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militant-holy-knight · 4 years

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Tom Kratman’s Caliphate Review: Disturbingly Prophetic

Its easy to forget that outright right-winged/conservative literature actually exists though admittedly it’s hard to find those with actual merit nor enjoy the same popularity as other types of works. I’ve came across one example written by retired US Army soldier Tom Kratman whom you may or may have not heard about if you are familiar with the Sad Puppies incident from 2015, where the Hugo Awards were biased against writers with conservative leanings. Kratman is someone who delights in offending left-wing sensibilities by his own admission and it’s reflected in his works that often deal with themes like fighting Muslim terrorists in sci-fi settings. One such of these works is Caliphate, written in 2008 and it struck me how... prescient this book was about the contemporary times and may well still be for the future.

The premise is as follows: Islamic terrorists seize nuclear weapons and use it to nuke three American cities during September 11 (as well as London and Israel). The American outrage against Muslims spirals into the election of a third-party populist candidate who promises vengeance against this attack, which he does by simultaneously nuking all Islamic countries in the world (and North Korea for good measure). This disaster leads to an massive exodus of Muslims into Europe who migrate there and thanks to their massive birthrates, they are able to hijack countries by voting for hardcore Islamist parties (as democracy must abide by the majority). They transform Europe - or at least Western Europe or the countries associated with the EU - into a Islamic empire, the titular Caliphate which functions like a hybrid of the modern day Islamist regime like the Taliban, ISIS and Boko Haram (public executions, lashings, women can’t be seen outside without being covered), and the Ottoman Empire (conscription and brainwashing of dhimmis into military service).

The story follows two parallel narratives: one in the distant future over a century after the terrorist attack where America has transformed into a totalitarian empire know as ISA (Imperial States of America) which is in cold war against the Caliphate in Europe and a second one set in “present days” when things are relatively normal but then we witness the events quickly fall apart. The first one follows John Hamilton, an disillusioned American soldier who is recruited by the CIA to infiltrate the Caliphate and investigate a trio of Canadian scientists who are working in a virus to destroy America. The second one follows Gabrielle, a liberal German woman that sees the collapse of Europe up close and tying them together is that she is the ancestor of one of the main characters. These narratives are told simultaneously and are always accompanied by critical quotes of Islam in their opening.

You’d think a work like this would be simply “AMERICA FUCK YEAH” and “FUCK ISLAM” over and over, but Kratman actually does a surprising amount of nuance. For one, it’s made clear that this America is really a dystopia and not an ideal place to live, reflected by its actions and Hamilton’s thoughts about it - at one point, US soldiers carry out ethnic cleansing against Moros in the Philippines and Hamilton is disturbed even after someone close to him died because of them. And while the book doesn’t hold back in bashing Islam, not all of them are portrayed as intolerant religious fanatics - there are genuinely good characters and even some grey ones with complexity added to them. For that matter, even non-Muslims can be villains too so it isn’t a black and white kind of work.

A surprising amount of world-building was put in place to make this world interesting: it’s established that the USA has occupied Canada and the Philippines, England has turned into an absolute monarchy, China has become some kind of transhuman empire, only a portion of Europe is actually under the Caliphate control with most of Eastern Europe under Russia control (because of course) and it’s heavily implied Israel has carried out a final solution against Palestinians. This can however can be a detriment because all these interesting paths are presented but never truly explored. We never see how the UK is under the absolute monarchy, nor this Russian tsardom and we only hear whispers about how bad China is in the distant future (which is implied to be worse than the Caliphate). The one that truly does get any exposure is the Neo-Boer State which was established in the southern half of the African continent by European refugees fleeing from Muslims in their own country and has a section of the story taking place there.

Besides Hamilton, there are other viewpoints in the story with the ones after his following German brothers Hans and Petra, two Christian siblings that live in the Caliphate and are taken apart by the devishrme-like system. He becomes a janissary soldier, while she becomes a servant in a Muslim household. Their stories are actually far more compelling than Hamilton since their struggles are more personal while Hamilton wouldn’t be out of place in a video game where he starred as it’s generic Space Marine protagonist. Hans remains a Christian despite his outward conversion to Islam and actively rebels against Caliphate culture which leads to him adopting a crusader identity, while Petra’s storyline explores the woes faced by women under a fundamentalist Islamic regime i.e. not unlike what those who endured Taliban or ISIS regime.

And make no mistake: the story never holds back on the graphic content. There is plenty of violence including impalement, crucifixions, sexual attacks and etc, which may be a turn off for many readers, and it doesn’t help they have to drive home how dystopian this setting is. It may come across as over-the-top as it made me wonder how plausible this Caliphate could even function (it’s established that the Caliphate can only function in a slave-based economy or taxing the dhimmis, which they can’t afford to abuse or exile since they’d collapse). The Arab Peninsula was once unified under Muhammad and his four successors who drove out all Christians, Jews and polytheists from their lands, but then fell into tribalism and stayed that way for centuries with only Mecca and Medina (the only relevant sites of Islam) being controlled by outsider Muslims.

I know I make the story sound unrealistic and fantastical, but the main takeway from this book I had was how prophetic the story was in regards to the current and political atmosphere. Keep in mind that what I am about to write was published in April 2008, in a completely different scenario than the one we live:

The insane American president who nukes the Islamic world is very Trumpesque and shares similar slogans (”WE WILL MAKE THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS PAY”). He is basically what leftists believed Trump would actually do if he was elected like put Muslims in internment camps like the Japanese-Americans in WW2.

Great Britain actually breaks out from the European Union, except under much different circumstances: rather than voting themselves out like Brexit, they turn into an absolute monarchy once again and become completely isolationist.

The rise of an brutal, terrorist regime mirrors the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria that rose to prominence during the Arab Spring in 2011.

A large-scale migration of Middle-Easterns into the West triggered by some kind of disaster, only it was an genocidal attack in the book rather than the consequences of a regional movement that led to the collapse of MENA states with the Arab Spring.

The “present day” narrative also presents scenarios no different than the current reality of Europe with no-go zones where migrants of Muslim background are involved in criminal activity and target the native population as seen in France, Germany and Sweden.

Islamists infiltrating democratic institutions in order to impose their values as seen with many neighbors in Belgium and the Netherlands where Muslims are the majority to the native population.

Russia expanding their control over Eastern Europe mirroring their foreign policy to consolidate their regional superpower status.

China being up to no good with technology.

And of course a deadly virus engineered to destroy political rivals, though this time by rogue scientists working for Muslim terrorists rather than China.

It’s possible that some of Kratman wrote was already true of his time which served as basis for the present day narrative. But reality was much different back then: Obama was yet to become President and Bush was still in office (and nobody had an idea how the former would turn out), China was less despotic then than it’s now under Xi Jinping, the Russo-Georgian War was still to take place and migration to the West was relatively low compared to after the 2015′s refugee crisis, the UKIP was considered a fringe party and the UK leaving the European Union was a distant dream. Nobody was talking about no-go zones, but then again the Internet wasn’t as big back then as it’s now. Rather than writing about the modern political atmosphere of his time, Kratman envisioned a possible future which he predicted fairly closely and at the same time, it spoke about issues that are relevant to anyone who isn’t afraid to speak about the problems regarding Islamic ideology or integration of migrants into their host countries.

What depressed me the most about the book is that it’s dystopian reality may be our own future. It’s an common concern for conservatives and right-wingers that Muslims become a majority in the West - a boast that they never cease making - soon which might lead to an eventual clash of civilizations. A quarter of Belgium might be Islamic and this is possible because of enabling from leftist politicians that flirt with radicals for convenience and consider the values they promote like women and LGBT rights to be an acceptable sacrifice to overthrow conservative capitalism. This kind of behavior is actually acknowledged and mocked by Kratman, as Gabrielle is an radical SJW that hates Western conservatives more than Islamists to the point this leads to the breakdown with her relationship with an Egyptian migrant that converts to Christianity and ends up moving to the USA before becoming a authoritarian regime.

The book presents Islam’s conquest of Europe as a complete surrender without a fight - the migrants just breed like rats and vote for Islamist parties to hijack the government through legitimate means and one American ambassador chides Gabrielle and her people for abandoning their own values and allowing this to happen. This probably speaks a lot to the more cynical among us who see our governments bending over to outsiders over their own people and see where it might be headed. Personally I don’t believe a caliphate is where the future is headed, as it provides no real attractive alternative that the West has presented, but it certainly won’t stop some people from trying and there will be certainly a fight.

Are we really going have to look forward for an revived Ottoman Empire in the heartland of Europe where Christian boys are whipped into slave-soldiers, girls are sold to harems like cheap prostitutes and non-Muslims live like second class citizens being forced to pay outrageous, humiliating taxes like the jizya? Hopefully not, but the possibility of terrorists acquiring nukes is an always constant one, and with the Iranian nuclear program will push it’s neighbors to do the same as form of deterrence if they feel threatened. Knowing how fragile Muslims states are and that if those nukes fell into the wrong hands, the events of the book could be precipitated but luckily for us, nuclear armament is expensive and takes a lot of work which not even the wealthiest countries like Saudi Arabia can afford to develop it themselves, let alone the poorest ones like Syria and Iraq so that might not be a reality just now.

Do I recommend this book? The world is very interesting, it’s actually a bit more complex and nuanced as both sides don’t come off as “bright” (albeit the Caliphate is presented as worse). If you want to see a book that talks about issues you find relevant like immigration and terrorism from a conservative perspective, this is a must-read. The main protagonist can be very dull whereas the secondary protagonists are more compelling - it depends on how much you like military heroes written by an American veteran I guess. While the ending to the main story was satisfying on itself (the present day ends on a sad foregone conclusion), it sets up a sequel with many plot threads going unresolved. It’s disappointing to me since this is a standalone book and Kratman hasn’t indicated any plans on writing a follow-up, though if he did it now I am sure he would have done so without a completely different perspective than the one he has in 2008 and he would have certainly got more material to work with.

P.S. This book has a Skanderbeg reference, so it’s an instant win for me.

#reviews

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projectclockwurk · 6 years

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The Woods Outside Lethe: Part 1

[WARNING: Some Gore]

Deputy Horowitz answered the phone that morning. He knew everybody in the small town of Miller’s Creek; he knew what they sounded like too, so when the voice on the other end of the line spoke he was confused as he’d never heard the man before.

The man introduced himself as Elder Victor Walker and he said that they needed to come down to Lethe. No more details were given before the phone was hung up.

Horowitz had heard about Lethe before but didn’t know much about it and didn’t really ask when the Sheriff told him not to worry about the place because they may never even go down there. Horowitz should have asked after it, he knew that, but when he had become Deputy he was young and still kind of shy and when Sheriff Grady told him not to worry about Lethe, he had listened and never really thought about the place again until now.

He got up from his desk a minute after the call ended and crossed the small space from there to the Sheriff’s office. They were the only two in the small and somewhat cramped building.

Miller’s Creek was a small little fishing town and nothing happened there really except for some property damage or petty theft from some of the local bored youth. Two officers of the law were good enough to keep order and it had been good enough for the better part of a hundred and fifty years. It wasn’t about to change anytime soon either.

Horowitz rapped his knuckles on the metal doorframe more out of courtesy than an actual need to announce his presence. Grady looked up at him, a dark eyebrow raised in question.

Sheriff Grady was only thirteen years older than Horowitz. The man had taken over as Sheriff when he was thirty and had been running things for the last fifteen years. His looks were something of an enigma. At times he looked no older than Horowitz himself and at others he looked far older than his forty-five years.

Sometimes Horowitz wondered if he’d end up the same when he took over as Sheriff, and he knew he would when Grady retired. That’s just how it was there. When one Sheriff retired, their Deputy would take over and then a new Deputy would come along sometime and continue the cycle.

Nobody was interested in breaking this tradition. Nobody was ever interested in breaking tradition in Miller’s Creek. The people and their town were as stagnant as water.

“I got an interesting call,” Horowitz began, “from the Elder of Lethe. He wants us to go there.”

“Color me surprised. It must be one hell of an emergency.”

“Why’s that?” Horowitz asked, taking the opportunity to dig for more information.

“The people of Lethe live in a small, closed off village community that’s back in like…I don’t know, the seventeen hundreds, eighteen hundreds? No clue, I’ve never been good at history but anyway, they live back like it’s the old days. They aren’t Amish or nothing; they’re just a community of people who decided to never follow the march of technology and the only person who ever leaves is the Elder and only when it’s absolutely necessary. The Elder has a phone in his home to call us but rarely does. Some Sheriffs have gone their whole careers never going to the village so if he’s asking us to come down it must be some serious shit.” Grady had explained all this as he pulled his jacket on and got his gun and holster.

“Just to be sure, everyone in Lethe knows about the modern world, right?”

“Oh yeah, they’re aware of what lies outside their community but nobody ever leaves. Disillusioned with the modern world or just how they’ve been raised, I guess. I don’t know, I don’t ask questions. All I know is that Lethe has been the same since it was founded,” Grady said. “Now go get your things and we’ll hit the road.”

The Sheriff’s Station sat on a long strip of road with nothing close by for miles. It sat in between Miller’s Creek and Lethe, each place the same distance away from the station. The drive took ten minutes both ways. Ten minutes was enough time to question Grady more.

“Have you ever been to Lethe before?”

“Twice, actually,” Grady replied.

“Twice? Didn’t you say they rarely call?”

“They do. There was a weird year back when I was a Deputy. We were called twice in a week for two different robberies. We never found anything though and it never happened again. The former Sheriff, Sheriff Gibbs, thought it was one of the locals though they all denied it. Still don’t know what it was all about.”

“What did they take?”

“Some heirlooms and such from Elder Walker and one of the older ladies in the village…I think she passed away a few years ago actually,” Grady said. “Lethe tends to send us a letter when somebody has passed away.”

“What are the people like?”

“They seem a bit strange but I can’t say if they’re good or bad. Haven’t really spoken to anyone but Elder Walker. Just don’t worry about them. We’re gonna go do our job and probably never see them again. Okay?”

“Okay.”

They fell into silence then and neither spoke again until Grady pulled the jeep over to the side of the road at the top of a path that led down a steep hill and curved in a wide arch to the left. The woods – which formed a half-circle around the area – cut off the view of the rest of the trail.

“Now we walk.”

“Walk?”

“Yep,” Grady said as he exited the car. “The Lethe people already hate seeing us modern folk in there, seeing a car will only make them more upset.”

“Alright,” Horowitz responded, opening his own door and stepping out. He made sure his phone was tucked into his pocket before closing it. He’d record some witness testimonies with it if they allowed him. He doubted it given what he had heard but just in case he wanted it on him.

Grady locked the doors and then they began their trek to Lethe.

The walk took another ten minutes and when they arrived, a man who Horowitz assumed to be Elder Walker was waiting for them by the gate into the village.

Lethe was open entirely on one side to flat land but it was surrounded, on three sides, by the woods. The village itself really did look like something out of the nineteenth century with the quaint little wooden homes all clustered close together and a large church that served as the spearhead to the layout the homes formed. There were even chickens and pigs ambling about and the clothes Elder Walker wore looked so authentic. It was as if the whole village had time travelled into the twenty-first century.

“Mornin’, Elder Walker,” Grady greeted.

“Good morning, Mister Grady,” Elder Walker said in turn before his eyes darted to Horowitz. His gaze was rather intense.

“This is my Deputy, Gabriel Horowitz.”

“Nice to meet you, Elder Walker,” Horowitz replied.

“You as well,” Elder Walker said before opening the gate and ushering the two inside. “Follow me now, please.”

The man led them to a paddock. It was very open and no barn was in sight but that didn’t matter because what met their eyes made Horowitz stop dead in his tracks.

“You called us out cause some dead cattle?” Grady asked.

“Something is killing them.”

“Yeah, Elder, probably a wolf,” Grady said with a shake of his head.

“I have seen wolves slaughter our livestock before,” Elder Walker said.

“Maybe it’s some kids from Miller’s Creek. It may seem odd but there are a lot of sadistic kids in this world that pull this shit, sometimes just cause they’re bored, and we have many bored kids up in Miller’s. I wouldn’t put it past some of them to do this. Just a few months ago some little shit spray painted Swastikas all over Horowitz’s property.”

“Yeah, that was nice to wake up to on the second day of Hanukah,” Horowitz grumbled. He was the only Jewish individual living in Miller’s Creek so he was quite a prime target for little bastards who thought they would look cool to their friends if they went around doing anti-Semitic bullshit.

“You are Jewish?” Elder Walker inquired, staring at him with that intense gaze of his.

“Uh…yeah,” Horowitz said. “Not exactly a great one though, haven’t even been in a synagogue since my bar mitzvah.”

Elder Walker hummed and turned back to Grady.

“As I said, something is killing our cattle. If you do not believe me, go and take a look for yourself.”

Grady didn’t hold back his sigh that clearly said he didn’t want to but he would.

“Come on, Horowitz.”

They climbed the fence into the paddock. Horowitz counted ten among the ten cattle and noticed now that none of them seemed to bare any wounds. Didn’t seem to but they did as he saw when they came around the one closest to the fence.

Its belly had been ripped open. Not cut but ripped in an exceedingly crude and disturbing manner. The skin was torn up around the edges and the cow’s organs were spilling onto the ground, the grass a deep red where it should be a vibrant green. It stank like nothing that Horowitz had ever smelled before.

Grady swore as he knelt down to get a better view.

There was more.

Mud coated the cow’s organs and large globs of it were inside the body itself. There was even a line of it clinging to the outer bit of flesh where it had been ripped. Sticks were impaled into the various organs and, Horowitz noted, some of them were even poking out the cow’s back. How he and Grady hadn’t seen them before he didn’t know but then again, the sticks were so fine and dark they’d be easy to miss against the large black spots dotting the cow’s hide if nobody was looking for them and they certainly hadn’t been looking.

“What the fuck,” Grady breathed. He looked up at Horowitz and then to Elder Walker who was standing just outside the paddock looking at them with a grim expression. Grady looked back down at the cow. “What the fuck did this?”

Horowitz was not sure he wanted to know and while he stood there, speechless, looking down at Grady and the poor cow, he saw a figure in his peripheral vision moving amongst the trees.

#horror stories #scary stories #horror #stories #my stories #i'm really excited about this one #this one got the notebook notes treatment #which is p serious y'all

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lunar-root · 7 years

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"Somewhere during human history magic lost to technology. Technology came to dominate our mindshare while magic was relegated to superstition. I, like many, assumed magic lost because it turned out not to be real. As a young techno-capitalist I was ok with this; I was into computers and the whole world needed an upgrade. But eventually I found challenges that technology wasn’t addressing: broken minds, violence, depression. I don’t just mean somewhere out there among the homeless or mentally ill but in my own life too, successful as I appeared. I went looking for ways to transform myself, and found many wondrous things. I found the keys to self-actualization. I found ways of entering altered states of consciousness that conferred uncommon understanding. I found ways of uncovering painful memories, repressed but not forgotten, and ways of re-experiencing those memories differently, thereby changing the effects of the past on my present. I discovered the meaning of synchronicity and how to use them to navigate my life’s course. Then after years of this it finally hit me… magic is real. Now, I don’t mean that everything that’s ever been called magic by everyone is real. But are there attitudes, actions, and understandings that can result in intense, unordinary, and significant experiences inside one’s self, between our selves, and around us? Yes. Are there ways of growing in their skillful wielding? Yes. Are there ways of guiding, influencing, or stimulating in others these peculiar effects? Absolutely. And after you’ve experienced enough of it you just sort of acquiesce and say to yourself, “Ah, so this is magic.” You simply have no reasons left not to call it that. Perhaps you, like many moderns, are prejudiced against magic and biased toward technology. Well I have news for you: Not only is magic real, but magic is technology. Magic is just a type of technology with un-obvious system requirements. Like? Subtlety. Rather than electricity or software, magic requires the ability to access and observe the delicate sensations and observations arising within and around one’s self. Magic is subtle technology. Over time the Western mind lost it’s acquaintance with the subtle, which is why magic seemed to disappear. We lost it during the rise of organized religions, when navigating subtle experiences and altered states came under the control of sanctioned authorities. We lost it during the Enlightenment and Scientific Revolution when we regained personal authority through rationalism and empiricism but threw the magic out with the religious bathwater. We lost more of it during the industrial revolution, where subtle sensations were only a distraction in the drudgery of the assembly line. And we lost still more during the Information Age, dominated by industrial educations, where the pressure to learn standardized curricula forced us to routinely suppress our intuition. The other thing about magic is that it doesn’t scale as easily as manufactured goods and services. This is because market adoption tends to be inversely proportional to skill. So the products that scale most quickly are those that require the user to know or do as little as possible. Magic doesn’t work that way, at least not in its current stage of development. Magic requires a skillful user to navigate internal experiences that others cannot see and to shift and focus attention onto indescribable objects. The duplicability is poor. The instruction manual difficult to write. The onus on the user, great. Because of all this, the word “technology” now tends to mean just all the the fundable, scaleable, shippable, stuff that anyone can buy and with the push of a button get some effect. Missing are the technologies that require subtle sensations to be masterfully directed, expanded, and amplified. But things are beginning to change. What is the mind? What is the Self? What can we become? What is our greatest destiny? It is just these sort of questions that are coming to matter most to a people who have for decades binged on easy access to every material want. And without skillfully navigating the subtle, these questions are impenetrable. You can see it happening most obviously with the increasing popularity of meditation. Think about it: here we are in this glitzy, gadgety, gluttonous society full of streaming high-def video, all-you-can-eat buffets, and amusement parks. Yet people en-masse are starting to say, “Well, I like those things sometimes but you know what? I think I’m going to just sit here with my eyes closed.” And they’re having a wild time. And what is meditation? I’ll tell you. Meditation is the skillful immersion of the self in the subtle. Which means that meditation is magic — literally, the attempt to cast a state-altering spell on one’s self. This is why the results from person to person are so varied. We can see the return of subtle technology in many other places too: in the unprecedented popular interest in psychology and yoga, in the revitalized psychedelic movement, in the renewed respect for indigenous medicine and ceremony. We can see it in our language, with the appearance of concepts such as “ego death” in the vernacular. And just about every other person I meet these days, whether engineer or venture capitalist, seems to at some point confide in me that they’ve been getting into “energy work”. We are a people becoming less interested in having things and more interested in having experiences. Less interested in becoming rich and more interested in becoming whole. Less interested in information and more interested in states — states of peak performance and flow, states of seeming union with the infinite, states of elevated perspective that disillusion us of our fears and anxieties and reveal them as baseless in the face of our true nature. Magic will return, understood this time as subtle technology. It will be integrated with the obvious technology of today. Together they will give rise to the next great industries, and to new jobs and livelihoods that we can once again believe in, which will not enslave or ensnare us but rather heal us and make us whole."

#technology #magic #future #energy work #witchcraft #consciousness

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pandapantslovesyou · 7 years

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Disillusioned

Omegaverse! Semi-dystopian Modern AU (also my first fanfiction on this site!) For the past twenty years, the world has been coming apart at the seams. Disease, natural disasters, and - according to John Laurens - the inherent crappiness of human beings. The world's population is dropping rapidly, and everyone knows that it's only a matter of time before the government steps up and does something about it. Time's up.

Warnings: mentions of socially accepted rape. Also John’s not exactly in the best place.

Chapter 4

They hadn’t figured anything out.

Lafayette, Adrienne, and Hercules hadn’t left since they’d come over. They all exchanged, and shot down, idea after idea.

When everyone else slept, Alex and John stayed awake with the aid of coffee, energy drinks, and sheer willpower. Alex typed countless essays. John sketched out escape plans, but hourly updates about the strengthening of defenses and the increasing number of Omegas being caught crushed each and every one.

On the eve of the 15th, he dropped his pen.

Lafayette and Adrienne were asleep in Lafayette’s old room. Hercules was asleep in the guest room.

Alex was nursing another cup of coffee. He hadn’t eaten in close to forty-eight hours. John could see the shaking in his hands as he typed, the exhaustion under his eyes. This wasn’t fair to him. This wasn’t fair to any of them.

“They’ll induce heat,” John said softly. He stared at his notebook. He couldn’t bring himself to look at Alex for this. “They’ll use pheromones on the Alphas. It might not- it might not-” He swallowed. “I don’t think it’ll hurt -”

“No,” Alex snapped. “Don’t you dare. Don’t you dare think like that.”

“Marty will probably help me raise it. Henry will hopefully provide some kind of funds for his grandchild. I wouldn’t be totally alone.”

Alex shoved his computer off of his lap. “No.” He fixed John with a glare. “Stop it. We’re not going to stop until we find a way to get you out of this!”

“I don’t see what we can do!”

“You won’t be bred against your will -”

“I can’t see a way to avoid -”

“I will not let anyone breed you against your will!” Alex grabbed John’s arms and stared into his eyes desperately. He was on the verge of shattering. John reached for his face, reached for the stubble that had grown there, but stopped himself. He looked down, shoulders slumping. It was time to admit defeat.

“Alex.”

“No, John. We’re not giving up.”

“I’m -”

“We’re not giving up.”

“I’m unbonded, Alex. There’s nothing we can do.”

Alex froze. “John. What if you... What if you weren’t unbonded?”

John shook his head at him. “I don’t - I’m not -”

“But what if you bonded with someone?” His eyes had that gleam in them. He had an idea.

John sighed. “Alex, there’s no one who’ll bond with me. Bonds are for life-”

“If you don’t consummate-”

“I’d still be tied to them for life. Not to mention it’s a huge risk. That’s bond fraud. That’s a serious crime. I can’t even begin to imagine what the consequences would be in a case like this.”

“Someone who’s willing to take that risk-”

“Who the hell would be willing-”

“Me.”

John stopped short. “You?”

Alex nodded. “I don’t give a damn about what might happen if we get caught. No risk is too large if it means that you’re safe.” He sighed. “But it’s gonna be a lot on your part. Because technically, you’re the only one who has to be bonded for this to work. You’ll be tied to me, but I won’t be tied to you.”

“What do we tell the government when they ask us why I’m suddenly bonded to my college roommate?”

Alex shrugged. “That we’ve been in love for years and were planning to wait until after we graduate to bond, but this kind of forced our hands.”

This was a very big deal. John needed to spend time mulling it over, rethinking his options.

But he didn’t have any other options. And being bonded to Alex was a better alternative than being shipped off to some facility and only released once he got pregnant or died.

“Okay.”

“Okay?” Alex seemed surprised.

But John nodded. “What other choice do we have?”

Alex made a face. “Right. Um. Would it be more comfortable for you if you were, um, on the bed?”

John stood on stiff legs and lay back on the mattress. This felt wrong. Mechanical. Alex leaned over him and smiled awkwardly before lowering his face to John’s neck.

“Wait.”

Alex stilled.

“If we do this... We’ll still be friends, right? No matter what?”

“Of course.” Alex pulled away and met John’s eyes. “We’ll always be friends.” A beat. “You’re sure?”

“Yeah.” John took a deep breath.

Alex once again lowered his face to John’s neck. His breath tickled John’s skin as he searched out his scent gland. John stared up at the ceiling. He felt Alex’s lips touch his skin. The sharp pain of teeth. He stiffened, clenched his jaw, eyes snapping shut as his heart pounded in his ears. Then the teeth were gone and Alex was kissing away the blood that bloomed on the surface.

He'd been told stories about bonding. That looking into his lover's eyes would give him feelings he'd never felt before, he'd be swept away in a sea of affection and love. But when Alex pulled away and gave him an uneasy smile, no such thing happened.

John didn't know whether to be disappointed or relieved.

Instead he took a stab at humor. “Does this mean you're going to use your shitty Australian accent and call me mate all of the time?”

Alex laughed. “Absolutely. You okay?”

John nodded, sitting up and touching his scent gland. It was sore. Rightfully so. “I'm fine.”

“Feel any... different?”

John shook his head. “Not really. Your scent's a little bit stronger, I think.” He inhaled a little and the word home immediately came to mind. But Alex had always smelled like home to him. He smelled like home and ink and coffee and a little bit like cinnamon, which never made sense because Alex wasn't a baker.

“So you're safe now.”

John stood and grabbed his phone, opening the front camera and examining the bite. The little mark on his skin was supposed to mean everything. It meant nothing.

A part of him felt sick.

It was our only option, he reminded himself. It didn't make him feel better.

“We need to prepare ourselves for the investigation,” John muttered, pulling himself away from the dangerous thoughts. “They’ll ask us weirdly specific questions that only mates should know the answers to.”

“We're mates.” Alex's voice sounded a little off when he said it. Then he shook his head sharply. “We'll be able to convince them easily. It's not like we're strangers. And we can deal with the questioning. We just need a backstory.”

John sat down on the bed. “Right. A backstory. How long have we been together?”

“Six months. But we've been dancing around each other since before we went to college.”

“Easy enough. Um, where do we go out for dates?”

Alex didn't miss a beat. “We always order takeout from either the Chinese place on Fifty-first or Thai on Elms. We get Chinese more often than Thai, because you have to be in the mood for Thai or else you don't like it.” All of that was technically true. Alex took his laptop and began typing. “I'm sure there's sample questions online for... Here we are. Here's a good one: do your parents approve? My parents are dead.”

“My father didn't know until we bonded. He doesn't like you.”

Alex snorted. “When is your birthday? October twenty-eighth.”

“Yours is January eleventh. Who knows about the relationship?”

“All of our close friends. They'll all lie for us, I'm sure of it. We just wanted to keep it quiet because we knew your dad wouldn't approve, and we were going to wait to bond until you passed the Bar.”

“We were?”

“We wanted to have steady jobs so we could afford to hold a huge celebration.” Alex smiled. He'd been planning his ceremony since he was in the fourth grade, when they'd first talked about it in their history class. John remembered Alex showing him his sketches and notes. His heart hurt a little. Would this keep Alex from having that?

John took a breath, focusing on the task at hand. They could get divorced after the Protocol ended, Alex could find someone that he really loved. “Are there any weird questions?”

He scrolled down the page. “Oh. Um, when was your last heat?”

“I take suppressors. So years ago. We weren't together yet.”

“That's right. I remember you telling me about how your professor was confused as to why you hadn't taken your five days off each semester.”

“And I know you take suppressors for your rut, too. If you remember to.”

“How many children do we want?”

John looked down at his hands. Thought for a moment. “Well, we'd be waiting to have any until we both had steady jobs. And a house. I don't know how many I want to have.” He leaned back on the bed. Felt Alex's eyes on him. “We already have a huge family, with my siblings, and Frannie and Daniel and Lafayette. And then there's Hercules and Adri and the Schuylers because they're family, too. At least, to me.”

“Yeah, they're my family, too.”

“And I love them all, and having a lot of kids will only add to that. But I don't want my kids to become my only job, and having a bunch tends to do that.” John paused. “Is that wrong?”

“That you'd rather work and try to change the world instead of have fifteen kids like society expects you to?”

“Fair enough. I think I want three. Maximum. Just one or two would be fine with me.”

“I like two. It's an even number, and the kids won't outnumber the parents.”

John nodded. “Two it is, then.” What would we name them, though? He didn't ask. That would be too much, and he figured that no one expected them to know the answer just yet. “What's my favorite color?”

“Green. What's mine?”

“Red. Not just any red. Dark red, like a shade or so lighter than blood.”

“That's really morbid.”

“I'm not wrong.”

“No, you're not. Um...” More clicking as he looked through the page. “What was your mother's maiden name?”

“Ball. Yours was Faucette. And your father's last name was Hamilton, obviously.” John gave a half smile. “Rachel Faucette and James Hamilton.”

“What's your deepest fear? Yours is... being alone. Like truly alone.”

“And yours is being forgotten.”

There was a knock on the door and Lafayette entered, rubbing his eyes. “Morning.”

“Morning?” John echoed. “What time is it?”

“Three-thirty. Adrienne's still passed out. I think she's more worried about you than she -” He stopped and inhaled deeply. “John? You smell... different.” He looked at the man in question, eyes searching and finally falling upon his neck. “Mon dieu.”

“It was the only way,” Alex said.

Lafayette shook his head. “This is equal parts genius and idiotic. You do realize that this changes everything about your dynamic?”

“It doesn't have to,” John said. “We're not going to consummate -”

“What?”

“- and we're already roommates. It's not like this is a big step for us.”

“Non, it is a monumental step! You two are bonded! For life!”

“I'd rather be bonded to Alex than forced to have children I don't want with someone I don't know!” John spat. Lafayette looked at him, eyes wide and concerned. He knew, John realized. He knew that he had feelings for Alexander. And that this was a little more complicated than everyone thought. “It was the only thing we could think of that wasn't guaranteed to end with us in prison.”

Lafayette sighed and sat down on the bed. “This is cruel to you, John.”

“I know.”

“Alex, you're cruel to John.”

Both John and Alex winced. “I made sure that he was okay with it before I bit him.”

“Yet you didn't let him bite you.”

“Only the Omega needs to be bitten for this to work.”

Lafayette's eyes narrowed, but he didn't say anything else. Just pulled John into a hug and kissed the top of his head. “John, I don't know if this is the same for Omegas, but when Adrienne bit me, she became very attached right before her rut. She clung to me like a child. She did not let me leave her side.”

“Is this for every rut?”

“No, just the first one. And when it happened, she was insatiable. She could not get enough of me. I couldn't leave the room, or else she would become miserable.”

John swallowed. The heat or rut that immediately followed a bond was supposed to be ridiculously strong, as a way to reaffirm the relationship. No amount of suppressors could stop it. “Then I'm glad I didn't bite Alex. He won't have to go through it.”

“But you will.”

“It's just one heat. It's not going to kill me.”

“When are you due for it?”

John looked at the calendar on his phone. It was harder to determine since he’d been on suppressors for so long. “Two weeks, I think.”

Alex looked stricken, like he hadn't considered any of that. John hadn't, either. “John,” he said, “I -”

“I'm safe now,” John said firmly. “That's what matters. If it gets too bad, I'll make Marty drive me to the heat clinic.”

Alex nodded and looked away briefly. John understood. As close as they were, this was new territory. It hadn't been discussed before.

When Adrienne and Hercules woke up, they explained the situation, which warranted roughly the same response.

Mimi texted John that she’d gotten out of the Protocol and was going up to Canada for the rest of the summer.

The head of the soup kitchen called and told him that they would be closed until further notice.

At around 8 in the morning, John's phone began to ring. It was Eliza.

He sure was popular this morning.

“Just checking in,” she said when he answered. “Any solutions?”

“Yeah, actually.” John excused himself and went out onto the back porch. “Alex bit me.”

He had to hold the phone back from his ear as the shrill “What?” came over the line.

“Yeah. I'm no longer unbonded.”

“Did you two -?”

“No. We're still just friends. Which reminds me, I need to ask you and your sisters to lie to the government for me.”

Eliza didn't say anything for a long time. “I'm sorry, John. This must be really hard for you.”

“I'll live. It beats the alternative. And as far as impromptu bondings for the sake of avoiding governmental tyranny go, Alex isn't the worst choice.”

The Schuyler sisters were in Italy for the summer, along with Eliza's mate, Maria. Eliza was an Omega, too, but she and Maria had bonded last year, in a huge ceremony that everyone attended.

John had tried to hate her when they'd met, because she was Alex's first girlfriend, but he couldn't. There was something about Eliza that he just couldn't bring himself to resent. Not to mention she'd helped him with Marty when some girly issues arose. There wasn't a malicious bone in her body. John had nothing to hate. And he hated that.

But when she and Alex broke up – after John helped Alex pick up the pieces of his broken heart – it was easier to get along. He also realized just how smart she was when, a year later, she confronted him about his feelings for Alex. At that point, John was so miserable after his own breakup that he admitted it freely to her. She was the only person he'd told.

But apparently not the only one who knew.

“Do you want us to come home early?” Eliza asked.

“No, no, enjoy the rest of your vacation. I'll live. I promise.”

“You know to call me if you need anything, right?”

“Of course.”

They talked for a couple more minutes before he heard a throat clear behind him and turned to see Mr. Washington standing by the screen door.

“Hey, Eliza, I've gotta go.”

“Okay. Say hi to Marty for me.”

He hung up and faced the man in front of him. “Sir.”

“Alex told me what happened.”

“Oh.” What else could he say?

“He tried to tell me that you two have been together for the past six months. I don't believe him, and said as much.”

“Oh.”

He sat down at the patio table and gestured for John to join him. After just a moment, he did. “I'm sorry that this is what it's come to,” George said. He was a lawyer. He had his own firm. He'd studied political law in college and got high marks on everything. John was terrified. “I'm not fond of lying. You've known me for long enough to know that.”

“I do, sir.” He was going to report him. And then Alex was going to go to prison and John was either going to prison with him or to one of the breeding facilities the government had erected in the past three days.

“But as much as I hate dishonesty, I hate this new policy more. So your secret is safe with Martha and me.”

John let out the breath he'd been holding in, shoulders relaxing in relief. “Thank you, sir. Thank you so much.”

Mr. Washington nodded. “If you need a lawyer, or if your father becomes an issue, you can always come to me.”

John went back to Alex's bedroom and sat down next to his new mate – ha – who was furiously typing again. “New essay?”

“Just because we've gotten you out of it doesn't mean everyone else is in the clear.”

John nodded, picking up his notebook and a pen. He'd been saved. Now it was time to work on saving everyone else, too.

#lams #John Laurens #alexander hamilton #hamilton #hamilton fanfic #hamilton has taken over my life #omegaverse #omega john #alpha alex #fanfic #lams fic #disillusioned lams fic

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Best WordPress WooCommerce Themes for 2020 | Templified

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Best WordPress WooCommerce Themes for 2020

We’ve found some of the absolute best WordPress WooCommerce themes for you to have a look at in this collection. Starting an online eCommerce shop used to be a much more difficult task, not to mention more expensive. These days though, you can establish a wonderful website quickly and efficiently using WordPress and the best free shopping cart for WordPress, which is WooCommerce of course. WooCommerce is a super tool for building an online shop, it’s got all the functionality of much more expensive shopping carts, but it’s free and open source. That means that all you need is a wonderful WooCommerce theme to help get your site up and running. But finding that perfect theme can be a big challenge.

That’s why we’ve gathered up this collection of WooCommerce WordPress themes to help narrow down your search. These themes are fast loading, they look great and they’re as flexible as can be, making for a great starting point to build your business. We’ve gone and created another great collection of themes, these are the highest rated WordPress WooCommerce themes anywhere. This assortment of themes all offer absolutely perfect ratings, 5 stars all around. With a theme that’s this well respected, you’re guaranteed to get a really successful site that’s easy to use and easy to customize. We’ve made sure that all of the reviews are fair and accurate, so you can purchase any of these themes with confidence that you’ll get a really top quality theme every time.

Oregon, Free WordPress WooCommerce Theme by Templified

This is Oregon, our first free WordPress theme and it’s WooCommerce ready to help you create a great looking online shop to sell products in a distraction free environment. Whether you want to sell digital downloads or durable goods, the theme works just as well. It’s easy to set up and customize, you have optional areas for promotional boxes and for a featured image slider. The built in blog is a great way to connect to your audience and I think they’re going to enjoy what they see on your website. This theme has plenty of firepower to help make your website a smashing success.

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5th Avenue WordPress Fashion Shop Theme

Fifth Avenue is pure class. This WooCommerce WordPress theme has everything you could possibly need to sell products online and a whole lot more that will make it even easier. This theme has custom filters, custom color swatches and a quick view feature there’s infinite scrolling, various reviews positions and sticky descriptions too. This template also supports product videos and Banners in a grid layout that is very attractive. You got a wish list and plenty more, all designed to Showcase your products in style. You can align your descriptions either horizontally or vertically, which gives you nice levels of flexibility to style your site exactly how you want it to be styled.

This theme has custom filters, custom color swatches and a quick view feature there’s infinite scrolling, various reviews position and sticky descriptions too. This template also supports product videos and banners in a grid layout that is very attractive. You get a wish list and plenty more, all designed to showcase your products in style. You can align your descriptions either horizontally or vertically, which gives you nice levels of flexibility to style your site exactly how you want it to be style. There are some nails layout, carousel and YouTube videos and a quick view with zoom feature. It’s all of very attractive and fancy way to dynamically show your product and you get multiple layouts to choose from. Either fixed at the bottom and or the normal position. Ideal for fashion blogs, this theme is a dynamic winner!

There are thumbnail layouts, Carousel and YouTube videos and a quick view with zoom feature. It’s all a very attractive and fancy way to dynamically show your products and you get to layouts to choose from. Either fixed at the bottom and or the normal position. There are plenty of flexible shop layouts and exclusive features, you can set from 2 to 6 products per row, choose how many pages and how you want those pages laid out. There are exclusive product filters, for each category. Let’s not forget about your blog, the most important part of your website. If you check out the demo, you can see some examples of what is possible with the Fifth Avenue WordPress theme. Fifth Avenue is interesting and well coordinated WooCommerce theme, but there are some folks who just won’t feel the love for this thing. That’s why we’ve created some massive collections of WooCommerce themes that might be a better fit for your needs. If you want a cultured and diligently crafted theme with massive amounts of features, we’ve built a large collection of the very best. You’ll be overjoyed to see the selection of fantastic themes and we know you’ll find something that you love.

It can be a whirlwind looking for the right WordPress theme, which is why we’ve created this optimal list of tasteful and fantastic-looking themes, we’ve agonized over each and every one two separate the beautiful from the unbecoming. Each one of these themes is perfectly responsive and user-friendly, you’ll discover multiple features and style differences that help to make a cool website to sell any sort of product. New life and Designs out of place. You’ll be able to rapidly develop an interesting website that challenges your readers to become customers. For the writer in you, every one of these scenes has a beautiful and well organized blog to go along with the eCommerce set up Fifth Avenue is pure class. This Woo-Commerce WordPress theme has everything you could possibly need to sell products online and a whole lot more that will make it even easier. So, we hope you’ve enjoyed this review of 5th Avenue, we’ll be back soon with more amazing WordPress themes.

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Divi, Premium Quality WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Divi is a WordPress Theme that helps you get an amazing website up and running quickly. This theme allows you to sell all kinds of products, no matter what your target audience is and what their tastes are in web design. Divi is incredibly flexible and dynamic, providing everything you need in one place. It’s flexible, powerful and the developer has made sure to include everything needed to really get a successful site. Build anything visually, that’s what Elegant Themes promises with the Divi WordPress theme. That includes a high-quality eCommerce site. With the Divi page builder, you just click and type, drag and drop your way to the type of website that you want to have. No matter what style you’re into, no matter what type of products you are selling this theme works absolutely perfectly to help you achieve your goals. Everything is customizable, everything is perfectly responsive and everything is well organized with this theme. Did he works perfectly with all of the major plugins to help you with SEO, organizing your website and making it look just the way you want.

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Highfill, Lifestyle Blog and WooCommerce Shop

Highfill is a modern WordPress blogging theme that helps you tell your story the way you want to. This creative and stylish theme includes all the most popular features that you need to establish a Blog and WooCommerce combination. Getting started is a breeze, this theme includes several different pre-made designs to help you get started quickly. Customization is also quite easy to achieve, giving you the type of WooCommerce shop you want, not what the designer has in mind for you. Highfill is a modern WordPress personal blog and portfolio theme that also offers full support for WooCommerce. WooCommerce allows you to sell all sorts of products, it doesn’t matter what you’re into, the setup is straightforward and simple and even for beginners, WooCommerce offers you the ability to make a living through your hard work. WooCommerce is very simple to use and with high heels basic design, you can be up and running rapidly and making your products look the best that they possibly can. Well supported and full of features, Highfill is well worth considering.

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Diamond, Properly Built WordPress WooCommerce Theme

Sometimes you can find a poorly made eCommerce WordPress seeing that leaves you disillusioned after purchase. That’s certainly not going to be the case with the Dimond WordPress theme a premium quality well constructed eCommerce and WooCommerce theme with a stimulating design, an outrageously feature filled back end. This meme is Silky Smooth, it serves up great looking pages that will interest even the most jaded reader. You will never regret purchasing this theme and its radiant Beauty will keep you excited for years to come. The Abundant features certainly don’t hurt either, this theme is quick to set up and it will begin to attract attention right from the get-go. This Diamond theme has a perfect rating on ThemeForest, 5 stars out of 5 Stars. That’s pretty groovy, and this successful theme with its clean and fresh design, is like a playground for the mind. You can create nearly any sort of store and make it look enchanting with this template. You can reinvent the look of an existing website or create an efficient and desirable brand new website with the Diamond WordPress theme. If you want to build an e-commerce site that is the place to be for selling whatever products it is the cell, the Diamond theme could be a great choice. In the event that this template is not perfect for your needs, weave run rampant throughout the internet searching for bright and harmonious templates to serve up in our stupendous collections. We found dozens of great themes so far and keep finding more and more everyday. You’ll never have to be nervous about finding a WordPress theme that’s productive and qualify. It can be maddening searching for the right kind of eCommerce theme, so we’ve cut out the middleman and found plenty of different themes from the modern to old fashioned, and we continue to preach the astonishing qualities of WordPress.

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MartFury

Modern and flexible in equal parts, MartFury is a highly respected multi vendor marketplace theme that is great for any type of marketplace website from furniture to electronics, handcrafted goods to clothing, tech gadgets and handbags too! Whatever kind of products you want to allow your partners to share, you’ve got a great platform with this theme. Did I mention the nearly perfect rating on ThemeForest? So far, this theme is rocking a 4.94 out of 5 stars, which is awfully good. MartFury was built on the Underscores framework and themes that use that basic bedrock of code are usually very fast loading, which is great for SEO. MartFury is no exception. This theme is ideal for using Dokan, for digital downloads or tangible goods like a typical eCommerce site. Responsive, well documented and simple to use, MartFury is a great solution for any marketplace website.

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Flatsome, Flat, Handsome WooCommerce Theme

Flatsome is a WordPress theme for selling all kinds of products, though it’s probably best as a fashion shop. Flatsome has a wonderful style, plenty of pre-made demo designs and it’s adaptable. Flatsome is incredibly popular, it’s closing in on 100,000 sales in total, making it among the most popular themes available on ThemeForest. With a 4.8 rating overall, it’s well respected by those who have purchased it as well.

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Adela, Premium WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Adela is a wonderful option for WooCommerce websites, thanks to a plethora of options and tons of customzation that’s at your fingertips. With several different pre-styled demo designs, you can set up a shop with precisely the layout you want. Adela also has received a perfect 5 star rating so far, which can’t be beaten.

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Box Shop, Flat, Modern WooCommerce WordPress Theme

BoxShop is a responsive WordPress WooCommerce theme that’s designed for any sort of online shopping site. BoxShop has several different home page and product page layouts that you can select from, it’s ultimately customizable and professionally made. You get a responsive layout, a page builder for extra flexibility and it’s all possible without having to know anything about coding. BoxShop still has a perfect 5 star rating too.

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Massive Dynamic, Premium WordPress Theme for WooCommerce Shops

Massive Dynamic is one of the most popular page builder themes and its flexibility makes it a great option for WooCommerce stores. The page builder works visually, you can drag and drop content blocks wherever you want them, ensuring a great user experience. The result is a high performance, fast loading WordPress theme that works for any variety of online shop. Import any of the pre-made designs with just one click! Massive Dynamic is just that, a massively popular theme that is dynamic in the features that it offers. This theme is perfectly responsive, it’s got plenty of great looking demo styles to choose from and it’s ideal for helping you sell products online. This theme is incredibly flexible, which is part of why it’s among the most popular themes available on Theme Forest. Massive Dynamic works as well for selling digital downloads as it does for brick and mortar stores. With the amount of features this theme offers, there’s nothing you can’t achieve. Perfect for WordPress beginners and more seasoned WordPress users, this theme is easy to customize and it’s certainly earned it’s spot as one of the better WooCommerce themes available today.

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Storehouse, Clean, Modern WooCommerce Theme for WordPress

Storehouse is a WooCommerce theme that offers a simple, engaging online shop to help you sell all sorts of products or services. Storehouse is a theme that’s built to help your conversion rate, it includes several demo designs that can be installed quickly, it presents products in a really nice, high-class way and it’s got an integrated blog to help engage with your visitors, keeping them up to date on your latest offerings or musings about your industry.

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CoupShop, Minimalist WordPress WooCommerce Theme

CoupShop is a clean, sleek and modern woocommerce ready WordPress theme that helps promote products and sell them on your very own web page. You get multiple layout options, each one highlighting your products or services in a little bit different way. The shopping cart is just a Tap Away on all devices, thanks to the perfectly responsive design. You get a built-in blog and portfolio as well, neatly arranging posts and portfolio projects and the flexibility of this theme is incredible. Check out this collection for more minimal WordPress themes. The CoupShop WordPress theme is slick as can be. This simple looking WordPress theme has tons of features that make it right for a lot of websites. This theme has become quite popular over the last few years, and it’s easy to see why. The simple design lends itself to all sorts of products. If you’ve got something that you really want to showcase in the right light, Coupe shop is a great starting point. If you want your products to look their best, it’s great to keep your attention where it belongs, right there on what it is that you have to offer. CoupShop can do just that.

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Oshine, Clean, Minimal WooCommerce WordPress Theme

Oshine is very popular and creative WordPress team that is great for portfolios, blogs and online shops. The high quality design helps to set this theme apart from the rest, the customer support is topnotch, you get infinitely out possibilities and complete control over all design aspects on the page. Oshine is a full-featured WordPress theme with over 20,000 sales under its belt. This is one of the most popular WooCommerce themes on the market and the high-quality design, multiple demo Styles and plentiful features are just a small part of the reason why. This theme also is highly SEO optimized, making for incredibly fast load times. What kinds of products are you trying to sell with WooCommerce? No matter what you are attempting to achieve, Oshine is WordPress theme that can help you get the job done. Oshine is flexible, highly functional and ready for anything.

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Petal

Petal is a clean and lovely, elegant and stylish, greatly flexible and highly customizable, easily responsive WordPress portfolio website theme that is creative. Petal is an amazing platform for the fast and simple formation of portfolio sites that are strong, practical willing to impress potential employers and charm new company directly your manner. Using its uniquely slick visual doctrine, Petal understands how to make your site classy and professional without raising the effectiveness of your content distribution distracting your users with excessive litter and increasing your conversion rates overnight. A customized version of the premium Revolution Slider keeps your users engaged and pages dynamic and exciting along with your content, while the incorporated WooCommerce eCommerce plugin suite enables you to effortless market your professional services or products directly from your Petal website within minutes of first set up. Just add your catalogue and go. Petal is everything you need to be successful, no matter what niche you’re in or who you’re targeting for traffic! Petal is a high quality WordPress theme that’s got the design you’d expect from a modern, minimalist theme. I adore the use of white space in this amazing WordPress template. With a theme like Petal, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish and accomplish it in style. The pedal WordPress theme is perfect for agencies and architecture, creative artists and designers, freelance creative and image galleries. If you’re in illustrator, you’ll love the masonry grid layout that is possible with this premium template. Photography studios and other types of portfolios or showcases will look amazing. If you’re a studio artist, you could do a whole lot worse than the pedal WordPress theme. That’ll also supports woocommerce which is the leading online shopping cart for WordPress, there is adaptive image resolution settings and layers sliders. There are case studies pages and box layouts or full with designs are available too. I think the pedal theme could be a wonderful creative portfolio for any freelancer or agency. For more portfolio WordPress themes, try our collection.

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Slikk, Fashionable WordPress WooCommerce Theme

Slikk is a fully responsive, WooCommerce compatible WordPress theme that is both stylish and modern, but classic at the same time. This responsive theme allows you to build a badass online shop using WooCommerce or your favorite eCommerce plugin. This has extended Shop features like product quick view, user wish lists, drop-down karts and a lot more. Designed to be clean, user-friendly and secure, this theme is a high-performance online shop template that a lot of people really seem to like. This is a stylish WooCommerce theme that is geared toward selling clothing and fashion accessories. This is a badass WordPress theme with a bold style that I think works perfectly for a wide range of products. There are multiple different inner Pages, a stylish book book and this theme is fully responsive. Ecommerce shouldn’t be difficult, that’s exactly what this theme brings to the table, a simple and straightforward manner to help you sell products. The steam features one click demo installation and you will never have to know how to code to make the most of this theme. Ajax Powers the shopping cart, there are product Zoom features and plenty of other stuff that help your products look their best.

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Hestia Pro, Material Design WordPress WooCommerce Theme

Hestia Pro is a stylish one page theme for all types of businesses, delivering a high performance results every time out. This theme has a slick material design style, it is compatible with all the major page builders and customization is a breeze thanks to the native WordPress theme customizer. You get unlimited starter sites, unrivaled page load times and WooCommerce works perfectly with this theme to deliver a great user experience. Hestia Pro is a modern classic, this is one of the first WordPress themes to use the material design Style and it is still one of the best. Hestia Pro was created by ThemeIsle, one of the better theme developers out there. This template is great for e-commerce websites, portfolios, creative businesses and startups and it makes your content stand out. Using woocommerce, you can set up an amazing looking online shopping experience that will be unrivaled. Hestia Pro is perfectly compatible with all of the most popular page Builders, giving it the utmost flexibility. This SEO friendly theme loads up fast and looks great on all devices, thanks to its responsive design. Hestia Pro is a simple WordPress theme with a great-looking material design style that is great for startups, eCommerce, portfolios, businesses and more. This is one page theme with Parallax scrolling effects and multiple elegant sections that make your content stand out from the crowd. There’s a lot that you can achieve with this particular theme and it’s all very easy to customize. Almost half a million people have purchased the Hestia Pro theme and even though it is among the most popular, it’s still one of the best. Sometimes those things don’t go hand-in-hand but the flexibility and features of Hestia make it one of the absolute finest WooCommerce themes available.

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Wright, Minimal, Clean WooCommerce Blog Theme

Wright is a clean, minimalist and simple WordPress blog themes that also offers WooCommerce support. This is one of the simplest looking themes in this collection, but it blends enough features to make it a worthwhile option if you want to sell products. This is a highly visual theme, giving you different layouts for blog, portfolio and shop pages. Wright is an incredibly simple, minimalist WordPress theme that is great for blogs, portfolios and with its built-in eCommerce style, it’s great for selling products to. While I don’t believe that Wright is great for a large shop selling hundreds and hundreds of products, if you have a simple set of products that you are offering for sale, perhaps digital downloads or a small assortment of clothing items, Wright could be a great choice. Wright was created by Made by Minimal, one of the best developers of minimalist WordPress themes around.

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Studio 8, WooCommerce Store and Agency Theme

Studio 8 is a flexible and well-designed, elegant and attractive WordPress WooCommerce ready theme that is up to the challenge of presenting your creative content alongside products or services. This is an agency theme that has a very professional and simple design, it is 100% responsive and works great on all devices and browsers. With Studio 8, you can create an organized a great-looking online shop thanks to WooCommerce integration and keep folks updated with the integrated blog. Studio 8 is a creative WordPress agency theme that is ideal for Creative portfolios, and it also offers eCommerce capability to sell products. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to sell digital downloads or tangible goods, Studio 8 is the type of responsive and beautiful WordPress theme that gives your readers a stunning look at what it is that you have to offer. This theme loads up incredibly fast, it’s ready for any language and the support is fantastic. Great for beginners, Studio A has what it takes to let you achieve your goals, no matter what type of stuff it is that you are selling.

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Norway

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ultrasfcb-blog · 6 years

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EFL 2018-19: How Frank Lampard, Joey Barton and younger managers can survive

Frank Lampard and Joey Barton are embarking on their first seasons as managers with Derby and Fleetwood respectively

After illustrious taking part in careers, ex-England midfielders Frank Lampard and Joey Barton will make their managerial debuts when the brand new soccer season kicks off this weekend.

However, with practically a 3rd of English Soccer League golf equipment appointing new bosses for the reason that finish of 2017-18, what does it truly take to outlive as the person in cost?

BBC Sport talks to Lampard and Barton, in addition to Stoke’s Gary Rowett, Notts County’s Kevin Nolan and long-serving Accrington Stanley supervisor John Coleman, in regards to the keys to success if you’re operating the present.

Be your self, with assist

There is a steadiness to be struck relating to taking up the all-encompassing duty for administration for the primary time. However a key theme – in true actuality TV type – is to “make it your individual”.

Lampard’s soccer pedigree is unquestioned after successful 106 England caps and 11 main trophies below eight totally different managers at Chelsea, however his genes are fairly spectacular too, along with his father Frank Lampard senior and uncle Harry Redknapp offering an exquisite house education.

“Administration is about taking in concepts and I had a really lucky run at it by way of the household I grew up in and the merry-go-round of managers I performed below,” mentioned Lampard.

“It is collating all the pieces from all these managers for good or for unhealthy and making it your individual. That is the magic, that is the trick. It is truly making an attempt to not be a replica of anyone. It is making an attempt to take data and make it about you.”

Notts County supervisor Nolan, 36, was top-of-the-line goalscoring midfielders of his technology and realized his commerce below former Bolton, Newcastle, West Ham and England boss Sam Allardyce.

Nolan, who grew to become Leyton Orient supervisor at 33, vows “to by no means have a pre-meditated concept about something”.

He mentioned: “You must have your individual judgement. Fourteen individuals might inform me somebody is an fool, but when that particular person treats me with respect and reveals me what I want, then I deal with as I discover.

“You belief individuals and belief their opinion however I need my opinion. I’ll at all times be me. If that is not ok then sorry, that is who I’m.”

By no means cease studying

Coleman leads the celebrations after guiding Accrington to promotion from League Two final season

Coleman has taken Accrington into the third tier of English soccer for the primary time of their historical past and is approaching his 1,000th recreation as a boss.

“You’re at all times studying, making an attempt to soak up information and educate your self,” mentioned the 55-year-old. “I’ve accomplished my badges, my professional licence and simply accomplished a diploma in soccer administration. I’m thirsty for information and thirsty to speak to different individuals.

“For those who do not attempt to progress you’ll rapidly go backwards.”

Nolan added: “There have been a couple of surprises, however not that many as a result of I used to be such a hands-on captain. Sam Allardyce gave me a variety of authority by way of the right way to run the dressing room and he was my soundboard.

“I took an actual curiosity in all features of the sport, from the sports activities science to the physio. I needed to know what they had been doing and why they had been doing it. I at all times had the imaginative and prescient that I needed to be a supervisor. I attempted to soak up as a lot data as I might.

“All my employees say I’m like a sponge, which is a pleasant factor.”

Get to know your gamers

It is easy to lose focus and change into sidetracked with all of the nonsense and noise round modern-day soccer.

However Rowett, who was succeeded by Lampard at Derby, mentioned the essential issue to being profitable is definitely quite simple – it comes all the way down to the gamers.

“As I say to any younger supervisor developing, you must have as many strings to your bow as potential,” he mentioned. “Coping with individuals isn’t just about understanding about soccer, it is about how individuals tick and getting the very best out of various characters and people.

“Any administration function is about coping with individuals. Everybody is aware of – to totally different levels – about soccer and the right way to coach, the right way to manoeuvre a crew tactically. However finally it is about the way you deal with individuals and the way they really feel once they go on the pitch taking part in for you.”

Coleman believes attending to know gamers “exterior of soccer” can be key.

“They’re crucial a part of the membership,” he mentioned. “Deal with them like males and with respect after which hopefully you’re going to get respect again.

“The extra time you may commit to them the higher response you’re going to get. In a gaggle of 24 gamers you should have about 18 totally different personalities and you must cater for all of them. That may be a process in itself.”

Getting on with the boss

And, after all, it by no means does any hurt to have a superb relationship with these in cost. Lampard is the sixth supervisor to work below Derby chairman and proprietor Mel Morris in lower than three years, however has loved his first month in cost.

“I’ve a variety of time for anyone who not solely owns a membership however cares about it and Mel Morris definitely does,” he mentioned. “I’d like to deliver success right here to him.

“It is a case of placing all of it collectively and having good conversations with the proprietor, which I do have, and discovering out what’s greatest for the membership and going for it.”

Nolan added: “The chairman (Alan Hardy) trusts me to do my job and fortunately I’ve been capable of give him some good instances.

“I’m not saying he would not query me as a result of if he did not I’d be questioning why he places all his cash into the membership.

“He ought to need solutions. Hopefully 95% of the time I give him ones he needs or he sees why we’re doing what we’re doing and why it’s how it’s.”

And loosen up…

Generally, although, it is simply greatest to maintain schtum.

“Prior to now I have been anyone who has opened their mouth slightly bit too quickly and it is come again to chew me on the bottom,” mentioned former Manchester Metropolis midfielder Barton. “I’ll strive not to do this as a supervisor.

“For me the main target has been at all times on the crew, getting absolutely the most out of them. I get that if you’re on the touchline there’s a duty that comes with being a modern-day supervisor.”

Coleman added: “The most effective recommendation I’d give can be to not react to issues that disappoint you. There may be at all times one other day.

“Prior to now I’ve been responsible of getting actually low and you are taking it personally and it has an influence on your loved ones, so attempt to keep away from that.”

Delegate to build up

Lampard says his teaching employees, which incorporates Jody Morris and Shay Given, are completely essential

The artwork of excellent administration is delegation, in response to many. Surrounding your self with a top quality backroom employees and understanding when to let go is significant.

Coleman’s assistant boss Jimmy Bell has been with him from the beginning, whereas Lampard was fast to get his long-time pal and profitable Chelsea youth coach Jody Morris as his quantity two as a part of a rigorously constructed crew.

“Jody is massively necessary,” mentioned Lampard. “We performed collectively at a really younger age and we performed in opposition to one another at a good youthful age. We’re excellent associates.

“He has nice expertise at Chelsea with the youth crew there and the academy as an entire so he’s essential for me.”

Rowett mentioned constructing a superb backroom employees is essential as a result of “there are such a lot of aspects to your job the time constraints make it tough”.

Embrace it, take pleasure in it and roll with it

And by no means lose sight of the rationale you bought into soccer as a fresh-faced child.

“God prepared, we are going to get our 1,000th recreation this season,” mentioned Coleman, now in his second spell as Stanley boss. “My enthusiasm hasn’t waned and if something it’s got stronger with this group of gamers.

“You see a variety of issues that may get you down and disillusioned however I’m doing a job I’d do even when I did not receives a commission. The novelty hasn’t worn off.”

On the different finish of the dimensions, Lampard is getting ready for recreation primary as a supervisor in opposition to Studying on Friday. He says “I like all of it” – to this point, not less than.

“You’re full on,” he added. “I take it house with me and that is been part of my life which I’ve needed to change slightly bit. However the total feeling is pleasure.”

Rowett mentioned: “I’ve had gamers arrested halfway by means of a coaching session by plain garments police. I’ve had all kinds of issues which have gone off. They do not train you that in ‘How To Handle’.

“However it’s a enjoyable job, an gratifying job – and it is not even actually a job. It is a enjoyable factor and one thing all of us take pleasure in doing. You possibly can’t overlook that.”

Win, win, win

However, after all, there’s just about simply the one factor that truly ensures survival…

“You possibly can have all of the ideology on the planet about the right way to play however it’s good to win video games rapidly,” concluded Rowett. “For those who win video games, that buys you time after which you will have time to get your ideology throughout. It is hen and egg, actually.”

Rowett’s first job was at Burton Albion, earlier than becoming a member of Birmingham, Derby after which Stoke in the summertime

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