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camisoledadparis · 24 days ago

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THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … November 4

1650 – William III was a sovereign Prince of Orange of the House of Orange-Nassau by birth, and he governed Holland from 1672. From 1689 he also reigned as William III over England and Ireland. By coincidence, his regnal number (III) was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II. He is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy". In what became known as the "Glorious Revolution", on 5 November 1688 William invaded England in an action that ultimately deposed King James II and won him the crowns of England, Scotland and Ireland. In the British Isles, William ruled jointly with his wife, Mary II, until her death on 28 December 1694. The period of their joint reign is often referred to as "William and Mary".

A Protestant, William participated in several wars against the powerful Catholic king of France, Louis XIV, in coalition with Protestant and Catholic powers in Europe. Many Protestants heralded him as a champion of their faith. Largely because of that reputation, William was able to take the British crowns when many were fearful of a revival of Catholicism under James. William's victory over James at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690 is still commemorated by the Orange Order. His reign marked the beginning of the transition from the personal rule of the Stuarts to the more Parliament-centred rule of the House of Hanover.

During the 1690s rumours grew of William's alleged homosexual inclinations and led to the publication of many satirical pamphlets by his Jacobite detractors. He did have several close, male associates, including two Dutch courtiers to whom he granted English titles: Hans Willem Bentinck became Earl of Portland, and Arnold Joost van Keppel was created Earl of Albemarle. These relationships with male friends, and his apparent lack of more than one female mistress, led William's enemies to suggest that he might prefer homosexual relationships. William's modern biographers, however, still disagree on the veracity of these allegations, with many contending that they were just figments of his enemies' imaginations, and others suggesting there may have been some truth to the rumours.

A spate of political satires accusing William of intimate relations with both men circulated during his reign. These scurrilous poems are quite explicit in their allegations, and are obviously the work of Tory partisans who favored James. For this reason they have been discounted by William's defenders.

One satire begins:

"For the case, Sir, is such, That the people think much, That your love is Italian*, your government Dutch. Ah! Who would have thought that a Low-Country Stallion and Protestant Prince should prove an Italian*?" (*Italy was the country most notably associated with sodomy in the seventeenth century.)

Bentinck's closeness to William did arouse jealousies in the Royal Court at the time, but most modern historians doubt that there was a homosexual element in their relationship. But William's young protege, Keppel, aroused more gossip and suspicion, being 20 years William's junior and strikingly handsome, and having risen from being a royal page to an earldom with some ease. Portland wrote to William in 1697 that "the kindness which your Majesty has for a young man, and the way in which you seem to authorise his liberties ... make the world say things I am ashamed to hear". This, he said, was "tarnishing a reputation which has never before been subject to such accusations". William tersely dismissed these suggestions, however, saying, "It seems to me very extraordinary that it should be impossible to have esteem and regard for a young man without it being criminal."

Most telling, however, are the remarks of Bishop Gilbert Burnet, who praised William unstintingly as "a person raised up by God to resist the power of France and the progress of tyranny and persecution." Yet in considering matters that might make it difficult for William to assume the English throne, Burnet refers to one "particular . . . too tender to be put in writing," which under the circumstances can only be interpreted as a reference to William's sexual nature.

1896 – J. R. Ackerley (d.1967) - His full registered name was Joe Ackerley; Randolph was added later as a tribute to an uncle - was arts editor of The Listener, the weekly magazine of the BBC. He was also openly gay, a rarity in his time.

Ackerley's memoir My Father and Myself, begins: "I was born in 1896 and my parents were married in 1919." His father, Roger Ackerley, was a fruit merchant, known as the "Banana King" of London. His mother, Netta, and Roger had lived together for a number of years and had already had one boy, Peter. An aunt said of Joe's conception: "Your father happened to have run out of French letters that day."

While at public school JR discovered he was attracted to other boys. His striking good looks earned him the nickname "Girlie" but he was not sexually active, or only very intermittently, as a schoolboy. He described himself as

a chaste, puritanical, priggish, rather narcissistic little boy, more repelled than attracted to sex, which seemed to me a furtive, guilty, soiling thing, exciting, yes, but nothing whatever to do with those feelings which I had not yet experienced but about which I was already writing a lot of dreadful sentimental verse, called romance and love.

Failing his entrance examinations for Cambridge University, Ackerley applied for a commission in the Army, and as World War I was in full swing, he was accepted immediately as a Second Lieutenant. In June 1915 he was sent over to France. The following summer he was wounded at the Battle of the Somme on 1 July 1916. He was shot in the arm and an explosion caused shards of a whiskey bottle in his bag to be imbedded in his side.

In May 1917 Ackerley led an attack in the Arras region where he was again wounded, this time in the buttock and thigh. He was taken prisoner. Being an officer, his internment camp was located in neutral Switzerland and was rather comfortable. Here he began his play, The Prisoners of War, which deals with the cabin fever of captivity and the frustrated longings he experienced for another English prisoner. He was repatriated to England when the war ended.

After the war Ackerley returned to England and attended Cambridge. He moved to London and continued to write and enjoy the cosmopolitan delights of the capital. He met E. M. Forster and other literary bright lights, but was lonely despite a plenitude of sexual partners. With his play having trouble finding a producer, and feeling generally adrift and distant from his family, Ackerley turned to Forster for guidance.

Forster got him a position as secretary to the Maharaja of Chhatarpur who he knew from writing A Passage to India. Ackerley spent about five months in India, still under British rule, and met a number of Anglo-Indians for whom he developed a strong distaste. The recollections of this time are the basis for his comic memoir Hindoo Holiday. The Maharaja was also homosexual, and His Majesty's obsessions and dalliances, along with Ackerley's observations about Anglo-Indians, account for much of the humor of the work.

During these months, he also developed a short friendship with the twenty year old Narayan and sixteen year old Sharma, who were servants of the King of 'Chokrapur'. Of one evening with Narayan he wrote, 'he suddenly laughed softly and drew me after him. And in the dark roadway, overshadowed by trees, he put up his face and kissed me on the cheek. I returned his kiss; but he at once drew back, crying out: 'Not the mouth! You eat meat! You eat meat!' 'Yes, and I will eat you in a minute,' I said, and kissed him on the lips again, and this time he did not draw away.'

Back in England, Prisoners of War was finally produced to some acclaim. Its run began at The Three Hundred Club on 5 July 1925, then transferred to The Playhouse on 31 August. Ackerley capitalized on his success, carousing with London's theatrical crowd, and through Cambridge friends met the actor John Gielgud, and other rising stars of the stage.

In 1928, Ackerley joined the staff of the BBC, then a year old, in the "Talks" Department, where prominent personalities gave radio lectures. He was Literary Editor of the BBC's magazine The Listener from 1935-59 discovering and promoting many young writers, including Philip Larkin, W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, and Christopher Isherwood.

Ackerley spent the last 24 years of his life in a small flat overlooking the Thames. Almost all his significant work was produced during this period. He had a stable job at the BBC, and the unsatisfying promiscuity of his younger years faded. What remained was his search for what he called an "Ideal Friend". He acquired an Alsatian bitch named Queenie from a sometime-lover, Freddie Doyle, who was going to prison for burglary. This scene, with Ackerley visiting Freddie at the police station, is how Ackerely's only novel, We Think the World of You, begins. ("Johnny" in the novel is closely modelled on Freddie.)

In the years folowing, Ackerly worked on his memoir about his father and drank too much gin. His sister Nancy found him dead in his bed on the morning of 4 June 1967. Ackerley's biographer Peter Parker gives the cause of death as coronary thrombosis.

Ackerly was openly gay, at least after his parents' deaths, having realized his homosexuality while interned in Switzerland as a prisoner of war. Ackerley worked hard to plumb the depths of his sexuality in his writings and belonged to a circle of notable literary homosexuals that flouted convention, specifically the homophobia that kept gay men in the closet or exposed openly gay men to persecution.

While he never found the "Ideal Friend" he wrote of so often, he had a number of long-term relationships. Ackerley was a "twank," a term used by sailors and guardsmen to describe a man who paid for their sexual services, and he describes in detail the ritual of picking up and entertaining a young guardsman, sailor or labourer. Forster warned him, "Joe, you must give up looking for gold in coal mines."

My Father and Myself serves as a guide to the understanding of the sexuality of a gay man of Ackerley's generation. W. H. Auden, in his review of My Father and Myself, speculates that Ackerley enjoyed the "brotherly" sexual act of mutual masturbation rather than penetration. Ackerley described himself as "quite impenetrable."

Wagstaff (L) with Mapplethorpe

1921 – Sam Wagstaff Jr. (d.1987) was an American art curator and collector as well as the artistic mentor and benefactor of photographer Robert Mapplethorpe (who was also his lifetime companion) and poet-punk rocker Patti Smith. Wagstaff is known in part for his support of Minimalism, Pop Art, Conceptual Art and Earthworks, but his aesthetic acceptance and support of photography presaged the acceptance of the medium as a fine art.

Born to a wealthy family, after growing up on Central Park South, attending the Hotchkiss School and graduating from Yale University, and being a fixture on the debutante circuit, Wagstaff joined the US Navy in 1941 as an ensign, where he took part in the D-day landing at Omaha Beach in World War II.

In 1959, an art history fellowship took him to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. He served as curator of contemporary art at the Wadsworth Atheneum from 1961 to 1968, and then at the Detroit Institute of Arts from 1968 to 1971.

After seeing the exhibition "The Painterly Photograph, 1890-1914" at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1973 and meeting Robert Mapplethorpe in 1972, Wagstaff became convinced that photographs were the most unrecognized and, possibly, the most valuable works of art. He began selling his collection of paintings, using the proceeds to buy 19th-century American, British, and French photography. Then, influenced by Mapplethorpe, Wagstaff's taste veered toward the daring, and he began to depart from established names in search of new talent. His collection was soon recognized as one of the finest private holdings in the United States. In 1984 Wagstaff's photography holdings - comprising at least 2,500 masterworks - went to the J. Paul Getty Museum, for a reported price said to be in the neighborhood of $5 million.

Sam Wagstaff met his lifetime companion and protégé, photographer Robert Mapplethorpe in 1972 at a party. Mapplethorpe, whom Wagstaff called his shy pornographer, was also his guide to the gay demimonde of extreme sex and drugs that flourished in New York in the 1970s and 1980s. In the 1980s, Wagstaff gave Mapplethorpe $500,000 to purchase the top-floor loft at 35 West 23rd Street, where the photographer lived and had his shooting space.

Wagstaff died of pneumonia arising from AIDS at his home in Manhattan on January 14, 1987, two years before Mapplethorpe.

1946 – Robert Mapplethorpe (d.1989) was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men. The frank homoeroticism of some of the work of his middle period triggered a more general controversy about the public funding of artworks.

Mapplethorpe was born and grew up as a Roman Catholic in Queens, New York. He majored in graphic arts, though he dropped out in 1969 before finishing his degree. Mapplethorpe lived with his partner Patti Smith from 1967-1974, and she supported him by working. They created art together, and even after he realized he was gay, they maintained a close relationship.

Mapplethorpe took his first photographs using a Polaroid camera. In the mid-1970s, he acquired a Hasselblad camera and began taking photographs of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, including artists, composers, and socialites. In the 1980s he refined his aesthetic, photographing statuesque male and female nudes, delicate flower still-lifes, and highly formal portraits of artists and celebrities. In the 1980s, his mentor and lifetime companion art curator Sam Wagstaff gave him $500,000 to buy the top-floor loft at 35 West 23rd Street, where he lived and had his shooting space.

Mapplethorpe worked primarily in the studio, particularly toward the end of his career. Common subjects include flowers, especially orchids and calla lilies, and celebrities, including Andy Warhol, Deborah Harry, Richard Gere, Peter Gabriel, Grace Jones, and Patti Smith. Smith was a longtime roommate of Mapplethorpe and a frequent subject in his photography, including a stark, iconic photograph that appears on the cover of Smith's first album, Horses.

Other work includes homoerotic and BDSM acts (including coprophagia), and classical nudes. Mapplethorpe's X Portfolio series sparked national attention in the early 1990s when it was included in The Perfect Moment, a traveling exhibition funded by National Endowment for the Arts. The portfolio includes some of Mapplethorpe's most explicit imagery, including a self-portrait with a bullwhip inserted in his anus.

Night Work

Though his work had been regularly displayed in publicly funded exhibitions, conservative and religious organizations, such as the American Family Association, seized on this exhibition to vocally oppose government support for what they called "nothing more than the sensational presentation of potentially obscene material." As a result, Mapplethorpe became something of a cause célèbre for both sides of the American Culture war. The installation of The Perfect Moment in Cincinnati resulted in the unsuccessful prosecution of the Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati and its director, Dennis Barrie, on charges of "pandering obscenity". His photographs of black men have also been criticized as exploitative.

Bob Love

Mapplethorpe died on the morning of March 9, 1989, 42 years old, in a Boston, Massachusetts, hospital from complications arising from AIDS. His body was cremated and the ashes buried in Queens, New York, in his mother's grave, marked "Maxey".

Nearly a year before his death, the ailing Mapplethorpe helped found the Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation, Inc. His vision for the Foundation was that it would be "the appropriate vehicle to protect his work, to advance his creative vision, and to promote the causes he cared about". Since his death, the Foundation has not only functioned as his official estate and helped promote his work throughout the world, it has also raised and donated millions of dollars to fund medical research in the fight against AIDS and HIV infection.

1960 – Tom Ryan, FDNY Firefighter, president emeritus of FireFLAG/EMT and LGBT Rights activist, is born. Ryan retired from FDNY in 2003, after a distinguished FDNY career, and is a veteran of 9/11. He has worked tirelessly for the issues effecting LGBT Firefighters and Emergency Workers, continues to speak out on issues of homophobia in the fire services, the rights of domestic partners, and discrimination toward the gay community.

September 11, 2001, started out as a picture-perfect day in New York City, Tom Ryan recalls. The sun was shining brightly. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. Ryan, a firefighter with Ladder Company 12, a house located in the Chelsea District of Manhattan, was off that day, busying himself in the Bronx home he shared with his partner of 11 years, Scott Arigot, and two of their children.

An instant message alerted him that the beauty of the day was about to be shattered, altering life in America, and the world, as we had known it.

Ryan made a quick call to the firehouse and spoke with his fellow firefighter, Angel Juarde, who told Ryan he was about to leave the station for the enflamed World Trade Center. It turned out to be the last time the two men would speak.

Moments later, all firefighters and police officers were called in to work in the city.

By the time he got to Ladder Company 12 in Manhattan, motorcycling in and out of the steady flow of traffic driving against him, Ryan was not yet aware that both World Trade Center towers had collapsed.

"I was trying to figure out what I should expect when I got down there. Have you ever been in New York to see the ticker-tape parades?" Ryan said in a recent phone conversation, searching for a metaphor to adequately explain the nightmarish specter.

"This was like an evil ticker tape parade. Paper was going everywhere. And dust—that grey dust went everywhere.

"The whole week I felt very isolated, and I know a lot of the other firefighters did, too," Ryan said.

"Basically, you went to the site, you came back to the firehouse. You tried to sleep but ended up walking the floors for a couple hours. Then you went back. You caught little naps, 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there. Your mind was racing. We really thought people were still alive in there."

Saturday morning, September 15, was the first time after the attacks that Ryan had any appreciable time off.

Before leaving the firehouse, he sat in the station's communal kitchen, reading that morning's edition of the New York Times. One of the first articles he read chronicled Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson blaming the attacks on gays and lesbians, and liberals in general.

"I just went nuts. I could not believe I had just had the week that I had had, and these two supposed-Christians were going to condemn me," Ryan said, the timbre of his voice raising. "I started ranting and raving, and the people in the firehouse kitchen were saying 'What's the problem?'"

Ryan told them the problem. His colleagues' response was, "Well, it's only words."

"But it's not only words," Ryan said. "People believe what they say."

Despite his anger and frustration, Ryan decided to attend the funeral that day of gay fire chaplain Mychal Judge, thought to be the first rescue worker to perish when the World Trade Center Towers fell. A former Catholic, Ryan said he knew Mychal Judge was gay, but had no other connection with him.

The firefighters from the house located across the street from the church were to be Judge's pallbearers. Immediately in front of Ryan, one of the pallbearers began to falter, losing his grip on the coffin.

"I don't know what happened. I don't know if he couldn't emotionally do it, or if he was just physically exhausted, or what," Ryan said. "The coffin was rocking, and someone shouted, 'Step out, step out!'"

Ryan immediately jumped forward, took the weakened pallbearer's place, and began carrying Judge's coffin into the church.

"I felt like it was such a clear message from [Mychal Judge]," Ryan said. "Here he was, the gay chaplain of the New York City Fire Department. What are the odds of me being the firefighter who jumps out and grabs his coffin? I felt like it was a message from him, that there's no difference between any of us."

Ryan retired from FDNY in 2003, having been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress syndrome. He also suffers from respiratory problems he associates with the contaminated air that lingered for weeks at Ground Zero.

After that he attended classes at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey, near the Jersey shore where he and Arigot moved, to earn a his teaching degree. They have two sons and a daughter. The men also opened their home to care for a set of twins, who were seniors in high school.

Ryan continues his association with FireFLAG/EMS, a national support group for gay firefighters, emergency medical technicians, and their friends and families. Ryan is a past president of the organization. What started as a local group for rescue workers within the five New York City boroughs in 1991 has now blossomed into a national organization with as many as 500 members. Ryan estimates that among those members, four lost their lives in the 9/11 tragedy.

"I've been told there were a couple of [gay] police officers, too. Unfortunately, they were very closeted, so nobody stepped forward claiming to be a partner," he said. "I have [gay] friends who were in the Twin Towers," he said, marveling at the irony of the closeted rescue workers. "But they're still afraid to come out of the closet. I say, 'How could you be afraid of anything anymore?'

"It just speaks volumes about the pressures that society puts on you when you're still afraid to come out of the closet even though you lived through this horrendous experience."

1961 – Adam Bock is a Canadian playwright currently living in the United States. He was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. In the fall of 1984, Bock studied at the National Theater Institute at The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. He is an artistic associate of the Shotgun Players, an award-winning San Francisco theater group. His play Medea Eats was produced in 2000 by Clubbed Thumb, which subsequently premiered his play The Typographer's Dream in 2002. Five Flights was produced in New York City by the Rattlestick Playwrights Theater in 2004.

The Thugs opened Off-Off-Broadway in a production by SoHo Rep in October 2006, directed by Anne Kauffman. He won a 2006-07 Obie award, Playwriting, for The Thugs.

During the 2007-2008 New York theatrical season, two plays by Bock were produced Off Broadway: The Receptionist at Manhattan Theatre Club in 2007 and The Drunken City, originally commissioned by the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca, New York, at Playwrights Horizons.

Bock is openly gay and often writes about homosexuality. He is quoted as saying "I'm a gay playwright. I like being called a gay playwright. It's who I am. It's how I write. I have a very specific take on the world because I'm gay."

1971 – Perry Moore (d.2011) was an American author, screenwriter, and film director. He was an executive producer of The Chronicles of Narnia film series and the author of Hero, an award-winning novel about a homosexual teenage superhero.

He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1994, and while in college interned at the Virginia Film Festival. He also served as an intern in the White House and at the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios in New York City.He worked on the production team for The Rosie O'Donnell Show, then joined Walden Media (a media production company created by conservative billionaire Phillip Anschutz to produce family-friendly movies, documentaries, and television programs). He was the executive in charge of production for the film I Am David, an adaptation the Anne Holm novel North to Freedom.

He co-wrote and co-directed (with life partner Hunter Hill) the 2008 film Lake City, a drama that tells the story of a mother (Sissy Spacek) and son (Troy Garity) who reunite under desperate circumstances years after a family tragedy drove them apart. He also co-produced (again with Hill) a Spike Jonze-directed 2010 documentary (Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak) about children's book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak

Moore had a personal mission: although he was glad that comic books had been introducing Gay superhero characters for some time, he wanted to see them portrayed in a better light. What particularly disturbed him as the death of Northstar, a member of the Marvel Comics’ X-Men, whose announcement in the Marvel comic book that he was gay made headlines in 1992. In 2005, Northstar was killed by a brainwashed Wolverine. Moore said he felt that the murder of Marvel’s biggest gay hero by one of its most popular characters had sent the wrong message.

He began giving speeches in which he cited his own research showing that more than 60 gay and lesbian comic book characters had been ignored, maimed or murdered. "Yes, bad things happen to all people," Mr. Moore said. "But are there positive representations of gay characters to counterbalance these negative ones?" His answer was "Not enough." So Moore wrote Hero (2007), a novel about Thom Creed, a teen-ager coping with high school, a strained home life and his budding superpowers as well as his sexuality.

A longtime fan of children's literature and comic books, Moore's novel Hero was first published by Hyperion Books in August 2007. The young adult novel tells the story of a closeted homosexual teenager who becomes a superhero. In May 2008, Hero won a Lambda Literary Award as the best LGBT Children's/Young Adult novel of the past year. In 2008, Moore was in talks with veteran comic book writer Stan Lee about producing a television series based on the book. Moore began writing a sequel to Hero in 2009. Moore's father said that in early 2011 his son was working on turning Hero into a movie on the Starz cable television channel.

Openly gay, Moore lived in New York City with life partner Hunter Hill, a writer for Paper magazine. Moore was also a Christian and spoke publicly about his faith. According to family members, Moore had suffered knee and back problems before his death, which required pain medication and corrective surgery, but which he had put off to continue working. Moore died on February 17, 2011 at age 39 of a drug overdose, his body discovered by Hill in their SoHo apartment. While an initial autopsy proved inconclusive, his death was subsequently attributed to a lethal combination of benzodiazepine, methadone, and morphine.

1973 – Levi Kreis is an American recording artist and Tony Award-winning actor from Oliver Springs, Tennessee.

His debut album One Of The Ones was released on November 17, 2005 accompanied by an appearance on a special Sirius/XM radio edition of NBC's The Apprentice. Four hopefuls were chosen from thousands of submissions. The two teams had a challenge to write, record, produce and package an artist for Sirius/XM's station XM Cafe. Levi Kreis and his team won the challenge, launching Levi's recording career worldwide.

He followed his debut album with The Gospel According To Levi, confronting religion and its unhealthy views on sexuality, specifically as it relates to the LGBT community and conversion therapy (Levi did six years with Exodus International.) Levi's early music articulated the growing pains of young gay men and their relationships when it was still not a widely embraced topic of conversation.

In 2009, Levi won the OutMusic Award for his song "Stained Glass Window", a song inspired by the Del Shores play Southern Baptist Sissies. In addition to Levi's early musical activism, his compositions have been featured on many tv shows and movies.

As an actor, Levi was cast in the role of "Roger" in the national tour of RENT. He next starred in the award-winning independent film "Don't Let Go" starring Katharine Ross and Scott Wilson. He also played opposite Matthew McConaughey with the role of "Adam Meiks" in Bill Paxton's directorial debut Frailty.

Levi starred as Pastor Jimmy Ray Brewton in the film A Very Sordid Wedding (2017) and as Tom Cutler in the multi-award-winning film The Divide (2018).

2008 – Arkansas voters pass Act 1, which effectively bans adoption by same-sex couples, by a margin of 54% to 41%. Florida had done so in 1978. Florida’s ban was repealed in 2010.

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emblematicemblazer · 11 months ago

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World building and theories of Engage

Kagetsu

Kagetsu does not come from Elusia but his name still carries the tradition of being named after a flower. In Japanese his name can be divided into ‘moon' and ‘flower‘. Moonflowers are believed to be visionary plants and have medicinal applications. Kagetsu has a form of visionary powers that give him correct predictions but ultimately these visions have little utility. The moonflower on!y blooms at night so it could be considered a metaphor for beauty and truth blossoming from the darkness.

His outfit features the colourway of black, white and red. These three colours are considered traditional colours because they were the colour of eyes and pigments available to artisans and artists. White is believed to symbolise purity and truth. Kagetsu‘s friendship intentions with Ivy comes from a pure and true heart which surprises her as she is accustomed to people with hidden, often malicious intentions. White is also associated with priests and brides, especially in the Shinto tradition. It is also the colour of mourning. Samurai's adorned white when they were to perform spooky - a ritual sacrifice.

Red has many associations, including being the colour of tori (shrine gates, temples and daruma dolls). It is an important colour said to symbolise power, strength, fire and protection.

Black is the traditional colour of samurai and represents masculinity.

Starting from the feet outwards, Kagetsu is wearing a pair of waraji. If you compare his waraji to zori and geta with raised soles, the low ground nature of his footwear really is unsuited to Elusia's environment of rain, pear and snow. The waraji is associated with commonfolk, not royalty like Kagetsu, because they were cheap and easy to create. Kagetsu is a traveller in search of worthy opponents. The waraji is perfectly suited for travellers because of the lightweight nature a supply could be carried and then discarded eleven they were worn out.

His hakama are known as horse riding hakama because they are divided into separate legs. To keep his umanori hakama from falling down, there are himo (straps) attached on either side of the front and smaller ones around the back. Hahaha are traditionally associated with practitioners of martial arts. The belt which helps hold the hakama up is known as the ‘obi'. The colour of the in I can symbolise the skill level of a martial art practitioner, but not In Kagetsu's case, since he wears hakama, the obi colour does not indicate his skill. His obi is tied with a knot known as ‘tateya musubi’ or ‘standing arrow knot’ and is a symbol for double joy. Another important item of his ensemble is a knot charm. This charm would be for warding off evil spirits and as a mizuhiki knot (The knot gets tighter the more it is pulled), could symbolise bonds between people.

Finally his hair style is a variation of the warrior's top knot, a style to keep the hair from his face and symbolise his warrior's spirit.

On his casual onigiri gear are tomoe, these are swirly symbols similar to a heraldic badge. His tomoe features three and four swirls, these particular mitsudomoe are associated with the guardian of warriors Hachiman. In Shintoism, four represents the mitama (souls) and three represents the three aspects of the four mitama. Japanese aristocrats were known to use these symbols as family crests. The mitsudomoe also represents the cycle of life in Buddhism.

There is a fun aspect to his outfit with designs of his favourite food; origiri. A red circle is also visible, a nod to the hinomaru, the Japanese flag. Hinomaru means ‘circle of the sun'.

In the Somniel he ditches his waraji for geta, finer sandals for a sacred place. These have a raised heel and are made of wood.

#fire emblem engage #fe engage #He kagetsu

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probablyasocialecologist · 2 years ago

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In 1969, the Sun, which in a previous incarnation as the Daily Herald had been a popular centre-left working-class daily, came under the control of Rupert Murdoch, whose editor Larry Lamb transformed it into a populist right-wing tabloid. Murdoch's Sun joined the ranks of the traditional Tory press, shifting the market overwhelmingly to the right. In 1950, newspapers supporting the Conservative and Labour parties were split evenly in terms of circulation. By 1974, political support for the Conservatives and Labour had split to 71—32 per cent respectively - and by 1983 it was 78—22 per cent. This had the effect of shifting political culture in the UK to the right. Crucially though, this shift was more due to changes in the political economy of the press than to public attitudes. The BBC, meanwhile, like the public, and for a time parliamentary opinion, remained broadly tied to the social-democratic consensus, putting it at odds with the cultural shift in the private media the simultaneous shift in elite opinion that was taking place in the business sector. The reactionary attacks on the politics of the BBC, enthusiastically supported by, or emanating from, the reactionary press, need to be understood in this context.

Tom Mills, The BBC: Myth of a Public Service

#Rupert Murdoch #bbc #media #news #propaganda #british history

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realindevelopment-returns · 5 months ago

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it's a psychobilly freakout conservative wipeout

#elections #i'm not even from the UK #but as an election nerd #and an anti conservative lefty #this one has been a good one

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zetexa · 5 months ago

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Checking in to the Best Vacation Spots Worldwide Planning your next vacation?

Choosing the perfect destination can be quite a challenge with so many amazing options across the globe. To help you decide we 've compiled a list of the best vacation that offer unique experiences, beautiful landscapes and incredible adventures. Whether you're looking for a relaxing beach escape a cultural city break or an adventurous wilderness retreat this guide has something for everyone.

1. Santorini, Greece Santorini

It is constantly heralded as one of the best vacations for couples and honeymooners. This picturesque island in the Aegean Sea is famous for its breath-taking sunsets, whitewashed buildings, and crystal-clear waters. The stunning villages of Fire plus Onia offer romantic settings with stunning views of the caldera. Explore ancient ruins dine on delicious Greek cuisine, plus relax on the unique black sand beaches for an unforgettable experience.

2. Kyoto, Japan

For those in search of a harmonious combination of history, culture and natural beauty Kyoto is a top contender among the best vacation spots. This former imperial capital of Japan is home to stunning temples, traditional wooden houses as well as beautifully designed gardens. Travel during the cherry blossom season in spring or the brilliant autumn foliage in fall for the most beautiful scenery. Don't miss the iconic Fushimi Inari Shrine with its thousands of red tori gates plus the serene Arashiyama Bamboo Grove.

3. Maui, Hawaii

Maui is one of the perfect vacation destinations in the world. This paradise has fabulous beaches, lush rainforests, and huge Haleakalā towering above. Some must-dos include snorkelling at Molokini Crater, driving on the scenic Road to Hana, and seeing the sunrise atop Haleakalā. Whether you just feel like lying on the beach or exploring the natural treasures of the island, Maui has it all.

4. Paris, France

Paris, the City of Light, is no doubt tastefully done and is a sight to behold. World-famous landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, and the Notre-Dame Cathedral testify to the significance of Paris in the world. Have a leisurely walk along the Seine River, explore bohemian neighbourhoods like Montmartre, and indulge in a buttery croissant at a sidewalk cafe. All in all, the city is an epitome of a rich history, arts, and love.

5. Queenstown, New Zealand

Queenstown completes the trip for you if you are a person who is always looking for adventure and loves to explore nature. It's a lively town on New Zealand's South Island west coast, surrounded by the Southern Alps and Lake Wakatipu. It's famously known as the birthplace of bungee jumping, but you will also find jet boating, skydiving, paragliding, and skiing. In short, it's breath-taking and endlessly exhilarating, with activities that one cannot find elsewhere.

6. Cape Town, South Africa

Cape Town, in its contrasts, is the place where urban sophistication meets natural beauty, making this one of the best vacation spots not only in Africa but in the world. Dominated by the national icon, New Seven Wonders of Nature—Table Mountain—this city is the place to get breathtaking views of the city and the cable car to the top. From the top, offer panoramic views of the city or experience the vibrant V&A Waterfront down below, historic Robben Island, a ferry away, Camps Bay beaches, and the nearby Cape Winelands for a diverse enriching experience.

7. Amalfi Coast, Italy

The Amalfi Coast is one of those luxurious best vacation spots and best scenic getaways in all of Europe. All of southern Italy is home to the rugged coastline, coloured villages, and clear azure waters along the shoreline. Drive through its winding coastal stretches, great history towns like Positano and Ravello, and savour in flavourful bites of its local cuisines. The beauty and charm of the Amalfi Coast have put most people to regard it as their favourite destination for relaxation and romance.

8. Bali, Indonesia

Bali, Island of the Gods, is the perfect blend of culture, nature, and chilling atop Ubud's beautiful rice terraces. The island features the ancient rocks of Tanah Lot and Uluwatu temples and the sandy beaches of Seminyak and Nusa Dua. The vibrant culture, friendly locals, and beautiful landscapes turn Bali into the best experience for both adventure and serenity.

9. New York City, USA

The city that never sleeps—New York City—is among the best urban explorers' vacation spots. The iconic skyline, first-class museums, and ultra-diverse neighbourhoods make the options for discovery seemingly endless. From Lady Liberty to Broadway to Times Square, Harlem, and Brooklyn; hustle, bustle, and all manner of the coolest stuff. If you want to explore a city, New York City has the energy and diversity to help you do it.

10. Australia, Great Barrier Reef

The Great Barrier Reef makes the best vacation spot for those who love marine life; in general, scuba divers will love it. This is the largest coral reefs system in the world, off the coast of Queensland. The chances of snorkelling and diving in the transparent-blue waters immerse one in vision after vision of various coral formations and tropical fish and other species of the underwater marine world. Spot the spectacle of the Whitsunday Islands and the flying, thrilling view of the big plane over the reef together with the tropical beauty of this UNESCO World Heritage site.

Why These Are the Best Vacation Spots

The destinations provided above include some of the best vacation spots in the world because of their special, unique factors and great experiences all visitors can experience. Each spot has so much special to offer, be it amazing natural beauty, intense cultural vibes, or thrilling adventures. Each spot offers an option for traveling with easy styles and preferences, making sure every traveller finds the best place according to needs.

Tips to Finding the Best Vacation Spots

Here are some tips to help you choose the best vacation spot for you:

1. Identify Your Passions

Think of an activity or an experience that you enjoy. Would you like to lay back on a beach, soak in a cultural experience, or explore destinations? Knowing what your passion is will help narrow down the choice of locations perfect for you.

2. Consider the Season

For whatever time of the year, the best vacation spots could change. Research your perfect destinations about the best periods to visit for perfect weather and experiences.

3. Expenses

Your pockets will have to spend on choosing the best spots for vacations. Some spots will be costlier than others, so consider your spending limits on the tip of your visiting spots.

4. Travel Companions

Who will accompany you on your vacation? Some vacation spots are perfect for family vacations, others for single travellers, and yet others for couples. Make sure the chosen spot counts in the needs and preferences of the ones you will be traveling with.

5. Accessibility

Consider how accessible your desired spot it. Most preferably, some of the best vacation spots will be hard to access, often signifying long flights and constant connections. Give some slack about travel time and convenience.

An eSIM will keep you in touch, especially during holiday season, if traveling around the globe happens to be on your agenda. It is quite easy to have access to data from almost any country without switching physical SIM cards. The Zetexa eSIM options provide QR-code activation and are proposing trip plans one can adjust easily to one's needs. Be it the breathtaking landscapes of Santorini in Greece or the vibrant culture of Bali, Indonesia—eSIM will keep you connected and sharing your journey as it happens.

People can just travel to the finest spots for a vacation with a number of days that can be connected. From romantic setting suns in Santorini to busy streets in New York City, an eSIM has got you covered straight out of the box. From places as good as Kyoto, Japan, to the best eSIM options themselves, excellent coverage and convenience within New Zealand's adrenaline terrains in and around Queenstown are the only places this journey would get exciting. Focus on just one set of fantastic places to holiday at, and yet make some unforgettable memories at each one of them—all through an international eSIM that keeps one connected.

When taking your next trip, consider your interests, budget, and who you are going to travel with in order to make a choice regarding the best vacation spot. They offer a variety of experiences ranging from romantic trips in Santorini, Greece, to adrenaline experiences in Queenstown, New Zealand. Be it roaming the lively streets of New York City or the quite temples of Kyoto, the best vacation spots will surely be the places of unforgettable memories and the best experience. So pack your bags and get going to explore the most amazing places in the world.

#esim card #esim for international travel #vacation spots #best vacation spots in the world #perfect vacation destinations in the world

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mariacallous · 2 years ago

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There’s an international socialist conspiracy afoot, and it wants to make it easier to walk to the shops. Fringe forces of the far left are plotting to take away our freedom to be stuck in traffic jams, to crawl along clogged ring roads and trawl the streets in search of a parking spot. The liberty of the rush-hour commute, the sanctity of the out-of-town shopping centre and the righteousness of the suburban food desert is under threat as never before. The name of this chilling global movement? The “15-minute city”.

Westminster can often seem like a badly scripted spoof of itself, but rarely has parliament descended into parody as far as it did last week, when the Conservative MP for the South Yorkshire constituency of Don Valley, Nick Fletcher, launched a plucky tirade against the concept of convenient, walkable neighbourhoods. “Will the leader of the house please set aside time for a debate on the international socialist concept of so-called 15-minute cities and 20-minute neighbourhoods?” he asked, in an ominous tone. “Sheffield is already on this journey, and I do not want Doncaster, which also has a Labour-run socialist council, to do the same.”

It is not the first time that an online conspiracy theory has made it into the Commons chamber, but it may be one of the most surreal. Simply put, the 15-minute city principle suggests you should have your daily needs – work, food, healthcare, education, culture and leisure – within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from where you live. It sounds pleasant enough, but in the minds of libertarian fanatics and the bedroom commentators of TikTok, it represents an unprecedented assault on personal freedoms.

“Creepy local authority bureaucrats would like to see your entire existence boiled down to the duration of a quarter of an hour,” warned a furious presenter on GB News last week, as if describing a plot line from Nineteen Eighty-Four. The 15-minute city, he suggested, was a “dystopian plan”, heralding “a surveillance culture that would make Pyongyang envious”.

Never before has a mundane theory of urbanism been such a lightning rod for outrage. It’s like suggesting that public parks are part of a sinister plant-worshipping plot to demolish our homes and replace them with grass. Or that public transport is the work of a satanic bus cult. Some online forums have claimed that the 15-minute city represents the first step towards an inevitable Hunger Games society, in which residents will not be allowed to leave their prescribed areas. They see it not as a route to a low-traffic, low-carbon future, but as the beginning of a slippery slope to living in an open-air prison.

As one irate TikToker shrieked, while jumping around his room in disbelief: “You’re going to have to apply for a fucking permit to leave your zone!” (Although he also ascribed the 15-minute city plans to the Tories, so it’s not quite clear which deranged Reddit forum he got his information from).

There are lots of good reasons to interrogate the cute logic of the 15-minute city – could it actually lead to further social segregation? Would wealthy residents, and their money, remain in the prosperous enclaves? Who is providing the services and where do they live? – but the threat of our rights being curtailed by travel permits isn’t one of them.

The conspiracy theory pot was given a powerful stir in December, when the Canadian rightwing culture warrior Jordan Peterson decided to get involved. “The idea that neighbourhoods should be walkable is lovely,” he tweeted, in a post that has since clocked up 7.5m views. “The idea that idiot tyrannical bureaucrats can decide by fiat where you’re ‘allowed’ to drive is perhaps the worst imaginable perversion of that idea,” he continued, “and, make no mistake, it’s part of a well-documented plan.” Peterson quoted a tweet that featured the telltale hashtag #GreatReset, referring to the World Economic Forum’s post-pandemic economic recovery plan – widely used in the stranger corners of the internet as a byword for a shadowy global conspiracy intent on robbing us of our freedoms. The anti-vaccine, pro-Brexit, climate-denying, 15-minute-phobe, Great Reset axis is a strong one.

So where did the fear come from? Many of the UK conspiracy theorists highlight that these “un-British” ideas of urban walkability emanate from France, so they must be distrusted on principle. Worse than that, they point out, the ideology has been driven by a bearded Colombian scientist with radical roots. The ideas had been around since the 1920s, but the 15-minute city phrase was coined by Carlos Moreno, esteemed professor at the Panthéon-Sorbonne in Paris, who was once a member of a leftwing guerrilla group in the 1970s. And now he’s coming for your cars.

“Their lies are enormous,” Moreno said in a recent interview , describing some of the claims made by his critics. “You will be locked in your neighbourhood; cameras will signal who can go out; if your mother lives in another neighbourhood, you will have to ask for permission to see her, and so on,” adding that they “sometimes post pictures of concentration camps.”

Moreno first promoted his concept of la ville du quart d’heure in 2016, but it gained international attention when the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, adopted it as part of her re-election campaign in 2020. She promised she would close off roads and turn them into public plazas, plant more trees and turn schools into the “capitals of the neighbourhood”, open to everyone for sports and recreation in evenings and at weekends.

The pandemic proved to be a powerful trial for how a 15-minute city might work in practice, and led to bodies such as UN Habitat, the World Economic Forum, the C40 Global Cities Climate Network and the Federation of United Local Governments championing the cause – which also helped to boost unhinged fantasies that it is all part of a grand global scheme of totalitarian oppression.

More recently, the principles have gained traction in the UK, with Oxford, Birmingham, Bristol, Canterbury and Sheffield councils considering 15-minute city ideas. Cue outrage from those with no other cause left to flog. “The climate change lockdowns are coming,” tweeted Nigel Farage, in response to Canterbury’s innocuous traffic filtering scheme, while Oxford’s plans triggered similar ripples of incredulous fury.

“Oxfordshire County Council yesterday approved plans to lock residents into one of six zones to ‘save the planet’ from global warming,” screamed one alarmist headline. “The latest stage in the ‘15-minute city’ agenda is to place electronic gates on key roads in and out of the city, confining residents to their own neighbourhoods.” The claims had zero basis in fact, but they poured further fuel on the fire of those battling low-traffic neighbourhoods, and their fellow band of assorted culture warriors.

It seems fitting that a leaflet drop warning against Oxford’s traffic filters plan was organised by Not Our Future – a new pressure group led by none other than Fred and Richard Fairbrass of 1990s band turned anti-vaxxers Right Said Fred. Too sexy for their car? Maybe they could try cycling to the shops instead.

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burkhartzy · 8 months ago

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a warm saturday night. the middle of november heralds the approaching summer, the seasons are changing before our eyes. the lights blink slowly and this city seems so familiar to me now, everything is as usual. I don't feel so lost anymore. you wear a gray jacket, which I already know. honey, speed up even more. you who love the sea, take me to see it. everything seems better at midnight. our reflection in the windows. in a way, there was a musky scent to her necklace. eternal waves invite the twilight, and my heart burns.

tori

#stay with me #jacket #sea #summer #summer nights #love #aesthetic #love in city #city #city pop #converse #poemas #poetry #cherry #drinks #coffee

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swanmay-that-got-away · 1 year ago

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Final thoughts on Elric

It's a real shame that Moorcock doesn't stick the landing for his books. I think Bane of the Black Blade is damn near perfect, and I think The Vanishing Tower is very close behind. The first book is iconic, even if it over relies on external assistance CONSTANTLY.

But ultimately, Stormbringer feels like a pessimistic screed. It is *so close* to just being suffering porn, which all Elric feels worryingly close to, but Stormbringer is when it finally feels like Elric is being punished by Moorcock for existing, and I find myself agreeing with Elric. What was the fucking point? Why did I bother reading this? What's it matter to me that the cycle is maintained, when every character dies, every nation dies, everything I could possibly care about in this world is gone? And for what, so real earth could be born? I think it's very dark and funny that Epic Pooh exists, as an essay. I think that, in his reaction to his hatred of tory romanticism, he has produced the un-tory romanticism, equally as awful and harboring nearly as many biases. Certainly his takes on race are barely better than Tolkien's. There's still innately evil elves. There's still innately evil asian wizards. I find the exception-that-proves-the-rule protagonist deeply uncompelling. You really want in your heart for Moorcock to transcend his own black hole of hatred for the english bourgeoisie and write something powerful, but he never does. Postmodernism is exhausting. Often unproductive.

I find myself in a constant tension between loving and hating very dark media. You're relying on the ending satisfying all this pent-up pain, that the ending will deliver for this shit that you and the characters have waded through. But rather than a decisive victory that gives you full catharsis, or a thoughtful ending that meditates on the nature of suffering or the nature of striving against hope, it seems that the default writer answer is to simply dish up more depression.

Really, I don't know why I bother consuming this shit anymore. I'm not mad, I'm sad that it isn't better. I'm going to go finish Heralds of Valdemar, to get this fucking taste out of my mouth.

#elric of melnibone #final thoughts

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eaglesnick · 1 year ago

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“An investment in knowledge pays the best interest. Benjamin Franklin

The Government paper, Schools, pupils and their characteristics (08.07.23) gives the total number of English schools as 24,442.

Rishi Sunak has heralded the fact that as Chancellor, one of the first things he did was to approve funding for the rebuilding of 500 schools over a ten year period. As a former investment fund manager you would think Rishi Sunak could do simple arithmetic but it appears not.

It was reported the Department of Education informed Sunak that 200 schools a year needed to be replaced.

“We put in a bid for 200, but what Rishi agreed to was to continue the rebuilding programme with 50 a year…" (Daily Echo:05/09/23)

In response Sunak has denied cutting the schools rebuilding budget.

“The UK’s prime minister has defended himself against accusations that he failed to fully fund a programme to rebuild England’s schools, claiming the suggestion is “completely and utterly” wrong." (Guardian>: 04/09/23)

Let us be generous and assume Sunak didn’t cut the school-rebuilding budget. If only 50 schools a year were being rebuilt before he became Chancellor then, even though he knew the replacement of 200 schools a year was needed, he didn’t technically cut funding. He did however knowingly decide to continue with a programme that was seriously inadequate in replacing dangerous buildings.

We know he approved the funding for 50 schools per year to be rebuilt. We also know from the government’s own figures there are 24,442 schools in England.

The amount of time to replace those 24,442 schools using Sunak’s timetable would take 24,442 divided by 50 years: that is 488 years! In other words, if the same number of schools had existed at the time of Henry VIII only now would all of those schools have been replaced.

When Department of Education civil servants tell us “we weren’t just saying there is a significant risk of fatality, we were saying there is a critical risk to life if the programme is not funded", Sunak has to be answerable for putting so may young lives at risk, merely to save money.

He may not of cut funding but he did nothing to increase funding even though he knew children’s lives were at “critical risk”

In the meantime, back at the Department of Education, he did approve of the office makeover of Gillian Keegan's office.

“The £34m revamp of education secretary Gillian Keegan’s offices shows that the Tories don’t care about spending enough to fix collapsing schools, said Sir Keir Starmer.” (Guardian: 06/09/23)

Its good to know just what the Tory priorities really are.

#uk politics #gillaim keegan #school collapse #RAAC #arithmetic #funding #henry viii

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dyrewrites · 8 months ago

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WiP Titles Tag

@owlsandwich wants me to suffer, I guess (I kid). ^.-

Rules: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it!

Let's spread the suffering! @stesierra @rmgrey-author and @pb-dot -- what you got hiding in your folders? =P

I have folders for what things are, so we'll arrange by that.

And, to keep it less ridiculous--because this is already so long--I'll only share ones with actual bits written...instead of all the ideas and notes and random dialogue. It needs some prose in there or it won't count.

Also I am just sharing snippets, because it is easier than trying to explain what they are for me. >.>

Shorts -- Horror

I have 6-7 of these planned out but just the one started

The Roommate

I'm starving. It's been a week now since you went shopping, since you made a meal, and there's nothing to eat. Nothing to sup or chew or even gnaw. And I see you, every day I see you, in this deafening quiet that used to be our home. You leave our bedroom, eyes forward, steps stiff and dig in a closet by the kitchen. Rope then in hand, you check the front door but you don't open it. On your way back to the room you turn on every light. They're blinding, crackling, begging to burn out and still you leave them on.

Novellas

Rite of the Dinfa -- Mar Sidestory -- dark fantasy/romance

One of four planned sides-tories for the Children of Mar series.

Ophmit is the name we were instructed to use for our Cardinal. An Imaryn name, but not one given by family. It was one she had earned through lust and sacrifice, as one of us soon would, and I wondered then of names. As the lights wore and the Glaer crashed upon our caves, slaking the thirst of the Teeth we crowded in, I lost my focus to that wonder. What power must rest in names, that we clutch some so close and toss others as freely as stones into the sea? Her tale burned brighter; brighter and hotter than the fire that stung our nostrils and squinted our eyes. It wetted us deeper than the sea-licked air and drew us - every one - into the dance of her shadow.

Children's

Mr. Friendly

Did I do it wrong? The shadow wondered, from the quiet darkness of the closet, it’s three little taps first, then again, then three more, and then quicker ones, right?…or was it slower ones? Was I not s’posed to tap the door after? He had tried this before, many times in fact, more than he could count–maybe more than anyone could–and it always ended the same. No matter which way he did it, no matter how many patterns he tried, they ran away.

Standalone Novels

Before Deluca -- vampire romance //tie-in to Bloodhound Series

Yet we are discussing the night before 1700 began, when my future sauntered off one of those ships. Whether I wanted it, asked for it, agreed to it…well, that was as unclear then as it is now. But his presence heralded magnificent, insurmountable change. Ethereal, that presence, there exists no other word. He glowed in the light, near pearlescent skin a mesmerizing contrast to the bronze complexions I was accustomed to. Never mind the litheness of his figure, the feline grace in every twist and curve as he walked the dock. I couldn't look away; in fact I shifted to chase him, sliding my hands along the railing to keep him in my sights. He sang to me, all of him sang, and I ached to dance to that melody...

Ruddy Cheeks -- mystery/thriller

It was warm, balmy and bright that summer. The sort of weather that itches, that burns redhot on any bare scrap of skin not slathered in sunscreen. An average summer for the land without seasons. The city of sun and sea, of transplanted palm trees and overreaching cartoon mice… And it was during that painfully average summer that Lexi died. Her heart continued to beat after, her blood pumped, her neruons fired and she even reacted to outside stimulae. She smiled, she laughed, when appropriate, when expected. But, despite her best efforts, Lexi wasn't alive and, as she stared into the too-clean mirror of her bathroom at the emptiness overtaking her eyes, she worried. No, she concluded, with absolute certainty; she never would be again.

Gravedust -- horror/mystery/comedy

They say that, in my line of work, there are no accidents. That is true. There are eons of intent and planning. You have to make it look like an accident, however, or the critters start to get suspicious. Natural disasters are the easiest, of course, but you try getting all of that chaos to line up in just the right way every time you need it to. The second best are crashes; whether plane, train, ship or automobile. A crash is hard to top, plenty of shades available to paint the scene you want without drawing any attention. These divisions are considered menial labor, any fresh bag of bones off the rack can handle faulty brakes and an icy road.

Series Novels

Children of Mar -- dark fantasy/horror -- quadrilogy

I only have the first one, which is essentially finished, only notes written for the other three but including them anyway

Weald and Wen

The Nothing screamed. Its hollow wail pierced the disquieting gray and cyan of the Darklands. Fyrni lands, Loahl's lands...and he heard it, loud and dreadful through the stillness and prayed to the Lady that the younglings did not. With their ears twitched tall on their youth-rounded heads, his younglings scrambled behind him, eyes alight in vibrant blues. Blues that should have been yellow, burning with the fiery tether of their shadows...but those shadows were lost.

Wake and Glare

Flicker and Din

Heart and Breath

Tales of Morne -- urban fantasy/absurdist -- trilogy

Pale Blood

Opinions held for good reason—as far as he was considered—as he’d been kissing their asses and doing whatever was asked of him since he fucked up and fell from the grace of Upper Dolor’s majestic towers. A fall those crusty old relics wouldn’t let him forget. Jealous fucks the lot of ‘em, he’d remind himself whenever their teeth sunk too deep, or their words cut too wide, can’t stand that I can do what their ancient asses can’t. And he was right, in a way.

Light Thieves

That fancy little auto may have been much smaller and faster than ours, but it was getting awfully close…with no signs of losing interest. “And whose fault is this?” Delilah asked–more sneered, but who could blame her. I didn’t need to answer, and she would’ve clocked me if I tried…but it was my fault. I couldn't help it! We had jars upon jars of the shine and there was no time when we grabbed it to really look. So, as soon as we were free of the transport, and free of the drones, I looked. A peek, really! Worth it, if you asked me–and someone would, later, probably with knuckles involved. But I didn’t care.

Wish

One by one the street lamps flickered and went dark. The roar and hum of the vehicles on the street faded, the birds ended their nightly songs with sudden and uncomfortable silence. She was alone. Well, that was nothing new really - but alone in a few blocks of parking lot with no lights and no sound was certainly new. Waiting for her sight to adjust to the lack of a light source, she stood completely still. Eyes sliding back and forth, scanning the area - what did she expect to find? Monsters, surely. What else would cause such a scene just for her. What else could. "What else indeed." The voice was close, familiar too.

Chronicles of Ash -- urban fantasy/mystery

Notes in the Undersong

only one I have anything for, but I know it's going to be a series...

The blood dried up, but not before that soft round face—that was surely something to look at when it was flesh and bone instead of dripping ectoplasm—poked out of the wall in front of me with its tongue out. “You're no fun when you're workin’,” she whined, echoing voice vibrating a bit too loud. “And you've never been any, what's your point?” Bit harsh, I'll admit, but she ruined three potions and half a grand of materials. I had a right. The pout did hit me though, a tad, but I could bring her some cat bones later, and add a feline to my ever-expanding menagerie of spooks. She'd love that.

Bloodhound -- urban fantasy/mystery

Another one that'll be a series, but I only have a scene in the first book so far

But, at the moment, with the sun rising—throbbing its heat in time to his veins—Deluca was more concerned with getting home before his daughter woke for school. While she was old enough to make her own way there, she would smell the man on him—werewolf senses were something one never got used to—and deride him for it. Her list of ‘things to shove in Dad’s face when I want something’ was long enough… He had to get home and shower before she had the chance to add to it.

#writeblr #snippet #tag games #wip folder game #i have so much to do #and so many more than shown here T^T #someone shut off the brain

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