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philip-ks-dick · 3 years

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Philip K. Dick, For Dummies.

I’ve been researching PK.D for a few years now, as he’s my father’s favourite author and I’ve been watching movie and show adaptations of his work for the longest time. I have personally only read the books listed, here’s the order (I think) you should read them in, based on difficulty level and the knowledge you need of the PKD canon to understand the books that follow. This is purely my opinion based on knowledge of the author. by philip-k’s-dick (lol)

Beginner. (These books and stories allow readers to explore Dick’s pet themes and stylistic quirks without falling too far down the rabbit hole)

The Short Stories: Over the course of his life, PKD wrote somewhere in the range of 150 short stories. Naturally, it would be silly of me to dump all of them on you at once, but undeniably, the shorter format allows the big ideas of Dick’s work to come through more clearly, and even the screwier stories conform to relatively coherent shape, making them an excellent jumping off point, especially for an author who wrote almost nonstop throughout his life.

My Favourites:

In The Days of Perky Pat - In this novel, survivors of a global thermonuclear war live in isolated enclaves in California, surviving off what they can scrounge from the wastes and supplies delivered from Mars. The older generation spend their leisure time playing with the eponymous doll in an escapist role-playing game that recalls life before the apocalypse — a way of life that is being quickly forgotten. At the story's climax, a couple from one isolated outpost of humanity plays a game against the dwellers of another outpost (who play the game with a doll similar to Perky Pat dubbed "Connie Companion") in deadly earnest. The survivors' shared enthusiasm for the Perky Pat doll and the creation of her accessories from vital supplies is a sort of mass delusion that prevents meaningful re-building of the shattered society. In stark contrast, the children of the survivors show absolutely no interest in the delusion and have begun adapting to their new life.

(Elements of the story were later incorporated into Dick's novel The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch, written in 1964 and published in 1965, in which a Perky Pat simulation game is induced by drugs and miniature models instead. Palmer Eldritch is not a continuation or sequel however.)

What the Dead Men Say - Death is followed by a period of 'half-life', a short amount of time which can be rationed out over long periods in which the dead can be revived—so that, potentially, they can 'live' on for a long time. When attempts to bring back important businessman Louis Sarapis fail, it's clearly more than mere negligence. Sure enough, Sarapis starts speaking from beyond the grave. From outer space, in fact. Yet no-one seems terribly bothered, other than those directly concerned in the plot mechanics. Eventually entire communications networks (phones, TV, radio) are blocked by Sarapis' broadcasts

(Philip's later novel Ubik is a continuation of What the Dead Men Say)

Autofac - Three men wait outside their settlement for an automated delivery truck. Five years earlier, during the Total Global Conflict, a network of hardened automatic factories ("autofacs") had been set up with cybernetic controls that determine what food and consumer goods to manufacture and deliver. Human input had been lost, and the men planned disruption to try to establish communication and take over control. They destroy the delivery, but the truck radios the autofac and unloads an identical replacement, then prevents them from reloading items. They act out being disgusted with the milk delivery and are given a complaints checklist. In a blank space, they write improvised semantic garble—"the product is thoroughly pizzled". The autofac sends a humanoid data collector that communicates on an oral basis, but is not capable of conceptual thought, and they are unable to persuade the network to shut down before it consumes all resources. Their next strategy sets neighbouring autofacs in competition with each other for rare resources and seemingly succeeds, but there is a hidden level

Beyond Lies The Wub - Peterson, a crew member of a spaceship loading up with food animals on Mars, buys an enormous pig-like creature known as a "wub" from a native just before departure. Franco, his captain, is worried about the extra weight but seems more concerned about its taste, as his ship is short of food. However, after takeoff, the crew realizes that the wub is a very intelligent creature, capable of telepathy and maybe even mind control.

Peterson and the wub spend time discussing mythological figures and the travels of Odysseus. Captain Franco, paranoid after an earlier confrontation with the Wub which left him temporarily paralyzed, bursts in and insists on killing and eating the wub. The crew becomes very much opposed to killing the sensitive creature after it makes a plea for understanding, but Franco still makes a meal out of him. At the dinner table, Captain Franco apologises for the "interruption" and resumes the earlier conversation between Peterson and the Wub - which now has apparently taken over the Captain's body

Human Is - Jill Herrick and her husband Lester are in the middle of an argument. Lester deflects his wife’s claim that he is “hideous” with cold indifference. He tells her that he will not allow their child in the house and will have him removed to government custody because he is interfering with his research. Before the distraught Jill can pass this onto their son Gus, Lester gets news that he will be taking a trip to Rexor IV. Despite Jill’s desire to go there and see the planet, Lester insists that he will go alone.

Later Jill tells her brother Frank and she is going to leave Lester. She explains how happy she has been with Lester gone and how he seems to be getting worse every year of their marriage. More cold and more “ruthless,” not to mention the incessant working.

Lester comes home a very different man. He praises Jill’s cooking and expresses disgust with his work on Rexor IV studying toxins. He says he prefers Terra and being home with his wife.

Jill reports these changes to Frank, while Lester is playing in the room with Gus. Frank has Lester brought to a lab for more studies under the guidance of the Federal Clearance agency. Before long they realize that Lester has had his body taken over by a Rexorian.

The Hanging Stranger - The protagonist, Ed Loyce, is a store owner who is disturbed when he sees a stranger hanging from a lamppost, but finds that other people consider the apparent lynching unremarkable.

He finds evidence that alien insects have taken over, manages to get out of town, talks to the police commissioner, who believes him, and after getting all the information about what Ed knows, explains that the body was hung to see if anyone reacted to it, anyone they didn't have control over. He then takes Ed outside and hangs him from a lamppost.

The Commuter - Ed Jacobson is a railway worker at Woking station. His life takes a turn for the worse when his son, Sam, begins experiencing psychotic episodes. When he is selling rail tickets at work, a young woman named Linda asks for a ticket to a destination called Macon Heights that is not listed on any map.

The Minority Report - In a future society, three mutants foresee all crime before it occurs. Plugged into a great machine, these "precogs" allow a division of the police called Precrime to arrest suspects before they can commit any actual crimes. When the head of Precrime, John Anderton, is himself predicted to murder a man whom he has never met, Anderton is convinced a great conspiracy is afoot

Full Books:

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? - Rick Deckard, a bounty hunter for the San Francisco Police Department, is assigned to "retire" (kill) six androids of the new and highly intelligent Nexus-6 model which have recently escaped from Mars and traveled to Earth. These androids are made of organic matter so similar to a human's that only a posthumous "bone marrow analysis" can independently prove the difference, making them almost impossible to distinguish from real people. Deckard hopes this mission will earn him enough bounty money to buy a live animal to replace his lone electric sheep to comfort his depressed wife Iran. Deckard visits the Rosen Association's headquarters in Seattle to confirm the accuracy of the latest empathy test meant to identify incognito androids. Deckard suspects the test may not be capable of distinguishing the latest Nexus-6 models from genuine human beings, and it appears to give a false positive on his host in Seattle, Rachael Rosen, meaning the police have potentially been executing human beings. The Rosen Association attempts to blackmail Deckard to get him to drop the case, but Deckard retests Rachael and determines that Rachael is, indeed, an android, which she ultimately admits.

Clans of the Alphane Moon - War between Earth and insectoid-dominated Alpha III ended over a decade ago. (According to the novel, "Alphane" refers to the nearest star to our own system, Alpha Centauri). Some years after the end of hostilities, Earth intends to secure its now independent colony in the Alphane system, Alpha III M2. As a former satellite-based global psychiatric institution for colonists on other Alphane system worlds unable to cope with the stresses of colonisation, the inhabitants of Alpha III M2 have lived peacefully for years. But, under the pretence of a medical mission, Earth intends to take their colony back.

Against this background, Chuck Rittersdorf and his wife Mary are separating. Although they think they are going their separate ways, they soon find themselves together again on Alpha III M2. Mary travels there through government work, Chuck sees it as a chance to kill Mary using his remote control simulacrum. Along the way he is guided by his Ganymedean slime mould neighbour Lord Running Clam and Mary finds herself manipulated by the Alphane sympathiser, comedian Bunny Hentman.

The Man in the High Castle - In 1962, 15 years after Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany have won World War II, Robert "Bob" Childan owns an Americana antique shop in San Francisco, California (located in the Japanese-occupied Pacific States of America), which is most commonly frequented by the Japanese, who make a fetish of romanticized American cultural artifacts. Childan is contacted by Nobusuke Tagomi, a high-ranking Japanese trade official, who is seeking a gift to impress a visiting Swedish industrialist named Baynes. Childan's store is stocked in part with counterfeit antiques from the Wyndam-Matson Corporation, a metalworking company. Frank Frink (formerly Fink), a secretly Jewish-American veteran of World War II, has just been fired from the Wyndam-Matson factory, when he agrees to join a former co-worker to begin a handcrafted jewellery business. Meanwhile, Frink's ex-wife, Juliana, works as a judo instructor in Canon City, Colorado (in the neutral buffer zone of Mountain States), where she begins a sexual relationship with an Italian truck driver and ex-soldier, Joe Cinnadella. Throughout the book, many of these characters frequently make important decisions using prophetic messages they interpret from the I Ching, a Chinese cultural import. Many characters are also reading a widely banned yet extremely popular new novel, The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, which depicts an alternate history in which the Allies won World War II in 1945, a concept that amazes and intrigues its readers.

Frink reveals that the Wyndam-Matson Corporation has been supplying Childan with counterfeit antiques, which works to blackmail Wyndam-Matson for money to finance Frink's new jewelry venture. Tagomi and Baynes meet, but Baynes repeatedly delays any real business as they await an expected third party from Japan. Suddenly, the public receives news of the death of the Chancellor of Germany, Martin Bormann, after a short illness. Childan tentatively, on consignment, takes some of Frink's "authentic" new metalwork and attempts to curry favour with a Japanese client, who surprisingly considers Frink's jewelry immensely spiritually alive. Juliana and Joe take a road trip to Denver, Colorado and Joe impulsively decides they should go on a side-trip to meet the mysterious Hawthorne Abendsen, author of The Grasshopper Lies Heavy, who supposedly lives in a guarded fortress-like estate called the "High Castle" in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Soon, Joseph Goebbels is announced as the new German Chancellor.

Intermediate. (These are the books to pick up once you have the basics of what makes a PKD novel down. They’re obtuse enough to hit a little heavier, but don’t provide the full dose of surrealism Dick was capable of serving up. This is also good spot to jump in if you’ve experienced weird fiction before.)

Flow My Tears, The Policeman Said - The novel is set in a dystopian version of 1988, following a Second Civil War which led to the collapse of the United States' democratic institutions. The National Guard ("nats") and US police force ("pols") reestablished social order through instituting a dictatorship, with a "Director" at the apex, and police marshals and generals as operational commanders in the field. Resistance to the regime is largely confined to university campuses, where radicalized former university students eke out a desperate existence in subterranean kibbutzim. Recreational drug use is widespread, and the age of consent has been lowered to twelve. The black population has almost been rendered extinct. Most commuting is undertaken by personal aircraft, allowing great distances to be covered in little time.

The novel begins with the protagonist, Jason Taverner, a singer, hosting his weekly TV show which has an audience of 30 million viewers. His special guest is his girlfriend Heather Hart, also a singer. Both Hart and Taverner are "Sixes", members of an elite class of genetically engineered humans. While leaving the studio, Taverner is telephoned by a former lover, who asks him to pay her a visit. When Taverner arrives at her apartment, the former lover attacks him by throwing a parasitic life-form at him. Although he manages to remove most of the life-form, parts of it are left inside him. After being rescued by Hart, he is taken to a medical facility.

Waking up the following day in a seedy hotel with no identification, Taverner becomes worried, as failure to produce identification at one of the numerous police checkpoints would lead to imprisonment in a forced labor camp. Through a succession of phone calls made from the hotel to colleagues and friends who now claim not to know him, Taverner establishes that he is no longer recognized by the outside world. He soon manages to bribe the hotel's clerk into taking him to Kathy Nelson, a forger of government documents. However, Kathy reveals that both she and the clerk are police informants, and that the lobby clerk has placed a microscopic tracking device on him. She promises not to turn Taverner over to the police on the condition that he spend the night with her. Although he attempts to escape, Kathy confronts him again after he has successfully passed a police checkpoint using the forged identity cards. Feeling in her debt, he accompanies Kathy to her apartment block, where Inspector McNulty, Kathy's police handler, is waiting. McNulty has located Taverner via the tracking device the hotel lobby clerk placed on him, and instructs Taverner to come with him to the 469th Precinct police station so that further biometric identity checks can be performed.

Time out of Joint - Ragle Gumm lives in the year 1959 in a quiet American suburb. His unusual profession consists of repeatedly winning the cash prize in a local newspaper contest called "Where Will The Little Green Man Be Next?". Gumm's 1959 has some differences from ours: the Tucker car is in production, AM/FM radios are scarce to non-existent, and Marilyn Monroe is a complete unknown. As the novel opens, strange things begin to happen to Gumm. A soft-drink stand disappears, replaced by a small slip of paper with the words "SOFT-DRINK STAND" printed on it in block letters. Intriguing little pieces of the real 1959 turn up: a magazine article on Marilyn Monroe, a telephone book with non-operational exchanges listed and radios hidden away in someone else's house. People with no apparent connection to Gumm, including military pilots using aircraft transceivers, refer to him by name. Few other characters notice these or experience similar anomalies; the sole exception is Gumm's supposed brother-in-law, Victor "Vic" Nielson, in whom he confides. A neighborhood woman, Mrs. Keitelbein, invites him to a civil defense class where he sees a model of a futuristic underground military factory. He has the unshakeable feeling he's been inside that building many times before.

Confusion gradually mounts for Gumm. His neighbor Bill Black knows far more about these events than he admits, and, observing this, begins worrying: "Suppose Ragle [Gumm] is becoming sane again?" In fact, Gumm does become sane, and the deception surrounding him (erected to protect and exploit him) begins to unravel

Ubik - By the year 1992, humanity has colonized the Moon and psychic powers are common. The protagonist, Joe Chip, is a debt-ridden technician working for Runciter Associates, a "prudence organization" employing "inertials"—people with the ability to negate the powers of telepaths and "precogs"—to enforce the privacy of clients. The company is run by Glen Runciter, assisted by his deceased wife Ella who is kept in a state of "half-life", a form of cryonic suspension that allows the deceased limited consciousness and ability to communicate. While consulting with Ella, Runciter discovers that her consciousness is being invaded by another half-lifer named Jory Miller

Difficult. (This section comes with a caveat: within these novels you will encounter numerous hallucinations, drug trips, an entire trilogy about gnostic spirituality and mental illness, and more than a little unabashed nightmare fuel. It’s normal to get tangled up in what goes on in these books. It’s also normal to be weirded out. But with proper grounding, you’ll make it though with your faculties intact. Probably.)

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch - The story begins in a future world where global temperatures have risen so high that in most of the world it is unsafe to be outside without special cooling gear during daylight hours. In a desperate bid to preserve humanity and ease population burdens on Earth, the UN has initiated a "draft" for colonizing the nearby planets, where conditions are so horrific and primitive that the unwilling colonists have fallen prey to a form of escapism involving the use of an illegal drug (Can-D) in concert with "layouts." Layouts are physical props intended to simulate a sort of alternative reality where life is easier than either the grim existence of the colonists in their marginal off-world colonies, or even Earth, where global warming has progressed to the point that Antarctica is prime vacation resort territory. The illegal drug Can-D allows people to "share" their experience of the "Perky Pat" (the name of the main female character in the simulated world) layouts. This "sharing" has caused a pseudo-religious cult or series of cults to grow up around the layouts and the use of the drug.

Up to the point where the novel begins, New York City-based Perky Pat (or P.P.) Layouts, Inc., has held a monopoly on this product, as well as on the illegal trade in the drug Can-D which makes the shared hallucinations possible.

The novel opens shortly after Barney Mayerson, P.P. Layouts' top precog, has received a "draft notice" from the UN for involuntary resettlement as a colonist on Mars. Mayerson is sleeping with his assistant, Roni Fugate, but remains conflicted about the divorce, which he himself initiated, from his first wife Emily, a ceramic pot artist. Meanwhile, Emily's second husband tries to sell her pot designs to P.P. Layouts as possible accessories for the Perky Pat virtual worlds—but Barney, recognizing them as Emily's, rejects them out of spite.

A Scanner Darkly - When performing his work as an undercover agent, Arctor goes by the name "Fred" and wears a "scramble suit" that conceals his identity from other officers. Then he is able to sit in a police facility and observe his housemates through "holo-scanners", audio-visual surveillance devices that are placed throughout the house. Arctor's use of the drug causes the two hemispheres of his brain to function independently or "compete". When Arctor sees himself in the videos saved by the scanners, he does not realize that it is him. Through a series of drug and psychological tests, Arctor's superiors at work discover that his addiction has made him incapable of performing his job as a narcotics agent. They do not know his identity because he wears the scramble suit, but when his police supervisor suggests to him that he might be Bob Arctor, he is confused and thinks it cannot be possible.

Donna takes Arctor to "New-Path", a rehabilitation clinic, just as Arctor begins to experience the symptoms of Substance D withdrawal. It is revealed that Donna has been a narcotics agent all along, working as part of a police operation to infiltrate New-Path and determine its funding source. Without his knowledge, Arctor has been selected to penetrate the organization. As part of the rehab program, Arctor is renamed "Bruce" and forced to participate in cruel group-dynamic games, intended to break the will of the patients

(If this one seems difficult to wrap your mind around, that's because its a fictionalized account of real events, and you may need to read about Philip's life at the time to understand the autobiographical nature of the book.)

The VALIS Trilogy

(Fictionalized account of religious experiences in PKD’s life.)

VALIS - In March, 1974, Horselover Fat (the alter-personality of Philip K. Dick) experiences visions of a pink beam of light that he calls Zebra and interprets as a theophany exposing hidden facts about the reality of our universe, and a group of others join him in researching these matters. One of their theories is that there is some kind of alien space probe in orbit around Earth, and that it is aiding them in their quest; it also aided the United States in disclosing the Watergate scandal and the resignation of Richard Nixon in August, 1974. Kevin turns his friends onto a film called Valis that contains obvious references to revelations identical to those that Horselover Fat has experienced, including what appears to be time dysfunction. The film is itself a fictional account of an alternative-universe version of Nixon ("Ferris F. Fremount") and his fall, engineered by a satellite called valis. (The plot of the fictitious film Valis was that of Dick's then-unpublished novel Radio Free Albemuth.) In seeking the film's makers, Kevin, Phil, Fat, and David—now calling themselves the Rhipidon Society—head to an estate owned by popular musician Eric Lampton and his wife Linda. They decide the goal that they have been led toward is Sophia Lampton, who is two-years old and the Messiah or incarnation of Holy Wisdom (Pistis Sophia) anticipated by some variants of Gnostic Christianity. In addition to healing Phil's schizophrenic personality split, she tells them that their conclusions about valis (which Fat had previously termed "Zebra") and reality are correct, and more importantly, that we should worship, not gods, but humanity. She dies two days later due to a laser accident caused by Brent Mini. Undeterred, Fat (who has now resurged) goes on a global search for the next incarnation of Sophia.

Dick also offers a rationalist explanation of his apparent theophany, acknowledging that it might have been visual and auditory hallucinations from either schizophrenia or drug addiction sequelae.

Characters:

Phil (Philip K. Dick): Narrator (first person), science fiction writer, author of Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, and Three Stigmata.

Horselover Fat: Narrator (third person), a schizophrenic modality of Phil himself. (Philip in Greek means "fond of horses"; dick is German for "fat".)

Gloria Knudson: Suicidal friend of Fat's who Fat is unable to save.

Kevin: Cynical friend of Fat's whose cat died running across the street, based on K. W. Jeter.

Sherri Solvig: Church-going friend of Fat's, eventually dies from lymphatic cancer.

David: Catholic friend of Fat's, based on Tim Powers.

Eric Lampton: Rock star, screenwriter, actor, a. k. a. "Mother Goose"; a fictionalised version of David Bowie.

Linda Lampton: Actress, wife of Eric Lampton.

Brent Mini: Electronic composer, a fictionalised version of Brian Eno.

Sophia Lampton: Two-year-old child (personalised incarnation of Holy Wisdom within some variants of Gnosticism), said to be the daughter of Linda Lampton and valis and the "Fifth Savior".

The Divine Invasion - After a fatal car accident on Earth, Herb Asher is placed into cryonic suspension as he waits for a spleen replacement. Clinically dead, Herb experiences lucid dreams while in suspended animation and relives the last six years of his life.

In the past, Herb lived as a recluse in an isolated dome on a remote planet in the binary star system, CY30-CY30B. Yah, a local divinity of the planet in exile from Earth, appears to Herb in a vision as a burning flame, and forces him to contact his sick female neighbor, Rybys Rommey, who happens to be terminally ill with multiple sclerosis and pregnant with Yah's child.

With the help of the immortal soul of Elijah, who takes the form of a wild beggar named Elias Tate, Herb agrees to become Rybys's legal husband and father of the unborn "savior". Together they plan to smuggle the six-month pregnant Rybys back to Earth, under the pretext of seeking help for Rybys' medical condition at a medical research facility. After being born in human form, Yah plans to confront the fallen angel Belial, who has ruled the Earth for 2000 years since the fall of Masada in the first century CE. Yah's powers, however, are limited by Belial's dominion on Earth, and the four of them must take extra precautions to avoid being detected by the forces of darkness.

Things do not go as planned. "Big Noodle", Earth's A.I. system, warns the ecclesiastical authorities in the Christian-Islamic church and Scientific Legate about the divine "invasion" and countermeasures are prepared. A number of failed attempts are made to destroy the unborn child, all of them thwarted by Elijah and Yah. After successfully making the interstellar journey back to Earth and narrowly avoiding a forced abortion, Rybys and Herb escape in the nick of time, only to be involved in a fatal taxi crash, probably due to the machinations of Belial. Rybys dies from her injuries sustained in the crash, and her unborn son Emmanuel (Yah in human form) suffers brain damage from the trauma but survives. Herb is critically injured and put into cryonic suspension until a spleen replacement can be found. Baby Emmanuel is placed into a synthetic womb, but Elias Tate manages to sneak Emmanuel out of the hospital before the church is able to kill him.

Six years pass. In a school for special children, Emmanuel meets Zina, a girl who also seems to have similar skills and talents, but acts as a surrogate teacher to Emmanuel. For four years, Zina helps Emmanuel regain his memory (the brain damage caused amnesia) and discover his true identity as Yah, creator of the universe.

When he's ready, Zina shows Emmanuel her own parallel universe. In this peaceful world, organized religion has little influence, Rybys Rommey is still alive and married to Herb Asher, and Belial is only a goat kid living in a petting zoo.

In an act of kindness, Zina and Emmanuel liberate the goat-creature from his cage, momentarily forgetting that the animal is Belial. The goat-creature finds Herb Asher and attempts to retain control of the world by possessing him and convincing him that Yahweh's creation is an ugly thing that should be shown for what it really is. Eventually Herb is saved by Linda Fox, a young singer whom he loves and who is his own personal Savior; she and the goat-creature meet and she kills it, defeating Belial. He finally discovers that this meeting happens over again for everyone in the world, and whether they choose Belial or their Savior decides if they find salvation.

Characters:

Herb Asher: audio engineer

Rybys Rommey: mother of Emmanuel, sick with MS

Yah: Yahweh

Elias Tate: Incarnation of Elijah

Emmanuel (Manny): Yah incarnated in human form

Zina Pallas: Shekhinah

Linda Fox: singer, songwriter, Yetzer Hatov

Belial: Yetzer Hara

Fulton Statler Harms: Chief prelate of the Christian-Islamic Church (C.I.C), Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church

Nicholas Bulkowsky: Communist Party Chairman, Procurator maximus of the Scientific Legate

VALIS: agent of Yahweh, disinhibiting stimulus

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer - Set in the late 1960s and 1970s, the story describes the efforts of Episcopal Bishop Timothy Archer, who must cope with the theological and philosophical implications of the newly discovered Gnostic Zadokite scroll fragments. The character of Bishop Archer is loosely based on the controversial, iconoclastic Episcopal Bishop James Pike, who in 1969 died of exposure while exploring the Judean Desert near the Dead Sea in the West Bank.

As the novel opens, it is 1980. On the day that John Lennon is shot and killed, Angel Archer visits the houseboat of Edgar Barefoot, (a guru based on Alan Watts), and reflects on the lives of her deceased relatives. During the sixties, she was married to Jeff Archer, son of the Episcopal Bishop of California Timothy Archer. She introduced Kirsten Lundborg, a friend, to her father-in law, and the two began an affair. Kirsten has a son, Bill, from a previous relationship, who has schizophrenia, although he is knowledgeable as an automobile mechanic. Tim is already being investigated for his allegedly heretical views about the Holy Ghost.

Jeff commits suicide due to his romantic obsession with Kirsten. However, after poltergeist activity, he manifests to Tim and Kirsten at a seance, also attended by Angel. Angel is skeptical about the efficacy of astrology, and believes that the unfolding existential situation of Tim and Kirsten is akin to Friedrich Schiller's German Romanticism era masterpiece, the Wallenstein trilogy (insofar as their credulity reflects the loss of rational belief in contemporary consensual reality).

The three are told that Kirsten and Tim will die. As predicted, Kirsten loses her remission from cancer, and also commits suicide after a barbiturate overdose. Tim travels to Israel to investigate whether or not a psychotropic mushroom was associated with the resurrection, but his car stalls, he becomes disoriented, falls from a cliff, and dies in the desert.

On the houseboat, Angel is reunited with Bill, Kirsten's son who has schizophrenia. He claims to have Tim's reincarnated spirit within him, but is soon institutionalized. Angel agrees to care for Bill, in return for a rare record (Koto Music by Kimio Eto) that Edgar offers her.

The Transmigration of Timothy Archer is one of Dick's most overtly philosophical and intellectual works. While Dick's novels usually employ multiple narrators or an omniscient perspective, this story is told in the first person by a single narrator: Angel Archer, Bishop Archer's daughter-in-law.

Characters:

Angel Archer: Narrator, manager of a Berkeley record store, widow of Jeff Archer.

Timothy Archer: Bishop of California; father of the late Jeff Archer and father-in-law of Angel. Dies in Israel, searching for psychotropic mushroom connected with Zadokite sect. Based on James Albert Pike, Dick's personal friend, who was an American Episcopalian bishop.

Kirsten Lundborg: Timothy Archer's secretary and lover. Dies from barbiturate overdose after loss of remission from cancer.

Bill Lundborg: Kirsten's son who has schizophrenia, and who is obsessed with cars.

Edgar Barefoot: Houseboat guru, radio personality, lecturer. Based on Alan Watts.

Jeff Archer: Son of Timothy Archer, and deceased husband of Angel. A professional student who was romantically obsessed with Kirsten.

Thank you, if you read all of this. it took me six hours today to write this all

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justinalovee · 3 years

Text

Empty souls

Previous chapter

0.08

Jasper was by far Jill’s favorite person on the planet, well he was as long as he kept supplying ‘Unity Juice’. She had never tasted alcohol until today. At first, she cringed at the taste it left in her mouth, but now Jill was enjoying it.

Jill was currently sitting with Sterling, Fox, Miller and Clarke playing drinking games. Although she still hadn’t forgiven Clarke for banishing Murphy, the liquor was making her more bearable.

“Truth or dare, Lav?” Fox asked in a slur.

Jill shrugged, “truth.”

“What do you always wear a hat? Are you bald underneath?”

Jill finished her drink before answering. “Because I want to, and I’m not bald underneath.”

Miller let out a snort. “You are so bad at this game, I’m banning you from telling the truth again.”

She let out a chuckle and waited for it to be her turn again. Sterling, and Miller both chose dares before it was Clark’s turn. Jill watched everyone having fun. Unity day wasn’t so bad on earth. The only downside was Murphy missing it. She couldn’t have imagined the drama a drunk John Murphy would have caused.

“No, absolutely not.”

Jill snapped out of her trance when she heard Clark’s usual authoritative tone. What was she moaning about now?

“Slate wouldn’t care,” Fox said, pointing towards you. “Unless you are chicken, Griffin.”

“Wait, what's the dare?” Jill asked.

Clarke was pouting when Jill turned to face her. “They want me to kiss you.” Oh. “But they think I’m too scared.”

Jill didn’t know how much Clarke had drunk, but she imagined it was a lot if she was about to fall for the ‘prove us wrong’ act. Jill was about to point out how stupid the dare was when she felt Clarke crashing her lips against her own.

Okay, how drunk am I? Jill somehow found herself not pulling away straight away. Why hadn’t Clarke pulled away yet? The kiss was lasting far too long.

A coughing noise caused Clarke to pull away. Both girls turned to see Finn staring at them. He looked pissed. “I need you both for a moment, if you can find a moment to stop making out with each other.”

Jill and Clarke shared a look, both of them trying not to laugh. They weren’t sure if it was the alcohol, or Finn being so angry but something in the air was making them laugh uncontrollably.

______

To say the walk to meet Anya was uncomfortable, was an understatement. Finn had been in a mood ever since you left camp.

“The Ark is about survival at any cost. You know, kill people who fall out of line. When those people get down here, if they feel threatened they will start a war.”

Jill rolled her eyes as Finn rambled on. Her head was hurting, and she was far too stressed to listen to them bicker.

Clarke let out a sigh of frustration. “Seriously, Finn, you're putting a lot of faith in a guy who stuck a knife in you.”

Finn scrunched his face up at the comment. “And you're sounding more and more like Bellamy.”

“I'm just trying to keep us alive Finn.”

“So am I.”

Jill stopped walking and turned to face both of them. “Guys, shut up. We don’t have time for this, okay? And for the record, I trust Lincoln as well. He saved Octavia, and he only stabbed Finn in self-defence.”

Looking past Finn and Clarke, Jill could see the figures of three of her campmates approaching from the trees. Finn wasn’t aware that his girlfriend, along with Bellamy, and Jasper were coming for backup. Jill shared a small smile with Bellamy as he smirked at her.

When reaching the bridge, Jill noticed Octavia and Lincoln waiting for them. Jill smiled as Clarke questioned the younger Blake.

Clarke shook her head in disbelief. “So, that's how you set this up? You helped him escape, didn't you?”

“Easy Griffin,” Jill said, stepping in between them. “Octavia has already mentioned she trusts him, and we are here now. Let’s just see how this plays out.”

Lincoln stepped to the edge of the brick bridge. “Anya is approaching now. It will offend her that you still have weapons.”

Jill handed her knife over to Finn, before going to Clarke to join Anya on the bridge. Truthfully, Jill did not know why Anya wanted to meet with her. She understood her wanting to meet Clarke, but her? That made no sense.

Jill and Clarke extended a hand each to Anya. The Trikru warrior shook, looked them both up and down, before shaking Jill’s hand and ignoring Clarke.

The grounder stopped walking and glanced at them. “Your name is Clarke?”

“Yes, and this is-”

“I’m Anya.” The grounder spoke, cutting Clarke off. “And I know who Jill of Skaikru is.”

Jill gulped down as Clarke started speaking. “I think we got off to a rough start. But we want to find a way to live together, in peace.”

Anya scoffed. “I understand? You started a war that you don't know how to end.”

Jill studded Anya’s face. What have we done? “We never meant to cause any harm. We didn’t know anybody was down here, we thought all of humanity had died.”

Clarke wasn’t accepting that they created a war. “What? No, we didn't start anything. You attacked us for no reason.”

The grounder shared a look with the grounders who were standing behind her. Her own backup. “No reason? The missiles you launched burnt a village to the ground.”

“The flares?” Jill said as the realization stuck her.

“No, that was a signal meant for our families. We had no idea . . ." Clarke gasped.

Anya’s tone was getting louder and more aggressive as she spoke. “Your invaders. Your ship landed in our territory.”

“This is because of what happened to Lincoln, isn’t it?” Jill asked.

Anya nodded. Clarke wasn’t impressed. “Grounders took lavender, it’s even.”

“Even?” Anya asked harshly.

Jill shook her head. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She and Clarke were meant to fix this situation, stopping any more violence from happening. “I’m not mad,” Jill said, gaining attention from both women. “What your people did to me was unspeakable, but so is what my people did to Lincoln. He didn’t deserve that, and for that I’m sorry.”

“My men informed you had the opportunity to kill them when you escaped, but didn’t.” Jill felt her face burn as Anya spoke. “Why didn’t you?”

Jill chewed on her bottom lip as she thought of a reasonable answer that wouldn’t make her seem weak. In the end, she went with the truth. “I’m not comfortable taking a human life.”

Anya opened her mouth to reply when a gun was fired. Jill ducked down, grabbing Clarke with her. Neither of them sure where the gunshot came from.

The grounders began yelling in their native language. Shit. They had to leave.

“Run!”

Jill and Clarke raced back across the bridge, and meeting up with their people all seven of them rushed back to camp.

With her previous stab wound aching, Jill slowed down and was falling behind the rest quickly. Bellamy noticed and gripped her hand to drag her along with him. Scared she would fall behind and be killed.

______

Returning to camp wasn’t easy, but the group managed with no major injuries except for Jill’s stitches opening up.

Bellamy helped Jill stand as she had become weak with exhaustion and pain. The previous alcohol working its way through her systems didn’t help either.

Finn and Clarke had been arguing since they returned, Finn blamed Jill and Clarke for what happened since they brought backup. A decision both girls stood firmly by. Raven was upset because Finn didn’t tell her about it. As they argued, Bellamy wrapped his arm around Jill’s waist to help her stand better and was surprised to feel something wet pressing against his bare arm.

“What I want to know is why Anya seems to like her more than Clarke.” Raven said directly at Jill. “Are you another one with connections to the grounders?”

Octavia opened her mouth to respond when Bellamy cut her off. “Enough! We don’t have time for this.” Bellamy pulled Jill’s jacket to reveal the blood soaking through to her top. “Clarke, she needs medical attention now.”

“Oh god, get her to the drop-ship now!” The blonde said frantically. Clarke felt guilty of not noticing sooner.

“What was that?” Jill asked weakly, while pointing at the sky.

Most of the camp now noticed the second drop-ship that was coming to earth. A few cheers of happiness could be heard before Clarke spoke. “Something's wrong, it’s coming in to fast.”

At the same time the sonic blast happened, Jill passed out. Bellamy caught her and held her bridal style in his arms. “Clarke, I’m sorry about your mom, but you need to help.”

Clarke blinked away her tears and headed towards the drop-ship with only one thought going through her mind. Her mom was dead.

Next chapter

#the 100 #John Murphy #Bellamy Blake #the 100 season one #the 100 imagine #the 100 fanfiction #the 100 fandom #john murphy/oc #John Murphy x oc #bellamy blake x oc #bellamy blake/oc #Octavia Blake #clarke griffin #Finn Collins #lincoln #anya the 100 #raven reyes

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sweets-fanfics · 4 years

Text

Homecoming 19

Title: Time to abandon ship

Word count: 3676

Warnings: bit a violence, some gross as fluff, the usual

Tag: @rollyjogerjones

AN: Remeber you can read Homecoming and more on my AO3:

AO3

And read my Original Novel, Sky Titans, on Wattpad:

wattpad

______________

You and Arthur stayed silent for a while. Mainly because you had just got Bea to sleep and none of you wanted to wake her again. You sighed and took Arthur’s hand. “I thought you died…” You admit to him and yourself.

“You know I’m hard to kill.” He said, trying to lighten the mood.

“And I don’t want you to blame yourself for missing Bea… She was a surprise to us all.” You smiled at him, “I’m actually relieved you weren’t here. I was sick all the time and emotional.” You look at your shoes embarrassed. “I was sure the camp wanted me gone for a bit. After she was born I realized I may have been a bit of a bitch.”

You both chuckle. “Well you were makin’ one good lookin’ baby girl, so I think they forgave you.”

“I did, didn’t I.” You brush some hair from her face. “She has your beautiful eyes.”

“I don’t know about my eyes bein’ beautiful.”

You give him a look and he smiles, “Arthur Morgan, do you realize how good looking you are?” He rolled his eyes. “I’m serious. The first time I saw you I’m pretty sure I got feelings for you right away.”

Arthur’s face started turning red. “Oh… come on now Y/N don’t play with me.”

“I ain’t playing with ya. Have I ever lied to you?”

He pretended to think about it for a moment. “Well… I ain’t too sure.” You smacked his arm as he chuckled and pulled you into a kiss. “You know you’re beautiful right? You’re the most beautiful being I’ve ever seen.”

You began to tell him he was now messing with you when you both heard noises.

“Mr. Van Der Linde, I’ll give you the count of three before we begin firing.” You pick up Bea as Arthur peaks out the curtain.

“They are facin’ the house where everyone is. I don’t think they know we are in here.” He whispers to you.

“My guns, they are by the door.” You point to them as a Gatling gun begins firing. You drop to the ground with Bea even though the shooting isn’t coming for you.

A moment later the hatch under the house opens and Sadie hops in. “You two okay?”

“They don’t know we’re in here.” You say hugging Bea to you tightly. You glance under your bed and see Bear shaking. “I want to help..”

“No. Stay with Bea. Sadie and I got this.” Arthur says before kicking the door open and instantly taking out six men.

You crawled under the bed while Bea began to cry. “Shhh…” You tried to calm her. “It’s okay baby. It’s going to be okay.”

The firing on the Gatling gun stopped but you could still hear shooting nearby. You crawled out still keeping low to the ground. Bea tried to crawl out too but you pushed her back under. “No, no baby. I’m just grabbing my gun just in case. Stay with Bear.” Bea gave you sad eyes that almost broke your heart but she listened and crawled back under.

When you were sure she was far enough under you ran to your pistol, almost tripping over Bea’s doll. You yanked the gun out of the holster that was hanging off of an old dresser and checked to make sure there were bullets. You peeked out the window to see an agent stalking towards the house. You gasped and hurried to a dark corner where he wouldn’t see you right away.

“Beatrice Morgan you stay under that bed, you hear me?” You whisper to her.

You watched her put her hands over her eyes and hide her face into Bear’s fur just as the man opened the door. He walked in with his gun ready as he searched around.

“If anyone’s hiding in here, you are under arrest.” He gruffed.

You held your breath hoping he wouldn’t see you or Bea and just leave but as you watched him glance and head towards the bed you knew it wasn’t happening.

You cocked back the hammer and fired hitting him in the back of the head before he could even glance underneath. The body fell on to the bed with a thump.

“Bea, come here baby. But don’t look.” She crawled out and ran to you. You picked her up and held her face into your neck so she wouldn’t see. “Bear let’s go.”

Bear crawled out and got into protection mode. He followed you as you glanced outside still clutching Bea tightly. You had been so distracted in the short amount of time you hadn’t noticed the shooting ended.

Arthur ran up and pulled both of you into his arms. “You both okay?” He mumbled before looking you both over. He spotted a bit of the man’s blood on Bea’s shoe and began to panic.

“There’s a body on my bed. I was hidden in the corner and she was under the bed with Bear when I shot him.” Arthur let out a sigh of relief and kissed your head and the back of Bea’s head.

“Charles and I will take care of it.” He says as Dutch hurries up.

“How did they find us?” he asks, angry. Bea’s grip on you tightens at the sound of his angry voice.

“I have an idea.” You glare at Micah from across the camp who smirks.

“Will you drop that preposterous idea already, Y/N.” Dutch rubs his chin and sighs, “Is Bea okay?”

“She’s just really scared at the moment.” You don’t stop petting her hair and trying to calm her down. “I think we gotta move. It was an almost peaceful two years but we have to move before the Pinkertons come back.” Susan and Pearson nod and begin getting stuff ready to go. Dutch looked at them a bit angry that they listened to you and didn’t wait for his orders. “I believe Charles and I had found a potential new camp near Annesburg.” You explain to him.

“Then we’ll go there. But it’ll just be a stepping stone. All we need is a bit of cash and then we can get out of here.” You hold an eye roll at him going back to his plan.

“Father, it’s been two years. Maybe we should give up the entire Tahiti idea and just try to get everyone somewhere safe.” You try to explain as Henry and Micah walk up and cut you off.

“Father, Micah and I can go make sure we got everyone while the others get ready to go.” You glare at your brother who ignores you.

“Perfect idea, son. You two go do that.” Dutch agreed immediately.

“They are just tryin’ to get out of packing.” You groan.

“Not now Y/N. Not now.” Dutch walks away leaving you fuming next to Arthur.

Abigail walks up to the three of you. “You and Bea can sleep with Jack and me tonight if you want.” She says softly.

“Thank you, Abigail. Can you take Bea in, I gotta talk to Arthur.”

She nods, takes Bea from you and heads inside. “Arthur we gotta go.” You say as soon as you both are alone.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean we gotta leave the gang. Luca and his wife still say they’d help us get a small place. We could build a ranch and get away from all this. John and Abigail have been talkin’ about doin’ that as well.”

Arthur rubs his chin and thinks, “We can’t just abandon Dutch and the gang.”

“He’s already abandoned us, Arthur. It’s Micah, he has my father and my brother wrapped around his finger. It would be better to abandon ship now.” You grab his hand so he’d look at you. “Please think about it. I’ll take Bea into the city tomorrow, visit Luca and see if they can help.”

“Why are you taking Bea?” He asks. His eyebrows move together in frustration.

“Luca and his wife Jill had a son. I can say it’s a play date.” You explain.

Arthur thought a bit longer but sighed, “Alright, I’ll talk to John and see if he and Abigail still want out as well. Maybe if Dutch sees how much of us want to stop he’ll snap out of it.”

You kissed Arthur’s cheek and smiled, “Thank you. I’m sorry your day back has been so… much.”

Your husband shrugs as if it’s a normal day. “You go try to sleep, I’m gonna help clean up and maybe go say hi to Athena.”

“Goodnight, cowboy.” You say as you began to head for the cabin.

“Goodnight, my love.” Your face heats up since you had fully expected him to call you ‘princess’ as he always did. You turn and give him another smile before heading inside.

Bea is still awake and runs up to you. “You should be asleep, missy.” You sigh and pick her up.

“She just kept saying your name.” Karen groaned. You glance at her and see the sitting against the wall with a bottle in hand.

“Why are you drinkin’? You said you’d give it up.”

Karen rolls her eyes and takes another swig, “Shut up. Your father is back so you are no longer in charge.”

You decide to ignore her and walk towards Abigail who’s getting comfortable next to an already sleeping Jack. “Don’t mind her.” Abigail sighs as you sit next to her slowly rocking Bea.

“I won’t… I’ve just had a bad feeling in my gut since I spoke to my father before everything happened just now.” Abigail rubs your shoulder in a comforting way. “He accused me and John of workin’ for the Pinkertons.”

“He’s insane. That Micah has probably been getting in his head the entire time they were gone.”

“He even yelled at Arthur saying that if he hadn’t married me the bank job in Saint Denise would have gone ok.” You run your hand through your hair in frustration. “I’m not sure I wanna be near him anymore.” You say in a lower voice so only she hears.

“Get some sleep and we can talk tomorrow.” She glances at Bill who is getting ready to sleep.

“Alright. Thank you, Abigail.”

___________________

When you wake up in the morning you feel around for Bea. You shoot up fast when you realize she isn’t there. You glance around the small cabin that everyone was now sharing out of fear of the Pinkertons coming back. Karen is still asleep. Mary-beth and Tilly are both talking softly to each other. But it’s just you four inside.

“Mary-beth, Tilly, do you know where Bea is?” You ask softly to not wake Karen.

“Arthur took her outside about an hour or so ago.” Tilly smiles, “He said he wanted you to sleep a little more.”

You let out a sigh of relief which makes both girls giggle. “You were sleepin’ so soundly, none of us had the heart to wake ya,” Mary-beth adds.

“Thank you, girls. I’ll go check on them.”

You head outside and are blinded by the sudden late morning sunlight hitting you. The muggy-ness of the swamp doesn’t annoy you as much anymore, but you still don’t like it. You glance around at the place you had called home for two years, it was now riddled with bullet holes and everyone looked on edge. Javier is pouring a cup of coffee near where Pearson cooks.

“Good morning Javier. How are you feeling?” You ask him.

“Fine.” He says flatly and walks away leaving you confused.

“Are you looking for Arthur?” Charles asks walking up to you.

“Yes.”

“He and Bea are looking at the horses. Be ready to go later. Arthur and I were able to clear out the campsite last night.”

“Was it difficult?”

“Just had to clear out some cannibals.” He says as if it’s normal.

“Thank you for your hard work Charles.” You say before walking towards the horses.

You can hear Bea giggling as Arthur softly talks to her. “Were you takin’ care of Athena for me while I was gone?”

“No, Momma.” Bea mumbles.

“Momma, huh? Guess we’ll have to say thank you to her.” You put a hand on his shoulder making him turn and smile. “Here she is.” He kissed your cheek as Bea reached for you.

“Hi, Momma.”

“Hi, baby. Were you helpin’ daddy?” She nods and also kisses your cheek. “You wanna go visit Uncle Luca with momma?” Bea smiles and nods.

“Will you two be okay?” Arthur asks.

“Yeah, She loves going for rides on Suzie.”

“I think we are gonna move the camp to the new place today.” He explains.

“I heard it was not a very pleasant place.”

“Yeah, they had a girl in there they were torturing, I made sure she got home okay.”

You put your free hand on his cheek which he leans his face into and kisses your palm. “You are a good man.”

“I’m not, but I’m tryin’ to get better for you and Bea.” He leans in and kisses your lips softly which makes Bea giggle.

“You are a good man, and one day I hope you see it.” You both walk up to Suzie with Arthur’s hand softly placed on the small of your back.

He takes Bea as you climb up and then places her in front of you. “Now, Little Bea, you gotta watch momma’s back today okay?”

Bea gave a firm nod. “Love you.” She says to him softly making him completely turn into putty.

“I love you too.” He kisses her nose. You can see the look in his eyes of how in love he is with his daughter. “I’ll come get ya once I have them all moved in.”

“Thank you, honey.” He kisses your hand once more before stepping back and letting you and Bea take off.

__________

You hitch Suzie at the Bronte mansion. Luca had moved in once his father… ‘mysteriously’ disappeared. He took over all of his father's work and actually turned it around for good and not mob work.

Luca and Jill were already outside with their son, Nick, as you grabbed Bea off of Suzie. You let Bea run to Nick and the two instantly forgot that anyone was around and they went to play.

“Mrs. Morgan!” Jill called to you with a smile. “I was hoping you’d come today.”

“Y/N, what’s wrong?” Luca notices immediately.

“I need to speak to you both if it’s okay.”

Luca nods and asks one of the maids to watch the kids while we went into the study. Luca and Jill both watched as you looked out the window at Bea. “What’s the matter?”

“Arthur came home.”

The couple smiles, “This great news!” Jill cheers, “We must have you both over for supper one night.”

As Jill continues getting excited Luca notices you don’t smile and puts a hand on his wife’s to calm her, “What else happened?” He asks.

“My father, he’s different. He yelled at me, accusing me of being a rat.”

“If it’s about our friendship you know we’d never say anything.”

“I don’t even think it’s that. He’s just so much more paranoid, and then the Pinkertons showed up last night.”

Luca sits up alarmed, “What? Are you hurt?”

“No, and we didn’t lose anyone… But I think Micah told them. I thought maybe two years away he’d die or Dutch would find out. But no, it’s like he got to land and went straight to them.” You run your fingers through your hair. “Maybe I should have just shot him those years ago.”

Jill, forgetting you run with a dangerous gang is taken aback before letting her self catch up to what you said. You knew she was always too sweet for her own good.

“Well… if you need an out. We can hide you three here.” Luca suggests and Jill agrees, nodding.

“Thank you. But we have people we can’t abandon… And I’m not sure you all could fit us here…” You glance at their home. “On second thought..”

Luca smiles at your attempt of humor. “Well how about what I offered that night years ago?”

“That’s why I’m here.” You sit in the chair across from them. “I’m hopin’ you both can still help us. I know for most certain it would be my family and another family of three. I’m not quite sure about others. If you have any farmland so we can try to earn our keep and pay you both back…”

Luca put his hand up to stop you, “Y/N, I’d never ask you to pay us back,”

“But I know for certain my husband will want to. And that I will want to,” You take a deep breath and wipe a few tears that are slipping out. “I want Beatrice to have a life that isn’t revolved around her crazy grandfather. I used to dream about running with him and his gang as a young girl… but after bein’ apart of it, it’s done nothin’ but make me want out. Arthur and Bea are the only ones I’m fighting for, along with helping Abigail and John get out too.”

Luca nods and stands going to his desk and writing something, “I’ll start looking at our properties If I find one where can I find you?”

“Near Annesburg.”

Jill gasps, “Annesburg? It’s not safe for travelers in those areas.”

“I know, but we gotta hide from the law up there.” You can tell she was still worried, “You know I’m a tough girl who can shoot down a few rednecks.” She sighs and smiles. You can still see the fear.

_____________

You end up letting Bea play until late into the afternoon. Bea and Nick are playing with some of Nick’s toys on the floor with you and Jill watching over them while enjoying tea. That’s when you hear a knock at the door. You glance at the door worried as a servant walks up and opens it. You let out a sigh of relief when you see Arthur's broad shoulders behind the tiny servant.

He awkwardly follows the servant into the room, taking his hat off and pushing his hair away from his face. “A Mr. Morgan here Ma’am.” The servant hums.

“Thank you, Robert.” Jill smiles. The servant bows and walks away as Arthur stands next to the couch your on. Jill giggles, “Mr. Morgan, please have a seat.”

“Your seat looks very clean, Mrs. Bronte,” Arthur says glancing at his dusty pants.

“Oh I have a son, Arthur, nothing is clean. Please have a seat and relax. Y/N was telling me about your adventure to Guarma.” Arthur nods and sits next to you taking your hand. “Would you like some tea? Setting slaves free must be tiring.”

Arthur chuckles and nods. “Thank you very much, Mrs.”

“Oh please call my Jill. Your wife has been so kind to us in the past years. Helped us clean out all of the mob in this dreaded… family business.” She rolled her eyes.

Bea at the point had noticed Arthur and her smile got wide as she pulled Nick’s sleeve. “Daddy!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, she learns ‘daddy’ in one day.” You sigh sarcastically as Arthur gives you a look.

“Don’t three-year-olds usually talk a bit more?” He asks you and Jill making you both laugh.

“Oh yeah, Bea talks all the time. She acts like she doesn’t but she didn’t stop talking the entire ride here. And she and Nick talk.” You smile as Bea gives you a smug smile before running back to Nick.

“Soon she’ll talk your ear off too Mr. Morgan.” Jill smiles sweetly.

“Arthur!” Luca says walking in and shaking his hand. “I’m glad you're okay. You had us all worried. I even sent a boat out to look for you. I sadly admit I feared the worst when they came back empty-handed.”

“Thank you for helping Y/N and Bea while I was away.”

“All Jill and I did was be a friend, your wife is too tough to truly ever need help.” He sits next to Jill and hands you a stack of papers. “Y/N, look these properties over.”

“Properties?” Arthur asks glancing.

“You own all of these?” You ask looking at the stack of at least five different places.

“Well, My father did. I’m sure your family will put better use to whatever my father had wanted to do.” He puts an arm around his wife and kisses her cheek. “I love this whole vigilante work.”

You sigh and shake your head, “Hardly vigilante work, Luca.” You fold the papers and slip them in Arthurs satchel, “We’ll look them over later. For now… we should probably go help unpack.”

Arthur can see how much you don’t want to do that. “Your right, I guess.”

“I hope you two stay safe. I’ll come to see you if I think of anything else that will help.”

_________________

You hop on to Suzie and begin to reach for Bea in Arthur’s arms. “Wanna ride with Daddy,” Bea announces as she latches on to Arthur’s shirt.

“You sure? You’re gonna break Suzie’s heart.”

Bea smiles and hugs her small arms around his neck. “Daddy.” She says as firmly as a three-year-old can be.

“Fine, then how about a race.” You smirk. Arthur smiles knowing he can never turn down a challenge.

“You sure about that, princess?” He says coyly.

“Me and Suzie versus you, Bea and Athena.”

Arthur hops onto Athena balancing Bea in one hand. “You are on.”

“You ready, set, go.”

Arthur and Bea take off and you act like you are having trouble getting Suzie to go until they are out of sight. You quickly pull your pistol out and turn to aim it behind you. “What do you want?”

Micah comes out with hands up and smirking. “We gotta have a talk. Heard you ratted me out to your old man, Princess.”

#homecoming #rdr2 #rdr #rdr2 fandom #rdr2 fanfic #arthur morgan #arthur morgan x reader #arthur morgan x female reader #arthur morgan (father)#dutch x daughter!reader #father!arthur morgan #fanfiction #creative writing #write #writing #ao3 #wattpad

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poguesofthebau · 4 years

Note

hi!! idk if you’re still doing ships but my name is jillian, I’m tall, like a little bit above average, with brown hair and blue eyes. I’m super pale, like basically a ghost lol and I’m about average weight too but get super insecure about my body often. I pretty much follow the rules, hate conflict, and am super shy until you get to know me, then I’m p much an open book. I love to read, write, play guitar, sing, play with makeup, and travel. I also deal with major ocd and anxiety. thank u!

not to gas my own shit but this is so cute to me i love pope he would be such a good boyfriend

i ship you with pope!! (honorary mention: you and jj would get each other very well. your struggles with mental health would draw him to you, and he would automatically trust you because of the things you dealt with daily. your lives weren’t necessarily similar, but it comforted jj to know there was another pogue who was constantly battling themselves, because his entire life had been a battle with both himself and his family. wholesome ass friendship.)

when it came to you, pope would be willing to do anything. he didn’t care what it was. if you even slightly implied that you wanted to go to some specific place (whether that be a store down the street or a country across the ocean), pope would be determined to make it happen one day. he knew how much you hated conflict, and how negatively it impacted you when any of the pogues got into any fights, so he tried his absolute best to keep jj and john b out of trouble whenever he could. he knew how to help your anxiety better than anyone else, and if none of the solutions he knew were available in a moment when you needed them, he’d figure something out. that was pope. no matter what he had, he would always find a way to help keep you safe and healthy and happy.

although no one’s connection to you compared to pope’s, the other pogues knew you very well, too. because he understood your anxiety and everything that came with it, jj always tried his best to stay out of trouble. if rafe or topper were in a room, he’d usually just remove himself to spare everyone the problems. (keyword: usually.) john b did the same, making sure to keep his distance from any kooks who might set him off. nights that you guys all spent at the Chateau, kie would help you run through your mental checklist of things that needed to be secured before bed, and loved the feeling of helping you tackle what you had to. despite all of these amazing humans surrounding you with constant intentions to help and keep you feeling good, nobody could control the actions of rafe cameron.

in your opinion, any type of party at the Boneyard was destined to go wrong. it was literally just a beach... for underage teenagers to get drunk and stoned beyond belief. it didn’t matter if they were on vacation with their families, or had a gun in their waistband, or had plans to go on a date with their girlfriend of the month on the same night. if somebody your age wanted a party, they’d head to the Boneyard. to you, that was just asking for trouble. but, every once in a while, you’d force yourself to try one more time. when you skipped the parties, pope did too, and you didn’t want to be the one keeping your boyfriend from having fun with the pogues. it was also entertaining to see jj drunk every now and then. so that summer friday night, you’d cave to your friends’ pleas for you to tag along, at least for a little while. you guys would arrive to the function a bit late, jj immediately running off toward the keg, calling back something about ‘catching up’ as the rest of you strolled in the sand behind him. eventually kie would wander off too, and you, pope, and john b would find a mutual friend from school to chat with for a while. at some point, you glanced over to find jj chugging from a red solo cup as he nodded at whatever his tourist of the night was saying, and kie sitting around the fire with some of the other locals. things would be good for a while after that, but then rafe just had to show up. “do you think he knows he’s partying with a bunch of high schoolers?” you’d mumble to pope upon spotting sarah’s brother. pope would chuckle and look down at you wrapped around his side nonchalantly. “i don’t think anyone his age likes him. he’s too... evil.” you’d laugh at that, nodding in agreement. a few moments later, jj was stumbling over to join you guys, somehow holding a filled cup for every single one of you. you all accepted the drinks with more laughs, but that was where the fun ended.

“no drink for me, pogue?” as soon as you heard the approaching voice, you looked up to pope to find him already staring at you. “fine so far?” you’d nod slowly, turning in his arms to watch what would happen next. when you settled back in pope’s arm, you realized jj was watching you two. you gave him a discreetly pleading look, shaking your head lightly. the glare in his eye made you sure he wasn’t going to step down tonight. “we just got here,” you’d breathe for only pope to hear, and he’d squeeze his arms around you. “hey,” he’d call, shaking you a bit so you’d spin back around to face him. you twisted your head, partially laying it on his shoulder so you could get a clear view of his face. “let’s just go. i’ll get the keys from john b, and we can come back and pick them up later. okay?” you’d look at him for a moment, no clear expression on your face, but feeling rushes of admiration and gratefulness in large waves. you’d nod, letting him take your hand to lead you to the other pogue, who had already begun to try getting rafe to just fuck off (to no avail). you stood beside pope as he held his hands out for the keys and explained the plan to john b, and suddenly you were becoming aware of your own heartbeat and breathing as you noticed the tension in jj’s stance along with rafe’s murderous expression. but before you could see, do, or say anything else, pope was catching the keys that jb was tossing to him and pulling you in the opposite direction. you tried glancing behind you as pope led the way, but he gave your hand another tug, throwing you a don’t do that look before glancing back for a second himself. kiara had appeared on the scene, and so had sarah. maybe they could help diffuse the situation. quicker than you expected, your foot hit cement, and you recognized the Twinkie sitting across the lot. pope opened your door for you (fuckin’ gentleman) and moved around to his own side, twisting the key in the ignition and turning to you. “date night?” he’d ask endearingly, smiling brightly and clearly holding in a giggle. you broke into laughter, shaking your head at him and pulling out your phone to see if there were any updates yet. “hey,” pope said, snatching your phone out of your hand and dropping it into a cupholder before pulling you a little closer to him. “hey, yourself,” you’d reply sarcastically. “are you okay?” pope would be staring into your eyes as he asked, anxious for your answer. with a smile, you’d lean in and press your lips against his. he’d hum in surprise, immediately melting into you for the few moments that your lips were connected. you’d pull back, smiling again. “yes, pope, i am okay. all thanks to you.” he’d roll his eyes and scoff, his shy side popping out as you poked him in the side with a giggle. “anything for you, jill.”

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fyrapartnersearch · 4 years

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Let's burn it all down and rebuild.

My name is Chris and I'm a 29 year old roleplayer with 15 years experience writing! I'm an ICU RN in my free time with a beautiful wife (She also uses this forum. Poe, if you're reading this, buzz off my post and I love your ass) and an even more beautiful cat and a handsome puppy. I write mainly over email and reply 2-3 times a week with anywhere from 5-16 paragraphs, depending on the characters and actions in the scene. I also communicate over various messengers if that is at all your jam for plotting purposes and the like. I write M/F and F/F lines. And, since I'm a ICU nurse, I can always promise *painfully* medically accurate roleplay. I put extra *s by the lines that I will literally lose my mind if you approach me about. Searching hard! Figured I'd start with original lines: -F/F True Detective/The Wire**************** Some sort of law enforcement partners trope that has two ladies deep in an investigation of some kind, preferably in a gritty ass city. I would prefer them to be homicide detectives but could also do police officers or FBI agents. The pairing could be platonic or romantic. I have an awesome character in mind and would love to spitball something. -Political Intrigue A southern congressman with a reputation as a family man begins a campaign for the US senate, hiring a young, cunning woman to be campaign manager. She becomes his mistress and his secret weapon in the campaign and eventually, his political career. Heavily inspired by House of Cards and that genre of show. Fandoms -Doctor Who** I started writing Yaz against the 13th Doctor recently and had a lot of fun with it before it fizzled out. If anyone is interested in writing 13, holler at me! -The Boys Would love to write Hughie against Starlight! Currently working my way through the season that just dropped. -Marvel Let me write the webhead. Peter Parker, college aged and not exactly the MCU version. I would love to find someone that was interested in writing Felicia Hardy/Black Cat but I'd be down with trying most romantic interests just because I want to write this so bad. Bring on bombshell MJ or an eternally doomed Gwen (OR SPIDERGWEN). If you have a different idea, hit me up. Open minded here.******* -Also, I would really love to find someone to write Black Widow. I've always wanted to bring MCU Matt Murdock and Natasha up against one another since they were always such a famous romance in the comics. **** -DC -I'd love to write Batman against Catwoman, please. I'm not too picky on the setting or the iteration.** -John Constantine against almost anyone. I'd kill for an Elsa Bloodstone but that's obscure as heck. A mage and a monster hunter that are both English taking on the supernatural underworld. Let's make it into an adventure like magic Indiana Jones and just go nuts with it. Seriously, this could be so fun.***************** Otherwise, for John, Zatanna (old flames), Jessica Jones (Two cynical alcoholics become barstool neighbors before one's business shows up at the bar as well), or Scarlet Witch (Instead of going to Stephen Strange, Wanda ends up as John's student)? -Resident Evil I'd like to write Leon against Claire Redfield or Jill Valentine in an original outbreak or a new one. I know this is an old school fandom but I'm a diehard fan. -The Matrix Another obscure fandom. Maybe just an original crew, set during the movies, after, or an AU where they're the only survivors of Zion? Im not sure but I could plot something out! -Uncharted I'd love to write Chloe Frazier against Nadine Ross, continuing their adventures. I'm pretty wide open on what we can do with this one. RANDOM CRACK SHIPS! Caught in a Web: I would love to write an iteration (Daniel Craig or an original) of James Bond/007 against a non superhero version of Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow. Spy vs spy shenanigans as two people working for different governments. Totally impossibly but putting it just in case: Did anyone see all that Wonder Woman/Lara Croft art that was floating around the internet earlier this year? I would love to dive into that. I'd prefer to write Lara but I'm definitely not picky. My email is [email protected]. I'm on skype at Chrisx104 (Same for gmail) and Discord at NurseBatman#3674

#multiple paragraph #email #messenger #marvel rp #avengers rp #mcu rp #dc rp #submission

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sciencespies · 4 years

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This Climate Detective Reconstructs What the Ocean Was Like Millions of Years Ago

https://sciencespies.com/nature/this-climate-detective-reconstructs-what-the-ocean-was-like-millions-of-years-ago/

This Climate Detective Reconstructs What the Ocean Was Like Millions of Years Ago

Smithsonian Voices National Museum of Natural History

Get to Know the Scientist Reconstructing Past Ocean Temperatures

June 8th, 2020, 6:00AM / BY

Juliana Olsson

As the ocean continues to warm, scientists look to the past for answers on how to manage today’s environmental problems. (Sophie McCoy/NOAA)

Brian Huber has always been curious about the past. As a child finding arrowheads on his family’s farm, he’d wonder who made the arrowhead, what the landscape looked like at the time, and what the arrow’s target was. So, when a college a professor introduced him to paleontology, he was hooked.

Now a curator at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, Dr. Huber uses fossils to discover clues about past environments and how organisms lived. As part of the Meet a SI-entist series, Huber tells us more about his “climate detective” work reconstructing past ocean temperatures, and what makes him optimistic for the future.

What do you do at the Smithsonian?

I study microscopic fossils called foraminifera, which are single-celled organisms with distinctive shells. Their fossil record goes back at least 540 million years ago to the early Cambrian period, but they still live in the ocean today. Most of my research focuses on foraminifera that lived during the Cretaceous (145–66 million years ago). I look at the evolution and extinction of different species of foraminifera and analyze the chemistry of their shells to reconstruct ocean temperatures throughout Earth’s history.

Foraminifera are great “thermometers” for the ocean. The chemical makeup of their shells relates directly to the water temperature. Different species float near the surface and live on the ocean bottom, so you can get the whole range of the ocean’s temperature. These are three views of the same 91-million-year-old specimen, Marginotruncana sigali. (Brian Huber, Smithsonian)

How has your work changed since COVID?

Usually, I’m busy participating in committees, mentoring interns and post-docs and involved with lots of projects—all of which take time away from research. But right now, my calendar has really cleared! Working from home has allowed me to focus on finishing up projects that have been on the back burner, like getting through a backlog of data that I haven’t had time to write up for publication. I’m currently writing a paper revising a lot of different species of foraminifera in a group that’s been poorly defined for decades. We’re naming several new species and genera.

What excites you about working at the Smithsonian?

I love the opportunity to pursue research questions using the museum’s collections and specimens I collected through my own field work. I also like helping build exhibits like the Ocean Hall and Fossil Hall and educating the public. And I really enjoy working with my colleagues, they’re a great group of very talented, enthusiastic and motivated people.

The team behind the National Museum of Natural History’s Sant Ocean Hall reunited for lunch 10 years after the exhibition’s opening. Left to right: Jill Johnson (Exhibit Developer), Brian Huber (Curator of Foraminifera), Carole Baldwin (Curator of Fishes) and Mike Vecchione (NOAA cephalopod biologist). (Brian Huber, Smithsonian)

Today is World Ocean Day and the first anniversary of the opening of the National Fossil Hall. How does knowing about the ocean’s past change the way you think about its current state and its future?

The past is a framework for understanding how the natural system works today. The ocean sediment cores I’ve studied show that temperatures were very warm during the Cretaceous because of major volcanic activity that produced a lot of carbon dioxide.

CO2 is a greenhouse gas. It’s a blanket that’s kept the Earth warm for millions of years. But the rate that we are burning and releasing it into the atmosphere now is much faster than anything that’s happened before. We’ve burned 370 billion tons of CO2 since the 1850s, and half of that just since the 1970s.

We know from the past that the Earth and life are resilient. So, something will survive; the question is what. The biggest concern is how rapidly the ocean has changed, especially in the past few decades. People used to think of the ocean as too vast to be affected by what we do on land—that it would always be a reliable food source. Now, we realize that coral reefs worldwide are in peril, many fish species have been over-harvested and even accidental bycatch has caused drastic reductions among some marine life.

How do you find optimism for the future in all this adversity?

What’s amazing about humans is we seem to get ourselves out of many of the fixes that we put ourselves into. We engineer things to solve problems. The hope is that we can use technology to find a way to put the genie back in the bottle and to live lives comfortably but in a way that’s more environmentally sound.

I’m optimistic because technology and engineering keep improving the tools we use to solve questions from the past. As we learn more about the past, we better understand how Earth’s climate-ocean system worked and why some extinctions occurred, which can show us how to manage our current global environmental problems.

Another thing that gives me hope is the increasing amount of international collaboration in science. When we work together, we get multiple perspectives which helps us understand the world better. There’s a lot of exciting science going on, and the hope is that the public finds out about it and realizes how important science is in our lives—that you can’t ignore science.

Huber (left) with international colleagues from the 2009 Tanzania Drilling Project. (Brian Huber, Smithsonian)

What are you most proud of accomplishing so far in your career?

At a pretty early stage of my career, I found evidence for extremely warm temperatures around Antarctica during the Cretaceous. My argument was dismissed as too unlikely to have been real, but over my career, more fossil and chemical evidence have shown that there actually was a time when Antarctica was covered by forests and temperatures remained above freezing even during months of polar darkness.

So, it’s been my quest to build out the ocean’s temperature history further and further back into the Cretaceous. Answering that question has taken me to all kinds of places, including an ocean drill ship to get sediment cores to help construct ocean temperature records. In 2017, I was Co-Chief Scientist on a two-month-long ocean drilling expedition with 30 scientists from 15 different countries, and I’m excited to continue working on deep-sea samples that will reveal previously unknown details of Earth’s past. The amount of really incredible science that has come out of that International Ocean Discovery Program is just amazing, and I have especially enjoyed the collaborations and friendships that last long after people sail together. It’s like my experience being one of the lead curators on the museum’s Sant Ocean Hall—our core exhibit team still gets together once or twice a year.

Huber aboard the research ship JOIDES Resolution discussing drilling results at the core sample table during an International Ocean Discovery Program expedition in 2017. (Brian Huber, Smithsonian)

What advice would you give to the next generation of scientists?

Find something that excites you. What makes you curious? Maybe you’re more analytical or you like solving puzzles, using statistics or math. Just find something you’re interested in to motivate you.

Be open to asking questions and following up. Talk to the professor after class and say, “I wasn’t sure about this, can you explain more?” or “I’ve been wondering about this, I’m really excited about this, what can I do to find out more?” These days there’s so much online, there are all kinds of ways to dive in.

Finally, getting your research out there is really important—not just publishing, but also going to meetings and interacting with people in and outside your field. One of the most gratifying things in my career has been seeing how paleontology went from a pretty narrowly focused science to one that is really collaborative. Be open to collaboration because you’re not going to solve problems by yourself, there’s a lot of different angles that these things need to be tackled from.

Meet a SI-entist: The Smithsonian is so much more than its world-renowned exhibits and artifacts. It is a hub of scientific exploration for hundreds of researchers from around the world. Once a month, we’ll introduce you to a Smithsonian Institution scientist (or SI-entist) and the fascinating work they do behind the scenes at the National Museum of Natural History.

Related stories: Meet the Scientist Studying How Organisms Become Fossils Get to Know the Scientist Studying Ancient Pathogens at the Smithsonian Leading Scientists Convene to Chart 500M Years of Global Climate Change Here’s How Scientists Reconstruct Earth’s Past Climates

Juliana Olsson is an exhibit writer and editor at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. Her favorite aspect of the job is getting to share her passion for the natural world with museum visitors (and occasionally getting to go on fossil digs and try out virtual reality headsets). Her least favorite part of the job is battling writer’s block. Before joining the Office of Exhibits, she received her Master of Arts in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University.

More From This Author »

#Nature

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ttawoabw · 6 years

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Wow, the last book haul I did was back in August of 2017! I might have forgotten a few books or there may be repeats from old book hauls, but I honestly haven’t bought that many books in the past 7 months. Wow.. 7 months without buying enough books to warrant a haul? I should receive an award. I am an affiliate for the Book Depository so in full disclosure, the links to purchase the books in this post may give me a small commission.

Rebekah

by Jill Eileen Smith

Book two in the Wives of the Patriarchs series.

Christian Historical Fiction

When her father dies and she is left in the care of her conniving brother Laban, Rebekah knows her life has changed forever. Her hope for the future is restored when she falls in love with her cousin Isaac, and their relationship starts strong. But marital bliss cannot last forever, and the birth of their twin sons marks the beginning of years of misunderstanding, disagreement, and betrayal. The rift between them grows wider and wider until it is surely too deep to be mended. And yet, with God all things are possible.

Book Depository: Paperback

Scarlet

by A.C Gaughen

Book one in the Scarlet trilogy.

Young Adult Historical Fantasy Romance Retelling

★★★★

I won this in a giveaway held on Twitter by Kelly from @divabooknerd. I love this retelling of Robin Hood, I’ve read it over and over and I’m so happy to finally have a physical copy of it to read!

Will Scarlet is good at two things: stealing from the rich and keeping secrets – skills that are in high demand in Robin Hood’s band of thieves, who protect the people of Nottingham from the evil sheriff. Scarlet’s biggest secret of all is one only Robin and his men know…that she is posing as a thief; that the slip of a boy who is fast with sharp knives is really a girl.

The terrible events in her past that led Scarlet to hide her real identity are in danger of being exposed when the thief taker Lord Gisbourne arrives in town to rid Nottingham of the Hood and his men once and for all. As Gisbourne closes in a put innocent lives at risk, Scarlet must decide how much the people of Nottingham mean to her, especially John Little, a flirtatious fellow outlaw, and Robin, whose quick smiles have the rare power to unsettle her. There is real honor among these thieves and so much more – making this a fight worth dying for.

Book Depository: Paperback

Gemina

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book two in The Illuminae Files trilogy.

Young Adult Science Fiction

When Illuminae came out I thought I would read it straight away. I did not. I read Illuminae the week the last book in the trilogy came out. And I loved it! So I went out and bought Gemina and Obsidio because I needed to continue to story. Even though I was hoping to get all of them in hardcover from the Book Depository.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM ILLUMINAE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.

The year is 2575, and two rival megacorporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than an ice-covered speck at the edge of the universe. Too bad nobody thought to warn the people living on it. With enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra—who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to fight their way onto an evacuating fleet, with an enemy warship in hot pursuit.

But their problems are just getting started. A deadly plague has broken out and is mutating, with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI, which should be protecting them, may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a tangled web of data to find the truth, it’s clear only one person can help her bring it all to light: the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.

BRIEFING NOTE: Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents—including emails, schematics, military files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more—Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping, high-octane trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.

Book Depository: Paperback

Book Depository: Hardcover

Obsidio

by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Book three in The Illuminae Files trilogy.

Young Adult Science Fiction

Book Depository: Paperback

Book Depository: Hardcover

Barnes and Noble: Special Edition

Daughter of the Siren Queen

by Tricia Levenseller

Book two in the Daughter of the Pirate King duology.

Young Adult Fantasy Romance

It took me a LONG time to get around to reading Daughter of the Pirate King, I mean I loved the premise and I love pirates and I was so excited when it first came out. But it wasn’t until the sequel was about to be released that I actually picked it up. And devoured it. I went and pre-ordered Daughter of the Siren Queen (unfortunately I was too late to receive the pre-order incentive gift, but I still got the PDF first chapter of Daughter of the Pirate King from Riden’s POV so that was exciting!) and I also ordered it on Kindle so I could read it as soon as it came out.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM DAUGHTER OF THE PIRATE KING SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

There will be plenty of time for me to beat him soundly once I’ve gotten what I came for.

Sent on a mission to retrieve an ancient hidden map—the key to a legendary treasure trove—seventeen-year-old pirate captain Alosa deliberately allows herself to be captured by her enemies, giving her the perfect opportunity to search their ship.

More than a match for the ruthless pirate crew, Alosa has only one thing standing between her and the map: her captor, the unexpectedly clever and unfairly attractive first mate, Riden. But not to worry, for Alosa has a few tricks up her sleeve, and no lone pirate can stop the Daughter of the Pirate King.

Book Depository: Hardcover

Rosemarked

by Livia Blackburne

Book one in the Rosemarked series (duology, trilogy?)

Young Adult Fantasy

★★★★

I was originally a bit hesitant about this one, the blurb just sounded so cliche and I was worried I wouldn’t ever get around to reading it if I bought it. But then I just sort of caved (can’t remember why?) and bought it. Then when it arrived I read it. AND LOVED IT! I didn’t write a review but in the cover reveal fro Umbertouched, the sequel, I expressed some of my thoughts – so you can check that out HERE.

A healer who cannot be healed . . .

When Zivah falls prey to the deadly rose plague, she knows it’s only a matter of time before she fully succumbs. Now she’s destined to live her last days in isolation, cut off from her people and unable to practice her art—until a threat to her village creates a need that only she can fill.

A soldier shattered by war . . .

Broken by torture at the hands of the Amparan Empire, Dineas thirsts for revenge against his captors. Now escaped and reunited with his tribe, he’ll do anything to free them from Amparan rule—even if it means undertaking a plan that risks not only his life but his very self.

Thrust together on a high-stakes mission to spy on the capital, the two couldn’t be more different: Zivah, deeply committed to her vow of healing, and Dineas, yearning for vengeance. But as they grow closer, they must find common ground to protect those they love. And amidst the constant fear of discovery, the two grapple with a mutual attraction that could break both of their carefully guarded hearts.

This smart, sweeping fantasy with a political edge and a slow-burning romance will capture fans of The Lumatere Chronicles and An Ember in the Ashes.

Book Depository: Hardcover

The Case for Jamie

by Brittany Cavallaro

Book three in the Charlotte Holmes quartet.

Young Adult Contemporary Mystery Retelling

I read A Study of Charlotte way back in 2016, and I loved it so much I wrote a review for it (you can read that HERE). When The Last of August came out I also loved it. And then I forgot all about this series. It was by chance that I came across the third installment and discovered it would be a quartet. I look forward to reading more about Jamie and Charlotte and seeing the character development that a year has had on them.

(THIS BLURB IS FROM A STUDY OF CHARLOTTE SO THERE WON’T BE ANY SPOILERS)

The last thing Jamie Watson wants is a rugby scholarship to Sherringford, a Connecticut prep school just an hour away from his estranged father. But that’s not the only complication: Sherringford is also home to Charlotte Holmes, the famous detective’s great-great-great-granddaughter, who has inherited not only Sherlock’s genius but also his volatile temperament. From everything Jamie has heard about Charlotte, it seems safer to admire her from afar.

From the moment they meet, there’s a tense energy between them, and they seem more destined to be rivals than anything else. But when a Sherringford student dies under suspicious circumstances, ripped straight from the most terrifying of the Sherlock Holmes stories, Jamie can no longer afford to keep his distance. Jamie and Charlotte are being framed for murder, and only Charlotte can clear their names. But danger is mounting and nowhere is safe—and the only people they can trust are each other.

Book Depository: Hardcover

A Court of Thorns and Roses Coloring Book

by Sarah J. Maas and Charlie Bowater

Colouring book companion to the ACOTAR series.

Self explanatory. It’s the colouring book for A Court of Thorns and Roses drawn by the greatest ACOTAR artist, Charlie Bowater. I bought it in anticipation of A Court of Frost and Starlight. I’m excited to start colouring it!

Book Depository: Colouring Book

Impressive Wingspan

by Jessica from JCroftDesigns on Etsy

A Court of Thorns and Roses series Sticker

★★★★★

I saw this sticker and could not resist! I love it so much and the letter from Jessica was really sweet! I have it on my laptop (my boss had questions….) and I love it so much I actually went ahead and ordered two more! It’s just so cute, and funny and makes me swoon a little thinking of Rhysand.

Etsy: JCroftDesigns

Second Hand Books

Trashed by Alison Gaylin

Trace by Lori Foster

Ranger’s Apprentice: The Burning Bridge by John Flannagan

Palace of Darkness by Tracy L. Higley

What books have you bought lately?

Have you read any of these books? What did you think?

My Links:

Goodreads : Becca Winter

Instagram : bookie_becca

Twitter : @Becca_Bookworm

Facebook : The Troubles And Woes Of A Bookworm

Affiliate: Book Depository

Referral: OwlCrate

Referral: The Bookish Box

Referral: Romance Reveal

Referral: Cratejoy

Becca

xxx

(A Short but Long Overdue) Book Haul #16 Wow, the last book haul I did was back in August of 2017! I might have forgotten a few books or there may be repeats from old book hauls, but I honestly haven't bought that many books in the past 7 months.

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hauntedhistorycolorado · 4 years

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Cheesman Park of Denver

The pavilion at Cheesman Park, photo from Pixabay, courtesy of the CU Indepedent

A foggy day in Cheesman park, photo by RJ Sangosti, courtesy of the Denver Post

Historical background

Today, Cheesman Park is a well-tended public park in central Denver, surrounded by some of the oldest mansions in the city. Close to downtown and Capitol Hill, the pavilion at Cheesman is a common location for political rallies and is a popular gathering spot for Denver’s gay community. On warm days, the park is often filled with families, couples, runners, and picnickers. And it’s common knowledge among locals that just below the grass rest thousands of corpses.

Cheesman Park was originally Denver’s foremost pioneer cemetery. In 1859, one year after the City of Denver’s inception, the location was chosen by city founder William Larimer, according to records I found on the Denver Public Library’s website, based on a site where local Native Americans observed death rites. At the same time, it was about two miles away from the city, and the original plans were for a peaceful, garden-like cemetery. However, the cemetery quickly became unsightly and overgrown. Cattle began to graze there, and local legend says that people even began homesteading on the land.

The old cemetery at Cheesman Park, courtesy of the Denver Post

Typical of wild-west cities of the time, Denver was filled with disease and violent crime, and the cemetery quickly began to fill. A common account of the first burial tells the story of John Stoefel, who shot and killed his brother-in-law Arthur Biengraff over a bag of gold dust, only to be hung from a cottonwood tre at the intersection of 10th and Cherry Creek streets. They were then buried in the same casket, trapped together for eternity. Contrary to this, a deeper dig into cemetery records shows that this is a sensationalized version of the cemetery’s history, and that John Steofel and Arthur Biengraff were actually the third burial in Prospect Hill; the first being Abraham Kay, who was killed by a sudden infection at age 26 in 1859 and the second being a teenager called B. Marywall, who was thrown from a horse. After local outlaw John O’Neal was shot outside of a saloon for being a “cheat” and buried in Prospect Hill, the cemetery gained a reputation as being the final resting place of Denver’s “criminals and paupers.” Cemetery records after this are slim; no death records other than headstones were kept, many of which were made of wood, if they existed at all.

Scan from From The Grave by Linda Wommack

In 1872, Congress decreed the site of Prospect Hill federal land, having been deeded to the government in an 1860 treaty with the Arapahoe Indians, and it was sold to the City of Denver with the provision that it always serve as a cemetery.

Prospect Hill was renamed City Cemetery in 1873, by which point it had become so dilapidated that residents preferred to bury their loved ones in the new, much more well-kept garden cemetery, Riverside. The founding of Riverside and its more stately appearance only served to increase the degenerate population in City Cemetery. Though, it should be said that people of all types were, in actuality, interred there. The current location of the Denver Botanic Gardens sits on the former site of the consecrated ground of the Catholic portion of the cemetery, known as Calvary, and there were segregated cemetery areas throughout the current Cheesman Park neighborhood, also including a Jewish cemetery, plots for various societies and organizations like the Freemasons, a plot for Chinese immigrants, and others. The poor and criminal residents were commonly buried on the outskirts of the cemetery, with those closer to the middle class filling in the center.

By the 1880s, Denver had expanded closer to City Cemetery and talk began between Congress and the City of Denver to reclassify the area as a park, for two reasons. 1) The locals didn’t want to live near a cemetery, and 2) they definitely didn’t want to live next to an ugly, desert cemetery filled with the lowest members of Denver’s population. On January 25, 1890, Congress acceded to Colorado Senator Henry Teller and the land was declared Congress Park.

Now, onto the fun:

In 1893, bodies began to be moved to Riverside. At first, loved ones of those interred were given 90 days to have bodies relocated, but very few were moved during this time, and the waiting period stretched out into years. So few of the bodies were claimed, that eventually the task of moving the bodies was contracted out to undertaker Edward P McGovern, at the agreed-upon price of $1.90 per casket removal (around $54.33 today). Only days into the mass exhumation, word of scandal reached local journalists

On Saturday, March 19, 1893, a front page story ran in the Denver Republican, headlined “THE WORK OF GHOULS! HUMAN BODIES TORN TO PIECES And All for the Purpose of Plundering the Public Treasury... Bodies Taken From Their Resting Places in the City Cemetery, Distributed Each Among Three Boxes, Carted Off to Riverside and Charged as Three ‘Bodies’”

So, McGovern and his workers were accused of hacking up bodies and distributing them into multiple child-size caskets as a way to overcharge the city and make more money. First hand accounts also tell of graverobbing. Apparently, workers were also seen removing jewelry and other personal effects from the graves.

Headline from The Denver Republican, March 19, 1893. Courtesy of the Denver Public Library archive.

A selection from the article is as follows:

“The work of removing the unclaimed bodies has now been in progress four days. During that time 491 ‘bodies’ have been boxed up and carted away, at least those are figures given by John E. Wood, Mr. McGilvray’s recent appointee to the Health department, and receipted for by A. Forsythe, the superintendent for Riverside cemetery.

Anyone who visits the scene of the disinterment at the old city cemetery and glances at the number of graves opened and coffins exposed will be somewhat puzzled to tell where all those ‘bodies’ came from.

A short visit to the cemetery yesterday accounted for the mystery.

Out of one grave, where only a single coffin was visible, three of the forty-two-inch boxes were filled. Into the first box some bones were cavalierly tossed by a workman. He then pulled another box to the edge of the grave, and into this he tossed one bone, some earth, and a portion of the coffin. After this the son of toil rested awhile. The graves on each side of him were being excavated by other workmen, and he evidently did not care to move, so he called for another box.

At this juncture a man came along with a pot of paint and brush and numbered and lettered the two boxes already filled from he single grave. John E. Wood, the representative of the Health department, also came up. When he saw the third box he asked the man in the grave what it was for. ‘Oh, I guess there’s another one here,’ said the grave-digger, as he threw a shovelful of earth into the box. Mr. Wood looked into the grave, said ‘Humph,’ and walked away. Another shovelful of earth and some crumbled wood was then thrown into the box, the ‘remains’ were disinfected, the lid fastened on and the ‘body’ of ‘274, B. H.,’ shipped to Riverside.”

Immediately after the article ran, McGovern was fired and the project was terminated when the Health Commissioner began an investigation. A new contractor was never hired, and the park project was put on hold. The cemetery was fenced off, and many of the graves remained open. Eventually, the park project was finished. Many of the oldest trees in Cheesman Park today were planted int the open ground of unearthed graves. The park was renamed after Walter S Cheesman in 1907 when his widow came forward with a donation of funds to build a pavilion in an effort to beautify the park. Another nearby park still holds the name of Congress.

Cheesman Park, arial view 1940s-1950s, courtesy of the Denver Public Library

Bodies continued to be moved into the 20th century, with the Hebrew burial ground being relocated in 1923 and the bodies at the Catholic Calvary cemetery moved in the 1950s. However, it is estimated that betwen 2,000 and 3,000 corpses still remain under the park. Bones continue to be uncovered. Wooden caskets that were buried while the cemetery was in use have collapsed underground and are said to be responsible for the depressions in the earth all over the park, the majority of these being concentrated on the North-West side, near the playground. As the soil shifts, heavier rocks and other objects sink, while lighter objects, like bones, begin to rise. Human remains are often dug up by dogs playing in the park. Corpses found in Cheesman are often well-preserved, occasionally mummified, due to the dry climate.

In 2010, four skeletons were uncovered by a construction crew doing irrigation work. One of these had risen until it was only a few feet below the surface and was found close to a sidewalk. Then Denver Parks and Rec spokeswoman, Jill McGranahan, had this to say about the incident:

“Many of the bodies left in Prospect Cemetery were those of paupers and criminals. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing or even finding out who they are or if they have existing relatives. We told them [the construction crew] of Cheesman’s past and that coming upon skeletons was a real possibility. They all agree that it was still unsettling the first time. As one of our workers stated, he arrives after the sun is up and leaves before it goes down, so he doesn’t take any chances.”

Skeleton uncovered in Cheesman Park, 2010, courtesy of the Denver Post

The hauntings of the Cheesman Park neighborhood

Stories of hauntings in Cheesman Park, the Botanic Gardens, and the surrounding homes are still wildly popular among locals. Mansions in the area are said to have provided inspiration for ‘80s horror films Poltergeist and The Changeling (stories surrounding these homes in particular are difficult to pin down on any factual basis). The most commonly reported incidents in the park include: cold spots, sudden feelings of dread or anger, and disembodied voices. Full-bodied apparitions have also been sighted, and are sometimes said to communicate directly with the living. According to local legend, those who walk through the cemetery on a foggy night have experienced views of phantom headstones, as though they have been transported back in time to Prospect Hill.

Paranormal investigation teams visiting the park have experienced EMF (electromagnetic field) spikes, as well as lights flickering, rapidly spinning compass needles, EVPs (electronic voice phenomenon), photographic anomalies (orbs, light, apparitions), cold or sickly feelings, and the sensation of being touched.

CLICK HERE FOR GHOST STORIES SURROUNDING CHEESMAN PARK.

Reflective commentary

A common theory in paranormal investigation is that spirits tend to remain on Earth where ever they suffered the most in life, and due to that, cemeteries are not usually the most spiritually active places. However, it is also said that defilement of bodies, particularly those buried on consecrated ground, can lead to spiritual activity. The relocation of the graves from Prospect Hill, and the way many of the bodies were split across several caskets, and the lack of marked graves for those who remain, is said to contribute to the high level of spiritual activity still in Cheesman Park today.

My friend Martha and I visited Cheesman Park in fall of 2019 both during the day and after nightfall. Neither of us experienced what we could suspect as spiritual activity.

Martha records while I try to pick up EMF readings, photo taken by me (on the GoPro), November 2019

Cheesman Park is an interesting case, not only because of its wild history, but also because of its contemporary function as several public parks, a popular tourist attraction, and the stateliest homes in Denver. The oldest and largest homes in any city are likely to attract rumors of hauntings, and I have no doubt that many of the homes in the Cheesman Park neighborhood would still have stories of hauntings attached to them even without the history of Prospect Hill attached to them. This combination of the “haunted house” trope with the “cemetery” trope shows how types of stories of hauntings and come together, and the history of the park shows us how and why these stories can develop. As public space, the Cheesman Park neighborhood is in a unique position to be constantly interacting with the modern world; new ghost stories of Cheesman Park are always developing, keeping a close relationship with the contemporary locals and the underlying history. Its influence of pop culture is also singular - a shining example of how the history of ghost stories can change and perpetuate the cultural lexicon of the liminal and strange.

CLICK HERE FOR ALL FIELD NOTES AND SOURCES FOR THIS LOCATION.

#findings #cheesman park

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rorykillmore · 6 years

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saw, heathers and how about YOU do scream queens im passing on the curse

okay already did heathers but

saw

❤ Favorite Male: john probs!❤ Favorite Female: hoh boy i dunno... jill probably ranks at the top?❤ Favorite Pairing: uhhhhhhh i don’t even, i mean john and jill have super interesting dynamic but idk how much i “ship” them, but that❤ Least Favorite Character: fuckin eric❤ most attractive: most of the ladies tbh❤ three more characters that I like: amanda, gordon, lynn

scream queens

❤ Favorite Male: i hate that i have to say chad but like he’s just... so fucking funny to me. /round of tolerant radwell applause❤ Favorite Female: gigi to this day, probably❤ Favorite Pairing: i forget what ships were even a thing, you know what, chanel #3/sam or whatever her name was. star-crossed lovers....❤ Least Favorite Character: grace by virtue of being so boring and dull to watch while everyone else was being so entertaining❤ most attractive: i;ll say zayday, but like ryan murphy casted this show so no one is unattractive unless it’s for a deliberate joke,❤ three more characters that I like: dean munsch, the chanels as an entire entity, kirstie alley’s salty character from season 2,

#im crying i hate scream queens #jigsawapologist

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mollyasterwrites · 6 years

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this is the most self indulgent list in the whole world, I’m just making my list of my kiddos (and even my inspos that I might not even make) and their potential ships so I can at some point add them to my thread list lolololol (and AS ALWAYS if anyone wants more ships with my babs pls tell me I am literally begging here)

artie - parker, belle, megan, rita rae - flynn, gaston, cher, belle let me have this anya - dimitri kris - anna, ella livvy - rita, milo, alex, and lmao pere robert listeeeeeeen I didn’t witness leslie nearly shoot off kenneth brannagh’s moustache for michaela not to let me ship these two sooooo~ poppy - ben andy - penny floyd - harry, mack, flynn farrah - graham, nick, izzy, violet??, alex?? bertie - gerard cooper - todd, andie except not really bc gay but sdfghjk mess annie - teddy sam - fionn, gigi jack - katherine beau - max mal - evie, harry meredith - belle, susie riley - steven ruby - john, seth winn - cosette, jill lily - travis gilbert - vince, flynn theo - aggie, minnie, blossom, lowkey penny??, jill ailene - taran, and she fancies flynn so archie - joy, lowkey orla which is both hilarious and sad terry - izzy, LMAO JP daisy - killian, nicole hiro - wilbur, oliver peter - wendy, izzy judy - nick nora - clay, mo kit - ella, katherine, minnie nibs - dustin angelina - oliver augusta - orla, angelica baz - misty blake - faith bonnie - jessie, paul briar - philip bryce - alf caddie - ralph caitlyn - ?? carver - vlad dan - mack dash - christa debbie - marlon dixie - alf, carina dorothy - ?? dougie - billy elizabeth - will ellie - carl eric - lisa etta - mr rayyyyyyy faye - ?? felix - rita I think?? fievel - avery, odette florian - seth freddie - delia gadget (name tbd) - ?? georgia - SHERIFF FREAKING WOODY harriet - lmao jay, bunny, cosette, gaston, cher, rita hugo - lottie jackson - taylor, topher jamie - ernie, kim kaya - JP kiara - kovu kimi - tommy louis - ophelia luke - ?? maura - fred melody - rory mickey - minnie oscar - bobby peggy - topher penelope - none but she’s aroace sooooo she’s doing fine perrie - jill, orla, angelica, fleur, cassandra piper - ned, angelica roger - aria sally - lance scott - paul, jessie serena - ?? simon - nadia sofia - ?? sophie - vlad spot - davey stanley - victor thomas - grace vanessa - ?? viola - angelica wally - gaston (sort off??), patricia (again, sort of??), lisa willow - lewis

#guys pls pls pls ship with meeeee

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nineyellowgirl · 7 years

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Can I go with sims? Because sims are great :)) Johnny/Ophelia, Ripp/Stella, Ripp/Jill, Buck/Jill, Angela/Dustin, John Mole/Natasha Una, Bella/Mortimer, Cassandra/Don, Jenny/Buzz (and what motivates you to ship them, I'm really really curious, they seem interesting together but I haven't put too much thought on them before), Lazlo/Crystal, Circe/Vidcund, Circe/Loki and lastly Jasmine Rai/ Zoe Zimmerman If you feel it is too much I understand, you can choose to answer only the ones you like :)

I LOVED doing this! It gave me such TS2 nostalgia, but also made me think about Postcards form Nowhere and asdfgdfshj thank you I love you

First one - answered already!

Ripp/Stella - C (not a bad ship)

Actually, I’ve never thought about this one before! I guess they would meet in college and it’d be a short-term relationship, but they would split up peacefully and remain friends later in life. Ripp, as he grew up with the Smith, knows hella much about Aliens and I’m sure Stella would admire that. Also, Jenny (as his spare momma) would surely send him packs of home-made snacks, so Stella and her love for cookies would benefit from this!

Ripp/Jill - A (love it)

When I was younger, I thought this ship was insane, but I somehow grew to love it after some years of thinking over the TS2 PSP storyline. It applies to Postcards, too; in my story, Buck is dead (I’m sorry) and they both try to somehow build their lives around the absence of him. After some time Jill falls in love with the characteristics of Ripp that she’d have come to love in Buck if he’d survived and grown older with her. It’s the softness and caring side; on the other hand, Ripp admires in Jill the same traits. She can bring some peace and rationality to his messed up, artistic soul. Ripp would find it difficult to summon up the courage to tell Johnny about it though, which reminds me Harry, Ron and Ginny situation in Harry Potter XD

Buck/Jill - B

Again, one of the ‘classical ships’, no hard feelings, though I had a mental barrier which I had to break in order to accept Jill/Ripp pairing. I think they would have ended up together for sure if Buck had survived. They both soft and caring souls, yet Jill is the dominant one when she needs to, she took it after Jenny.

Angela/Dustin - B/C

I used to ship it hard when I was younger, but now I just… do. I mean, it’s lovely that Dustin has somebody close in this hard time and I totally see Angela babysitting the babies for a symbolic amount of money, but now that I’ve read much more stories, I see it as a schematic Bad Boy/Mary Sue (haha, a pun) relationship, and… I don’t know, just no strong emotions.

John/Natasha - A+ (OTP)

Oh damn yes. I ship it so hard! You see, he’s the weird and worrying guy the whole neighbourhood is talking about, but nobody really gets to know him, they’re slightly afraid maybe, but he doesn’t let them in either. And she’s the cheerful extravagant painter and actually the only one not to judge him. She challenges herself to make friends with him, and though he’s not really interested in it at first, he grows closer to the funny redhead and he doesn’t even realise it. They drive each other insane sometimes, but are ready to defend the other one when needed and soon become the weirdest couple in the neighbourhood. It seems odd to everyone else, but they actually understand each other’s peculiar ways of life pretty well and are tolerant to the small oddities (I mean, John walks around in an ankle-length black coat in July, and Natasha refuses to serve anything but grilled cheese for dinner. And they both just shut up and live with it).

Bella/Mortimer - A+

Both classical ships AND hard feelings. What to say more? I ship it like hell. One of my first OTPs actually, it could have started even back in 2007!

Cassandra/Don - E (don’t really like it)

I know there’s a whole community of Dossandra shippers and I myself love one story where they’re together, but as for the relationship itself, I don’t think their characters match. They’re just so different from each other - too different to change. They both wouldn’t be happy in this relationship.

Jenny/Buzz - A+ [long rambling below]

This Juzz madness has been actually started by my best friend, as a joke I believe; I fell into feels though. Why I ship it? Well, I think Jenny’s strong but caring character would sooth Buzz’s anger, grief and bitterness that poison his soul after Lyla’s sudden death (for which he blames himself, though he never told it to anyone). She isn’t blind to what he did (we all know he was a shitty father; he never hit his children, but he was far from Lyla’s motherly softness), but she understands his pain, unless everybody else. Jenny still sees the young Buzz beneath the surface - before the failed marriage and loss hardened him - and she’s desperate to get that old Buzz out again. I think everyone sees him as someone only hurting people; she knows he’s hurt, too. She actually defendedhis children from him when he was mad at them for nothing (usually it applied to Ripp) and she strongly disapproves his violent reactions, but she sees the way to solve this whole crisis by also healing him, as she thinks Buzz hurts people mostly because he is tangled up in all this pain and grief and anger from these years after Lyla’s death (and she’s right).

In my headcanon they weren’t a couple in teenage years; only good friends. I think they had to change through their life (I see young Jenny as even more stubborn than adult Jenny), get older and wiser to realise what they mean to each other, and after all this time of hurting and fighting, finally build love on common understanding.

Lazlo/Crystal - B

Oooh they’re such hippie dorks! I mean, I see them being around 30 in TS2 and they still act like in high school. They have nothing against showing their love to each other, so they kiss in public, go to Lazlo’s science parties together and play video games whole afternoons because they’re nerds. Tbh (spoiler) I’m still unsure whether to kill Crystal off in my story or not, because I think Lazlo would die without her…

Circe/Vidcund - A+

As I’m more into simblr community, I see that most Simmers interpret Circe as the ‘worse’ of the Beakers couple, but to me, it’s always been Loki, even before I joined the community! I ship Circund for life; I see Circe being stuck between a rock and a hard place, as she either married Loki for money or splendor (he had already made a name in the scientific society, unlike Vidcund) and at first their marriage (or, more, cooperation) was inspiring for her, but then he started to experiment on people (Nervous, Gimi) and she didn’t want it, but couldn’t get out; didn’t know how. Loki abused her to remain silent, and she had no one to turn to and nowhere to escape.

In my story, she works with the Curious brothers in the military lab and there’s a huge tension between her and them (when she broke up with Vid, well, he took it hard, and you know, family support), but Vidcund still secretly dreams that they will somehow get together one day. I think their relationship would be even more inspiring for Circe’s scientific side and her ambition to learn and develop, and it would be healthier, for sure. I mean, in my headcanon Loki just ruins her life slowly, so yeah.

Circe/Loki - F (NOTP)

Explained above!

Jasmine Rai/ Zoe Zimmerman - N/A (don’t know well enough)

I saw many people shipping these girls, but I personally never got into Uni pre-mades’ personalities really, so I don’t have an opinion. I might think about this ship when I get back to playing TS2 one day though!

To everybody who read the whole thing - let me shake your hand and kiss you.

#reply #stefy4ever #otp #meme

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caddyxjellyby · 5 years

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Alcott Readathon 2018: Jo’s Boys (1886)

"Miss Alcott's books are all delightful, and Jo's Boys is one of the best of them." - Boston Evening Transcript

"Thousands of readers will approach this later book with keen curiosity. They will find it lacking in some of the spontaneity of its predecessors, yet still an interesting volume[.]" - Unknown

"Its romance has a singular strain of youthfulness about it, which hardly enables one to feel in it the dignity of real love, courtship, and marriage." - The Critic

"The fault of the story is that there is too much of it. One is bewildered by the numerous boys and girls, and finds it hard to keep the run of 'who is who.' " - The Providence Sunday Journal

"A trifle labored and tedious." - The Graphic

In 1882 LMA helped start Concord's temperance society, destroyed most of her mother's diaries, raised her niece Lulu, and mourned her hero Emerson. In October she started Jo's Boys, originally intended a St. Nicholas serial. That same month Bronson had a stroke. In February 1884 she described the book's future as uncertain. In December 1884 she started again, writing two hours for three days, which made her ill with vertigo for a week. In April 1886 she mentions working on it for one hour a day, a limit ordered by her doctor. In June she moved from Boston to Concord and was able to finish 15 chapters. July she turned in the manuscript and it was published in England in September and America in October.

1: Ten Years Later

Mr. Laurence is dead and left his fortune to found Laurence College. Marmee is also gone. Hannah is not mentioned. Mr. March is the school chaplain.

Franz is in Germany with his merchant uncle. Emil was sent on a long voyage in the hopes that he would give up on sailing, but the opposite happened. Dolly, George, and Ned study law. Nan and Tom study medicine. It's not mentioned where Nan went, but LMA's friend Dr. Rhoda Lawrence went to Boston University School of Medicine.

Jack is in business in Chicago. Nat attends the Conservatory. Dick and Billy are dead, the narrator claiming "life would never be happy" for them which is both disgusting and an odd contradiction of statements made in Jack and Jill. Rob is gentle and quiet but manly inside. Ted is loud and mischievous. Demi disappointed Meg by becoming a reporter, as LMA's elder nephew Frederick Pratt did. Daisy is "her mother's comfort and companion." Josie, 14, amuses them with her love of theater. Bess, 15, is tall and beautiful. Dan went to South American for a geological expedition, then Australia for sheep farming and is now in California.

Nan and Tom walk to Plumfield. He's in love with her and she brushes him off. He got a blue anchor on his arm to match hers. Josie runs after Ted, who stole her copy of The Lady of Lyons by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

The four meet Jo, Meg, and Daisy for tea. Demi arrives with the news that Emil will return soon and Franz is engaged to Ludmilla.

2: Parnassus

Amy and Laurie's house. Laurie critiques Bess's clay baby. "You can't see beauty in anything but music," she answers. Amy made marble busts of Beth and John.

Nat's about to leave for Leipzig. He loves Daisy, but Meg disapproves because they don't know his family and music is a hard living.

Josie and Ted ask their grandfather to weigh in on their debate.

'Why, we were pegging away at the Iliad and came to where Zeus tells Juno not to inquire into his plans or he'll whip her, and Jo was disgusted because Juno meekly hushed up. I said it was all right, and agreed with the old fellow that women didn't know much and ought to obey men,' explained Ted, to the great amusement of his hearers. 'Goddesses may do as they like, but those Greek and Trojan women were poor-spirited things if they minded men who couldn't fight their own battles and had to be hustled off by Pallas, and Venus, and Juno, when they were going to get beaten. The idea of two armies stopping and sitting down while a pair of heroes flung stones at one another! I don't think much of your old Homer. Give me Napoleon or Grant for my hero.' Josie's scorn was as funny as if a humming-bird scolded at an ostrich, and everyone laughed as she sniffed at the immortal poet and criticized the gods. 'Napoleon's Juno had a nice time; didn't she? That's just the way girls argue—first one way and then the other,' jeered Ted. 'Like Johnson's young lady, who was “not categorical, but all wiggle-waggle”,' added Uncle Laurie, enjoying the battle immensely. 'I was only speaking of them as soldiers. But if you come to the woman side of it, wasn't Grant a kind husband and Mrs Grant a happy woman? He didn't threaten to whip her if she asked a natural question; and if Napoleon did do wrong about Josephine, he could fight, and didn't want any Minerva to come fussing over him. They were a stupid set, from dandified Paris to Achilles sulking in his ships, and I won't change my opinion for all the Hectors and Agamemnons in Greece,' said Josie, still unconquered. 'You can fight like a Trojan, that's evident; and we will be the two obedient armies looking on while you and Ted have it out,' began Uncle Laurie, assuming the attitude of a warrior leaning on his spear.

They're interrupted by Emil, Josie's favorite cousin, who has presents for everyone. Nan's earrings are skulls, but Josie says she won't wear them.

3: Jo's Last Scrape

Several years before, when Plumfield was in bad shape, Jo "hastily scribbled a little story" about herself and her sisters. To her astonishment it became a bestseller. Rumors exaggerate her fortune, which makes me wonder about the rumors because in 1887 LMA gave John and Frederick Pratt $25,000 each. In then dollars.

Rob reads her fanmail over breakfast - people seeking autographs, advice, donations; a love poem; and a little boy who thinks her books are first-rate.

Ted tells a reporter who visits that, "She is about sixty, born in Nova Zembla, married just forty years ago today, and has eleven daughters." (Forgive me the mixed quotation marks.) A woman and her three daughters come, Fritz with a bunch of his students, and a woman collecting a grasshopper and a shawl to put in a rug.

Jo retreats to her room, determined to finish 30 pages, but there's a man who won't leave. It's Dan. "I've been longing to see you for a year," she says.

4: Dan

He tells her about California and the money he got from investing in mines. He doesn't recognize Bess - "I thought it was a spirit." "Two years have changed you entirely," she replies.

Everyone starts making plans to head West. Dan thinks he might settle on a farm or return to the Montana Indians. They're dying of starvation, "a damned shame."

I don't think I understood before that "she never grudged her Jack a glass" referred to alcohol.

Jo calls the girls and the seven boys "the flower of our flock" and mentions for the first time Alice Heath, a Laurence College student.

Dan brought Ted a mustang, Josie a dress to play Namioka in Metamora, and a buffalo head for Bess.

'Thought it would do her good to model something strong and natural. She'll never amount to anything if she keeps on making namby-pamby gods and pet kittens,' answered irreverent Dan, remembering that when he was last here Bess was vibrating distractedly between a head of Apollo and her Persian cat as models. 'Thank you; I'll try it, and if I fail we can put the buffalo up in the hall to remind us of you,' said Bess, indignant at the insult offered the gods of her idolatry, but too well bred to show it except in her voice, which was as sweet and as cold as ice-cream. 'I suppose you won't come out to see our new settlement when the rest do? Too rough for you?' asked Dan, trying to assume the deferential air all the boys used when addressing their Princess. 'I am going to Rome to study for years. All the beauty and art of the world is there, and a lifetime isn't long enough to enjoy it,' answered Bess. 'Rome is a mouldy old tomb compared to the “Garden of the gods” and my magnificent Rockies. I don't care a hang for art; nature is as much as I can stand, and I guess I could show you things that would knock your old masters higher than kites. Better come, and while Josie rides the horses you can model 'em. If a drove of a hundred or so of wild ones can't show you beauty, I'll give up,' cried Dan, waxing enthusiastic over the wild grace and vigour which he could enjoy but had no power to describe. 'I'll come some day with papa, and see if they are better than the horses of St Mark and those on Capitol Hill. Please don't abuse my gods, and I will try to like yours,' said Bess, beginning to think the West might be worth seeing, though no Raphael or Angelo had yet appeared there. 'That's a bargain! I do think people ought to see their own country before they go scooting off to foreign parts, as if the new world wasn't worth discovering,' began Dan, ready to bury the hatchet. 'It has some advantages, but not all. The women of England can vote, and we can't. I'm ashamed of America that she isn't ahead in all good things,' cried Nan, who held advanced views on all reforms, and was anxious about her rights, having had to fight for some of them. 'Oh, please don't begin on that. People always quarrel over that question, and call names, and never agree. Do let us be quiet and happy tonight,' pleaded Daisy, who hated discussion as much as Nan loved it.

Jo, Meg, and Amy all vote for the school board; Demi says he'll escort Nan and Daisy next year.

5: Vacation

Funny how in books like this and The Secret Garden, exercise makes you grow less thin because working up an appetite makes you eat more.

Demi takes photos, particularly of Bess. Nat and Daisy hang out all they can.

At the good-bye dance Laurie takes Jo on a tour. Emil sits on the roof serenading girls with Mary's Dream and tossing them roses.

The second window framed a very picturesque group of three. Mr March in an arm-chair, with Bess on a cushion at his feet, was listening to Dan, who, leaning against a pillar, was talking with unusual animation. The old man was in shadow, but little Desdemona was looking up with the moonlight full upon her into young Othello's face, quite absorbed in the story he was telling so well. The gay drapery over Dan's shoulder, his dark colouring, and the gesture of his arm made the picture very striking, and both spectators enjoyed it with silent pleasure, till Mrs Jo said in a quick whisper: 'I'm glad he's going away. He's too picturesque to have here among so many romantic girls. Afraid his “grand, gloomy, and peculiar” style will be too much for our simple maids.' 'No danger; Dan is in the rough as yet, and always will be, I fancy; though he is improving in many ways. How well Queenie looks in that soft light!' 'Dear little Goldilocks looks well everywhere.' And with a backward glance full of pride and fondness, Mrs Jo went on. But that scene returned to her long afterward and her own prophetic words also.

Nan takes a splinter out of Tom's hand; he says it's the only time she was kind to him and too bad he didn't lose his arm. "I wish you'd lost your head," she says because his hair pomade stinks.

Ted poses on a stool as Josie and others give commentary. Jo explains they're planning for the upcoming play.

George and eat while complaining about the unladylike amount the girls eat. It proves that studying is bad for them.

A girl says to another that the dress she thought was elegant at home looks countrified here. Second girl tells her to ask Mrs. Brooke for advice.

Nan and Alice interrogate the young men over whether they believe in Women's Suffrage (yes, yes, and yes). You know what I really like? When people recognize that voting isn't the be-all end-all of women's legal right. When people recognize that legal rights aren't social rights and the former existing doesn't magic the latter into existence.

6: Last Words

Meg, weren't you married at 20? Isn't Daisy 20? I'm just saying.

"Girls, have you got nice pocket handkerchiefs?" jokes Jo as her sisters leave for church.

Jo talks to Nat about himself and about Daisy, claiming it's better to have no promises made until his return. "No one will be quicker to see and admire the brave work than my sister Meg. She does not despise your poverty or your past; but mothers are very tender over their daughters, and we Marches, though we have been poor, are, I confess, a little proud of our good family. We don't care for money; but a long line of virtuous ancestors is something to desire and to be proud of."

On the roof she lectures Emil on his new duties as second mate. "Jack ashore is a very different craft from what he is with blue water under his keel," he says. The narrator hints he'll remember this later.

Dan confesses that in San Francisco he gambled a little. Jo cautions him against it and he reassures her. He knows his biggest fault is not gambling but his temper, and he's afraid he'll kill someone one day. She gives him Undine and Sintram to borrow.

7: The Lion and the Lamb

With their parents at the mountains and the Laurences at the shore, Rob and Teddy have the run of the house. Dan's dog Don won't eat or play. Ted suggests he's sicks; Rob says he's just pining for Dan and goes back to writing Latin verses. Ted switches Don, Don gets angry, Rob jumps in front of Ted and Don bites his leg. Nan decides it must be burnt with a poker. Rob takes it like a trooper but Ted faints.

Jo and Fritz note that Rob's even more serious and Ted's a little less wild. Ted claims it's his brother's influence but Jo coaxes the truth out of them.

8: Josie Play Mermaid

Josie's idol Miss Cameron is also at the shore, but she has a private beach and it's hard to see her. One day she loses her bracelet and Josie dives down to fetch it. Miss Cameron invites her over and Josie gives Ophelia's mad scene and a bit from a farce and Portia's speech.

"You've a good voice and natural grace," says the actress and advises her to finish her education and start training when she's older. They blah blah about purifying the stage. Josie starts hitting the books and piano to the delight of her family.

9: The Worm Turns

Tom appears at Jo's with an awful scrape: he's engaged. Oh no Nan didn't! says Jo, but it's not Nan, it's Dora West. Nan mentioned her in Chapter 1.

Down at Quitno he was rowing and the boat capsized but she wasn't mad about it. Later she was riding on the back of his bicycle and a donkey kicked it and they fell. She cracked up and said "Let us go on again" and he replied about going on forever. Jo thinks it's hilarious and a good match. Dora's ability to take things in stride will serve her well if their hypothetical future child is anything like young Tom.

Tom hints that Demi flirted with Alice. "A great dead of courting goes on in those [tennis] courts."

Nan is pleased and resolves to buy Dora a medicine chest for a wedding present. He gives up medicine and goes into business with Bangs Sr.

10: Demi Settles

Demi tells Meg he quit reporting and she's very glad. He got a place at Jo's publisher as Frederick and the real John did.

They talk about Josie and the upcoming plays and Demi promises he'll protect her if she treads the boards.

Josie teases him, via a reference to The Old Curiosity Shop, about spooning with Alice and he tells her not to be silly.

11: Emil's Thanksgiving

My favorite chapter! The Brenda, Englishman Captain Hardy commanding and his wife and daughter Mary aboard, is en route to China when there is a FIRE IN THE HOLD. ABANDON SHIP. Captain Hardy is pushed overboard by a falling mast and knocked out.

They float for three days and then start to worry. During the fourth night two sailors steal the brandy bottle and fall overboard.

A sail appears, but it's too far away to notice the little boat. Emil despairs during the night until Mary singing a hymn he knows from Plumfield brings to mind Jo's talk.

Then it starts to rain and a ship comes to rescue them. What day is it? Emil asks. Thanksgiving!

12: Dan's Christmas

Dan, traveling west, befriends a younger boy, Blair, who reminds him of Ted. Some guys cheat at cards with Blair, Dan calls them out, one draws a pistol, and Dan punches him. The guy hits his head on a stove and dies. Dan gets sentence to a year in prison.

A real life incident appears. LMA and Bronson visited a prison in 1879 and she told the occupants a hospital story. The Sunday before Thanksgiving, the same thing happens to Dan, and it inspires him to not participate in the revolt the other men are planning.

He sends Jo a note at Christmas.

13: Nat's New Year

In Leipzig, Nat brags a little too much about his connections, so people assume he's upper-class and invite him to balls and plays and beer-gardens. He spends a little too much money and plays the gallant with Minna, whose mother confronts him about his intentions. When the bills and a letter from Plumfield arrive at New Year's he resolves to stop being a socialite. His landlady gets him a job teaching English. It must be nice to have connections.

14: Plays at Plumfield

"As it is as impossible for the humble historian of the March family to write a story without theatricals in it as for our dear Miss Yonge to get on with less than twelve or fourteen children in her interesting tales, we will accept the fact, and at once cheer ourselves after the last afflicting events, by proceeding to the Christmas plays at Plumfield; for they influence the fate of several of our characters, and cannot well be skipped."

Everyone is excited by Miss Cameron's attendance. First a farce with Alice as Marquise, Demi as the Baron, and Josie as a soubrette. An accident with the scenery leads to Nan plastering up Demi's injury, but the look on Alice's face makes it worth it to him.

Meg stars as a country widow with Demi and Josie as her kids.

Up until now I thought Owlsdark Marbles was a real play, but turns out it isn't. Laurie is a professor who introduces the audience to his statues: Ted as Mercury, Josie as Hebe, Nan as Minerva, Demi as Apollo, Jo and Fritz as Juno and Jove, someone (Tom?) as Bacchus, and Bess as Diana.

Dan's letter arrives but he gave Jo no address.

15: Waiting

Word reaches Plumfield of the shipwreck and they all mourn Emil. Jack writes and Ned actually visits. Josie takes it very hard until Miss Cameron tells her to take her tragedy like her fictional heroines do. They learns he's not dead and Ted expresses it: "Now is the winter of our discontent / Made glorious by these sons of Bhaer!"

Nat studies hard, gets a visit from Franz and Emil (a good potential fanfic scene), and is chosen to play in a London concert.

Dan counts the days til he's released in August. He can't bear Ted and Jo knowing his shame so he decides to head back to Montana.

16: In the Tennis Courts

Josie and Dolly play tennis and drag each other's schools. Bess chimes in that the cousins are accustomed to sensible conversation, not gossip. Dolly asks why she wears Harvard's color if it sucks so much and she tells him her hat is scarlet, not crimson.

The cousins leave and Jo brings finds Dolly and George. "I knew the boys would be killing themselves with ice-water; so I strolled down with some of my good, wholesome [root] beer. They drank like fishes. But Silas was with me; so my cruse still holds out. Have some?"

She lectures them about overeating, alcohol, and having sex with girls from the Opera Bouffe.

17: Among the Maids

Jo, Meg, and Amy host a sewing circle for the young women.

Here Mrs Meg was in her glory, and stood wielding her big shears like a queen as she cut out white work, fitted dresses, and directed Daisy, her special aide, about the trimming of hats, and completing the lace and ribbon trifles which add grace to the simplest costume and save poor or busy girls so much money and time. Mrs Amy contributed taste, and decided the great question of colours and complexions; for few women, even the most learned, are without that desire to look well which makes many a plain face comely, as well as many a pretty one ugly for want of skill and knowledge of the fitness of things. She also took her turn to provide books for the readings, and as art was her forte she gave them selections from Ruskin, Hamerton, and Mrs Jameson, who is never old. Bess read these aloud as her contribution, and Josie took her turn at the romances, poetry, and plays her uncles recommended. Mrs Jo gave little lectures on health, religion, politics, and the various questions in which all should be interested, with copious extracts from Miss Cobbe's Duties of Women, Miss Brackett's Education of American Girls, Mrs Duffy's No Sex in Education, Mrs Woolson's Dress Reform, and many of the other excellent books wise women write for their sisters, now that they are waking up and asking: 'What shall we do?'

One girl would like to be George Eliot and Jo likes her but not as much as Charlotte Bronte. I haven't read Eliot and I love Jane Eyre the character but not so much the book.

Amy's friend Lady Ambercrombie visits them.

18: Class Day

I used to think Class Day was a Victorian thing, but I found that Harvard and Yale still use it. Harvard's website has

a piece on its history from the year JB was published.

Ted dandies up, leading Jo to call him "the ghost of a waiter" and Josie a "long, black clothespin." For part of the day he wears a false mustache which leaves some visitors thinking there are three Bhaer sons.

Alice gives the best speech of the day.

While everyone's chilling and singing a carriage rolls up. Out step Franz, Ludmilla, and Emil with Mary. "Uncle, Aunt Jo, here's another daughter! Have you room for my wife too?" Wouldn't you love to see this scene on film? I so would. Why not tell us? asks Jo. Because you thought it was hilarious when Uncle Laurie did it, says Emil.

19: White Roses

Demi wants to tell Alice; Josie suggests he copy a Maria Edgeworth story and send her three roses - bud, half-blown, and full-blown. Josie delivers them and Alice ponders the questions. Her parents are ill and need her at home. Is it fair to ask him to wait? She overhears Meg and Daisy praising her and John.

They meet at the party and good old Tom interrupts them. "Music? just the thing." Alice starts to play Bide a Wee, which describes her situation so well she can't even sing the middle verse. It was one of the first things I ever researched on the internet.

20: Life for Life

Dan chances upon a mining friend who hires him as overseer. The mine caves in and Dan leads the rescue of the miners. He gets injured but they all survive. The family learns about it from a newspaper. Ted runs away to see Dan and Laurie chases after him.

When he's better they bring him to Plumfield. He confesses to Jo about prison.

21: Aslauga's Knight

Everyone fusses over Dan; Josie reads to him; Bess molds her buffalo head in his room. He asks Bess to read him Aslauga's Knight. She and Jo are surprised he likes that story. Jo realizes he's in love with Bess. Dan confirms it and tells how he used to dream of Bess in prison.

22: Positively Last Appearance

Laurie's connections get Dan a post as a Native American agent. He startles Bess by kissing her good-bye.

After Dan leaves, Nat returns. It's a bit strange that barely interact in this book. Daisy cries and hugs him. He plays the same song he did at the beginning of LM.

Epilogue time. All the marriages turn out well. Nan, Josie, and Bess have successful careers and the younger two find "worthy mates." I love how mates doesn't mean husbands. "Dan never married, but lived, bravely and usefully, among his chosen people till he was shot defending them, and at last lay quietly asleep in the green wilderness he loved so well, with a lock of golden hair upon his breast, and a smile on his face which seemed to say that Aslauga's Knight had fought his last fight and was at peace." George is an alderman and dies of apoplexy. I don't think LMA likes him. Dolly finds himself in a tailor's employ. Rob is a professor and Ted follows in his grandfather's footsteps as a minister "to the great delight of his astonished mother. And now, having endeavoured to suit everyone by many weddings, few deaths, and as much prosperity as the eternal fitness of things will permit, let the music stop, the lights die out, and the curtain fall for ever on the March family."

The final line gets brought up a lot. IMO it reflects LMA's state of mind and her struggles with her health. She died less than two years later.

#alcott readathon 2018 #louisa may alcott #jo's boys #little women

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