#the administration series

[mannafrancis]

Books out of print

Just to update everyone, following the closure of Casperian Books the Administration paperback and ebooks are no longer available for sale.

I'm exploring future options for them, and I'll let you know if there's any further news. In the mean time, thanks to everyone who bought a copy of any of the books.

[paramorin]

hi! I stumbled upon Mind Fuck by a friend's recommendation, but after checking out the author's website I couldn't tell if the series was overall finished or not. I don't like starting a series when I don't know if there will be a resolution for the main couple at the end or not. could you maybe help out? :)

Hi! Short answer is, it's finished enough to read. That is, there may be additional books written in the future, who knows, but there are no plot bits that remain unresolved. If there are any additional books written at any point, it would mean a new plot, probably. Unlike a lot of book series, in this series each book is self-contained. There are developments, so reading in order is advised, but you can stop at any point. Which also means that if you finish the first book (or the second, or the third) and decide you don't want to read further, there are no cliff hangers and you don't have to go looking for spoilers.

So, I recommend reading the first one, and if you enjoy it enough that you want to spend more time in this world, with these characters, read more. On a side note, a lot of things that were scifi during the writing of the first book no longer are (like touchscreen gadgets, "screens" in the books, or automated voice-to-text transcribing). I suspect that the more retro-futuristic the series becomes, the less likely additional sequels become.

if you choose to read it, I hope you like it!

[aturinfortheworse]

Never forget the scene in one of the The Administration books where the boys have a zoo day! I doubt a paraphrased excerpt can do justice to nine novel's worth of characterisation but...

The panther paced across the front of the cage immediately behind the glass. Not the whole width—barely a third of it, in fact. She had worn a path in the grass, turning each time at precisely the same spot, moving with a tightly contained energy that he found painful to watch.

Prowling—that was the word traditionally linked to big cats. She should have prowled, but she didn't. Warrick had spent a long time in front of the cage when he'd been here with Dillian, trying to work out why the word felt so wrong, and eventually decided that prowling implies an interest in the world around. The panther showed no awareness of anything beyond her endless turn and return.

Unlike many of the other cages, there was no sense of being watched back. It was possible to map many things onto the flat, yellow eyes—restlessness, rage, boredom, despair, madness, a desperate determination never to surrender to stillness and death—but nothing that touched the viewer, nothing that connected to anything outside the animal's own mind.

"Why's it doing that?" Toreth asked eventually.

"She came from somewhere where she was kept in a very small cage, with insufficient stimulation. The repetitive behaviour is called stereotyping. A stress-reducing response, or so I understand."

"So why is it still doing it?"

"Probably because she hasn't noticed yet that things have changed. It was all she'd ever experienced, according to the exhibit entry." He offered his hand screen to Toreth, but he was still watching the panther. "She arrived at the other place as a young cub, and after that she was always kept alone in the same cage."

"You feel sorry for it, don't you?" Toreth asked.

"Yes."

"More fool you. I'll tell you something—if you went in there with it, I bet it'd stop stereotyping pretty fucking sharpish." His hands slid up, circling Warrick's neck loosely. "It'd tear your fucking throat out."

Warrick forced his shoulders to relax. "Yes, I expect it would."

"That'd teach you not to feel sorry for things that don't fucking need it."

[pancake-cookies-acorn-jelly]

Reading The Administration 1:

Oh, God, are you stupid or what? He's not going to change! He's dangerous, Warrick, you need to leave.

Reading The Administration 9:

Oh, God, are you stupid or what? He's not going to change! He's dangerous, Toreth, you need to leave.

[blconnoisseur]

I want to eat glass

[nando161mando]

[gophergal]

ok so a doodle with a target audience of one before I go to bed

Just some team fort characters cast as characters in the Seven Deadly Sins vocaloid series by MOTHY. Here we have the Administrator in Judgement of Corruption (Greed), Demoman in The Muzzle Of Nemesis (Wrath), and Medic in Gift From the Princess Who Brings Sleep (Sloth)

ok night

[not-poignant]

The latest UtR update on AO3 got me hooked and I could no longer constrain myself and had to read the other chapters on Patreon. Now I need to know: does Lucien have any redeeming character traits in the series or can I add him straight to the list of characters that deserve the worst? That attitude of his towards Faber made me so mad lmao

Hi anon!

This actually reminds me of the ask I got recently about how awful Augus is as a character and how it's impossible to consider him through a positive light after reading Falling Falling Stars. Because that's how he seems if you've never read him in anything else of mine!

My narrators are unreliable, anon. We only ever see Lucien very briefly through the jealous eyes of an insecure man.

(Spoilers for a future brief verbal encounter between Lucien and Faber in Underline the Red).

Lucien is an extremely vulnerable omega who is in an institution that has temporary custody of him. They control what he eats, what he does, whether he leaves or not (i.e. he's functionally imprisoned), who fucks him, if he gets to see anyone else, if he can talk to his partner and family back home and how often. He has significant psychiatric issues around his own insecurities re: jealously and his partner, and he clocks Faber as being in love with Caleb, and he's right.

And that's incredibly unethical of Faber, honestly, to not have disclosed any of this to Dr Gary (like Dr Gary will be right to consider firing him over this in the future). It puts Lucien's mental health in direct and severe jeopardy, and is ironically likely what causes his relapse that causes Caleb to suggest domestic discipline in the first place (oh, Faber, the irony).

Because Lucien's there to learn that actually a lot of his jealousy and insecurity is unfounded. Instead, he learns the opposite, that no matter who he bonds with, someone else is there loving his potential partner while he perceives himself as having very little control (and in the case of Hillview - this is true, all he has are his words).

He's a chronically disabled omega who needs a disability aid (walking stick) to get around, he's a second class citizen, he's agreed with his partner to stay at Hillview because they both recognise how sick he's getting.

Faber is not a mental health patient/omega like Lucien is. He's a staff member who is nursing unrequited loved to an alpha companion, that he's refused to disclose, while still interacting with Caleb and his omegas. Imho, while Lucien is very good at lashing out, he's not wrong to, and that's why Faber fully acknowledges what Lucien is saying and listens to him, and basically never interacts with him again, and avoids Caleb where possible.

Lucien's mean about it, but Lucien is right re: Faber trying to hide his feelings because he knows what will happen if people find out, and that it's also wrong/unfair to put Lucien in that position.

And Faber knows that.

So yeah. The reader is meant to hate Lucien on a surface level, in the same way that Faber does.

But consider that Faber also sometimes seems to hate all omegas. He finds the smell of their heats disgusting. It's actually pretty normal for people to go through a phase of rejecting the thing that they are, if that's something hated in society. Faber's oscillating mixed feelings of bitterness, resentment and cutting attitude is actually mirrored in Lucien.

Faber has thought extremely savage, scathing and unforgiving things himself to the people around him (and himself). Lucien responds to Faber like Faber is an omega (something Faber doesn't recognise yet), because Faber...kind of acts like one in moments like that. (Efnisien also picks up on this, Faber is not great to him in the beginning of Underline the Black, in a very specific way designed for Efnisien to pick up on, and for Gary to miss. Faber behaves jealously, and constantly suggests to Gary that he should get rid of Efnisien, before he finally adjusts to the absence of Gary in his life. Faber is possessive and manipulative!)

Lucien ultimately doesn't need any redeeming characteristics because he's a victim who is at Hillview to heal and Faber is jeopardising that. We can hate him, but that's just the fact. He didn't try to kill Kadek when he arrived at Hillview, he hasn't tried to destroy memories of James, things Efnisien has done even though we love him all the same (ideally). Lucien felt understandably jealous/insecure (literally the thing he's at Hillview to be treated for, safe from people who will be in love with his lover until Faber) and he lashed out meanly.

If a staff member of Hillview can't handle some rude words, they shouldn't work there.

But yeah, I like the Lucien and Faber encounter because they are both extremely similar people in some ways. They are both bitter, jealous, resentful people capable of very scathing thoughts (and words). The only difference is that in that moment, Faber is the recipient and we feel bad for him. I mean, I do feel bad for him. Faber is in a bad place psychologically, it's a horrible thing for him to experience.

If we were getting Lucien's story from his perspective, and saw the panic attacks he had afterwards, and the regression he went through, etc. it might be different. But it doesn't have to be! Lucien in that moment functions as a reality check for Faber, and a very effective one at that. We're meant to hate him, but also meant to understand that Faber's love for Caleb is not as subtle as he thinks it is in the sense that - omegas can see it for what it is.

I personally like the one moment where we see that Lucien might have a heart when Faber admits his parents are dead, and we can see that he doesn't react with savage satisfaction, but like Faber broke the narrative he'd built for himself in his own insecure, jealous, scared mind.

[iguessitsjustme]

I love Wandee Goodday a whole lot but I cannot handle this fucking scholarship competition. I beg your everlovin pardon? The employees and the patients at the hospital will vote on the winner???? The patients???? Dear god I hope it's an anonymous vote. Do the patients have the opportunity to opt out? What exactly are the voting on? What is the criteria? Why is part of the scholarship to best market the hospital? They're doctors. In what world does this showcase which doctor is most deserving of the scholarship for doctors?

Their fellow doctors also vote? Again I hope the vote is anonymous. I'd be scared of potential retaliation if I were a patient or a coworker. What is the point of the written test if 70% of the total score is based in something that neither of them are professionally trained to do?

What is the criteria?? What are the rules and requirements? What instructions have they been given to follow? They have four months to come up with a campaign? Do they have any other deadlines?

Why is this a part of the scholarship for DOCTORS???????

I love this show but I am bamboozled.

[re-re-redline]

AAAAAAAAAAAAA

I JUST had an epiphany!

That window…

That fucking window…

IS THE SAME AS THIS ONE. The room he was imprisoned in!

…Ow, my kokoro.

I feel a lil’ bit silly for realizing this now.

But props to Kibadori Rue for that ascension ‘foreshadowing’ for lack of a better term. A hook for the punchline might be a better way of conveying that…

[s0ull3ss-p3rs0n]

*Enafies your white boy in a suit* I got bored lmao

Look at this fuckass thing I guess

[mannafrancis]

Are you still writing? And if so, what could we expect to see in the future? Plus I noted that you don't plan to write any more Administration books - what was your thinking on that? Not trying to convince you differently (although I loved them so!), just curious as to your perspective.

Hi!

I'm not writing at the moment, I'm afraid.

I won't say never to writing any more Administration books. I'd just need to have a new idea for a book that excited me enough to want to write it. So, you never know!

[themyscirah]

Was thinking about how I would write a Suicide Squad book if I got the chance to post (hypothetical) Absolute Power and like... I would totally rock this guys

Won't go totally into it here I don't think because time and also feeling pumped about the idea so may write something for it (which I have an AWFUL track record for finishing, but also if current Waller appearances piss me off enough who knows) but anyways it would have Amanda Waller and Ben Turner (Bronze Tiger) as dueteragonists, (especially for the first few arcs, although moving to a greater Waller focus [at least for a bit] around issue 10? 15? When she really starts to do things). Anyways the main story (at least at the beginning) would follow Ben Turner as he leads the squad both in the field and at home (essentially acting as the "Waller" along with his normal field leader duties) while secretly having Waller herself in residence at Belle Reve pretending to be a prisoner.

Early issues would focus on Ben saving the world (and keeping the squad in check) while also struggling to hide Waller from the government, heroes, and the rest of Belle Reve (save an accomplice or two). This of course works great, until it doesn't

[mysterealist]

Mystery#1: Why are most Democrat held districts mostly run-down urban areas, & still continue to vote in democrats?

Mystery#2: Has the decline of The Public's Faith in Biden, opened the eye's of a nation to the False Promises & Mass Manipulation of Cultural Marxism & The Entire Democratic Party's stranglehold around Our Nation's Cities?

In the vast tapestry of American politics, the fabric of liberal democrat values has experienced a perceptible unraveling in recent years. As the Biden administration took the reins, cities across America found themselves embroiled in a storm of controversy, their foundations shaken by the weight of corrupt leadership and divisive policies. From coast to coast, the once vibrant landscapes now bear the scars of ideological discord and governmental ineptitude.

In the wake of this tumult, it becomes increasingly evident that the public's faith in liberal democrat values is waning. Cities, once beacons of progress and prosperity, have become battlegrounds of rhetoric and finger-pointing. The blame game, a hallmark of contemporary politics, takes precedence over meaningful action and genuine dialogue.

From the onset, it was clear that certain figures within the administration had a target in their sights. The divisive rhetoric and incessant accusations served only to deepen the chasm of mistrust between citizens and their elected leaders. Instead of fostering unity and progress, these leaders chose the path of division, sowing seeds of discontent at every turn.

One cannot ignore the stark reality that our nation's traditional values are under siege. The bedrock principles upon which America was built—freedom, democracy, and justice—are threatened by a tide of political correctness and cultural Marxism. Our history, once celebrated as a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, is now vilified and dismissed as irrelevant.

At the heart of this cultural upheaval lies a fundamental disregard for our Judeo-Christian heritage. The values that once bound us together as a nation are now cast aside in favor of a narrative that seeks to undermine our collective identity. Rather than embracing our shared history, some seek to rewrite it, erasing the contributions of those who came before us.

Perhaps most troubling of all is the systematic erosion of our rights and freedoms. Whether it's the removal of historical monuments or the infringement upon private property, the democratic party has shown a willingness to sacrifice individual liberties on the altar of political expediency. What was once considered sacrosanct is now subject to the whims of an increasingly authoritarian regime.

The cultural Marxist conspiracy, as some have labeled it, poses a clear and present danger to the fabric of American society. It seeks not only to rewrite history but to erase it entirely, replacing truth with propaganda and justice with oppression. It is a threat not just to our way of life, but to the very essence of who we are as a nation.

As we confront these challenges, it is incumbent upon us to reclaim our voice and reaffirm our commitment to the principles that have guided us for generations. We must reject the politics of division and embrace a vision of unity and reconciliation. Only then can we hope to heal the wounds of the past and build a brighter future for all Americans.

In the end, the fate of our nation rests in our hands. We must stand firm in defense of our values and resolute in our determination to preserve the legacy of freedom and democracy for future generations. The road ahead may be fraught with peril, but it is also filled with promise and possibility. Let us rise to the occasion and forge a path toward a more perfect union, one built upon the enduring principles of truth, justice, and liberty for all.

written by,

Mr. Realist

KC KP 2024

[blconnoisseur]

Please

[f1]

W Series: All-female championship enters administration after failing to secure funding

After announcing the W Series would end early in 2022, organisers said they remained positive that funding could be found to secure the championship's future The all-female W Series has entered administration after the single-seater championship failed to secure funding. Alice Powell, who raced in the series from its start in 2019, said it had "inspired" many young female fans and "created" opportunities for drivers. "W Series DID NOT fail," said the 30-year-old Briton.external-link "At the end of the day, W Series got me out racing again, whether you agreed with the championship or not. "I have many great memories from racing in the championship, including my win at the British GP in 2021, which will stay with me forever." Britain's Jamie Chadwick dominated W Series and was crowned champion three times. The 25-year-old is now racing in the United States-based Indy NXT and is also part of Williams' academy. Administrators Evelyn Partners LLP said that most staff had already left the business or been made redundant. Kevin Ley, one of the joint administrators, said: "The news will be upsetting for the company's employees and drivers together with the worldwide supporters of the championship. "The company had been unable to commit to the 2023 race season due to its liquidity position. "The directors had been in discussions with various parties to provide additional funding together with a potential sale of the business. Unfortunately, these discussions did not progress." Ley's joint administrator, Harry Shinners, added: "The joint administrators will explore all available options to allow the W Series to restart in the future. We are seeking expressions of interest in the business and assets of the company." In November, Formula 1 - which has not had a female driver compete in a race since 1976 - launched the F1 Academy, an all-female series aimed at helping women drivers progress through motorsport. The inaugural season features seven rounds with the final race supporting the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas, in October. via BBC Sport - Formula 1 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/