#Millie is a literary angel

[bradshawsweetheart]

And what if I cry right now!!

𝐋𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐰𝐛𝐨𝐲

A piercing cry slices through the dark--your eyelids are too heavy to wrench open, especially when you’re cocooned under the heavy duvet like you are right now. 

From behind you, molded against your body like he always is when you sleep, Jake’s muscles tense. Rigidly, he sighs into the warm curve of your throat and blinks through the dark. And, yes, there on the baby monitor is your six-month-old baby boy in his silly-looking sleep sack. He’s about to wail, Jake can tell. His little bottom lip’s wobbling and his eyes are shut tight and even though Jake can’t see his hands, he knows his fists are clenched.

“Your son is so dramatic,” you whisper, muffled from the pillow. 

“I thought we decided on theatrical,” Jake whispers back, his voice thin and worn. He peppers a few sloppy kisses to your throat and starts to sit up. “I’ve got ‘im.” 

“You’re my hero,” you mutter, yawning. 

He stretches and then swings his legs over the bed. 

“Kinda my thing,” he says as he stands.

“I love you so much,” you reply. Any other time, with more sleep, you would’ve scoffed at him and given him your best eye roll. But you’re too tired to feel anything but grateful for your husband right now. “Like, so much.” 

Jake laughs lightly, tiredly. 

“I know,” he says cockily, teasingly. 

You don’t respond, already drifting off to sleep again. You’re so tired that you can feel it in your bones--a deep, deep ache that is only exacerbated by frequent diaper changes and excessive feedings and tumultuous tummy times and gas and formula and binkies and board books and burp cloths and baths. 

And even though the baby is definitely about to start screaming, Jake can’t help but pause for a moment in repose as he stands in the doorway in his slouchy sweatpants. You’re sprawled across the bed already--you always say it’s to keep his spot warm but he knows that it’s because you’d sleep in star-formation if you had the choice--and breathing deeply. Your hair is a mess on the pillow and your cheek is smushed. Anyone with eyes can see that you’re exhausted from parenting a very particular, theatrical Seresin baby boy.  

He wants to cross the room again and tuck your hair back from your forehead. He wants to kiss your aching temples and your heavy eyelids. He wants to pull you in his arms, gather all those limbs, and hold you close. 

But he doesn’t want to wake you up.

So, he just smiles gently. 

“I love you so much,” he responds finally. “So, so, so stupid much.” 

And then he’s padding down the hallway, yawning again, but with a smile tugging on his lips. He can hear his son’s whimpers from outside the door and honestly, he’s shocked the screaming hasn’t started yet. 

The sound of artificial rain floods Jake’s ears when he comes into the room, the little sound machine in the corner lulling your son to sleep each day and night. He doesn’t bother turning it off or turning the light on--Jake’s fairly certain he’s adapted to the dark by now anyway. 

There in his crib, the one Jake had to finally ask Javy to help build, is a wriggling and fussy baby boy. His gummy mouth on display as he thrashes his head back and forth and his cheeks ruddy from upset. 

Jake’s heart swells as he strokes his cheek. Sometimes he still can't believe that this sweet little creature--the one with your eyes and his nose and your cheeks and his chin--is all his and all yours. You made him, every bit of him, and he is the most precious thing to ever grace this earth. Jake's sure of it.

“Hey there, cowboy,” he says softly. His son doesn’t let up yet, kicking his legs as Jake unzips the sleep sack. “S’alright, darlin’, daddy’s here.” 

All the tired floods his body and slips out under the door when Jake’s not looking. He holds his son against his bare chest, his body still so small and so soft. But then Jake is kissing the feathery hair on his head and bouncing lightly in his spot, heels digging into the rug. 

“What’s got you so upset?” Jake whispers, lips pressed against his son’s forehead. “Bad dream, baby?” 

Your son doesn’t respond. He just burrows into his fathers neck, his breaths stuttering and his mouth open and drooling. Jake pats his back a few times, kissing his cheek. He inhales his sweet, sweet scent and sighs.  

He loves the way your son smells--he just smells warm. He isn’t sure if it’s the body wash or the lotion or the sheets that does it. But he somehow just always smells good, like home, like you. 

“Let’s take a seat, huh? A little rock and roll never hurt nobody, huh?” He asks quietly as he sits in the rocking chair. 

If you were awake to hear his pun, you would’ve never let him hear the end of it. Jake makes a mental note to tell it to you over breakfast. 

Your son’s whimpers are fading fast, especially when Jake starts to softly rock him, tucking his chin on his head and patting his back softly. 

“Mama thinks you’re theatrical,” he tells your son, eyes fluttering shut. “And you definitely are. Mama also thinks you get it from me--and you absolutely do. Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, cowboy. You gonna be a little actor? Or a little lawyer?” 

Your son babbles quietly, fingers tangled in Jake’s hair as a form of self-soothing. Jake kisses his face a few more times. 

“Or you could just stay here with me and mama forever,” he whispers. 

And he knows that having a son has made him soft--like crying at that one Honda commercial kind of soft--because his eyes grow wet when he thinks of your son getting any bigger than he is now. He never wants a day to come where he can’t pull his son to his chest, sit down in the rocking chair, and make the tears stop. 

"I love you," he whispers. "Me and mama love you so, so much. More love than can fit in this whole world."

When you pad down the hallway, eyes full of sand and sleep from your very few hours slumbering, you don’t even have to touch the walls anymore to orient yourself. You know where you’re going even in the pitch-black hallway. 

Jake’s sleeping when you come into the nursery, the sound machine quiet in the corner of the room. Your son is still in his arms, sleeping against his chest. And God do they look alike right now in the light of the moon--both of them sleeping with their heads resting on each other’s, their mouths open, their fists clenched. 

You came in here to bring Jake back to the bedroom. But watching him hold your son, your sweet boy, in that rocking chair that he built in this room he put together--you decide that a few more hours of comfortable sleep isn’t worth it. Tempurpedic mattress be damned. 

So, you just carefully cross the floor. The rug is soft beneath your bare feet when you lean forward and stroke your son’s head, careful to have a soft touch that will not wake him. And then you’re kissing Jake’s warm cheeks, stroking his blonde locks, too. 

Jake stirs slightly, eyes twitching. Your heart swells. 

You sink onto the floor before the rocking chair, leaning against Jake’s legs. The rain is lulling you already and you yawn as you rest your cheek on his thighs. The rug is comfortable--you’re glad you went for this one. Your son is happy and sleeping and your husband is holding him and everything is right in the world. 

And just as you’re about to fall asleep again, Jake’s thighs cushioning you, Jake’s hand falls into your hair. He strokes a few times in welcome--hi, baby. 

 “Missed you,” you mutter. 

“Missed you,” he returns. His hand glides through your hair. “All’s right in the world now, huh?” 

“Yeah,” you whisper. “It is.”

happy Father's Day to those who celebrate <3

[healerqueen]

50 Favorite Children’s Books

Inspired by Studio Ghibli director Hayao Miyazaki’s list of his earliest literary influences. This list is limited to books I read in childhood or youth. 50 Childhood Favorites

Caddie Woodlawn and sequel by Carol Ryrie Brink

Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink

The Saturdays, The Four-Story Mistake, and sequels by Elizabeth Enright

Enemy Brothers by Constance Savery

The Reb and the Redcoats by Constance Savery

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham

Derwood, Inc. by Jeri Massi

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

Little House series by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Heidi by Joanna Spyri

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher

The Wheel on the School by Meindert De Jong

All-of-a-Kind Family by Sydney Taylor

Family Grandstand by Carol Ryrie Brink

Baby Island by Carol Ryrie Brink

Cheaper By the Dozen and sequel by Frank B. Gilbreth, Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey

Rebecca’s War by Ann Finlayson

The Lost Baron by Allen French

Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry

The Winged Watchman by Hilda Van Stockum

A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleischman

Captive Treasure by Milly Howard

Toliver’s Secret by Esther Wood Brady

Silver for General Washington by Enid LaMonte Meadowcroft

Emil’s Pranks by Astrid Lindgren

Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O’Brien

Hitty: Her First Hundred Years by Rachel Field

Twenty-One Balloons by William Pene du Bois

Freddy the Detective and Freddy the Pig series by Walter R. Brooks

The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden

Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Robert Lawson

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White

The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Wombles by Elisabeth Beresford

Homer Price by Robert McCloskey

The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne

Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi by Cindy Neuschwander and Wayne Geehan

Tuesdays at the Castle by Jessica Day George

The Bridge and Crown and Jewel by Jeri Massi

The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis

The Gammage Cup by Carol Kendall

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Young Adult:

The Eagle of the Ninth and other books by Rosemary Sutcliff

The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien

Ranger’s Apprentice by John Flanagan

Dragon Slippers by Jessica Day George

Buffalo Brenda by Jill Pinkwater

The Arrival by Shaun Tan

Small Steps: The Year I Got Polio by Peg Kehret (a nonfiction memoir)

Picture Books:

Make Way for Ducklings and other books by Robert McCloskey

Go, Dog, Go by P.D. Eastman

Sam and the Firefly by P.D. Eastman

Robert the Rose Horse by Joan Heilbroner

Ice-Cream Larry by Daniel Pinkwater

Mr. Putter and Tabby by Cynthia Rylant

Discovered as an Adult: Seesaw Girl by Linda Sue Park

The Ordinary Princess by M.M. Kaye

The Armourer’s House by Rosemary Sutcliff

Urchin of the Riding Stars and the Mistmantle Chronicles by M.I. McAllister

Princess Academy by Shannon Hale

Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

Escape to West Berlin by Maurine F. Dahlberg

Listening for Lions by Gloria Whelan

The Angel on the Square by Gloria Whelan

Courage in Her Hands by Iris Noble

Knight’s Fee by Rosemary Sutcliff

Victory at Valmy (Thunder of Valmy) by Geoffrey Trease

Word to Caesar (Message to Hadrian) by Geoffrey Trease

The Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

The Reluctant Godfather by Allison Tebo

Seventh City by Emily Hayse

Escape to Vindor by Emily Golus

Valiant by Sarah McGuire

The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart

[i-did-not-mean-to]

Clothes make the man

I got this adorable ask from @estethell (thank you so much, love!)

Let me give you this one as the last entry for AU-gust.

AU Prompt: Meet cute

Dialogue Prompt: Not my first choice

Words: 1195

Characters: Ori x OC

Warnings: Maybe...the end could be read as slightly suggestive...

“The mirror,” Milly muttered under her breath, “something, something about sadness and beauty.”

In a bout of extreme frustration, she threw the cheap promotional pen that decided to skip every third letter anyway across the room and groaned.

Writing had always been a passion of hers, but lately, it had not been going very well, and the words just wouldn’t come to her anymore, leading her to cycle through impatient annoyance and paralysing depression in five-minute intervals.

Just as the young woman was about to go into the backroom of the little gentlemen's clothing shop in which she earned her money, the ridiculous little brass bell over the door chimed, announcing an unexpected customer.

“Hello?”

Conjuring up her best service smile, Milly walked around the counter to greet the man who was yet obscured by a rack of freshly pressed suit shirts.

“Good day to you, Sir,” she chirped, flinching as she heard how hollow and strained her voice sounded.

“Oh, hi there,” a warm, mellow voice replied immediately.

Stepping around a box of tags, she felt her steps falter, and thus she almost stumbled over it in her paralysing astonishment.

Radiating like an angel of old in a puddle of soft afternoon light, stood a world-famous author she’d always admired and tried to emulate in her clumsy forays into the literary world.

“My name is Ori.” the man said. “And I am looking for an appropriate outfit for a conference. I’ve been told repeatedly that I can look rather frumpy, and I really want to make a good impression. Do you think you can help me?”

Milly frowned involuntarily; selling men’s clothes was far from her dream job, and she was not entirely confident that her taste was good enough to be called upon in a matter so momentous.

“I…” she stammered, resisting the urge to lift her trembling hand to her feverish brow. “I can certainly try. I love your books, Sir.”

As soon as the words were out, she could have kicked herself—no doubt, this blessed writer got to suffer through the inane ramblings and clumsy compliments of foolish girls such as her more often than he could stomach.

“Oh? Thank you so much,” he replied warmly. “Really though, Ori will do. Just Ori. I am entirely at your mercy, Miss—”

“Milly,” she supplied breathlessly. “You can call me Milly, because…that is my name. So, what did you have in mind then?”

Turning to the formal suits to keep herself from staring indiscreetly at her unlooked-for hero—she had never realised that he truly was that handsome when glancing at the cover of his books—and making a fool of herself again.

A soft groan resounded. “I do not have a complexion that is easily flattered,” Ori commented sheepishly.

“Nonsense, you are gorgeous,” Milly protested instantly. There, she thought, not ten seconds after reminding herself not to say anything imprudent or silly, she had gone and blurted out a highly unprofessional compliment that bordered on harassment.

“Again, I have to thank you,” Ori laughed, blushing charmingly.

“Where are my manners? Do you want something to drink?” Milly cried, rushing to the door, and turning the key—a customer of that calibre deserved privacy, and she could not help but shiver at the thought of being utterly alone with him in this locked room.

When “Just-Ori” nodded, Milly once again struggled to keep her feet from tangling—bathed in the diffuse light of the overhead lamps, he looked like an angel wearing a copper halo.

She had never seen eyes that deep and soulful, or beheld such a pretty, rosy mouth as the one stretching into a shy smile under her mesmerised eyes.

In a moment, she thought nervously, he would have to take off his clothes, and thus it would not do to stare at him so shamelessly lest he feel uncomfortable.

“So, what about this?” Ori mumbled and pointed at a drab, brown suit that was usually marketed to elderly gentlemen who wanted to attend a semi-formal dance in their retirement home or go to the general assembly of their local fishing club.

“Not my first choice,” Milly chuckled. Blocking the view on that guileless rack, she redirected his attention to her favourite collection.

“Oh, I am not sure something like that would suit me,” Ori exclaimed—the breathless thrum in his voice betrayed a mix of apprehension and excitement, and Milly swallowed frantically to keep her silly tongue under control. “Are you sure about this?”

Nodding wordlessly, she eyed him in an almost purely professional manner now, easily gauging his size.

Conjuring up every ounce of experience and taste she had acquired in the last months, she picked out a slate-grey suit and a beautiful lavender shirt with pearlescent buttons.

“Why don’t we give this a try?” she asked cheerily. “I’ll wait here, and if there are any alterations to be made, we can have them done by the end of the week.”

Humming pensively, Ori disappeared behind the thick curtain.

The tantalising swish of clothes being peeled off a body, and the mocking tapping of the empty hanger banging against the cabin wall kept Milly company as she hovered by the mirrors, measuring tape and sewing pins at the ready. Spellbound by the fantastical, incredible blessing of his potential patronage, she had forgotten about the weak coffee she was supposed to make for him, and pointedly ignored the stock-taking she needed to do before end-of-day.

“You are a genius!” Beaming like an autumn sun, Ori swept aside the curtain and stepped into the bright light of the changing room hallway.

“Sweet Valar,” Milly hissed through her gritted teeth—gone was the slightly sheepish, cerebral-looking young man who had entered the shop; in his stead stood a confident, winning bestselling author who was fiercely aware of his own talent and glory.

“I admit I’ve never thought I could ever look that…sophisticated,” he admitted, giving her a conspiratorial wink while twisting this way and that in front of the mirrors.

“Stunning,” Milly breathed. “And that is not just a sales pitch, I swear. Oh, these colours make your eyes shine.”

“The pants are a bit too long,” he then commented as her intense look of admiration and hunger awakened quite a different kind of pleasure than mere vanity in the pit of his stomach.

“I’ll pin them,” she replied without taking her eyes off his luminous face, trying vainly to count the golden freckles adorning his strong nose. “We’ll—”

“Have it ready, you said,” he smiled teasingly. “I am looking forward to coming back. You’ll be there, right?”

As a matter of fact, Milly had considered taking a few vacation days, but she was not about to let such an opportunity slip through her fingers.

“As long as you’ll want me,” she answered in a treacherous gasp before sinking to her knees, her lips quivering around the pins she was biting down on.

When she looked up to make him understand that she’d be working with sharp needles around his ankles presently, the intensity of his inquisitive gaze made her shiver violently.

“You’ve locked the door, haven’t you?”

@fellowshipofthefics: Here's the last for this month!!!

Thank you endlessly, @estethell for always being such a terrific friend! Lots of love!

Also, if you enjoy this kind of event-writing, make sure you check out my FOTFICS Masterlist...and the upcoming FOTFICtember

[paralleljulieverse]

From the Archives: What Makes a Lady Fair? 

This charming shot of a 22-year-old Julie Andrews was taken in New York in early 1958 when the young star was finishing her long two-year run in the original Broadway production of My Fair Lady and was about to return to London to helm the show’s premiere West End bow. The photo forms part of a two-page fashion spread in the March issue of Mademoiselle magazine with a companion shot on the facing page of Sally Ann Howes, the star who was stepping in to Julie’s shoes as Eliza Dolittle on Broadway. The two women are shown modelling various items of fashion apparel for the coming spring season: in Julie’s case, a beige blouse by Macshore Classics “tucked and bowed in the best ladylike tradition” and a “Sheffield watch with interchangeable suede strap” (“What Makes,” 127).

The image intrigues as a further instance of the extraordinary cultural impact of Julie’s My Fair Lady stardom and its mobilisation as a kind of pop ideal of 50s female fashionability. Subtitled “the magazine for smart young women”, Mademoiselle was a trailblazing force in mid-century publishing that targeted the then burgeoning new market of increasingly educated and independent middle-class women aged between 18-35 (Aron 2017). In a sharp departure from earlier women’s periodicals, Mademoiselle addressed its female readers as what editor-in-chief, Betsy Talbot Blackwell liked to call “whole persons,” young college-age women who were as likely to be interested in politics, culture, and art, as in traditional ‘feminine’ concerns of fashion and homemaking (Taylor, 70). Thus, alongside glossy couture spreads and cosmetics advertorials, the magazine ran articles about topical social issues, travel, career advice, and also placed a premium on showcasing fiction from important young writers of the day such as Sylvia Plath, James Baldwin, William Faulkner, and Dylan Thomas (Keller 2001). 

It doesn’t take much to see how the mythos of transformed femininity at the heart of My Fair Lady would have resonated with Mademoiselle’s spirit of 50s-era liberal feminism. Indeed, the magazine was renowned for staging ‘Pygmalionesque’ makeovers of its own. One of Blackwell’s earliest innovations as editor of the magazine was to take:

“plain young women to New York, where she put them in stylish clothes, restyled their hair and makeup and then put their pictures in her magazine. The idea that an ordinary girl could be turned into a fashion model soon made Mademoiselle must reading for young women across the land” (“Betsy,” II-2).

This strategy was developed further with the magazine’s highly publicised  annual internship programmes where a select group of twenty young women would be brought to New York each summer to work as trainee editors, stylists and graphic designers culminating in an annual issue that they would produce. A number of very notable American women got their professional start through the Mademoiselle intern programme including Sylvia Plath, Joan Didion, Joyce Carol Oates, Francine du Plessix Gray, Barbara Kruger, and Ali McGraw (Keller 2001; Wolitzer 2013).*

A certain visual thematic of (proto-)feminist empowerment might also be discerned in the photograph of Julie. Dressed in the advertiser’s smart business-like apparel with her head tilted up and her gaze focussed heavenward, the young star appears resolutely poised and assured. Framed in full centred mid-shot, Julie’s left arm is positioned upright -- a gesture designed to showcase the watch, no doubt, but that also evokes images of strong-armed power and authority -- as she holds aloft a posy of violets, an indexical reference to her triumph as the original Eliza, a role that she had firmly in hand. The accompanying copy repeats the undertones of power and success, describing Julie as a “veteran at the business of being a fair lady” and mentioning the impending transfer of her hit show to London (“What Makes,” 127).

This liberal feminist ethos extends equally to the other side of the camera. Mademoiselle made a point of hiring women professionals wherever possible, including photographers in an era when fashion photography was still a heavily male-dominated preserve. This particular photoshoot was taken by Vivian Crozier, a house photographer who did a lot of work for Mademoiselle in the 50s and early-60s, as well as freelance assignments for other periodicals including Seventeen, American Girl, and Parade Picture (Smith 1955; Mayers 1977). There isn’t a lot of readily available information about Crozier. In 1969 she was listed in the Sixth Edition of the Who's Who of American Women (”Area Women,” 9). After that she seems to have retired from professional magazine photography and set up a small commercial studio in central New Jersey where she did portraits, weddings and publicity work but also continued the Mademoiselle tradition of opportunity-building for young women with special workshops “for girls interested in fashion modelling” (Mayers, 8). In the 1970s, Crozier continued periodically to submit her work to local galleries and exhibitions where, pleasingly, she cited photographing Julie Andrews as one of the highlights of her career (Herman, 14). 

Notes:

* In an interesting Julie-related footnote, the young women who secured these annual summer internships with Mademoiselle would all be housed together at New York’s “women-only” Barbizon Hotel. The popular nickname for these young hopefuls who came to the big city with dreams of success? The “Millies” (Aron, 2017).

Sources:

“Area Women Named to Who’s Who.” The Daily Register, 17 November 1969: 9. 

Aron, Nina Renata. “A Women’s Magazine that Treated its Readers like they had Brains, Hearts, and Style? Mademoiselle was it.” Timeline.com. 23 August 2017. 

“Betsy Blackwell, Former Magazine Editor, Dies.” Los Angeles Times. 18 February 1985: II-2.

Herman, Hazel. “Houser, Grozier Featured in Local Exhibit.” Messenger-Press. 10 March 1977: 14. 

Keller, Julia. “To a Generation, Mademoiselle was Stuff of Literary Dreams.” Chicago Tribune, 5 October 2001: S5 1-3.

Mayers, Bob. “As Seen by the Press: Vivian Crozier Photographer on Main Street in Hightstown Has Your Future in Focus.” Hightstown Gazette. 21 April 1977: 8.

Smith, Winnie. “Homespun.” Pensacola News Journal. 9 January 1955: 23, 33.

Taylor, Angela. “At Mademoiselle, Changing of the Guard.” The New York Times, 4 April 1971: 70.

“What Makes a Lady Fair?” Mademoiselle, March 1958: 126-27.

Wolitzer, Meg. “My Mademoiselle Summer.” The New York Times, 19 July 2013: ST-1.

Copyright © Brett Farmer 2020

[butchratchettruther]

Ah, it’s not really a character analysis, it’s just something I noticed in the show and think about a lot in the shower. The literary critique I was referencing was Kate Millet’s theory on the four stereotypes through which women are constructed in literature, which is the dangerous seductress, the nagging shrew, the morally perfect angel, and the cute but helpless girl. I feel like these archetypes are very pertinent to how women are constructed in helluva boss, most obviously in Verosika and Stella, but I feel like you could also argue that Millie and Loona and Octavia could fit in these archetypes too.

“Domestic abuse survivors see how you talk about Stolas” bitch I am a domestic abuse survivor, that’s why I hate Stolas. Stolas is a shockingly accurate depiction of my abuser (constantly treating his partner as less than, insisting he cares about his partner even though he constantly dehumanises his partner even though his partner very clearly communicates that he doesn’t want that, playing the victim and guilting his partner whenever his partner is like hey I don’t like you doing this, etc etc).

[jacnaylor]

romance book recs!!

romance is my feel good genre, and it’s also usually somewhat easier to read during stressful times, so here’s a list of some books that are either romance or have a romance element i feel like mentioning.

(EDIT: I STAYED UP TILL 2 AM DOING THIS HELP. this is why some of the comments. don’t make any fucking sense.)

romance books and authors:

CONTEMPORARY:

1. The Bromance bookclub series by Lyssa Kay Adams (A group of men form a bookclub dedicated to romance books in order to understand women, improve their relationships and become better men. It’s funny, cute, and all about dismantling toxic masculinity one romance book at a time)

2. Mariana Zapata books (The queen of slowburn romance. The only book I’ve read by her is ‘Under Locke’, but ‘From Lukov with love’ and ‘Kulti’ have rave reviews. There is so much build up and SO much sexual tension with a great pay off)

3. Milly Johnson books (A uk author whose books are primarily set in the north, these are total feel good books. Not so much graphic and more romantic, but her characters are great and her plot lines really hook you in.)

4. The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren (Super cute, quick enemies-to-lovers story about a bridesmaid who has to go on a honeymoon with the best man when the bride and groom get food poisoning. Obviously this means the holy of holies: fake relationship!)

5. Well met by Jen De Luca (Oh my gosh! Super fun, the characters are just wonderful especially our heroine. A hate-to-love romance set at a renaissance fair! All about overcoming the limits you set on yourself and rethinking your first impressions.)

6. Katherine Center books (My personal favourites are ‘How to walk away’ about a woman who falls for her PT after a near fatal plane crash. And ‘Happiness for beginners’ about a woman taking part in a wilderness trail with her brothers annoying best friend. She writes such great plots and you really feel all the emotions!)

7. Mhairi Mcfarlane books (my personal favourites are ‘Here’s looking at you’ about a woman who comes face to face with her high school bully years later - only he doesn’t recognize her. And he’s not awful? Don’t worry. I know how that synopsis sounds. He’s not excused his actions, but you also understand how he’s grown and changed. It definitely gets you in the feels though. As does ‘You had me at hello’ Which is about a couple from university meeting again years later. God this woman can write angst and yearning!!)

8. A part of me by Anouska Knight (On the same day she and her husband have been accepted into the adoption process, their marriage implodes. This has such a cute romance which follows hate-to friends- to love and it’s v funny)

9. Southern Eclectic series by Molly harper (Just as it sounds. Southern small town romance with a great, quirky cast of characters)

10. Maggie’s man by Lisa Gardner (writing as Alicia Scott) (An escaped convict kidnaps a woman from the courthouse to act as his hostage whilst he tries to prove his innocence. Surprisingly funny and warm. Maggie as a heroine is an absolute joy. They’re sort of chaotic together and it’s a wild ride.)

11. The Mister by E.L James (LISTEN OK - SIT BACK DOWN - It’s not winning awards but it’s actually decent! I was skeptical, but I will admit I was won over. I mean parts are cheesy but it’s so addictive. Basically a rich man falls for his cleaning lady - but it’s also about the yearning. It’s also quite action packed as there’s danger, drama and a chase across europe to get the girl.)

12. RECENT Colleen Hoover (Now, you may enjoy older CH books. Personally I find them very problematic. Now I’ve really enjoyed her recent books though. Especially ‘Without Merit’ and ‘It ends with us’ and ‘Regretting you’. High angst, high drama, dark topics for all of her books. But you can tell she’s matured with her writing. She isn’t for everyone but they’re addictive, fast paced reads.

13. The Austenland duology by Shannon Hale (You might have seen the Austenland movie - The cutest, cheesiest, sweetest, campiest movie ever. Well there’s a book! It’s about women who go on a holiday and live their own Jane Austen story with actors. The first book leans towards Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield park. The second book is more Northanger abbey and Emma.

14. Brigid Kemmerer contemporaries (She is an auto-buy author for me, especially her contemporaries. She writes the best teenage characters, the best teenage boys I’ve ever read about. Her characters are real, she writes about kids trying their best, struggling, and being good, and kind, and the world not being kind to them. Usually the books have a pov from both the female and male love interest. I would rec any of them tbh. ‘Letters to the lost’ comes before it’s companion novel ‘More than we can tell’. I loved ‘Call it what you want’ with has modern Robin Hood elements!!!! seriously she is my favourite YA contemporary author.

15. Sophie Kinsella books (If you haven’t picked up her stand alone novels then what are you doing???? she is the queen!!!! Personal favourites are ‘Can you keep a secret’ and ‘I’ve got your number)

16. A quiet kind of thunder by Sara Barnard (I love her ok. Her books are short and sweet but she packs a punch. TBH these aren’t primarily romance, they’re more just about teenage girls but this one has a good romance element so I’m putting it on here. It’s about Steffi, a selective mute who sometimes communicates with basic sign language who is assigned to look after the new boy at school Rhys, who is deaf.)

17. Meet me at the museum by Anne Youngson (GORGEOUS! moving, tender. A lonely housewifes strikes up a correspondence with a widowed museum curator in Denmark. Oh gosh. I just love this one. It’s about friendship, love, grief, second chances, the choices we make. Seriously love this one and it’s not that long.)

FANTASY:

1. Sorcery of thorns by Margaret Rogerson (Elisabeth has grown up in the great library, protecting grimoires with powers and fearing sorcerers. When a dangerous grimoire is released, she’s forced to team up with an enigmatic sorcerer and his demonic servant in order to save the world.)

2. Sky in the deep duology by Adrienne Young (A viking inspired story about a warrior who is captured by the tribe she is at war with. Such good tension and it’s also got a lot of action. Battle couple romance! Mutual respect! Hate to love!)

3. The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley (I’ve reread this book once but will end up reading it again. It’s a time travel romance about a woman staying in cornwall dealing with the death of her sister who is transported back and forth to the 17th century. It’s a favourite. The romance is wonderful but the stakes are really high too. I also love ‘Belleweather’ by the same author)

4. An ember in the ashes series by Sabaa Tahir (Oh god, the romance. THE ROMANCE! it’s so much. The angst, the pining, the longing. The first book follows Laia, part of a slave class in a roman inspired world. She begins spying in the top military academy and meets Elias, a reluctant soldier. This is a proper fantasy series with only the first three books out, but it’s so great.)

5. Alias Hook by Lisa Jensen (Let me just copy the blurb ok: “Meet Captain James Benjamin Hook, a witty, educated Restoration-era privateer cursed to play villain to a pack of malicious little boys in a pointless war that never ends. But everything changes when Stella Parrish, a forbidden grown woman, dreams her way to the Neverland in defiance of Pan's rules.” I MEAN COME ON. a gorgeous adult fairytale with love and redemption at the center.

6. The Mediator series by Meg Cabot (Obviously Meg Cabot is the most iconic and we stan. But this series is my absolute favourite by her. About Suze Simon, a kickass, no nonsense mediator - Someone who helps ghosts move on to the other side. Sometimes by force. She has to move house and ends up sharing her room with a 100 year old hot ghost named Jesse. The tension. The angst. THE BANTER!!!!)

7. House of Earth and Blood by Sara J Maas (a half fae half mortal girl tries to solve a murder with the help of a fallen angel. It’s a LONG book, but for me personally it flew by. It’s a big new fantasy world but the romance has a great build. Overcoming grief! Being normal together! Being in danger together! THE UST! the characters are so good. I ahven’t been this impressed by a new series for a while)

8. Cursebreakers series by Brigid Kemmerer (yep, she gets another mention. This one is a beauty and the best retelling about a man forced to relive the same season over and over, becoming a literal beat, until a girl from our world can break the curse. The second book, following secondary characters, is my fave so far. But both feature kickass ladies and those small romantic moments BK is so good at)

9. A court of thorns and roses series by Sara J Maas (a fae inspired beauty and the beast retelling. The only time you support a ship switch. Also the secondary ships are getting their own books and oh my god. I’m so excited.)

HISTORICAL/CLASSICS/MILLS AND BOON

1. Jane Austen (The original rom com queen, obviously. Pride and prejudice and Emma are faves. Also I have a major soft spot for the alwayc chaotic and underrated Northanger Abbey)

2. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell (Actually might be my favourite classic ever. Often described at an industrial p&p. Margaret, from the south, comes face to face with the harsh reality of the world when she moves up north and comes face to face with a brooding millowner. There’s obviously a lot more nuance than that but. THE PINING!!!!!! THE MISCOMMUNICATION! THE DRAMA!)

3. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer (You might have seen the film. Please also read the book. Told entirely in letters. The sharp witted author Juliet Ashton falls in love with Guernsey and it’s characters whilst researching what happened there during the war. Funny, moving and romantic.)

4. The Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn (A butterfly hunter foils her own kidnap and is paired together with a reclusive natural historian. They solve mysteries together. They can’t admit they wanna sleep together. The tension.......unbearable. See also the Julia Grey mysteries by the same author)

5. The warrior knight and the widow by Ella Matthews (So last year I discovered Mills and Boon and I have no shame about it whatsoever. This is a medieval beauty and the beast retelling about a woman being escorted to her fathers estate by an enigmatic and scarred knight. She’s hoping to convince her father to let her steward her own lands, and of course trying not to fall for her escort.)

6. The bareknuckle bastards series by Sarah Maclean (A badass, brooding trio of siblings who rule the underbelly of Covent Garden fall for smart, beautiful women. Opposites attract, Good girl/bad boy, strong women, banter. Super fun historical romance)

7. Redeeming the reclusive earl by Virginia Heath (I just read this and it was seriously cute!!!! And book where the hero blushes even once is a good book in my opinion. Basically aspiring antiquarian named Effie barrels into the life of a new earl - who really just wants to be left alone to be grumpy and sad and disfigured. ALONE. But Effie wants to dig on his land. And she won’t take no for an answer. She also talks A LOT.

8. A family for the widowed governess by Ann Lethbridge (Technically this is part of a series but you don’t need to read them in order and this is the best one. A widow who is being blackmailed accepts a governess post. She can’t tell her employer about the blackmail especially when she starts falling for him.)

9. The bedlam stacks by Natasha Pulley (I read watchmaker and didn’t like it but you might like it. This one also FEAUTRES A M/M ROMANCE. I know this list was super straight im sorry. Anyway this is about a botanist falling in love with a priest in the jungle.

10. The wilderness series by Sara Donati (Think outlander without the time travel and also not set in scotland. Basically Last of the Mohicans fanfiction about Hawkeye’s grown up son. An english woman moves to america when her father promises she can be a school teacher there. Little does she know he actually has plans to marry her off. Things get more complicated when she falls for Nathaniel Bonner, a white man raised native american and who’s daughter and extended family is Native American. Like outlander there’s romance, adventure, history. But unlike the outlander books the love interest is a decent guy (i say as if i don’t love the tv show)

STUFF THAT REALLY ISN’T ROMANCE AT ALL. BUT I SHIP A SHIP.

1. The Lacey Flint series by Sharon Bolton (Lacey Flint is a police officer who becomes involved in the hunt to catch a Jack the ripper copycat. There actually is a strong romantic element with the other lead police officer.)

2. The last hours duology by Minette Walters. A novel about the black death and a closed estate lead by a woman who’s trying to protect her people. There’s also a kind of murder mystery. But she also has a close relationship to one of the surfs that I got super invested in.

3. The Strike series by J.k Rowling (I know we don’t stan anymore but. This series about  PI and his assistant slowly growing closer? Becoming best friends and partners? Not acknowledging any feelings for each other?

[hannah-inked]

Writeblr Intro and all that jazz

Yooo. I’m Hannah and I’m a 15 year old writer. My current interest is Literary Fiction or any story with a strong atmosphere and interesting character dynamics. But I’ll read and write absolutely anything if the inspiration hits, there’s no criteria.

Current WIPs:

Love, the Gospel - Not 100% sure I’ll continue this one, but I plan on it being a collection of short stories based off of my interpretation of angels and their relationships with humanity.

Excerpt:

Like clay, they were made of dirt and dust, moulded by the restless hands of simple men and their many desires of the divine. Yet what they did not know was that these creatures didn’t belong to foreign realms or unadorned human nature; they belonged to reckless freedom and its sinful grace.

Millie Planet - A contemporary love-hate relationship between Millie and Amara, two teen girls who sacrifice their moral identity for the other’s attention.

Excerpts:

1. Maybe she was a bird in her past life. Maybe she was an alien, fallen from the sky. Surely, she wasn’t human. Surely, no human laughed like a crow, stomped like an elephant, and saw reality like a ship unsailed, waiting to be known, to be rocked above the sea.

2. She stood, grabbed the remaining flowers that still held its healthy shape and stepped close to me. Her hair shone like water falls of gold. It was almost frightening, like a trick of the light. Perhaps if I touched it, the buds of my fingers would melt away.

3. “I’m sorry, Amara.

“I wanted us to be friends, that’s all.

“I’d hug you if you let me.

“I’d braid your hair into the most fabulous princess.

“You look like one, when you let yourself.

“Sometimes I imagine you as ruler of the winter forests.

“And I as your Mother Nature.”

Anyways, feel free to message me or share a few words. I’m just here for a good time.

[gadgetgirl71]

Amazon First Reads September 2020

It’s that time yet again! For me and other Amazon Prime Members to take our pick of this months Amazon First Reads. So if your an Amazon Prime member don’t forget to get your free First Reads Book.

This months choices are:

Thriller

Every Missing Thing by Martyn Ford, Pages: 367, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: One family. Two missing children. A lifetime of secrets.

Ten-year-old Ethan Clarke’s disappearance gripped the nation. Just as his parents are starting to piece together a life ‘after Ethan’, their world is ripped apart once more when their daughter, Robin, disappears in almost identical circumstances. They’ve lost two children within a decade … and now doubts about their innocence are setting in.

Detective Sam Maguire’s obsession with the first case cost him his own family, but he has unfinished business with the Clarkes. He is convinced that discovering what happened to Ethan holds the key to finding Robin. But what if the Clarkes know more than they’re letting on?

With the world watching eagerly, the clock is ticking for Sam as he embarks on an investigation that forces him to confront his own demons. To uncover the truth, he must follow a trail of devastating deception—but the truth always comes at a cost …

Book Club Fiction

Millicent Glenn’s Last Wish by Tori Whitaker, Pages: 340, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: Three generations of women—and the love, loss, sacrifice, and secrets that can bind them forever or tear them apart.

Millicent Glenn is self-sufficient and contentedly alone in the Cincinnati suburbs. As she nears her ninety-first birthday, her daughter Jane, with whom she’s weathered a shaky relationship, suddenly moves back home. Then Millie’s granddaughter shares the thrilling surprise that she’s pregnant. But for Millie, the news stirs heart-breaking memories of a past she’s kept hidden for too long. Maybe it’s time she shared something, too. Millie’s last wish? For Jane to forgive her.

Sixty years ago Millie was living a dream. She had a husband she adored, a job of her own, a precious baby girl, and another child on the way. They were the perfect family. All it took was one irreversible moment to shatter everything, reshaping Millie’s life and the lives of generations to come.

As Millie’s old wounds are exposed, so are the secrets she’s kept for so long. Finally revealing them to her daughter might be the greatest risk a mother could take in the name of love.

Police Procedural

The Unspoken by Ian K Smith, Pages: 295, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: In this new series from #1 New York Times bestselling author Ian K. Smith, an ex-cop turned private investigator seeks justice on the vibrant, dangerous streets of Chicago.

Former Chicago detective Ashe Cayne is desperate for redemption. After refusing to participate in a police department cover-up involving the death of a young black man, Cayne is pushed out of the force. But he won’t sit quietly on the sidelines: he’s compelled to fight for justice as a private investigator…even if it means putting himself in jeopardy.

When a young woman, Tinsley Gerrigan, goes missing, her wealthy parents from the North Shore hire Cayne to find her. As Cayne looks into her life and past, he uncovers secrets Tinsley’s been hiding from her family. Cayne fears he may never find Tinsley alive.

His worries spike when Tinsley’s boyfriend is found dead—another black man murdered on the tough Chicago streets. Cayne must navigate his complicated relationships within the Chicago PD, leveraging his contacts and police skills to find the missing young woman, see justice done, and earn his redemption.

Contemporary Romance

Roommaids by Sariah Wilson, Pages: 301, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: From bestselling author Sariah Wilson comes a charming romance about living your life one dream at a time.

Madison Huntington is determined to live her dreams. That means getting out from under her family’s wealth and influence by saying no to the family business, her allowance, and her home. But on a teacher’s salary, the real world comes as a rude awakening—especially when she wakes up every morning on a colleague’s couch. To get a place of her own (without cockroaches, mould, or crime scene tape), Madison accepts a position as a roommaid. In exchange for free room and board, all she needs to do is keep her busy roommate’s penthouse clean and his dog company. So what if she’s never washed a dish in her life. She can figure this out, right?

Madison is pretty confident she can fake it well enough that Tyler Roth will never know the difference. The finance whiz is rich and privileged and navigates the same social circles as her parents—but to him she’s just a teacher in need of an apartment. He’s everything Madison has run from, but his kind hearted nature, stomach-fluttering smile, and unexpected insecurities only make her want to get closer. And Tyler is warming to the move.

Rewarding job. Perfect guy. Great future. With everything so right, what could go wrong? Madison is about to find out.

Literary Fiction

A Single Swallow by Zhang Ling, Pages: 299, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: The eagerly awaited English translation of award-winning author Zhang Ling’s epic and intimate novel about the devastation of war, forgiveness, redemption, and the enduring power of love.

On the day of the historic 1945 Jewel Voice Broadcast—in which Emperor Hirohito announced Japan’s surrender to the Allied forces, bringing an end to World War II—three men, flush with jubilation, made a pact. After their deaths, each year on the anniversary of the broadcast, their souls would return to the Chinese village of their younger days. It’s where they had fought—and survived—a war that shook the world and changed their own lives in unimaginable ways. Now, seventy years later, the pledge is being fulfilled by American missionary Pastor Billy, brash gunner’s mate Ian Ferguson, and local soldier Liu Zhaohu.

All that’s missing is Ah Yan—also known as Swallow—the girl each man loved, each in his own profound way.

As they unravel their personal stories of the war, and of the woman who touched them so deeply during that unforgiving time, the story of Ah Yan’s life begins to take shape, woven into view by their memories. A woman who had suffered unspeakable atrocities, and yet found the grace and dignity to survive, she’d been the one to bring them together. And it is her spark of humanity, still burning brightly, that gives these ghosts of the past the courage to look back on everything they endured and remember the woman they lost.

Supernatural Thriller

The Haunting of H G Wells by Robert Masello, Pages: 393, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: A plot against England that even the genius of H. G. Wells could not have imagined.

It’s 1914. The Great War grips the world—and from the Western Front a strange story emerges…a story of St. George and a brigade of angels descending from heaven to fight beside the beleaguered British troops. But can there be any truth to it?

H. G. Wells, the most celebrated writer of his day—author of The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man—is dispatched to find out. There, he finds an eerie wasteland inhabited by the living, the dead, and those forever stranded somewhere in between…a no-man’s-land whose unhappy souls trail him home to London, where a deadly plot, one that could turn the tide of war, is rapidly unfolding.

In league with his young love, the reporter and suffragette Rebecca West, Wells must do battle with diabolical forces—secret agents and depraved occultists—to save his sanity, his country, and ultimately the world.

Nonfiction

Welcome to The United States of Anxiety by Jen Lancaster, Pages: 288, Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: New York Times bestselling author Jen Lancaster is here to help you chill the hell out.

When did USA become shorthand for the United States of Anxiety? From the moment Americans wake up, we’re bombarded with all-new terrifying news about crime, the environment, politics, and stroke-inducing foods we’ve been enjoying for years. We’re judged by social media’s faceless masses, pressured into maintaining a Pinterest-perfect home, and expected to base our self-worth on retweets, faves, likes, and followers. Our collective FOMO, and the disparity between the ideal and reality, is leading us to spend more and feel worse. No wonder we’re getting twitchy. Save for an Independence Day–style alien invasion, how do we begin to escape from the stressors that make up our days?

Jen Lancaster is here to take a hard look at our elevating anxieties, and with self-deprecating wit and level-headed wisdom, she charts a path out of the quagmire that keeps us frightened of the future and ashamed of our imperfectly perfect human lives. Take a deep breath, and her advice, and you just might get through a holiday dinner without wanting to disown your uncle.

Children’s Picture Book

The Monster on the Block by Sue Ganz-Schmitt, Illustrator: Luke Flowers, Pages: 32 Publication Date: 1 October 2020

Synopsis: Monster is excited to see what kind of creature will move into Vampire’s old house on the block. He even starts practicing his welcome growl for the new neighbour. But when the moving truck pulls up, it’s not a greedy goblin, an ogre, or a dastardly dragon that steps out. Instead, it’s something even more terrifying than Monster could have imagined! Monster quickly rallies the other neighbours to unite against the new guy on the block. But what if the new neighbour isn’t exactly as bad as Monster thinks? Join Monster as he confronts his fears in this charming and light-hearted look at what it means to accept others who are different from us.

*** Which book will you choose? I have no idea which book I’ll choose as there a couple of books that interest me this month. ***

#AmazonFirstReads, #Amazonkindle, #AmazonPrimeMembers, #BookClubFiction, #Books, #ChildrensPictureBook, #ContemporaryFiction, #Kindle, #KindleBooks, #LiteraryFiction, #NonFiction, #PoliceProcedural, #SupernatuarlThriller, #Thriller

[josephkitchen0]

List: The Best Chicken Names — A to Z

Dreaming up the perfect baby chick names is one of the most exciting parts of starting or adding to a flock.

If you need inspiration, our readers and fans are here to help. Take a look at these good chicken name suggestions!

If you’ve got your own list of good chicken names, share your fun ideas in the comments below and we’ll add them here.

  GOOD CHICKEN NAMES (in alphabetical order):

• Abby • Abednego • Adele • Aflac • Albert  • Amelia Egghart • Angel • Angelica • Anna • Annie • Antonina • April • Astrid • Aurora • Autumn • Ava Chanel • Avaleach • Bandit • Batgirl • Beaky • Beakster • Bean • Beatrice • Beethoven “Lil Miss B” • Bella • Belle • Belmont• Benipe • Benny & Joon • Bernice • Betsy • Birdie • Billie Jean • Biscuit • Black Beauty • Blanche • Black Betty • Blue • Bluebelle • Bob, Not Bob & Robert • Bongo • Boomer • Bread & Butter • Breakfast • Brownie • Buck • Buffalo Wings • Buffy • Burger • Buttercup • Butterfinger • Buffy • Bunny • Cammi • Caribou • Carl • Caruso • Cecelia • Charlie • Charlotte • Cheek Cheek • Cheeky • Che r• Chickeel O’Neil • Chicken Patty • Chipmunk Extra Toes • Chippy • Chips & Cheese • Cholula • Cinnamon • Cinnamon & Sugar • Clairetta • Clarabelle • Clarisse • Clover • Cockadoodledoo • Coco • Coconut • Colton • Cookie • Cookie & Cream • Cookies & Cream • Copper • Cornbread Jones • Cotton • Cowie • Cracker • Crooked Toes • Crossy Road • Crow • Cupcake • Cutie Pie • Daisy • Daliah • Daisy Duck • Delta • Dixie • Dolly • Dorothy • Dory • Dottie Kay • Drumstick • Duck Duck • Duckie Momo • Duckiegirl • Duke • Dusty & Bunny • Earth, Wind & Fire • Easter • Edith • Edna & Elle • Egger • Eggy Sue • Elphaba • Ella • Elsa • Elvis • Emily • Ena • Ester • Esther • Ethel • Etta-leghorn • Eugene • Fancy Boy • Fancy Feet • Farrah • Featherfluff, Featherball, & Featherywhite • Fiesta • Flash • Fleeker • Fleur • Flo • Floyd Frizzles • Fluff • Fluffy • Fluffy Butt • Flutters • Former Penguin, The • Franchesca • Francine • Frank • Franny • Freckles • Gabrielle • Ginger • Girlie • Gladys & The Peeps • Glenda • Goldiboks • Goldie • Gossie • Gracie • Grace• Grey • Gumdrop • Handsome • Happy Feet • Hartley-Rose • Hay Hay • Heddy • Henny & Penny • Henny Penny • Henrietta • Henry • Honey & Butter • Hoot • Hope • Huey, Duey, & Louie • Inky • Iris • Jacqueline • Jasper • Jewel • Jo • Joan • Jolene • Juan • Judy B Jones • Junebug • Junior • Kate • Katie Scarlet • Katy • Ken • Kiev • Kira • Lady • Ladybug • Larry, Moe & Curly • Lash • Laverne • Layla • Lay Verne • Lemon • Leonie • Lil’ Peeper • Lime • Little Maggie • Littles • Livean • Liza • Logan • Lola • Lorettie • Louise • Lucille • Lucille Ball • Lucy • Lulu • LuluBocko Brahma • Luna & Star • Madea • Madison • Mae • Maggie May • Maisy & Daisy • Maple • Margarita • Marge • Marigold • Marsala • Mary Ann • Mary Poopins • Matilda • May • Meg • Melissa • Memphis • Merecy • Meshach • Michelle • Midnight • Millicent • Millie Justice • Minnie • Miss Prissy • Mohawk • Mohawk Extra Toes • Molly • Moo Shu • Mother Clucker • Mrs. Hughes • Ms. Speck • Muffin • Muffs • Mumble • Meena, Myna & Moe • Nani • Napoleon • Nebucadnezzar • Netty • Nightstorm • Nilly • Nugget • Nutmeg • Nellie Anne • Oakley • Olive • Olivia • Omelet • Opal • Ophelia • Owlette • Pancho & Cisco • Panda • Parmesan • Paula Dean • Peach • Peanuts • Pearl • Pebbles • Pecky • Peckster • Pee Wee • Peep • Peeper • Penelope • Penny • Penguin, The • Petite • Phoebe • Phoenix • Piccata • Picket • Pinecone • Pinky Pie • Pipsqueak • Polka & Dot • Popcorn • Posey • Potpie • Princess Leia • Puff • Pup • Qawi • Reba • Red Wing • Reese & Puff • Remington • Rene • Rhonda • Roberta • Robin • Rose • Rosey • Rosie • RosieLilly • Roxanne • Ruby • Ruffie • Ruggles • Ruth Layer-Hensberg • Salt & Pepper • Samantha • Sand Piper • Sassy • Scarlet • Seven • Shadow • Shadrach • Shirlay • Silky Boy • Skitters • Skittles • Smalls • Snicker & Doodle • Snooki • Snow White • Snowy • Sophie • Spangler • Speedy 1 & 2 • Spitzy • Spice • Spike • Squirt • Star • Stella • Strider • Sugar • Summer • Sunny • Sunshine • Susie Q (Curly) • Sweet Pea • Sweetie • Tamar • Tetrazzini • Three Amigos • Tikka • Tillie • Tinsy • Tips • Tom & Jerry • Toto • Tulip • Thomas Train Engines: Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie • Vanilla • Velvet • Vera • Veronica • Vigorous • Vinny • Violet • Wickles • Wilhelmina • Wilma & Betty • Winny • Winston • Xana the Warrior • Yeti • Yeti & Yoda • Zigster • Zippy

Fun Comments About Good Chicken Names: 

• My hens will be named after famous chicken dishes: Marsala, Piccata (or Peckata ), Tikka, and Potpie. If I get a rooster, he would be named Kiev. — Evie Kuran Dieck

• We had three chicks hatch a week and a half before Easter, so we call them the Three Amigos. They made for fun pictures of my granddaughter & niece for Easter also. — Jamie N Ryan Debons

The Three Amigos — Jaime N Ryan Debons

  Novalynn, Jadelyn, and The Three Amigos — Jamie and Ryan Debons

• I have about 35 but started naming the most friendly. Right now we have Dempsey, she was injured at birth by another brood hen. Then Dottie, our blue splash Marans. This one pictured is Opal, our little Aloha hen. We also have: Spike, Bongo, Wickles, Velvet, Daisy, Pearl, Peanuts, Violet, Skitters, Ruffie, Puff, Mohawk, Nilly, Fancy Feet, and Littles. — Sheila Bishop

Opal — Sheila Bishop

• Three of the first four I got were named after the Schuyler sisters in Hamilton … Angelica, Eliza, and Pecky (Pecky is a play on the actual name of the 3rd sister, Peggy) and the 4th was named Dawn by my daughter, the next two were named after the Patil twins in Harry Potter … Padma and Parvati, but Parvati was soon found out to be a cockerel, so his name changed to Pavarotti; the next two were named Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo, but sadly we lost Daphne to a hawk. I’m getting 4 more this Spring to complete my backyard flock and I’m hoping to stick to literary names! — Jessica Lancaster

• I’ve got 13! Amelia, Beatrice, Lucy, Ethel, Mrs. Hughes, Ms. Speck, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose. The other four I’m letting friends and family name and they haven’t decided yet. I’m about to name them after some favorite book characters if they don’t get with it! — Lori Worcester

• Out of 12 we have named a few. We have a Rhode Island Red named Lucy, after Lucile Ball of I Love Lucy, another Rhode Island Red named Ginger who is best buds with a Plymouth Barred Rock named Mary Ann, both named after the lovely characters of Gilligan’s Island. Then there is Nugget, he “or” she is an Ameracauna. — Eduardo Cabello

• Two Light Brahmas named Salt & Pepper. One Black Cochin and one White Cochin named Glenda (the white one) and Elphaba (black one). My Easter Eggers names will be Dorothy and Toto. — Tina Rogers-Higgins

• Chicken Patty, Henny Penny, Mary Poopins, Edith, Edna and Elle. — Corice Boyer

• Princess Leia. She doesn’t lay many eggs but hangs around the nest boxes a lot keeping order so her nickname is “The Janitor.” — Steve Tomashek

Princess Leia — Steve Tomashek

• My dinosaur obsessed five year old named our new three Blue, Charlie, and Delta. He calls them his pack of raptors. — Sarah Goodwin

• This year our new chicks are Shadow, Nightstorm, Angel, Summer, Ginger, Rosie, Bandit, Jewel, Pearl, Ruby, and Franchesca. Last year’s survivors are Anna (Elsa was killed by a neighbor’s dog), Thorn, Blackbeard, and two Barred Rocks with no/super fluid names. Our original flock are Prudence, Goldilocks, Snow White, Perry, Lulu, Henrietta, Napoleon. And roosters are Drumstick and Mr. Wattles. Can you tell I have kids? Ha Ha — Malissa Cline

• Roberta (after my husband), Henrietta, Ruby, April, Amelia, Ophelia, Clairetta, Red Wing, and Matilda who turned into Matthew once we learned he is a rooster! — Jamie Frazier-Olson

• Carl, Samantha, Juan, and Aflac! Juan is in the front. (The only one we can tell apart because of the light beak) Also, Juan might be Juanita! Started to hear quack sounds today. — Ashley Marie Rettig

Carl, Samantha, Juan, and Aflac — Ashley Marie Rettig

• I have three roosters named Bob, Not Bob, and Robert. Only two of the girls have names, Red (my Rhode Island Red) and Black Betty (Barred Rock) all the others are just Hey “Ladies.” — Heather Herendeen

• We have Benny & Joon, Wilma and Betty, Stella, Lola, Miss Prissy, Pj’s, Coffee, Teeth (the last 3 were named by our 5 year old), Yeller and Whitey (both named by our 3 year old). — Desi Becht

• Only named one of the 8 so far. Turns out she is blind. I named her Tillie. — Kelley Jane Kloub

Tillie — Kelley Jane Kloub

• Phoebe, Molly, Dixie, Penelope, Grace, Charlotte, Amelia, Coco, Olivia, Kate, Sophie. — Kathy Hansen Mulready

• My four kids ages 11, 9, 7, and 4 named ours: Vigorous, Peckster, Pep, Pipsqueak, Vinny, Cross Road,  Picket,  Freckles,  Cockadoodledoo,  Tips,  Beakster,  Robin,  Beaky,  Scarlet,  Ruby,  Cowie,  Cheeky, Pebbles, Drumstick, Clover, Mae, Penny, Tinsy, Zippy, Smalls, Merecy, Zigster, And our ducks: Duckie, Momo, Daisy Duck. — Amber Marie Wert

• Ken and Seven (# of toes!) Pictures here. Not seen are Gumdrop, Posey, Muffs, and Belle. — Meg McCreary Youngblood

Ken and Seven —Meg McCreary Youngblood

• Our ducks are Duck Duck and Ginger. Our chicks are Pup, Pinky Pie, Sweetie, Brownie, Sugar, and Spice. Named by my five and six year olds. — Kelly Hughes

• Buff Orpingtons are Bread and Butter. Light Brahmas are Vera and Francine. With my other hens the flock is known as Gladys and the Peeps. — Lucille Gardner

• Fluff, Emily (my 4 year old’s idea), Dorothy, Blanche, Popcorn and Moo Shu. — Emily Powell

• Cookie and Cream, Henny and Penny, Minnie, Daisy, and Clarebelle. — Sharon Krouse Miller

• Snicker and Doodle, Salt and Pepper, Dusty and Bunny, Luna and Star, Honey and Butter, Cinnamon and Sugar, and Sunny … we got a little carried away. — Sherri Grant

• Our Buff Orpington is Sunshine; Blue Ameracauna is Bluebelle; others are Sweetpea & Ladybug. — Gaylene Taylor Davidson

• Napoleon is my rooster, than Xena the warrior, she steals worms from the others, Katy, Gabrielle, Omelet, Annie, Oakley, Laverne and Petite. — Diane Zapka Christensen

• Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Ginger. — Irma Hladek

Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Ginger.

• Judy B Jones and Cupcake, named by my daughter. — Britni Davidson

• We have: Joan, Iris, Ester, Lucille, Ruby, Roxanne, Avaleach, Melissa, and Rosey. — Brenna Nicole

Joan, Iris, Ester, Lucille, Ruby, Roxanne, Avaleach, Melissa, and Rosey. — Brenna Nicole

• My current girls are Ethyl, Veronica, and Buffy. Previously: Biscuit (Leghorn), Cholula, Fiesta, Margarita, (Aracaunas), and Penny (Rhode Island Red)

• My kids named the buff Elvis and the leghorns are Huey, Duey, and Louie.

• My Red Star is Ruby. I have two Buff Orpingtons named Birdie and Betsy. My Four white Plywood Rocks are Ashley, Abby, Madison and Ruth Layer-Hensberg. — Rebecca Joy

• We got two adding to the group. Our first rooster we named Henry and Etta-leghorns (like Henrietta). — Dana Alexander-Brown

• We have speedy 1&2, we also have happy feet (chick was born with a deformed leg) and several others we have not named yet. — Jennifer Thompson

• We just got a Katie Scarlet, BlueBelle, Millie Justice, Effie Mae, and a Liberty Belle. — Shannon Briles Kana

• Dunkin (The Yorkie), Nugget (Top), Gossie (Left) and Bean (Right)! — Nicole Contos

Dunkin, Nugget, Gossie (Left) and Bean — Nicole Contos

• I have Panda, Cheek Cheek (my two year old named her), Nani, Goldiboks, Reese and Puff, and Dory. — Jessica Ogle

• I have four chicks named Jo, Meg, Rhonda, and Clarisse. Our granddaughter loves them! — Julie Sorenson

Jo, Meg, Rhonda, and Clarisse — Julie Sorenson

• Michelle, Junior and Belmont — Suzanne Morrell Crutcher

Michelle, Junior and Belmont — Suzanne Morrell Crutcher

• Miss Prissy, Peepers, Lucy, Sunshine, and Scarlet. We love them. — Glenda Szoka

• I quit naming after the first year. When I have nearly 100 birds… there is no keeping that straight. — Smantha Martin

• Cracker, Muffin, Cookies and Cream, Memphis, Phoenix, Ruffles, Hartley-Rose, Snowy, Black Beauty, GC, and BB. — Alyson Jayne

• Dottie Kay, Nellie Anne, and Ava Chanel (Ava cuz I love my truck – avalanche and both are black). — Robyn Smith-Demeuse

• Named my girls after my great, great aunts… Henrietta (Rhetta), Sophia (Hia), Matilda (Tilda) and Wilhelmina (Mina). — Heidi G. Malin

• Franny, Netty, Junebug, Bella, Winny, Snooki, Chippy and Jacqueline. The whole family got in on the naming process. — Bonnie Rolfes Duffy

Franny, Netty, Junebug, Bella, Winny, Snooki, Chippy and Jacqueline. — Bonnie Rolfes Duffy

• Amiga, Crazy Dot, lil’Peeper, Squirt, and the Barney’s. Who knows if they will stick. — Jody Eubanks

• My son named ours the bantam is flash the RIR is Supergirl and our Plymouth is Batgirl. — Kimberly Flenory

Batgirl and Supergirl — Kimberly Flenory

• Adele…. because she never stopped chirpin. — Aimee McGlinchey

• Amelia, my Cuckoo Maran. — Kathy Hansen Mulready

Amelia — Kathy Hansen-Mulready

• Anna and Elsa…guess who has a  granddaughter! — Rivkah B’racha

Anna and Elsa — Rivkah B’racha

• We have 10 girls, most have boy names though. Our girls are Nebucadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Strider, Hay Hay, Benipe, Hope, Charlotte, and Marge. — Tricia Sengul

• My boys named our Silkie/Sultan X’s (from back to front) Yeti, Cotton, and Lash. Lash had buff colored fluff over eyes at birth. — Jennifer Fox-Malechikos

Silkie/Sultan X’s (from back to front), Yeti, Cotton, and Lash — Jennifer Fox-Malechikos

• Lacey the Golden Lace Wyndotte; Goldie the Buff Orpington; Pearl the Silver Grey Dorking; Easter the Cream Legbar; Chickaletta the Silver Laced Cochrin. — Sarah Haly

• I named each batch of new arrivals out of new friends I had made! But roosters were always Handsome. — Cecile Jordan

• Buttercup and Fluffy Butt, named by a 3 year old. — Linda Terrell Nunes

• Copper, Edith, Bernice, Aurora (after Shirley McLaine’s character in Terms of Endearment), Ella, Pepper, Henry, Olive, and Antonina — Anna Atwell

• My girls are Minnie, Daisy, Clarabelle, Owlette, Dorothy, Rose & Blanche. — Miranda Craig

• Crooked Toes, Chipmunk Extra Toes, Mohawk Extra Toes, The Penguin, and The Former Penguin — Jes Marie Stark

• Rosie and Ginger, RIRs; Summer and Autumn, Wellsummers; Stormy and Puff (Cochins) — Lauren Linares

Rosie, Ginger, Summer, Autumn, Stormy, and Puff — Lauren Linares

• Mary Poopins — Spruce Ledge Farms

• Caruso (may or may not be a pullet), Rene, Leonie and Kira. Have one more opera singer to go! — Judy Biller

• Sam and Ella. (Y’know, “samanella”) — Christie Fletcher Munsell

• Jasper and Cammi — Jim Desjardins

• Sweet Pea — Dana Adkins

Sweet Pea — Dana Adkins

• Belle — Miranda Holland

Belle — Miranda Holland

• We named her Hoot. — Cheryl Foster

• Louise — Jodi Vaske

• Susie Q (Curly) — Eliza Hoffman

Susie Q (Curly) — Eliza Hoffman

• Penelope, Daliah, Marigold and Beatrice — Lindsay Mc

• Chickel O’Neill, Bocko Brahma, Omelet — Sarah Spiegel

• Fleeker, Boomer, Flo, Chips and Cheese — Ang Joh

• Caden’s duckling is named Frank! — Sue McNaughton

• Hens: [Australorp] Madea; [Buff Orph] Girlie; [3 Red Sex Links] Lucille Ball; [Random brown dotted hen] Pinecone; [White something] Snow White; [Bantam Chick ] Cher; [female mallard duck] Duckiegirl; [indian runner duckling pair] Pancho & Cisco. — Carie Jarrell

• Albert

Albert — Nichole Langmeyer

• Our last lot were named Burger, Tikka & Nugget. — Melinda Maclay-Ross

• Inky, Heddy, Cotton & Blue. — Robyn Grace Jennings

• Polka and Dot, Maisy and Daisy, Pearl, Buck, Lorettie, Dolly — Billie Jo Maedke

• My Easter Egger is named Bunny. — Linda Marie

• Mother Clucker, Ruby, Mumble, and Flutters. — Amanda Bland

• My kids named ours Featherfluff, Featherball, and Featherywhite. — Sarah Ritchie

• Olive, Ginger, Sunny, Lulu, Cookie, Gracie, Pearl — Ana Crowley

• Fluffy — Karen Atteberry

• Layla, Jolene, Cecelia, Maggie May, Billie Jean and Roxanne — Jen Next

• Tom, Jerry, Egger, Midnight, Yedi and Yoda — DeeDee Bricker

• My four chicks are, Ena, Meena, Myna and Moe. — Loretta Aranha

• Cecila, Floyd Frizzles — Deborah Young

• Esther, Tamar, and May — Kimberly Gunlock Walter

• Stella, Crow, LuLu, and Clover — Mandy Hopper

• Farrah, Sassy, Spike, and Pee Wee. — Kathy Barnett

• Larry, Moe, and Curly — Donna Grayson

Larry, Moe, and Curly — Donna Grayson

• Maple — Jennifer Orme

Maple — Jennifer Orme

• The Chicken Nuggets: Amelia Egghart, Eggy Sue, and Henrietta. — Emily Samms

Amelia Egghart, Eggy Sue, and Henrietta — Emily Samms

• Chica Poo Poo’s: Dolly, Reba, Lucy, Bella, Violet, Winston, Remington, Caribou, Ruby — Teri Foster

Dolly, Reba, Lucy, Bella,Violet, Winston , Remington, Caribou, and Ruby. — Teri Foster

• First play date outside. Penelope. — Erin Carlson

Penelope — Erin Carlson

• Iris — Angelina Turnbull

Iris — Angelina Turnbull

• Our boys love Thomas the train so our girls are all Thomas the Train engines: Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie. — Deanna Poehlman

Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie — Deanna Poehlman

• My 3 girls named Buttercup, Tulip, & Violet.

Buttercup, Tulip, & Violet

• Pekin babies named Little Maggie, and Panda. — Jane Germain

Little Maggie and Panda — Jane Germain

• Easter Eggers for Easter named Sunshine and Lady. Sunshine is the lighter yellow and Lady is the one with her eye liner on, her roots done and her Beak is always yapping! — Stephanie Klein

Sunshine and Lady — Stephanie Klein

• The Newcomers: Eugene a Silkie, Logan a Silkie, Livean a Belgian Mille Fleur, Fleur a B. Mille Fleur, Millicent a B. Mille Fleur, and Spangler a Silver Sebright. — Esther Grummet

• Arg Matey! Bethoven, “Lil Miss B.” — Jamie Schreck

• Owl or chick??!! Meet Hoot. We thought she looked so much like an owl we named her Hoot. — Rachel Lindsey

Hoot — Rachel Lindsey

• Skittles — Brittany Sullivan

Skittles — Brittany Sullivan

Do you have good chicken names? Share them in the comments below!

List: The Best Chicken Names — A to Z was originally posted by All About Chickens

[a---z]

TRANSMISSIONS

www.twitch.tv/transmissions2020

Our collective isolation highlights that all forms of community are now more important than ever, and it is vital that we find mechanisms to support each other through this precarious time. In this extraordinary landscape that we have found ourselves in, it is clear that many artists, writers and thinkers are having exhibitions, opportunities and subsequent fees cancelled for the foreseeable future. In response to this, we are establishing a new project called TRANSMISSIONS. This is an online platform which will commission artists to share their work within a classic DIY TV show format.

Episode 1

| 23 April | 9PM GMT

REPLAY | 24 April | 9AM GMT

w/ Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg / Bruce Bickford / CAConrad / Salvador Dali / Brice Dellsperger / Tessa Hughes-Freeland / Juliet Jacques / Sam Keogh / Jiji Kim / Quinn Latimer / Mark Leckey / Kalup Linzy / Sade Mica / Laure Prouvost / Christopher Soto / Patrick Staff / The Cockettes / TV Party / Unarius Academy of Science / Su Hui- Yu –  Curated by Anne Duffau, Hana Noorali & Tai Shani Episode 2 | 30 April | 9PM GMT REPLAY | 1 May | 9AM GMT w/ Sophie Jung Episode 3 | 7 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY | 8 May | 9AM GMT w/ Tarek Lakhrissi – Your world is already ending Episode 4 | 14 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY |  15 May | 9AM GMT w/ Johanna Hedva – Tom Cruise Studies with expert guests Vivian Ia and Matthew Miller Episode 5 | 21 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY |  22 May | 9AM GMT w/ STRAWBERRY JAM:  A LITERARY HOUR with Mykki Blanco Episode 6 | 28 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY |  29 May | 9AM GMT w/ CAConrad with invited poets

Season 1 of TRANSMISSIONS will run as six weekly episodes screening every Thursday at 9 pm GMT and repeated on Fridays at 9 am GMT on Twitch. The 1st episode will air on the 23rd of April 2020 which will be curated by Anne Duffau, Tai Shani and Hana Noorali. The subsequent five episodes will be hosted by invited artists.  Each artist included in TRANSMISSIONS will be paid a fee in return for their contribution. With a sense of community, all the money used to pay artists in season 1 has been kindly donated by established UK art institutions and commercially stable artists.

Season 1 is funded and supported by, Artquest+DACS, BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Studio Oscar Murillo, Somerset House Studios and Wysing Arts Centre.

  Episode 1 |  23 April | 9PM GMT

REPLAY | 24 April | 9AM GMT

w/ Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg / Bruce Bickford / CAConrad / Salvador Dali / Brice Dellsperger / Tessa Hughes-Freeland / Juliet Jacques / Sam Keogh / Jiji Kim / Quinn Latimer / Mark Leckey / Kalup Linzy / Sade Mica / Laure Prouvost / Christopher Soto / Patrick Staff / The Cockettes / TV Party / Unarius Academy of Science / Su Hui- Yu –  Curated by Anne Duffau, Hana Noorali & Tai Shani

Episode 2 | 30 April | 9PM GMT REPLAY | 1 May | 9AM GMT w/ Sophie Jung

Sophie Jung, The Bigger Sleep, 2019 courtesy the artist and Kunstmuseum Basel. Photo: Julian Salinas

Working across text, sculpture and performance, Sophie Jung’s work navigates the politics of re/er/re/presentation and challenges the reductive desire to conclude. Her texts unfocus on blurring scripted hegemonies and tap, hop, stammer and stumble over and across languaged powers. She employs humour, shame, the absurd, raw anger, rhythm and rhyme, slapstick, hardship, friendship and a constant stream of slippages. Her sculptural work consists of bodies made up of both found and haphazardly produced attributes and defines itself against the dogma of an Original Idea or a Universal Significance. Instead it stands as a network of abiding incompletion, an ever-changing choir of urgencies and pleasures, traumas and manifestations that communally relay between dominant and minor themes. Sophie Jung is invested in triggering a de-categorising of concepts and a deconceptualisation of categories and understands her approach to “stuff” – both legible utensil and metaphoric apparition – as an uncertain queering slash querying of historical materialism. Sophie Jung (lives and works in Basel and London) received a BFA from the Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, and a MFA from Goldsmiths, London. Recent projects and exhibitions include Sincerity Condition at Casino Luxembourg, Woman Standing at The National Gallery, Prague, Taxpayer’s Money for Frieze LIVE; Dramatis Personaea at JOAN, Los Angeles; The Bigger Sleep at Kunstmuseum Basel | Gegenwart and Block Universe, London; Come Fresh Hell or Fresh High Water at Blain Southern, London; Producing My Credentials at Kunstraum London and Paramount VS Tantamount at Kunsthalle Basel. She is currently working on solo exhibitions at E.A. Shared Space, Istituto Svizzero in Milan and Galerie Joseph Tang in Paris and works as a guest mentor at Institut Kunst, Basel.

Episode 3

| 7 May | 9PM GMT

REPLAY | 8 May | 9AM GMT

w/ Tarek Lakhrissi

– Your world is already ending

Tarek Lakhrissi is a visual artist and a poet based in Paris. His works have been exhibited in Auto Italia South East (London, UK), Hayward Gallery (London, UK), Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney, AU), Palais de Tokyo (Paris, France), Grand Palais - FIAC (Paris, FR), Lafayette Anticipations (Paris, FR), CRAC Alsace (Altkirch, FR), Artexte (Montreal, CA), Šiuolaikinio meno centras/CAC (Vilnius, LT), Espace Arlaud (Lausanne, CH), among others. He is a featured artist in the 22nd Biennale of Sydney NIRIN (2020).

Episode 4 | 14 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY |  15 May | 9AM GMT w/ Johanna Hedva – Tom Cruise Studies with expert guests Vivian Ia and Matthew Miller

Tom Cruise Studies is a meander of curiosity. There is no driving inquiry other than the question, "What's, like, up with Tom Cruise?" Hedva considers the various roles Cruise has played onscreen and in public, from religious zealot, to cocky upstart, to a man oppressed by his own masculinity, to couch-jumping love-nut, to an exiled actor who clawed his way back into Hollywood via a maniacal obsession with doing death-certain stunts. Joined by two expert guests, Hedva and Vivian Ia will consider the astrology charts of Cruise and L. Ron Hubbard, while Matthew Miller will share his theory that the Mission Impossible franchise is Cruise's vehicle for making public apologies to his ex-wife, Katie Holmes.

Johanna Hedva is a Korean-American writer, artist, musician, and astrologer, who was raised in Los Angeles by a family of witches, and now lives in LA and Berlin. Hedva is the author of the novel, On Hell. Their collection of poems, performances, and essays, Minerva the Miscarriage of the Brain, will be published in September 2020. Their essay, "Sick Woman Theory," published in Mask in 2016, has been translated into six languages, and their writing has appeared in Triple Canopy, frieze, The White Review, and Asian American Literary Review. Their work has been shown at The Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, Performance Space New York, the LA Architecture and Design Museum, and the Museum of Contemporary Art on the Moon, as well as featured in parrhesiades. Their album, The Sun and the Moon, was released in March 2019, and they’re currently touring Black Moon Lilith in Pisces in the 4th House, a doom metal guitar and voice performance influenced by Korean shamanist ritual.  

Vivian Ia lives in Berlin. Their poetry is Pushcart-nominated and has appeared or is forthcoming in Bone Bouquet, Tiny Seed, The Gravity of the Thing, Fourteen Hills, and Berkeley Poetry Review.

Matthew Miller is a video director from Sacramento, California. He works in both live-action and animation to create short films and commercial projects. In the last four years, he’s directed a series of short films for The Getty Museum with artists and authors such as Ellsworth Kelly, Yo-Yo Ma, Mary Beard, Mario Vargas Llosa, and Ed Ruscha. He is currently in quarantine with his wife and Snoopy-esque dog, Millie, in Hawaiian Gardens, California, where he has been dividing his time between starting a garden and collecting ideas for a film project.

Episode 5

| 21 May | 9PM GMT

REPLAY |  22 May | 9AM GMT

w/ STRAWBERRY JAM:  A LITERARY HOUR with

Mykki Blanco

Join musician Mykki Blanco for an hour of music and poetry readings. Spoken word, lyrical breakdowns, a presentation on two  20th century American literary figures Bob Kaufman & Mina Loy as well as a first time listen to new unreleased musical project.

Episode 6 | 28 May | 9PM GMT REPLAY |  29 May | 9AM GMT w/ CAConrad with invited poets

CAConrad's latest book JUPITER ALIGNMENT: (Soma)tic Poetry Rituals, is forthcoming from Ignota Books in 2020. The author of 9 books of poetry and essays, While Standing in Line for Death (Wave Books), won the 2018 Lambda Book Award. They also received a 2019 Creative Capital grant as well as a Pew Fellowship, the Believer Magazine Book Award, and the Gil Ott Book Award. They regularly teach at Columbia University in New York City, and Sandberg Art Institute in Amsterdam. Please view their books, essays, recordings, and the documentary The Book of Conrad (Delinquent Films) online at http://bit.ly/88CAConrad

"CAConrad's poems invite the reader to become an agent in a joint act of recovery, to step outside of passivity and propriety and to become susceptible to the illogical and the mysterious." ---Tracy K. Smith, New York Times.

Thank you to:

All contributing artists, writers, poets, composers and thinkers; Maxwell Sterling; Adam Sinclair; Lori E. Allen; Artsquest. An artist-run programme that uses research about visual artists’ working conditions to provide support for professional artists; DACS; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art; Studio Oscar Murillo; Somerset House Studios; Wysing Arts Centre; Cabinet Gallery; Lisson Gallery & Max Bossier

https://www.twitch.tv/transmissions2020

@transmissions2020

TRANSMISSIONS collective is composed of:

Anne Duffau

is a cultural producer, researcher, and founder of A---Z, an exploratory/nomadic curatorial platform exploring artistic practices and knowledge exchange through collaborations, presentations, soundscapes, screenings and discussions. She has collaborated with a range of projects and organisations including ArtLicks, Southwark Park Galleries, Mimosa House and Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London Please Stand By, or-bits .com, PAF Olomouc Czech Republic & Tenderflix. Anne has previously run the StudioRCA Riverlight, London programme (2016-2018) and is currently the interim curator at Wysing Arts Center, a Tutor at the School of Arts and Humanities, and is the acting Lead in Critical Practice, within the Royal College of Art’s Contemporary Art Practice Programme. She has performed live music under Alpha through a number of projects and collaborations.

Hana Noorali

is an independent curator and writer based in London. In 2019 she was selected (together with Lynton Talbot) to realise an exhibition at The David Roberts Foundation as part of their annual curator’s series. She curated Lisson Presents at Lisson Gallery, London from 2017-2018 and from 2017 -2019, produced and presented the podcast series Lisson ON AIR. In 2018 Hana edited a monograph on the work of artist and Benedictine Monk, Dom Sylvester Houédard. Its release coincided with an exhibition of his work at Lisson Gallery, New York that she co-curated with Matt O’Dell. In 2007, she co-founded a non-profit project space and curatorial collective called RUN active until 2011. In 2020 Hana and her curatorial partner Lynton Talbot will be publishing an anthology that examines the intersection of poetry and film with (p) (prototype).

Tai Shani

is an artist living and working in London. She is the joint 2019 Turner Prize winner together with Lawrence Abu Hamdan, Helen Cammock and Oscar Murillo. In 2019 Tai was a Max Mara prize nominee. Her work has been shown at Turner Contemporary, UK (2019); Grazer Kunst Verein, Austria (2019); Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Italy (2019); Glasgow International, UK (2018); Wysing Arts Centre, UK (2017); Serpentine Galleries, London (2016); Tate, London (2016); Yvonne Lambert Gallery, Berlin (2016) and Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin (2016).

[list-of-literature]

25/03/2016

The Woman in the Dunes, Kobo Abe Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe The Jolly Postman or Other Peoples Letters, Janet & Allan Ahlberg The Wolves Of Willoughby Chase, Joan Aiken The Wanderer, Alain-Fournier Commedia, Dante Alighieri Skellig, David Almond The President, Miguel Angel Asturias Alcools, Guillaume Apollinaire It's Not About The Bike - My Journey Back to Life, Lance Armstrong Behind The Scenes At The Museum, Kate Atkinson The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood Jonathan Livingstone Seagull, Richard Bach Go Tell It on the Mountain, James Baldwin The Ghost Road, Pat Barker Carrie's War, Nina Bawden Molloy; Malone Dies; The Unnamable, Samuel Beckett Waiting for Godot, Samuel Beckett The Adventures of Augie March, Saul Bellow G, John Berger Noughts And Crosses, Malorie Blackman Mister Magnolia, Quentin Blake Forever, Judy Blume The Magic Faraway Tree, Enid Blyton Five On A Treasure Island, Enid Blyton The Enchanted Wood, Enid Blyton A Bear Called Paddington, Michael Bond Ficciones, Jorge Luis Borges The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, John Boyne The Snowman, Raymond Briggs Flat Stanley, Jeff Brown Gorilla, Anthony Browne The Good Earth, Pearl S. Buck The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyan A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess Junk, Melvin Burgess Would You Rather?, John Burningham The Soft Machine, William S. Burroughs The Way of All Flesh, Samuel Butler Possession, A.S. Byatt The Princess Diaries, Meg Cabot If on a Winter's Night a Traveler, Italo Calvino Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino The Stranger, Albert Camus Oscar and Lucinda, Peter Carey Nights at the Circus, Angela Carter Looking For JJ, Anne Cassidy Journey to the End of the Night, Louis-Ferdinand Céline Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China, Jung Chang Papillon, Henri Charriere The Canterbury Tales, Geoffrey Chaucer "Clarice Bean, That's Me", Lauren Child I Will Not Ever Never Eat a Tomato, Lauren Child Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Pierre Choderlos de Laclos Disgrace, J.M. Coetzee Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M Coetzee Princess Smartypants, Babette Cole Nostromo, Joseph Conrad The Public Burning, Robert Coover Millions, Frank Cottrell Boyce The Power Of One, Bryce Courtenay That Rabbit Belongs To Emily Brown, Cressida Cowell House Of Leaves, Mark Z. Danielewski The Black Sheep, Honoré de Balzac Old Man Goriot, Honoré de Balzac The Second Sex, Simone de Beavoir The Story of Babar, Jean De Brunhoff The Little Prince, Antoine De Saint-Exupery White Noise, Don DeLillo Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Joan Didion Sybil, Benjamin Disraeli Hairy Maclary from Donaldson's Dairy, Lynley Dodd The 42nd Parallel, John Dos Passos The Brothers Karamzov, Fyodor Dostoevsky An American Tragedy, Theodore Drieser The Name Of The Rose, Umberto Eco My Naughty Little Sister, Dorothy Edwards Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison The Horse Whisperer, Nicholas Evans The Siege of Krishnapur, J.G Farrell The Sound and the Fury, William Faulkner "Absalom, Absalom!", William Faulkner Light in August, William Faulkner Take it or Leave It, Raymond Federman Magician, Raymond E. Feist Flour Babies, Anne Fine Madam Bovary, Gustav Flaubert A Passage to India, E. M. Forster The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank Cross Stitch,  Diana Gabaldon That Awful Mess on the Via Merulala, Carlo Emilio Gadda JR, William Gaddis The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman One Hundred Years Of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez Love In The Time Of Cholera, Gabriel García Márquez Maggot Moon, Sally Gardner The Owl Service, Alan Garner In the Heart of the Heart of the Country & Other Stories, William H. Gass Coram Boy, Jamila Gavin Once, Morris Gleitzman The Conservationist, Nadine Gordimer Asterix The Gaul, Rene Goscinny The Tin Drum, Günter Grass Sunset Song, Lewis Grassic Gibbon Little Mouse's Big Book of Fears, Emily Gravett Lanark, Alasdair Gray The Quiet American, Graham Greene Life and Fate, Vasily Grossman The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time, Mark Haddon Jude The Obscure, Thomas Hardy The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ernest Hemingway The Old Man And The Sea, Ernest Hemingway The Blue Lotus, Hergé The Adventures Of Tintin, Hergé The Glass Bead Game, Herman Hesse Where's Spot?, Eric Hill The Secret Garden, Frances Hodgson Burnett The Odyssey, Homer High Fidelity, Nick Hornby Point Blanc, Anthony Horowitz Skeleton Key, Anthony Horowitz Dogger, Shirley Hughes Journey To The River Sea, Eva Ibbotson Little House In The Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving Goodbye to Berlin, Christopher Isherwood The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James The Ambassadors, Henry James Finn Family Moomintroll, Tove Jansson Lost and Found, Oliver Jeffers The Far Pavilions, M. M. Kaye A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole The Tiger Who Came To Tea, Judith Kerr One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Ken Kesey In Praise of Hatred, Khaled Khalifa Gate of the Sun, Elias Khoury It, Stephen King The Queen's Nose, Dick King-Smith The Sheep-Pig, Dick King-Smith Diary Of A Wimpy Kid, Jeff Kinney Kim, Rudyard Kipling I Want My Hat Back, Jon Klassen Darkness at Noon, Arthur Koestler The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera The Milly-Molly-Mandy Storybook, Joyce Lankerster Brisley Women in Love, D.H. Lawrence Seven Pillars of Wisdom, T.E Lawrence A Wrinkle in Time, Madeleine L'Engle The Golden Notebook, Doris Lessing Tristes Tropiques, Claude Lévi-Strauss Pippi Longstocking, Astrid Lindgren The Call of the Wild, Jack London Nightmare Abbey, Thomas Love Peacock Under the Volcano, Malcolm Lowry The Good Soldier, Ford Madox Ford The Cairo Trilogy, Naguib Mahfouz The Naked and the Dead, Norman Mailer Man's Fate, Andre Malraux The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann Wolf Hall, Hilary Mantel The Road, Cormac McCarthy The Kite Rider, Geraldine McCaughrean The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Carson McCullers "Not Now, Bernard", David McKee Tent Boxing: An Australian Journey, Wayne McLennan No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry The Cruel Sea, Nicholas Monsarrat Private Peaceful, Michael Morpurgo Beloved, Toni Morrison Song of Solomon, Toni Morrison The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Haruki Murakami Under the Net, Iris Murdoch The Worst Witch, Jill Murphy Pale Fire, Vladimir Nabokov A Bend in the River, V.S Naipaul Their Eyes Were Watching God, Zora Neale Hurston A Monster Calls, Patrick Ness The Knife Of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness The Borrowers, Mary Norton Master And Commander, Patrick O'Brian The Silent Cry, Kenzaburo Oe My Name is Red, Orhan Pamuk Gormenghast, Mervyn Peake Night Watch, Terry Pratchett The Colour Of Magic, Terry Pratchett The Truth, Terry Pratchett Witches Abroad, Terry Pratchett Truckers, Terry Pratchett Life: An Exploded Diagram, Mal Prett Paroles, Jacques Prévert The Shipping News, Annie Proulx In Search of Lost Time, Marcel Proust The Ruby In The Smoke, Philip Pullman Eugene Onegin, Alexander Pushkin Gravity's Rainbow, Thomas Pynchon Live and Remember, Valentin Rasputin Witch Child, Celia Rees Mortal Engines, Philip Reeve Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady, Samuel Richardson How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff I Want My Potty!, Tony Ross Portnoy's Complaint, Philip Roth The God Of Small Things, Arundhati Roy Midnight's Children, Salman Rushdie Holes, Louis Sachar Blindness, Jose Saramango Being and Nothingness, Jean-Paul Sartre Nausea, Jean-Paul Sartre Austerlitz, W.G. Sebald Revolver, Marcus Sedgwick Where The Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak The Silver Sword, Ian Serraillier Katherine, Anya Seton Come over to My House, Dr Seuss Daisy-Head Mayzie, Dr Seuss Great Day for Up!, Dr Seuss Hooray for Diffendoofer Day!, Dr Seuss Horton and the Kwuggerbug and More Lost Stories, Dr Seuss Hunches in Bunches, Dr Seuss I Am NOT Going to Get Up Today!, Dr Seuss I Can Lick 30 Tigers Today! and Other Stories, Dr Seuss I Had Trouble in Getting to Solla Sollew, Dr Seuss My Book about ME, Dr Seuss My Many Colored Days, Dr Seuss "Oh, the Thinks You Can Think!", Dr Seuss On Beyond Zebra!, Dr Seuss The Bippolo Seed and Other Lost Stories, Dr Seuss The Butter Battle Book, Dr Seuss The Cat's Quizzer, Dr Seuss The Pocket Book of Boners, Dr Seuss The Seven Lady Godivas, Dr Seuss The Shape of Me and Other Stuff, Dr Seuss What Pet Should I Get?, Dr Seuss You're Only Old Once!, Dr Seuss Dr Seuss's Book of Bedtime Stories, Dr Seuss Special shapes: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss Dizzy days: A flip-the-flap book, Dr Seuss The Tale of Genji, Murasaki Shikibu A Town Like Alice, Nevil Shute I Capture The Castle, Dodie Smith "The Gulag Archipelago, 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation", Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Memento Mori, Muriel Spark The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Muriel Spark Heidi, Johanna Spyri The Making of Americans, Gertrude Stein The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman", Laurence Sterne Driving Over Lemons: An Optimist in Andalucia, Chris Stewart Goosebumps, R.L. Stine Ballet Shoes, Noel Streatfeild The Home and the World, Rabindranath Tagore The Arrival, Shaun Tan The Secret History, Donna Tartt The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Robert Tressell Fathers and Sons, Ivan Turgenev Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain Froth on the Daydream, Boris Vian Creation, Gore Vidal Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut The Color Purple, Alice Walker Scoop, Evelyn Waugh The War Of The Worlds, H.G. Wells The Time Machine, H.G Wells The Once And Future King, T.H. White Double Act, Jacqueline Wilson Vicky Angel, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Love, Jacqueline Wilson The Illustrated Mum, Jacqueline Wilson The Dare Game, Jacqueline Wilson Bad Girls, Jacqueline Wilson Lola Rose, Jacqueline Wilson Girls In Tears, Jacqueline Wilson Sleepovers, Jacqueline Wilson Secrets, Jacqueline Wilson Girls Out Late, Jacqueline Wilson Dustbin Baby, Jacqueline Wilson The Code of the Woosters, P.G. Wodehouse Native Son, Richard Wright Going Native, Stephen Wright The Day Of The Triffids, John Wyndham The Dream of the Red Chamber, Cao Xueqin Red Sorghum: A Novel of China, Mo Yan Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates We, Yevgeny Zamyatin Germinal, Emile Zola Amazing Grace, Mary Hoffman & Caroline Binch Horrid Henry, Francesca Simon & Tony Ross Meg And Mog, Helen Nicholls & Jan Pienkowski Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes, Mem Fox & Helen Oxenbury The Elephant And The Bad Baby, Elfrida Vipont & Raymond Briggs The True Story Of The Three Little Pigs, Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith

[lucyariablog]

Content Creation Robots Are Here [Examples]

How much will the evolving landscape of AI impact content creation?

I had a conversation with BuzzSumo co-founder Steve Rayson who said writing algorithms are available for purchase, have been bought, and are in use by major platforms. And, they are creating well-written, data-backed articles, he said.

I was surprised. I knew the AI landscape was evolving in the industry: But just how much would it really affect content creation? I took a data-driven look at the reality.

How much has AI been implemented behind the scenes for content creation? And what does this technology cost?

The key phrases behind content-writing robots you’ll see a lot – intelligent narratives, natural language generation (NLG), and automated storytelling technology. Now, let’s meet the writing AIs behind three leading publications.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Cognitive Content Marketing: The Path to a More (Artificially) Intelligent Future

Narrative Science and Quill

The biggest player in the content AI field could truly be Narrative Science, which created NLG software called Quill.

It describes itself as: “Humanizing data like never before, with technology that interprets your data and transforms it into ‘intelligent narratives’ at speed and scale.”

Narrative Science started in 2010 as a Northwestern University experiment turning baseball box scores into traditional stories. In 2011, it raised over $6 million to study the landscape of how to create “human-free stories” (such an oxymoron to say). In 2013, it raised another $11.5 million for further development. Today, Quill can generate news stories, industry reports, and even headlines without human intervention. It’s limited to the confines of news reports and data-backed content, but it can generate that type of content at scale.

Narrative Science “rents” Quill mostly to financial clients for whom it can create 10- to 15-page financial reports in a matter of moments (what would take a writer possibly weeks to put together).  MIT Technology Review reports Quill is churning out over a million words a day. It creates content for clients like Groupon, Forbes, T. Rowe Price, Credit Suisse, and USAA.

Adaptation to tone and voice

Client companies can inform Quill of the style of language, tone, and angle to use. That goes beyond what much automated content software has been able to do. For example, if an audience is known to love a certain team, Quill can write a story that softens the blow when that team loses. Crazy!

You can inform Quill writing algorithm of language, tone, & angle to use to create content. @JuliaEMcCoy Click To Tweet

It certainly can’t write a creative story (yet), but here’s a look at a few sentences written by Quill around the performance of mutual funds:

The energy sector was the main contributor to relative performance, led by stock selection in energy equipment and services companies. In terms of individual contributors, a position in energy equipment and services company Oceaneering International was the largest contributor to returns. Stock selection also contributed to relative results in the health care sector. Positioning in health care equipment and supplies industry helped most.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Will Artificial Intelligence Replace Manual Content Creation?

Cost of content creation

Narrative Science launched a version called Quill Engage for free, but all it can do is translate Google Analytics into plain English for you or your clients. That’s it. Here’s an example of what that looks like. (It reminds me of a simple SEMrush audit report.)

Though Narrative Science doesn’t publish pricing for Quill, I looked at Quora where one person reported a tier pricing system and shared numbers that were in the ballpark of what a few people in the industry confirmed to me. Pricing is based on story types. One story type – one interpretation of one dataset – could generate up to 100,000 stories and cost $70,000 a year. While three story types would be $175,000 a year.

The Washington Post and Heliograf

In the past year, The Washington Post has published more than 850 stories created by its in-house automated storytelling technology called Heliograf – although, more realistically, it may be better named in-house reporting technology because it churns out news articles and social media posts.

Some of the content it writes are basic tweets like this one:

Landon beat Whitman 34-0; https://t.co/V6zVPi7a9O @LandonSports @koachkuhn

— WashPost HS Sports (@WashPostHS) September 2, 2017

Other content was complete stories. (Again, “story” is a stretch – it’s more the style of a journalistic report). Heliograf supplemented The Washington Post reporters covering the Rio Olympics, and created 300 news stories and alerts for the event. The Post also has used Heliograf to cover hundreds of political races.

Cost of content creation

Today, The Washington Post sells Heliograf’s technology through Arc Publishing, which starts at $10,000 a month and can increase to over $150,000 a month. And, The Wall Street Journal reports, the CIO has said that the profitability is astronomical – 60 to 80% margins.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: Should You Trust Artificial Intelligence to Drive Your Content Marketing?

The Associated Press, Automated Insights, and Wordsmith

The Associated Press, one of the nation’s oldest news networks, was founded in 1846 when five newspapers from New York City funded a pony express-type route to bring news of the Mexican war faster than the U.S. Post Office could. It’s crazy to think that today robots are writing thousands of the AP’s news stories.

The AP saw Automated Insights as an answer to combat the low output of corporate earnings reports by its writers. With the AI technology, output increased by 12 times. With the help of Automated Insights, AP now produces 3,700 quarterly earnings stories, which are brief. Here’s an example.

.@AP used @AInsights software to write 3,700 corporate earnings stories a quarter, says @JuliaEMcCoy. Click To Tweet

Automated Insights could hold the very keys to the castle for making content robots accessible to everyone, including B2B companies and small to medium-size businesses. Here’s why. Automated Insights has gone on to create an insanely smart content robot, Wordsmith, which it calls “the world’s first public natural language generation platform.” The catch? A lot of human content work is required for the algorithm to work.

Here’s how Wordsmith works:

Add your data to the software (tell it a few data points for a “story”).

Write a template for the story.

Preview the output of the NLG software and edit it.

Publish your half-robot/half-human-created story (yes, straight from the app).

You must first work within the software to set up rules, a template, and data points. But once you do, the content can be created. Here’s an example from Splinter’s Kevin Roose:

“Bad news, homeowners. In the last month, home prices in Phoenix Metro Area have fallen. Overall, 3,214 houses were sold in Phoenix over the last 30 days, with Phoenix County leading the way with 3,032 sales.

Potential buyers take note: the median sale price in Phoenix fell to $424,000, while the available housing inventory rose. 

There are now 3 months of home inventory left in Phoenix.

Go find a bargain, buyers!”

That’s darn good copy for a bot. The writing skills are basic, thus an experienced journalist could put it into better context – to tell a more effective story.

The direction of Wordsmith – a mutation of bot and human – could be a direction for marketers. Hundreds of businesses have invested in using Wordsmith, including Allstate, Microsoft, and Yahoo! The software generates over 1.5 billion pieces of content per year. Plus, it can develop content in more than 20 languages. That’s not even the crazy part yet. The API is “milli-second” fast. You read that right. It can generate content in seconds what would take a team of writers possibly weeks to develop.

The direction of @AInsights Wordsmith, a mutation of bot & human, could be direction for marketers.… Click To Tweet

Cost of content creation

Access to Wordsmith starts at $2,000 a month with an annual contract. Managed services, which are recommended, are an additional fee. Set-up costs for each story’s data points also are an additional charge.

More content robots

Is your mind blown yet about content AI? There are more content robots on the scene. The Los Angeles Times created the QuakeBot, which writes stories when it picks up data from the U.S. Geological Survey after an earthquake happens. The robot even has its own Twitter handle.

Google has paid over $800,000 for the Digital News Initiative being developed by the U.K. news agency, The Press Association, as it develops RADAR or Reporters and Data and Robots to focus on local news content creation. A novel co-authored by AI won a literary award in Japan and the judges weren’t told if the entrants were human or not. (It looks like the AI compiled the words, while the human co-author came up with the plot and character details.)

How brands can use bots for content creation

Automated Insights shares a case study of a brand using its AI to create content. DigitalSTROM is a smart home system that can program your electronics to follow your patterns of life – coffee made for you before you get up, lights turned on when your alarm goes off, or thermostat turned up shortly before you’re scheduled to come home from work.

DigitalSTROM turned to writing algorithms to produce custom, engaging in-app reports for users, and even to construct email communication sent to users. Working with a customized version of Wordsmith to produce a natural language generation-based API, it plugged the API into its app to create customized, original on-demand reports for customers, using variables and rules they set up beforehand. For instance, customers would ask the app about their home energy usage data for the last 24 hours, and Wordsmith would produce a well-read narrative from digitalSTROM’s data.

Automated Insights also says its Wordsmith tool can replace the monotony of research and structured data compilation that a human would have to do in the content creation process.

For instance, data-rich content production like trend reports and market summaries can now be done by the data-driven writing software. Feed Wordsmith the data about a trend, market, or even the performance of a campaign, and the software can create a well-written report, original, and readable. With this type of content creation, marketers can spend more time being creative than digging through rows and columns of figures to get an income report done.

Data-rich #content production can now be done by software, says @JuliaEMcCoy. Read more >> Click To Tweet

Today, it’s fairly easy to integrate AI content creation into your content marketing – think of the above metrics and how much monotonous research work AI can cut from the creation process.

HANDPICKED RELATED CONTENT: 8 Ways Intelligent Marketers Use Artificial Intelligence

Please note: All tools included in our blog posts are suggested by authors, not the CMI editorial team. No one post can provide all relevant tools in the space. Feel free to include additional tools in the comments (from your company or ones that you have used).

Want to get smarter about how to use intelligent content in your content marketing? Plan today to attend the Intelligent Content Conference March 20-22 in Las Vegas. Cover image by Joseph Kalinowski/Content Marketing Institute

The post Content Creation Robots Are Here [Examples] appeared first on Content Marketing Institute.

from http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/2017/11/content-creation-robots-examples/

[josephkitchen0]

List: The Best Chicken Names — A to Z

Dreaming up the perfect baby chick names is one of the most exciting parts of starting or adding to a flock.

If you need inspiration, our readers and fans are here to help. Take a look at these good chicken name suggestions!

If you’ve got your own list of good chicken names, share your fun ideas in the comments below and we’ll add them here.

  GOOD CHICKEN NAMES (in alphabetical order):

• Abby • Abednego • Adele • Aflac • Albert  • Amelia Egghart • Angel • Angelica • Anna • Annie • Antonina • April • Astrid • Aurora • Autumn • Ava Chanel • Avaleach • Bandit • Batgirl • Beaky • Beakster • Bean • Beatrice • Beethoven “Lil Miss B” • Bella • Belle • Belmont• Benipe • Benny & Joon • Bernice • Betsy • Birdie • Billie Jean • Biscuit • Black Beauty • Blanche • Black Betty • Blue • Bluebelle • Bob, Not Bob & Robert • Bongo • Boomer • Bread & Butter • Breakfast • Brownie • Buck • Buffalo Wings • Buffy • Burger • Buttercup • Butterfinger • Buffy • Bunny • Cammi • Caribou • Carl • Caruso • Cecelia • Charlie • Charlotte • Cheek Cheek • Cheeky • Che r• Chickeel O’Neil • Chicken Patty • Chipmunk Extra Toes • Chippy • Chips & Cheese • Cholula • Cinnamon • Cinnamon & Sugar • Clairetta • Clarabelle • Clarisse • Clover • Cockadoodledoo • Coco • Coconut • Colton • Cookie • Cookie & Cream • Cookies & Cream • Copper • Cornbread Jones • Cotton • Cowie • Cracker • Crooked Toes • Crossy Road • Crow • Cupcake • Cutie Pie • Daisy • Daliah • Daisy Duck • Delta • Dixie • Dolly • Dorothy • Dory • Dottie Kay • Drumstick • Duck Duck • Duckie Momo • Duckiegirl • Duke • Dusty & Bunny • Earth, Wind & Fire • Easter • Edith • Edna & Elle • Egger • Eggy Sue • Elphaba • Ella • Elsa • Elvis • Emily • Ena • Ester • Esther • Ethel • Etta-leghorn • Eugene • Fancy Boy • Fancy Feet • Farrah • Featherfluff, Featherball, & Featherywhite • Fiesta • Flash • Fleeker • Fleur • Flo • Floyd Frizzles • Fluff • Fluffy • Fluffy Butt • Flutters • Former Penguin, The • Franchesca • Francine • Frank • Franny • Freckles • Gabrielle • Ginger • Girlie • Gladys & The Peeps • Glenda • Goldiboks • Goldie • Gossie • Gracie • Grace• Grey • Gumdrop • Handsome • Happy Feet • Hartley-Rose • Hay Hay • Heddy • Henny & Penny • Henny Penny • Henrietta • Henry • Honey & Butter • Hoot • Hope • Huey, Duey, & Louie • Inky • Iris • Jacqueline • Jasper • Jewel • Jo • Joan • Jolene • Juan • Judy B Jones • Junebug • Junior • Kate • Katie Scarlet • Katy • Ken • Kiev • Kira • Lady • Ladybug • Larry, Moe & Curly • Lash • Laverne • Layla • Lay Verne • Lemon • Leonie • Lil’ Peeper • Lime • Little Maggie • Littles • Livean • Liza • Logan • Lola • Lorettie • Louise • Lucille • Lucille Ball • Lucy • Lulu • LuluBocko Brahma • Luna & Star • Madea • Madison • Mae • Maggie May • Maisy & Daisy • Maple • Margarita • Marge • Marigold • Marsala • Mary Ann • Mary Poopins • Matilda • May • Meg • Melissa • Memphis • Merecy • Meshach • Michelle • Midnight • Millicent • Millie Justice • Minnie • Miss Prissy • Mohawk • Mohawk Extra Toes • Molly • Moo Shu • Mother Clucker • Mrs. Hughes • Ms. Speck • Muffin • Muffs • Mumble • Meena, Myna & Moe • Nani • Napoleon • Nebucadnezzar • Netty • Nightstorm • Nilly • Nugget • Nutmeg • Nellie Anne • Oakley • Olive • Olivia • Omelet • Opal • Ophelia • Owlette • Pancho & Cisco • Panda • Parmesan • Paula Dean • Peach • Peanuts • Pearl • Pebbles • Pecky • Peckster • Pee Wee • Peep • Peeper • Penelope • Penny • Penguin, The • Petite • Phoebe • Phoenix • Piccata • Picket • Pinecone • Pinky Pie • Pipsqueak • Polka & Dot • Popcorn • Posey • Potpie • Princess Leia • Puff • Pup • Qawi • Reba • Red Wing • Reese & Puff • Remington • Rene • Rhonda • Roberta • Robin • Rose • Rosey • Rosie • RosieLilly • Roxanne • Ruby • Ruffie • Ruggles • Ruth Layer-Hensberg • Salt & Pepper • Samantha • Sand Piper • Sassy • Scarlet • Seven • Shadow • Shadrach • Shirlay • Silky Boy • Skitters • Skittles • Smalls • Snicker & Doodle • Snooki • Snow White • Snowy • Sophie • Spangler • Speedy 1 & 2 • Spitzy • Spice • Spike • Squirt • Star • Stella • Strider • Sugar • Summer • Sunny • Sunshine • Susie Q (Curly) • Sweet Pea • Sweetie • Tamar • Tetrazzini • Three Amigos • Tikka • Tillie • Tinsy • Tips • Tom & Jerry • Toto • Tulip • Thomas Train Engines: Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie • Vanilla • Velvet • Vera • Veronica • Vigorous • Vinny • Violet • Wickles • Wilhelmina • Wilma & Betty • Winny • Winston • Xana the Warrior • Yeti • Yeti & Yoda • Zigster • Zippy

Fun Comments About Good Chicken Names: 

• My hens will be named after famous chicken dishes: Marsala, Piccata (or Peckata ), Tikka, and Potpie. If I get a rooster, he would be named Kiev. — Evie Kuran Dieck

• We had three chicks hatch a week and a half before Easter, so we call them the Three Amigos. They made for fun pictures of my granddaughter & niece for Easter also. — Jamie N Ryan Debons

The Three Amigos — Jaime N Ryan Debons

  Novalynn, Jadelyn, and The Three Amigos — Jamie and Ryan Debons

• I have about 35 but started naming the most friendly. Right now we have Dempsey, she was injured at birth by another brood hen. Then Dottie, our blue splash Marans. This one pictured is Opal, our little Aloha hen. We also have: Spike, Bongo, Wickles, Velvet, Daisy, Pearl, Peanuts, Violet, Skitters, Ruffie, Puff, Mohawk, Nilly, Fancy Feet, and Littles. — Sheila Bishop

Opal — Sheila Bishop

• Three of the first four I got were named after the Schuyler sisters in Hamilton … Angelica, Eliza, and Pecky (Pecky is a play on the actual name of the 3rd sister, Peggy) and the 4th was named Dawn by my daughter, the next two were named after the Patil twins in Harry Potter … Padma and Parvati, but Parvati was soon found out to be a cockerel, so his name changed to Pavarotti; the next two were named Velma and Daphne from Scooby Doo, but sadly we lost Daphne to a hawk. I’m getting 4 more this Spring to complete my backyard flock and I’m hoping to stick to literary names! — Jessica Lancaster

• I’ve got 13! Amelia, Beatrice, Lucy, Ethel, Mrs. Hughes, Ms. Speck, Dorothy, Blanche, Rose. The other four I’m letting friends and family name and they haven’t decided yet. I’m about to name them after some favorite book characters if they don’t get with it! — Lori Worcester

• Out of 12 we have named a few. We have a Rhode Island Red named Lucy, after Lucile Ball of I Love Lucy, another Rhode Island Red named Ginger who is best buds with a Plymouth Barred Rock named Mary Ann, both named after the lovely characters of Gilligan’s Island. Then there is Nugget, he “or” she is an Ameracauna. — Eduardo Cabello

• Two Light Brahmas named Salt & Pepper. One Black Cochin and one White Cochin named Glenda (the white one) and Elphaba (black one). My Easter Eggers names will be Dorothy and Toto. — Tina Rogers-Higgins

• Chicken Patty, Henny Penny, Mary Poopins, Edith, Edna and Elle. — Corice Boyer

• Princess Leia. She doesn’t lay many eggs but hangs around the nest boxes a lot keeping order so her nickname is “The Janitor.” — Steve Tomashek

Princess Leia — Steve Tomashek

• My dinosaur obsessed five year old named our new three Blue, Charlie, and Delta. He calls them his pack of raptors. — Sarah Goodwin

• This year our new chicks are Shadow, Nightstorm, Angel, Summer, Ginger, Rosie, Bandit, Jewel, Pearl, Ruby, and Franchesca. Last year’s survivors are Anna (Elsa was killed by a neighbor’s dog), Thorn, Blackbeard, and two Barred Rocks with no/super fluid names. Our original flock are Prudence, Goldilocks, Snow White, Perry, Lulu, Henrietta, Napoleon. And roosters are Drumstick and Mr. Wattles. Can you tell I have kids? Ha Ha — Malissa Cline

• Roberta (after my husband), Henrietta, Ruby, April, Amelia, Ophelia, Clairetta, Red Wing, and Matilda who turned into Matthew once we learned he is a rooster! — Jamie Frazier-Olson

• Carl, Samantha, Juan, and Aflac! Juan is in the front. (The only one we can tell apart because of the light beak) Also, Juan might be Juanita! Started to hear quack sounds today. — Ashley Marie Rettig

Carl, Samantha, Juan, and Aflac — Ashley Marie Rettig

• I have three roosters named Bob, Not Bob, and Robert. Only two of the girls have names, Red (my Rhode Island Red) and Black Betty (Barred Rock) all the others are just Hey “Ladies.” — Heather Herendeen

• We have Benny & Joon, Wilma and Betty, Stella, Lola, Miss Prissy, Pj’s, Coffee, Teeth (the last 3 were named by our 5 year old), Yeller and Whitey (both named by our 3 year old). — Desi Becht

• Only named one of the 8 so far. Turns out she is blind. I named her Tillie. — Kelley Jane Kloub

Tillie — Kelley Jane Kloub

• Phoebe, Molly, Dixie, Penelope, Grace, Charlotte, Amelia, Coco, Olivia, Kate, Sophie. — Kathy Hansen Mulready

• My four kids ages 11, 9, 7, and 4 named ours: Vigorous, Peckster, Pep, Pipsqueak, Vinny, Cross Road,  Picket,  Freckles,  Cockadoodledoo,  Tips,  Beakster,  Robin,  Beaky,  Scarlet,  Ruby,  Cowie,  Cheeky, Pebbles, Drumstick, Clover, Mae, Penny, Tinsy, Zippy, Smalls, Merecy, Zigster, And our ducks: Duckie, Momo, Daisy Duck. — Amber Marie Wert

• Ken and Seven (# of toes!) Pictures here. Not seen are Gumdrop, Posey, Muffs, and Belle. — Meg McCreary Youngblood

Ken and Seven —Meg McCreary Youngblood

• Our ducks are Duck Duck and Ginger. Our chicks are Pup, Pinky Pie, Sweetie, Brownie, Sugar, and Spice. Named by my five and six year olds. — Kelly Hughes

• Buff Orpingtons are Bread and Butter. Light Brahmas are Vera and Francine. With my other hens the flock is known as Gladys and the Peeps. — Lucille Gardner

• Fluff, Emily (my 4 year old’s idea), Dorothy, Blanche, Popcorn and Moo Shu. — Emily Powell

• Cookie and Cream, Henny and Penny, Minnie, Daisy, and Clarebelle. — Sharon Krouse Miller

• Snicker and Doodle, Salt and Pepper, Dusty and Bunny, Luna and Star, Honey and Butter, Cinnamon and Sugar, and Sunny … we got a little carried away. — Sherri Grant

• Our Buff Orpington is Sunshine; Blue Ameracauna is Bluebelle; others are Sweetpea & Ladybug. — Gaylene Taylor Davidson

• Napoleon is my rooster, than Xena the warrior, she steals worms from the others, Katy, Gabrielle, Omelet, Annie, Oakley, Laverne and Petite. — Diane Zapka Christensen

• Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Ginger. — Irma Hladek

Vanilla, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Ginger.

• Judy B Jones and Cupcake, named by my daughter. — Britni Davidson

• We have: Joan, Iris, Ester, Lucille, Ruby, Roxanne, Avaleach, Melissa, and Rosey. — Brenna Nicole

Joan, Iris, Ester, Lucille, Ruby, Roxanne, Avaleach, Melissa, and Rosey. — Brenna Nicole

• My current girls are Ethyl, Veronica, and Buffy. Previously: Biscuit (Leghorn), Cholula, Fiesta, Margarita, (Aracaunas), and Penny (Rhode Island Red)

• My kids named the buff Elvis and the leghorns are Huey, Duey, and Louie.

• My Red Star is Ruby. I have two Buff Orpingtons named Birdie and Betsy. My Four white Plywood Rocks are Ashley, Abby, Madison and Ruth Layer-Hensberg. — Rebecca Joy

• We got two adding to the group. Our first rooster we named Henry and Etta-leghorns (like Henrietta). — Dana Alexander-Brown

• We have speedy 1&2, we also have happy feet (chick was born with a deformed leg) and several others we have not named yet. — Jennifer Thompson

• We just got a Katie Scarlet, BlueBelle, Millie Justice, Effie Mae, and a Liberty Belle. — Shannon Briles Kana

• Dunkin (The Yorkie), Nugget (Top), Gossie (Left) and Bean (Right)! — Nicole Contos

Dunkin, Nugget, Gossie (Left) and Bean — Nicole Contos

• I have Panda, Cheek Cheek (my two year old named her), Nani, Goldiboks, Reese and Puff, and Dory. — Jessica Ogle

• I have four chicks named Jo, Meg, Rhonda, and Clarisse. Our granddaughter loves them! — Julie Sorenson

Jo, Meg, Rhonda, and Clarisse — Julie Sorenson

• Michelle, Junior and Belmont — Suzanne Morrell Crutcher

Michelle, Junior and Belmont — Suzanne Morrell Crutcher

• Miss Prissy, Peepers, Lucy, Sunshine, and Scarlet. We love them. — Glenda Szoka

• I quit naming after the first year. When I have nearly 100 birds… there is no keeping that straight. — Smantha Martin

• Cracker, Muffin, Cookies and Cream, Memphis, Phoenix, Ruffles, Hartley-Rose, Snowy, Black Beauty, GC, and BB. — Alyson Jayne

• Dottie Kay, Nellie Anne, and Ava Chanel (Ava cuz I love my truck – avalanche and both are black). — Robyn Smith-Demeuse

• Named my girls after my great, great aunts… Henrietta (Rhetta), Sophia (Hia), Matilda (Tilda) and Wilhelmina (Mina). — Heidi G. Malin

• Franny, Netty, Junebug, Bella, Winny, Snooki, Chippy and Jacqueline. The whole family got in on the naming process. — Bonnie Rolfes Duffy

Franny, Netty, Junebug, Bella, Winny, Snooki, Chippy and Jacqueline. — Bonnie Rolfes Duffy

• Amiga, Crazy Dot, lil’Peeper, Squirt, and the Barney’s. Who knows if they will stick. — Jody Eubanks

• My son named ours the bantam is flash the RIR is Supergirl and our Plymouth is Batgirl. — Kimberly Flenory

Batgirl and Supergirl — Kimberly Flenory

• Adele…. because she never stopped chirpin. — Aimee McGlinchey

• Amelia, my Cuckoo Maran. — Kathy Hansen Mulready

Amelia — Kathy Hansen-Mulready

• Anna and Elsa…guess who has a  granddaughter! — Rivkah B’racha

Anna and Elsa — Rivkah B’racha

• We have 10 girls, most have boy names though. Our girls are Nebucadnezzar, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Strider, Hay Hay, Benipe, Hope, Charlotte, and Marge. — Tricia Sengul

• My boys named our Silkie/Sultan X’s (from back to front) Yeti, Cotton, and Lash. Lash had buff colored fluff over eyes at birth. — Jennifer Fox-Malechikos

Silkie/Sultan X’s (from back to front), Yeti, Cotton, and Lash — Jennifer Fox-Malechikos

• Lacey the Golden Lace Wyndotte; Goldie the Buff Orpington; Pearl the Silver Grey Dorking; Easter the Cream Legbar; Chickaletta the Silver Laced Cochrin. — Sarah Haly

• I named each batch of new arrivals out of new friends I had made! But roosters were always Handsome. — Cecile Jordan

• Buttercup and Fluffy Butt, named by a 3 year old. — Linda Terrell Nunes

• Copper, Edith, Bernice, Aurora (after Shirley McLaine’s character in Terms of Endearment), Ella, Pepper, Henry, Olive, and Antonina — Anna Atwell

• My girls are Minnie, Daisy, Clarabelle, Owlette, Dorothy, Rose & Blanche. — Miranda Craig

• Crooked Toes, Chipmunk Extra Toes, Mohawk Extra Toes, The Penguin, and The Former Penguin — Jes Marie Stark

• Rosie and Ginger, RIRs; Summer and Autumn, Wellsummers; Stormy and Puff (Cochins) — Lauren Linares

Rosie, Ginger, Summer, Autumn, Stormy, and Puff — Lauren Linares

• Mary Poopins — Spruce Ledge Farms

• Caruso (may or may not be a pullet), Rene, Leonie and Kira. Have one more opera singer to go! — Judy Biller

• Sam and Ella. (Y’know, “samanella”) — Christie Fletcher Munsell

• Jasper and Cammi — Jim Desjardins

• Sweet Pea — Dana Adkins

Sweet Pea — Dana Adkins

• Belle — Miranda Holland

Belle — Miranda Holland

• We named her Hoot. — Cheryl Foster

• Louise — Jodi Vaske

• Susie Q (Curly) — Eliza Hoffman

Susie Q (Curly) — Eliza Hoffman

• Penelope, Daliah, Marigold and Beatrice — Lindsay Mc

• Chickel O’Neill, Bocko Brahma, Omelet — Sarah Spiegel

• Fleeker, Boomer, Flo, Chips and Cheese — Ang Joh

• Caden’s duckling is named Frank! — Sue McNaughton

• Hens: [Australorp] Madea; [Buff Orph] Girlie; [3 Red Sex Links] Lucille Ball; [Random brown dotted hen] Pinecone; [White something] Snow White; [Bantam Chick ] Cher; [female mallard duck] Duckiegirl; [indian runner duckling pair] Pancho & Cisco. — Carie Jarrell

• Albert

Albert — Nichole Langmeyer

• Our last lot were named Burger, Tikka & Nugget. — Melinda Maclay-Ross

• Inky, Heddy, Cotton & Blue. — Robyn Grace Jennings

• Polka and Dot, Maisy and Daisy, Pearl, Buck, Lorettie, Dolly — Billie Jo Maedke

• My Easter Egger is named Bunny. — Linda Marie

• Mother Clucker, Ruby, Mumble, and Flutters. — Amanda Bland

• My kids named ours Featherfluff, Featherball, and Featherywhite. — Sarah Ritchie

• Olive, Ginger, Sunny, Lulu, Cookie, Gracie, Pearl — Ana Crowley

• Fluffy — Karen Atteberry

• Layla, Jolene, Cecelia, Maggie May, Billie Jean and Roxanne — Jen Next

• Tom, Jerry, Egger, Midnight, Yedi and Yoda — DeeDee Bricker

• My four chicks are, Ena, Meena, Myna and Moe. — Loretta Aranha

• Cecila, Floyd Frizzles — Deborah Young

• Esther, Tamar, and May — Kimberly Gunlock Walter

• Stella, Crow, LuLu, and Clover — Mandy Hopper

• Farrah, Sassy, Spike, and Pee Wee. — Kathy Barnett

• Larry, Moe, and Curly — Donna Grayson

Larry, Moe, and Curly — Donna Grayson

• Maple — Jennifer Orme

Maple — Jennifer Orme

• The Chicken Nuggets: Amelia Egghart, Eggy Sue, and Henrietta. — Emily Samms

Amelia Egghart, Eggy Sue, and Henrietta — Emily Samms

• Chica Poo Poo’s: Dolly, Reba, Lucy, Bella, Violet, Winston, Remington, Caribou, Ruby — Teri Foster

Dolly, Reba, Lucy, Bella,Violet, Winston , Remington, Caribou, and Ruby. — Teri Foster

• First play date outside. Penelope. — Erin Carlson

Penelope — Erin Carlson

• Iris — Angelina Turnbull

Iris — Angelina Turnbull

• Our boys love Thomas the train so our girls are all Thomas the Train engines: Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie. — Deanna Poehlman

Annie, Clarabell, Emily, Henrietta, and Rosie — Deanna Poehlman

• My 3 girls named Buttercup, Tulip, & Violet.

Buttercup, Tulip, & Violet

• Pekin babies named Little Maggie, and Panda. — Jane Germain

Little Maggie and Panda — Jane Germain

• Easter Eggers for Easter named Sunshine and Lady. Sunshine is the lighter yellow and Lady is the one with her eye liner on, her roots done and her Beak is always yapping! — Stephanie Klein

Sunshine and Lady — Stephanie Klein

• The Newcomers: Eugene a Silkie, Logan a Silkie, Livean a Belgian Mille Fleur, Fleur a B. Mille Fleur, Millicent a B. Mille Fleur, and Spangler a Silver Sebright. — Esther Grummet

• Arg Matey! Bethoven, “Lil Miss B.” — Jamie Schreck

• Owl or chick??!! Meet Hoot. We thought she looked so much like an owl we named her Hoot. — Rachel Lindsey

Hoot — Rachel Lindsey

• Skittles — Brittany Sullivan

Skittles — Brittany Sullivan

Do you have good chicken names? Share them in the comments below!

List: The Best Chicken Names — A to Z was originally posted by All About Chickens