#Kindle Tech Support

[asleepinawell]

since I'm out here making public service announcements today, here's another one

you may have seen the post going around about how amazon has pulled the ability to download ebooks for usb transfer from their site. this is yet another way they're trying to ensure you don't own digital goods you pay for and that they can remove your access at any time, either because of licensing issues or just good old fashioned censorship

before diving into what you can do about this, I will state that I do NOT support piracy of books. authors are not rich corporations and losing sales will hurt them. don't put books up on download sites and don't get them from there (your local library can usually provide ebook access if you can't afford to buy them). what I DO support though is owning the things you buy and keeping an offline copy of them that you can access without amazon apps and that amazon can't just delete off your account

fortunately, even after this change, there's a way to get yourself a permanent copy. see the top comment of the post below (the og post is outdated and the comment has the latest which still works correctly)

make sure you read ALL the directions and uninstall stuff, delete stuff, get the right versions, turn off wifi initially, etc. also, if you already had kindle reader on your pc, I would HIGHLY recommend that you deregister it on amazon's site (under devices and content) before trying this or you may find that some books won't work correctly

also please do not store these exclusively in the cloud, like on gdrive or whatever. keep copies on a local computer or server, back it up on a drive or cd if you still have a burner. do not rely on corporations to allow you access to your own files

always own the things you buy

[happycrankycow]

I still say “hangry” sometimes.

Book: Filthy Rich Vampires

[sky-walkerem]

dads kindle did something weird and sent him back to the beginning of his book, so now I’m just awkwardly sitting here watching him flip through trying to find his place 🧍

[jacensolodjo]

It is still so dumb that for YEARS kindle has not been able to accept .epub not even sideloading them. And yet NOW Amazon is like 'oh wait we're phasing out .mobi so you better have .epub files'. When the send to kindle app has just as recently as January of this year not accepted .epub at all. it is .cbz, .mobi, or .pdf

how can you be so stupid about file types you're supposed to add support for the replacement file type before you make everyone switch to it. For years I've had to change .epub to .mobi to put the file on my kindle. lmao in many cases there isn't even an epub or pdf version of the file I have so then I will likely have to file type switch in the other direction

[troutfur]

If you have books purchased on your Kindle library download them now and learn how to remove DRM encryption from them.

As of February 26th, Amazon will no longer allow you to download the files locally, except to physical Kindle devices. You will only be able to read them from now on through an internet connection.

This is a direct affront to consumers everywhere who fucking BOUGHT these books. These tech monopolies want to keep you reliant on their little neo-feudal realms, forever paying them a tax (sorry "subscription fee") and will stop at nothing to erode your ability to truly own your digital goods.

This hurts particularly as someone for whom purchasing ebooks was a favorite way of supporting authors without having to deal with the exorbitant prices and import taxes that come with buying physical books in Guatemala.

I taught myself how to de-DRM my Kindle library using an old Android tablet and very minimal Windows tech literacy with this guide. I recommend anyone with a Kindle library to follow suit and going forward to BOYCOTT Amazon and any storefront using proprietary DRM technology to prevent you from transferring your own files from outside their ecosystem.

[scaryscarecrows]

Pity me, my grandparents have requested.

Tech Support.

You'd think this would be twenty minutes tops, right? AHAHAHAHAHAHA NO. The LAST time they 'needed help', it took three hours to set up an e-mail (they never checked their old e-mail, so Microsoft understandably deleted it), during which we discovered they somehow had two Amazon Primes and had, God only knows how, managed to get a virus on their Kindle Fire, which is pretty damn hard. And THEN, on top of THAT, they tried to act like they knew better about how to do things DESPITE the fact that they fucked up so bad we had to fix everything. At some point, they had contacted Amazon Support regarding the Kindle, and were apparently so dumb/annoying that the guy hung up on them.

(They're horrible technophobes. Trust me, no one is cringing harder than me.)

So yeah. This is going to be a fun afternoon.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Saturday linkdump, part the sixth

On September 12 at 7pm, I'll be at Toronto's Another Story Bookshop with my new book The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation.

On September 14, I'm hosting the EFF Awards in San Francisco.

I usually write this blog 5-6 days/week, but every now and again, I take a break, and when I do, I get massive link backlogs of stuff I want to write about, but lack the time to address in depth. When that happens, I turn my Saturday edition into a linkdump. Today, I present the sixth in the series – here's the other five:

https://pluralistic.net/tag/linkdump/

Why was I offline and away from my blog? I went to the dirt rave. Yes, I was one of the 70,000+ people stuck in the mud at this year's Burning Man, and when I emailed my editor at the New York Times to say I might be late on the op-ed I was working on, she asked me to write about what this year's mud crisis meant:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/opinion/burning-man-flood-playa-climate-change.html

tl;dr:

Bad weather is normal at Burning Man (it's a feature, not a bug);

Mostly burners leapt to the occasion, which is what people almost always do in disaster situations;

This is the second Burning Man heavy weather year in a row;

The climate emergency is tipping the Black Rock Desert from "extremely challenging" to "impossible";

This isn't the last event, place and tradition that will have to be radically reconsidered in light of the climate emergency;

But now I'm home, in my hammock, with all the laundry done – just in time to leave again. I'm about to head back to my hometown of Toronto for a book launch. The Internet Con, my latest nonfiction (from Verso Books) came out last week, and I'll be appearing at Another Story Bookshop on Tuesday:

https://anotherstory.ca/events/29283

Internet Con is a "Big Tech disassembly manual." It explains how Big Tech got so big (lax anti-monopoly enforcement, which led to regulatory capture, which let Big Tech abuse our privacy, labor rights, and consumer rights), and how we can use interoperability so it's no longer Too Big to Fail, nor Too Big to Jail:

https://www.versobooks.com/products/3035-the-internet-con

You can read a long excerpt from the book in Wired, which lays out some of the shovel-ready legislative, regulatory and technical proposals that are the book's main purpose:

https://www.wired.com/story/the-internet-con-cory-doctorow-book-excerpt/

You can also hear me read the whole introduction and first chapter of the audiobook on my podcast:

https://craphound.com/internetcon/2023/08/01/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation-audiobook-outtake/

That comes from the audiobook, a DRM-free, independent edition that I financed, produced and narrated myself. You can get the audiobook everywhere except Audible, Apple Books, and Audiobooks.com, all of which have mandatory DRM policies. You can also get it direct from me:

https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992826/DEA0CE12/purchase

The DRM-free ebook is available everywhere ebooks are sold (Kobo, Kindle, Nook, etc), as well as in my own DRM-free ebook store:

https://transactions.sendowl.com/products/78992801/9C4FC2B8/purchase

Verso's books are sold in bookstores around the world; you can support your local bookseller by buying it through Bookshop:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-internet-con-how-to-seize-the-means-of-computation-cory-doctorow/18771891?ean=9781804291245

If you'd like a signed copy, there's stock at Book Soup:

https://www.booksoup.com/book/9781804291245

Now, it was inevitable that I would do a book event for Internet Con in Toronto – I've never had a bad event there, and I love my hometown – but the timing of this event was driven by a non-book-related factor. Talking Heads is appearing together at TIFF, to support the re-release of Stop Making Sense, the greatest concert film in human history:

https://pluralistic.net/StopMakingSense

People often ask me what my favorite book is, and I always tell them that you should never trust people who have one favorite book, as it inevitably turns out to be The Bible, The Fountainhead, or Mein Kampf. But while I don't have a favorite book, I have a clear and unambiguous favorite band.

If I was forced to listen to no music other than Talking Heads for the rest of my life, I would be perfectly happy. Ecstatic, even. Throw in David Byrne, Tom Tom Club and Casual Gods and I probably wouldn't even notice anything missing.

There's a running joke among my Burning Man campmates that whenever I'm in charge of the music, I'm just shuffling Talking Heads rarities, and whenever someone puts on anything else, I demand to know which Talking Heads album it came from. Which is all to say: I have tickets for the Talking Heads event at TIFF and I could *not be more excited.*

Continuing on the Canadian theme, one of the annual highlights of Canadian media is the Massey Lectures, a series of public lectures given around the country and rebroadcast on CBC. These are always great, but recent years have been superb – Ron Deibert's 2020 series was unmissable:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/11/10/dark-matter/#citizenlab

This year's Masseys are shaping up to be the GOAT. They're presented by Astra Taylor, an activist rock-and-roller turned documentary filmmaker who is one of the founders of the Debt Collective, fighting for student debt cancellation. Everything Astra does is amazing and her profile on CBC Ideas gives some background on the role that unschooling played in making her the powerful activist she is today:

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/astra-taylor-interview-2023-massey-lecturer-1.6959320

There's no question that things are messed up right now, but Astra and people like her shine out like beacons of hope. 17 years ago, self-described "democracy nut" Tom Stites gave one of the seminal lectures on the role news media play in democracy:

http://citmedia.org/blog/2006/07/03/guest-posting-is-media-performance-democracys-critical-issue/

17 years later – and from his perch as editor at the essential International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – Stites presents us a long-overdue, extremely pertinent followup: "Building Civic Energy is the Goal, Not Saving Old News Business Models":

https://banyanproject.coop/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Hope-College-speech-for-Banyan-website-1.pdf

Stites's intervention is extremely timely, because policymakers all over the world have made the mistake of thinking that Big Tech is stealing the news media's content, which is absolutely untrue. It is good, actually, to index news stories and let people discuss, quote from and link to news stories. News you're not allowed to talk about isn't news, it's a secret.

But Big Tech is stealing from news. They're not stealing content – they're stealing money. The Google/Apple duopoly rakes 30% off every subscription payment collected in an app. The Google/Meta duopoly rakes 51% out of every ad-dollar (and maintain that death-grip through creepy, privacy-invading surveillance ads). Meta and Twitter hold social media subscribers hostage, forcing publishers to pay to reach their own subscribers.

We don't want the news to be Big Tech's partners – we need them to be Big Tech's watchdogs. "Link taxes" and other profit-sharing arrangements between the media and tech cut against the civic energy Stites wants to build.

(You can read more about this – along with policy prescriptions for halting Big Tech's rent-extraction from the news – in "Saving the News From Big Tech," my EFF white-paper:)

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2023/04/saving-news-big-tech

If your spirits are lifted by stories of principled activists achieving important – and improbable – victories, you could do worse than to attend the EFF Awards on in San Francisco Sept 14 (I'm the emcee). This year, we're honoring Alexandra Elbakyan for her founding of Sci-Hub, the Library Freedom Project and the Signal Foundation:

https://www.eff.org/awards/effawards/2023

In more activist news: Mozilla produced a startling and astoundingly good – if demoralizing – report on the state of digital privacy and security in the automotive sector:

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/privacynotincluded/articles/its-official-cars-are-the-worst-product-category-we-have-ever-reviewed-for-privacy/

Entitled, "It’s Official: Cars Are the Worst Product Category We Have Ever Reviewed for Privacy," the report reveals just how absolutely terrible the automotive sector is when it comes to privacy practices, collecting (and selling) (and giving away) information about your sex life, your geneology, your genetic characteristics, and your smell (no, seriously).

Their recommendations for which new car you should buy boil down to "don't buy a new car." I have been urging consumer research groups to release a report like this for a decade. There are whole categories of gadgets – like, say, "smart speakers" – that are unsafe at any speed. At a certain point, reviewers need to have the guts to say that every manufacturer in an entire sector is a dumpster fire and they should all be dragged in front of a firing squad – or at least a Congressional committee.

Cars, after all, are nightmares of privacy invasion and rent-extraction, the source of autoenshittification on a massive scale, a mobile form of technofeudalism:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

The fact that cars score so badly on privacy is especially ironic given the campaign Big Car waged against the 2020 Massachusetts Right to Repair ballot initiative, in which car manufacturers held themselves out as the defenders of driver privacy from unscrupulous third parties who couldn't be trusted to handle the vast troves of data your car collects with every hour that God sends:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/03/rip-david-graeber/#rolling-surveillance-platforms

This is a familiar refrain: monopolists often claim that any check on their absolute authority over their users will expose those users to privacy risks. Apple has run a global ad-campaign claiming this, and while Apple does prevent Facebook from spying on iPhone owners, they also secretly spy on those customers in exactly the same way that Facebook used to, and lie about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/14/luxury-surveillance/#liar-liar

It turns out that giant companies just aren't good proxies for their customers' interests, and that the power they amass through monopolization shouldn't be counted on as a source of user safety. Monopolists won't reliably defend user privacy – that job belongs to democratically accountable regulators. That's an argument I developed in detail with Bennett Cyphers in our EFF white-paper "Privacy Without Monopoly":

https://www.eff.org/wp/interoperability-and-privacy

That is, rather than getting privacy by "voting with your wallet," you need to get it by voting with your ballot. "The market" is an election that you vote in with dollars, which means that the people with the most dollars always win. When there are zero cars on the market that are safe to drive, you can't vote with your wallet by buying a good one.

On a related subject, the DOJ Antitrust Division has brought the most important tech anti-monopoly case of the century, charging Google with monopolizing search:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/06/technology/modern-internet-first-monopoly-trial-us-google-dominance.html

Part of the DOJ case turns on the fact that Google goes to extraordinary lengths to keep you from every trying another search engine, paying out more than $45 billion every year to be the default search on every device, program and service you might use. In other words, Google spends entire Twitter's worth of dollars every year, lighting it on fire to keep you from finding out about rivals.

Google argues that this is fine, actually, because these are only defaults, and users can dig through their settings to change their search engine. Sure, Google – and the first 20 search results you serve are only defaults, and it wouldn't matter if you were ordered to put them ten screens down, because users could always scroll to see them.

But search defaults aren't the only way that Google locks in searchers – and then harms us by invading our privacy. Google's ubiquitous Chrome browser ties Google's search to Google's invasive, nonconsensual, total surveillance. Chrome turned 15 this year and Google made a huge PR splash out of the anniversary:

https://blog.google/products/chrome/google-chrome-new-features-redesign-2023/

But all that puffery conspicuously failed to mention that Google had quietly rolled out its long-discredited, new surveillance technology, FLOC, which it pretended to kill in 2021:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/22/ihor-kolomoisky/#not-that-competition

FLOC is back, rebranded as the Topics API: this is a system for spying on you so advertisers can target you. Google is spinning this as a privacy improvement because it might someday replace "third party cookies," one of the creepiest web surveillance systems.

But as Ron Amadeo writes for Ars Technica, Chrome is the last major browser to support third party cookies – both Safari and Firefox block them by default. So Google is basically saying, "We are going to improve your privacy by changing how we spy on you, even though all our competitors don't do this kind of spying at all":

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/09/googles-widely-opposed-ad-platform-the-privacy-sandbox-launches-in-chrome/

This kind of gaslighting, where Google pisses in all our mouths and tells us it's raining, is the hallmark of a decrepit, arrogant, crapulent monopolist that needs to be shattered in the courts. Kudos to the DoJ for doing the people's business here – and kudos to DoJ antitrust boss Jonathan Kanter for promising that he will not go into corporate law when he finishes his stint in government.

The DoJ isn't the only public agency that's serving the American people. The FCC just announced proceedings to force cybersecurity labels for "smart" devices:

https://www.fcc.gov/consumer-governmental-affairs/fcc-proposes-cybersecurity-labeling-program-smart-devices

This is long overdue, and it's a welcome action from the FCC, which was hamstrung for years because cowardly Democratic senators joined with homophobic, libelous Republicans in blocking confirmation hearings for the amazing Gigi Sohn:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/15/useful-idiotsuseful-idiots/#unrequited-love

After years of abuse, Sohn bowed out. Now, Anna Gomez has been confirmed to fill that fifth FCC chair, turning the FCC into a fully operational battle station:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/senate-votes-approve-anna-gomez-5th-fcc-commissioner

The fact that there's all this great stuff going on in the administrative branch is easy to lose sight of amidst the circus of federal electoral politics, in which Donald Trump has retained his role as ringmaster and chief distractor.

Thankfully, we have expert Pantsless Emperor skewerers like Ruben Bolling around – his latest Tom the Dancing Bug revives his brilliant Calvin and Hobbes-inspired Trump gag:

https://boingboing.net/2023/09/06/tom-the-dancing-bug-a-calvinesque-and-hobbesian-look-at-taking-a-mug-shot.html

Well, that's me signing off for the weekend – I've got to pack for my flight to Toronto. If you're looking for more weekend fun, check out the trailer for Fractured Veil, the video game my old pal Chris DiBona has been working on for seven years and which is heading for Steam early access next month:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NjNd3QQnENU

Just watch it. I mean. Wow.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/09/09/nein-nein/#everything-is-miscellaneous

Image: Roel Schroeven (modified) https://www.flickr.com/photos/roelschroeven/45413895

CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/

[astrid696]

I mostly work at the larger location of my 2 stores and don't get to read much. At the start of our story, I’m elated as I'm scheduled to work a full shift alone at the small store I'll have time to read! While we do have downtime at the larger location, we also tend to have multiple people on staff and I cannot focus enough to read in a manner that I enjoy. I do all the usual openings task for work, set up my personal devices, and as I open my Kindle, I see something that derails my plans for the day.

Displayed on my screen is a sad, mostly empty, white page reading, "Low battery. Please charge device," blocking me from what should be dozens of books. Saddened, but not deterred, I plug in my device to charge. l go about playing a video game I brought instead and make a note to check on the charging process later. A few hours pass so I open the Kindle cover and find myself facing the same message of low battery. Thinking nothing of it other than, "Wow, it was really dead," I go back to my game.

As I'm packing up my things at the end of the day, I decide to press the power button to check the battery percentage again when I see something odd... The screen hasn't changed still ?? Okay? something isn't right. I am absolutely sure the charging components are functional so it has be some something with the e-reader, but I need to head home now so I'll look at it then.

I get settled in my comfy clothes later and google search the error message to see if it's a common issue. It is and huzzah, there are fixes! "Whelp, let the corrective montage begin," I chuckle to myself as I picture a video media styled time-lapse of a similarly mundane task and get to work.

I hold the power button for 40 seconds to reset it as suggested by many online platforms (Reddit, amazon support, quota, etc.) to no avail.. Hmm, so not just an error message. Maybe it is _really_ dead. Not ‘never turn on again’ dead, just ‘need hours to get out of bed’ dead

I plug it in for 24 hours, in hopes that the screen would show me my digital library once that small button of life is pressed afterwards... only to greeted by the same message staring back at me.-sigh- Go to factory reset again as at least now it should be fully charged and... Nothing, no response.

Thinking that the charging port might be damaged, I put it on wireless charging for another 24 hours in attempts to accomplish what the charge port could not. My friends, it was not the charging port and the third attempt of a factory reset still isn't helping anything.

After days of sitting in anticipation and my bubble of hope being repeatedly deflated, I STILL don't have a working Kindle. My current reads (books) patiently waiting for me in the darkness of that device's storage drive.

I try a different approach the next day. Maybe if I plug it into my computer, I can find the device and force a reset that way. I looked online and found that this path has worked for some users so I move forward with the plan...

I grab the cable that is already plugged into my tower, turn on my computer, plug in my Kindle, and wait for the My Files screen to pop up. There's this not-so-subtle ringing of alarm bells going off in the furthest part of my brain with a little sign saying 'device not found' (that we've all seen after plugging in a flash drive) trying to take up all the visual space in my mind's eye, but I ignore it. I open My Files manually and search for a new storage device. Nothing found so I disconnect the cable a few time. After that, I have to concede that my computer doesn't even register my e-reader is plugged in.

I am defeated again, but I will not give up.

I don't know what else to try, though.

Nothing I have done has been able to fix this error.

I tell my roommate my journey so far and they ask if I want advice for this, to which I nod. They turn towards me and utter words that are not to be spoken lightly, "Have you reached out to tech support?" Tech support?!?!? I haven't needed to call on any tech support for years! We know the horror stories in our household. IT Crowd is one of our favourite shows and I WAS tech support for a few years, no less. I sit there with an incredulous look on my face and no words are needed to convey what I want this person to understand. I amusingly sigh and they, with silly grin on their face, turn away laughing and I can just hear the unspoken words said in jest... "They might be able to help you turn it off and back on again."

**Now for those that don't know the woes of tech support: More often than not, a phone call IT receives is a reminder in the human races lack of technological understanding instead of fixing actual device or software errors. The people who work in this department are a testiment to the resilience of the human mind with the things they have to deal with. I love helping people, but when the question I ask the caller is, “Have you tried turning it off and back on again,” while then having to figure out which button they think the power is… I am not fit for all jobs. If you want a comedic version for now, please go watch the first episode of IT Crowd.** Back to the story:

I don't want to call tech support. I don't like talking to strangers on the phone as it takes a lot of mental energy to do and all I want is to curl up on the couch with a large blanket while eating chips when I'm done… I can definitely figure this out my myself.

So I ignore that option for a several days. I try the same things over and over again, hoping something might change, but never does this is the definition of insanity. I then ignore the Kindle itself for a few days; my books abandoned so that I don't have to talk to a stranger who will think I'm an idiot. My Kindle hasn't worked for going on 2 weeks at this point.

This morning my roommate was leaving for work and they saw the error message still on my Kindle. "Maybe it's time to replace it," they say empathetically, "There's a reason my current one is called Kindle 7 as I have to get a new one every 2-3 years. How old is yours?" I have had this Kindle for just shy of two years. 6 days from now, on March 5, will be it's birthday and I don't want to replace it yet. I tell them the age with a sigh and a nod that says 'I'll think about that option' as they walk out the door, waving goodbye.

I go about my day with the electronic in question in my peripheral view and after a few hours, I decide I would prefer to talk to a stranger than buy a new device. I muster up the courage needed while trying to calm the social anxiety to call this stranger for help.

Now... what happens next is only explainable by the gods as I have no clue what happened

I pick up my phone and with my kindle in hand, dial tech support. The automated system prompts take a few minutes and I fidget with the button on my Kindle while waiting to reach a human being. As the last auto prompt listens to my request for a person, the charging light on my Kindle blinks between orange and green a few times.

A person comes on the line; I explain that I have a Kindle that I need help with as I stare at the blinking light. He informs me that I need to be transfered to Kindle department (expected).

The second I hear the transfer music, my Kindle's screen changes to an update page that loads through so quickly that by the time the hold music ends less than 30 seconds later, I am staring at my collection of books and laughing.

I realize the Tech has asked for my name and I give him that. I follow up with the short explanation of why I'm laughing/no longer need his help. We commiserate and hang up the phone after connecting over an unwritten rule of working with electronics. "If it doesn't work, show the problem to someone else and the universe will automatically fix it while they're watching."

TLDR: After 2 weeks of not having a functional kindle, it randomly decided to start working again as soon as I called the IT department for assistance.

[lauravanarendonkbaugh]

Training Ebook Bundle

Get them all! in one convenient and discounted bundle. Fired Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out Social, Civil, and Savvy Dragons, Unicorns, Chimeras, and Clickers all in ebook. Audiobooks and ebooks are delivered with a fully-featured ereader and audiobook app. Read in the provided app or on your favorite ereader, such as Kindle or Nook. Techy knowledge is not required, but tech support is included!

[aemondslefteyeball]

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi (8)

Masterlist

[Modern!Aemond x Fem!Reader]

[Warnings: Death, gore, aftermath of animal attacks]

[Summary: Let's gather 'round the campfire and sing our campfire song. Our C-A-M-P-F-I-R-E S-O-N-G song!]

Word Count: 4.6K

Chapter 8

Small cursive lettering filled the pages of the journal, and intermittent doodles marked the page, words overflowing around all of it. A discordant look at your inner thoughts, Aemond mused. 

Dear Dad,

I met my fiance today and he is the absolute fucking worst. You would have kicked his ass. I wasn’t expecting him to sweep me off my feet but the first fucking thing he did was shove a prenup in my face. Nice to meet you too, asshole. 

He couldn’t have been that callous, could he? He had to have given you some form of acknowledgment. Was his first impression that bad? Aemond frowned as he skimmed over the pages, looking for mentions of his name until landing on the next passage.

Dear Dad,

Today has been the worst birthday I’ve ever had. Aemond started my day off by barging into my room at five in the goddamn morning to interrogate me about Sunspear. He apparently saw my post and demanded to know why I was spending “his” money taking vacations. He literally just stood there bitching until I walked into the bathroom. I don’t think it ever occurred to him that I have my own fucking money and my own means of travel. After that the Kazoo preacher was back on the subway screaming about 'the children', and if all that wasn’t enough fucking Jaydee didn’t put the boiling chip into the test tube and it blew up on my goddamn arm. I wanted to take Vaeryx for a quick flight but the wheels were too chewed up after my last landing. Your jacket doesn’t smell like you anymore. I really wish you were here. 

Aemond swallowed suddenly. He didn’t even remember doing these things, but the pen marks dug into the page afterward. Another wave of guilt hit him at the realization that he didn’t know when your birthday even was. The journal hadn’t been dated, and he never asked.

Dad, 

I got accepted for a summer workshop at Storm’s End Tech!!! If that isn’t exciting enough we’re studying bacteria at the thermal vents off the coast of Cape Wrath!!! Professor Webber really pulled through for me, she was saying that this will really help me when I apply for grad school. Do you remember the house we lived in when you were stationed at Qaehrys? The one with the big window that led onto the roof? I really miss laying there and looking at the constellations with you. I took your telescope out tonight and searched the moon until I found Vaegon’s Crater. Dr. Lee said that’s the most likely spot they’d put a base and it’s apparently less than a decade away. When it goes up I’m going to be there, and I’m bringing your telescope.

Wait, what? Aemond knew that you were a student, but he always assumed you were pursuing business or something. Guilt crashed over him at the realization he had never taken the time to ask you what you were studying. He had never taken the time to ask you anything about yourself, really. He never really had much interest in microbiology, but maybe you were like Helaena and her entomology. Beyond that, never in a million years would he have guessed that you were planning to become an astronaut. You? Did they even send microbiologists to space? Aemond sighed as he put the journal down. He told himself that he was doing this to get to know you better. To support you. But he felt like he knew even less than before and at the cost of your privacy. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The trilling of insects was the only source of noise, save for the torch. A melancholy silence was cast over the circle surrounding the pyre. Aly held the torch, dried blood and tear tracks staining her face. Silent sobs started to erupt from her as the kindling beneath Sabitha’s feet sparked. She next lowered the torch towards her girlfriend’s knees, following it with her shoulders. Aly wiped globs of snot off her face with one hand, using the other to cast the torch into the burning base of the pyre. Tears fell as you squeezed Nettles’ shoulder. She turned her gaze towards you, her massive brown eyes brimmed with tears. Your gazes shifted back to Sabitha, and the sight of teeth peeking through her torn cheek. “Mother above,” Myri exclaimed, her gaze fixed on Sabitha’s twitching hand. “She’s alive.” Panicked looks shot out across the group. “She’s alive! She’s-” 

Aly ran towards the pyre, repeated “No’s” being exclaimed as she wrenched Sab off the pyre by her belt loops. Sabitha fell with a heavy grunt, and Aly immediately set out to put out the flames that had cropped up on Sabitha’s jeans. The redhead just lay there, intermittent grunts and gurgles emerging. You lowered yourself to the ground as quickly as you were able, lifting her head so that Myri could rest a blanket under it. “I got you,” Aly whispered, grasping her girlfriend’s hand.

“Really?” Sabitha groaned, “Fire?” The gurgle couldn’t suppress the sarcasm in her tone. She let out the smallest chuckle she could manage. The rest of you were still too keyed up from adrenaline to do anything but pant and stare. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just one more, Aemond told himself. He stared at the journal ahead of him and pulled it back onto his lap. One more, and that was it. He would put the journal back and he would leave it this time. His fingers brushed over the indents in the page, smudges bleeding out to the right. 

Dad!!

 I think I met somebody recently. 

Happy doodles filled the margins of the journal, little flowers crammed into each individual corner. 

She’s in my lab. She’s Westerosi, but I think you would really like her. R’hllor, what do I even say? She’s so fucking smart, Dad. She’s kind of shy but it’s actually really adorable. She’s just… a ray of sunshine. I don’t think I’ve ever heard her say something mean about anybody else. Just really, really uplifting. Gods, it feels so good getting on the train knowing I’ll see her dorking out over S. aureus with that adorable ass grin on her face. I don’t know if her being so different from Aemond is what makes me like her, but it’s such a breath of fresh air. 

Aemond stopped reading the entry after the last mention of his name. While his stomach turned at your Hallmark-worthy descriptions of Emerson, he was grateful it provided a natural stopping point for him. He felt a small pang of pity. Here you had written a dissertation about how much you liked her, only to have it repaid with a whole two months of devotion. No more. Aemond put the journal back into the nightstand and shut the door behind him.

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Your teeth grit as your foot hits the ground. Rhaena shot you a comforting smile, and you responded with a brief one before putting one foot in front of the other. Sabitha grunted from behind you, leaning against Aly. The two of you paused for a moment so the pair could catch up to you. “When we get back we’re gonna need clean water and thread to stitch them up.” Aly nodded while you shifted your weight onto your left leg. 

“Leave me.” Blood was soaking through the bandage Rhaena had wrapped around Sabitha’s face, her voice coming out muffled. Between that, and the eerie sound of her sucking air in through the hole in her face it was a wonder anybody could understand her. 

“Sab, stop it.” 

“It’s-” Sabitha’s head lolled into Aly’s cheek, her auburn hair stiff with dried blood. “Not… Safe.” 

“Don’t say that! We’re almost there!” Aly looked like she was about to start crying again, her powder blue jacket darkened with brown stains. 

“Let them go,” Sabitha said, one hand coming up to weakly clutch at the vertebra around her neck. “Let them go.” She turned her gaze towards the rest of you then, grunting quietly before Aly acquiesced. 

“Go back to the cabin as fast as you can.” She turned towards you, Nettles, Rhaena, and Myrielle. It hurt like a son of a bitch, but you had kept a decent pace so far. Thankfully it seemed like the wolf didn’t fuck up your muscles. There was still a mottled wreck beneath the cloth bandages, but it was superficial. It would heal. You would be fine. 

“Aly?” Nettles whispered, worry furrowing her brow. 

“Go.” Aly ordered. 

The four of you got back to the cabin after what felt like an entire day, pain slicing through you with each step you took. For your part, all you could really do was be grateful that you could walk. This godsforsaken place put a lot of things into perspective. The four of you finally stumbled onto the porch, as panicked gazes took in the massive bloodied bandage on your thigh. “By the seven.” Sara got up off the porch as you moved to sit. “What happened?” Looking around the group, the blonde’s eyebrows wrinkled. “Where are Aly and Sabitha?” 

“She… she told us to leave them.” Rhaena panted out. Floris took her hand and Baela scrambled to your side, tears brimming in her eyes. 

“We were attacked by wolves.” But with how big they were, they might just be direwolves. Who knows, maybe a snark would cuntpunt you next. Anything was possible in this shit-ass forest. Fuck this country. Barba rushed out of the cabin, her icy eyes widening in panic. A hand clapped over her mouth as she looked at you, her jaw trembling for a moment. Gathering herself, she grabbed Rhaena by the arms. “Show us where to go.” 

You grunted as the hot needle punched through your skin. Exposed to the open air was a horrifying sight. The flesh of your right thigh was mottled with black bruises, puncture marks on multiple spots. The cherry on top of it was the massive chunk of skin that had been wrenched from your leg when you kicked the wolf off you. Clenching your jaw, you hummed through your grit teeth. Seasick Sarah, had a golden nose. Hobnail boots, wrapped around her toes. The needle pierced through each layer of gored skin, fiery pain erupting as it happened. The parts of the wound that could be sewn up were. The chunk of skin that had been torn off could not be sewn shut. So as of right now, you were biting down on Floris’s belt, preparing for Nettles to press the heated knife onto your wound. You looked away, staring off into the darkness outside the window. The first burn lasted for a few seconds, and you bit into the belt hard enough that your jaw ached. After that, the next session started. You started to feel hazy about what seemed to be halfway through, and when she was done you were drifting in and out of consciousness. Sara sat at your side, stroking your hand. You pulled the blanket up more tightly over yourself, shivers wracking you. “You hanging in there?” She questioned, her tone soft. “Need another blanket?” You nodded abruptly. 

“I thought it’d be warmer.” You murmured as her face drifted in and out of your field of vision. Her silvery hair flickered in the light, darkened roots showing at the crown of her head. When she placed the blanket over you, you curled into it. Turning away from her, you sank into the warmth of the cot and the blackness of sleep. 

Muffled screams roused you, and you turned to the source of the noise. Disorientation clouded your mind until you caught sight of Sabitha lying on the table. The same hooked needle that went into your thigh was currently being plunged into her face. Baela’s expression wavered as she held Sabitha down. Please pass out. Sabitha continued to writhe in pain, thrashing against Baela. Please just let her pass out. Muffled shouts echoed through the cabin, and you found yourself covering your ears. Barba stared at Sabitha, a conflicted expression on her face as she grasped the weirwood pendant around her neck. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aegon sat across the table from Aemond, one arm on the back of the booth and the other dipping a fry into ketchup. He ate that, chewing for a moment while grabbing the massive, greasy burger and dunking that into the pile of ketchup afterward. Aemond held back the urge to physically cringe. His brother’s disgusting eating habits had always irritated him, and Aegon weaponized that. “So.” Half-chewed burger rolled around in Aegon’s mouth, and Aemond clenched his fist under the table for five counts before releasing it. “Moat Cailin?” He grinned, taking another slobbering bite of the dripping burger. 

Aemond rolled his eyes. He cut into his chicken vesuvius carefully, picking up a piece of chicken and potato before properly chewing it, placing his silverware down, and staring Aegon in the eye while doing so. When he finished chewing he finally spoke. “I’m going out on one of the search rafts.” He said flatly, cutting another piece of chicken. “Maybe you should come.” A pointed stare was shot Aegon’s way, and he shrank back at the retort. It was no secret that he moved on from Sara a while back, but something shifted in Aegon’s gaze. His brother fidgeted in his seat. Aemond narrowed his eye as he ate, what was he hiding? 

“What do you think they’re doing right now?” Aegon asked suddenly, taking another bite of his burger. 

Aemond sighed. What would you be doing right now? He hoped you were dipping your feet in the Greywater, laughing with your friends. “I don’t know, trying to culture swamp bacteria,” Aemond said with a shrug, spearing a potato. “Whatever microbiologists do.” He finished.

“What?” Aegon said, his head quirked to the side like a puppy. 

“Microbiologist. Somebody who studies ba-” 

Aemond was cut off by barking laughter from Aegon. His brother set the burger down with a gross slap. Aegon leaned back in the booth, one arm cocked over the top of it. “She’s not a microbiologist.” He let out another guffaw. 

Fury rose in Aemond as he clenched his fist. “She’s not an astronaut yet ei-” Another round of laughter cut Aemond off as he slammed his fist down onto the table, a couple across the restaurant shooting them a nervous look. 

The action did nothing to faze Aegon, who continued laughing as he popped another fry into his mouth. “You’re guilting me about not going to Moat Cailin and you don’t even know your wife is an astrobiologist. Oh fuck, I knew it.” He lifted the burger back up to his mouth and took a messy bite, smacking it around. “I knew your marriage was bullshit.” He cackled, shaking his head before swallowing. 

Aemond paled, looking around suddenly, grateful that nobody seemed to be paying attention to anything other than their own meals. His eye narrowed as he took in Aegon’s smug face, his fist aching as he clenched it. “You don’t know anything.” He hissed.

“Aemond.” His brother sat up for a moment, setting his burger down. “I’m a fuck up, but I know people.” His usual candor came back to him again a moment later, taking a loud slurp of his milkshake. Aemond stared off to the side, angrily following the insipid breathing exercises Dr. Greenwood had given him. “Is that what this is about? You feel guilty because you were a dick to her?” 

“I just want her to be happy once she gets back home.” He stated flatly, hoping his idiot brother would finally drop the question. 

“So when are you moving out?” Aegon needled. “Seriously, what makes you think she’d want anything to do with you when she gets back? You don’t even know what she's getting her Master's in.” When Aemond tensed to get up he paused. “Wait. I shouldn’t have said that.” He admitted. “Hey.” Aegon made eye contact with him, an uncharacteristically serious look flashing over his face briefly. “I have a secret too.” Aemond stared back at him, nodding at him to continue. “Me and Floris have been fucking for the past year or so.” 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I have an announcement.” Said announcement fell on deaf ears, with most people turning over. Barba grabbed a metal ladle, clanking it on the wooden table. “Hello!” She banged it repeatedly, and you groaned as you sat up. “Hi! Excuse me!” Rubbing your eyes, you looked around the cabin. “Thank you,” Barba said quietly. “In light of the expedition having ended how it did, I’m going to take the dead guy’s plane and fly south. I’m going to find us help and I’m going to get us out of here.” She nodded as if hyping herself up. 

Fuck. “You’re gonna fly that thing?” Barba nodded at you, and you shook your head. When you talked back in your clearing you didn’t think the expedition would end this way. This shit was still crazy. No. There is no fucking way. “You don’t know if that plane is operable.” 

“I’ve been looking over it for weeks, and the gas tank is full.” She threw her hands up suddenly. “I’m a pilot, I grew up watching my Grandpa fly. I have two-hundred flight hours. I know that I can do this.” Your heart sank, throat clenched tight as you stared at her pleadingly. “You can’t deny that Sabitha doesn’t need serious medical attention.” 

“She’s not the only one.” Sara piped up, her gaze flickering over to her best friend emotionlessly. “Floris, tell them.” 

“I- I really don’t.” You shot a glare at Sara, in disbelief that she really just derailed this so she could force Floris into telling everybody. 

“Tell them.” 

“What is it?” Luke asked, his doe eyes confused. 

“Yeah, what is it?” 

You gave Floris the most supportive look you could muster, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m pregnant.” 

Rhaena immediately stood up, bounding over to Floris. “How far along are you?” 

“Wait, did you get knocked up out here?” Myrielle asked, an eyebrow quirked in Jace’s direction. Baela’s eyes bored holes into the back of Myri’s skull.

“No, I…”

“It doesn’t matter when it happened,” Sara said, a sanctimonious look on her face. “Okay? It just matters that we get them both help.” 

Rhaena tried to grab at Floris’s stomach, and she swatted her hands away. “Rhaena, not right now.” She snapped. 

“Alright, can everybody just.” Ser Criston ran a hand through his hair, sighing. “Barba, you can’t do this.” He commanded. “No. It’s not even close to safe.” 

“There is no ‘safe’ anymore, Ser Cole.” Barba retorted. Her face was hard, different. “It’s going to be winter soon. If I don’t do this, we’re…” She paused for a moment, shaking her head. “We’re all gonna fucking starve.” You fidgeted with your hands, holding back tears that pricked at your eyes. It didn’t feel right. There was something you were missing.

“Alright, well, I’m still the oldest here, so, no.” He flatly responded, gesticulating with his one free hand as he leaned on his crutch. “I’m not gonna let you do it.”

Barba’s face hardened even further. You barely recognized this person, icy eyes narrowed to a point. She took a step forward. And another. “What are you gonna do to stop me, Ser?” Her face twisted into a sneer as she gave him a once-over. Tension filled the cabin as the two of them stared off. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Aemond thought that he should feel more nervous. He sent you on a plane that crashed, it seemed only right that he should be subjected to the same fate. But he didn’t and he wasn't. Shockingly enough he felt freer than he had in months. He told Dr. Greenwood everything. Everything that Aegon told him, everything he himself had done, everything he could think of in the session came directly out of his mouth. He thought that another person knowing his sins would destroy him, but Dr. Greenwood hadn’t judged him. All she did was give him a plan to avoid the urge to do those things again. The only thing that weighed on him were Helaena’s words. ‘What if you’re looking too far south?’ When he told Dr. Greenwood about it, she had simply stated that everybody was bound to have their own theories and that he should trust the experts. Logically he knew she was right, but he still couldn’t shake the lingering worry that Helaena was. What if they were wasting their time down here and you were up near Winterfell? The plane ride was uneventful, and Aemond spent the entire time catching up with some work. He technically had until Tuesday off, but today was only Thursday and he wanted less to catch up on. The ride to his hotel was… interesting given that it was essentially a private hut floating on the water. The boat sailed through choppy gray water, and insects flew at Aemond from every direction. When he finally got to his hut, he was relieved to find that his secretary hadn’t booked a hovel. Setting his things down, he moved to enter the shower. When he got out he set about his usual routine. He opened his laptop to get some more work done before shutting it and turning the TV on before eventually settling on a documentary series about Valyria. 

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------

You set about helping the best as you could with your leg still in the condition it was. Mauling or not, work still needed to be done if Barba was going to fly the plane out of there. You tore up another plant as you watched Sara and Floris talk. There was obvious tension there, but Sara played coy and watched while Floris yanked roots out. Eventually, Floris walked off in a huff, and you set your gaze back downward. You would find her later tonight. 

When a runway was cleared and all vines were taken off you all stood in front of the plane as Barba arrived. You crossed your arms over your chest and tried to suppress the feeling of dread that grabbed hold of you. She had her backpack on, tugging on the straps as she smiled nervously at Jace. Jace in response pulled her in for a hug. They stayed for a minute before she embraced Nettles, and then Sara. “Be safe, okay?” Barba nodded at Sara’s request. She smiled as she pulled Floris in for a hug, and a few more crowded around her in a group hug. All you could do was watch, a sense of foreboding stirring off in the distance. 

When she reached you, you pulled her in as tight as humanly possible. You tried to burn everything about her into your memory, down to the scraggly feeling of her black hair against your face. Squeezing her for a moment more, you pulled your lips over your teeth. “Stay.” You whispered pleadingly. It didn’t feel right, and Barba was the one who had encouraged you to follow your gut. 

“Remember your vision,” Barba murmured in response, “Fire and light, it’s a blessing from the Gods.” When she pulled away an austerity had passed over her. You recoiled, increasingly uneasy as you pulled your arms back over your chest. Barba stepped back and opened the door to the Cessna, climbing in and unzipping her backpack. 

As soon as she sat down, Criston wrenched the door back open. “By the Gods, Barba. Please, don’t do this.” You hadn’t seen this side of Ser Cole before. Desperate. The last ditch effort of a man who knew his days of authority was behind him. 

Barba shot him a nervous smile, swallowing before she spoke. “Thanks for worrying about me, Ser, but…” The sternness flashed back over her face like a mask, her icy gaze flattening. “This is my purpose.” She reached a hand out to pat him on the shoulder before she pulled it back and shut the door with a heavy clang. Barba ran her fingers over the weirwood pendant, her gaze emotionless as she placed her stuffed bear into the copilot's seat. Her gaze passed over to you quickly, before she locked eyes with you and smiled. Discomfort arose in you, as you watched something stir in the very back of her eyes. She held your gaze long enough to make you squirm before the propeller started to spin. Wheels squeaked through the dirt as cheers rang out, you stepped forward and prayed to whatever Gods there were above that your vision was a blessing. The plane was flying as it should, and Barba successfully lifted off. A relieved smile broke out across your face, but you knew she wasn’t out of the woods yet, quite literally. The landing was the hardest part of a flight, and you didn’t entirely trust the brakes on it. The Cessna soared clear over the lake, and you ran forward with eyes pointed to the sky. 

“Oh my Gods, she’s doing it!!!” Laughter sounded, Sara clapping as you all ran to the lakefront. She shifted the plane to face due south, and you let out a sigh of relief. It had been a blessing from the Gods. Tears brimmed your eyes as you silently thanked them for seeing her through this. The plane grew smaller as she flew further away, shrinking in the mountains off into the distance. You began to cheer with the others, turning to grab Baela’s hand in excitement.

“Is that smoke?” Sara asked suddenly. Your gaze snapped skyward, and your heart dropped into your stomach. The fuel line. Angry fumes shot out of the bottom of the plane, and it started to shake. A bright flash of flame balled out as the explosion shook the treetops. A halo of light shone, a second sun in the bright sky. Sara screamed and clapped her hands over her mouth. Your body moved automatically, tears streaming down your face as you sank into the water of the lake. Rhaena tried to pull you up, saying something about your leg. Your body went limp as the sobs wracked your body. That fucking vision. And you had been stupid enough to trust it. A banshee’s wail rang out, but it didn’t register as being yours. You stared off into the distance, where sunrays broke through dustclouds and smoke. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fuck, this chapter was really really hard to write. I had no idea I would become so attached to Barba when I started writing this wtf. R.I.P Barba.

Taglist: @chainsawsangel @neenieweenie

[merge-conflict]

aldskfjalkjflw I was looking through what I think are some of my oldest drafts for the damn things overlap, for that "then and now" thing that people are doing and now i'm dying of laughter because clearly i was holding onto some kind of grudge and i don't even remember who it was against:

“What, you don’t think this would be a good home away from home?” She sank back into her connection with the station host. The tech that was connected was still clumsily poking around the filesystem. They’d ripped out the few unsophisticated miners by deleting the executables, but had not touched the ones taking up about half the running system memory. “Focus, V,” he admonished. She was distracted, checking the video feed from inside the station with a closer eye and in recognition was overwhelmed by a righteous sense of fury. “Sunuvabitch,” she growled. “Motherfucking prettyboy. Mouthbreathing, smoothbrained jackass.” The lead Arasaka tech - the idiot in charge - the one that was trying to clean the station host with the same precision and care with which he wiped his own ass (which is to say: none) was none other than Andrew Rufus. Blessed with a complete lack of skill and shame, his ability to ingratiate himself with the level of management which had no insight or interest into his work had made him a thorn in the technical support division for years. His presence would make her current job easier, but the simple fact that he’d managed to hold onto his job while she’d been tossed to the gutter had kindled an anger she hadn’t realized she’d been holding onto. “You know him,” Takemura observed.

like i have to imagine that this is very thinly veiled critique of someone i used to work with, but i suppose after almost a few years and two job changes i have completely forgotten lmao. probably for the best.

[autoacafiles]

Meet Mini

Full Name: Mercurion Ambus

Date of Kindling: Mon: 05 / Del 29 / Stellar Cycle: 527AB

Favourite Colour: Blue

Hobbies/Likes: Rock Music

Dislikes/Fears: Being asked questions that have no practical answers.

-Mercurion Ambus is part of a family group well known for being able to support additional tech on their bodies as if they were fully integrated. Mercurion Ambus himself has worn several extra armors, including the Delta Legion's signature Braverule armor up until he lost it during the battle of Sabarooth.

-Mercurion took a position in Autobot Academy as a student to "start from zero" and "learn from the future heroes." His vow of silence had been a personal choice, taken until he could recover the armor... which eventually, he did.

-Despite now having retrieved his armour now, Mercurion Ambus does not have any intentions of returning to active duty just yet. He's content to be a passenger on Lodestar, helping out the students should they need support.

[wiz-witch]

I will never get over the Amazon tech support person who asked me to restart my Kindle when I was calling about the screen being broken

[dollycas]

Today I shine the spotlight on Ripped Genes (Tri-Star Investigations) by Lawrence E Rothstein. About Ripped Genes Ripped Genes (Tri-Star Investigations) Mystery/Police Procedural 2nd in Series Setting - Greater Chicago area; Algoma, WI; Webster Groves, MO Publisher ‏ : ‎ Wild Rose Press (January 13, 2025) Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1509259406 ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1509259403 Digital ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0DLBQ4DHX Marko Korb is a fat, egotistical, and brilliant detective, Bosnian Jew, and a veteran of the war with Serbia. His associate, Kelan Su, is a Chinese-American woman who does most of the investigative legwork. She is a former Chicago police officer, licensed attorney, and martial arts expert. Desmond St. Clair, chef, tech expert, and former British SAS commando, joins the duo. Alan Scanlon, a medical scientist, head of the Shabel Institute, fraudulently patented and restricted the research on the gene for the rare genetic disease, feraxia. Golda Merino, the mother of a child with feraxia and head of a group that supported Scanlon’s research, is charged with Scanlon’s murder. The Tri-Star Investigations trio work with Attorney Cheryl Dain defending Golda. The detectives must discover the killer while negotiating Chicago’s underworld and politics. About Lawrence E Rothstein I am a retired lawyer and university professor who has published in constitutional law, privacy law, political theory and labor law. Born and raised in Chicago, I am now residing with my wife and family in beautiful southern Rhode Island.  I have lived and traveled widely in Europe.  As an avid reader of crime fiction, I have always wanted to write detective novels. I consider this my third career. Venetian Bind published in May 2024 was my first Tri-Star Investigations novel. Ripped Genes is my second and I am well into my third, The Tell-Tale Art. As a lover of food and cooking, I include many scrumptious meals and some recipes in my novels and on my website. Webpage   Facebook  GoodReads   Instagram   BlueSky Purchase links: Amazon Kindle  - Amazon Paperback   Barnes & Noble - Author Website TOUR PARTICIPANTS February 27 – Jody's Bookish Haven – SPOTLIGHT February 27 – Books, Ramblings, and Tea – SPOTLIGHT February 28 – MJB Reviewers – SPOTLIGHT March 1 – Escape With Dollycas Into A Good Book – SPOTLIGHT March 2 – Boys' Mom Reads! – REVIEW March 3 – Baroness Book Trove – SPOTLIGHT March 4 – Socrates Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT March 5 – Ascroft, eh? – AUTHOR GUEST POST March 5 – FUONLYKNEW – SPOTLIGHT March 6 – Maureen's Musings – SPOTLIGHT March 7 – Novels Alive – REVIEW March 8 – CelticLady’s Reviews – SPOTLIGHT March 9 – Sapphyria's Book Reviews – SPOTLIGHT March 10 – Wine Cellar Library – AUTHOR INTERVIEW March 11 – Christy's Cozy Corners – AUTHOR GUEST POST March 12 – Frugal Freelancer – CHARACTER GUEST POST a Rafflecopter giveaway Have you signed up to be a Tour Host? Click Here to Find Details and Sign Up Today! Want to Book a Tour? Click Here Your Escape Into A Good Book Travel Agent This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase using my links, I will receive a small commission from the sale at no cost to you. Thank you for supporting Escape With Dollycas. Read the full article

[atplblog]

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[pullupkween]

Welcome to the shit show ✨

Hi names ash call me kiddo or tiny tot ! I write anime smut I’m just starting out so plz be kind .

For all my content and pics u can’t see any where else! I’m on fet - life & plz no minors that’s gross .

‼️⚠️⛔️☣️☢️WARNING I’m in a happy committed monogamous relationship 12.23.24 👑 u touch mines I’m pollygonnawhoopyoass ur gf look like my mom ‼️⚠️⛔️☣️☢️

About me :

1: I aspire to be a vet tech I’m in collage working on getting back in and I volunteer at the zoo I won’t say witch one and humane society 🐱🐈🦮🐕‍🦺🐕🐩🐰🐭🐇🦔🐁🐀🦊🐿️🦝🦡🐻🐻‍❄️🐼🐨🐷🐖🐗🫎🐄🐮🐃🐂🦬🫏🦬🐴🐎🙈💖

2: I’m a ageplayer so if u don’t like it don’t report it im working with a licensed therapist who supports me so this is help this is therapy u just don’t like it .

3: I love animals food retro video games adventures and smoking trees I’m a medical patient under prop 215 tumblr don’t delete me ✨

Im a simple girl I love goth fashion emo core adventures thrifting and going on dates with my man 💖 in my free time I age regress play video games collect comics I like to read books on my kindle yes i am that girl. And most of all I love animals and food !

DNI IF HERE TO SPREAD HATE ANTI LGBTQIA PEOPLE BIGOTS HERE TO TALK POLITICS WILL GET U BLOCKED ! Do not send threats or hate full messages I will report u . Anti Ageplay minors fuck all the way off to the top of fuck off mountain !