#like. i think it attempts to add too many mechanics in a way that detracts from atmosphere

[shesmore-shoebill]

oh im so glad courtney came in to explicitly say "this is an AWFUL game to try to learn controls from" because its true. and to hug amanda. and provide fnaf insights.

[a-skirmish-of-wit-and-lit]

Book Review: A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik

This one emanates all the dark academia vibes. It's Hogwarts-y in all the ways you'd expect. You know--if Hogwarts were a professor-less architectural monster out to devour its students any time they climbed a stairwell, touched a bannister, took a shower, or crossed the threshold into the classroom or the cafeteria. The school is a shadowy presence, an enigma, all on its own. It's a true diadem of monster-mashing magic and darkness.

Scholomance is the biggest omnipresent "character," for sure!

Throw in a rude, mouthy, cynical loner heroine with no enclave privileges named Galadriel "El" who's just angling to survive through to senior graduation, still in one piece, and a do-gooder named Orion Lake whom she resents for his Hero Complex because he won't stop slaying maleficara "mals" wherever he treads, going out of his way to save her and the rest of her classmates from harm, and you have the premise of the book. The basic conflict ripples outward from that. Alliances are forged, broken; friendships form in unlikely places among unlikely individuals; and death lurks around every corner, from behind every bedroom curtain.

What was different about this one, particularly for a fantasy novel, was how it was told largely in introspective monologue. I wouldn't go so far to classify it as stream of consciousness but it does have a voice or a flow similar to that of a journal. A diary. It's conversational in a way you'd come to anticipate from the mind of a teenager...

*One who just so happens to find herself in Death Trap matriculation*

El catalogues her experiences, her surroundings, with a critical eye and a brash sense of humor. Details are enhanced not overlooked. Her explanations about the hierarchy, history, magical mechanics and mythology of the Scholomance add to the intricacy of the world instead of detracting from it.

I'm sure some people will take issue with Novik's choice of style, may even ascribe it with misnomers like "info dumpy," but I disagree. I found the structure of this to be surprising. Refreshing. Descriptions do comprise a significant portion of the plot, but I was unbothered by them, didn't mind their prolific presence, seeing as how I liked learning as well as reading about many of the school's features.

I will say character development may have suffered as a result of this, however. I felt more connected to the setting/world than to some of the characters I met along the way.

El and Orion's antagonist banter was a hoot, though. She was not impressed or gratified by his hero antics, and homegirl ain't afraid to let him know it! I also appreciated that El isn't altogether likable, main character or not, because she does grow on you in degrees. You warm to her in that one step forward, two steps back fashion.

I prefer to be courted by my characters, you know? Let me think them obnoxious, callous, impolite, unfeeling until they peel back their softer layers for me, one-by-one. El does have the most defining set of characteristics of any of the students, so I'm hoping the next book in the series will flush out the others out more.

Still, a fun back to school read! Makes one glad to have escaped school without one's desk attempting to take a chomp out of one's kneecaps.

"I hated the idea; it made him too much of a decent person, and what right did he have to be a decent person, on top of a monumentally stupid gigantic hero?"

3/5 stars

*You can follow me on Goodreads

[doggodysk-blog]

I seriously underrated The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

**Some minor spoilers contained in this review**

I won’t beat around the bush, BOTW isn’t just the best game I’ve played this year, it’s the best game I’ve played in a long, long time. Maybe ever. This is coming from someone who was skeptical of an open-world Zelda game, as Ocarina of Time was my favorite Zelda game before this, I really enjoyed the traditional dungeon and progression.

I don’t say “potentially the best game I’ve ever played” lightly. I went into this game critically, looking for things it didn’t do well. And, of course, there are some things it doesn’t do quite as well as others. However, overall, the game is a true masterpiece and a testament to everything Nintendo’s creative minds are capable of. I truly think that nearly everything implemented in this game is implemented nearly perfectly.

The Not So Good

This is all I can think of for negatives. While this seems like a long list, a lot of critical thinking about the game went into this, and, for the most part, these are all very minor. I cannot stress this enough, these negatives DO NOT even come close to detracting from the overall experience of the game. I am only listing these to try to be as objective and honest as I can, as I believe calling it a “perfect” game would be disingenuous.

Graphics and Art

The game can drop in FPS pretty significantly, particularly when there are a lot of particles or in large fights.

Some character models aren’t very visually appealing. Compared to the beauty of the world, character models are somewhat lackluster, particularly their faces.

Enemies

Enemy difficulty can be a little low. The first time or two, Major Tests of Strength or Hinoxes or Lynels were tricky. However, after those times, I never really struggled to fight them and win. I’m sure my thoughts on this will change once I start my Master playthrough.

There isn’t an enormous amount of enemy variations.

Puzzles

Some puzzles can be a bit finicky, especially motion control puzzles. Usually it’s not too bad and just requires a few tries, but it can be bothersome at times.

While they were fun and well designed, the Divine Beasts really didn’t take much time to get through compared to the rest of the game. I would have liked to see them take a tad bit longer.

Considering how there is no way (that I know of) to locate Korok Seed puzzles via the map/Shiekah Locator, it can be somewhat tedious to expand your inventory. Perhaps it would be better if you needed an extra seed every two upgrades instead of one, or implement a way to find the seeds.

*Further reading has shown that this problem is solved by one of the DLC’s which I have not read yet.

Weapons and Items

While the weapon durability system is a lot better than I expected it to be, and I actually think the system as a whole adds to the game, I think weapons should all have a bit more durability.

Special arrows are a bit expensive, and hard to find from chests and enemy bases. I would like to see them show up in chests a bit more often, especially considering the amount of basic swords and bows I find. This affected me more than it may affect other people, because I have been going for a stealth-archer style character.

Mechanics and Systems

Link is weirdly bad at swimming, considering how good he is at climbing. There have been times where I was feet from shore and drowned. This can be pretty frustrating.

The Shrine locator is a bit noisy.

In some areas, it rains just a tad bit too much.

Personal Complaints

This is a personal preference and not objective nor does it really detract from the game, but I don’t like the fact that there is voice acting. I prefer Zelda games to only have the unintelligible noise when you interact with someone and background music.

This is a complaint of mine personally but also a testament to the scope of the game: there’s a bit too much to do. I’m a completionist and really like to complete games I play 100%, especially if they are games I really enjoy. There is just so much. The most tedious is the astounding 700 Korok seeds. I plan on completing everything but the Korok seeds, but the fact that there are so many of them is a bit annoying to me as a completionist.

The Good

As I’ve already said, this game is astounding. One could write a book about how incredible the game design of BoTW is. It’s simultaneously intricate yet simple, easy yet with an infinite skill ceiling. This game will be studied by developers for years to come.

The World of BoTW

The world is gorgeous, and huge. Everywhere I go, I am struck by the beauty and the atmosphere. Every ridge I climb up, I come across a beautiful landscape view. I personally don’t enjoy exploring open-world games that much in general, but BOTW has completely changed that. Everywhere I explore is fun and exciting.

Continuing off of the last point in the last paragraph, the world is dense. I’m very rarely bored while roaming through the world. Whether it’s needing to go quickly so that my Fire Resistance Potion doesn’t wear off, needing to stealthily navigate a field to avoid Guardians, coming across a large Bokoblin camp, seeing old chests hidden in lakes, finding interesting NPC’s and doing missions for them, or simply coming across shrines and towers, there is always something to do.

The world is fully open, but you’re never lost. In a lot of open-world games, I find myself going in a direction where I shouldn’t be and either be turned back because I shouldn’t go that way or getting lost. In BoTW, they deter exploration into later areas by putting you up against enemies that are difficult. You could push your way through, but it will be challenging, and you are usually naturally and intuitively led on a path of enemies that of an appropriate difficulty. Before going into the game, I felt I would feel overloaded with options, but I usually am able to intuitively do what seems right to me. This fully open-world also makes the game excellent for speed running, as you are only limited by how good you are.

The Beauty in the Details

The Towns and Villages are all thought out with incredible amounts of detail. They each have distinct cultures and histories that are reflected through the architecture, lifestyle, and personalities of the NPC’s. Whether it’s a laid-back beach village or a prosperous, modern town that was mostly unaffected by the Calamity, each town and village is fun and engaging to explore.

Speaking of NPC’s, they’re very well-written. Even basic NPC’s in towns and on paths all have personality quirks that make them entertaining to talk to. BoTW has perhaps the most well-written NPC’s in any game I’ve played. Every one has a witty anecdote or hints at a treasure or shrine.

The world is full of small bits of history that paint a large picture of the history of the world of Hyrule. Each book you read or slate you find tells a story, and when you put them together, you get a fully fleshed out history of not just Hyrule, but each area and each Village.

Puzzles and Quests

The quests are abundant and fun. There are few “filler” quests that I have come across, almost all of them are either genuinely fun or very short. My favorite of these quests are Shrine quests, which offer puzzles in the forms of riddles. These are very creative and often times quite tricky to decipher.

The puzzle system is well-thought and a refreshing shift from traditional puzzles. The tutorial section does a good job of introducing the basic concepts of the Sheikah Slate’s abilities as well as showing that puzzles often have more to them than meets the eye. The player quickly learns that most puzzles have a relatively basic main path following a certain theme, and side paths which offer secret rewards for taking the themes learned from the main puzzle, and making them more complex.

Mechanics and Systems

The stealth system is, surprisingly, extremely well done. I went into the game knowing stealth was a possibility, but thinking it wouldn’t be a fully-fleshed system. Regardless of that, I knew I wanted to attempt a stealth playthrough, and wow. After honing my skills for the first few hours of the game, such as landing headshots, target selection, and use of my environment, I could easily clear most camps without being detected with some thought. As someone who loves stealth games, I really appreciate this system.

Outside of perhaps Dark Souls, the sword fighting system is the best of any game I’ve played. It does an excellent job of being interactive, rewarding good timing, giving you options, and allowing for personal skill progression. At first, I was slightly concerned that the controls weren’t very intuitive and that I would struggle to implement it in fights, however, with just minutes of practice, I was able to get a solid grasp of it. The sword combat system is an excellent example of “Easy to Learn, Hard to Master.”

The physics and weather systems make the world feel alive. I haven’t played a game that has put this much attention to science details. The biology of the animals matches their terrain. Things that you think should work, work. If you have a metal weapon out in a thunderstorm, you’ll get struck by lightning. Hot air will rise, so if you set something on fire, you are able to use that to your advantage. Rain makes things slippery, but usually not impassable (if you have enough stamina).

Additional Aspects

There are a lot of fun things to do on the side of the game, such as experimenting with cooking and potions, or filling out your Hyrule Compendium. There is always something to keep you from getting bored.

I’m a sucker for games with multiple playstyles, and the armor system in the game does that very well. For instance, I played mostly with the stealth armor, but you could also use armor that helps you climb better, swim faster, or be protected from certain elements. Another thing the armor system does very well is give you collecting options. You can buy pieces of armor from stores around the land, or you can earn them from various missions.

While the game doesn’t require exploration, it encourages it in a very natural way. If you want to upgrade your health or stamina, or want to get more inventory, or want better food and potions, or want more powerful weapons, then you’ll have to explore. None of these are required to finish the game whatsoever, but are accessible and fun to look for. I believe that the natural and flawless way that they encourage you to explore the beautiful open world they have created is the pinnacle of all of the excellent game design that BoTW exhibits, and future open-world games will look to BoTW for inspiration for how to create their own worlds.

Summary

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the best thing the gaming community has scene in quite some time. It marks a positive shift not only for the Legend of Zelda franchise, but for open-world games as a whole. Despite its few minor flaws, this game is a masterpiece from the largest of scales down to the tiniest of details.

[of-invisible-ties]

My ideas for a Fire Emblem game

[ So I was playing through the Thabes Labyrinth in Echoes, and an idea just sorta struck me. What if, I thought to myself, the next Fire Emblem game made dungeons a huge part of the story? Then, I came up with a story that I’d do. So, under the cut, prepare for my “rough sketch” for my own idea for a Fire Emblem game! ]

[ Warning: this gets LONG. However, I’m perfectly fine with likes or reblogs to this long, long ramble. ]

The storyline’s exposition and first chapters 

The first chapter has you playing as what appears to be the main lord. He’s well-dressed and knowledgeable -- seemingly the leader of the exploration team. In fact, he’s teemed up with some acquaintances to tackle an Echoes-style dungeon. However, early conversations with the other members of the group yields the truth. You’re not a lord, nor even in any position of power. Instead, you and your comrades are servants of the game’s lord, who has irresponsibly tarried ahead of the group and has gotten lost. 

 You then enter a conversation about your liege’s tendencies, and uncover the latter’s long streak of irresponsible, hasty decisions. The current king has sent said lord into this dungeon in attempt to get him to learn some maturity. Frustrated by his son’s lack of maturity, he threatens to disown the boy if he shirks this one task or fails to succeed. A flashback, revealing these servants and that lord divulges how this fact changes him. It doesn’t make him mature nor determined to see the task through. Rather, this whole affair terrifies him, and it puts him on edge. 

 Despite his hotheadedness, this young lord is rather sensitive. He feigns a sense of not caring, but, when push comes to shove, the cowardice he’s ashamed of brings itself to the fore. The real reason he took off was because the group got ambushed by bandits while exploring the temple, and the kid panicked. An early question is asked by the other servants: do you care about your young liege or not? The answer you give will shape your character’s later opinions and answers. Which is another game mechanic I’d like to include: branching dialogue paths. I’m thinking that you’ll sometimes be asked questions prior to the start of battle, too, and your answers will change the map’s objectives. 

As for why there are bandits here -- well, that plays into the king’s motivations for sending his own kid down the dungeon. As it turns out, the local wastrels and bandits have taken refuge in an old labyrinth, and the king’s real objective was to teach his son to quickly respond to threats like these. He sent this servant band -- you and your group -- to protect his son because you’re all capable fighters. No one could’ve predicted that things would go wrong like they did. 

Another aspect I’d like to introduce to the storyline is forbidden magic. Among these bandits are witches and sorcerers who practice a brand of magic that the kingdom outlawed. This is, in fact, my attempt at bringing back the magic weapon triangle from the GBA and Tellius games: dark, light, and anima tomes all make a return. Dark magic simply has more of a plotline relevance, in that it’s been held in contempt by the country’s clergy (light magic users) and all practitioners of it are to be exiled. Anima magic users are freelance magicians without any allegiances to a kingdom. Magical mercenaries, if you will. 

The prepromote character

 The obligatory prepromote in your group is a dark magic user, but she turned herself in and told the king about where her former associates were hiding, bringing about this whole affair of exploring the dungeon. She is the least trusted in your tight-knit group, and some of your options pertain to her. All the servants sans her are close friends, having served the king together for years. In the manner of a clique, they exclude this suspicious dark magic user and converse with you several feet away from her.

 You learn that some of them are literally terrified of dark magic, but others simply hold her in scorn. You can choose to protest against leaving her out of conversations or not. If you’re “too mean” to her, you’ll lose the option of supporting with her when supports are unlocked. Feeling affronted by your shabby treatment, she may even leave the group or rejoin the enemy. (Being mean to her, however, will earn the approval and trust from your group. This makes it easier to unlock more supports from your group when supports are unlocked.)

Recruitments

Another important thing is how you recruit new allies. Because you spend a lot of the first act exploring this one dungeon, I came up with the idea of said dungeon also being prone to the occasional group of explorers who are unrelated to the outlaws. It’s not a well known fact that a large bandit group dwells here, seeing as the king needed a former member of the group to even know of their base of operations.

 Therefore, explorers, for one reason or another, roam the labyrinths as well. Thus, not everyone you meet is an enemy. Sometimes, battles of story importance include green “other” units that are simply spectators that can be persuaded to by either side to join them. If the enemy reaches them first, you have to bribe them to join you or cut them down. 

However, some new recruits simply join you after a new cut-scene introduces them. Much in the manner of Echoes, this dungeon includes save rooms or, in fact, rooms without any enemies inside. These rooms now serve a purpose of being introduced to a new recruit. Perhaps you’ll meet one of your servant friends who got separated from the group, and thus rejoins easily. Perhaps you’ll encounter some of your dark magic user’s friends who want to turn over a new leaf. (Which is another benefit to keeping your prepromote around.)  Or, in fact, you may find an explorer unaffiliated to anyone, but is inclined to join you. 

A big change to this, however, is an added incentive to keep every one of your units alive. An explorer who is unaffiliated to your group may be acquaintances with other explorers of the labyrinth. Therefore, they’re needed to recruit someone else. Your original group may be friends with explorers or even members of the bandits. Until a chapter of recruitment occurs, you have no way of knowing who is needed for what, so you’re adjured to make sure everyone’s alive.

Gameplay notes

I think that this game would play like most FE’s in which every character can hold a total of five items of your choice. Weapons ranks and the weapon triangle are, of course, relevant. Skills make a comeback, and I’m thinking they’re tied to weapons as they were in Echoes. However, you don’t need the weapon equipped to employ the skill it taught you. (I’ll likely put a limit on how many skills a character could learn to stop this from becoming too overpowered, however. Of course, you can always delete a skill to make room for a new one.) 

All weapons except staves have unlimited uses. This is because I think that weapon durability in a dungeon-based game would detract from the fun. A wary player would be more likely to fret for a weapon running out and would begrudge skirmishes because extended combat makes for weapons breaking faster. Fates has demonstrated that unbreakable weapons are not as overpowered as it sounds, although I’d likely not include the self-debuffing weapons. 

Weapon ranks raise at a pace similar to Awakening’s. Fates made weapon ranks increase at a snail’s pace, which isn’t fun at all. 

Fatigue and rations return, to simulate that you’re going through a dungeon, and, thus, doing that will exhaust your party members. I’ll likely make characters who boast of being hardy or healthy have their fatigue decrease more slowly than those with less endurance. For example, say a new recruit has been exploring dungeons for years. Because said recruit would be more accustomed to how long dungeons are, he or she won’t tire out as fast as novice explorers. 

Dungeons play out similarly to how they were in Echoes. You roam about and try to get from room to room, and skirmishes occur when you run into a roaming enemy. Due to dark magic’s plot relevance, I’m thinking that monsters spawned by dark magic also appear as enemies. 

Unlike Echoes, however, there’s far more enemy variety. I’m thinking that I’ll use the branched promotions seen in Sacred Stones, Awakening, and Fates so that both playable characters and enemies have more variety. I’ll likely also introduce the “trainee” classes from Sacred Stones as well (think villagers in Echoes) who can promote to two new classes of their choice. 

Note that cantors, which can summon monsters at whim, will either excluded entirely or will receive nurfed summons. There were tedious in Echoes, and I’d rather not have that tedium return. 

A big change I want to make is that enemies can use weapon-based skills, too. Bosses get tougher skills, but some enemies can access weapon skills on their turn to add a new spin on the combat that would occur. You’ll be able to view these skills, of course, and you can prepare for them accordingly. 

As referenced earlier, I’ll definitely retain supports in this game. It will likely be in the GBA and Tellius style of supports, in that each character has an average of six to eight characters they can converse with. However, they will NOT be limited to five supports per playthrough. Much like in Awakening and Fates, all supports (with the exception of more than one s-support) can be viewed in one playthrough. 

I’m undecided if I’m including pair-up mechanics, but they’ll likely work the same way they did in Fates, in that enemies can use them as well, and that they can be used in either “attack” or “support” stance.

Skirmish maps will change based on what floor you’re on and what you’re near in the dungeon. My biggest gripe with the Echoes dungeons was that skirmishes felt static and stale, as many repeated maps and enemy placements kept happening. Save for story-related maps -- which, of course, will be vastly different from standard maps -- most of the skirmish maps will be randomly generated. However, they will be based on what you’re near, what sort of enemies have attacked you, and if there are magic users on the enemy side.

As a continuation of the above point, yes, magic users can affect map layouts. Why? Because the Dragon Veins mechanic from Fates will return here, too. Much like how Dragon Veins had a huge effect on Fates’ maps, this game’s “Dragon Veins” also have layout-changing abilities. Because magical ability is of story import, I’m thinking that mages -- specifically dark magic users -- can access special points of the map which have immense magical concentration. In-story, most dungeons will have an extensive history, such as being home to old monsters or a clan’s magical ancestor. Their power, which still runs rampant through the dungeon, can be accessed by magic users and can be used to alter or affect a map. Hopefully, this will add a lot of variety to skirmishes. 

Another idea I have for keeping maps fresh and fun is for having Radiant Dawn’s height mechanics return. For those unaware, this means that enemies who fight you from atop a ledge or atop a staircase receive accuracy buffs and you, the defender, receive accuracy penalties. However, this also holds true if you attack an enemy from higher up, too. This means it’s optimal for you to take the higher ground before the enemies do. 

Available Classes

You’ll have your standard Fire Emblem fare available here: cavaliers, archers, pegasus knights, wyvern riders, fighters, knights, mages, healers, thieves, and, of course, the lord. However, some classes are exclusive to certain games, and, in the name of variety, I’d like to see them return here. I also have my own ideas for this game’s lord class. In no particular order, the classes that I’d like to see return include:

Monks (from Blazing Sword and Sacred Stones): as mentioned previously, I want light magic to make a return, and what better way to see this come true than to include the primary light-using class of old? Monks are the light-magic equivalent of the more better-known mages and dark mages, and they’ll likely retain their branched promotion in Sacred Stones: options to premote into Bishop or Sage.  In this vein, I’ll likely include a light magic tome with Sacred Stones’ slayer effect (which allows the user’s light magic to deal effective damage against monsters.

If I opt to include enemy cantors, I’ll likely give your side summoners. Summoners are a class from Sacred Stones who can summon phantoms to fight alongside them. They could conjure one phantom at a time, and these phantoms always spawn with 1 hp, zero on both defenses, and random stats and weapons. (Which is similar to Invoke in Echoes.) I’ll likely have these phantoms get stronger as their summoner levels up. For example, a starting summoner will have phantoms with 1 hp and zero defenses, but, eventually, they’ll be able to summon phantoms with better hp, defenses, offenses, and, of course, weapons.  They’ll also be able to dismiss phantoms if they so wish (which can’t be done in either Sacred Stones or Echoes.)

Ninjas (Fates): I personally really like the debuffing daggers and I do wish that they’d make a return. I’d likely weaken the class a bit, because Fates did make them a tad overpowered. A nurf I’d give is to resistance and speed. Ninjas were way too fast and had crazy-high evasion. They’d still will have respectable speed, but not to the ridiculous amounts of Fates’ ninjas. Daggers, however, will be separate from the weapon triangle (just as bows normally are). 

Trainees/villagers (Sacred Stones and Echoes): I’ve lumped them together because these two classes serve the exact same purpose. That of an underpowered class promoting into a normal class after reaching a certain level. However, you have the option of promoting this trainee into whatever you please. Lore-wise, these trainees will accompany either veteran explorers in the hopes of learning something from them, or else are hostages with relevance to recruited characters. Either way, they are highly customizable classes that i think warrant a return. 

Soldiers/Spear Fighters (Tellius series and Fates): I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I’d like infantry spear-using classes to make a return in this game. I’d likely give them a infantry option and a mounted option for their branched promotion, but they’ll function similar to how they did in the aforementioned games.

The lord class of this game will be simply refereed to as lord. The class of choice for the irresponsible boy I’ve spoken of earlier, this class wields anima magic as its weapon of choice. I think a magic-using lord works for variety, and it also simulates a coward, because the lord will mention picking magic to safely attack enemies from afar. He will receive an exclusive anima tome that recovers half of the HP dealt to the enemy to compensate for a mage’s typically lower defenses. The promotion, which occurs after some character development (in that he feels somewhat confident in himself as both a person and in his position of power), will include swords, a close-ranged weapon. 

Ending thoughts

Of course, I’m speaking entirely hypothetically about the creation of a game like this, and I only really fleshed it out this much when I opted to put my vague ideas into one long post. Anyways, I’m perfectly open to feedback! Let me know what you think -- do my ideas sound good to you or not? What classes or gameplay mechanics would YOU include? Of course, leave a like if you’ve enjoyed hearing my long ol’ ramble!

[konnl]

International Bestselling Author Kathrin Hutson Releases the First Installment of Dystopian Sci-Fi Series, Sleepwater Beat

This month’s guest author is Kathrin Hutson. She has been writing fantasy and sci-fi since 2000 because she cannot get enough of tainted heroes, excruciating circumstances, impossible decisions, and Happy Never Afters. She also works as a ghost writer in almost all genres and as an editor through KLH CreateWorks. She lives with her husband, daughter and their two dogs. Let’s learn more about her writing by welcoming Kathrin Hutson to the blog!

Thank you for joining us Kathrin Hutson, congratulations on the release! Can you give us a brief introduction to yourself?

Yes! As far as general stuff about my writing is concerned, I go dark. Some people might ask, “When there’s already so much craziness in the world, why would you add more to it?” To this, my answer is pretty simple (and still so easy to forget within all that craziness): It’s not only about the darkness. More importantly, it’s also about how my characters (and people in general) grow and shift (or not) from within that darkness. Or in spite of it. I don’t write happy endings, and for one unsuspecting reader who took a chance on one of my books, “It wasn’t happy enough.” And I wear that like a badge of honor. But I do write hopeful endings, transformative endings, self-aware and self-empowered endings. For me, the fun isn’t in wrapping everything up in a little bow and calling it “happy”. It’s about reaching the darkest places, exploring them with painful clarity, and illuminating all the possibilities that arise from within.

Now that we went down that road… people seem constantly surprised in meeting me or speaking with me that I am a smiley, laughing, super approachable, ridiculously optimistic person. I wasn’t always that way, that’s for sure. Every person has their darkness and their light. Somehow, I think I’ve managed to siphon all my darkness into my career as an author, and everything that’s left fills my real life with joy and peace and excitement for where I am now and where I’m going in the future. That’s not always easy to maintain, either, with a two-year-old who’s smarter and more stubborn than both of her parents combined (and my husband and I can be a real handful). A few people have also called me a hippie, which is cool too. I’m pretty sure if I’d been born 45 years earlier, I would’ve rocked the 70s! And I do very much enjoy a well-aged bourbon.

Tell us about your new novel, Sleepwater Beat, and how you came about creating this series?

Sleepwater Beat was my first attempt at two things: 1) Dystopian Sci-Fi (or really anything not Dark Fantasy); and 2) an experimental writing style for a long short story of 35,000 words. #2 was a complete failure. I had this crazy idea for “the beat”, which is what these characters call this series’ brand of superpowers—eliciting physical responses in those who hear a very special kind of speaking. Then I thought I could recreate the effect of storytelling-by-vignette a la Memento, only why go backward in time chronologically? Let’s try mixing up the timeline so it makes no sense! That’s what I did. I literally listed each scene on one line, cut them up into little strips, and rearranged them so that no two scenes were placed chronologically together (either backward or forward) with no discernible pattern. It was… interesting. My writing workshop at the time, Charleston Writers Group in Charleston, SC, said pretty much the same. Great writing, interesting concept, wtf is going on with the order of these scenes, and oh, hey! You should turn this into a novel!

Their enthusiasm was so contagious, I did exactly that. I didn’t think I had it in me to turn this awkward short story into a novel. There was so much literary surgery that it took me two years. And a lot of self-doubt, frustration, terror, and pretty much all the emotions I had never felt about any other work I’ve ever written. I did keep most of the “flashback” scenes from Leo’s past and a bit of an unconventional story method in Part 1 (alternating between the present storyline, those flashbacks of her life, and short interludes of dystopian world-building revealed through news-report transcripts. So far, I’ve heard that I captured the “fake news” vibe perfectly. I’ll let readers speculate who that was modeled after…) When I’d included all those and strung them together into the narrative of Leo’s present, I hit a bit of a wall with continuing. Because I realized that Sleepwater Beat as a novel was actually a form of me telling my own story.

That was where the terror really came from. I have never put as much of myself into a main character as I put into Leo Tieffler. I’m definitely not as brooding and anti-social (thank goodness), and I really do care what people think of me personally despite having developed a thick skin necessary for any author. Of course, the details are different, but the parallels were really astounding. Many of the characters from Leo’s past were inspired by real people in my life. So many of those flashback scenes were inspired by real events I did actually experience. And many, many relationships throughout the book reflect in a staggering way a select few relationships I’ve had myself during my relatively short life. At one point, I thought I was writing myself and was terrified that it would seriously detract from the story. At another point, I struggled desperately to write all the social and economic commentary touched upon through this book as subtly as possible… before agonizing over the possibility that it just wasn’t screaming loud enough.

Now that it’s out, now that I’ve gotten feedback from readers and fans (and not just my alpha and beta readers, whose opinions I value quite a lot), I think I’ve done a pretty decent job of mixing it all up to let Sleepwater Beat be its own story. And it very much is.

How many books can readers expect to find in your new sci-fi series? Or is this a secret?

Well, this is Book 1 of the Blue Helix series, so of course there will be more. I already have Book 2 brewing in the primordial ooze of creativity that is my writing mind. All I can say for sure is that there will be at least three books. Most likely more. And as a pantser, I can’t really say more than that, because I won’t have any clue myself until I sit down and put it all to paper. When it feels finished and the characters quit begging for their stories to be exposed, then I guess it’ll be done.

You have a love of writing wild characters, and your new series features an LGBT component, how did come to be?

The first answer for that is that it felt right for the story. Leo isn’t a “wild character”, by any means. The fact that I wrote an LGBT main character isn’t particularly wild either. But she encounters other wild characters, and she gets flung into some pretty wild circumstances. I also wanted her to be real—existing within that gray area encompassing where she belongs, where her loyalties lie, who she trusts, what she’s willing to do, how far she’s willing to go… and, yes, who she’s attracted to. I also wanted to give her a little bit of a break within all her struggles by adding something like a love interest. It’s not very romantic (romance exists in all of my work, but none of it is particularly “romantic”. That’s the one genre I just can’t pin down, and I’m totally okay with that). In the original failed short-story experiment, Leo and her “mentor” Karl (for lack of a better term) with the organization called Sleepwater had a bit of a fling. Honestly, it felt like shoving two strangers’ heads together and saying, “Great, now kiss each other. And enjoy it!” So I dropped that in the novel.

Leo’s romantic relationship with Alex, a character from her past, was there to show the side of this main character that wanted to be a protector—someone who’d never been cared for herself and who knew the consequences of being abandoned by those who were supposed to look after her. She wanted to be that for Alex so badly that she took it a little too far, and then her fear of losing Alex became the self-fulfilling prophecy of becoming just like the people in her life who’d dropped Leo without a second thought.

Leo’s “romantic” relationship with Kaylee, another character with the beat who’s a part of Sleepwater, is definitely not as easily defined. Mostly, Kaylee is the first person who’s ever wanted something very specific from Leo for an incredibly vague reason. At first. And Leo comes to recognize that a part of her likes being told what to do (by Kaylee) when there doesn’t seem to be any ulterior motives. Ulterior motives are all Leo has really ever known, so the brutal honesty and the unapologetic requests are refreshing for her.

Putting all these things into the story with Leo as a heterosexual, cisgender woman would have detracted from her character in so many ways, especially when it comes down to the fact that nothing about her existence—not even where she’s from and who her parents were—is black and white. And in a way, it would have felt like devaluing her character growth and putting through more than a few rounds of sexual objectification. Neither of those are my cup of tea.

Short answer? I wrote more of myself into Leo than I’ve written into any of my other characters to date.

Tell us about Leo, the hero of the story.

Well, now that I answered most of this question in my last diatribe…

Leo is independent and self-reliant by necessity. What’s her ability? When she spins a beat, she can make anyone who hears her believe absolutely whatever she says, even if it’s wildly impossible (and some of it is). She’s put up so many walls around herself in so many different layers as nothing more than a defense mechanism for her own survival. Her mother left when she was three. Her father was one of the greatest minds in technological advancement who became addicted to the same new drug that propelled his career into fame. And it killed him.

She wants everyone to think that she doesn’t give a crap what they think. When she meets Karl and Sleepwater, that “tough girl” façade grows harder and harder to maintain. Even when she’s forced into gunfights and runs from government agencies and gets kidnapped. This woman definitely has a conscience, but she grew up with the repetitious misfortune of finding nothing but pain whenever she followed it. She does the wrong things with the right intentions and has to learn to reconcile them. And in the end, all she really wants is to be accepted, respected, and understood for who she is. Not for her beat. Not for what she’s done or the seemingly unforgiveable mistakes she’s made. Not for who her parents were. And most of the time, she doesn’t even know who she herself really is. So she has to figure it out.

Honestly, she was inspired by Stieg Larsson’s character Lisbeth Salander in the Millennium series (who I fell head-over-heels in love with when I saw the Swedish version of the film and Noomi Rapace as the star). So if we took away Lisbeth Salander’s goth exterior and traded her hacking superpowers for the ability to make people believe whatever she says, we get Leo. Without the solving-murders part.

You mention you’ve been creating worlds since your 10th birthday, has any of the older world building work its way into your published work?

I actually created the world for The Unclaimed trilogy (and my upcoming Vessel Broken series) far before that trilogy became what it is. I think I’d written the first two chapters somewhere in high school, then dropped it because it just didn’t make sense. When I picked it back up again in 2017, I was so ready to re-explore what I’d created and finally write Kherron’s story. I also had to completely rewrite those first two chapters, but it was so worth it.

The majority of the worlds from my amateur writing days (which will never see the light of day) will remain buried in a dusty box in my basement. I took what I needed from them when I created The Unclaimed trilogy, and I get to further explore that world with the Vessel Broken series. But for everything else, my highly sophisticated, painstakingly perfected method of “writing by the seat of my pants” and figuring it out as I go along means that all the new worlds are just that—brand new. And I don’t create them unless I’m going to write and publish the stories that take place there.

What comes first for you, world building or character creation? Or is it a mishmash of both?

Mishmash of everything! The only thing that comes first for me is the first word, then the first sentence. Including something like the first page, that is the hardest part of writing for me. The blank slate. Even when I have all the ideas in my head ready to be unloaded onto paper (or my computer).

So I guess what actually comes first is the “idea”. It’s only ever a theme, or one character in one scene because I like the way they laughed in the face of it, or a setting because it just feels like the right amount of mystically creepy. I usually let those things percolate in my head for anywhere from six months to two years, and when they feel fully brewed (and I have an opening in my timeline for writing new projects), I’ll sit down to begin. Outlining, plotting, character sketches, and world-building before sitting down to write the actual story is an incredibly boring process for me. Every writer has their own method, and those things just aren’t a part of mine. Believe me, I’ve tried. I know it’s because the thing I love most about writing fiction is the act of discovering these characters and these worlds for the first time myself during the writing of them. I get to learn who they are as the ideas just kind of pour through my head and onto the page, and tying together all the woven threads I leave for myself along the way is like playing my own scavenger hunt. More often than not, the characters turn out to do, say, and be completely different things than I originally intended, so an outline or a sketch would have been pointless anyway.

In the case of the Sleepwater Beat series, do you do a lot of research for your world building?

Oh, man. Do I do a lot of research…

Research is something I absolutely loathe. It sucks away the energetic brilliance of building worlds and being in “the zone” of writing and working with magic (for me, that magic is crafting story). I’ve adopted the use of placeholders for this, which means I can keep up my writing momentum to get to the next part of the story already, and I don’t have to tear myself out of the process to go Google something. But I still have to go back after the first draft for that research.

Sleepwater Beat is the first book I ever wrote that actually required any amount of research at all. Obviously, with my Dark Fantasy books, there really wasn’t any research necessary (okay, except for forges and blacksmithing and something about the ingredients of the very first gunpowder). Those worlds are magical and mystical and do not adhere to the physical laws of our world. Sleepwater Beat, as a very near-future Dystopian Sci-Fi, is set in our world. So there was lots and lots of research. It was awful.

I think at one point, I’d spent an hour looking up electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) to use as a plot device in this book. Then when I actually got to the place where I’d intended to use it, the story had changed so much that there isn’t even an odor of EMPs between the front cover and the back. Which is why I now do my research after the writing’s complete.

Let’s thank Kathrin Hutson for joining us again to the blog!

You can find her new novel on her website, amazon, and the various links below:

Website: kathrinhutsonfiction.com

Amazon: amazon.com/Kathrin-Hutson/e/B016N498BS

Twitter: twitter.com/KLHCreateWorks

Goodreads: goodreads.com/author/show/14541725.Kathrin_Hutson

Facebook: facebook.com/KathrinHutsonFiction

Instagram: instagram.com/kathrinhutsonfiction

Thank you so much for having me! I’ve really enjoyed getting to answer these questions (could you tell?).

[sherristockman]

Farmed Salmon Contaminated With Synthetic Tire Chemical Dr. Mercola By Dr. Mercola Do you buy farmed salmon in the belief that it’s the environmentally responsible thing to do? Think again. Fish farms are the water-based equivalents of land-based concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and as such they create the same, if not worse, environmental concerns. Since the salmon pens are placed along wild salmon runs, they pose a severe threat to wild salmon stocks that pass by, exposing wild fish to diseases such as sea lice, pancreas disease,1 infectious salmon anemia virus and piscine reovirus. For a quick review, see “Racing a Virus”2 above — a video created by Alexandra Morton, a Canadian marine biologist who has spent decades studying the impact of salmon farming on wild salmon. Piscine reovirus is a highly contagious blood virus that causes heart disease in the affected fish. The virus was first discovered in Norwegian salmon farms and has proven to be nearly impossible to eradicate. And, with the spread of this disease into wild populations, wild salmon may soon go extinct. Toxins Abound in Farmed Salmon Importantly, farmed salmon also poses health risks to those who eat them. In fact, toxicology testing reveals farmed salmon is one of the most toxic foods in the world — more than five times more toxic than any other food tested.3 A global assessment of farmed salmon published in the January 2004 issue of Science4 found no less than 13 persistent organic pollutants in the fish, including PCBs and dioxins. Other investigations5 reveal PCB concentrations in farmed salmon are, on average, eight times higher than in wild salmon. According to the authors, “Risk analysis indicates that consumption of farmed Atlantic salmon may pose health risks that detract from the beneficial effects of fish consumption.” Another group of scientists concluded that6 “Consumption of farmed salmon at relatively low frequencies results in elevated exposure to dioxins and dioxin-like compounds with commensurate elevation in estimates of health risk.” Farmed Salmon Contain Harmful Fats One of the reasons why farmed salmon contains much higher levels of toxins than wild is because the feed they’re given is highly contaminated. Another reason is because farmed salmon contains far higher levels of fat, which binds and accumulates these toxins. Wild salmon contains about 5 to 7 percent fat, whereas the farmed variety can contain anywhere from 14.5 to 34 percent. The exaggerated fat content in farmed salmon is a direct result of the processed high-fat feed that farmed salmon are given. Their diet also results in radically skewed ratios of omega-3 to omega-6 fats.7 Rather than being a wonderful source of healthy omega-3s, farmed salmon contains far more omega-6 than omega-3. Half a fillet of wild Atlantic salmon contains about 3,996 milligrams (mg) of omega-3 and 341 mg of omega-6.8 Half a fillet of farmed salmon from the Atlantic contains just a bit more omega-3 — 4,961 mg — but an astounding 1,944 mg of omega-6;9 more than 5.5 times more than wild salmon. This lopsided ratio can have negative health ramifications since most people are deficient in omega-3 while already getting far more omega-6 than they need thanks to processed foods, which tend to be high in damaged omega-6 fats. The elevated omega-6 level in farmed salmon is also a result of the feed they’re given, which includes such species-inappropriate ingredients as poultry meal, fish meal, poultry fat, fish oil, whole wheat, soybean meal, corn gluten meal, feather meal and rapeseed oil.10 In essence, the salmon are being fed a processed junk food diet high in toxic contaminants and drugs, and their nutritional composition reflects this. Synthetic Tire Chemical Added to Salmon Feed Has Questionable Safety Profile A chemical of particular concern found in farmed salmon (but not in wild) is ethoxyquin,11 developed by Monsanto in the 1950s. This chemical is a rubber stabilizer (used in the production of tires), pesticide, preservative and antioxidant all in one. While it doesn’t have the health benefits normally associated with dietary antioxidants, it does prevent oxidation of fats, which is why it’s used in different types of animal feed, including fish feed and pet food.12 As explained by Nutraceutical Business Review:13 “Globally, ethoxyquin is not approved for use as a direct food additive in foods for human consumption; therefore, ethoxyquin should not be detectable in the food supply. Specific to the omega-3 industry, some krill meals and crude fish oils for animal feed are preserved using ethoxyquin … The European Union (EU) upper limit in feed (including fish feed, but excluding dog food) is 150ppm ethoxyquin alone or together as the sum of BHA (butylated hydroxyanisole), BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) and ethoxyquin. The maximum content of ethoxyquin allowed in dog food is 100ppm and the mixture of ethoxyquin with BHA and BHT is allowed provided the total mixture doesn’t exceed 150ppm. According to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), ethoxyquin is ‘considered to be toxic to aquatic organisms based on the acute toxicity data provided for fish, daphnia and algae.’” Ethoxyquin Health Effects In human food production, ethoxyquin is used post-harvest to prevent scald (browning) in pears and apples, and as a color-preservative for chili powder, paprika and ground chili powder.14,15 Side effects from direct exposure to this chemical include skin and eye irritation, allergic reactions, depression, reproductive effects, liver and kidney damage and thyroid problems, and it’s known to be “harmful if swallowed.”16 Studies have also shown it adversely affects cell metabolism, especially the metabolic pathways of renal and hepatic cells in rats, and the mitochondria in bovine hearts and kidneys. As noted in one review, “The authors suggested that [ethoxyquin] interacted with site I of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, and it resulted in inhibition of oxygen consumption in the mitochondria of kidney and liver cells when glucose was a respiratory substrate. The effect was dose dependent.”17 According to Chemical News, “While ethoxyquin has not been tested for its carcinogenic potential, a closely related chemical, 1,2-dihydro-2,2,4-trimethylquinoline, showed some evidence of carcinogenic activity in rats. The only suggestion of a potential carcinogenic effect for ethoxyquin came from a Manson et al. (1987) study.18” What Chemical News fails to mention is that the one and only study ever done to assess ethoxyquin’s effects on human health also found carcinogenic effects. This human health study was part of a thesis by Victoria Bohne, a former researcher with the Norwegian National Institute of Nutrition and Seafood Research (NIFES) in Norway, who made a number of disturbing discoveries, including the fact that ethoxyquin can cross the blood brain barrier. She was ultimately pressured to resign from NIFES after attempts were made to falsify and downplay her findings. EFSA has also pointed out that while there’s not enough data to make a conclusion about ethoxyquin’s safety, one of its metabolites, ethoxyquin quinone imine, is “possibly genotoxic,” and the impurity p-phenetidine, produced during the manufacturing process, is suspected of being mutagenic, meaning it may damage your DNA.19 As noted in a 2013 review:20 “Possible carcinogenicity of [ethoxyquin] is probably connected with its prooxidant activity and induction of reactive oxygen radicals which cause DNA damage. DNA damage is usually repaired by cellular repair system, but if it is severe or there are too many lesions, this leads to programmed cell death (apoptosis). Sometimes, however, the programmed cell death pathway is damaged so when the defense mechanisms fail there is no way to stop a cell from becoming a cancer cell. Some in vitro studies showed both cytotoxic effects of [ethoxyquin] leading to cell apoptosis or necrosis and damage of genetic material at DNA or chromosome levels.” Farmed Salmon Is a Significant Source of Ethoxyquin Due to its potential toxicity, the EU has strict limits for ethoxyquin levels in fruits, nuts, vegetables and meat. However, since it was never intended for use in fish, and fish feed manufacturers never informed health authorities that they were using it, there are no limits on how much of the chemical is allowed in seafood. One 2010 study21 found that eating 300 grams of farmed salmon would contribute “at most” 15 percent of the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of ethoxyquin for an individual weighing 60 kilos (132 pounds), and 75 percent of the ADI for BHT — another toxic chemical antioxidant. However, other testing has revealed farmed fish can contain levels of ethoxyquin that are up to 20 times higher than the level allowed in fruits, vegetables and meats, so it can hardly be brushed off as insignificant. There are also lingering questions about just how much of the chemical people are getting from fish when you add in the metabolites of ethoxyquin, as researchers have found the chemical transforms once inside the animal’s body. As one would expect, NIFES insists the levels of ethoxyquin found in fish feed are safe for humans.22 However, considering the lack of research, what guarantees do we have that such claims are accurate? NIFES also claims ethoxyquin is “required to be added to fish-meal in order to prevent it from exploding during sea transport and storage,” and inaccurately states that “Everything is toxic if it is consumed in sufficiently large amounts, which is to say that the amount of a given substance … determines whether or not it can damage our health.” This is not an accurate statement of fact, as researchers have shown that even minute amounts of certain toxins can be dangerous. In some cases there’s no safe level above zero. Studies23 have also demonstrated that even tiny amounts of chemicals, when combined with others, can have significant effects. Even nontoxic chemicals can become carcinogenic at low doses when combined with other chemicals. As noted in one 2015 study,24 "Our analysis suggests that the cumulative effects of individual (noncarcinogenic) chemicals acting on different pathways, and a variety of related systems, organs, tissues and cells could plausibly conspire to produce carcinogenic synergies.” Norwegian Fishery Minister Has Financial Ties to Industry According to Kurt Oddekalv, a Norwegian environmental activist who has brought a lot of attention to the harmful impacts of fish farming, one of the reasons research into the health effects of ethoxyquine is so hard to come by is because it was purposely stifled by the former Norwegian minister of fisheries and coastal affairs, Lisbeth Berg-Hansen,25 a major shareholder in a commercial salmon farm and deputy chair of the board of the Norwegian Institute of Marine Research. In 2009, the Norwegian environmental group Green Warriors of Norway filed charges against Berg-Hansen, claiming her financial conflicts of interest had led her to violate regulations she was supposed to enforce. A 2013 French documentary claimed she was single-handedly responsible for lowering the legal limits of toxins allowed in Norwegian fish. In the documentary, “Poisonous Fish: The Big Health Lie,” Oddekalv also told the filmmakers:26 "… the research budget in the area of ethoxyquin was severely reduced … through pressure from the former Norwegian fishery minister [Berg-Hansen] … The minister herself created the current regulations for fishery. She had full control over the public health authority and everything that had to do with fish farming. She exploited her power. She wanted fish to be sold at all costs, regardless of whether [it’s] sick or not, so that the farmers don't lose any money. This never happened before in Norway. She's the pivotal point of this whole matter.” Ethoxyquin May Pose Greater Risks Than Imagined A recent article in the Norwegian newspaper Morgenbladet,27 also addresses the conflicts of interest that has kept ethoxyquin in the salmon industry and highlights Bohne’s and others’ findings: “[Bohne] contacted a Polish researcher, Alina Blaszczyk of the University of Lodz, who had studied the effect of ethoxyquin on human cells. Attempt that the substance caused chromosomal aberrations, holes and fractures in chromosomes. Blaszczyk believed the substance damaged the DNA in our lymphocytes — a subset of white blood cells. Today, she explains: ‘We found that ethoxyquin was chemically toxic, destroyed chromosomes and DNA …” … Professor Edmund Maser at the Department of Toxicology and Pharmacology at the University of Kiel … [commented on] the metabolite quinone imine [saying] … ‘Quinone imine structures can bind to DNA and can create mutations. They can be carcinogenic. There is no safe lower level. One molecule may be enough to start a tumor’ … Blaszczyk … agrees: ‘If a molecule reacts with DNA, it can cause mutations and lead to the development of cancer.’ Blaszczyk has studied how ethoxyquin affects cells and their genetic material. In a summary study, she and colleagues say that research suggests that ethoxyquin is ‘guilty of a wide range of health-related problems in dogs as well as in humans.’ Dog tests show symptoms in the liver, kidneys, and thyroid gland, dysfunctionality of reproductive capacity, maternal injuries, allergic reactions, skin and hair abnormalities. Blaszczyk also refers to studies indicating that the metabolite ethoxyquin dimer (EQDM) in the salmon is chemophilic and recombinant in human lymphocytes. The implication of this is that ethoxyquin must be labeled well, consumers must take care not to get too much and that the drug needs to be regulated better than today. Blaszczyk's studies are broadly cited in EFSA's report, but she writes [via] e-mail: ‘They did not mention the most important of these studies. It was that ethoxyquin caused disentric chromosomes, and relocated atypical chromosomes. These deviations were not extensive, but they were serious.’” When Boycotting Factory Farmed Food, Remember the Fish Factory farming has not only become a source of tremendous pollution but it’s also creating food that is unsafe for consumption in the long term. This includes fish farms, which are the CAFOs of the sea. So, when you shop for healthy food for your family, remember to look for wild-caught seafood and shun farmed varieties. At present, more than half of all fish consumed in the U.S. is farmed, and it’s only customer demand that allows this destructive industry to flourish — which it does at the expense of your health. As noted by Organic Consumers:28 “The U.S. industrial agriculture and fishing industry is an out of control system based on cruel, filthy, disease-ridden and environmentally destructive animal prisons and fish pens; labor exploitation; false advertising; … corporate corruption of government; and the use of massive amounts of dangerous pesticides, chemical fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones and growth promoters … The production of factory-farmed meat, dairy, poultry and fish is the No. 1 cause of water pollution, soil degradation, greenhouse gas emissions, and chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, reproductive defects, hormone disruption and obesity… Factory-farmed salmon and fish not only threaten wild salmon and other marine species by spreading disease … but also by contaminating coastal waters and the ocean with the toxic chemicals and feed used on fish farms. As Sea Shepherd Conservation Society says, via their Operation Virus Hunter campaign, ‘You are not saving wild salmon by eating farmed salmon’ … We are what we eat. This means, among other things, we need to be just as concerned about fish and seafood as we are about the other items on our plate. So, ask your restaurant waiter if the vegetables are organic, and better yet local and organic, and put your money where your values lie. But don’t forget to ask whether the meat, dairy or eggs are organic or grass-fed; or whether they are coming off the food service truck from factory farms. And last but not least, don’t forget to do the same thing for the items on the fish menu. The nation that destroys its soil, freshwater and oceans is the nation that will eventually destroy itself.”

[bestnewsmag-blog]

New Post has been published on Bestnewsmag

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Mesh Ryzen 7 Gaming PC-A review

Part Laptop, Component display cabinet, the Mesh Ryzen 7 Gaming Laptop-A is all about gaming – and showing off to the max at the same time as you play. Find out more in our overview.

Production technique for welded cord mesh

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Search the only you need as in step with your needs

Many house owners which are unable to sell their present domestic (or do not need to) within the current housing market are thinking about reworking their Maine homes. owners must find a contractor in Maine to endorse them approximately their domestic improvement options. Most significantly, a Maine contractor should be able to tell you which ones domestic upgrades will net the best return on funding, and which transforming plans have to be skipped altogether.

while to Spend:

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A way to Determine:

o Take a look at Comparables: See what else is in your area. whilst master suite and Lavatory additions don’t generally make accurate investments, you may consider them if all the other homes for your location have them. It brings your house Up to par and levels the playing subject.

O To Stay or to head? Ask yourself how lengthy you are planning on staying in your modern-day domestic. in case you plan on staying 5 years or extra, it may be worth making improvements. If no longer, ask yourself what the return on your funding is going to be.

O funding vs. Resale: Are you seeking to Remodel your home as a funding or are you trying to enhance it to make it greater attractive at resale? if you’re planning on selling, stay with the suggestions above and bypass the relaxation.

O excellent of Lifestyles: Once in a while, it’s really worth spending the cash on an improve even in case you realize you won’t get it again. As an instance, how an awful lot is having a further Lavatory or swimming pool well worth to you? For some human beings, it’s priceless.

The opposite day I was informed approximately a hardcore gamer that battles video games and beat hemorrhoid in actual Lifestyles. it’s a pal’s son who goes to university. He has been a severe hardcore gamer since he turned into going to high school. The video games he performs the maximum are Magazine, Dark Void, and Dante’s Inferno. Being a gamer had in no way been a trouble in the beyond, outdoor of him not keeping up what he changed into supposed to do to assist around the house. It truly is standard with teenagers which might be usually linked to the net, gaming, or connecting with human beings on social networks.

His first 12 months in college hit him tough. He turned into taking a complete schedule of classes and nevertheless trying to get in as many hours as he could playing the video games Dark Void, Mag, and Dante’s Inferno. Many proctologists agree that pressure can motive external hemorrhoids to broaden. I’ve acknowledged the younger man in view that he changed into in high faculty. He is always been rather aggressive within the world of gaming and growing apps. it’s far a natural desire he is pursuing a diploma in computer science. It should have been the pressure sooner or later brought on his digestive gadget to tighten.

The scary second in his Existence befell when he become having hassle passing bowel moves typically. The brand new strain of college and his hardcore video gaming classes had prompted bad constipation (additionally called costiveness, dyssynergia defecation, and dyschezia) that become becoming painful. teenagers Occasionally will maintain matters to themselves that they feel are too embarrassing. He by no means spoke approximately it to his dad and mom. Constipation and straining in the course of bowel actions are connected to being a chief reason of hemorrhoids.

As past hemorrhoid affected person it is horrifying and surprising to recognize you have got a painful outside hemorrhoid. This university pupil and hardcore gamer in no way predicted that at his younger age hemorrhoids were a scientific condition he would get. He was terrified whilst cleaning himself that he felt a mass outdoor of his anus and there had been traces of blood. This will make all people’s coronary heart pound faster. He, in the end, advised his dad and mom what he had discovered. After meeting with a physician this hardcore gamer and university scholar became instructed he had outside hemorrhoid that had ruptured developing bleeding.

The outside bleeding hemorrhoid became stuck earlier than it had grown too massive, so hemorrhoid surgical treatment changed into not needed. What his health practitioner did propose turned into the usage of a cold treatment uses controlled intense bloodless to kill hemorrhoid at its base. That is carried out via freezing hemorrhoid causing it to die and lightly fall off.

For healing ache remedy and to stop future bleeding at the same time as selling restoration he turned into told to take a sitz bath on a daily basis till the broken tissue around the anal cavity become absolutely healthy. This has been a treatment that has been used for centuries with incredible results. it’s miles a secure and natural technique to provide remedy from the situations of hemorrhoids and hemorrhoid healing.

One of the maximum helpful and lower priced consolation products counseled via the doctor to this hardcore gamer turned into to apply hemorrhoid cushion or seat when sitting for lengthy durations. This would provide at ease support, sell appropriate circulation, and save you hemorrhoids from returning. If he changed into going to spend hours analyzing and gaming he wanted proper elevate and support. I no longer be afflicted by piles, However nevertheless use a hemorrhoid cushion at domestic, paintings, and when riding. My pal’s hardcore gamer son completely healed from his outside hemorrhoid and yet again playing what he loves, learning about PC science and gaming pain loose.

He in no way told his buddies approximately having external hemorrhoid, However, a few of them noticed he was continually sitting on a fab looking cushion whilst gaming that become amazingly comfortable and now they’re using them. There is concrete evidence that severe hardcore game enthusiasts that play Dante’s Inferno, Magazine, and Darkish Void gets piles. However, the use of a cushion with remarkable lift and help to take a seat on will cut the danger of nasty piles developing.