughters are fine, she reports in a Facebook message, but she doesn’t wish their current lives to be part of this article, or to comment on her breakup with Pavlensky.) His new partner is a Frenchwoman whom he describes as his “antithesis” — “an icon of bourgeois prudence” with “a big apartment in the prestigious 16th arrondissement.” It’s a “tragic love,” he said, doomed by contradiction. 

Pavlensky’s work, however, is thriving. He recently took part in half a dozen of the gilets jaunes protests, in which shops, newspaper kiosks and even a Rouen branch of the Banque de France were set ablaze — an act he regards as a tribute to “Lighting.” For Pavlensky, the French state’s response to his artwork confirmed his central thesis: Institutions of power are oppressive, yet they are also oddly vulnerable to someone who denies their legitimacy. He is now at work documenting the government’s contribution to “Lighting” — the CCTV images, court transcripts, letters from the prison authorities that constitute the larger artwork. All his work, Pavlensky says, reveals that society at large may be a prison, but it is still possible to exert a kind of negative liberty. “Everything in my art is done to make people think. It’s not enough just to have your own individual freedom; you need to help others free themselves.”

[anarchycox-fics]

Writing Assessment

So after a finish a huge story, like the Regency Merlahad I like to take the time to sort out where my wips currently are at and what my upcoming writing plans are. That gives us this:

WIPS

Books and Hearts 

50-60% done is my very loose guess, the deterioration and fixing of the relationship cannot be quick or it won’t be worth the happy ending they have.

Morton’s Marvelous Misadventures 

70% done. My guess is four chapters left. Resolve the fucking cultists and continue the seeds for their future relationship. I can see a sequel spawning from this.

Bedded, Bound, and Bespoked

This one is hard to say, it depends how long I draw out the Merlin training? But I also think this one is 4-6 chapters left. Too drawn out and it will just feel repetitive.

Hearts Held Fast

Well, since it only has 1 chapter I hesitate to say it is more than 5% done, because I know what I have planned for this story, and it is not going to be a short one. World building like Dragon’s Breath, but historical and darker. Long fic, unsure fully how it will get to where I want it to.

A Promise is a Promise

The only reason it isn’t done is because I am sad to leave this universe. Also have lost my a/b/o mojo a bit - still like it, just not in the headspace for writing it. Determined to have it off the books by the end of the year.

Upcoming

Codename: Anticipation

I think about 40-50% done. In an existing universe, but really expands said universe, gives us more back story on characters, develops established relationships more, and creates new ones. I like where this is going but I tend to only work on it in spurts. Nothing for a month, then 6k in a night. This is a personal fic no deadlines or timelines, work on when that mood strikes. Bet it closes in around 30k.

Codename: Tenderness

This has been waiting for months and needs to be attended to. It is for a specific event and a specific person, and has gone through a couple ideas, but we have hit on a super soft get together complete au. This fic is as much about learning to accept yourself and that life seldom takes us where we expect, as it is about falling in love. This fic has an end of year deadline that much be met. My bet is about 40k.

Codename: Enthusiastic

I just finished a huge slow burn fic, and want a bit of a switch. A friend called it a flash burn fic. A story like in movies where people have that one magical day/night where they fall completely in love with a person. It starts with a very unique pairing but they are done with very quickly as the pairing I am interested in find their chance at happiness. No particular deadline, just something I want to write. One shot about 10k is my guess.

Codename: Hopeful

For an AU collection, I have a couple chapters done, and this is just going to be a sweet and bit silly fic. Not crack, more just side characters are going to be exasperating, bad guys will get what is coming to them. Whimsical, that is the word I am looking for. This is a whimsical fic. Secret gardens, bizarre magic, trials that are defeated in creative ways. My guess is about 25-30k, and it is due by the end of the year.

Codename: Seductive

For a soft deadline free collection, with a bunch of writers writing their own fics, all based on one prompt. I keep wavering between a few different ideas, enough that I might end up doing a couple of them. My prime idea though is still calling to me. Rare pair, rare au. BAMF Queen of the Night, men loyal to her, supernatural wars. 20k, no deadlines.

Codename: Befuddled

On going universe, series of one shots that has had feels but generally been happy fish out of water stuff. I’m going to wreck it. No deadlines, no word count, this beast is going for years. Fucking Hasbro ;)

Codename: Longing

Next story in a series, character pov switch. pining, fake dating, wedding planning, people interfering, just a mess of chaos and love. At least 50k no deadlines no specific plans.

Codename: Repression

Next story in series, dark, weird sex. Characters facing truths. 20k, no deadlines, no specific plans.

Now, let’s see what comes of this shall we?

[timeagainreviews]

The Doctor with a Thousand Faces

Art by Paul Hanley

When I say the words "Fourteenth Doctor," what springs to mind? Perhaps you may say "Peter Capaldi," if you want to get super technical. Or perhaps, you may be thinking about Jodie Whittaker’s future successor. And to that point, you may already have someone in mind. Whoever he, or she, or they may be, there are key traits that you tend to expect. The Doctor may look and dress different, but they must also possess a certain "Doctoryness," about them.

Doctor Who is unique. Very few live-action shows have the ability to change their lead actor while maintaining the same character. Sure, they did it on "Bewtiched," but it never became part of the narrative. You could argue that Twin Peaks achieves this with characters like Laura Palmer returning in the form of Madeline Ferguson and Carrie Page. Or even more recently, American Gods with Media and New Media. But what about before that? What about a time before foreign Gods came to America, or certain Time Lords came to British television? What if the undying hero is part of our fabric as a species?

Within its title, Doctor Who has dared its viewers to ponder the question- "Who is this mysterious stranger?" I would venture to say the answer lies somewhere within the culture of the era. Our concept for who the Doctor is, and what they represent has changed throughout the years. As we change as a culture, our expectations of the hero change. The new gods of our pop culture mythology are still fallible, and therefore, subject to change.

It's a fairly popular fan theory that every one of the Doctors is a response to his or her predecessor. And there are even real-world moments when you can see the showrunners course-correcting a bit of bad writing. The Sixth Doctor was so loathed within the higher ranks at the BBC, that the Seventh Doctor is clearly a conscious response. Where Six was brash, Seven was quiet. While Mel was a screamer, Ace was fierce and brooding. On an even deeper level, because Doctor Who is so unique, you can also apply these course corrections narratively.

The Doctor's incarnations act more as avatars of an overarching hero of great power and intelligence. It would seem as though every regeneration is an opportunity for the Doctor, and us as an audience to ponder the identity of the Doctor. Christianity has God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all aspects of the same one God. What does each of them imply about the other? Is each Doctor informed by an overarching consciousness? Is every aspect made in its image, or is the Doctor the sum of their parts? After all, the Doctor is still alive. We are actively watching the Doctor’s lifetime, which as of yet, is still ongoing.

In the Hindu pantheon, we get gods like Vishnu and Shiva who also take up corporeal form as avatars on earth. Much like the Doctor, these avatars are usually direct responses to their predecessor. Take Vishnu, for example. Vishnu incarnates in several different eras, usually as a response to some great imbalance in the world. But often times, their personalities explore a different aspect of Vishnu overall. As the avatar Rama, he lived so lawfully that, depending on which version of the Ramayana you prefer, cost him the love of his life. In his next incarnation as Krishna, he corrects this by being more anarchic, more bohemian, and much more free-loving. On the other hand, he was also more authoritative, as compared to Rama's gentler nature.

You could compare these two characterisations to the Third and Fourth Doctors. The Third Doctor literally worked with the military while the Fourth Doctor flew in the face of the Brigadier, hanging his feet out of the Jeep like a petulant teenager. While both Doctors have the same authoritarian streak, they're usually found in opposite directions. The Third Doctor's officiousness melts away into warmth, while the Fourth Doctor's charm burns away with his fury. All the while, each of them demands we as viewers continue to ponder the nature of our terrifying friend.

We’ll spend the entirety of the show pondering that nature. Because, as I stated before, the Doctor’s life is ongoing. Much like Vishnu sustaining the universe, Shiva’s dance has not yet ended, Brahma has not yet awakened. The dance of life continues. We can live in the past or the future, but we can never escape the present. Each Doctor stares down the barrel of their own demise. Even we as an audience see each successive Doctor as temporary. Their days are numbered, and no matter how many times you change your hair, your wardrobe, your gender, we all fear the reaper. So we focus on the now, when we’re alive. We focus on our own unique challenges.

Every son of God, it would seem, has their own cross to bear. Each hero meets a greater burden that speaks to the culture of a time. As Jodie Whittaker's Doctor is yoked with the incumbrance of sexism, so too was Colin Baker yoked with censorship. Conservative backlash has often times landed Doctor Who in the hot seat. "The Trial of a Time Lord," is a story arc that directly addressed the real-world accusations of the show's violence. In "Rosa," the Doctor goes toe-to-toe with the embodiment of a nasty internet troll in the form of Krasko.  

It's funny then, to view how this response to popular culture has changed throughout the years. Ben and Polly were practically Bible thumpers compared to the real world culture of hippies that were capturing the hearts and minds of people everywhere in the '60s. In their own way, they're a couple of squares that fly in the face of what was actually "cool," at the time. Even this goes against the mercurial trickster that was the First Doctor, who bit his thumb at your fuddy-duddy schoolmaster in the form of Ian Chesterton. Doctor Who of the '80s seemed like more of a "2000 AD" comic book world, which makes sense when you consider who was Prime Minister at the time.

Not only is the Doctor's personality explored throughout these incarnations, but the symbolism surrounding the Doctor as well. The name "Doctor," itself has been explored to some depth within the show. What does being a doctor mean to the Doctor? A doctor is a person who can bring us hope. They can also bring us dreadful news. Some of us don't like seeing the doctor because death seems to follow them around. The Doctor also carries a tool as opposed to a weapon. We're given the impression that the Doctor is a person who wants to fix things. Even psychic paper is a symbol for the Doctor's anarchic streak. "Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinking badges!" Psychic paper plays to that devilish side in all of us that wants backstage access and lies on our résumé.  The symbolism of the TARDIS has also changed over the years. Modern perceptions of the police may taint the image of a police box in the same way modern perceptions of America may taint the image of Captain America. However, I would like to think that both Cap and the Doctor represent the potential of what these things could become. The Doctor is what a good cop should be.

People say Doctor Who shouldn't be political, but from a historical standpoint, that's impossible. It's always had the same character, fighting for freedom from unjust capitalism, to totalitarianism, to unimaginable callousness. The Doctor has never asked what a person's sexuality was before saving their life because the Doctor is an actual hero. The Doctor doesn't have to agree with your lifestyle to agree that life is precious. What kind of Doctor would they be if they went around allowing someone to die? That's no kind of Doctor at all. This is why Doctors sometimes need people around to kick them in the ass when they're being total kumquats.

Whether we call them assistants, or companions, or friends, the Doctor's fellow travellers remain cyphers for the audience, though some more than others. While on the other hand, it would seem as though the Doctor represents something deeper, something more conceptual. Like a doctrine passed from leader to leader. "Never cowardly, never cruel." Keeping humans around to keep the leader in check. We the viewer have this abstraction of our greater self, playing companion to the strangeness that is this existence. We love these stories because they’re our history, our world, and our trajectory. Past, present, and future. They're embedded in our religions and in our myths. So we keep the tradition of storytelling alive so that we might never forget these elements within ourselves. And to remember that no matter how bad things get, to appreciate being alive now.

Hello friends! For those of you who may be wondering, yes I have posted this article already. However, I wasn't completely happy with it, so I retooled it a bit. Sometimes you gotta do that! I've been up to rather a lot since we last talked. I went to see Andrew Cartmell speak in Leeds a few weeks ago, and that was great fun. He had so many wonderful insights into his era. We're still working on K9, but things have been a bit slow because of my pal's schedule. I've still got plans to write an Eighth Doctor article, but I decided to put it off for the time being. I'd like to go a little deeper into his audios and books now that I've finished his comics. I've also got articles planned for Doctor Who in video games, Doctor Who canon, and I might start doing profiles for villains I love.Speaking of profiles, I may also start interviewing some of my favourite Whovians. I know so many avid fans of the show with their own wonderful perspectives, that I wanted to incorporate them somehow! On the Twin Peaks front, I was thinking about sharing a series of comics I've been working on. Each comic explores a different theme in the show. I've also been toying with the idea of writing about other shows. Speaking of which, who all watched Good Omens? I loved it. What did you think?

[nonnareviews]

Nonna Pina Reviews: Good Omens

Disclaimer: hi this? Could contain spoilers? Potentially?

Nonna Pina Reviews: gay angels and the big ole mess that is free will

Greetings my children. Today too, I write to you as a way to procrastinate getting my writing for children class homework done. I paid for the course, I was, once, determined to ace it, and at this point I just want to get through it. So, speaking of people half-assing things, let’s talk about God.

I started a free 30-day Amazon prime subscription trial exclusively to watch the show and cancelled it almost as soon as I was done, because we don’t give money to asshole billionaires who treat their employees like garbage in this house. I was given the book as a gift years ago, but my brother stole it and then lost it and I never really thought of buying another one, so this was all a very new experience for me.

Let’s just get the obvious stuff out of the way: the cast is good. Like really, really good. David Ten ants and Andy Serkis are the perfect leads in this tale of angels and demons that develop a somewhat homoromantic relationship and, on their way there, save the world as well, I guess. Not to mention, Ten ants really thrives in those of his roles that require wearing leather and/or walking like that. You know what I’m talking about. The best actor in the whole show is still the dog, though. What posture. What confidence. Beautiful.

The reception has been incredible and the hype, as the kids call it, has yet to die down. Which I’m more than okay with. The art I have seen inspired by the show is just breathtaking, and yes, this includes the more, uh, explicit kind.

This obviously doesn’t mean there was no opposition to the show. A petition was started by a Christian group to cancel the show immediately. Now, I wish I could tell you that this was One Million Moms, the group that brought us hits such as ‘Gay Rat Wedding’ and ‘No Gay Moms In My Toy Story 4’, but alas, it wasn’t them. I wonder if they’re biting their nails in shame as we speak. They probably aren’t. I doubt they have any left at all.

Now, I was raised Catholic, like about 90% of all older Southern Italian women, I have kept the faith throughout the years, and my favourite commandment is the one that goes “Thou shalt not shit on what makes people happy”. Remember that one? Yeah, it doesn’t exist. It should, though. Because this programme thing gets the people going like that one livin’ on a prayer song. Have you seen the YouTube videos? Those ‘[actor in the show] being chaotic for 7 minutes straight’ ones? And the ‘ineffable husbands’ ones? If the kids find comfort from existential dread in thinking an angel and a demon make a cute couple together, so be it. Let them live.

Besides, anyone who takes any sort of entertainment literally deserves the guillotine. The show is a satire. It comments on the nature of humanity and free will in a witty, sarcastic way that slaps you in the face with the realisation of how ridiculous about 80% of what we do on a daily basis truly is. No one, in the entire show, has any idea of what they’re doing. I suspect God included. Which is accurate if you consider that there’s this big chunk in the bible in which he goes ‘ah fuck, shit shit shit I messed up’, and floods the entire earth, killing 90% of all creation.

Overall I’d give the show a solid 8/10, 8.5 if any of you send any sort of Good Omens art my way.

Your grandma who really wants to see some cool drawings,

Nonna Giuseppina Antonelli, Europe, Italy, Naples

[theonyxpath]

Tomorrow, Tuesday the 5th, at 2pm EST, we start the Kickstarter campaign for Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition! This is significant, at least to me, because Mummy: The Curse was the first Chronicles of Darkness (still New World of Darkness, then) new line we Kickstarted. We had a blast doing that back in the wild and woolly days that seem pretty long ago, and it is so amazing to be able to now present to everyone the 2nd Edition.

In fact, Mummy: The Curse was already being worked on before Onyx Path was formed, during the time that Eddy and I were creating more TTRPG projects for CCP after the success of Vampire 20th. So we’ve got a long association with the line and the concepts presented within it.

Certainly, a lot has changed with Onyx Path, the way we do Kickstarters, and with how the 2nd Editions have tightened up all of the CofD game lines. Both the systems and the setting have benefited from the years of play and thought that came after their initial releases.

M20 Book of the Fallen art by Sam Denmark

So, is this your Mummy? A fair question if your a fan of 1st Edition, and also if you weren’t sold on Mummy: The Curse the first time around. Here are a whole collection of answers to that very question by Impish Ian Watson and Matthew “The Gentleman Gamer” Dawkins, the game’s developer:

– There was a pre-Egyptian culture that spanned a large part of the world (just how big isn’t mentioned, but I think of it like Alexander the Great’s territory, or perhaps the Roman Empire). It was the first such empire in human history. It had no name, and thus is called the Nameless Empire. The center of the Empire, its Rome, was the City of Irem. – Irem was run by a collection of sorcerer-priests who wanted to turn themselves into gods of the underworld, and so they chose a number of servants to convert into Arisen in order to serve them. The gods need Sekhem, their particular flavour of spiritual juice, and they need you to provide it — mostly by retrieving Iremite artifacts and bringing them back to the underworld. – Mummies could have come from anywhere in the Empire, and their cults may have moved them from place-to-place for security or to follow an Iremite artifact. The Arisen quickly adapt to new cultures and languages when they wake up, so it’s possible to be “from” practically anywhere, even if the origin of their undead state is Irem. – Mummies are sort of anti-vampires: where vampires spend most of their time awake with shorter periods of torpor, mummies spend most of their time dead with brief periods of wakefulness. Where vampires start off weak and get stronger over time, mummies wake up at the peak of their power and slowly dwindle as their period of activity comes to an end. – If you’ve seen the Brendan Frasier Mummy movies, it’s something like that: you wake up, practically a corpse, running on instinct, but immensely powerful. As time goes on, your memory returns, life returns to your body until you appear human, and your power dwindles. – You typically wake up for one of three reasons: your cult wakes you up for a specific purpose (say, to choose a new leader from a list of candidates), because you sense the Sekhem in a nearby artifact, or because a Sothic Turn has passed since your creation. A Sothic Turn is a 1,461-year period of the star Sothis (Sirius). In the former two cases, you typically “die” again as soon as your task is finished. In the latter case, you may be up and active for years at a time. – Interestingly, you experience your periods of activity non-linearly. You might wake up in 2012, and then later wake up in 910 BCE, lamenting the lack of effective modern transport or communications.

– If you enjoyed the immortals from World of Darkness: Immortals, you’ll be happy to find yourself reunited with Blood Bathers, Body Thieves, Eternals, and more, in Mummy 2e, as they act both as antagonists and as potential allies and cultists. – There are essentially three tiers to your character’s creation, allowing for a lot of character variety: your guild, your decree, and your Judge (being like an alien deific entity). – In this edition, we provide tools for your journey and trials through Duat, the Land of the Dead, so the game doesn’t end when you sleep. You can even bring others with you on your journey. – Sekhem Sorcerers are presented in this book, expanding on how they appeared in Dark Eras Companion. Again, they might act as antagonists or followers, depending on the group of sorcerers. – Mummies are not bound to a set appearance or body, and are able to plant their “pillars” in cultists, only to take over their body as their own one receives harm. Therefore, your mummy can theoretically demonstrate any ethnic, cultural, and biological background. – I’d describe Mummy as the Chronicles of Darkness game best-suited to Dark Eras play, due to its non-linear setup. Even if you don’t want to use the characters or splats presented in a given era from Dark Eras, Dark Eras Companion, or Dark Eras 2, each book presents a host of settings and events with which your mummies can interact.

There you have it, from some fellas that know the material!

Trinity Continuum: Aeon Ready Made Characters art by Aaron Riley

A couple more notes about the Mummy: The Curse 2e Kickstarter itself: First, like most of our KSs, this is just a reminder that if you want to see for yourself how 2nd Edition has come together, backers will be getting sneak previews of the completed text all throughout the KS campaign. So you’ll be able to judge if it’s working for you before we hit the end – unlike during the 1st Edition Mummy KS.

Second, another reminder that the Mummy 2nd KS is going to be run on our Onyx Path Kickstarter account, not the RichT account that 1st Edition was run on. So keep an eye out for that, and see you at the Kickstarter!

Now, onto a different topic for a second. Last weekend, a whole bunch of Onyx Path creators descended onto Game Hole Con in Madison, Wisconsin. Unfortunately, their fearless leader, Mighty Matt McElroy was laid low by a bug right before the con – yet Monica Valentinelli, Bill Bodden, Crystal Mazur, Travis Legge, and a bunch of other folks, helped out and pitched in to cover booth time and demo-games.

A huge thank you to all you folks for coming to the aid of Matt and Onyx Path!

They Came From Beneath the Sea! art by Brian LeBlanc

They had six games of Realms of Pugmire games, as well as six Scarred Lands games, scheduled at the con, and also a bunch of pick-up games were also played. In fact, some of the adventures that were played there were actually play-tests of projects that are soon to show up on both game lines’ respective community content sites.

To be fair, non-stealth play-tests were also played. Specifically for Legendlore, our next upcoming 5e fantasy game, and all reports sound like the players had a fantastic time. Sounds like everybody really loved the main idea of playing yourself transported to the world of the Realm, and that’s just what we want to hear!

The Legendlore players also had tons of questions about the world and the rules, which we really appreciated hearing. Not only is that a great sign when folks want to hear more, but just scanning through the questions it seemed to me that most were actually already answered in the full text of the book (which the play-testers didn’t have). Which is a gratifying nod for developer Steffie de Vaan and her team, and how they set up the info in the book.

You never know if you’re not only playing a great game session, but also helping one of our creators, when you sit down to play one of our games at a con. You never know when you’ll be one of the folks giving early feedback so we can create our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

The Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition Kickstarter arises tomorrow, Tuesday, Nov 5th, at 2pm Eastern US time. Be there to witness the majesty and terror of this new version of Mummy: The Curse!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast features the return of Meghan Fitzgerald in a no-holds-barred, drag-out, steel-cage match interview with one of our busiest writer/developers!

It’s a Mummy: The Curse themed week!

To start, we have an interview with Matthew Dawkins by the Story Told Podcast, where you’re likely to discover lots of revelations relating to Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/website/mummy-2nd-edition-with-matthew-dawkins

Excitingly, we also have the first episode of Red Moon Roleplaying‘s actual play of Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition right here! Please check it out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJiyP2UzLSc

As ever, we have a ton of excellent content on our Twitch channel, including games of Changeling, Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Vampire, Pugmire, and more! Please give us a look and a follow over on www.twitch.tv/theonyxpath

It really helps us to have subscribers on our Twitch channel, and you can do so for free and catch premieres as they go up if you have an Amazon Prime account. Just type Twitch Amazon Prime into Google and you’ll be shown how to subscribe for free.

Do you follow us on YouTube? Well, if you haven’t subscribed to us on Twitch, do not despair, as a couple of weeks after each episode on Twitch we transfer the videos over to YouTube right here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzN5jRB35OvnC-6gxnRY4gQ We already have episodes of Aberrant and Changeling up, with more to come!

Meanwhile, our fans keep creating excellent content, not limited to:

We’re not going to forget the ever-popular Occultists Anonymous Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition series, which continues right here:

Episode 56: Bad To The Bone Songbird has called Celestial Fire to burn the body of Supay, just as Atratus felt like she was making in-roads with the Judge! Wyrd the Seer has slowed down Supay, but is it enough? https://youtu.be/inPtPBPaNCA

Episode 57: Now & Again Atratus takes a dive into dark uncharted waters, metaphorically and metaphysically speaking. Songbird contemplates terrible things, while Wyrd stands guard… https://youtu.be/RBurUUf1kj4

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

As always, you can find most of Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, the W20 Art of Werewolf: The Apocalypse PDF and physical book PoD versions will go live on DTRPG!

In addition, for the first time, we will be activating a PoD version of a Community Content book! In this case, it is Pugmire‘s Canis Minor project: Morty Corgi’s Scroll of Mysteries!

Conventions!

PAX Unplugged: December 6th – 8th, in Philadelphia, PA. 2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th, in Milwaukee, WI.

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Redlines

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Second Draft

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Post-Approval Development

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Post-Editing Development

Chicago Folio/Dossier (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

Oak, Ash, and Thorn: Changeling: The Lost 2nd Companion (Changeling: The Lost 2nd)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Tales of Good Dogs – Pugmire Fiction Anthology (Pugmire)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Sent out contracts.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Contracted.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed

Ex3 Monthly Stuff

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Chicago Folio – Finals rolling in.

Mummy 2 (KS) – Ready to roll.

City of the Towered Tombs – Contracted.

Let the Streets Run Red – Figuring out probable page count.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Awaiting artnotes.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Contracted.

Deviant

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad

Vigil Watch

In Layout

They Came from Beneath the Sea! – Knocking through chapters.

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

VtR Spilled Blood

Pirates of Pugmire

Proofing

Memento Mori

Dark Eras 2 – Adding my comments to first dev pass.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

Trinity RMCs

Geist 2e Screen – At WW for final approval.

At Press

Trinity: In Media Res – PoD proofs coming.

V5: Chicago – Printing.

Aeon Aexpansion – PoD proofs ordered.

W20 Art Book – On sale Wednesday on DTRPG.com.

W20 Auspice Gift Cards deck – PoD proofs ordered.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Getting print files ready.

DR:E – Getting print files ready.

DRE Screen – Getting print files prepped.

C20 Cup of Dreams – Proof PoD ordered.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties – errata gathering.

M20 Book of the Fallen – Backer PDF going out this week.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Yesterday was the birthday of Jeremy Brett, born Peter Jeremy William Huggins, and he would have been 86 years old this year. And while I am no expert on the character, like my friend Eddy Webb is, Brett was, in my opinion, the greatest portrayer of Sherlock Holmes ever. From his bio: “Brett was obsessed with bringing more passion to the role of Holmes. He introduced Holmes’ rather eccentric hand gestures and short violent laughter. He would hurl himself on the ground just to look for a footprint, he would leap over the furniture or jump onto the parapet of a bridge with no regard for his personal safety.” I can’t to this day read the stories without hearing his voice as the voice of Holmes.

[affiloram51525plja-blog]

affiloblueprint

What Is It?

It is a membership site devised to help you understand affiliate marketing.

Short Review

An honest site, good training, mostly legit info, and they have way more value than most internet marketing products. Plus, their basic membership does not cost anything!

However, when you begin buying their packages, it gets pretty expensive, especially when you buy everything they've to offer. When you conider that the community is not a whole lot active, and support is a very small amount in comparison with alternatives.

Before making a decision, have a look inside their affiliates area and then judge if extremely effective best bet you have for you.

==> Enroll For Your FREE Affilorama Account!

Before You Buy

The very first thing we want to know is how Affilorama is actually structured. It's passed through numerous changes lately, and above current reviews don't reflect these changes.

The website is set using these a rather confusing way, dividing features into different packages, forcing it a little obscure the one that we would like to buy to get going making money. It's possible to try to break it down for you therefore's a little easier to understand.

An everyday (free) membership Affilorama should get you access some training videos, a members forum, and also their blog. These items are updated frequently, and there's a ton of information there. I wrote my original directory for Affilorama in 2014, but as of 2017, it's still active with questions, after, as updates. They are building for your long haul!

affilorama updated post

Update 2018

There was once four packages, raise paid, recurring membership fee. Now there is just a without charge organization, plus two other items you can buy. Is without question basically the "DIY" version, that is definitely $197. This is simply not DIY since you acquire the help of the running and community, but it's not "in serious trouble you", as while using the upgraded versions which is certainly an $997.

affilorama packages available

Affilorama has updated their package offers since I wrote my original review

Affilorama Premium is $67/month and is the same thing that I consider to be the "main feature" with this company. There'may be a 7 day trial for $1. Free membership is available nowadays

Affilotheme the help that people seek a premium WordPress theme used to be intended for $97, but these days is usually to often be available through the Affiloblueprint package.

AffiloBlueprint is $197 for lifetime access that is definitely the step-by-step system for newbies.

Affilojetpack are pre-made niche websites with content included, email swipes, likewise ready-made material. It's $997.

AffiloTools is a one-stop shop to track issues like competitors, rankings, keywords, and a number of other things. It's included along with your free membership.

Pricing Updates 2018

Ok, so what I've figured out is that there is three prices of membership. You join the FREE membership, that steadily the ability to access some features, and is often free. Then there may be the PREMIUM membership, with which has a $1 trial, and it's $67/month after that.

affilorama membership levels and pricing

What I Liked

Though I exist of criticisms of this particular program which I'll discuss below, overall, I believe this can be a legit program. Mark Ling really lays everything out before you join, the fact is that sets him other than 99% for all your serious "gurus" out there. Ling has a superb reputation with the exceptional affilo-stuff has been around since 2005.

Most products in this industry don't last within a year.

The site is member focused, includes a somewhat-active forum, and is constantly changing as time goes on, instead of a static PDF or video series that can stale with time.

I keep in mind the main thing I liked about Affilorama was the way in which lots of the videos were set up, with bulleted overviews, prime quality voice overs, and scripts you may download for each video. I do know loads of they on limited internet connections and video training isn't always essentially the most convenient.

Free Membership

There's greatly present on the free membership. I joined a very long time ago and am still able to use the forum, all the work outs modules, the official blog, and a large array of other things including hour long webinar sessions.

Navigate the lessons dependant upon topic

affilorama website lesson navigation

2. Read The Title Summary of Each Lesson, Organized By Topic

affilorama lesson titles and summaries

3. Watch HD Videos & Read About Each Lesson, Including Step By Step Pictures

affilorama lessons video

Since the original writing of this review, I like the way this script has restructured. Without having the $67 per 30 days membership, you possibly can concentrate on absorbing what they have to offer for free. That gives you the right amount of time to consider upgrading on top of AffiloBlueprint or AffiloJetpack.

By granting them you value rapidly, you will see what kind of company they are! And hey, if they supply like this stuff without cost, the paid stuff have to be healthier for 🙂

Get Your Free Affilorama Membership!

Goodies Included In Premium Offers

If you commit to go together with Blueprint or Jetpack you've got 1-year webhosting for 1 website. That's worth at least $100, and maybe more towards the quality despite hosting. You furthermore may explore owing to their "AffiloTheme' Premium Theme. A premium theme could cost between $20 and $100, in order that'is actually a acceptable too!

What I Didn't Like

"Outdated" Sections of Training

Though there is a lot of wonderful trainings in the gratis group, there are plenty real bombs to watch out for. While appearing for information on how to construct an internet site, I only found a bit about using Adobe Dreamweaver and creating content using HTML. Sure, there are a selection of the way for building website, but the easiest and most popular is WordPress. My #1 recommended product (see below for link) permits you to create WordPress website in about 30 seconds.

Considering you'll be able to select from over 10,000 different WordPress themes, including premium ones with fancy features, plus the normal process to customize your company site with different plugins, I did not why you'll use such as dreamweaver. WordPress is flexible, search result friendly, and highly customizable.

Low Member Activity

Right at the top of the list of appeals of going to a membership site just like a is generating help. There definitely here are a couple of active members, and actually moderators to aid with answering questions.

But from what I possibly could see, there didn't appear to be several activity going on.

affilorama forum

There are numerous instances of posts being replied to in three or four hours, however most activity seems to be over other times, even days or weeks old. I used to be on the website one evening and saw that there were only 16 members on!

Even though this is just my personal opinion, the posts I looked at didn't appear to be too insightful or warranting a discussion. In fact, I'm comparing this to my own end result of Wealthy Affiliate, containing plentiful active members, in conjunction with a live chat scrolling 24/7 a place that you may consider and carry instant answers.

Affilorama has the suitable idea yield members forum, but it only is devoid of numerous active members to get this to a great feature.

That's A Bad Idea #1: Copied Content

An enormous fear the workout that you will see discussed on other reviews of Affilorama is the use of PLR content and backlinking strategies.

Because it feels like an "easy way" that creates an online business, many people preclude stuff of making helpful, interesting content unfortunetly copy it from multiple places. True, there are actually legit ways to repeat content, and they rarely spark a legitimate, long-term business.

Aided by the ways is PLR content. It is a symbol of Private Label Rights and permits you to take content is due to a source tagged PLR, change it of any kind for your information fit, then do it in the own.

The concerns with that is multifaceted. One, everyone permission to access the same content. Two, this product is often written in a really generalized way that is neither interesting nor okay for the reader. Three, because it's not completely unique content, it's very hard to rank.

Many people say which you can "tweak" letting it to cause it to unique and pass Copyscape. My question to the child is, when you're a reader, are you able to detect when someone is BS-ing you online? Do you like along with generalized content or highly specific and insightful content?

Not surprisingly, if you need to spend enough time to research and re-write this stuff so they are unique, interesting, and helpful, you better yet not use PLR or merely write 100% original content.

In our own way to copy content is curation. By curating, you are taking other author's work (that allow you to achieve this), and offering a linkage to the unique source. Normally, mingle an "authority" on a topic by collecting legitimate information on that topic.

However, if you copy achieve article, there may be there's no chance that you're going to get ranked in Google for that content. No rank means no traffic. In the event you copy just a good bit and write your personal commentary for this (as curation must be), you will want to write down user generated content!

The Affilorama training helps it to be sound like that is simple to do and will sustain job as a web-based marketer less difficult. That's removed from the truth. Using content in this manner adds a new level of difficultly versus just writing the damn thing yourself.

That's A Bad Idea #2: Backlinking

Internet marketers can talk before cows arrive home about backlinking strategies but after all, Google explicitly says that artificial link-building is against their TOS and it'll end up at trouble.

Gurus went on and on about the benefits of Private Blog Networks. Countless products were released, revealing the ranking revolution, and the way it was easy attending to the #1 spot with PBNs…until that they will deindexed and anyone that used them was penalized. They've since recovered in popularity, but who knows when the following Google update will kill your PBN.

google deindex backlinks

I actually have personally grown One More Cup of Coffee to five,000 visits per 24 hrs with out a single backlink, so I actually have my own proof that links are not needed to experience a traffic generating website falsified income. It only takes longer, additionally it may also lasts longer too.

And by the age of the training on backlinks in Affilorama, I wouldn't trust it for our particular own website, and may't recommend it for yours!

Extra Fees

Considering what you'll discover, the worth swapped the varied packages you in finding will not be too crazy. However, there are certain considerations!

For only one, you must pay an autoresponder fee in addition to whatever it is that you buy, who can cost $20+ per month. Then, your hosting may not free after for a year of membership. Also, there is some confusion about "Affilorama Premium" and "AffiloTools".

Premium it happens to not be available on the company website, but it surely's listed as an extra feature, specifically that you get a 1-month free trial. The first price for premium was $67, so can we expect a $67 upsell most of us join Blueprint?

Regarding AffiloTools, it clearly says hence it's free for Affilorama Members, that being said we're told that we all experience a no charge study to be a part of Blueprint. So which can be it?

affilo bonus 2

affilo bonus 1

Affilorama Free VS Premium Updated for 2018

It's been quite a while since I wrote my initial review. I wrote this making a return to 2014, togerher with its now December 2018. Affilorama remains to be alive, so they collect new members and perpetuate improving a company. Personally, I are unable to find much activity this review, so I'll just turn the job over as-can possibly be now. I've updated the pricing info, and made an effort of the costless association simply by Winter 2018.

However, if I get sufficient comments within the comment section aiming a review the newer Premium membership in Affilorama, I'll join and test it out. Contribute to the discussion and let me know if you would like me to do this!

Last Note

I in fact wasn't delightful to have email offers from Mark Ling, cross promoting services and products from folks that I would consider scam artists. I've done a lot of reviews for my website, and am aware that lots of the "gurus" hang around the other and run promotions for some another. That's fine. It's how business is done online, and You'll be able to unsubscribe very easily.

Specially me, I used to be just disappointed to find out that the finished products owner was promoting a person who I personally find terrible. This method person often charges thousand of dollars for mentorships and exclusive programs. You familiar with ones - "Join cost-free webinar", after which they try to sell you a $10,000 mentorship package.

Final Review

Affilorama has an incredible no charge registration, and appropriately priced premium offers. They've a helpful community, and a quality product that I am able to proudly recommend.

Thumbs Up

==> Sign Up For Affilorama Here

However, they aren't my #1 recommendation!

Wealthy Affiliate vs Affilorama

Features Wealthy Affiliate Affilorama

Will it be easy to get help?

Private coaching available?

Are you able to Contact the Owners?

Is in fact a live chat?

Is known to be step-by-step training?

Are free websites included?

Is hosting included?

Are you able to try for free?

Definitely is a keyword-research tool?

Exists an affiliate program?

Do I recommend this? Yes No

My Overall Rating 10/10 7/10

Comparing Wealthy Affiliate To Affilorama

I can write a whole in-depth review comparing Wealthy Affiliate to Affilorama, but I'd love to fully things below on why WA remains my #1 recommendation after all these years

They update the workout frequently to bring to attention changes in online marketing, Google, and online marketing

We have no major upsells. The membership costs $49/month. END. OF. STORY

Hosting is offered in your membership price, for the life span whatever the membership

They offer cheap domains. $15 per year (no upsells), including FREE privacy, including FREE SSL

Live chat help for instant support, plus forum support for "slow cooked" answers.

Proprietary website boosting technology

SiteSpeed means no need for installing a caching plugin to purchase one site run fast

SiteComments for starting engagement in the comment small portion your company site

Spam filter without a desire for a plugin (fewer plugins means faster website)

Free weekly webinars on lots of topics (e_mail business, AMP, star ratings, SEO, etc)

Peer Review & Feedback: Get feedback on your service so aren't within the a "newbie bubble"

There are tons more things you can examine inside ourselves full Wealthy Affiliate Review. It's really ridiculous what they offer regarding the flat membership fee, and you cannot find another service has had an opportunity to come back even close.

But what would you say? Have you been connected to both websites? How you imagine they quite a lot of or similar? What sort do you prefer?

Oh, allow's do remember that this kind of page was purported to be an overview of Affilorama, not an evaluation to Wealthy Affiliate.

What on earth of Affilorama?

Various join? Why? Or at least…Why?

Should you tried Jetpack or Blueprint, what did you think that?

I'm really curious to look at what your opinions available the comment section! affiloblueprint

[wiresandstarlings]

boats ease into the harbor, bearing real suspicious cargo

1. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 131,200 people employed as writers and authors in the United States in 2016. If you assume writers work an average of 8 hours a day, that writing is 10% efficient, and that 5% of writers are worth reading, the United States produces 131,200 * 8 * 0.1 * 0.05 / 24 / 365 * 12 ~ 7.2 months of quality reading material each day. Even if you assume that only 0.1% of writers are worth reading, then that's still 4.4 days of reading per day of writing in just the United States. It's physically impossible to keep up with all the good writing being produced, even without sleeping, and setting aside catching up on the centuries of backlog.

When you look at even more popular and efficient media like streaming and YouTube content, the numbers are even scarier. The world is producing more information than even the world can reasonably consume.

Writing in the face of that knowledge feels wasteful, like driving an SUV or golfing. At the same time, writing has a fundamental urgency to it.

When I write, I'm forced to vocalize and confront my beliefs. I've written essays where, having finished, I don't agree with anything that I’ve said. It's like I've built up this latent energy by reading and thinking and watching, and I need to write to convert that energy, a muddy fuel of insights and exaltations and fears, into action and belief.

Reading good writing, I feel this total connection to humanity, on a primal and ineffable level. And trying to write well, I feel that connection again.

So, I guess, to whoever's reading this, I’m grateful you've chosen to share your time with me, and I hope you get whatever you need and whatever you're missing out of it.

2. On a practical note, I've been spending a lot of time reading about personal finance lately and want to summarize what I’ve learned. I've been fortunate enough not to have to worry about my finances for most of my life, but I realized a couple months ago that having my entire net worth parked in a Citi savings account was blatantly irresponsible. Panicking, I overcompensated.

Fortunately, the most prevalent and reliable personal finance advice is all straightforward. Still, given that I wasn't familiar with it, and apparently my parents weren't either, I figure there's value here. If you already have your life in order, feel free to skip this section.

Re: banks, don't use banks with physical locations. Physical locations are expensive, and you pay for them with the interest on your savings and the premiums on your loans. Online banks like Ally and Alliant Credit Union offer much better rates and services and also have better digital infrastructure.

There are a lot of online banks with various costs and benefits, but Ally and Alliant seem to be the most popular and reliable. I have some money in both right now, but I've mostly been using Ally because it has better integration with other online platforms.

Re: brokerages, that logic still applies. Use Vanguard, not Fidelity.

Re: investing, put all your money in a U.S. market index fund, ideally VTSAX, and forget about it until retirement. Services like Betterment or Wealthfront, which algorithmically invest your savings, are a reasonable alternative. However, they charge $25 per $10,000 they manage for you, and it's unclear whether they outperform plain index funds by enough to justify their price. They do provide some tax optimization services which likely cover their cost for accounts with $100,000 or more.

I'm currently using Betterment because my friend sent me a referral link with the first 3 months free, so I figured I might as well try it and reevaluate after the trial. I'm happy so far. I like that it's less involved than using a brokerage, and my account has almost enough to appropriately benefit from tax-loss harvesting.

This is my referral link, if that sounds interesting to you.

Re: credit cards, they're not worth learning about unless you inherently enjoy solving complicated systems. Personally, my ultimate plan is to get a 2% cash back card, the Amazon Prime card (for 5% back on Amazon purchases), the Uber Visa (for 4% back on restaurants and 3% back on travel), and the Amex Blue Cash (for 3% back on groceries). Cash back isn't as rewarding as travel points or signing bonuses, in terms returns per dollar spent, but those games are much more complicated for just an additional 2-4% back.

If you're having trouble getting approved for credit lines, it will likely be worthwhile to learn everything: about credit scores, secured cards, how to efficiently build a credit profile, etc. A lot of why I'm not interested in travel points and signing bonuses is that the additional 2-4% back I'd get from them could only be spent on things I don't care much about, like fancy flights and hotels. But the difference between getting a 2+% discount on everything and not is enormous.

3. I've spent an unhealthy amount of time watching YouTube lately. YouTube has been seductive substitute for games because it isn't obviously useless. When I watch videos on fashion, personal finance, self-improvement, and so on, I feel like I'm making progress even if the information in the videos is useless. There's something inherently satisfying and exhilarating about watching videos at 2x speed.

As a result, I've incidentally learned about the economics of YouTube, which are fascinating. Like, the idea of even a single media company focused entirely on YouTube content is wild to me. Yet there they are, the young thousands. There's just a tremendous amount of money in YouTube, such that it’s almost difficult to comprehend the scale.

Like, a video with 12 million views @ 1/3 a cent per view represents $40k, a respectable annual income. 12 million views is a lot, but it's a small fraction of the attention that YouTube commands. Like, there are random tours of capsule hotels in Japan with that many views. The music video for Gangnam Style must have made almost 100 million dollars.

In a real twist of late capitalism, content creators get paid more or less based on their primary demographics. Like younger women are less likely to use an ad blocker than 20-something men, so a greater fraction of their views get monetized. Views from wealthier countries like the U.S. and Canada are worth more than views from poorer ones.

There's so much at stake in getting us to click around these websites. And it's not just recommender systems. Whole content companies are fighting for even a couple minutes of our attention.

4. In Lineup, by a Seattle company called Cut Media, hosts are tasked to sort a lineup of strangers into different categories. In one video, for example, the hosts need to guess the lineup's sexual orientations. In another, they need to match people to their outfits. The general idea, of course, is to demonstrate how limited stereotypes are. The hosts typically don't take their task seriously, and their inability to perform it is humorous, heartwarming, enlightening, etc.

Ironically, from a purely statistical standpoint, the series makes a much stronger case for stereotypes than against them. For example, in the video about guessing occupations, a host choosing at random would get an average of 1 person right and would get 3 or more matches only 8% of the time. Yet every one of the 4 hosts got at least 1 match, they managed an average of 2.25 matches altogether, and 2 of the hosts got 3 or more. Those numbers look like failures on the surface, but stereotypes actually led the hosts to perform significantly better than chance.

Better than chance is, of course, not the strictest criterion.

5. Two series I’ve found helpful are Glamour's How One Woman Spends Her $N Salary and CNBC's Living On $N A Year in Location. I've been struggling lately to figure out how I should spend my income and the insight into how other people relate to money was valuable.

I feel like I'm making enough money now that I should buy whatever happiness is available to me, but I have no idea what to buy. The things I really want – like reading more, being healthier, having better self-discipline – aren't readily for sale. I used to think it was ridiculous that people spent thousands of dollars on life coaches, gym memberships, logos, and so on, but I'm starting to understand why. At this point, I'd happily spend hundreds of dollars on a guarantee that my life would even marginally improve.

At the same time, I guess opportunities to trade money for happiness will inevitably present themselves over time, and maybe there’s no need to seek them out.

6. I feel that, as a society, we're far too private about our finances. If we talked openly our income, for example, the prevalence and severity of the gender pay gap would have become obvious decades earlier. Everyone with credit card debt would have someone in the life to tell them how stupid credit card debt and how important living within our means is. Maybe economists and sociologists could even determine what purchases actually make us happier, and what we only think makes us happy.

I think we've adapted to obscure our finances because we have this like limbic compulsion to organize ourselves into hierarchies and fight based on where we land, and income is a very natural hierarchy. But if we just resist that compulsion, we'd collectively benefit from greater knowledge.

Like, in decision theory, more information is inherently good. We can only interpret it badly.

7. At the same time, I guess I have little interest in writing about my own finances. Not out of any desire to hide them, I just don't find the topic particularly compelling. But if you'd like to know, contact me through whatever channel and I'd be happy to share my accounting sheet and answer whatever questions you have.

Not that I have any great wisdom to share, clearly.

8. There's a “5 Minute Rule” in self-help theory that instructs people to complete tasks will take less than 5 minutes as soon as they think of them and are able to. I'm a fan of the 5 Minute Rule and have made a similar rule for myself where if I need something and it costs less than $20, I'll buy it without hesitation or deliberation.

Like, I was opening a box with scissors a couple weeks ago and I couldn’t cleanly cut the threads in the packing tape. My hands hurt trying to push the scissors through. So I bought an utility knife for $3 and opening boxes has been far more pleasant since it arrived. I noticed my wrist was hurting at work, so I bought a better mousepad for $8. And so on.

Overall, one thing I have learned is to buy the things I need and the things I know will make me happier. Maybe that should have been obvious.

9. Yield and overcome; Bend and be straight; Empty and be full; Wear out and be new; Have little and gain; Have much and be confused. Be truly whole, and all things will come to you.