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sjhhemmings · 5 months

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Evermore pt. 4

greg ‘mouse’ gerwitz x cassie voight OC

A/N: so there's going to be a little time jump to season 3 episode 11 of Chicago Fire where canonically Sylvie and Peter get kidnapped, Im thinking it’s still in about season 1 of PD though. I'm gonna change it a little bit so I hope it doesn't get too confusing...i'm going to try and stay as canon as possible but we'll see. Also don’t hate me for the timeline because I’m lowkey just as confused. (also idk why the spacing is weird, but i gave up trying to fix it.)

warnings: kidnapping, slight ptsd, swearing, violence.

word count: 4920

wattpad: sjhhoran

It's now been 3 months since Cassie's father, Hank Voight, has been out of prison.

Things at the firehouse have finally started to calm down, except for the fact that Gabby Dawson has now become a firefighter leaving Cassie on ambulance 61 with either Chout or McAuley until they find a replacement.

Despite Gabby's multiple attempts to assure Cassie it wasn't her fault that Gabby left, Cassie doesn't really believe it. However, Cassie is still proud of Gabby for pursuing her dreams either way. The talk they had a few weeks ago to clear the air and any hard feelings was...rough. To say the least.

Jay also took the job in intelligence under Cassie’s father so that was exciting.

Cassie is still shocked that Gabby didn't want to date Jay, he's a great guy. Not that Cassie would ever go for him, she's still his #1 wingman. Or woman. Wing-woman.

"Alright, everyone settle down. This is Sylvie Brett, she will be the new paramedic under Cassie." Boden announces at the morning briefing. Cassie sent a small wave to the new paramedic from where she was standing at the back of the room.

"Cassie is your PIC, anything you say or do on the job must go through her. Understand?"

"Yes sir." Sylvie said at the front of the room next to Chief Boden.

"Okay. That's all. Go out there, do your jobs and do ‘em good." Boden then said leaving the room before everyone else.

"Hi," Cassie said now walking over to her new partner.

"Hey, it's so nice to meet you, i've heard a lot." Sylvie said shaking the other paramedics hand.

"Thanks, it's nice to meet you too. I'm gonna say we should head over to the ambo to check inventory, is there anything you want to let me know before we start?" Cassie asks making Sylvie give her a questionable look.

"Yeah that sounds good. Would you be able to clarify what you mean by-"

"Ah, sorry. It's a force of habit with the rotators. I've been stuck with Chout for the last week and he's very...excited…like at all times. Then there was McAuley who was literally the embodiment of Debby Downer, I don't know I guess I was just asking if you were going to have some odd, personality thing that I would have to get used to." Cassie said chuckling as they make their way to the apparatus.

"Okay yeah that makes sense. Um I hope I don't have any personality thing, but if I do please feel free to let me know." Sylvie said chuckling nervously.

Smiling at Sylvie's innocence Cassie felt like they were going to be good partners.

"No complaints so far, I like you Brett."

After a few shifts of working together, Cassie and Brett felt like they fell into a pretty nice rhythm. It felt natural how well they communicated and worked together.

At the end of the last shift however, Cassie was visited by a victim's family member. A patient she had treated when she briefly worked with Peter Mills before he eventually left to work at his family's restaurant. The patient had passed before they arrived at the hospital, and the father was more than upset with Mills. Something that Cassie had no control over.

"I need to speak with you," Cassie heard the all too familiar voice of Anthony Lullo called out.

The memory of meeting with Peter and Chief flashed through Cassie's brain where Peter had convinced both of them that Anthony wouldn't be a problem anymore.

"Looking back I'm glad that I didn't file a police report on him. He's in deep grief, and he deserves a pass on this." Peter's voice flashed through Cassie's mind.

Deserved a pass her ass, but she wasn't going to undermine Peter. He trusted his gut, and she trusted him. So, here they were.

"Mr. Lullo, please, I'm sorry for what happened but I really need to get home." Cassie said as she walked past him to her car.

"You're going to regret that." Is all Mr. Lullo responded with before leaving.

"Hey Chief, I just wanted to let you know that Anthony Lullo made another visit to the firehouse after last shift. He said he needed to speak with me and when I continued walking saying I need to get to home he mumbled something under his breath. I don't really know what he said, but just thought you would like to know." Cassie said making a pit stop to Boden's office who gave her a reassuring nod before she left.

"Who's Anthony Lullo?" Sylvie asked when her and Cassie were doing inventory for the ambulance.

"How do you know who that is?" Cassie asked confused.

"He approached me when I was coming into work today, told me to tell you that you need to talk to him. I don't know, I was just confused." Sylvie said defensively not really trying to get on Cassie's bad side already.

Taking a deep breath Cassie looked at Sylvie.

"Anthony Lullo was a patient's father that ended up coding before we made it to the hospital. I haven't seen him in a few weeks but it was starting to become harassment with how much he was coming around the firehouse. He ended up threatening my old partner, Peter Mills. It was this whole situation. I don't know why he's back though." Cassie admitted making Sylvie nod her head in understanding.

A silence fell through the girls as they finished looking through the medications in the ambulance before a call came through the intercom.

"Ambulance 61. Injuries from a fall. 815 South Nebraska."

"That's around the corner," Cassie said as they hopped out from the back.

"Can I drive?" Sylvie asked making Cassie chuckle.

"Sure."

Pulling up to the scene, Cassie and Sylvie immediately jump out looking for the victim. When they finally found him on the side of the street Cassie looked at Sylvie.

"Where'd he fall from?" Cassie asked as she looked at their surroundings, no visible places for a fall.

"You fell, sir?" Sylvie asked as she was putting her gloves on.

"My legs, my legs!" The victim screamed.

"Okay, can you take some deep breaths for me?" Sylvie asked as she began examining him.

Cassie still looking around as to what could've caused this injury, she saw a dump truck down the road. Uncovering blanket from the man's legs she sighed.

"He didn't fall. He was run over." She said agitatedly getting up and calling into her radio.

Once they finished doing what they could, they strapped the now unconscious patient onto the gurney

"He passed out from the blood loss. Let's get him to Chicago Med." Cassie said as they were working on getting him into the ambulance.

Quickly grabbing both the girl’s attention, a car pulled into the alley blocking in the ambulance.

"Who's that?" Sylvie asked with Cassie immediately recognizing the car.

*6 hours later*

"Halstead. Thanks for coming. Nice to have somebody we could trust on this." Matt says greeting the detective.

"Absolutely. Still no word from your paramedics?"

"No."

"Dumb question, anybody try their cells?"

"Yeah. No answer."

Once the pair find their way to the ambulance Jay immediately starts getting suspicious.

"Were they dispatched to this location?" He asks, heart dropping at the realization.

"Yeah."

"This could've been a set up." He said turning around and immediately seeing the hula dancer on the dashboard of the ambulance. The one he got as a gift for Cassie.

"What the hell happened here..." He mutters.

*6 hours earlier.*

"Hey, guys, we got a medical emergency here. We're gonna need you to move the vehicle." Cassie announces at the men who just stepped out of their car.

"Hands in the air. Keep your mouths shut." One of the two say as they both raise their guns at the paramedics.

"Woah." Sylvie mutters earning a glance from Cassie.

"Turn around!" One of them shouts making the other instantly yell at him.

"Keep it down! Now turn around put your hands behind your back." He says more quietly turning Cassie roughly.

"This guy needs to get to the hospital!" Sylvie yells getting another glance from Cassie.

"Brett, Brett. Hey don't hurt her please." Cassie says as they make their way to the car away from the patient.

"What is this?!" Sylvie shrieks.

"This doesn't have to be messy, just do what we say." One of them says as they throw the girls into the car.

"Please, let her go. I'm the one that he wants!" Cassie yells.

"He? Who's he?" One of them says with a smirk slamming the door in their faces.

"Where are you taking us?" Cassie asks as one of the men starts patting her down in the backseat.

"Shut up!" The man says as he gets a little too grope-y.

"Where's your phone, hun?" The driver asks as he reaches over for Sylvie in the front seat.

"Left hand jacket pocket." Shes says quietly as he grabs it and chucks it out the window.

"God, why did I have to be stuck with the grabby one." Cassie says looking at the man with a gun to her head.

As he pushed it farther into her temple she winced at the familiar feeling.

"Look, Jason Lullo sustained fatal injuries long before we arrived at the scene!" Cassie says earning an eye roll from the driver.

"Don't know what you're talking about. Just keep quiet now." He says as he continues driving recklessly.

"You gonna kill us?" Cassie quietly asked as she looked the man in the eye through the rear view mirror.

"You know everything is that it?" He asks with a smirk.

"Brett." Cassie quietly says as she looks out the window.

"Quiet!" The man with her said as he shoved the gun farther into her head.

"Brett, brace yourself." Cassie says before head butting the gun out of the man's hand and kneeing him in the face. Quickly kicking him in the groin after, Cassie moved over in the seat she wasn't buckled into and kicked the driver in the side of the head. Keeping her foot against his throat, this caused the driver to spin the wheel uncontrollably, inevitably crashing into a random scrap yard and making contact with a trailer trapping them inside.

*6 hours later*

Eventually finding the car, Jay and Cruz immediately get out to check it out. The thoughts running through Jay's head have him trembling more than he ever has on any case he’s worked before.

"Hey, this is Detective Halstead of intelligence, I'm gonna need you to run an Illinois passenger tag." Jay says into his phone watching Cruz check the car.

"Halstead...We got nothing. Car's empty. Looks like everyone made it out." Cruz says making his way back to the Detective.

"This happened hours ago. If Lullo's got them, they're dead!" Cruz says spinning out.

"Don't assume anything." Jay says trying to cover up his anxiety so he doesn't freak Cruz out any more.

"The hematoma's recollecting!" Cassie says looking at the driver's wounds.

"I thought you fixed him!" The other man says pointing a gun at the two.

"He needs medical attention." Sylvie says with attitude.

"Isn't that your job!?"

"Hey, we're paramedics, not doctors. You need to get him to an ER now." Cassie shouts back.

"This is your fault anyway, with that smart-ass stunt. Fix him, or i'll put a bullet in your head." The man says pointing the gun at Cassie again.

"This lump on your buddy's neck is due to internal bleeding. As it grows it presses on his trachea and that's what's causing the difficulty in breathing. It's only going to get worse!" Cassie says back to the man.

"So cut it open again!"

"That's only a temporary fix!" Sylvie now says butting herself into the conversation.

"Look. He's going to die unless we get this bleed tied off. We need to get to the hospital." Cassie says to the gunman.

"Might as well waltz into a police station!" The gunman says turning away from them.

"No hospitals." The driver on the make shift table mutters.

As his phone starts ringing he hands it to the other gunman.

"Don't answer it. Not if we're giving him bad news." He says obviously in pain.

"C-can't you guys tie off the bleed?" The very stressed out gunman asks.

"No," Sylvie says but not before Cassie says maybe.

"What? Cassie that's surgery."

"Look, if we do this, will you let us go?" Cassie asks looking at the guy.

"Okay. Deal." The gunman says walking off as he answers the second phone call.

"So this is what we think Cassie and Brett were in?" Gabby says looking worriedly at the car Cruz and Jay found.

"Yeah." Matt says sorrowfully as he opens the very, very, torn up door.

"Jay." She says as Detective Halstead made his way over to where she was standing.

"Gabby." He greets back.

"We gotta find them." She says looking at Halstead.

"We're uh, we're trying." He says almost breaking.

"Guys, I got some blood here!" Severide yells out pointing at the driver seat.

"Okay, at least one occupant is injured. Maybe they didn't get too far.” Jay says taking a step back to think.

“Okay, come here, everyone. Now!" Jay yells gesturing at the surrounding cops and firefighters.

"I want a tight perimeter, I want a K-9 unit, and I want a door to door search of the entire neighborhood. If you see anything that you think might be out of place, I want to hear about it." He says sending them off to their assigned tasks.

"Jay." Gabby says approaching him again.

"Hm?"

"She's my friend too. We'll find her." She says squeezing his shoulder reassuringly getting a tight lipped nod in return.

"Knife." Cassie says taking the blade from Sylvie and pressing it to the driver's neck.

Quickly pulling a gun on her she takes a step back.

"Hey! If you want me to do this, set the gun down now." She shouts a little startled.

As the other gunman takes the gun from the driver's hand, he sets it on a nearby surface.

"Okay. This is going to hurt, a lot. But I'm gonna do it fast. Kay?" Cassie asks getting a nod.

As Cassie made the incision on the driver's neck, she quickly turns around to set the blade down and grab something to use as a clamp.

"Hey, hey, that was the easy part okay?" Cassie says coming back and looking at the incision as he passed out from the pain.

"Hey, hey! What the hell did you guys do, what happened to him!?" The gunman yelled earning glares from both the paramedics.

"He passed out from the pain." Sylvie said now looking back down at the patient.

"Clamp it right here." Sylvie said looking at Cassie as she pointed to his carotid artery.

"You do realize what that will do right?" Cassie whispers with wide eyes.

Glancing down at the bloody table, Sylvie wrote 'Let him die.' in the man's blood.

After deliberating for a few seconds, Cassie shakes her head no and clamps the bleed. Looking back at Brett who scribbled out the words, Cassie gave her a specific look.

"Why so quiet?" The gunman asked.

"I uh, I'm clamping it off now." Cassie says as she took the blade out of the exacto knife they had and handed it to Brett.

"Okay, we're going to need to find someone to suture him up but he should be fine. Cassie says stepping away.

"You. Come here." The gunman says grabbing Brett's arm and taking her across the room.

"Hey! Wait! We had a deal, I need her!" Cassie says yelling at the man.

"I need to make sure he's okay first." The gunman says as he zip ties Brett's hands together.

As the man starts waking up, Cassie finishes putting some gauze his wound.

"See? All good." Cassie says looking at him.

"We'll see." The gunman says.

"The deal was, we fix him up and you let us leave!" Sylvie yells. Loud enough for Detective Halstead who's outside the door to hear. Something they're unaware of.

"I know what the deal was!" The man yells back.

"We gotta go now and the doors bolted, can you guys get us in!?" Jay yells at Casey who is already radioing for Severide.

"You said you'd rein in your partner, so how about it?" Brett yells as she secretly cuts the zip tie off her hands.

"Will you shut up!" He yells as he gets ahold of Cassie and holds a gun to her head.

"I knew we couldn't trust you two." Sylvie mutters as she finishes getting the zip tie off her hands.

"Drop the gun." Sylvie says catching the driver's , the gunman's, and Cassie's attention with the driver's gun in her hands.

"I said drop it!"

With a nod from the driver, the gunman shoots at Sylvie but not before Cassie moves his arm out of the way so the bullet catches the floor. As he fights back and fires again, Cassie is still holding his arm so his aim is off.

With his other arm that had a hold of Cassie, he lets her go to elbow her in the nose. Once he drops his elbow, Cassie punches the guy in the face. She then knocked him on his ass after he catches a kick in the balls.

As Cassie gets away to grab Brett, he continues firing at the paramedics.

Fleeing into another room and locking the door, Sylvie looks around to see that they're trapped.

"Shit." She mutters as Cassie blocks her from the bullets flying through the door.

"Stay behind me." Cassie says as she grabbed a metal pipe, preparing for when he breaks into the room.

Once he does the door flies off the hinges, and all of their attention's turn to the next sound.

"Chicago PD! Don't move, drop your weapon! Do it now!" Jay yells as they charge into the warehouse.

Watching as the gunman put his hands up surrenderence, Jay continues making his way to the gunman.

"Put your weapon down, get down on the ground. Now! Hands up behind your head!"

"Voight! Brett!" Casey yells as the girls make their way back to the other side of the door.

"We were in here." Sylvie says making her way through the door first, Cassie quickly following behind as she dropped the pipe and clutched her nose up. Probably broken.

"Anyone hurt?" Casey asks.

"Not me, Cassie got an elbow to the face though." Sylvie says breathing heavily.

"Sylvie!" Cruz says running up to her and pulling her into a big hug.

"Cassie," Jay says softly looking at his best friend once he got cuffs on the bad guy.

Basically falling into Jay's arms, Cassie quickly forgot about her nose.

"Hey, hey, hey, you're okay. Shh, you're okay." Jay said brushing his hand through the back of her hair as she sobbed into his shoulder.

"Hey Cass." Gabby said making her way over to the girl.

As she pulled away from Jay's chest, she didn't leave his grasp as his hand still rested on her hip.

"Hey," she said pretty nasally as the Gabby pulled her into a hug of her own.

"Some pretty good partner bonding, huh?" Gabby asked making her chuckle.

"I'm glad you're okay." Casey finally says patting her on the back.

"Thank you, guys." Cassie said turning back to Jay.

"You need to go to the hospital." He said looking at her eyes that are already turning black and blue, along with her swollen nose.

"What? You calling this ugly?" She asked teasingly as they started walking out of the warehouse.

"No, no, just. Colorful?"

Playfully hitting him in the chest with a shocked expression, Jay quickly told another cop to take the perp in to the station and that he was going to go to the hospital with Cassie.

"So, your nose is pretty broken. If you look here, there's a slight fracture. We're gonna tape some gauze around it. Make sure you keep it on for the next 12 hours and rewrap it every 8-12 hours, for the next 48. It should heal in no time, make sure you ice it and take some pain meds." Doctor Rhodes explained to both Jay and Cassie in the trauma room.

"So i'm good to go?" She asked a little impatiently.

"Uh, yes. Maggie is getting your discharge papers now, but I do want to take a look at this hand." He said lightly grabbing her hand and examining her swollen knuckles. Sending butterflies through her stomach too.

"Oh, no, it's fine. I just ice it with pain meds and the swelling usually goes down within 24." Cassie said smiling and making a fist and opening her palm a few times in a row.

"Hm. Okay," Connor said sighing and looking between Cassie and Jay. "I'll get those papers to you. It's nice to see you're okay Cassie. Really." He finished with a warm smile and walking out of the room.

Jay quickly looked at Cassie's blushing face and starts laughing.

"You like him!" Jay teased making her blush harder.

"I do not!" She yelled back hitting him lightly.

"No, no, you like him like him, don't you?" Jay continued earning an eye roll.

"Okay so what if I do. I see him when I bring patients in sometimes...drop it." She said looking away.

"Okayyy." Jay said all sing-song-y making her roll her eyes again.

"Knock knock." her father said walking into the room.

"Hey, thanks for staying with her but you can leave now. Brett is down at the station but i'm gonna need you to question this Anthony Lullo when Cassie gets down there." He said looking at Jay earning a nod.

"I'll see you later." Jay said with a tight lipped smile as he walked out.

"You okay?" Voight asked making her nod.

"Yeah, all good. Fractured my nose, but I think I did the same to him plus some manhood damage." Cassie said making them both chuckle.

“I apologize for not being here sooner. Alvin and I were picking up the guys from the warehouse and finding Lullo. I have a question for you though.”

“What is it?” Cassie asked.

“How about you come stay with me for the next few weeks. You know, until this whole thing blows over and we know you’re safe.”

“What? You’re kidding right?” Cassie said laughing at his offer.

“Do I look like I’m kidding?” Hank asks crossing his arms over his chest.

“Thanks, but no thanks.” Cassie says hopping off the trauma bed and grabbing her things.

“Look, you thought this thing ended what, three? four weeks ago? Then look at what happened today. Just until it blows over? Okay?”

Without saying anything Cassie just looks at her father and stares.

“Okay?” He asks again.

“No, not okay. Jay literally lives across the hall from me. If anything happens, I’ll be fine. I know self defensive, I can hold my own.” Cassie says defensively walking out of the trauma room.

Signing the discharge papers at the nurses desk, Cassie walked out of the hospital with Voight quick to follow.

“Can you please just listen to me on this?” Voight asked opening the passenger side door for Cassie.

“No.” Cassie then said slamming it once she got in.

“I’m gonna go downstairs with Alvin, I’ll meet you guys upstairs with Jay and Anthony. You and Sylvie will be on the other side of the mirror.” Hank said kissing Cassie’s temple as they both walked into the 21st.

“Who’s downstairs?” Cassie asked knowing what he’s going to do.

“Guys who like holding female paramedics hostage in a warehouse.” He said walking off.

“Cassie. Nice to see you again.” Trudy said greeting Cassie.

“Hey sarge. So since i’m a civilian now aren’t you supposed to have someone walk me to the interrogation room?” Cassie teased once she got to the sergeant’s desk.

Sighing, Trudy removed her reading glasses and looked at the girl.

“That was supposed to be your father’s job. I’ll do it though. Yo chump! Watch the desk until I get back.” Trudy says coming around and showing Cassie to a room she knew all too well.

“We have numerous witnesses saying they saw you make a serious threat against Peter Mills. Then showed up again to talk to Cassie Voight.” Cassie heard Jay say once she walked on the other side of the glass.

“My son was dead. I was upset.” says Anthony.

“Yeah, that certainly squares with the eyewitness statements. ‘Mr. Lullo was livid.’ , ‘Full of rage.’ , ‘Frothing at the mouth.’” Jay finally said setting the paper down in front of Lullo.

“Look, I went over there and I apologized to Peter Mills, and he accepted my apology. He’s a good kid.”

“But what about the part where you visited Cassie Voight? Multiple times, even after Peter Mills had stopped working at Firehouse 51.” Jay asked.

“I don’t understand what’s going on here. I thought you caught the men that took those paramedics?”

“You didn’t answer my question.” Jay said smiling at the man.

“Cassidy ignored my invitation to talk. Nothing happened since.” Lullo says sitting back into his chair.

“But why did you want to talk Cassie? I thought your issue was with Mills?” Jay asked trying to agitate him.

“Yes, but Cassie knew more.” Lullo muttered.

“What do you mean Cassie knew more?” Jay pressed.

“Nothing.”

“Oh c’mon Anthony. What did Cassie know?” Jay asked trying to poke the bear further.

“Cassie knew how slow she drove killing my son. Cassie knows that she is the cause of his death.” He admitted

“Your son was already dead by the time we got to the scene. We just prolonged how long it was before the inevitable happened, which was his heart stopping due to blood loss.” Cassie yelled as she bursted into the interrogation room, startling both Jay and Lullo.

“I don’t think she’s allowed in here detective.” Lullo said looking at Jay.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Jay said covering for Cassie.

“Your son died due to his injuries. There was nothing we could do, but you need someone to blame. Is that it? Pointing a finger at someone that’s not you, or your kid?” Cassie asked trying to piss the man off.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Lullo said chuckling and looking away.

“I think I do. Because if I didn’t, you wouldn’t be deflecting right now. If I didn’t you would still be pretending that you’re content with the fact it wasn’t one person’s fault that your kids dead.” Cassie said matter of factly.

When she didn’t get a response she scoffed.

“So you’re okay with that? That no one killed your son, and it was just his injuries? Oh c’mon. You need someone to blame. To fill your urge and get revenge. That someone killed him and they need to pay. Right?” Cassie asked.

“You killed him! If anyone killed my son it was that bitch! She was the one driving!” Lullo yelled surprising everyone.

“Your son was already dead before we even arrived at the hospital! It had absolutely nothing to do with my driving, and everything to do with the fatal injuries he sustained.” Cassie yelled back at the man not knowing how many times she could repeat herself over this matter.

“You all say that, but if you drove faster, he would’ve made it to the hospital, and he would’ve lived!” Anthony said standing and pointing at Cassie.

“Is that why you stalked me then? It was never about Mills was it? It was about the fact that I didn’t drive fast enough. So you stalked and harassed me, then hired someone to take me out?” Cassie pressed causing him to basically fume from the ears.

“Yes! You deserved to know what it was like to ride half alive while the person who was supposed to be helping you couldn’t care less about getting you help!” Lullo yelled.

“So you ordered a hit on me?” Cassie asked again. Waiting for the confession.

“Yes!” He seethed earning a content smile from Cassie.

“Jay, I believe you can handle this from here.” Cassie said walking out of the room.

Later on once they officially arrested Lullo and everyone was gathered in the bullpen, Cassie decided to stay behind and talk to her father.

“Hey, we wouldn’t have gotten him if you didn’t intervene. Good job, Cass.” Jay said patting her on the back.

“Jay, Cassie, my office.” Hank announced earning a confused look from the both of them.

“Uh oh, principal’s daughter called to his office?” Antonio joked getting an eye roll in return.

“I watched what happened.” Hank said as they shut the door.

“What do you mean?” Cassie asked confused.

“I mean I saw you get the confession from Lullo. I want you to know, I get that you didn’t like being a patrolmen. But, when I give you this offer you need to think about it from a detective’s perspective. You have all the training, you would even be able to start tomorrow. You have the balls. We need you. Cassidy, do you want to join intelligence?” Hank asked making her jaw drop.

tagging: @rockyhayzkid

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gollancz · 1 year

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Nominations for the 2023 Hugo Awards!

Nominations are still open for everyone's favourite phallic* SFF award! If you are able to nominate, why not consider some of our great books?

Everyone with memberships to either Chicon 8 or the 2023 Chengdu Worldcon that was purchased before February 1, 2023 is eligible to nominate up to five items in each of the 17 Hugo and 2 other award categories.

Some of the things you might consider nominating us for are under the cut!

*I don't wanna invoke the stalactite post but, like, come on

BEST NOVEL

Anything that came out in 2022 is eligible! And we had some bangers.

BEST SERIES

The Graceling Realm series by Kristin Cashore

The Elric Saga by Michael Moorcock

The Last War trilogy by Mike Shackle

The Hussite Trilogy by Andrzej Sapkowski

The Legacy of the Mercenary King trilogy by Nick Martell

Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch

The Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson

The Great God's War trilogy by Stephen Donaldson

THE ASTOUNDING AWARD FOR BEST NEW WRITER

Rebecca Zahabi, The Collarbound

Kelly Andrew, The Whispering Dark

BEST EDITOR - LONG FORM

Gillian Redfearn

Maybe we’re biased, but Gillian’s the best. She’s been at Gollancz nearly 20 years, and is the editor for Brandon Sanderson, Joe Abercrombie, Alastair Reynolds, Aliette de Bodard, Joanne Harris, Garth Nix, Elizabeth Bear, Patrick Rothfuss, Miles Cameron, Chris Wooding, Sarah Pinborough, Charlaine Harris… the list goes on! She is so involved in the SFF community, attending cons worldwide and she is staggeringly great at what she does. The only UK-based editor to be shortlisted for a Hugo award, she’s also genuinely one of the nicest people you will ever meet. Shortly after I first met her, she said something nice to me in the pub and I cried. On the plus side I set the bar for our future relationship very achievably low.

Marcus Gipps

Marcus has been in the biz for decades, starting as a bookseller and had a review Livejournal (yes, that's right, one of us) that helped him build respect with so many people in the industry. Any of the legendary, big names of SFF? He probably edits them. Michael Moorcock, Christopher Priest, Paul McAuley, Pat Cadigan, Stephen Baxter... He led the acquisition of THE LAST UNICORN once Peter S. Beagle got his rights back, he heads our WITCHER publishing, and his knowlege of SFF history is encyclopedic. He also leads our SF Gateway and Masterworks projects, archiving out of print SFF and saving them to keep in circulation. Marcus may be the most unflappable many on the planet, which is good because I'm extremely flappable so we balance out nicely.

Brendan Durkin

Do you like CHONKY books? So does Brendan. If you want a book to use as an offensive weapon, Brendan will have likely commissioned it. Brendan finds the books that are going to be the classics of the future. He works with J. T. Greathouse, Christopher Buehlman, Mike Shackle, SJ Morden, Chris Wooding, as well as being the lead for the Ursula K. Le Guin estate, the Terry Pratchett estate AND the Frank Herbert estate! Oh, and our beautiful D2C editions? All from his crazy genius mastermind brain. Also if you need somewhere to eat in central London? Go to him for a recommendation. I impressed him with my lunch choice the other day and felt like I'd Made It.

#Gollancz Blogging #Hugo Awards #Worldcon #Award Nominations #SFF Awards #Please nominate us!!#Maybe if any of our stuff gets shortlisted I can make a case for getting some Very Important Checkmarks

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emmakblake · 1 month

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YOGA : Can it really reduce stress? Answer : YES! Read Below :)

Yoga is one of the most common forms of mindful meditation that people use as a form of exercise, and to feel relaxed, or less stressed. A study done by Neha Gothe, Rahul Keswani, and Edward McAuley suggested some of the underlying mechanisms that are affected by yoga.

In this study, 118 sedentary community dwelling older adults were randomized to an 8 week yoga intervention, or a stretching control group. Participants completed measures of executive function, self reported stress and anxiety, and received tests to determine cortisol levels in their saliva both at the beginning of the 8 weeks, and at the end.

Yoga participants showed improved accuracy on executive function, and decreased cortisol levels in their saliva. In the self reported stress and anxiety, subjects in the yoga group reported lower stress and anxiety levels.

The researchers concluded that eight weeks of regular yoga practice resulted in improved working memory performance and decreased cortisol levels. The results of this study, along with the self reports on stress and anxiety indicate that yoga can be helpful in resorting the HPA axis, which is an important part of the brain that deals with stress.

Reference : https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030105111630312X

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nickyvandaudova · 2 years

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🎼 A State Of Trance new Episode 1081 Armin van Buuren, Ruben De Ronde & Ben Hemsley --------------------------------------------------- Tune in & Enjoy LIVE from Amsterdam --------------------------------------------------- YouTube: ⏯ https://youtu.be/l4uA_NTEshk --------------------------------------------------- 🔊🔊🔊🔊❤️ 🎶🎧🎶🎹🎶💛🔊🔊🔊🔊 #ASOT1081 #ASOT #Road1000 #ASOTday #TurnTheWorldIntoADancefloor #ArminvanBuuren #RubendeRonde #FerryCorsten #AStateOfTrance #ArmadaMusic #Statement #Armind #FlashoverRecords #Trancemusic #Trancefamily #Progressive #ClassicTrance #Uplifting #Trance #WAO138 #UpliftingTrance #AndreaRibeca #Key4050 #BenHemlsly #WhosAfraidOf138Special #NasAsot #AsotSystem --------------------------------------------------- https://www.facebook.com/arminvanbuuren/videos/1970463679817025/ TRACKLIST: 01. Armin van Buuren ft. Ray Wilson - Yet Another Day (The Noble Six Remix) 02. Ferry Tayle & XiJaro & Pitch - Lost In Memories (David Elston Remix) 03. Darren O'Brien & Alex Holmes - Beyond The Sky (Allen Watts Remix) 04. Nicholson - Listen To Your Pain 05. Allen Watts - Impulse [Tune Of The Week] 06. Andrea Ribeca - Spielraum 07. Key4050 - Higher Sense 08. Hypaton - Hello Peter (Giuseppe Ottaviani Retouch) 09. Mark Sherry ft. Clare Stagg - Poison Apple (Ciaran McAuley Remix) 10. Bogdan Vix & Renee Stahl - Forever (Bogdan Vix & Claudiu Adam Remix) 11. Armin van Buuren & Gareth Emery ft. Owl City - Forever & Always [Trending Track] 12. Armin van Buuren ft. Eric Vloeimans - Embrace [Service For Dreamers] Ruben de Ronde 13. Envio - Touched By The Sun (The Noble Six Remix) 14. Sean Tyas & Bjorn Akesson - Zahi (Sean Tyas Remix) 15. Will Rees & Connor Woodford - Starlight 16. Firewall - Sincere (William Byrne Remix) 17. Vision X & Awii - Brain Noise Ben Hemsley 18. Ben Hemsley - Erase Me 19. Ben Hemsley - Alta 20. Signum - First Strike 21. Ben Hemsley - Tu Amor 22. The Space Brothers ft. Joanna Law - Shine 23. York - Farewell To The Moon (En-Motion Remix) 24. Weekend Players - Into The Sun Ruben de Ronde 25. Sneijder Feat. Victoriya - Need You Here 26. Uberjak'd - Finders Keepers https://www.instagram.com/p/ChIprbeD2-j/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

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disappearinginq · 4 years

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P. do you write exclusively fanfic? R. link your favourite fic of all-time. V. post the last sentence you wrote. Z. how to you feel about your wip compared to other works of yours?

P: I do not - currently, it’s all I seem to really have energy for because it doesn’t require the extra brain power of trying to invent rules for the world I’m working it, or decide whether or not something is in or out of character. But of the non-fanfic things, the ones I probably enjoy working on the most (because I have so many more OG works than fanfic it took an extra hard drive to store them) - probably a “horse girl” story that is literally just in existence for me to upend the tropes I hate the genre (girl and horse do NOT have a magical bond, she does not INSTANTLY know how to ride, she DOES NOT try to compete to save her riding barn/home/horse/whatever, she is not shy/wilting flower or Bad Girl from Broken Home, etc); and the other one is fantasy setting novel that’s kinda hard to describe, but the inaccurate cliff note version is: Queen Mab’s half human son comes to the human world to find out more about his human side of the family, and it does not go well.

R: Oh. Shit. Hmm. I’ll just go with the one I recommended yesterday: Bearing the Pain - Angela B AU Crossover Big Valley; and The Pied Piper - KellyA & Mary McAuley, both of which are in the Magnificent Seven fandom (TV show from the 90′s). If I get to pick one from my favorite fandoms though:

When Worlds Collide by Elfinblue, which is a surprisingly serious crossover between NCIS and Supernatural, and the author does an absolutely amazing job in the characterizations, and they have a really interesting take on it - NCIS characters do not wind up believing in the supernatural. Annnnd literally any of @rohanrider3′s Guardians of the Galaxy fics, but probably Peter Quill and the (Mostly) Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day ranks at the top because I did not know what I was getting into (I sort of read through descriptions, but kinda not really) and it was an epic of found family, personal loss, adopted parents and their kids, Peter getting to reconcile with his mother, and Meredith Quill being a goddamn badass rocking out to “I Will Survive”. V: Work related “That seems like an unfortunate decision on your part.”

Non work related: (and way more then a sentence, but I like it, so) “Your dad was a serial killer, Bright. How do you not know this is how it always starts?” Malcolm shrugged with a deprecating smirk. “Well, to be fair, my dad got them with tea in the parlor, not tire spike strips across lonely rural back roads in the Catskills.” “Amendments to the road trip rules: no going into anyone’s houses for tea or directions or to use the phone. If someone in a wax mask starts chasing us with an axe, I’m shooting first and asking questions later, and I’m bringing the extra rounds for the shotgun.”

Z: Ummm...well, like 99% of what I have is WiP’s, soooo...I definitely fandom hop like a rabbit on meth, so probably whatever I’m working on is what I like the most at the moment, but since I only have one completed long fic to compare to and that’s in a fandom I kinda ::cough::hate::cough::. Actually, that’s not fair. I have no issues with the fandom, but AoS definitely peaked for like 3 episodes in season 1 and it’s been on a decline ever sense, and I am actually immensely proud of Running Up That Hill - my first completed long fic that started from an itty bitty one shot and rapidly got out of hand. So...long answer aside - I like both?

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psychodollyuniverse · 4 years

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A.R.E. Weapons

A.R.E. Weapons is the self-titled debut album by the noise rock band of the same name, released on April 1, 2003 on Rough Trade Records.

A.R.E. Weapons is a noise-rock band from New York City. Formed in 1999 by Matthew McAuley, Brain F. McPeck, and Ryan Noel, A.R.E. Weapons has been described as hardcore electro-rock.Their live shows are noted for their aggressiveness and confrontational style. Rough Trade was encouraged to sign the band after Pulp's Jarvis Cocker heard A.R.E. Weapons live

#a.r.e.weapons #noise electro rock band #rough trade

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nanowrimo · 6 years

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How to Put Your Writer’s Block on Mute

Camp NaNoWriMo has officially begun! A lot of writers feel like they struggle against writer’s block, so how do you overcome that when it overwhelms you? Today, participant Stefanie McAuley shares a tip for getting past those moments of doubt:

I sit at my desk, eyes glazed over. Why can’t my mind go this blank when I attempt to meditate? On my screen it’s just there staring back at me. Blink. Blink. Blink. Blink. How can something so small and controllable be so taunting? And yet, right now I can’t think of a single thing more jeering than the flashing cursor of writer’s block.

“You’ve got this...?” I whisper to myself in what’s intended as a pep-talk but comes out like a question. Inhale. Exhale.

Of course, this usually happens to writers when a deadline is looming—for school, or a paid piece, or a goal set by an over-achieving mind. We must, so we can’t. We freeze under the pressure.

I’m sure you, too, have an arsenal of tricks to get your brain to stop buffering and start flowing. Crowd favorites include a quick walk around the block, wire framing your story arch and filling in the spaces, and my usual choice: the scream-into-a-pillow. While they can be cathartic I’ve found these methods are still too cognitive. Nothing stifles a piece more than muscling your way through the creative process. Even if I manage to hit the deadline, I’m rarely happy with the outcome. What’s worse, I’ve had a really rough day of writing—isn’t this supposed to be fun?—and I’m left deflated, uninspired, and disappointed in my final work.

I needed a better strategy. My poor throw pillows.

“Find an outlet that triggers your creativity and allows you to drop your inhibitions. The time will not be wasted, it’s a simple reset into your creative mindset.”

It wasn’t until one day I was driving home from a dance class that it struck me: creativity breeds creativity. After an hour of being lost in the movement and music, my neurons were firing. Stagnant pieces of my storyline were developing into clear, humorous bridges. I blew through my apartment door, barely taking off my shoes, to frantically write everything down before it escaped me.

Yes. Writing is really fun.

Since then, I have a new lease on my writing life. The eleventh-hour used to freak me out—I had no time to waste! Now, I lean into burning time on non-writing. I crank up a killer playlist with a similar tone to the piece I’m writing, and slide my coffee table out of the way. When I’m stuck, I feel like a jammed record player and the end of the last sentence I’ve typed just repeats over, and over, and over, like it’s trying to knock the next one out. That’s not an option when the music is blaring and I’m letting the lyrics flow through me. There’s just me, my body, and the 90s pop diva du jour.

One side-effect of a catchy song is having those lyrics stuck in your head. Make room for your own word flow by setting back to work with some white noise on in your headphones. This proves an effective way to ward off an earworm.

Whatever you do, stop putting the pressure on yourself. While Whitney into a hairbrush mic isn’t for everyone, find an outlet that triggers your creativity and allows you to drop your inhibitions. The time will not be wasted, it’s a simple reset into your creative mindset.

Have fun with it—isn’t that what it’s all about?

As a writer and marketing specialist, global brands call on Stefanie McAuley for thoughtful strategic-planning and effective creative writing. Not one to sit still, Stef has lived on three continents and traveled to fifty countries. Inspired by her travels and life lessons, she started sharing stories on her blog, Broad World. And, her time living in Ghana inspired the work of her first novel—coming soon! Check out her blog, Instagram, & Twitter.

Top image licensed under Creative Commons from Jeremy Keith on Flickr.

#nanowrimo #camp nanowrimo #amwriting #writing #writer's block #by nano guest #stefanie mcauley

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pookystolenkissworld · 5 years

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Credit to drawer @yeon_killerqueen https://twitter.com/yeon_queen1233/status/1106544675358420992?s=21 #radioprogram #broadcasting #rerun #playlist #music #listening #pop #rock #indie #live #cool #catradioactive #series #funforaday #hipster #shoegazer #anything #modernrock #dreampop #musicoftheweek #newrelease #flashback #legends #instrumental #jazz #easylistening #tribute Cat Radioactive by DJ Wasana Wirachartplee (DJ Ziggy) on every Saturday at 22:00 - 24:00 hrs. (+07:00 GMT) at www.thisiscat.com DJ Wasana Wirachartplee’s Facebook https://www.facebook.com/wasana.wirachartplee Catradioactive 16 Mar 19: Mineral - Your Body is The World Girlpool - Where you sink The Light Social Hour - Give to me words The Yellow Traffic Light - Care Ash Code - Flesh And Words Flares on Film - Never See You Again Crashcaptains - Too late for my love Grapetooth - Death Lost Tapes - Six By Six Haiku Garden - Days, Dripping Away Fawns of Love - Mournful Eyes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2ifUfgi1Cs&list=PLU62MFne4NxB7LsWdts777rSaAUsGtWs5 Deal Casino - Color TV https://soundcloud.com/pookystolenkiss/sets/catradioactive-16-mar-19 Fun for a day 132: Robin McAuley, Bob Kulick & Ricky Philips - I Want It All Radiohead - Black Star (Live) Baby Bird - Candy Girl Queen - Let Me Live Freddie Mercury - Goin' Back DYGL - A Paper Dream Mono No Aware - Tokyo The Cranberries - All Over Now Eg & Alice ‎– Rockets Fern - 4 A.M Breakfast Club Great Gable - Drift Mild Orange - Stranger The Japanese House - You Seemed So Happy Stanley - Light On Daste - Sober Cousin Kula - Brain Abroad John Mayer - I Guess I Just Feel Like Dreams We've Had - Perfectly Out of Place Local Natives - When Am I Gonna Lose You https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3eZGgRdhWc&list=PLU62MFne4NxD8mcLdEZWnayKWAUk4X9SX https://www.instagram.com/p/BvG1SEeFtYa/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fz3wqcs4wtz6

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releasemuscletherapy-blog · 3 years

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Hypnotherapy For Chronic Pain Relief

Hypnosis and chronic discomfort are a controversial topic. Some people dismiss them because of the exaggerated claims that often surround the practice.

However, hypnotherapy and mindful meditation have been proven to work in various settings.

Hypnosis is a non-pharmacological approach. Versions such as self-hypnosis are available via audio or personal instruction. This makes it an affordable option for chronic pain sufferers.

Although hypnosis is often criticized for its popularity in the entertainment industry it has been shown to have significant brain effects.

Is hypnosis really that effective?

We can just consider the results to be related to the placebo effect.

Let's take a closer look at it.

Mindfulness and chronic pain

Addressing chronic pain with mind-body interventions is an interesting approach, especially in chronic disease conditions such as cancer. These treatments are non-invasive and cost-effective. They also have no side effects.

These interventions all have one thing in common: They encourage mindfulness and help people suffering from pain to manage their emotions, thoughts and behaviors.

Some pretty amazing studies have shown that mindfulness meditation can increase pain tolerance and reduce brain activation that affects emotional responses to pain.

Chronic pain sufferers know that emotions and pain perception are linked. These techniques can help them to ease their symptoms.

Even though 5-10 minutes of practice may be enough to reduce pain, more intensive interventions (upto 8 weeks) will help you manage your pain better. The more you practice, the better your results.

Hypnosis can be used to treat different types of pain

It is amazing to see the extent that hypnosis has been used in medicine. For example, it has been used as the sole form of anesthesia for delivering babies, and it has been documented to manage normally painful dental procedures.

Hypnosis can be used to treat acute pain. It is also used in chemotherapy to treat burns and to anesthetize patients for certain types of plastic surgery and needle biopsies. Some of these patients have seen an 89% improvement in their psychological and medical condition than those who didn't receive hypnosis.

Additionally, in individuals suffering from chronic pain, there are many randomized-controlled studies for issues like chronic back pain, fibromyalgia, cancer-related pain, and irritable bowel syndrome.

In the majority of cases, hypnosis was found to be similar to standard care, which includes things like medication, group support, relaxation, and other techniques.

It has been found to be useful not only to improve pain, but also to promote self-sufficiency in individuals with those chronic ailments.

Meta-analysis of hypnosis for pain relief

Although there are many studies on hypnosis, not all of them have the highest quality evidence. There are meta-analyses and reviews, which are special types of research that examine the evidence after analyzing all of the available studies.

Meta-analyses not only include data from many different sources but also they investigate the possibility of bias and methodologic problems and how they would potentially affect the results.

The most recent meta-analysis on hypnosis for pain relief included data from 3632 participants in 85 controlled experimental trials. After carefully reviewing the data, they concluded that all types of pain can be relieved by hypnosis.

Another key finding is that hypnotic suggestibility (the ability of a person to induced into a hypnotic state, which varies from person to person is important in determining whether or not the intervention will be effective.

Individuals with a higher susceptibility to hypnosis had 42% reduction in pain intensity while those with a medium hypnotic susceptibility reduced their pain symptoms by 29%.

Since the majority of people (close to 90% of us) fit in the medium to high susceptibility to hypnosis profile, these findings suggest that hypnosis is much more useful than placebo, and we can have a real and measurable improvement in pain perception after just a single visit.

What we know about hypnosis and chronic pain

There are many things we don't know about hypnosis, including its exact mechanism. There are however imaging studies that show the brain's involvement in hypnosis.

Analgesic suggestions that hypnotize cause altered activity in the prefrontal, insular and anterior cingulate brain areas. These brain areas are essential for pain modulation and the attainment of hypnotic analgesia. They are closely associated with relaxation and awareness of external stimuli.

Studies have also found that people with lower hypnotic suggestibility have a different response in their anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal region, and this is probably one of the reason why they won't experience any meaningful change in their symptoms post-hypnosis.

There's also a psychological explanation that may contribute to our understanding of the role of hypnosis in pain relief.

According to models, hypnotic suggestion causes an attentional shift away from pain sensations that reduces the perception and monitoring of pain. Patients with lower levels of suggestibility may experience less effective hypnosis. They are less willing or responsive to the intervention. This would obviously reduce the therapeutic effects.

Hypnosis for chronic pain can be summarized as a safe and effective therapy intervention that is both affordable and efficient. You can add it to many, if not all, of the standard therapeutic protocols for pain relief and empowerment to allow the individual to manage their pain perceptions, emotions and behaviors.

References:

Eaton, L. H., & Hulett, J. M. (2019, April). Mind-Body Interventions in the Management of Chronic Cancer Pain. In Seminars in oncology nursing. WB Saunders.

Thompson, T., Terhune, D. B., Oram, C., Sharangparni, J., Rouf, R., Solmi, M., ... & Stubbs, B. (2019). The effectiveness of hypnosis for pain relief: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 85 controlled experimental trials. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

Moss, D., & Willmarth, E. (2019). Hypnosis, anesthesia, pain management, and preparation for medical procedures. Annals of palliative medicine.

Rizzo, R. R., Medeiros, F. C., Pires, L. G., Pimenta, R. M., McAuley, J. H., Jensen, M. P., & Costa, L. O. (2018). Hypnosis enhances the effects of pain education in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomized controlled trial. The Journal of Pain, 19(10), 1103-e1.

Dillworth, T., Mendoza, M. E., & Jensen, M. P. (2011). Neurophysiology of pain and hypnosis for chronic pain. Translational behavioral medicine, 2(1), 65-72.

Jensen, M. P., & Patterson, D. R. (2014). Hypnotic approaches for chronic pain management: Clinical implications of recent research findings. American psychologist, 69(2), 167.

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symbiotic-science · 6 years

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New research found that being in a bad mood can help some people's executive functioning, such as their ability to focus attention, manage time and prioritize tasks. The same study found that a good mood has a negative effect on it in some cases.

Tara McAuley, a psychology professor at the University of Waterloo, and Martyn S. Gabel, a Ph.D. candidate, explored whether our emotional reactivity shaped how mood influences the kinds of thinking skills we need to navigate the demands and stresses of day-to-day life. Emotional reactivity refers to the sensitivity, intensity and duration of our emotional responses associated with our mood.

#psychology #science #mood #news #functioning

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theart2rock · 4 years

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Michael Schenker enthüllt Artwork zu Immortal

Michael Schenker hat just die Aufnahmen für ein brandneues MSG Album, dessen Veröffentlichung für den 8. Januar 2021 über Nuclear Blast geplant ist, vollendet. Der Titel lautet „Immortal“ und spricht Bände: ein perfektes Synonym, um Michael Schenkers musikalisches Vermächtnis zu beschreiben und sein 50. Jubiläum als Musiker zu feiern.

Heute enthüllt Michael Schenker das Cover Artwork, das von Zsofia Dankova (POWERWOLF u.a.) kreiert wurde.

„Wir haben viele Gastmusiker, mit deren Unterstützung dieses neue Album einmalig wird“, freut sich Michael Schenker und fügt hinzu: „Ich bin allen beteiligten Musikern sehr dankbar, die dazu beigetragen haben, dieses Werk zu einem weiteren Meilenstein meiner langen Karriere zu machen.“

Nuclear Blast Firmengründer Markus Staiger ist gleichfalls Feuer und Flamme, ist Michael Schenker sein Jugendidol und brachte ihn als Teenager auf den Hard Rock Pfad: “Ich freue mich enorm, nach den beiden großartigen MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST Alben, ein brandneues MSG Werk zu veröffentlichen. Im Alter von 14 Jahren hat mich das selbstbetitelte MSG Debüt vollkommen umgehauen und entsprechend geprägt, seitdem bewundere ich seine Musik und die Einzigartigkeit seiner Kompositionen. Die zehn neuen stücke sind pure Magie!”

„Immortal“ wurde zum größten Teil im Kidroom Studio in Deutschland aufgenommen, mit Michaels Langzeitpartner Michael Voss, der das Album Co-produziert hat und auch auf zwei der Songs als Sänger zu hören ist. „Es ist immer schön, mit Michael Voss zu arbeiten, der rund um die Uhr arbeitet und ein wirklich phänomenaler Musiker und Produzent ist. Er hat die Melodie und die Lyrics für eine Power Ballade komponiert, für die ich die Musik geschrieben habe und schließlich hat er dazu gesungen. Das Ergebnis war so umwerfend, dass ich nicht glaube, dass irgendjemand den Song besser hätte singen können. Wirklich großartig.“

„Immortal“ wird die Tradition der beiden letzten MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST Alben „Resurrection“ und „Revelation“ fortführen und eine lange Liste von Freunden und Gästen enthalten. Hauptsänger wird der gebürtige Chilene und hochtalentierte Ronnie Romero (RAINBOW etc.) sein, gefolgt von Michael Voss (MAD MAX u.a.), Ralf Scheepers (PRIMAL FEAR) sowie Joe Lynn Turner (ex-DEEP PURPLE, RAINBOW u.a.), die alle jeweils auf zwei Nummern zu hören sind. Neben Michael Schenker selbst, spielen Steve Mann (Keyboards), Barry Sparks (Bass, DOKKEN u.a. ) sowie die drei Schlagzeuger Bodo Schopf, Simon Philipps (ex-TOTO) und Brian Tichy (ex-WHITESNAKE), auf dem Album. „Brain hat sich sehr gefreut, ein Teil davon zu sein. Er ist ein wahrer Groove-Meister und hat letztendlich auf sechs der Songs gespielt. Ich konnte es nicht glauben: er ist wirklich auf einem völlig neuen Level; ein echtes Original und Naturtalent. Mit seinem Beitrag wurde das Album vollständig. Also könnt ihr euch wohl vorstellen, dass ich extrem glücklich bin“, sagt Michael Schenker zufrieden. Den letzten Gastbeitrag auf „Immortal“ liefert Keyboarder Derek Sherinian (ex-DREAM THEATER, KISS u.a..), ab, der auf dem Opener des Albums spielt, auf dem Ralf Scheepers den Gesang übernimmt. „Derek und ich tauschen uns während unserer Solos aus – es klingt völlig unerwartet und übertrifft all meine Erwartungen, fantastisch!“

Das Album wird zehn Songs enthalten, einschließlich dem epischen ‚In Search Of The Peace Of Mind‘. „Ich habe den Song mit 15 geschrieben und es war mein allererstes selbstkomponiertes Musikstück, das ich mit den SCORPIONS für unser erstes Studioalbum„Lonesome Crow“ 1970 aufgenommen habe. Es erschien dann 1972, als ich die SCORPIONS bereits wieder verlassen hatte, um im Juni 1972 bei der britischen Rock Band UFO einzusteigen, als ich 17 war. Wir haben den Song zur Feier meines 50. Jubiläums neu aufgenommen und es wurde ein richtiges Epos; mit einer Erweiterung am Ende des Songs, die absolut phänomenal geworden ist, mit Simon Phillips am Schlagzeug, der wie immer großartige Arbeit geleistet hat.“ Das Ergebnis ist ein wahres Highlight und bietet sogar noch mehr Überraschungen: „Gary Barden singt den ersten Vers, bevor er von Ronnie Romero abgelöst wird – und am Ende singen Ronnie, Doogie White und Robin McAuley alle zusammen, zu Ehren meines Jubiläums. Wirklich unglaublich. Dafür möchte ich mich bei jedem von ihnen bedanken!“

Die limitierte Erstauflage dieses kommenden MSG Albums wird eine weiteres einzigartiges Extra enthalten: „Wir haben als Bonus noch die MICHAEL SCHENKER FEST – Bang Your Head (Blu-ray), die während unserer Headline Show in Balingen vor zwei Jahren aufgenommen wurde: unbearbeitet, voller Power und einfach großartig! Es sind ein paar kleine Fehler drin, aber weil die Show und die Aufnahme so gut gelaufen ist, habe ich entschieden, alles so zu lassen, wie es in dieser Nacht war: pure Live Magie.“

Quelle: Nuclear Blast

Michael Schenker enthüllt Artwork zu Immortal was originally published on The Art 2 Rock

#Fest #Immortal #Michael Schenker #Michael Voss #MSG #Release #Veröffentlichung #Zsofia Dankova #theart2rock

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jack-manpain-zimmermann · 7 years

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Boldly Go to Sea

shameless contrived pre-zimbits ficlet, testing out a different POV - thanks as always to @wrathofthestag for beta and hand-holding! Read on AO3

Title from Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy - Mick McAuley

Late Sept 2014

Bitty skipped up the Haus steps, phone clutched in one hand and still glowing with the words: Bittle can you come give me hand?

“Sure thing punkin. Whatcha need?”

Bitty bounced through the door and both his body and brain stalled at exactly the same time. Jack was hustling around his room in a mild panic, wearing nothing but his birthday suit. Bitty mechanically pushed the door closed behind him and just stared.

“I… shit… I’m meeting with a scout from Anaheim in twenty minutes and I can’t find my fucking belt, ah!” he exclaimed, tugging the offending article from underneath the duvet.

Bitty still hadn’t moved. He was desperately trying to stop his eyes tracking the swing and sway of… oh dear. Oh me oh my.

Bitty cleared his throat unnecessarily. “Was that it or you need help with somethin’ else?”

Thank the Lord, Jack didn’t have time to look up and notice the gawping, and instead began tugging on a clean pair of boxers.

“Yeah, can you pick out something to go with these pants?”

He hitched a pair of charcoal trousers up over the thickly defined V of his hips and Bitty could finally resume movement.

“Sure thing! What’re we tryin’ to say with this look, exactly?”

He opened Jack’s wardrobe, already well aware of what he had to work with. It was sparsely filled with the only clothes Jack needed to hang up: exceptionally fancy name brands in neutral colors bought for him by his mom.

Bitty silently prayed that Jack would be trying to say ‘no’ to Anaheim. That was about as far away as you could get from Massachusetts.

“Eh, nothing that’s trying too hard?”

He finished clasping the belt and Bitty had to swat down saying You look pretty perfect just as you are, stud. “They’re offering me a stupid amount of money but I don’t know how generous they’re gonna be about promotions, you know?”

Bitty nodded and selected a white Brioni shirt and thin red tie, holding them out to where Jack had stood up from pulling on a pair of dress socks.

“These but with your black cardy rather than the suit jacket. It looks like somethin’ you’d wear everyday and not like you picked it out specially. That tie on the white shirt’ll tell them that you’re perfectly happy being at Samwell and aren’t in a hurry to decide where you’re going after you graduate. Make ‘em sweat a little since you just know they’ll think you only came here to put off going back into the draft for a few years.”

Bitty beamed up at Jack’s awestruck expression.

“How the hell do you do that? And what am I going to do when you don’t live across the hall anymore?”

Bitty awkwardly slapped a hand against Jack’s right pectoral. “If you think you’re gonna get out of Skype sessions with me when you’re Mr. Fancypants NHL, then think again!”

Jack huffed a small laugh and reached past Bitty to the shoe rack in his wardrobe. The motion slid his entire naked torso against Bitty’s sleep shirt.

“No,” Bitty said simply and traded out the shoes with a black pair. Jack gave him a fond look and accepted the change.

Watching the boy fumble over his shirt buttons lasted only a few moments. They both laughed when Bitty took mercy on him and commandeered the shirt. Jack shook his head as he watched Bitty’s fingers neatly at work.

“Can you believe I’m still getting nervous before these things? I don’t even think I want to go to Anaheim.”

Bitty took Jack by the shoulders and guided him over to where he could stand on the armchair and get to work on Jack’s tie. Hiding his relief was a difficult thing. Pretending he cared more about Jack’s NHL career than his proximity to Bitty himself was even more difficult.

“I can’t say you’re gonna find much support in this house for you movin’ clean across the country, Jack,” his cheeks burned now that their faces were almost perfectly level. “But I just want you to know you’ve got four lifelong friends who’ll be cheering for you wherever you end up going.”

He could feel Jack watching him closely even if he couldn’t bring his eyes up to look. The whole Haus had been walking on eggshells around Bitty and Lardo but they couldn’t stop discussing graduation entirely. It made Bitty a bittersweet kind of content to see the same concerned look on Jack’s face that Shitty had for Lardo when the shadow of separation loomed too close to them all.

Bitty finished the tie and wobbled a little on the chair cushion, bracing his hands on Jack’s wide shoulders. He will not cry. He simply will not.

The finger on his nose touched the tip lightly, enough to get Bitty to look up. His eyes crossed a little and Jack smiled. He was so unbearably handsome with his fresh shave and cologne that Bitty felt like he could burst.

With Bitty still warm in his sleep clothes and that soft reassuring smile on Jack’s face, Bitty imagined that this is how it would feel to see him off in the morning before a roadie.

Darn it all. That was definitely a tear making its way down his cheek.

“Come on, Bits,” Jack said through a smile. “No need to start eulogizing me yet. I’ve got five more meetings this week and you’re gonna dry up completely if you cry every time.”

An arm slid underneath Bitty’s butt and he let his head rest against Jack’s as he was lowered down to the floor. Jack gave him a pat on the backside as Bitty snuffled into the sleeve of his robe, and drooped his way to the door.

“Post-mortem at Annie’s?”

Bitty thought he heard something a little shaky in Jack’s voice. When he turned back, Jack was putting on his cardigan and watching Bitty expectantly.

Bitty smiled small but sweet.

“Meet you there at 11!”

#zimbits fanfiction #zimbits fic #pre-zimbits #domestic fluff #pining #my fic

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psychologistbjarne · 4 years

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⁣Here’s a reason to add exercise to your life. 🏃🏼‍♀️⠀ Our growing sedentary lifestyle makes us vulnerable to several physical and mental issues such as cardiovascular diseases, weak bones & muscle, obesity, depression, memory loss, etc. Having and marinating an active lifestyle is not only beneficial to keep diseases at bay but to also promote regeneration of gray matter. 🧠 Various research points out that exercising can improve brain and cognitive functioning. Long term aerobic exercise has also shown an increase of hippocampal volume by 2% which may lead to reversing age-related loss in the brain’s functioning. (Erickson et al., 2011) The same study found that this increase directly improved spatial memory tasks and higher serum BDNF(Brain-derived neurotrophic factor) protein which supports the existence and growth of new neurons. Get them gains!⠀ ⠀ ⠀ Reference: Erickson, K., Voss, M., Prakash, R., Basak, C., Szabo, A., Chaddock, L., Kim, J., Heo, S., Alves, H., White, S., Wojcicki, T., Mailey, E., Vieira, V., Martin, S., Pence, B., Woods, J., McAuley, E. and Kramer, A. (2011). Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(7), pp.3017-3022.⠀ ⠀ ⠀ #exercise #cardio #aerobics #mma #workout #fitnessgoal#fitinspiration #fitlifestyle #neuroplasticity #brain #memory #hippocampal #neuroscience #coachinglifestyle#lifestylepsychology #lifestyle #leefstijl #health #psychology #mentalhealth #physicalhealth #depression #burnout #fit #positivethinking https://www.instagram.com/p/B8dwmh7lXbE/?igshid=1bh5qivrnbv2g

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chrisgoesrock · 7 years

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Young Peter formed his first pro band in August 1963, The Cheynes, with Mick Fleetwood on drums and future Spencer Davis Group guitarist Phil Sawyer. They played a fairly interesting rhythm and blues style and recorded three singles. Thereafter Van Morrison asked Peter to join and replace Jack McAuley for the job on the organ in the fairly successful Them from Belfast, North Ireland. Peter was only a member of Them for six months and then soon dropped out again. Now 19 years old, he pursued setting up his ideal band, founding Peter B's Looners, which gave him a chance to play jazzy soul instrumentals. Around that time he briefly joined the early Fleetwood Mac to help record the track "Outrage", a first appearance together with another band for an occasional session job. Also, it is handed down that he joined a band named Shotgun Express for a very short time in 1967, fronted by Rod Stewart and Beryl Marsden. After the demise of that formation Peter pursued a new project in 1969 which yielded an album of the same name, The Answer. Many consider this debut album to be Peter's best work, and it was followed by the 1971 released self-titled (Peter Bardens) follow-up album.

Yet, in the next year Peter was invited to join the freshly founded Camel who originated in Surrey. Since that time Peter dropped the "r" from his first name, only appearing as "Pete" since then. By the end of 1973 the group signed up with MCA Records and released their eponymous first album shortly thereafter. Already in the subsequent year the band switched record companies, signing a deal with Decca. Album #3, Music Inspired by The Snow Goose can be considered their international breakthrough, putting the band on the top ranks on the list of progressive rock acts. Interestingly, the next release Moonmadness achieved less success in the UK than in America. Unfortunately, during the recordings to the Rain Dances album conflicts between Camel mastermind Latimer and Pete arose, culminating in more tensions throughout the making of Breathless (1978). After those recording sessions were finished Pete(r) Bardens called it quits and left the group. Parallel to these proceedings he joined his former Them band mate Van Morrison and contributed keyboards for the Wavelength album.

The Album: Bardens now recorded a next solo album which resulted in the 1979 release Heart to Heart, his only solo album for another eight years. Interestingly, in 1983 he was asked to join Keats, a project put together from musicians of The Alan Parsons Project. The driving force behind putting this group together was Eric Woolfson with the intention to create a career for the musicians apart from working for Parsons. According to statements of Ian Bairnson it was Eric who asked Pete to join, since he already had very good writing credits, but interestingly, Pete never recorded with The Alan Parsons Project. Parsons confirmed this fact and recalled that Pete(r) Bardens had become an issue through a suggestion of saxophone player Mel Collins (who was also previously a member of Camel). Unfortunately Keats remained a one-release project only and Pete pursued other projects and recorded solo material.

Susequent to the adventure with Keats he discovered and produced Willy Finlayson in 1984/85, who scored the international hit "On the Air Tonight", a Bardens composition. In 1987 he resurfaced with Seen One Earth, followed by the 1988 Speed of Light (including a guest appearance of Mick Fleetwood) up to the 1994 release Big Sky. Interestingly, the latter album contains Pete's own version of "On the Air Tonight" with Neil Lockwood doing the lead vocals.

After the release of Big Sky he founded the band Mirage together with Caravan members, playing material of Camel, Caravan and their individual musicians. The formation was rearranged in 1995, now called Pete Bardens' Mirage. Unfortunately neither line up ever recorded a studio album. The reasons for Bardens' leaving of Mirage in 1996 are unknown, yet it's up to speculations whether it was already due to a diagnosed brain tumor. It came as a shock to his fans when Pete died prematurely on January 22nd, 2002 in Los Angeles. Only weeks after his death the last album with new songs was published: The Art Of Levitation, again, with the participation of Mick Fleetwood on drums and Pete's daughter Tallulah for vocals.

Prior to this solo debut, Pete Bardens had been on the British R&B-rock and psychedelic scene for about half a dozen years, playing in early bands with Mick Fleetwood and Peter Green, as well as (briefly) in Them with Van Morrison. The Answer was his chance to step out of the shadows, and while his skills as a keyboardist were formidable, his songwriting just wasn't up to carrying an interesting album of his own. Devoted to a half-dozen lengthy tracks varying in duration from five to 13 minutes, Bardens offered a blues-progressive stew that, despite some flashy licks, lacked focus. It's a shame there wasn't better material to work with, for some quite talented musicians were among the supporting cast, including Love Affair singer Steve Ellis, session vocalist Linda Lewis, Bruce Thomas (later to back Elvis Costello in the Attractions), and most of all his old friend Peter Green. In fact, Green offers some of his best playing as a sideman on this record, which both makes it better than it could have been, and makes it worth checking out for serious fans of the guitarist. In common with some of Green's own solo work, however, it's a meandering record, bits of promising ideas swirling around before they've been honed into something cogent. Against the odds, however, the 13-minute "Homage to the God of Light" is the highlight, its mesh of Latin-esque rhythms, burning organ, and bluesy guitar recalling some of early Santana's more jammy grooves.

01. The Answer 02. Don't goof with a spookie 03. I can't remember 04. I don't want to go home 05. Let's get it on 06. Homage to the God of Light

#Peter Bardens #The Answer #UK #1970 #Transatlantic Records

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sinfulfolk · 4 years

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Remembering Brian Doyle

Today, November 6, is the birthday of Oregon writer Brian Doyle.

I’ve had the great pleasure of getting to know the writing of Brian Doyle this past year. I was introduced to his work by the inimitable Kirstin McAuley at the Oregon Episcopal School, and she’s kindly agreed to allow me to re-post her audio reading of Doyle’s essay from his post-humous book One Long River of Song: Notes on Wonder.

Enjoy Doyle’s wonderful writing voice… and the lovely voice of Kirstin McAuley!

https://nednote.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/BrianDoyle-KM.mp3

Brian James Patrick Doyle (1956-2017)

Here’s a short history of Brian Doyle from The Oregon Encyclopedia

Writer Brian Doyle explored the spirit of Oregon’s small towns and the wonders of the world. Describing himself as “a story catcher,” he wrote about spirituality, family, nature, place, wine, and the human heart with a distinctive playful style and zest. The author of over two dozen books, Doyle was also the longtime editor of Portland, the University of Portland’s alumni magazine.

Brian James Patrick Doyle was born in New York City in 1956, into a large Irish-Catholic family with six brothers and one sister. His mother, Ethel Clancey Doyle, was a teacher, and his father, James A. Doyle, was a journalist and the executive director of the Catholic Press Association. He earned a degree in English from the University of Notre Dame in 1978 and worked at the U.S. Catholic and Boston College magazines before moving to Oregon. In Boston, he married Mary Miller, whose artwork appears in several of his books; the couple had three children.

In 1991, Brian Doyle was named the editor of Portland, which he guided to national recognition, most notably with Newsweek’s Sibley Award in 2005. Under his leadership, the magazine published essays not just about the University of Portland but also about beauty, faith, and nature, written by such contributors as Ursula K. Le Guin, David James Duncan, Cornel West, Ian Frazier, James Mattis, Kathleen Dean Moore, and Doyle himself.

Doyle was the author or editor of novels, short fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and essays. As an essayist, he often explored Catholicism and was a regular contributor to America: The Jesuit Review and Guideposts. He described his commitment to his faith in terms of the “genius of Catholicism at its deepest…compassion, witness, reverence, kindness, and tenderness.” From 2004 to 2006, Doyle was the editor of The Best Catholic Writing, an annual volume published by Loyola University Press.

Doyle was a co-author with his father of Two Voices: A Father and Son Discuss Family and Faith (1996). His other nonfiction work includes The Grail (2006), which documents the work of father-and-son winemakers at their vineyard in Dundee, and The Wet Engine (2005), which is about the physical workings of the heart told alongside the story of a life-saving cardiac surgery on one of his infant children. His work also appeared in the Atlantic, Harper’s, the American Scholar, the Oregonian, and the New York Times.

Doyle’s first novel, Mink River (2010), is the story of a fictional town on the Oregon Coast told in the sometimes mystical voices of its struggling inhabitants. The character of Declan O’Donnell, who sailed off into the sunset at the end of Mink River, is featured in his later novel, The Plover (2014). Set in the South Seas and inspired by Doyle’s fascination with the works of Thor Heyerdahl and Robert Louis Stevenson, The Plover combines adventure and mysticism. Chicago (2016) tells the story of a young Notre Dame graduate who takes a job at a Catholic magazine in Chicago in the 1970s and explores the Windy City, and The Adventures of John Carson in Several Quarters of the World (2017) set a fictionalized Stevenson in San Francisco, in homage to nineteenth-century storytelling.

Doyle’s 2015 young adult novel Martin Marten is set on Wy’east, a Native name for Mount Hood. The story intertwines the lives of Dave, a fourteen-year-old boy, and Martin, a pine marten leaving the nest. Martin Marten received the 2016 Oregon Book Award for young adult fiction and the 2017 John Burroughs Medal for Distinguished Nature Writing.

As a novelist, Doyle had a quirky style that suited the energy and mysticism of his writing, often providing the reader with sentient animals and long, adjective-filled, comma-free sentences in a frenzied but ecstatic pace. His writing has been described as “magical realism,” although he rejected that term, telling one interviewer that “I don’t think I write magic realism—I want more to suggest gently that millions more things are possible and real and happening than we know about.” He explained his style this way: “I love runs of adjectives like bursts of salmon in a river.” After Mink River was published, one of his brothers sent him a page consisting of nothing but commas, joking that “you might want to learn to use these.”

Well known in the Oregon literary community, Doyle gave readings and presentations around the state, often leading the audience in a chorus of “Amazing Grace” or regaling them with the story an argument he had with a Buddhist monk about whether soccer or basketball was the better sport. The monk was the Dalai Lama. Doyle’s writing garnered him the Catholic Book Award, three Pushcart Prizes, and an honorary doctorate from the University of Portland, yet he described himself modestly, attributing his interest in writing to his parents.

Brian Doyle died of brain cancer in May 2017. In an interview shortly before the end of his life, he reflected: “If I could say anything to everybody, I would say thank you. I’m quietly very proud to have been called an Oregon writer.”

Remembering Brian Doyle was originally published on Ned Hayes

#Poetry #Storytelling #Writing #sinfulfolk #books #writing #novels #book #bookshelf #sinful-folk #Sinful Folk #novel

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