#shanna miles

[oddcryptidwrites]

@kk7-rbs tagged me in this oc picrew chain! I'm leaving it as an open tag, so if you want to hop in, feel free to do so and tag me in your creations!

For this one, I did the two of the oldest characters in NYTF: Councilor Shanna Miles and Commander Mateo Lopez!

@thetruearchmagos might want to see this one

[books-to-add-to-your-tbr]

Title: For All Time

Author: Shanna Miles

Series or standalone: standalone

Publication year: 2021

Genres: fiction, romance, fantasy, contemporary, historical fiction, magical realism, science fiction

Blurb: Tamar is a musician, a warrior, a survivor. Fayard is a pioneer, a hustler, a hopeless romantic. Together, Tamar and Fayard have lived a thousand lives, seen the world build itself up from nothing only to tear itself down again in civil war. They've even watched humanity take to the stars...but in each life, one thing remains the same: their love and their fight to be together. One love story after another. Their only concern is that they never get to see how their story ends...until now. When they finally discover what it will take to break the cycle, will they be able to make the sacrifice?

[nats-reads-reviews]

For All Time by Shanna Miles 2/5 ⭐️

This book was really hard for me to rate. There were some aspects I loved - time traveling love story, each life having a tragic ending. That, I loved, as well as the different genres the author was able to incorporate - there was elements of realistic fiction, historical fiction from different periods of time, and a science fiction element as well. But this book definitely lost me at certain points. There was too much back and forth between their lives and the characters and yes, the characters are supposed to be a little confused about changing lives but I felt like I as the reader was equally as confused. I maybe wouldn’t recommend this book with full confidence someone will love it but I think there’s definitely a crowd who can appreciate this book for what it was better than I.

[blogthefiresidechats]

Latest haul!

I made another visit to my local book store and you’ll be able to see what I purchased below. I’ve come to realize this year that reading books and purchasing books are two completely different hobbies of mine. With as many books that I have in my collection at the moment, I’m surprised that people aren’t stopping by my house thinking that another branch has opened up that’s apart of the city…

[duckprintspress]

My 2025 TBR

@hullosweetpea pinged me (on my personal account, @unforth) to do a "9 books I plan to read in 2025" meme, but I'd been meaning to do a post about the silly method I used to make my TBR anyway, so I'm gonna do that instead.

I've never been good about keeping track of books I've wanted to read, but in 2024 when I really started digging in to read a lot, I came up with a plan - I put together a TBR from recently published books (so, from 2023) plus a few books I'd had lying around for a long time - I had an "imminent" TBR on my nightstand and an older "oops didn't get to these yet" TBR that I'd shoved in a bedside cabinet. I grabbed all the old TBR, mixed them together with the imminent TBR, and treated that as my "real" TBR. I then put it in an order that I thought would help motivate me to read the things I was less enthusiastic about (but still wanted to read!) and set about making myself read them in order. I didn't actually manage that - things got shifted as new more exciting releases came out, and when something I was less enthusiastic about came to the top, I often bumped it until I felt up for reading it. But I actually think my flexibility in approach helped cause it meant I didn't stall, and by the end of 2024 I managed to read every single book that was in my TBR pile at the start of 2024.

Of course, I then had a completely new pile of books that I'd acquired, been handed by my wife after she read them cause she thought I'd like them, or borrowed from friends.

So, given that this method essentially worked, I of course, inevitably, decided to do it even more for 2025! Even though my TBR going into 2025 is already bigger than my pile was going into 2024, I nonetheless decided to go to the deep dark depths of cold storage - I went up to the attic (where our library is!) and dug out about a half-dozen books that I've been meaning to read; some I've had around for 20 years without getting to them. And I took my existing TBR, and these new books, and I made four piles:

(stupid long post about my TBR follows, behind a readmore)

Pile 1: The Books On The Top. These are the books that either I got most recently and I'm excited for, or that have been on my TBR longest, and I decided to leave them as-is. These are the books I'm either most excited to read or most determined to read.

This pile can basically be treated as my answer to the 9 books meme, even though there are only seven of them. It's also slightly out of date - I took this picture a few days ago, I'm now reading top book.

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu

The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles

The Missing Piece by Kun Yi Wei Lou

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

You're Too OP by Yi Xiu Luo

Babel by R. F. Kuang

Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh Chin

Looking at this pile, I think it's pretty obvious which are the titles I bought and which are the ones my wife handed over to me after she read them, assuming you know anything about my usual reading habits (it's danmei. I read danmei, lmao). I yoinked the Chinese classic off my mom's bookshelves, I want to expand my familiarity with the roots of Chinese lit so that I understand more about what I'm reading now.

Piles 2, 3, and 4: The books I'm excited about (left), neutral about (middle), and the books I'm kinda meh about but still would like to read (right).

I took all the remaining books, both more recent and from the cold storage (literally cold storage, our attic doesn't have much heat lmao), and sorted them into these three piles. A lot of the books I'm actually most excited to read aren't out yet; those I'll add to the pile as I buy them, so the final pile will change. I collated these three piles - alternating things I was excited for, things I was neutral about, and things I was meh about - into a final complete TBR.

This is my TBR for the year - not everything I'll read, by any means, but I'll attempt, by the end of 2025, to have read all these books, plus anything else I come across, thus that by the end of 2025, I'll have once again ship-of-Theseus'd by TBR pile. This entire pile, plus sources:

The Disabled Tyrant's Beloved Pet Fish by Xue Shan Fei Hu (bought for myself)

The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles (passed over by my wife)

The Missing Piece by Kun Yi Wei Lou (bought for myself)

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin (passed over by my wife - we also have the sequel, though she hasn't read it, and I expect if I like this one I'll probably read that soon after)

You're Too OP by Yi Xiu Luo (bought for myself)

Babel by R. F. Kuang (passed over by my wife)

Dream of the Red Chamber by Tsao Hsueh Chin (borrowed from my mom)

After the War by Stuart Sharp (bought for myself - this is an indie press title from the press I was vending next to at Readercon, it sounds really good!)

Where You Linger and Other Stories by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (another indie press Readercon acquisition, from Lethe Press)

The Fox and the Fallen Prince by Kate East (I traded a badly damaged copy of Aim For The Heart for this book at Flamecon, with a self-pub author who was vending across from me)

Slouch: Posture Panic in Modern America by Beth Linker (passed over by my wife)

Most Likely to Summon Nyhiloteph (another Readercon book, an anthology from Ghost Orchid Press)

The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi (passed over by my wife)

Black Cranes: Tales of Unquiet Women (this anthology was on the take a book-leave a book table at Readercon and looked interesting)

Winter's Orbit by Everina Maxwell (from cold storage, though I've not actually had it a long time; this is from a huge stash of queer books I stumbled upon at Goodwill one day and bought...all of.)

Devotion by Anna Denisch (got this self-pubbed title at the Book and Comic Expo at The Shirt Factory last fall)

The Bad Guys Won by Jeff Pearlman (passed over by my dad)

The Dragons of Heaven by Alyc Helms (from cold storage, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get to it @alychelms I've had it on my TBR since it first came out, oops)

(this one I can't remember the title on and don't feel like going to check, but it's a freebie/teaser that the guy vending next to me at The Shirt Factory gave me)

The Gilded Chain by Dave Duncan (from cold storage)

War of the Oaks by Emma Bull (from cold storage)

Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender (another Goodwill stash/cold storage book)

The Last Icon: Tom Seaver and His Times by Steven Travers (passed over by my dad; he passes me books about the Mets, in case that wasn't obvious yet, we both love baseball)

Fight Like a Girl edited by April Steenburgh & Christy Lennox (from cold storage; this was my first publication credit! but I've never actually read the whole anthology, oops)

The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson (another Goodwill stash/cold storage book)

Vicksburg: 1863 by Winston Groom (from cold storage; I am not only not-so-secretly a baseball fan, I'm also not-so-secretly a Civil War buff)

Sooo... that's 26 books, including some non-fiction that'll probably be slow going. But hopefully I can read it all this year!

But because that's enough... anyone who pays attention to my monthly reading posts or other posts about what I personally read has probably noticed I read a lot of graphic novels, so I can hear you going, "but unforth, there are no graphic novels on your TBR! where are the graphic novels?" and you are right. Because I maintain not one, but TWO other TBRs (three if you count my Libby account) specifically for graphic novel TBRs; I usually read them while reading other stuff.

Pile 1: physical library books and borrowed books.

I actually read Dungeon Critters last night; this is my current library pile, with the four on the bottom all books I borrowed from @tryslora.

Dungeon Critters by Sara Goetter and Natalie Riess

Galaxy: The Prettiest Star by Jadzia Axelrod and Jess Taylor

Hakumei & Mikochi: Tiny Little Life in the Woods vol. 1 by Takuto Kashiki

Silver Vessels by Steve Orlando

Ash's Cabin by Jen Wang

Yuri is My Job vols. 8 to 12 by Miman

Ask Me About Polyamory! by Tikva Wolf

Cannonball by Kelsey Wroten

The Flying Ship vol. 1 and 2 by Jem Milton

Signals vol. 1 and 2 by Nika

The Less than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal by E. K. Weaver

How to Be a Werewolf vol. 1 by Shawn Lenore

That said, I'm going to the library tomorrow, so I'll presumably come back with more. I always do, lmao.

Pile 2: Libby

No photograph for this one, obviously, and I don't feel like grabbing appropriate screen captures, but. I have five libraries on Libby ( @queerliblib, the Japan Foundation of Los Angeles, my local library, the New York Public Library, and the Brooklyn Public Library - all these are free for me as a US and NYS citizen) and I'm mostly using them to read manga lmao.

Current Libby Borrows:

I Hear the Sunspot vol. 1 by Yuki Fumino

Yona of the Dawn vol. 5 by Mizuho Kusanagi

Chainsaw Man vol. 2 by Tatsuki Fujimoto

Too Close to Fall in Love by Akira Nakata

Haikyu!! vol. 18 by Haruichi Furudate

Jujutsu Kaisen vol. 1 by Gege Akutami

Kaiju No. 8 vol 5 by Naoya Matsumoto

Libby Holds (titles I'm waiting for - because they have strict due-dates, they'll jump the TBR line whenever the holds come through):

Demon Slayer/Kimetsu no Yaiba vol. 4 by Koyoharu Gotouge

I Think Our Son is Gay vol. 5 by Okura

I Shall Never Fall in Love by Hari Conner

Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle

Spy x Family vol. 3 by Tatsuya Endo

Bury Your Gays by Chuck Tingle

How to Be Ace by Rebecca Burgess

Gwen and Art Are Not in Love by Lex Croucher

FANGS vol. 1 by Billy Balibally

Pile 3: The Yaoi Stash + a couple other odds and ends

So early last year I got a text from my brother that he was at a thrift shop and they had a pile of books that "looked like my kind of thing" and a photograph of a bunch of book spines, and I told him to go ahead and buy them all at $1 US a pop and I'd sort through what they were. This is most of those; excluded are a couple that weren't yaoi and I wasn't interested in, and a few that are incomplete cause I don't want to get invested in something like that. I haven't yet read any of this yet, I figure if I ever am low on library books or am just in the mood for some yaoi porn, I'll dip into this pile then.

Footnotes from the World's Greatest Bookstores is obviously not yaoi, it's a passed-by-my-dad art book about bookstores. It is, however, a quick read, and I've already read about half of it, so I threw it on this pile too because it had to go somewhere lmao

(blank spine) is actually an art book of MXTX fanart I got at Flamecon

Hero Heel vol. 1 and 2 by Makoto Tateno

New Beginnings by Kotetsuko Yamamoto

A Love Song for the Miserable by Yukimura

Tomorrow's Ulterior Motives by Sakuya Fujii

Love Share by Aoi Kujyou

Love Control by Ai Hasukawa

Star by Keiko Konno

Once Upon a Glashma by Jumiko Sukeane

Passionate Theory by Ayumi Kano

Hot Limit by Akira Kanbe and Minori Shima

Candy by Satomi Suerts

Red by Sanae Rokuya

Anyway. The TL:DR of all of this is I'm anal but if it keeps me reading it's worth it, and that I've got waaaaaaay too much I want to read in 2025.

But anyway, that's the answer to my 9, er, 50-something books I want to read in 2025 lmao.

[capoteera]

https://newlifeofnyc.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/20241111_201040.jpg Another picture where you can see Alba and Chris talking to Tara and some of the family in their seats.

You’ve got Tara, Chris and alba standing and talking then mark, Josh, her sisters bf, her sister, Tara’s daughter and husband Jason, Bob, Lisa, graham, Shanna his nephews Ethan and miles and niece Stella

[sevasey51]

What about Luna in some AU tackling teen pregnancy maybe? How would her and Chris deal with it?

Welcome to my first event for my sleepover event! This first request is something I haven’t done before so I just want to preface that it did take a lot of thought to be comfortable with this, but @f10werfae is an absolute angel. It’s slightly different to the ask but I hope you all enjoy this sleepover event! - K 🩵

Part of the Luna Grey Evans Verse

positive lines

Warnings: Talk of pregnancy, teen pregnancy, fear of being abandoned, panic, crying, anxiety.

Guest appearance form Uncle Scott and toby 🩵

Am I a disappointment? Will he be mad? Will dad disown me?

That’s all that was spiralling found in Luna’s head, she’s pregnant those positive lines staring deep into her eyes like they’re trying to burn and stay forever.

All she can hear is the shouting of her heart pounding in her head, the unthinkable she ever would would happen has.

She was pregnant.

They were careful, they thought her body couldn’t handle pregnancy. Her uterus too hostile but in some fucked up way apparently the unthinkable can still happen.

Happiness hit her like a train on a track, but coming towards her was the suffocating anxiety and unsettling sadness of no turning back. Something that should be the happiest moment of a females life. Her brain was telling her to run so she did with the test in hand and all the evidence to her uncles house.

Luna couldn’t face her dad right now, she didn’t even know if she ever could with this news; she thought Scott would be the rational one in this situation. She needed someone.

Just anyone, because by the end of this her dad in her brain could possibly not be her dad anymore.

Panting she knocks on her uncles door in tears, test in hand ready to break all over again.

“Luns, what - what’s wrong? Come here sunshine” Scott pulls her close concerned at what has his niece so worked up. “Hey sweetie, let’s go sit down Toby is here let’s just go calm down hmm and we can talk okay. He gives her the best reassuring sense he can while his mind runs at a million miles an hour trying to figure out what the hell is going on.

Then the penny drops.

Luna had placed something on the coffee table, he knows what it is without even having told to fully process what it was.

The blue capped, white stick stared back at him.. it makes him think of all those times he’d sit and wait with his anxious sisters for the most beautiful thing to become a reality.

Scott looked back at his niece, who was in a ball next to Toby - with great endearment. She was safe so how could’ve this happened but he’s not one to judge.

“Lou, you wanna talk about it?” He whispered coming in closer to comfort her using her favourite name he has for her.

All she can bring herself to say is “he’s going to hate me, he won’t love me anymore.” A small broken voice vocalised. He didn’t even have to ask who “he” was Scott’s stomach dropped twisting in despair for Luna. His Lou.

Hugging her tighter into his chest, he’ll say the same promise he’s always said.

“Listen to me Lou he won’t hate you - she squirmed in disagreement; I promise he’ll understand. He will, your dad is the most understanding person ever besides me of course.” Letting out a breathy laugh as he says it making Luna start to giggle too.

“Lou you know why he’ll understand?” He asked

“Why scotty, why will he” she tiredly questions

“Because he was the one who supported aunt Shanna when it happened to her.” The look on Luna’s face was the look of someone who was confused but not because of her aunt but because she’d never expected that specifically. She started to cry again.

“Hey I’m serious though Lou - he moves to wipe her tears away with the pads of his thumbs - he would, because grandma was confused and just couldn’t understand why it happened to her so early. But he was there though it all to support her even when she didn’t believe she could herself. He did it for her, he’d do it for you no questions asked. He loves you Luna, we all do.” He finished talking and kissed her on the nose to calm her more like he would when she was a baby; it worked then and it still does.

“Really?” Luna blurted out

“Really Lou, I promise. Pinky promise” Scott finished holding his pinky out.

An hour later, Chris had come over to Scott’s to get Luna. He knew she was there and he knew Luna wanted to tell him something.

That something he had no clue about.

“Bubba, what did you want to talk about?“ he questioned with a slight tilt of his head like the golden retriever he is.

“So you know Brandon, and how we are active and very protective” she whispered scared of what was going to happen. Scott squeezed her hand to let her know it was okay to continue. “Well I thought I missed my period because of how weird they are and sometimes they don’t appear, but I didn’t think much of it until my stomach felt weird, like I would be really tired and nauseous all the time. I thought it was my other meds but I took a test just because we are active and well….” She took a deep breath she was about to change the whole dynamic.

“Positive lines appeared. Bright positive lines” she starts to cry again. Chris stared in confusion but in pure joy and concern. Hell he was nervous but Luna was ten times worse right now. She just needed her dad.

“Sweet girl, it’s okay - she stared in disbelief Scott was right. - I promise we’ll get though this together whatever happens. - he says that knowing her endometriosis could hinder this situation - I take it Scott told you the story about aunt Shanna? He asked his beautiful girl.

“Mhmhm” that’s all Luna had the energy to reply with whilst she was essentially cocooned into Chris’ chest.

So you know, I love you always. We’re gonna get though this together as a family alright, do you wanna go get some curly fries and have a movie night in my bed?” Chris knew she’d say yes, it was her comfort and right now she needed all the comfort she could get.

“Yeah, thanks dad I love you” Luna replied smiling slightly at him

“I love you sunshine”.

I’m not saying I’ll ever do something like this again but it’s not completely off the table, I hope you guys enjoy this. Not only because it’s my first post of my sleepover but it’s my first proper post in months. Thank you to all who have stayed around whilst I’ve essentially ghosted my blog not because I wanted to but because I’m an adult with a life and a very adult job. I know i don’t have to explain myself but if you guys have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask! Also please send in an ask if you want to be added to the tag list not only for this but any of my other posts!

I can’t thank you all enough, enjoy 🩵

@f10werfae @haleybr @chrisevansonly @dumb-fawkin-bitch @alyswritings @sheetsonfire @thatsamericasass24 @sarahrogersevans @velvetcloxds @writersblog20 @kaeissupergae @lilacevans @buckybarnesandmarvel @anotherfuckingmarvelfanaccount @mcuamerica @haleyhunwritess @youre-amazing-say-it @worksby-d @haleyhunlibrary @nana1000night @angelbabydoll28 @angelbaby-fics @imyourbratzdoll @jessybarnes @buckymcbuckbarnesmainblogs @buckymcbuckbarnes @reginaphalange2403 @positivelyholland @ace-of-gay @i-spaced-sorry @astrorogers @comfortcap @bucky-fricking-barnes @hulkstacos @tgarrett26 @avenging-fandoms @just-dreaming-marvel

[srmilesauthor]

#firstchapterfriday is an easy way to get your students or campers reading!

Check out the first chapter, read aloud to you by the author, of my spooky Southern Gothic middle grade series.

"Despite a lifetime of breaking the rules, twelve-year-old Issa Igwe never expected to land in witch prison. At least that’s what she calls The Siren School outside of its hallowed halls. It’s actually the country’s most prestigious boarding school for magically gifted girls, and Issa’s parents insist that she attend . . . even though the school’s creepy history is the stuff of legend."

[pcttrailsidereader]

Norovirus on the PCT . . . How an outbreak spreads along the trail

September 24

By Pien Huang for NPR

I was just corresponding with another PCT-hiking friend about the few times we have felt unsafe on the trail. All of our examples related, not to bears or rattlesnakes or even lightning (I might have included lightning had I thought about it more), to human encounters. A lost soul or two on the trail, hunters combining alcohol and firearms, a camping area near a road. Now here is another thing to worry about . . . norovirus. It is a good reminder not to abandon hygiene in the wilderness. RH

EIS officer Arran Hamlet walks into the Government Meadows site to conduct environmental sampling for norovirus.

Last September, Kevin Quinn was trekking through a remote, mountainous region in central Washington state, when he started feeling sick. "At first, I thought it was just a stomachache," he says, "But when we got to the campsite I started throwing up, and it started coming out the other end as well."

Quinn was on the trail with his daughter, who had left her job so they could hike together. After months of hiking, he found himself wiped out at a campsite in the middle of nowhere.

"I had heard about the norovirus for years, but it was always in the context of 'Oh, there's a cruise ship in the Caribbean,'" he says, "You don't think about this being an issue when you're out on the Pacific Crest Trail."

Norovirus is a highly contagious virus that can cause serious gastrointestinal distress for several days. It's often associated with enclosed, crowded settings like cruise ships, health care facilities and childcare centers.

But it also crops up in the wilderness – like in an outbreak among hikers like Quinn last year which was documented in a recent investigation by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Call in the disease detectives

After a stream of sick Pacific Crest Trail hikers came through the Washington Alpine Club Lodge near Snoqualmie Pass last summer, a volunteer named Robert Henry closed the dorm-style lodge and emailed health authorities.

"My concern at the time was to make sure that the hikers on the trail didn't get any worse, and to make sure that the volunteers at the Washington Alpine Club didn't contract whatever it was they were bringing in," Henry ways. He also worked to warn other hikers about the threat.

EIS officer Dr. Arran Hamlet observes a water source being tested for environmental contamination of fecal waste and norovirus.

Hamlet focused on a 70-mile stretch of trail south of the Lodge, where ill hikers were coming from. One common rest stop, he learned, was a remote log cabin in the meadows, with a pit latrine and a stream that's used for drinking water.

Hamlet and his team hiked out to the cabin and tested water from the stream. They also swabbed the toilets, the door handles, the tabletops, the poker chips – anything people were touching. While the water samples came back clean, "every single [surface] swab tested positive for fecal contamination," he says.

"This doesn't mean that we can see human feces on things," he adds, "but at some point in time, there was transmission of human fecal contamination onto every surface in the cabin we swabbed, and also everywhere in the latrine."

The results of the investigation were published this month in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Investigators concluded that there was an outbreak of norovirus on the trail last summer that was spreading between hikers and that "exposure to contaminated surfaces within the cabin and ... latrines likely amplified transmission."

EIS officer Dr. Arran Hamlet swabs a backcountry pit latrine for norovirus sampling during an investigation for an outbreak of gastrointestinal illness among Pacific Crest Trail Hikers in 2022.

Shanna Miko, a nurse epidemiologist at CDC, was part of the field team on the Pacific Crest Trail study — and it wasn't her first norovirus-in-the-woods investigation. Last year, she traced an outbreak at the Grand Canyon, among people who were backcountry hiking and whitewater rafting.

"These are very well-planned trips. For many people, they're once-in-a-lifetime," she says. Travelers often read books and blogs in preparation, and get advice from others who have done the trip before them, accumulating trail wisdom – "places where people frequently stop, or places that have shelters where people frequently sleep over," good places to get water, or use the bathroom, she says.

These hubs, which seem so remote, see thousands of people – in varying levels of wellness – pass through in a season. They may not leave visible traces but some may leave germs, like norovirus, that can live on environmental surfaces for a long time, Miko says. (According to the CDC, this hardy virus can stay alive on surfaces for "days or weeks.")

Hand sanitizer doesn't cut and other advice for staying well

With norovirus, hand sanitizer and common water filters don't work. The virus is small, and "extra sticky" on skin, Miko says. And it takes just a few dozen viral particles to make a person very ill.

Miko says there are ways that hikers can cut their risks.

Always wash your hands with soap and water after you have a bowel movement – and wash them again before you eat. "The soap is a great detergent to remove the virus from your hands," she says. While any soap and water will work, she recommends biodegradable soaps in protected national parks and backcountry woods to reduce the impact on the environment.

Make sure to drink and cook with good, clean water. Pay attention to where the water comes from, and treat it properly. "Boiling for at least three minutes is the best way to kill everything you would typically come across," Miko says. And note: Most water filters are good at removing bacteria and common parasites but they don't cut it when it comes to norovirus. You'll need to layer on either chemical treatment or UV light treatment to kill the virus. (Here's the CDC's breakdown of what works for which pathogens.)

If you do fall ill, shelter in place if you can. This is for your own safety, and for the sake of others, "so you aren't seeding norovirus particles along the trail and putting others at risk," Miko says. This is not the time to try to push ahead but to rest and hydrate. "If possible, try to keep your defecation far from the trail and bury it, and don't prepare food anywhere near where you're using the restroom or vomiting," she says.

The worst of the symptoms usually passes in two to three days, though "you can still spread norovirus after you feel better," Miko says. She recommends waiting at least two days after symptoms have resolved before continuing on.

Norovirus was the last straw

Kevin Quinn set out to hike the Pacific Crest Trail with his daughter, Katie, who had left her job so they could hike together. Norovirus derailed their plans.

He was thirsty, he was really tired – and while he filtered the water, he skipped the additional, chemical treatment. Soon, he knew he'd made a mistake. "I was completely debilitated. I didn't have the energy to set my tent up," he recalls, "All I was doing was, like, every 15 minutes, going off into the woods and either throwing up or having diarrhea."

After a night of being very ill, Quinn and his daughter made a long, slow trek out of the woods. "We never made the whole trail," he says, "We just decided to call it quits."

Earlier in the summer, he caught COVID, which derailed his trail plans for a month. Up ahead, there were wildfires and trail closures. For Quinn, getting norovirus was the last straw.

A year later, he still regrets that he didn't take the time to treat the water properly.

To other hikers – he says: heed the signs, wash your hands and make sure your water is clean. In his experience, it's not worth the risk.

And, we would add, that water treatment options like the Steripen (using UV technology), would seem to be more effective.

[merelyroleplayers]

Please take your seats in the Studio

for a rare completely standalone episode of Merely Roleplayers that's a little bit Carry On Doctor.

It’s time to push the boundaries of modern medicine, and maybe to make out with a bitter rival in the on-call room!

For the next 5 weeks, instead of a 5-episode arc of one game, we're playing a selection of individual micro-roleplaying games from The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, edited by James D'Amato! Look out for:

Event Planning in Zero G by Jenn Martin

Hero Dog Saves Town by Alex Roberts

Wild Rovers by Shanna Germain

Summer Break! by Joey Barranco

Wonders by Alex Flanigan

Follow us on your usual podcast app - search Merely Roleplayers or head to www.merelyroleplayers.com

FACILITATOR: Josh Yard

STARRING:

Josh Yard as Dr Artery Hartwell and Penny

Natalie Winter as Dr Miranda Anderson and Steph O’Scope

Strat as Dr Henry Mole and Chris Wandsworth

Ellie Pitkin as Dr Cynthia Cutting and Marjorie Hartwell

Matt Boothman as Dr Achilles Miles and Jonathan Blackhead

ROLEPLAYING GAME SYSTEM: Heartbeats by Keith Baker and Jenn Ellis, published in The Ultimate Micro-RPG Book, edited by James D’Amato

MUSIC BY: Alexander Pankhurst, inspired by Horse Elevator

SEASON PLANNED BY: Strat

EDITED AND PRODUCED BY: Matt Boothman

[pantiesandpamperssissypart2]

Life in a small town had a lot of benefits. Low cost of housing. Low crime. Good schools. Fun downtowns. Everyone knows everyone.

And Sam and Shanna's small town was even blessed with its own clinic and doctor, a rarity in today's health care landscape.

Except that's not so good when you have an affair on your wife and your wife knows about it but doesn't tell you so uses her friend--that very same town doctor--to exact a cruel revenge on you. Such was life for Sam after he slept with Carrie, the bartender at the one joint in town. They kept it SO secret, but not quite secret enough. Instead of slapping Sam or leaving him, Shanna plotted.

She teamed up with her galpal, Dr. Helen Morrison, and used a few secret drugs to induce a bedwetting problem in her hubby. Hey, better than the wives who poison their hubbies to death, right!

The poor thing didn't know what do do so of course Dr. Morrison, SO empathetic, suggested diapers for his new problem.

Few more drugs and the poor thing started wetting himself during the day! Shanna truly enjoyed going to the bar one night where the skank Carrie worked and as she came to get their order at a table, Shanna started rubbing the back of hubby's back and made sure his shirt lifted to show off his Pampers to his former lover. Shanna saw Carrie's eyes go wide and the little jokes she made the rest of the night made it clear to both her and Sam that Carrie was not going to have anything to do with him any longer.

Sadly poor Sam's self-esteem plummeted and he became depressed. Not suicidal or anything though Dr. Morrison and Shanna told the nearest loony bin, 85 miles away, that he was suffering that badly. Got him committed without too many issues. Dr. Morrison made sure to add a note that Sam, while incontinent, could also be abusive and tried punching her at times and also was incapable of stopping masturbating in his diapers. All lies, but what the hell. Shouldn't have affairs.

And so as Shanna goes and visits her poor hubby in the mental institution, where he might just be staying quite a while, she couldn't help but chuckle at seeing the diapered imbecile. Stuck in mittens to make sure he couldn't do any naughty stuff. He was crying as she stepped into his rooms. So confused about what happened to him and his bladder. She soothed him by rubbing his head and telling him everything was going to be okay. She even tormented him by giving him a little rub on the front of his Pampers and encouraging him to make a cummy in his didees.

Then she went and told an orderly he tried attacking her. Which meant she was pretty sure the next time she visited he'd be diapered, mittened, restrained on the bed and, since she also told them he tried biting her, gagged as well.

Small town life. So fun!

[oddcryptidwrites]

Councilor Shanna Miles

Piers came to stand beside Councilor Miles... In her bare hands, she held the original copy of the modern Constitution, a thick, leather bound book. She began to recite her lines, voice amplified by the tiny microphone clipped to the collar of her deep blue shirt. (Knight of Dawn, Chapter 1)

Quick Facts

Full Name: Shanna Blaire Miles

Pronouns: she/they

Title: Councilor of the Savannah Zone of Safety (formerly: Mayor of Savannah)

Gender: Demifemale

Sexuality: Lesbian

Birthday (Age at start): November 16th, 2146 (64)

Parents: Ronan Miles, Elisha Miles (deceased)

Siblings: Jonathan Miles, Christina Miles, Sarah Miles (deceased)

Notable physical features: grey hair dyed blonde

Personality: great public speaker but socially awkward, selfless, quiet, intelligent, quick witted, calculating, devoted

Extended Intro

Councilor Shanna Miles is the longest-serving and Chief Councilor. While she initially presents herself as an enemy to Piers, the two eventually warm up to one another and grow to be close allies. Shanna was born and raised in the Savannah Zone of Safety, and their family traces their roots in the area to pre-Fall times. She grew up relatively comfortable, not rich but her parents made enough to put all four of their children through their higher education. Their mother worked as a biofuel engineer with the Royal Guard Navy, while their father was a speechwriter for several local Savannah politicians. While all of her older siblings joined the Royal Guard Academy, and eventually all became officers of varying rank in the Navy, Shanna shadowed under their father, gaining political experience and eventually becoming an intern/aide to the Mayor at the time. Eventually, Shanna worked her way up, serving as Mayor for five years before being elected to serve in the Council at age 42, and has continued to serve since. Despite being bullied constantly by Adele, Shanna has stood up for her Zone and has earned their respect.... and Shanna has also become the biggest pain in Adele's side. However, now that she's no longer Queen, Shanna finds herself in a complicated position with Piers, unable to tell their true intentions while also trying to prevent them from becoming as much of an asshole as Adele was. Shanna was married for over 20 years and had two children during that time. However, their wife and children disappeared 15 years ago and have not been seen since.

WIP INTRO PAGE

Tag List (reply or dm to be added or removed; I pulled from the old tag list + the call post): @author-a-holmes, @soul-write @flowerprose @ceph-the-ghost-writer @theglitchywriterboi @when-wax-wings-melt @thechaoticflowergarden @lyralit @penspiration-writing @samatedeansbroccoli @charlesjosephwrites @italiangothicwriteblr @thetruearchmagos @pineapple-lover-boy @unilightwrites @sanguine-arena @bardic-tales @joshuaorrizonte @blind-the-winds @circa-specturgia @hymnonlips @aloeverawrites @the-stray-storyteller @writeblrsupport @starlit-skys @kyuponstories @guessillcallitart @magic-is-something-we-create @talesofsorrowandofruin @writingonmymind @imslowlydisintegrating @worldsfromhoney

[kaetrinsmusings]

Review at AudioGals

Review at AudioGals: Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, narrated by Robin Miles.

I’m over at AudioGals with a review of Shanna by Kathleen E. Woodiwiss, narrated by Robin Miles. I did not love the narration but the story held up pretty well, considering.

[o-the-mts]

Book Review: For All Time by Shanna Miles

Author: Shanna Miles Title: For All Time Narrator: Joniece Abbott-Praatt and Landon Woodson Publication Info: New York : Simon & Schuster Audio, 2021 Summary/Review: Set after the COVID pandemic, For All Time is a young adult romance about teenage sweethearts – Tamar and Fayard – who spend some moments together at the airport in their hometown of Columbia, South Carolina before their world is…

[duckprintspress]

I'm between books right now.

The one I just finished, The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles, was recommended to my wife and I by Anna-at-the-bookstore. It's a middle grade novel with a 12-year-old Black boy as the main character. It's very hard to find books with Black boy leads, and Anna-at-the-bookstore knows we have an almost-nine-year-old biracial son, so she thought it'd be up our alley. I read it without my son (it's still a bit hard for him) and enjoyed it.

I'm about to start Camp Damascus by Chuck Tingle. Everyone I know who has read it, loved it, and I've been trying to convince my book club to read it for like a year, and I've decided to go for it without them.

Weekly Bookish Question #425 (January 19th - January 25th, 2025)

What’s your reason for reading the book(s) you’re currently reading?

[duckprintspress]

Mid-Year Book Freak Out

Yoinked from @profiterole-reads

Number of books you’ve read so far: depends how you count, but Storygraph has me at 148, which includes 20-something DPP short stories. (like a hundred of these are graphic novels/manga/manhua/manwha, they're quick...)

Best book you’ve read so far in 2024: I can't pick one. Best novel: The Imperial Uncle by Da Feng Gua Guo. Best non-fiction: Fun Home by Alison Bechdel or Genderqueer by Maia Kobabe. Best graphic novel...extremely hard choice. I'm gonna go with Brooms by Jasmine Walls, I really liked that one. or The Princess and the Grilled Cheese Sandwich by Deya Muniz.

Best sequel you’ve read so far in 2024: I have no idea how to define "sequel" in any way relevant to what I read, sorry.

New release you haven’t read yet but want to: Qiang Jin Jiu by Tang Jiuqing.

Most anticipated release for the second half of the year: the last books of Thousand Autumns and Guardian.

Biggest surprise favorite new author (debut or new to you): Da Feng Gua Guo (new to me)

Newest fictional crush: Jing Chengjun.

Book that made you cry: I can't recall that any of these made me cry??? I almost never cry at media, sorry.

Most beautiful book you’ve bought so far this year (or received): Beautiful as in...literally physically attractive? idk this isn't something I pay attention to much, they're all just books? I do love the art in the 2ha English releases.

Book that made you happy: several of the above, and a whole lot of others, let's go with Cheer Up! Love and Pom Poms by Crystal Frasier, it was super cute.

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?: so many, I'm trying to get through my entire TBR. Next up is three Katherine Addison books starting with The Goblin Emperor, and then after that is Rose and Renaissance by Zhi Chu. That's the next 7, after that I'm not sure what's next, maybe The Fall of the House of Tatterly by Shanna Miles? There's like 15 books on my TBR (there's also The Missing Piece by Kun Li Wei You, Babel by R. F. Kuang, The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin, Venus of Delta by Anais Nin, and probably a couple others I'm forgetting)., and I've got pre-orders that'll be coming in too. And there's the library books, with more there every time I go. oops. too many books.

Tagging @pterawaters @mayarab @deathbycoldopen @hullosweetpea and @sarnakhwritesthings