#pauline hopkins

[solarissantaella]

When we think turn-of-the-century classics, works by women of color tend to be overlooked. It's the same story with sci-fi.

Pauline Hopkins, a Black author and editor, and her proto-science fiction novel Of One Blood, challenged the racist paradigms of her time. Her legacy continues to inspire authors of color to this day.

I'm one of them.

For the past year, I've been a student in Western Colorado University's Publishing MA program. For my individual project, I chose to do a reprint of Of One Blood, soon to be published by WordFire Press.

The book is currently available for preorder here and officially releases May 14th. Until then, I'll be counting down my 14 favorite quotes from the book!

It's an honor to share Hopkins' words with you all.

#14: "The world scarcely estimates the service rendered by those who have unlocked the gates of sensation by the revelations of science."

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[reservoircat]

A look into the founding mother of Black speculative fiction and oft forgotten by history, Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins changed the game for Black theatre, mystery fiction, romance fiction, AND horror. Come learn about this amazing woman, who wrote four groundbreaking works in a THREE YEAR SPAN!

[utsuge]

Pauline Hopkins, Of One Blood: or, The Hidden Self; 1902 - 1903

Text ID:

CHAPTER I.

The recitations were over for the day. It was the first week in November and it had rained about every day the entire week; now freezing temperature added to the discomforture of the dismal season. The lingering equinoctial whirled the last clinging yellow leaves from the trees on the campus and strewed them over the deserted paths, while from the leaden sky fluttering snow-white flakes gave an unexpected touch of winter to the scene.

The east wind for which Boston and vicinity is celebrated, drove the sleet against the window panes of the room in which Reuel Briggs sat among his books and the apparatus for experiments. The room served for both living and sleeping. Briggs could have told you that the bareness and desolateness of the apartment were like his life, but he was a reticent man who knew how to suffer in silence. The dreary wet afternoon, the cheerless walk over West Boston bridge through the soaking streets had but served to emphasize the loneliness of his position, and morbid thoughts had haunted him all day: To what use all this persistent hard work for a place in the world—clothes, food, a roof? Is suicide wrong? he asked himself with tormenting persistency. From out the storm, voices and hands seemed beckoning him all day to cut the Gordian knot and solve the riddle of whence and whither for all time.

[petervintonjr]

"Let the good work go on. Opposition is the life of an enterprise; criticism tells you that you are doing something."

Kicking off Black History Month 2023 with a look at the life of Boston's own Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins: actor, playwright, novelist, and columnist. Born to free parents of color in 1859 and educated at the prestigious Girls High School, Elizabeth had something of a unique vantage point that would inform her writing. At the age of 15 she entered a literary competition hosted by noted antislavery activist William Wells Brown, at the time regarded as one of the nation's foremost Black novelists. She won the competition with her essay, "Evils of Intemperance and Their Remedies." A year later she began performing with Boston's Progressive Musical Union, and shortly afterwards began featuring in plays and other stage productions --and in 1879 she wrote her first play, "Slaves' Escape or The Underground Railroad," perhaps more popularly known as "Peculiar Sam," which opened in Boston in 1880.

A prolific writing career followed, with essays appearing in Colored American Magazine, for which Hopkins later joined the board of directors and eventually became editor, a position she held until the magazine changed ownership and moved to New York City. Three novels followed, appearing in serialized form: Hagar's Daughter: A Story of Southern Caste Prejudice (1901); Winona: A Tale of Negro Life in the South and Southwest (1902); and perhaps her best work, Of One Blood, or, the Hidden Self (1903). In 1915 she founded a second periodical, Boston-based New Era Magazine, which only ran for a handful of issues but is considered one of the leading journals of that era for challenging popular assumptions about Black women. It is here that Hopkins's history seems to more or less vanish --her literary career quietly concluded and she lived the unremarkable life of a stenographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) until her death in 1930.

For whatever reason Hopkins's body of work lay largely forgotten, when by all standards it should have been very much a centerpiece of the Harlem Renaissance. It has been argued that one reason may have been her well-documented opposition to Booker T. Washington's accommodationist theories --that rather than challenge their oppression, Hopkins opined that Black Americans should instead focus on building their own economic power and influence. This ideological split may well illuminate her quiet disappearance from history until 1972, when a biography by Ann Allen Shockley brought a long-overdue resurgence of interest in Hopkins's work.

Significantly to comic book nerds and other geeky fans of pop culture: the MIT location scenes in last year's Marvel superhero movie Wakanda Forever, were pointedly filmed only a few yards away from where Hopkins once worked so unobtrusively. The plot of Hopkins's 1903 novel Of One Blood; Or, The Hidden Self, is grounded in the goings-on of two fictionalized African kingdoms: uncolonized utopian communities marked by advanced artistic achievement and far superior technology --an underlying premise that should sound familiar to Black Panther fans! Not unlike Wakanda of the Marvel comic books, the kingdoms grapple with a longstanding policy of secrecy rather than engaging with the rest of the world to address oppression and injustice. In any case MIT has reintroduced its former employee's work into some of its literary curricula, significantly in a course titled "Science Fiction before Science Fiction."

[chthonic-cassandra]

Top Reading Experiences, 2023

In a few categories, because lists are satisfying.

Series - Anne Rice, The Vampire Chronicles - I reread almost the entirety of the series (I skipped Memnoch), and read the weird ones that I had skipped the first time. Fascinating, wild reading experience to do it all together. Chronicled here, though it subsequently turned into my general VC tag. - C. J. Cherryh, Alliance-Union series - I reread Cyteen and then read Regenesis and 40,000 in Gehenna for the first time. While Cyteen is unmatched, I loved reading the others as well, and am looking forward to reading the rest of them slowly, gradually, and lovingly. Immensely satisfying experience of science fiction. - Tanith Lee, Tales from the Flat Earth - reread the first three, read Night's Daughter and Night's Sorceries for the first time. More to come on these. I haven't yet gotten a hold of the remaining few stories in the series, which were recently published for the first time. - Tanith Lee, Unicorn series - I started 2023 with these. Just a delight. - Pat Barker, Regeneration - reread for the first time in many years. Still so good, though the first is notably the tightest. Its reflection on moral injury felt very grounding right now.

Other notable rereads - Henry James, The Golden Bowl - Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre - Annie G. Rogers, The Unsayable - Caitlin Sweet, The Pattern Scars - Susanna Clarke, Piranesi - Elizabeth E. Wein, The Lion Hunter and The Empty Kingdom - Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

Fiction, read for the first time - Wole Soyinka, Chronicles from the Land of the Happiest People on Earth - A. S. Byatt, Medusa's Ankles: Selected Stories - Dion Fortune, The Demon Lover - Pauline Elizabeth Hopkins, Of One Blood - Maureen McHugh, China Mountain Zhang - Werner Herzog, The Twilight World - Vanessa Hua, Forbidden City - Marina Dyachenko, Assassin of Reality - Magda Szabo, The Fawn - Shehan Karunatilaka, The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida - Selby Wynn Schwartz, After Sappho - Maggie O'Farrell, The Marriage Portrait - Vajra Chandrasekera, The Saint of Bright Doors

Non-fiction, read for the first time - Artemis Leontis, Eva Sikelianos Palmer: A Life in Ruins - Shane McRae, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping - Claire Mac Cumhaill & Rachel Weisman, Metaphysical Animals: How Four Women Brought Philosophy Back to Life - Simon Palfrey & Tiffany Stern, Shakespeare in Parts - Nayan Shah, Refusal to Eat: A Century of Prison Hunger Strikes - Hugh Ryan, The Women's House of Detention: A Queer History of a Forgotten Prison - Ron E. Hassner, Anatomy of Torture - Judith Herman, Truth and Repair - Julie Phillips, The Baby on the Fire Escape: Creativity, Motherhood, and the Mind-Baby Problem - Nanno Marinatos, Minoan Religion

[deafchild2000]

Inheritance Profile: Bonnie Bennett

FULL NAME

• Bonnie Sheila Bennett

BORN

• February 5th, 1993 (Mystic Falls, VA, Age 35)

STATUS

• Alive (Resurrected/Granted Rayna's Remaining Lifespan)

OCCUPATION

• Nightingale store owner

• Traveler

• High School Student (Graduated)

• High School Cheerleader (Formerly)

• Member of the Spirits (Formerly)

• Anchor to the Other Side (Formerly)

• College Student (Formerly)

• Prison World Prisoner (Formerly)

• Elena's Life Link (Formerly)

• Vampire Huntress (Formerly)

TITLE(S)

• Bon (by everyone)

• Child (by Sheila Bennett)

• Honey, Baby (both by Abby)

• Cuz (by Lucy Bennett)

• Bon Bon (by Katherine and Damon)

• Little Witch (by Kol)

• The Bennett Witch (by Klaus, Qetsiyah, Silas , and Alex)

• Bonnie McCullough (an alternate identity)

• Witchy, Judgy, Wicked Witch of the West, Medusa, Bonnie the Teenage Witch, Destroyer of Dreams, Bonica-Magica, Sister, Rayna 2.0, Crazy Bitch Bonnie (all by Damon)

• Bonster (by Kai and Damon)

• Town Witch (by herself)

• Cute Witch (by Julian)

• Bonnie the Good Witch, Silly Witch (by Enzo)

• Love (by Enzo and Klaus)

• Goddess, Best Bennett, Bonita, Ms. Bennett, My Mentor, Badass Bonnie/Bennett, Last Bennett, Cassandra Nightingale (by Harmony)

• Bonnett, Ms. B, Bionica (by Alyssa, Dana, and Penelope)

SPECIES

• Witch

• Ghost (Formerly)

• The Anchor (Formerly)

• Supernatural Huntress (Formerly)

GENDER

• Female

FAMILY INFORMATION

FAMILY MEMBERS

• Qetsiyah † (Ancestor)

• Qetsiyah's Unnamed Child/ren † (Ancestor)

• Ayana † (Ancestor)

• Ayana's Child/ren † (Ancestor)

• The Witch of The Five † (Ancestor)

• The Witch of The Five's Unnamed Child/ren † (Ancestor)

• Beatrice's Mother † (Ancestor)

• Beatrice Bennett † (Ancestor)

• Emily Bennett † (Ancestor)

• Emily's Unnamed Brother † (Ancestor)

• Emily's Unnamed Children † (Ancestor)

• Marie Bennett † (Ancestor)

• Rose Bennett † (Ancestor)

• Ernestine Bennett † (Ancestor)

• Amelia Bennett † (Great-Grandmother)

• Sheila Bennett † (Grandmother)

• Abby Bennett Wilson (Mother)

• Rudy Hopkins † (Father)

• Jamie (Adoptive Brother)

• Sheila's Unnamed Sibling † (Great Aunt Or Uncle)

• Pauline Bennett † (Aunt)

• Pauline's Unnamed Sibling † (Aunt Or Uncle)

• Joanna's Mother † (Cousin)

• Joanna Bennett † (First Cousin, Once Removed)

• Lucy Bennett † (First Cousin, Twice Removed)

• Harmony Kenner (Legal Ward)

SUPERNATURAL INFORMATION

SIGNIFICANT KILLS

• Herself (Twice)

• John Gilbert (Indirectly/3rd time/With Klaus Mikaelson)

• Jeremy Gilbert (3rd time)

• Malachai Parker (Twice/Temporarily in the Prison World)

• Matt Donovan (5th time)

• Some Phoenix Stone Vampires

• Katherine Pierce (indirectly)

• Stefan Salvatore (indirectly)

CAUSE OF DEATH

• Herself (1st and 2nd time)

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

HEIGHT

• 5'2" (Feet)

• 1.58 (Meters)

HAIR COLOR

• Black

EYE COLOR

• Green

Early History

Bonnie Sheila Bennett was born on February 5, 1993, to Rudy Hopkins and Abigail "Abby" Bennett in Mystic Falls, Virginia. She is the youngest and last known member of the Bennett family. Sometime when Bonnie was a young child, her mother had abandoned her, after taking down the Original Vampire, Mikael and losing all of her powers, to protect her best friend Miranda Sommers-Gilbert's adoptive daughter Elena, who is a Petrova doppelgänger needed to break Klaus' Hybrid curse. It could be assumed that since her mother abandoned her, that it was her Grams that had raised Bonnie for most of her life. Even though it isn't implied, it appears that her father, Rudy, gave Bonnie Abby's maiden name "Bennett". During Bonnie's early childhood, Bonnie became best friends with both Caroline Forbes and Elena.

During the weeks approaching December 22, 2008, Bonnie is a sophomore at Mystic Falls High School.

Her maternal grandmother Sheila Bennett at one point tried to explain to Bonnie about her witch heritage, although Bonnie dismissed this because she thought that her grandmother was drunk.

Bonnie is repeatedly ready to sacrifice herself for her family and friends without any hesitation. As her powers grew, she's stepped up at every opportunity to protect her friends, even if it meant trading her life in the process. Her spell-casting abilities most definitely came in handy when the Originals came to Mystic Falls. Gaining the power of Expression, she was able to take down two Original vampires, as well as the very first immortal, Silas. Despite the warnings from her Grams, she combined spirit, Expression, and dark magic to resurrect Jeremy back from the dead. While successful, it was too much for her and the spell killed her in the process.

Existing on the Other Side as a ghost, her very ancient and powerful ancestor, Qetsiyah, transferred the status of Anchor to the Other Side from Amara to Bonnie, allowing her to exist on both sides of the living and the dead. However, Bonnie was forced to feel the pain of every supernatural death and no longer had access to the powerful magic she once had.

After Markos violently tore his way out of the Other Side with the help of the Travelers, it began falling apart. His unnatural resurrection unbalanced the Other Side which threatened Bonnie with permanent death. Despite great effort on both her and her friend's part to save the Other Side, it eventually imploded on itself as Bonnie and Damon spent their last moments together. However, Shiela's last act made sure that Bonnie would be fine. Before it's destruction, they were engulfed by a white light.

Bonnie and Damon found themselves back in Mystic Falls. However, they were forced to repeat the same day, May 10, 1994, over and over. Though Damon retained his vampiric abilities, Bonnie was unable to perform magic. Eventually, they learn that this world is inhabited by another, Malachai Parker. When Kai attempts to kill Damon, Bonnie arrived just in time and regained her magic at the prospect of losing the only friend. Bonnie learns that she, rather her blood, is the key to free themselves from the prison world, using a Gemini artifact, called the Ascendant. Sacrificing herself, she sends Damon back to the mortal plane and is forced to endure Kai's torturous pursuit until she's left alone in the prison world without her magic. Reminded by her friends, she travels to Novia Scotia and retrieves Qetsiyah's calcified blood and reclaimed her own magic, freeing herself from the prison world. Her experience with Kai and her time in the prison world, however, drastically changes her. She decides to puts herself first but continues to suffer signs of PTSD, such as being unable to adjust to other people. With time, Bonnie falls back into her old life, but not before imprisoning Kai in the 1903 Prison World. However, he escapes as had Bonnie did, an links her life to Elena's. As long as Bonnie was alive, Elena would be forced to slumber in a magical coma.

With the return of the Heretics, a coven of siphoner-witch, vampire hybrids, Bonnie and her friends eventually turn to the Armory for help. However, in exchange, they want Bonnie to unseal the Armory's vault that was magically sealed by Lucy. Refusing to unleash a monster, Bonnie went into hiding with Lorenzo St. John. Over the course of three years, they developed a romantic relationship. Enzo eventually learned that Armory's anti-magic pills that were helping Bonnie hide from them were also poisoning her, an illness that could not be cured and would eventually kill her. Rayna agreed to transfer her last life to Bonnie. As the spell is completed, Rayna revealed that Bonnie became the new shamanic huntress in her place. After Damon destroyed the corpse of the last shaman, Bonnie's connection to it also broke, freeing her from her duties and abilities as the huntress.

However, her magic did not return, leaving her devastated over the loss of her powers as well as Enzo and Damon being taken by the Armory's monster, Sybil. Bonnie was eventually reunited with Enzo after he was freed from Sybil's mind control. However, upon his tragic death at Stefan's hands, Bonnie unleashed a psychic blast, preserving Enzo's spirit in a newly created dimension. Eventually, she and Stefan fight Arcadius, the Devil himself, which led to Stefan killing him, though Hell was not destroyed — Katherine was its new ruler. Letting go of Enzo, Bonnie can regain her magic. With her magic restored and with the support of her many ancestors across the centuries, they managed to destroy Hell itself and Katherine along with it. Bonnie's eventually able to free Elena from her magical coma, sparing both of their lives. Determined to keep her promise to Enzo, she decided to live her life to the fullest and wanted to see the world and enjoy her life.

At some point after her travels, Bonnie returned to Mystic Falls and opened Nightingale's Gift Shop & Apothecary, a new-age shop that acts as a cover to get rare herbs and information from places she's traveled to.

Sometime after she came home, Damon and Elena approached her because they had fertility issues and wanted her help. She agreed, but her spells yield no results time and time again. This resulted in a fight between them and spoken words that permanently strained their relationship, leading Caroline, Alaric, Matt, and Jeremy - the only ones she speaks to.

In 2024, Bonnie meets a young girl named Harmony when she walks into her shop looking for herbs for a spell. After an insightful conversation (that ended up being spoken in French), Bonnie's had a vision of a younger version of the girl surrounded by angry figures when they shook hands. Upon delivering herbs and donated blood to Salvatore, she ran into Harmony and her sister, Hope - and quickly realized she was Klaus's daughter. Considering her history with the Original Family, Bonnie kept her distance, which soon proved to be a challenge when Harmony came back to her store and asked to be mentored by her. Initially declining, Harmony persisted and did whatever she could to get Bonnie to accept her.

On February 14th, the 6th anniversary of Enzo's death, already having a bad day, Bonnie blew up on Harmony in frustration and stated she'd never take her on because she's selfish like her father. Realizing what she said, Bonnie instantly regretted it but Harmony teleported before she could apologize. Over drinks, Caroline - having heard about what happened - explained to Bonnie that Harmony was different and sought her out because she wanted to be strong. The next day, Bonnie saw Harmony outside her house. Bonnie tried to apologize, but Harmony easily said she understood, rationalizing she realized pursuing Bonnie without explaining herself was selfish. Harmony explained how she hated her family outside her mom, Hope, and her adoptive brother. Having been put through indescribable pain because of their selfish actions and her father's pursuit of power - it only makes sense Bonnie would see her the same way and believe she was threatening her. So to prove to Bonnie otherwise, Harmony used an Incendia spell and lit her hand on fire. Horrified, Bonnie rushed towards her to put out the fire, however, she noted that way Harmony seemed to want to be in pain before extinguishing her hand. Using healing oil coupled with Harmony's healing, Bonnie told her what she did was reckless. Harmony points out that now that Bonnie knows she would rather hurt herself than hurt her, she can teach her. Bonnie describes what she did as a form of emotional manipulation, which Harmony disagrees with as she's an empath and knew she had no intention of using Bonnie's personality to get what she wanted. Hearing this, Bonnie asks why she wanted to be mentored by her and not her Aunt Freya. From there, Harmony explains her life since was 6 from living on the road, being tortured, and discovering she was a reborn soul previously victimized by her family, and her desires to be nothing like them. She also proceeds to explain the situation of her why she hates Freya. When Harmony was learning the information taught by the Mikaelsons, she got curious as to how Esther created vampires. Her intuition allowed her to connect vampirism to Silas and Qetsiyah. After that, it snowballed until she came to learn Bonnie's story. Sick of how pursuing power has led to pain, she chose to not seek it. Learning Bonnie's story and the history of the Bennett and how they shaped Mystic Falls prompted Harmony to want strength...and admitting anyone who tried (and succeeded) to kill her family and fought off hellfire was someone she aspired to be. However, she also stated she wanted to know Bonnie as someone who wields power and strength and might help her stay the worst of the "Mikaelson attributes". While conflicted with the possibility of being dragged back into the Mikaelson family, Harmony's honesty coupled with her obvious self-harming prompted Bonnie to agree to being her mentor with intention of keeping an eye on her. Sometime after this, she had video calls with Vincent Griffith and Ivy Rashid (her witchcraft teacher and Seer mentor) and was paid a visit by Harmony's adopted brother/father figure, Marcel Gerard.

In the following months, Bonnie came to enjoy Harmony's presence, even stating she recognized pieces of the "Old Bonnie" in her. She always answered her questions and gave her the truth, as much as she could. However, this did not come without its challenges - such as the death of her Uncle Finn and the legitimacy of Josette Saltzman, which led to the discussion of Kai Parker and how Harmony believed Jo wasn't telling the full truth on the buildup of the night he killed his siblings. This discussion led to an argument in which she defended Jo and condemned Kai, leading to Harmony spilling some surprising revelations about her goddaughters, Lizzie, and Josie Saltzman. The argument only settled with Bonnie admitting being traumatized by Kai and her actions around it possibly being the difference between everything cultivated at Jo and Alaric's wedding. She had also found herself caught in the middle when Harmony was asking about Klaus's misdeeds in Mystic Falls and Tyler Lockwood, learning how the young girl's Seer Sight had introduced her to the late werewolf and realizing Hayley & the Mikaelsons were actively keeping their connection a secret from her.

In 2023, Bonnie noticed Harmony was distancing herself from her. She later learned of Anastacia, a spirit raped by Kol Mikaelson, and how she periodically ensures her student endures a psychic-mimicry of the attack as a result of her rapist-muderer's family choosing to spare him despite learning the truth. Learning how Harmony deals with the monthly attacks by going to the Old Lockwood Cellar to deal with her attacks, Bonnie begins to become protective of her and helps block the attacks. However, Harmony didn't want her attacks blocked off, explaining that by doing so, Anastacia would be forced to relive her trauma over and over again - and despite it all, Harmony would rather endure it than let her soul carry that pain. While she didn't agree, Bonnie found immense respect for it and tried to help minimize the worst of the physical aspects of the assault. At some point, Bonnie woke up one night to a surge of magic coming through her and knew something was wrong with Harmony. She began calling her, then Hope, and then anyone at the school until she got dressed in a hurry and astral projected to Salvatore - only to find it in disarray and chaos as students were evacuated from the building and all the windows had been shattered. She eventually found Dorian, who led her to Emma, who explained a high-pitched scream erupted out of nowhere and sent a soundwave that shattered the windows. When asked how it happened, Emma directed her to the nurse's office and found a few teachers burning herbal incense over Harmony while she was unconscious. It was revealed Harmony was the one who screamed and Hayley was already on her way to get the twins while the students were being sent to the Lockwood Mansion until repairs were finished. When Harmony and Hope returned, she noticed that the former was having issues staying awake. It didn't take Bonnie long to realize Harmony was dealing with insomnia and forcing herself to stay awake, and immediately took action after Harmony set a teacher assistant on fire after she'd fallen asleep and he tried to wake her up. While remorseful, Harmony refused to say what was happening. But then, she felt a surge of fear and panic one day, and went to Salvatore only to find out something shocking: Harmony had developed a period. Hayley had to come and take her back to New Orleans for a whole week, from which a phone call from Ivy revealed that Harmony was basically holed up in a shack in the bayou because of her unstable emotions until it was over. After she returned, Bonnie wanted to know what happened but didn't press her due to the drastic change she was going through.

During Witch Week at Salvatore, Harmony begged Bonnie to come as she wrote a paper based on a "witch from history she admired". She attended and ended up meeting Hayley Marshall and Freya Mikaleson for the first time - and while she had heard of the former but never met her when she first came to Mystic Falls, she instantly disliked both of them. When Harmony's speech came up, she was touched (but expected) that she chose her. However, she noticed Harmony started bleeding down her leg and gripping her neck before passing out. Rushing up to her and taking her to the infirmary, she, alongside Hayley, Caroline, and the guidance counselor - Emma Tig - watched in horror as Harmony reluctantly revealed in tears bite marks all over her back, another forming right before their eyes. Recognizing them as vampire bites, Bonnie was furious, as well as Hayley, not hesitating in trying to convince Harmony to tell her who was doing this. However, Harmony wasn't saying who did it, with only answering a series of questions that ultimately revealed that a vampire in Mystic Falls was responsible. Bonnie was able to ascertain that it wasn't someone at Salvatore feeding off her.

Eventually, Bonnie and Emma put together that the vampire bites are part of a psychic attack, similar to Anastacia's. With Hayley's input about Ana, Emma theorizes that Harmony was "uniquely sensitive" to victims of sexual assaults, going as far as to say her Empathic senses subconsciously zero in on the victim and she only becomes consciously aware when she meets them or maybe their attacker - making Bonnie quickly realize Harmony came across someone who was victimized by a vampire. After that, she put two-and-two together and realized this vampire attack was likely responsible for Harmony's glass-shattering scream, her insomnia, and the cause of her period. On a day out to lunch at the Mystic Grill, she noticed Harmony stiffen and glance around nervously. Picking up that the vampire had been there, she had taken Harmony out of the building and talked to her. However, she realized Harmony's mannerisms and rambling reminded her of someone ringing a hint, she later visited Emma, who gave her a drawing Harmony made to "show" what happened. She realized the victim was Caroline. Confronting her best friend, she was appalled to hear Caroline confirm the truth and she realized only one person at the time could have done it: Damon Salvatore. Demanding an explanation, she became furious when she realized Elena knew about this and hadn't told her for years. Afterward, she visited the rebuilt Gilbert House and attacked Damon before Elena could do everything. She was stopped by Caroline and Alaric, who suspected she would be there. Enraged, she demanded to know why Caroline didn't even tell her or even get Mom at the time, as they would've done everything to protect her. Caroline admitted it was her choice not to tell her (which conveniently kept her mom on their side) and as a vampire, Damon couldn't hurt her anymore or presently as she keeps his enemies from coming after him and he wants to live his human life in peace with Elena. Following Caroline saying that it was also her choice to forgive him, Bonnie tells her it's not her choice anymore, as her silence made another victim out of Harmony - who already can't get justice from Kol.

Later on, Harmony confides in Bonnie about the truth. She thinks her Seer Sight subconsciously gleaned that Caroline was a rape victim. However, it didn't register until she first met Damon. She explained how she dreamt of being in Caroline's place and woke up in the middle of the assault, however, a hallucination of the Damon of that time followed - leading to her supernaturally, terror-charged scream. Unlike Kol, who eventually appeared a week into her "routine attacks", Damon's hallucination followed her everywhere and taunted her when she was asleep, leading to insomnia. With that, Bonnie pieces together that the Spector of Damon must've been taunting her when she burned that teacher's assistant, triggered by the fact he was a vampire (and once his touch registered as "vampire", she attacked thinking it was Damon). Realizing that Damon's hallucination must've attacked her during her speech at Witch Week, Bonnie comforted the girl who she realized has now been traumatized by two vampires (or former vampires in Damon's case). and told her while Caroline made her choices, it was her own decision to speak out about what happened. Bonnie eventually learned that Damon was banned from the Salvatore school and had a spell cast on him to keep away from Harmony unless she approaches him first. But soon after, she learned Harmony recanted her statement and Bonnie suspected Caroline had something to do with it - a sentiment she shared with Hayley (who she heavily dislikes, and knows wouldn't let the blonde vampire off the hook if she suspected as much). Because of these revelations, Bonnie renounces her friendship with Caroline and tells her that as a consequence of what she did to Harmony, her daughters would not be welcomed in her home. She even tried to stop donating her blood to the school as a result, but Dorian and Emma managed to convince her not to. While it had hurt to distance herself from her twins, Bonnie didn't want to do anything that condoned Caroline's actions and what Harmony experienced.

In 2024, Bonnie took in Harmony's friends, Penelope Park and Alyssa Chang, as her unofficial students when Harmony formed the Midnight Falls Coven. She initially labeled Penelope and Alyssa as "witches up to no good", but quickly understood the foundation of their friendship with Harmony as "witches too smart for their good". Bonnie also agreed with Harmony that the circumstances surrounding the death of Alyssa's parents were suspicious as well as how that information got out before she arrived at Salvatore. Harmony asked for her advice because she wanted to tell Penelope and Alyssa she was a Mikaelson. Bonnie told her to only tell them if she truly trusted them and if they could be trusted back, only to discover they took it in stride and Penelope had already figured it out before being sworn to secrecy. This eventually leads Bonnie to be introduced to Gia, a vampire whose soul was bound to Harmony's violin. Unsurprised to hear of the circumstances of her violent death by Klaus, Bonnie easily helped Harmony improve her boundary spell that allows Gia to be a visible, tangible spirit using crystals. Sometime after this, Harmony started asking if she knew anything about three students who disappeared a year before she enrolled in Salvatore. Identifying them "Diego Garcia", "Jade Wellington", and "Wendy Estrada", a werewolf-vampire-witch trio likely a part of the first graduating class but never graduated - as if they vanished. Considering Bonnie was still traveling at the time, she didn't recall anything. But then, Harmony tells her about the February 19th Massacre where a bunch of Mystic Falls students were killed in the woods, followed by a vision Harmony had in her first year of the three students appeared to have been in detention via barrier spell and - even more shockingly - Josie was the one that freed them. Bonnie asks her what she's implying, to which she thinks the trio might've been responsible for the massacre and Alaric might've done something to them, maybe even killed them. Recalling how she knew that Salvatore was literally on probation that first year by the Town Council, it didn't take much to imagine those deaths would've called for the school to be shut down indefinitely if Alaric and Caroline couldn't control their students. Realizing Harmony was onto something, she asks Harmony to keep this to herself. She doubts Alaric killed them and maybe sent them home if they had families. However, Harmony doubts that and reluctantly admits she, Alyssa and Penelope broke into the school office and found records that with the exception of Wendy, Diego and Jade were orphans. Exasperated, Bonnie tells her that given everything that happened between her and Caroline, while she could believe Harmony definitely stumbled into something, she ends up giving her "blessing" to covertly investigate what happened.

In 2025, with Lizzie and Josie's upcoming 11th birthday coming up, Bonnie helped Harmony find gifts for them since she wasn't attending but was annoyed to hear they excluded Hope from their party. Harmony tells her she's worried because she doesn't trust Alaric to not do something that'll set them off as his one-on-one sessions with Hope already make her a target for their bullying. Acknowledging this, Bonnie tells her that if Alaric was aware of the situation, he'll put a stop to it. However, Bonnie came to regret that as she got a call from Emma on the twins' birthday that Lizzie, Josie, and Hope fought with Harmony. Rushing to the school, she got the whole story of the twins attacking Hope because Alaric brought her there against their wishes and Harmony tried (and got injured) to break up the fight. Hearing that both sets of twins got punished, Bonnie argued that Alaric's extra attention on Hope led to this, dishing everything she's been told. Alaric argues that Bonnie's no better by mentoring Harmony, saying at least he acknowledged both Harmony while she hasn't reached out to Hope. However, she emphasizes that her and Alaric's methods work differently for the Mikaelson twins with opposing views of their family.

After this, she's told of Lizzie's recent diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder but isn't surprised considering the Gemini family history and her experience of sociopathy with Kai. However, Bonnie hears from Harmony and her coven about the contents of Lizzie's (supposedly secret) therapy diary and is appalled, as that shouldn't be public knowledge but became so because Josie was behind it. She warns the trio to not start anything as it became painfully clear to her that Lizzie might not know her diary was outed. While she was proud to hear Harmony put a stop to it, the scenario reminded Bonnie of the last time that sensitive information was leaked (Alyssa's parents), and can't help but think it's no coincidence despite happening twice. She was surprised to learn of Harmony's quotebook she made for Lizzie and the effort she put into it only to hear Lizzie didn't seem to appreciate it but let her know there was nothing wrong with trying.

Before Spring Break of 2025, Bonnie was alerted to a fire breaking out in Harmony and Hope's dorm. After bringing clothes she had for overnight visits, she and Hayley (via astral projection) confronted Alaric and Emma over how the fire started. With the origins of the fire unknown, she - along with Penelope and Alyssa - helped the twins salvage anything from their dorm. She noticed Harmony crying over a pair of destroyed Chinese lanterns and discovered Alyssa made them for her, which Harmony took as a memento of the start of their friendship. Bonnie noticed Hope had a matching pair, to which Alyssa admitted that she thought the twins were behind gifts being left in front of her door during her first months at Salvatore, so she made two pairs of lanterns before finding out it was Harmony as no one would do that for someone who killed her own parents. Later on that week, Bonnie was called by Emma, who alarmingly told her that a video she made with Harmony over Anastacia was seen by the whole school. Trying to figure out how, Emma revealed that the file cabinet it was in had a spell on it that worked to react specifically to her magic. Realizing the only way to bypass that spell was to either lower it or take away the magic completely, it dawned on Bonnie that it was either Lizzie or Josie that broke into it. She arrived at Salvatore, only to find Lizzie was put into a sleep-like state. Bonnie initially thought it was Hope in retaliation for her sister, only to find out she had an alibi. After Lizzie had an episode in her sleep, Bonnie found Harmony in the Old Mill and scolds her for doing that to Lizzie. However, she sees Harmony already regretted it and admits she reacted in anger as she never thought Lizzie would do such a thing to her. Bonnie asks why she even did it, only to be shocked at learning Josie was behind the dorm fire and in Lizzie's irrational reaction - believing Hope did it to ruin her Spring Break - she ended up hurting Harmony instead. Harmony asks her to help her undo the spell, and Bonnie agrees under the condition she apologizes. With no hesitation, she agrees and lifts the spell off of Lizzie. Bonnie confronts Alaric with the truth while having Caroline on speaker, asking how Lizzie and Josie were going to be punished. Angry that Alaric response was to hide the truth, she responds by telling Alaric that Salvatore would not be getting blood donations from her anymore if his daughters were getting protected while Harmony was hurt in the process. She also states that from now on, their relationship is strictly professional in terms of needing her for anything. The incident ends with Harmony breaking off her friendship with Lizzie and Josie, to which Bonnie comforts her. It also prompted Harmony to question Bonnie if Josette Laughlin, the twins' biological mother, was a good person, as this behavior couldn't be all Alaric or Kai Parker - as easy as it would be. Harmony knew sociopaths were made and for all Kai's choices, Josette couldn't have been oblivious to stop him. Understanding what she's thinking, Bonnie assures her that Josette was a good person but honestly replies that even the best people have dark sides they aren't proud of. She even uses Harmony's retaliation as an example, as she knows she tries to be good yet she chose revenge against Lizzie so easily. So Bonnie tells her that everyone makes their bed in the end while living with their consequences, and forgiving these deeds is their choice.

During the summer of 2025, Bonnie kept in touch with Harmony while she dodged Alaric's attempts at reconciliation. She also reconnected with Valerie Tulle, who was currently in London working as a museum curator. Surprised to hear how much has gone on, Valerie commended her for her devotion to putting up with a trio of witches that reminded her of her sisters when they were alive and doesn't judge her for putting Harmony first even at the loss of Lizzie and Josie's relationship. Regaling how her students had a lot of questions about the Gemini Coven and her family, she set up a meeting between Valerie and them - from which the witch-vampire enjoyed immensely and found that Harmony raised some surprising questions that she never thought to ask, warning Bonnie she had her hand full with her. However, she was still worried, and rightfully so, when she learned of what happened to Harmony regarding the Crescent Pack and the Nguyen triplets. In contrast, she didn't have much with Alyssa spending the summer working in her store & having a fling with a new werewolf named Jed while Penelope was exploring Europe with her mom.

When Summer ended in September, the start of the year seemed calm until she learned Harmony fell into a fountain in the Town Square and nearly drowned at the annual End of Summer Party. Once Bonnie learned from her that she felt Klaus's presence as the one holding "her" down and drowning her, she realized Harmony was officially on the path to discovering her mother's time in Mystic Falls. Against her better judgment, Bonnie found herself talking to Matt about this - who while knowing what happened to Tyler in New Orleans, was not happy that his late best friend was Hayley's big ugly secret. Over the next few months, Bonnie watched as Harmony learned about the late Carol Lockwood and grew obsessed with Tyler Lockwood even more. She confided in her worries with Emma, who always suspected this would happen considering the young man was Klaus's tragic yet better counterpart. Harmony was the type to grasp onto anything "good" and "real" in her eyes and most of the men in her life don't fit that ideal. But then, she learned Harmony did a spell on Tyler's tomb that allowed her to see his past pending where he's been. Bonnie tried to warn her of this, but Harmony demanded that she needed to know what happened. In her eyes, Tyler was everything Klaus never was and couldn't be - why exactly did Klaus end up killing his mother? Bonnie ended up calling Marcel, Vincent, and Ivy - warning them that Harmony was on the verge of finding out and knew it was gonna be ugly. But for the most part, as much as they knew how Harmony was going to react, they also knew Hayley was warned this was going to come out and nothing stops Harmony when she's on a trail. Towards the end of November, Harmony disappeared for 24 hours, and surprisingly, so was Matt. Bonnie, Alyssa, and Penelope did locator spells while the others tried to contact Matt, but Harmony was cloaking herself and Matt so they wouldn't be found. That night, Matt called her in a frantic and caught her up to speed: Harmony had found out the truth of the 12 Hybrids and Hayley's involvement. Starting from how she approached him at his home, Matt ended up telling her what he knew about the past, especially when Hayley came onto the scene. Following this, Matt took her to places like the Lockwood Mansion, and the Cellar, and out of town to Whitmore University where Atticus Shane's office used to be. From there, Harmony used her Seer Sight to watch everything play out, even lingering because openly admitted to lying about Hayley's parents being dead - they were in hindsight, but he used another couple and posed them as her parents - after she left his office. As it got late, Harmony thanked him and teleported away. Bonnie realized Harmony might have gone to the sight where the hybrids were killed. When she got there, Harmony wasn't there but Bonnie felt that she had been and smelt fresh blood on the ground. Bonnie had Matt take her to the Cellar, where there was more blood but no Harmony. With one last ditch effort, they traveled to the Town Square which was empty except for Harmony and a fountain that was brought out for the Winter Wonderland fundraiser. Seeing that she was drowning herself, she and Matt pulled her out as the young girl screamed in despair. The next few days were horrible, Bonnie having Harmony stay in her house while forbidding anyone from seeing her. Hayley called, but Bonnie made quick work of telling her that unless she was calling to grovel and say she regretted what she'd done - Harmony wouldn't be taking any calls from her. Hope and her other students couldn't see her either. The entire time, she was consoling Harmony - who had developed a sense of self-hatred and depressed.

After Hayley and Klaus's deaths, Harmony moved in with Bonnie as her legal guardian and changed her name "Harmony Eve Kenner".

Personality

Bonnie was a good-hearted, bubbly, sweet, fun-loving, spirited, and optimistic individual. About other people, Bonnie is described to be kind, warm, sympathetic, caring, compassionate, empathetic, selfless, and self-sacrificing. Bonnie has shown that she makes a very loving, devoted, loyal, and caring friend. Bonnie could be considered to be a very spiritual person and she briefly believed herself as a psychic before discovering her true identity as a witch as well as learning of her witch heritage. However, Bonnie begins to suffer immense grief, loss, pain, and tragedy as well as the losses of people close to her, most notably, her Grams and Jeremy. She begins to become a much more serious and even depressive person. Although she has shown that she is generally an optimistic person, she has also shown that she is capable of being depressive, withdrawn, martyring, and apathetic. After her Grams dies, she distanced herself from Elena and her friends in Mystic Falls.

After years in Mystic Falls and traveling the world, Bonnie grew to become a strong, empathetic, caring women who commands respect and is unafraid to show what she's capable of. These aspects come to point when she became the mentor to Harmony Kenner, the secondborn daughter of Klaus Mikaelson. Rocky at first, Bonnie was quickly able to understand the young tribrid and even acknowledge the parallels the two share.

Powers and Abilities

Bonnie is a very powerful witch, as well as one of the most powerful witches of her family lineage seen. Having discovered her heritage in a relatively short time prior, her powers have developed exponentially throughout the years. Within at least two years, she transformed from a simple novice in the art of witchcraft to a nearly unstoppable force capable of taking down the oldest and most powerful supernatural creatures as well as controlling nature to a great extent. This could be attributed to the fact that she descended from a line of powerful Bennett witches that began with Qetsiyah, an extremely powerful witch responsible for creating the Immortality Spell.

Bonnie has great experiences in Traditional Magic, Spirit Magic, Dark Magic, and its subset, Expression Magic. She is also well-versed in the consequences of breaking Nature's rules and has lost her magic more than once and also regained it just as many times.

Bonnie is the only witch on the to have participated in the creation of two different dimensions, having created a psychic afterlife dimension through her latent psychic abilities and a magical Prison World rooted in Gemini magic by empowering the siphoner witches Lizzie and Josie Saltzman and aiding them in their spell.

• The Anchor

After returning from the Other Side with Qetsiyah's help, Bonnie could interact with those in the mortal plane and the supernatural purgatory. However, she was stuck with having to deal with the recently deceased supernatural creatures that have to pass through her to get to the Other Side. Through a powerful and complex spell, she was capable of bringing the denizens of the Other Side back into the mortal plane through physical contact.

• The Huntress

Upon receiving Rayna Cruz's last life, and becoming the supernatural Huntress, Bonnie gained new abilities. The most prominent ability Bonnie gained was enhanced strength, even more so than that of Rayna before her and any vampire, including the Originals.

Although Bonnie lost the ability to practice magic before becoming the Huntress, her ability to do so did not return. With the Eight Everlastings all deceased, Bonnie lost the abilities afforded to her through her status as the Huntress.

Physical Appearance

Physically, Bonnie is a very beautiful and attractive young woman. Bonnie has a heart-shaped face, with full cheeks and a pointed chin. Bonnie has very soulful and beautiful eyes; She has clear and soft light brown skin with long, luxurious dark brown or soft black wavy hair. Having been a cheerleader, Bonnie has a slim yet athletic figure. Bonnie is also rather petite at about 5'2". Bonnie regularly changes her hairstyle, regularly styled in very tight curls and sometimes soft waves. Her fashion sense or style is described as being gypsy chic with a bit of a hippie trend and she dresses casually in nice tops and jeans, but on special occasions, she will dress up in trendier and fancier clothing.

Name

• Bonnie is a feminine first name of Scottish or Scots-Irish origin which means "pretty", "beautiful", "charming" or "attractive". It is pronounced BAHN-ee or BON-ee.

• Sheila is from the Latin form of "Celia", the feminine form of the Roman clan "Caelius" meaning "heavenly", or "of the heavens".

• Bennett is an English and Irish language surname related to the medieval given name Benedict, both ultimately from the Latin word Benedictu, which means "blessed" or "one who is blessed."

Trivia

• Bonnie's birthday is February 5 and her astrological sign is Aquarius.  

• She talks in her sleep.

• When Bonnie was nine years old, she lost her favorite teddy, Ms. Cuddles.

• ⬆️ It's later revealed Caroline stole it and buried it.

• Bonnie swore as the surviving, living Bennett that she would never have kids.

• Bonnie's blood type is O-, the universal blood donor type.

• Bonnie initially didn't like pancakes but learned to enjoy them after her time in the Prison World.

• ⬆️ After she fell out with Damon and Elena, she went back to hating pancakes.

• Bonnie is the best friend of Elena, just like their mothers Abby (Bonnie's mother) and Miranda (Elena's adoptive mother).

• Her car is a blue ribbon metallic Toyota Prius registered JR7-5183.

• Bonnie once stated that she can't cook, but she eventually learned to make easy meals.

• Bonnie's house number is 2136.

• Bonnie as a witch has practiced four types of magic so far: Traditional Magic, Spirit Magic, Dark Magic, and Expression. She currently practices Traditional Magic.

• Bonnie spend 278 days inside the 1994 prison world.

• Bonnie was once considered Damon and Elena's best friend until they fell out.

• Bonnie has died more times than any other witch.

• Bonnie's mentorship with Harmony parallels that of her ancestor, Ayana, and Harmony's paternal grandmother, Esther.

• ⬆️ Bonnie has stated the parallel is much healthier with Harmony because she's willing to learn from her mistakes.

• ⬆️⬆️ The tie between Bennetts and Mikaelsons (from creating Immortality to the creation of Vampirism) is one of the major reasons Harmony wanted to be mentored by Bonnie.

• After her travels, Bonnie speaks French, Spanish, Portuguese, and a bit of Hebrew. She understands Swahili and Arabic.

• Bonnie purposely named her store to reference The Good Witch.

• Every few months, Bonnie donates blood to be used by Salvatore's students.

• Bonnie and Harmony share many things in common:

• ⬆️Being tormented by Kol and Klaus Mikaelson on some level.

• ⬆️Have psychic-rooted abilities (Bonnie's a Psychic and Harmony is a Seer/Empath.)

• ⬆️Created/taken in souls in a psychic plane.

• ⬆️Loyal and protective of their friends

• ⬆️ Willing to sacrifice for those they love

• ⬆️ Open to learning new things.

• Bonnie is Lizzie and Josie's godmother.

• Bonnie is still in contact with Valerie Tulle.

• Bonnie swore as the surviving, living Bennett that she would never have kids.

[miss-chevious19]

Part 3: Science Fiction and Fantasy Books by Black Authors

Black Sci-Fi Short Stories Tia Ross (Editor), Sandra M. Grayson (Introduction) Dystopia, apocalypse, gene-splicing, cloning and colonization are explored here by new authors and combined with proto-sci-fi and speculative writing of an older tradition (by W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin R. Delany, Sutton E. Griggs, Pauline Hopkins and Edward Johnson) whose first-hand experience of slavery and denial…

[insidemyfavoritemanuscript]

Episode 11: Stephen Hopkins

In Episode 11 of Inside My Favorite Manuscript, Lindsey and Dot chat with Stephen Hopkins about Junius 11, one of the four surviving Old English poetic codices. We talked about a lot of things, including Genesis A & B, the strangeness of an Old English Exodus, horror, and nipples (yes, nipples!), and we laughed more than we have in a while.

Listen here, or wherever you find your podcasts.

Below the cut are more page images and further reading.

Bodleian Junius 11 online

"The Story of Caedmon's Hymn" on the British Library website

The Old English Illustrated Hexateuch (British Library Cotton Claudius B iv)

Brandon Hawk on Inside My Favorite Manuscript talking about the Vercelli Book (one of the other Old English poetic codices that survives)

Junius 11 outside front cover:

Junius 11 inside front cover (note the break down the center of the wooden board):

Junius 11, page ii: the very first image on the very first page.

Junius 11, p. 197 with space left for an illustration that was never added

Dream of the Rood (page on Wikipedia)

Junius 11, page 2: Creation of the angels

Junius 11, page 3: The fall of the angels

Winchester Psalter (on the British Library website)

Pauline Baynes (tribute website)

Hunterian Psalter (on the University of Glasgow website)

Genesis B (page on Wikipedia)

Junius 11, page 13: the first page of Genesis B, the creation of Adam and Eve

Junius 11, page 6: The start of creation

Junius 11, page 7: More creation

Junius 11, page 24: Temptation of Eve

Junius 11, page 31: Eve offers the fruit to Adam and he eats it.

Junius 11, page 31, close up of lion in bottom margin

Ohlgren, Thomas H. "Five New Drawings in the MS Junius 11: Their Iconography and Thematic Significance." Speculum 47.2 (1972): 227-233. (PDF)

Junius 11, page 36: Eve sees Hell

Zooming in for a closer look on the nipples

Junius 11, page 34: More nipples

Junius 11, page 39: Even more nipples

Junius 11, page 41: The Serpent

Junius 11, page 44: God scolding Adam and Eve

Junius 11, page 45: Adam and Eve leave the garden

Junius 11, page 46

Junius 11, p. 231: The opening of Christ and Satan, with a horizontal crease through the middle of the page

Junius 11, page 161: Repaired with sewing

Junius 11, page 61: Enoch melting into heaven "like a butter sculpture"

Junius 11, page 66: Noah's Ark

Junius 11, page 65: Building the ark

Junius 11, page 2: Zoomed in on Aelfwine

Junius 11, page 230: Metallurgical sketches

Junius 11, page 225: Unfinished decorative square

Cotton MS Tiberius B V, folio 87v: Jannes and Jambres (Wikipedia page)

Drag Me to Hell movie (page on Wikipedia)

[easays]

reading list + notes

Using this space as a public space to chronicle my reading for my comprehensive exams.

Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure, John Cleland (1749)

The Travels of Hildebrand Bowman, Unknown (1778)

Mary: A Fiction, Mary Wollstonecraft (1788)

A Simple Story, Elizabeth Inchbald (1791)

Maria, or the Wrongs of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft (1798)

Adeline Mowbray, Amelia Opie (1805)

Zofloya, or the Moore, Charlotte Dacre (1806)

The Woman of Colour: A Tale, Unknown (1808)

Laon and Cythna, Percy Bysshe Shelley (1818)

Mathilda, Mary Shelley (1819)

Hamel, or The Obeah Man, Cynric Williams (1827)

Castle Rackrent, Maria Edgeworth (1832)

Agnes Grey, Anne Brontë (1847-48)

The Tenant of Wildefell Hall, Anne Brontë (1848)

David Copperfield, Charles Dickens (1849-50)

The Half-Caste, Dinah Mulock Craig (1851)

London Labour and the London Poor, Henry Mayhew (1862)

Cometh Up as a Flower, Rhoda Broughton (1867)

Middlemarch, George Eliot (1871-72)

The Uninhabited House, Charlotte Riddell (1875)

She, H. Rider Haggard

The Egoist, George Meredith (1879)

The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson (1886)

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder, James De Mille (1888)

A Marriage Below Zero, Alan Dale (1889)

Iola Leroy, Frances Harper (1892)

The Sorceress and the Strand and Other Stories, L.T. Meade (1893-1910)

A Sunless Heart, Edith Johnstone (1894)

The Three Imposters, Arthur Machine (1895)

The Library Window, Margaret Oliphant (1896)

The Island of Doctor Moreau, H.G. Wells (1896)

Of One Blood, Pauline Hopkins (1902-1903)

The Letters of the Late Ignatius Sancho, Ignatius Sancho, undated

[nedlittle]

Book asks: 20 and 14

14. What books do you want to finish before the year is over?

of one blood by pauline hopkins, murder crossed her mind by stephen spotswood, and jamaica inn by daphne du maurier. the first two i will probably finish tonight, and the third i assume i will finish sometime before or during my five hour trip back from my parents house.

20. What was your most anticipated release? Did it meet your expectations?

i didn't actually read a whole lot of new releases because apparently i was too busy getting really into japanese mystery novels from the 1940s but i was excited for mistress of bhatia house by sujata massey and i did enjoy it more than the previous two books (review here) OH and silver nitrate by silvia moreno garcia which i have not reviewed but enjoyed very much!!

[solarissantaella]

Quote Countdown #1:

"The laws of changeless justice bind

Oppressor and oppressed;

As close as sin and suffering joined,

We march to Fate abreast."

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

Hey! What books by POC got a majority yes result? I'm interested in reading more by authors of color but when I used the be loathed Tumblr search function the only posts it brought up as tagged 'result: yes' were by white authors. Also, any personal recommendations for sci fi by POC?

hello! don’t mistake the stats — no books by authors of color have gotten a yes result either here or on the fantasy blog, and I don’t think any are likely to at this point (if Jemisin’s The Fifth Season couldn’t do it on the fantasy blog, I highly doubt anything else will); authors of color simply have an average yes percentage here that’s only slightly lower than the average percentage for white authors.

I’m happy to give my own recommendations, though:

any of Samuel R. Delany’s sci-fi. I think Nova is maybe the most approachable starting point (and quite good in its own right), but if you want to jump off the deep end, I think Stars in My Pocket Like Grains of Sand is the greatest science fiction novel ever written; whether or not one agrees with that statement, I think it is pretty unequivocally the most science fiction novel ever written, by which I mean that no other book I’ve encountered or heard of has made such a thorough use of everything science fiction can be and do as Stars.

I also would be remiss to not recommend Octavia E. Butler; I’m personally not a huge fan of her books, but I do think every sci-fi reader should read at least one of them. the Earthseed duology (Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents) is probably most-discussed in recent years because they seem to parallel current developments in US politics, and the Xenogenesis trilogy (first book Dawn) is also considered a classic.

the elements of it that read as (at least potentially) science fiction upon publication now read as fantasy, but if you’re interested in something older, Pauline Hopkins’s Of One Blood, or The Hidden Self is an early work of science fiction/fantasy by a Black writer — it was serialized in 1903. it’s part lost world narrative, part last gasp of (pseudo)scientific mesmerism/animal magnetism theory, part troubled romance (caught up in turn-of-the-century racial politics).

Zainab Amadahy’s novel The Moons of Palmares is a cool (though a little short) novel about a racially diverse mining colony trying to break away from Earth’s capitalist / colonial domination.

I’ve enjoyed several of Aliette de Bodard’s Universe of Xuya books, which are mainly short — I think the first I read was On a Red Station, Drifting, and I also enjoyed The Tea Master and the Detective (even though I often don’t really care for Sherlock Holmes adaptations) and The Citadel of Weeping Pearls.

if you like science fantasy, I loved Jacqueline Koyanagi’s Ascension when I read it back in 2014. it hits a lot of ~found family~ notes that I think would appeal to what people on tumblr (say they) like.

I also would recommend any of Yoon Ha Lee’s books; I think the best starting point for his work is his short story collection Conservation of Shadows, which is incredible and also contains “The Battle of Candle Arc”, which I think is the best intro / preparatory reading for his Machineries of Empire trilogy (first book Ninefox Gambit), which is excellent (though very dark) but can be challenging to get into.

I read and enjoyed a lot of Nnedi Okorafor’s books in the past, although I haven’t read most of her more recent stuff, and I would particularly recommend Lagoon, as well as her short story collection Kabu Kabu, which includes some excellent sci-fi stories, especially “Spider the Artist” (also available online).

if by any chance you read Spanish, I can’t recommend Edmundo Paz Soldán’s Iris highly enough — incredible, deeply fucked-up novel about an anticolonial war in a corporate dystopia somewhere in ambiguously Latin America-slash-Oceania.

also “authors of color” isn’t necessarily the right rubric for these, since he’s Wajin in Japan, but if you like military sci-fi I’ve been really enjoying Tanaka Yoshiki’s Legend of the Galactic Heroes novels, although tragically Tyran Grillo’s translations of the middle novels are very bad.

Masande Ntshanga’s Triangulum was something I’d picked up entirely on spec at a bookstore a few years ago and it absolutely blew me away — I’ve been recommending it to everyone.

if you liked The Locked Tomb and ever found yourself thinking, “what if this decadent space empire ran on sex magic instead of necromancy”, I’d highly recommend Bendi Barrett’s Empire of the Feast

and some other short fiction collections (some with the same caveat re the utility of “POC” as Tanaka Yoshiki):

Gillian Ybabez, Homeward Bound, and other stories includes some sci-fi and some science fantasy, published as part of the now sadly defunct Trans Women Writers Collective booklet series and is still available through its successor, River Furnace.

Ted Chiang, Stories of Your Life and Others (now sometimes titled Arrival)

Hassan Blasim (ed.), Iraq + 100

Basma Ghalayini (ed.), Palestine + 100

Sofia Samatar, Tender  — Samatar is imo the greatest living fantasy author, but this collection is also about 50% sci-fi and she’s just as good at sci-fi.

most of it is realist but I have to mention Leanne Betasamosake Simpson’s This Accident of Being Lost, which has two excellent sci-fi stories (“Big Water” and “Akiden Boreal”); Simpson has imo perfect prose — never a word out of place.

Sunyoung Park and Sang Joon Park (ed.), Readymade Bodhisattva

Michel Jean (ed.), Wapke, which was originally published in French but is apparently now also available in English

it wasn’t all my preferred kind of specfic, but Chelsea Vowel’s Buffalo Is the New Buffalo is worth a read in any case.

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Assistir Filme Você vai Conhecer o Homem dos seus Sonhos Online Fácil é só aqui: https://filmesonlinefacil.com/filme/voce-vai-conhecer-o-homem-dos-seus-sonhos/

Você vai Conhecer o Homem dos seus Sonhos - Filmes Online Fácil

Alfie (Anthony Hopkins) e Helena (Gemma Jones) estão casados há 40 anos, até que um dia ele resolve que precisa recuperar a juventude perdida e decide pedir o divórcio. Helena fica destroçada com a notícia e, com o apoio da filha, Sally (Naomi Watts), passa a consultar periodicamente Crystal (Pauline Collins), uma vidente. Paralelamente Sally precisa lidar com o desejo crescente por seu novo chefe, Greg (Antonio Banderas), e com a crise em seu casamento com Roy (Josh Brolin), um escritor que apenas fez sucesso em seu livro de estreia e enfrenta dificuldades em concluir seu novo trabalho. Enquanto aguarda a resposta da editora sobre seu novo livro, Roy passa a flertar com sua nova vizinha, Dia (Freida Pinto), que sempre se veste de vermelho.

[hbhughes]

Jonathan Lacey Whipple

Jonathan Lacey Whipple, 37, son of Karen and the late John Whipple, passed peacefully at his home in St. Petersburg, Florida on March 16, 2023. He was born on April 1, 1985 in Leesburg, VA. Formerly a resident of Swoyersville and a 2003 graduate of Wyoming Valley West High School, Jon had an inquisitive mind and developed many passions in life. From a young age he nurtured a love of sciences, developing a keen interest in astronomy and atmospheric weather phenomenon, and a profound respect for history. Following the path of his interest in the past, Jon became an enthusiastic member of the Civil Air Patrol and developed an avid interest in World War II history and memorabilia. One of his favorite pastimes was listening to stories of the war from his grandfathers and a neighbor who served in the Army in Korea.

However, his first true love was music. Jon was known to most for his passionate exploration of all things relating to music. He loved all forms and styles from Jazz to Ska, Classical to Motown, Oldies to Punk, and introduced everyone who knew him to a style they would have never experienced without him. He was one of those rare individuals who could pick up any instrument and, in a short time, be able to play them; and play them he did – saxophone, baritone saxophone, trombone, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, piano, and organ. As he became proficient in instruments, he also branched out into composing and audio engineering, a pastime that remained a constant in his life.

After graduation, Jon became interested in the culinary arts. As with his other interests, he gave it his all. He worked in several local restaurants as a sous chef, honing his skills, but when the opportunity arose, he moved to Florida to attend the International Academy of Design and Technology which he graduated from in 2011 with a degree in Music Production. He refurbished a 1985 Volkswagen “hippie van,” and set off to establish his new life in the south with his constant companion of 17-years, Nola, a Carolina dog. He spent his recent years traveling and hiking with Nola and friends sharing his dedication and passion with a new community.

Although his time with us was not long enough, Jon’s greatest legacy lies in the way he made people feel. He was a man who loved to learn, and found joy in sharing that knowledge with others, and people often found themselves better off for having known him. His friendships were legendary, with many remaining rock-solid for over 25 years. His big heart made him the most fun person to be with in any room and he will be missed by all those friends and family who were lucky enough to have known him.

Jon loved many people in his life and will be sorely missed by all: his mother Karen, sisters Samantha Whipple and Genel Whipple Depuysselier, her husband Pete and children Dillion, Denise, Ryan, Mary, and Zack; partner Erin Peterson; daughter Chrystine Locascio, and son Julian Whipple. He is wished a peaceful rest by his aunts, uncles, and cousins: Tom and Pauline Whipple; Sue and Ken Hopkins, Josh and Kerie Hopkins and their children Dean and Eliza; Sarah Hopkins; Alan Shiplett and his son Alan Shiplett Jr; Bruce Shiplett; Tim and Tracey Shiplett and their children Emily, Lauren, and Matthew; Jennifer and Eric Murphy and their children Mia and Collin, Jake Honoosic. Jon now joins his father John Whipple, paternal grandparents Lester and Genevieve Whipple, maternal grandparents Herman and Joyce Shiplett, Uncle Steve Shiplett, and his beloved Nola. Rest in Peace, gentle soul – your journey is complete.

Family and friends are invited on Saturday, April 15th from 12:30 to 2 PM at Church of Christ Uniting, 190 S. Sprague Ave., Kingston, PA 18704. Memorial service will start at 2 PM, with Rev. Jane Pykus, officiating. Funeral arrangements are entrusted to Hugh B. Hughes & Son, Inc. Funeral Home, Forty Fort.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to SavetheMusic.org, SavingCarolinaDogs.com, RailstoTrails.org, or a charity of your choice.

[sistahscifi]

Our wildly popular title, Black Sci-Fi Short Stories published by @flametreepublishing and edited by @tiarosseditor with foreword by @theonly_temioh, is back in stock!! Purchase link in bio: @sistahscifi | www.sistahscifi.com.  The deluxe edition includes works from W.E.B. Du Bois, Martin R. Delany, Sutton E. Griggs, Pauline Hopkins, Edward Johnson, Russell Nichols, and Wole Talabi.  Image one Reposted from @arrakistowesteros Hanzo says, "Stop reading and get me a snack." Well Hanzo, the wonderful thing about short stories is I can grab you a snack after I finish one!  Image two from @booksenvogue, thank you for these amazing photos!!! #BlackSciFiShortStories #SistahSciFi #WEBDuBois #SciFiReads #ShortStories #CurrentlyReading #ShortAttentionSpan #DogsAndBooks #BooksAndDogs #DogsOfBookstagram  #blackscifishortstories  #BlackScifi  #BlackScifi #Afrofuturism  #shortstorycollection  #shortstorycollections   (at Sistah Scifi) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmzYx0ZrItL/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=