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Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church's summer camp. They'll need them!Determined to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they're cornered by the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing.Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?Adventures, friendships, and faith-testers . . . all under the watchful eye of a great big God.The Tree Street Kids live on Cherry, Oak, Maple, and Pine, but their 1990s suburban neighborhood is more than just quiet, tree-lined streets. Jack, Ellison, Roger, and Ruthie face challenges and find adventures in every creek and cul-de-sac—as well as God's great love in one small neighborhood.In Book 2 of the Tree Street Kids series, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church's summer camp. They'll need them! Determined to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they've cornered the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing. Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?In The Hunt for Fang, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills as they head to summer church camp. But it soon turns into an adventure they hadn't bargained for that takes them deep into the woods to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy, Arrow, from Fang. Then a crisis emerges as someone goes missing. Will they find their missing friend? Will God help them work together to get out of this sticky situation?Readers will happily head to camp with the kids and eagerly follow each chapter to find out what happens to kids just like they are. Parents will love how this series carries the spirit of the well-loved Sugar Creek Gang books from their childhood. Middle-grade readers will be excited to join the Tree Street Kids on The Hunt for Fang—continuing this journey to adventure, friendship, and fun!Amanda Cleary Eastep is not related to Beverly Cleary but wishes she were. She is, however, a children's writer, and the Tree Street Kids is her debut series. Amanda knows kids because she's still one at heart. When she is forced to act like an adult, she edits nonfiction books by grown-up authors.Amanda's children's writing has been published in Ladybug, The Friend, Sunday school curriculum, and at Story Warren. As a longtime writer, she's contributed to Christianity Today, Think Christian, and many other print and online publications. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and she leads writing workshops at her local teen center.Learn more about her books at https://treestreetkids.comPlease share StoryJumpers with a friend if you enjoyed this episode. StoryJumpers is still growing, and your positive review and 5-star rating would help.The Bridge Podcast Network is made possible by generous support from The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel and Victoria's Restaurant on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - Open 7 days a week, year-round - Learn more at https://boardwalkplaza.comFeedback, or Show Ideas? Send an email to podcast@wearethebridge.orgDownload The Bridge Mobile App to get the latest podcast episodes as soon as they are published!
In Book 10 of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reflects on the impermanence of life, the futility of seeking fame, and the importance of living in harmony with nature. He emphasizes resilience in the face of adversity, urging us to accept what we cannot change and focus on our duty. He reminds himself—and us—that external recognition is fleeting, while true fulfillment comes from acting with wisdom, justice, and integrity.
Part 5/6 In Book of Ruth Series
The complete audio book is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/Frankie-Dupont-and-the-Lemon-Festival-Fiasco-Audiobook/B0DM9JFCKJ Frankie Dupont and the Lemon Festival Fiasco A mystery for ages 8-12. Written and read by Julie Anne Grasso Hot off cracking his first official case, Frankie Dupont is on the scene when his new teacher takes ill. The pint-sized detective suspects a classic case of sour grapes, but the evidence leads him to the one place he wouldn't mind avoiding for the rest of his natural life. Enderby Manor has a few more secrets up her sleeve, and as Frankie begins to unravel them, he uncovers a plot stinkier than a sardine sandwich. In Book 2 of the Frankie Dupont Mysteries, Frankie will make some new friends, upset some old ones, and of course, there will be lemon meringue pie. .Tip: We recommend listening to Book 1: Frankie Dupont and the Mystery of Enderby Manor before diving into this story!
George Couros reflects on a book he read while he was training for the Disney Marathon! In this episode, you will hear Couros share three thoughts from the book, Run the Mile You're In by Ryan Hall. Be sure to check out this episode for a heartwarming story about how the ideas shared by Hall connected to Couros' beloved dog, Odom. Quotes: “I believe that we each have a mission to accomplish and that we have been designed in such a way that we are not lacking anything to accomplish it. Everything we need is already inside of us. We just have to find it and figure out how to cultivate it.” - Ryan Hall “I had to remind myself to celebrate others' achievements because what makes me special, important, or of worth has nothing to do with my or anyone else's performance. I shouldn't look down on myself for not doing as well as someone else because the goal isn't to be better than everyone else. My goal, when I was at my best, was always to be the best version of me that I could be. I found that if I was inspired by the breakthrough of others, then often those breakthroughs became my catalyst for believing I could do it too and experiencing my own breakthroughs.” - Ryan Hall “Sometimes our biggest victories aren't the races we win. Sometimes they're the personal battles we win along the way.” - Ryan Hall Links: The OC - https://www.theoc.net/ Run the Mile You're In (Book on Amazon) - https://www.amazon.com/Run-Mile-Youre-Finding-Every/dp/0310354374 __________________________________________ Please share your thoughts with us on Twitter or Instagram at #InnovatorsMindset. More at georgecouros.com George Couros on Twitter: https://twitter.com/gcouros George Couros on Instagram: https://instagram.com/gcouros George Couros on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/georgecourosauthor/ George Couros on LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/george-couros-a5146519 For the full audio podcast: https://linktr.ee/gcouros The Innovator's Mindset: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0986155497?ref=exp_gcouros_dp_vv_d What Makes a Great Principal - https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948334739?linkCode=ssc&tag=onamzgeorge0f-20&creativeASIN=1948334739&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.2SBTFVTBT0S6X&ref_=aip_sf_list_spv_ofs_mixed_d_asin Because of a Teacher - https://www.amazon.com/dp/194833433X?ref=exp_gcouros_dp_vv_d Because of a Teacher 2 - https://www.amazon.com/dp/194833450X?tag=onamzgeorge0f-20&linkCode=ssc&creativeASIN=194833450X&asc_item-id=amzn1.ideas.2SBTFVTBT0S6X Innovate Inside the Box: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1948334127?ref=exp_gcouros_dp_vv_d Music from Bensound - http://bensound.com/
Ah, the state of nature: a peaceful utopia where each man is free to live off his own vineyards, sit under his own fig tree, and eat people alive. Wait--what?? In Book 9 of the Odyssey, Homer gives us a diabolical bait-and-switch, from the pure serenity of primitive life to the gruesome horrors of a world without law. It's the perfect antidote to the wishful thinking that might set in around election time, when all we want is to get away from politics: if you can believe it, the alternatives might be even worse! SIGNUPS OPEN: Register for Spring courses at The Ancient Language Institute https://ancientlanguage.com/youngheretics/ Pre-order my new book, Light of the Mind, Light of the World: https://a.co/d/2QccOfM Subscribe to my joint Substack with Andrew Klavan (no relation): https://thenewjerusalem.substack.com Simon Netchev's Odyssey Map: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/15906/odysseus-ten-year-journey-home
In Book 5 Marcus deals wrestles with the ideas of failure, imperfection and the love of a craft. To helps us deepen our understanding of how to view mistakes not as problems but as information and what it means to harmonize with nature we brought on Composer and friend of the podcast Matt Lees. In this episode we bring back the Lightening round, deeply go through the troubled yet amazing history of Ulysses S. Grant. We explore the tenacity that made Thomas Edison tick. Then go through what it means to slow practice, how to attack the 25% of our lives we don't want to change, and what it might sound like to be out of harmony with nature. And much more!
In this episode, we're spotlighting bestselling author Aaron Blabey. Aaron visited our New York City headquarters in late 2023 from his home in Australia. He talked with host Suzanne McCabe about the genesis of Cat on the Run, his latest series for young readers. In Book 1, Cat on the Run in Cat of Death!, Princess Beautiful, the world's biggest cat video star, is accused of a crime she didn't commit. Can the most famous feline on the planet avoid capture and prove her innocence? Readers will find out in Aaron's hilarious new trilogy about the perils of social media and cancel culture. You probably know Aaron from The Bad Guys, his mega-bestselling book series. The Bad Guys was made into an animated movie in 2022 by Universal Pictures and DreamWorks. A sequel is on the way next summer. Aaron is also the author of the popular series Pig the Pug and Thelma the Unicorn. With the 20th and final installment of The Bad Guys due out in November, Aaron says that he's ready to step away from writing. “I always wrote my books specifically for my own kids, to make them laugh, but now they're all grown up,” he told Publishers Weekly. “It was a magical time but it's over, just like childhood. It's bittersweet but it's also beautiful.” → Resources Cat on the Run in Cat of Death!: How do you avoid capture and prove your innocence when you're the most famous feline on the planet? Princess Beautiful finds out the hard way. Cat on the Run in Cucumber Madness: Social media star Princess Beautiful has been plunged into a world where danger lurks everywhere, and cucumbers are no laughing matter. The Bad Guys: In Aaron's wildly-popular book series, The Bad Guys, a motley collection of wannabe heroes are doing good deeds—whether you like it or not. → Highlights Aaron Blabey, bestselling author and illustrator On creating the character of Princess Beautiful in Cat on the Run: “She was inspired by the world we currently live in, I have to say. My kids are now 15 and 18, and I've been watching them navigating social media…. I've been watching with interest how that universe is sort of playing out in the world. I also have a really highly strung cat. Those two things . . . and the old movie The Fugitive, they all kind of clicked together in my head, and Cat on the Run popped out.” On writing The Bad Guys: “I was only trying to make my son laugh, but it seems that the same stuff that makes him laugh has made lots of other kids laugh.” On writing graphic novels: “We live in a world where kids are just bombarded with visual information, and they're so visually literate. What I've tried to do with The Bad Guys and also certainly with Cat on the Run is do something that feels relevant for them.” → Special Thanks Producer: Maxine Osa Sound engineer: Daniel Jordan Music composer: Lucas Elliot Eberl → Coming Soon Alice Hoffman: When We Flew Away: A Novel of Anne Frank Before the Diary
In Book 5 of Meditations, Marcus Aurelius reflects on themes of duty, self-discipline, and the transience of life. He emphasizes the importance of rising each day with purpose, fulfilling one's responsibilities with a sense of duty, and aligning actions with nature and reason. The book encourages focusing on the present moment, controlling impulses, and finding contentment in simple, virtuous living. Marcus also discusses the inevitability of death and the need to accept it as a natural part of life, urging readers to live with integrity and humility.
Welcome to Harry Potter and the Phantom Farter. In Book 4, we don't start on Chapter 1. We start with a Prologue... Voldemort is Dead, where we follow a mysterious new character in a flashback to post the Hogwarts War. Sit back and relax as Sam & Mike embark on the next book of this dismal journey. SUPPORT MY WORK! Support me on Patreon → www.patreon.com/radiomike Follow me on Instagram → www.instagram.com/radiomike Follow me on TikTok → www.tiktok.com/@radio.mike Follow me on Twitter → www.twitter.com/@itsradiomike READ MY BLOG: [https://radiomike.substack.com](https://radiomike.substack.com/) MY PODCASTS: 20th CENTURY BOY Podcast → https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/20th-century-boy/id1450137287 Harry Potter & The Boys FAN FICTION Podcast → https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/harry-potter-and-the-boys/id1537216249 Thanks for watching and supporting me, Radio Mike.
Sequel to the ‘Lost In Eros' Trilogy By BradentonLarry – Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories. Preface This is a direct sequel to the Lost in Eros series. Ideally, you should have enjoyed that trilogy before this sequel. The ‘Lost In Eros' series is as long as The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring combined! So, it seems fair to offer a bit of a recap here… (If the original series is fresh in your mind, you might want to just move a head a minute, to the beginning of the actual chapter, which does include a very brief bit of reminder.) This sequel is also split into audio episodes (or, parts;) that are each about 30 minutes, for podcasting format. The actual literary chapters vary greatly in length, but you'll be notified when a new chapter starts, during an episode.In Book 1, “The Manor,” two friends, Don and Toshia wake up in a strange bed quite removed from their normal circumstances. Their relationship, though quite close, was purely platonic, and yet here they found themselves in bed together and naked. Throughout the ‘Lost in Eros' trilogy, Toshia struggles to find a way back to Sarah, her lover. In Book 2, “The Forest,” Don, Toshia, and their three companions encounter a centaur, the Witches of the Glen, an attack by some ruffians, & a nymph; before Toshia is then captured by the Sisterhood of Amazons. Toshia escapes into the forest again, where she meets and befriends the Beast, a lonely and very horny minotaur. Don and the others are caught by the Wizard. Once freed, Don leads his companions on a mission to rescue Toshia from the Sisterhood, fighting them in an epic kung fu battle that leads to him defeating their leader. In Book 3, “The Return,” Don, Toshia, and their companions return to their quest to find the Sage of the Tower. Using a flying carpet provided by the Wizard, until it crashes them in a pool in the middle of an odd place called The Resort, which they are then required to stay at and experience the attractions, such as the Clockwork Club, the Jungle Room, and Ladies Night. Once they are allowed to proceed up to the tower, Don, Toshia, and Nicole relate their stories to scribes the Sage, who is actually able to give them some useful information. Among other things, they find out that they can get back to the “real world” by going downriver to a place called the Grotto of Ishtar, that there seem to be rings some people have that allow them to go back and forth between that world and Eros at will, and that one person, a Stephanie Ayers, has been at work trying to find out more about these rings for some time. Intent on returning home, Toshia leads Don and Nicole back to the Resort and to a riverboat landing, where the party basically splits up into those heading downriver to the Grotto (Don, Toshia, and Shelonda) and those staying behind at the Resort (Nicole and the others). After one last night together in the Jungle Room (where Don hoped to encounter the sexy and mysterious India, who he thought had one of those special rings), Don, Toshia, and Shelonda head off on the riverboat, to the Grotto of Ishtar. In the Grotto, Don reveals that he has decided to stay in Eros to try to secure one of those rings. Toshia finishes the ritual alone and wakes up next to her girlfriend Sarah without any noticeable amount of time having passed at all. That very day, Toshia gets a phone call from Don, apparently returned from Eros. Chapter 1. Reunion As Toshia pulled into the parking lot she was a bit surprised to notice how nervous she was. It had been a week since her adventures in Eros—a week since she'd fallen asleep next to Sarah, awakened next to her dear (and decidedly platonic) friend Don, in a strange world of witches and wizards, not to mention centaurs, satyrs, and at least one minotaur. What followed were weeks of weird and sometimes frightening adventures, as well as more sex than most people had in their entire lives. Early on, she and Don became lovers, but this was hardly the limit of things! Amidst her adventures, Toshia had sex with countless men and women, often at the same time, as well as the aforementioned satyrs and minotaur, only to eventually find a way to wake up once again next to her beloved Sarah, the very same night she had fallen asleep in the first place. Toshia might have passed it off as a bizarre, extraordinarily vivid dream except for the fact that her body bore the unmistakable evidence of her time in Eros. She was tanner and in better shape than when she'd gone to bed, and there were a few bruises that could only be explained by the vigorous sex she'd indulged in aboard the Maidenhead, the ship captained by the enigmatic Captain Sage. Strangely, Sarah hardly noticed any changes in her, but Toshia could hardly ignore the effects of her experiences in Eros, not just on her body but in her attitude. While the XYZ no longer coursed through her veins, making her body a perpetually revved up sex machine, she was still alive to the joys and possibilities of carnality all around her in a way that was quite different from her earlier life, though she had always thought she had a sex-positive attitude. In the last week, Toshia's sex life with Sarah had certainly been rekindled, but she had also noticed that she was keenly aware of the sexuality of the people around her, at work, in the park, at the grocery store, and so on. While there was no danger of her losing control and succumbing to temptation, she could hardly deny that she now had sex on her mind as never before. Finally, the last nail in the it-was-all-a-dream coffin was the fact that Don had called her, about six hours after she had awakened and quickly corroborated her experience in a rather one-sided conversation. They had agreed to meet the following weekend, Don traveling to spend the weekend—ostensibly just to catch up with his friend. That “ostensibly” was the rub. Toshia still hadn't told Sarah anything. Hell, she had no idea how to begin. “Hey, babe, so while you were sleeping, I was somehow taken to another world and had all kinds of adventures. Oh, and I had lots and lots of sex with other people, including Don.” Toshia couldn't see any way to either convince Sarah she wasn't crazy, but even if she did that, how would she manage to make Sarah believe all that sex was something Sarah should accept? It was a mess, no question. Toshia hoped Don would have some ideas about this. One thing Toshia was sure of, though, was that there would be no shenanigans until Sarah knew the truth. This commitment was put to the test a bit when Toshia saw Don there, outside the Thai restaurant they'd agreed on as a rendezvous. He grinned so happily as he saw her, his arms felt so good around her, and his breath felt so warm on her neck… and then they were kissing, deeply, passionately. For Toshia it just felt natural. This was the nature of their relationship now. Still she managed to push him away a bit, smiling and blushing a little. “I haven't told Sarah yet,” she admitted. He looked into her eyes, still grinning, “Oh, yeah, no, that's alright. It's just been so long; I've missed you so much!” “Well, a week isn't that long,” she laughed. “A week for you, maybe,” chuckled Don. “I was in Eros for years before I called you last week.” “Years?!” “Yeah, there was a lot to get done,” he smiled. Toshia noticed the dark metal ring he wore on his left middle finger. “You got one, eh?” Don nodded, “I did indeed.” “What did you have to do?” Don blew a little raspberry, “Quite a bit, really. I'll tell you all about it, but let's actually get some lunch; I'm starving!” “Now that's the Don I remember,” she laughed as he opened the door. Strangely awkward idle conversation filled the space around being seated and ordering—"How's Sarah?“ “Good.” “Work going alright?” “Yes. How's your semester so far?"—until they were able to get down to serious business. "Okay,” Toshia leaned forward over the table. “Tell me everything!” Don laughed and said, “Well, where to begin…?” “At the Grotto of Ishtar, obviously.” “Okay, but I'm going to have to be brief if you want the whole story before we meet Sarah for dinner.” “She works until six, so we have some time,” Toshia said seriously, but with a smile. “Get on with it, Professor.” “Okay, okay,” he chuckled as he spread his hands out on the table. “Well, Shelonda and I swam back up to the longboat, which took us back to Sage's ship, which took us back to Rendezvous.” “I think you're already leaving too much out.” Don smiled, then looked around to reassure himself that the restaurant wasn't busy and that they were indeed sitting in the back corner, well away from the other customers, and then continued. “As before, but without your assistance, Shelonda had to make herself available for the crew. She didn't seem to mind.” “I'll bet,” Toshia grinned, “and what were you up to?” “Well, Sage watched me play with Megan and Jasmine again that afternoon, but she could tell my heart wasn't in it.” “Aw,” Toshia smirked, “but other parts of you were up to the challenge, I'll bet.” “Well, yeah, but I was definitely less enthusiastic after saying goodbye to you. Sage picked up on this, and, honestly, we spent most of that trip talking.” “In Eros? Crazy!” “I know, right?” Don leaned on the railing in front of him and observed the scene on the deck below. Someone had gathered sheets and pillows to make a fairly comfortable, and rather large, sex nest for Shelonda and her many playmates. As the sun set, and the crew finished their daytime duties, they cleaned up and joined Shelonda for what was rapidly becoming an epic gangbang. The red-golden light played over her dark skin as she knelt there surrounded by hard cocks, taking one after the other into her eager mouth, and then as she moved onto her hands and knees to receive cocks from both ends. It was hard for Don to make out details, particularly as the sunlight faded to be replaced by torchlight, but he could hear the unmistakable sounds of Shelonda's rising pleasure. “You travel in enthusiastic company,” Sage observed as she came up next to Don. “So do you, Captain,” Don smiled. “It's a wonder you keep them all in line.” “Well, Megan and Jasmine are happy to help out with that, and most of them don't mind playing with each other. Some even prefer it.” Don noticed that the good captain had dropped any piratic pretenses, at least for the time being. He decided to ask about what had been bothering him for more than two days, “What about you, though?” “What about me?” she asked with an arched eyebrow. “Well, for starters,” Don paused thoughtfully, “do you ever lend a hand, so to speak?” Sage snorted a bit, “That would make it very hard to maintain discipline, wouldn't it?” Don nodded, “Perhaps, but you've never… not even as a special occasion?” “No,” she said firmly. While he considered his next line of inquiry, Don thought back to everything he'd heard and surmised about Eros, including the situation he and Toshia had encountered in the castle of the Sisterhood. “You seem unique, captain,” Don finally said. “I haven't met anyone else in Eros who doesn't seem very much interested in sex.” Sage laughed, “You mean who isn't consumed by their urge to fuck.” Smiling at her, Don nodded, “Exactly.” There was a long pause. Below them, Shelonda was sandwiched between a burly sailor lying underneath her, who had himself deep inside her pussy, and a tall, black man who was fucking in and out of her ass. There were two or three men in front of her, apparently enjoying both the show and whatever she was doing to them with her talented mouth. Everyone seemed to be having a very good time. “I like you, Don,” Sage said at last. “Go ahead and ask your questions.” Don smiled, “I like you too, Sage.” Then, after a considering his options, he asked, “Do you like sex? I mean, some people don't.” She laughed, “Yes, I do like sex.” “But you never…?” “Well, yes, when I first got here, for like the first two days, I was just like everyone else. But then it occurred to me that I had completely lost control of myself. I like being the captain, Don. I'm not judging you, or anyone else, but I decide when and where to have sex, and with whom. If the answer is everywhere all the time and with everyone, I'm letting my urges use me as a means to their satisfaction. I wouldn't be a moral agent, hardly even a person, then. I'd rather be the captain.” “You're a philosopher,” Don grinned. “That was a long time ago,” shrugged Sage. “You've been here a long time, but ever since those first couple of days…?” She chuckled, “Well, now and then I fall off the wagon. Megan, Jasmine, and Sven don't seem to mind.” “I'll bet they don't!” Don said with sincere admiration. “Were you like this before you got here, Don?” “Horny?” “Ha! No. I mean, so upfront about things.” “Yeah, pretty much,” he shrugged. “It's a nice trait. Don't lose it.” “Thanks, ‘don't plan to,” Don laughed. He took a moment to admire her profile as she idly watched Shelonda getting picked up and then laid on her back with her legs splayed and ready for the next of her playmates. He found himself liking her nose almost as much as the curve of her breasts. He swallowed and asked, “So, um, feel like ‘falling off the wagon'?” She smirked and gave him a sidelong glance, “Nice try, my friend, nice try.” “So the two of you never…?” Toshia asked as she sipped her tea. “Well, never is a long time,” Don chuckled. “Let me tell the story. I promise not to leave anyone important out.” “Just the scores of nameless women you pleasured along the way,” she said wryly. “I'm sure the vast majority of them had names.” “'Stands to reason,” nodded Toshia. “Go on.” “Well, Shelonda and I disembarked at Rendezvous, and made our way back to the riverboat landing.” “Was the city easier to navigate this time?” “Yes, it was. I think it helped that I knew where we were going.” “Were you able to get back in the mood?” “Yeah,” Don admitted. “The non-stop orgy going on all around helped, along with the XYZ, naturally, but there wasn't a day or night that went by when I didn't think of you. Sure, sometimes it was in the middle of sex when I'd wish you were there to sit on my face…” he smiled across the table. “But you were always on my mind.” She smiled warmly, “At least once a day.” “And once a night,” Don grinned. “Shelonda missed you too. She threw herself into the sex even more vigorously than before, but I could tell she was preoccupied when she wasn't, well, otherwise occupied. I asked her about it, and she said, 'I don't think I ever had a sister, except Toshia.'” “Damn, Don!” Toshia breathed, wiping a tear out of her eye. “Get back to the story.” “Well, that's actually relevant. We went back up the river to the Resort. I wanted to see if India was around… Remember, she's the one I thought had one of these rings. She does, but she wasn't there. Anyway, I wanted to look for her and talk to the Sage again. But while we stopped at the Resort, I lost Shelonda.” “What?!” Somehow it felt like much more than almost two weeks since they had left the Resort. As Don and Shelonda made their way past the various clubs and bungalows, he thought it seemed smaller and a bit less over-the-top. Certainly, Rendezvous had been bigger, but Don suspected it was a strange familiarity that rendered the Resort more prosaic. He felt most comfortable here. First, there was a lack of sinister mystery that had haunted their time in the Manor, and Rendezvous had very much felt like something to be passed through, both times. Plus, there was a nice variety here that he enjoyed, even if that variety was rather hokey, bordering on the ludicrous. He noticed that a few of the people lounging and frolicking about had bits of clothing on here and there, which reminded him of the garments Shelonda and he had discarded way back in that odd tavern outside Rendezvous and on the Maidenhead, respectively. This thinking reminded Don of all the travels and adventures he, Toshia, Shelonda, and the others had enjoyed, though that wasn't quite the word for all of it. With all this in mind, Don reached out and took Shelonda's hand. She smiled back at him. “Thank you for all your help, Shelonda, and for your support and company. You've been a very good sport.” She laughed, “It's mostly been a lot of fun, really. I promised to help you and Toshia find your way home, and I'm glad I was able to do that, even if you decided not to go back.” “Yes, mission accomplished!” Don grinned. “You did a fantastic job!” “All the sex was fun too,” Shelonda winked. “Uh,” Don pulled her close and gave her a kiss. “It definitely was! We should get back to that soon.” “Good idea!” They might have stopped there and gone at it without a second thought, but they had already come to the Jungle Room, so they hurried inside. Again, Don was struck by the fact that the place was clearly larger on the inside. To this was added the fact that things had been rearranged rather radically in the last couple of weeks. The large wooden structure that had been the main feature—with its dancefloor and stories of open-air sex platforms, and a bathtub—was gone. Instead, more centrally located, there was a large wooden dance floor on the ground level of the “jungle.” A vast, colorful canopy was spread over the dancefloor, which featured poles for dancing and big cushioned chairs for another kind of dancing. The whole assembly made up a kind of pavilion as the focal point for those coming into the Jungle Room. The pool had been moved back, so that it was behind the pavilion, and it now boasted a fountain shooting water high into the air, in addition to the waterfall, the source of which seemed to be bubbling up from a pile of rocks off to the side. The blankets, clearing, lounges and fire pits had been redistributed about the jungle floor, and Don was pretty sure the trees and treehouses had been relocated as well. “It's different,” Shelonda said with a frown, as if to confirm Don's thinking. Then she shrugged and headed in, moving toward the dance pavilion. Don followed close behind, reminding himself that he needed to pay attention to more than her swaying backside. There were fewer people in the jungle than there had been before. There was a single woman dancing lazily around one of the poles, and another straddling the lap of the only man in that area. As he got closer, Don saw that the lap dancer was none other than Jaden, who flashed him a quick smile and wink before going back to her intent grinding in time to the music that filled the space below the canopy. Don smiled as he remembered the lithe, rather enthusiastic redhead. Coming out on the other side of the dance pavilion, Don wasn't exactly surprised that the volume of the music diminished considerably. Shelonda pulled up, and turned to Don with a smile, “Who was it we're looking for?” “India, but you didn't meet her before, did you?” “I don't think so, no.” “Beautiful woman with long black hair, and dark skin… not quite as dark as yours, though,” Don smiled. “I'll go look around for her. You should just relax and have fun, and I'll catch up to you in a bit. Oh, but if you see someone who might be India, try to keep track of her.” “Will do,” Shelonda grinned, then added with a saucy little smirk, “Don't take too long.” Don watched for a moment as she sauntered off toward the pool. He thought a refreshing dip in the water would be quite nice, followed by a long session of fucking Shelonda… but he really was dead set on finding India if she were there. With a quiet little groan, Don turned to the left and started his search. Working clockwise around the Jungle Room, Don checked each thatch-roofed hut and treehouse. He found the big orgy bed/platform half-hidden among some brush, as well as a set of four hot tubs near one another, set up, he surmised, so that people could watch each other and easily switch tubs if they wanted. There was a single couple enjoying one of the hot tubs, and a pair of women apparently napping after enjoying themselves in one of the tree houses, but no sign of India. Don made his way back to the pavilion and had an opportunity to get a better look at the new (for him) dancer. She was a leggy blonde with the kind of body a Playboy centerfold would envy. Her long hair was tied up, showing off her long, graceful neck. She had large, firm breasts held in check by a skimpy bikini top, which was a rather unusual bit of clothing for Eros. Her sexy hips were wrapped in a silky sarong, and Don got a glimpse of a matching bikini bottom covered her sex—again, very odd for Eros. She smiled at Don and nodded toward the chair in front of her pole, which was criminally empty. Don would have happily taken that spot, but at that very moment, Jaden got off her admirer's lap and shouted, “Hey there, Don! Welcome back!” As the lucky guy got up and started to head toward the pool to clean up and cool off, Jaden crossed the dance floor and threw herself into Don's arms. Don reveled in the feeling of Jaden's tits pressed against his chest as her mouth met his with a passionate kiss. He held her body tightly against him as their lips and tongues got reacquainted, and then moved his hands down to squeeze her tight ass firmly. When they finally came up for air, Jaden smiled over to the other dancer and said, “I'm going to take a quick break, Robin. Think you can get along without me?” Robin gave a haughty laugh and said, “I'll find a way to manage.” Don noticed that four or five guys had just come into the Jungle Room and were heading Robin's way, but then he was yanked to attention by Jaden tugging on his hand. “Let's go gang up on that cute friend of yours,” Jaden suggested. “I like the way you think!” Don laughed. Before they got to the poolside, though, Don thought to ask, “Is India around?” “I don't think so. I haven't seen her since she was here redecorating the other day.” Don wanted to ask about this redecorating, but he was suddenly distracted by the sight of Shelonda, who was quite busy at the moment. Beneath her was a strapping young black man who had his hands full with Shelonda's luscious tits, and presumably his cock up inside her pussy. Behind her, with hands alternately gripping her waist and caressing her tight butt, was a rather fit middle-aged guy who seemed to be fucking her ass. All of this was taking place on a wide chaise lounge that must have been stronger than it looked. Shelonda saw Don and gave him a big, very happy smile, but then went right back to encouraging her playmates, who Don suspected needed very little further encouragement. “'Guess we're too late,” Jaden laughed. Then she pulled Don with her into the pool. Laughing along with Jaden's exuberance, Don ducked under the water, enjoying the refreshing splash and noticing that the XYZ, along with everything else, already had his cock rigidly hard. Jaden noticed this as well when her hand wrapped around his thick shaft and pulled him to her for another deep and lingering kiss. Don hugged Jaden's slender body to him with his left arm, as his right hand delved between her legs. Jaden pulled and twisted his cock insistently as his fingers stroked her lips, parting them and then pushing up between them. Jaden threw her free arm around Don's neck and pushed up out of the water to wrap her legs around his waist. He pulled his arm out from between them, using it instead to help support Jaden as she positioned his cock just right and then sank down upon it. Don groaned as he felt her hot sex enveloping him, pulling down on his cock until his head hit her cervix. They kept kissing, their tongues moving eagerly against each other, as Jaden rocked her hips in the water, grinding her clit against the base of Don's shaft and squeezing and stroking the rest of his organ with her exquisitely talented muscles. When she finally began to move up and down on him, Don's hands slid down her wet back to hold her ass tightly. Feeling her legs flex around him, Don helped to raise and lower Jaden on him as the water splashed around and between them. Out of the corner of his eye, Don could see the backsides of the men plowing into Shelonda, and beyond that, up at the dance pavilion, it looked like the new guests of the Jungle Room were gathered around Robin, who seemed to be on her knees. Shuddering, Don closed his eyes and focused on the sensations of this wild, passionate woman in his arms—her mouth on his, her arms around his neck, her tits against his chest, her thighs squeezing his hips, her hot pussy squeezing and pulling on his straining manhood. For herself, Jaden was using Don's body to stimulate herself to a fever pitch. Her earlier lap dance and the aphrodisiac qualities of the XYZ water combined with the passionate sex to bring her quickly over the edge. She cried out as the first wave hit her. Don held onto her body, shoving up into her as she clutched at him wildly. Jaden was biting his lip as he felt himself exploding up into her, a boiling hot geyser of condensed lust pumping into her. “Fuck!” Don breathed at last. Jaden kissed him, and chuckled, “That's how we welcome people back to the Jungle Room.” “Wow! It's a very good way!” Don laughed. “I'm glad you like it,” Jaden grinned as she rocked herself against him, still impaled on his persistently hard cock. Don noticed that the slender young man who Jaden had danced for earlier was now reclining at the edge of the pool, and Shelonda's threesome was taking a bit of a break. “Why don't we move this over to the hot tubs?” Don suggested with a squeeze of Jaden's ass. “Good idea!” she kissed him again, and slowly eased herself up off his cock. Then she turned around and easily loud enough to be heard by everyone in the area, “Let's all go to the hot tubs!” Soon Don, Shelonda, Jaden, the other three guys, and a petite woman of apparently Indian or Pakistani extraction with full breasts and a cute short hair style who Don had not noticed but who had been watching all the assorted sex in the pool, were playing in one of the hot tubs. Shelonda was sucking on the cock of the young man Jaden had entertained earlier, while Jaden was sitting back on the lap of the black guy with his cock up her ass and the middle-aged guy was fingering her pussy and sucking on her beautiful tits. Meanwhile, Don had the new girl, whose name he never did learn, sit up on the edge of the hot tub so he could go down on her moist pussy and sensitive clit. She was holding his head to her, gasping and shuddering with her second orgasm, and Don was about to rise up and slide into her ready embrace when he heard a familiar voice cry out, “Professor!” “And Shelonda's here too!” said a second voice. With a parting kiss to the woman's sex, Don looked around to see Amy and Nicole standing over the hot tub, both of them naked and every bit as beautiful as Don remembered. “Hi there,” Don smiled. “Come on in and join the party.” In what seemed like only seconds, Nicole had gotten Don's newest friend into a 69, and Amy was sitting in the tub with Don standing in front of her, his cock filling her talented mouth. This was the beginning of a long orgy that lasted for at least an hour. Ultimately, though, Don was left in the tub surrounded by his four lovely friends. Jaden was idly stroking his cock in the water, and Shelonda was sandwiched between Amy and Nicole, who were having a hard time keeping their hands and mouths off Shelonda's body. It was then that Nicole started to press Don for details about the quest to the Grotto of Ishtar and the return trip. Of course, since they were soaking in a hot vat of XYZ the story was interrupted by mischief several times. Don and Shelonda finally finished telling the tale and they all went to look for something to eat, but then returned to the Jungle Room where they took over one of the tree houses for a long, intense little orgy where the plan seemed to be to see how many orgasms they could give Shelonda, who was ultimately reduced to a quivering, giggling state before passing out. Don held her in his arms and the others, including Jaden, snuggled in around them. Just before surrendering to sleep, Don kissed Shelonda's shoulder and thought it was very nice to be reunited with most of the original sextet, particularly here in the Resort. “When I woke up, Shelonda was just gone,” Don frowned. “We looked around everywhere but there was no sign of her, and no one could remember her getting up in the night. It seems that she just fell asleep in Eros and woke up back here, wherever she was originally from.” “Damn,” Toshia breathed. “Yeah, it was hard to take, I admit. I knew what was going on when you left, but this was a real punch in the gut. It hit Nicole and I hardest; the others seemed more inclined to just roll with things.” “It doesn't sound like she was bored, though,” Toshia frowned. Don shook his head, “No, definitely not. My theory has been that she felt fulfilled. Accomplishing our 'mission,' and returning to her friends, and maybe all the sex that day, all combined to maybe mean that she didn't need Eros anymore. She was ready to come back, so she did.” Toshia reached across the table and took Don's hand, then said, “It must have been very hard.” “Yeah, it was,” Don smiled wanly. “However, for me it was quite a while ago. Ah, here's our food.” Don Meets Stephanie Ayers at the Disco. Chapter 2. The Lead “Hum, I've missed having food this good!” Don sighed. “I didn't miss it at the time, really, but now it feels like I've been starving for it.” Toshia laughed, “I thought the same thing, and I was in Eros for a much shorter time.” “It reminds me of that Star Trek: The Next Generation episode where Picard lives a whole life…” Don stopped when he saw the look he was getting. “Right; not the story you want me to tell.Toshia's smirk just made him want to lean across the table and kiss her, but Don shrugged and said, “Well, after we stopped looking for Shelonda, I thought it would be a good idea to check in at the Abbey of Records to see if Charlotte, you know, the Sage, could possibly give me any more information about those rings.” “She didn't seem to know much, when we were there.” “No, but I thought it was worth a try, particularly since India was nowhere to be found. Nicole came along, and we went through the whole sexy bathing and debriefing thing again. Unfortunately, though, as you guessed, Charlotte couldn't say more about the rings themselves, but she was helpful. She told us that that woman, Stephanie Ayers, had recently reported back in too. Apparently, she had discovered a lead.” “This was the woman who had been looking for a way to get a ring for a long time, right?” “Right,” Don nodded. “Anyway, Charlotte said that Stephanie had been there just two days earlier. Luckily, Charlotte told her that I might be looking for her, and Stephanie said she'd spend a few days hanging out at the Resort, and that she'd try checking in with the Sheriff's office at noon and sundown.” Toshia was impressed, “That's a very lucky break! Did you catch up with her?” As they came down together from the Abbey, Nicole had been quiet and Don had been in a hurry, but as they came back into the Resort, Nicole apparently decided to speak up, saying, “So, if you have one of these rings you can come and go from Eros whenever you want?” “That's what I understand,” Don nodded, still leading the way. “I mean, we don't have the particulars, but that's the idea.” “That seems like a pretty damn cool thing to have.” Don looked over his shoulder with a smile, “Thinking about joining me on my little quest?” With a laugh and a shrug, she said, “Sure, why not?” “It could take a lot of time, and we might have to go a long way,” offered Don. “Something tells me we'll still have a lot of fun, Professor.” Don had to admit that did seem highly likely. Then they had come to the sheriff's office. Opening the door, they were a bit surprised, oddly enough, to see the sheriff sitting on the edge of her desk, with cute little Mike on her knees in front of her, face buried in the pretty sheriff's pussy. As before, the sheriff was wearing cowboy boots, a light denim vest, a shiny six-pointed star badge, and a pleated skirt that was bunched up so her assistant, or deputy, could lick her properly. The sheriff was wearing her long, strawberry blonde hair in twin braid pigtails, and her vest had fallen open to expose her firm breasts and hard pink nipples. Don and Nicole paused there in the doorway, but only for a second, before they moved toward the two women, Nicole moving to the right and Don to the left. In another moment they had each lowered their mouth to one of the sheriff's nipples, sucking and flicking their tongues over her sensitive nubs. The sheriff groaned and shuddered with approval, so they kept at it until, only a minute or two after their arrival, the sheriff came with a whimpering shaking and gasping that Don found adorable. Obviously, it would have been rude to jump right in and ask the sheriff if she'd seen Stephanie Ayers. So, instead, he smiled at her and continued to caress her lean body. But then, Mike started more mischief, by moving over to the pussy on her right, that is Nicole's. Like Don, Nicole had given up on clothing days ago and so was unprotected from Mike's eager fingers and mouth, not that Nicole wanted any protection in that regard, and was, very soon, leaning back against the sheriff's desk as Mike eagerly lapped at her pussy and clit. The sheriff responded to this turn of events by grasping Don's hard cock, which had been pressed up against her firm thigh, and pulling him over in front of her. Don smiled and looked into her blue eyes as she guided his very ready cock to the mouth of her sex. He pushed forward, his head and thick shaft opening her up, and enjoyed the expression of unadulterated pleasure on her freckled face. To get more penetration, Don lifted her long right leg up, laid it across the corner of the desk, and then proceeded to fuck in and out of her, keeping her from scooting back from him by wrapping his right arm around her slender body. Next to them, Nicole had pushed Mike back only to get down on the floor with her in a tight little 69. The sheriff had her hands on Don's ass, pulling him into her insistently, and he was shoving up into her violently, grinding up on her clit with each thrust forward. Don held onto her with his left hand and used his right to lift her left leg up onto his shoulder, proceeding to fuck her harder and faster. The sheriff leaned back on the desk and looked up at him with eyes glazed over with feral lust and quickly approaching orgasm. She reached down between them with her slender fingers and began to play with her clit, and then she was crying out and whimpering as her climax tore through her lithe body. Don kept plunging into her as her pussy clenched and pulled on his cock. He loved watching her ponytails flailing about and her taut abs trembling as she rode the waves of ecstasy. “That was great!” she finally murmured. “Don, wasn't it?” “Ah, yes, exactly.” “Did you want to see me about something urgent or do you have time to come for me?” Taken a bit aback, Don laughed and said, “Oh, I definitely have time for that!” “Good!” she nodded decisively. She pushed Don back and he reluctantly drew himself out of her. She promptly turned around and bent over her desk, spreading her long, muscular legs, presenting her backside for Don. The girls on the floor next to him were moaning and doing their best to distract him, but Don had no trouble focusing on the sight in front of him. He ran his hands up the sides of those beautiful thighs, under the skirt, which had fallen back into place a bit, and over her tight ass. The sheriff looked over shoulder, and said, “Fuck me, Don.” With her freckles and ponytails, she was about the cutest young woman to ever say that to him, and he wasted no time in obliging her. Flipping the skirt up out of the way, Don pushed his cock down and back into her waiting pussy, shoving all the way in with one slow but intent motion. As the girls on the floor were bringing themselves to mutual, very loud, orgasms, Don held onto the sheriff's waist and pulled her back on his cock as he shoved into her again and again, feeling his balls slapping against her fingertips as she went back to playing with her clit. It didn't take much of this before Don felt his cock swelling inside the sheriff and his balls tightening. Then he was shoving hard inside her and groaning as his body clenched with all its might and spewed a hot flood of cum into her pussy and womb. He shuddered and shook, pumping what felt like an unending stream. He could feel the cum leaking out of her and running over his balls. When he finally began to regain his senses and equilibrium, warm hands pulled him away from the sheriff, resulting in an almost funnily long rope of cum between her messy pussy and the tip of his slick cock. Then Mike was there, eagerly sucking his cock into her mouth, as Nicole dove in to lick at the sheriff, burying her cute little face in the mess Don had left behind. “Hum” Toshia smiled, “but aren't you getting a bit sidetracked?” “Okay, okay,” Don laughed, glancing quickly at his watch. “Well, eventually, the sheriff said Stephanie had been in earlier and said she would be at Club 69 that evening and would be wearing a red dress, ‘at least to start.'” After spending at least an hour with the sheriff and Mike, Don and Nicole went for a dip in the pool, followed by a nap on a chaise lounge. Don was awakened by the pleasant sensation of Amy's mouth on his cock. She had snuck up on Don and Nicole as they slept but couldn't resist the sight of Don's casual erection. They were soon joined by pretty Liu and Toshia's friend Jimmy, from the Temple of Venus and Aphrodite, and the whole party spent the rest of the afternoon in a lazy poolside orgy. Eventually, after another dip in the pool to refresh themselves, they all set off in what Liu promised was the way to Club 69. Along the way they passed a few more interesting clubs, such as The Dungeon and the Drag Inn, as well as a street stand that offered the usual display of fruit and water. It was growing dark by the time they got to the last three clubs on that particular street. On their right was a brightly lit, mostly open-air affair called Mardi Raw, which was already busy with revelers enjoying the obviously New Orleans and Rio themed decor and music. Don was surprised how many people were wearing clothes, and even masks. Then he noticed a nearby shop they had just passed, the Wardrobery. Don thought that was probably where Stephanie got the red dress she was supposed to be wearing. He had half a mind to go in and see what kind of an assortment they had but decided that could wait. To the left of Mardi Raw, and taking up the end of the street, was a darker club called simply The Grotto, and then, opposite Mardi Raw, was their destination, Club 69. Don really hadn't expected to see so much neon in Eros. The building before them was white and seemed to be about fifty feet tall, though Don suspected it might be quite a bit taller on the inside. Over the four sets of high, black double glass doors that took up most of the street front, was a huge bright neon sign clearly identifying this as their destination. The “Club” was in blue, and the “69” was in searing red. There was a decidedly 1970s feel to it. Don started toward the doors, but Liu stopped him, saying, “Oh, people usually dress up a bit for the 69.” “Ironic,” Nicole said under breath. Since he wanted to check out the Wardrobery anyway, Don had no trouble smiling and saying, “Lead the way.” It turned out to be a self-service clothing warehouse four floors high. The menswear was on the top floor, and Don and Jimmy were quickly able to find some fairly nice clubbing clothes that fit them. Don laughed as he saw the collection of actual disco shoes, platforms and all, that were available in one corner. Rather than risking his neck, he chose a more sensible set of shoes, though they did have three-inch-high heels that seemed rather precarious at first. When they gathered on the street out front, Don wasn't surprised that the three women were stunning in their sexy, slinky dresses. Both Nicole and Amy had selected silk dresses that hung from their necks by thin straps and came to an end just below their butts, Nicole's in white and Amy's in yellow. Liu was wearing a much longer red dress that had a very long slit up each side and a black cord cinching it in around her narrow waist. Each of the women had also selected very sexy high-heeled shoes that were bound to their ankles and calves by thin straps. Once again, Don was so glad he was in Eros where he could be very confident that he would soon be having sex with at least one of these gorgeous women. “Okay, we're looking for a thin woman with brown hair that comes down to her shoulders,” Don reminded everyone. “And she's got big tits for her size,” Nicole added. “Yeah, I guess she's about as tall as Nicole here,” Don nodded, trying to remember if the Charlotte the Sage had said anything else. “And she should be wearing a red dress.” “And her name is Stephanie,” Nicole finished. “Oh yeah, that might help,” Don laughed. They entered the club and, quite expectedly, they were hit with a wall of sound they had not heard at all on the street. The heavy four-four beat of standard disco music filled the space, throbbing insistently through the air. Don was sure they were hearing a version of Donna Summer's “I Feel Love.” The vast majority of what looked like the ground floor was taken up by a flashing colored dance floor straight out of Saturday Night Fever. There were moving spotlights, strobe lights, and even a couple of mirror balls hanging from the ceiling. There were a lot more people dancing than Don had expected. Around three sides of the dance floor, excepting the area directly in front of the front doors, were semi-circular booths with padded seating for when a break from the dancing was needed. There were scantily clad wait staff moving about in this area carrying trays of fruit and glasses of water. Don noticed that the atmosphere, literally and figuratively speaking, was less intense than in the disco in the Manor. Things here were a bit less heady, not quite so loud, and certainly quite a bit brighter. As the party naturally headed for the dancefloor, Don caught Nicole's wrist, pulled her to him, and said, “Don't leave here without me, okay?” She smiled and nodded, then gave him a wink before swaying off toward the center of the dance floor. Perhaps because they weren't dancing in a fog of XYZ, and perhaps a bit because they were generally wearing more clothes, the dancers here were engaged in a lot less sex than their counterparts in the disco in the Manor. Now and then couples, and sometimes groups would leave the dancefloor and head for one of the booths off to the side, or disappear up one of the winding stairways Don now saw in the back corners, flanking a broad stage, which was currently unused and which itself surrounded a high DJ station. The crowd was the usual Erosian assortment of surprisingly healthy people ranging from apparent late teens to unusually vigorous senior citizens, though there were comparatively fewer of the latter. Almost everyone was wearing clothes, but there were a few happy nudists be-bopping away, and it was clear that some folks were in the process of slowly stripping off the clothes with which they'd started. People weren't really disco dancing, as such, at least not as far as Don remembered the style from his youth. Smiling at all the sexy bumping and grinding going on around him, he didn't think anyone would appreciate being corrected on that particular score. “By the way,” Don paused. “I'm not really sure, but I swear I saw Adam Levine across the room.” “What?!” Toshia laughed. “The actor? From Maroon 5?” “I know,” he shrugged, “it's crazy, but I'm pretty sure that was him, wearing a white John Travolta suit and a black satin shirt.” “Dancing?” “Well, not so much as standing there, getting a blowjob.” “Crazy!” Toshia shook her head. Don did his best to scour the room for a woman in a red dress who might be Stephanie Ayers, but he had to admit that the chaotic lighting and the distracting bodies in motion made things a bit difficult. Half a dozen times Don found himself thinking he would love to dance with one or two of the lovely women moving so provocatively all around him. He had nearly crossed the entire floor, and was considering heading up stairs, both to see what was up there and to continue his search, when he felt a tapping on his shoulder. He turned to see a slender woman with thick, dark tousled hair framing her face. She had striking mascara and eyeshadow on as well as dark red lipstick, which amounted to more makeup than Don had seen in a long time. A sheer red dress with a wildly uneven hem hung from around her neck and clung to her generous bosom but left exposed her thin but muscular arms and shoulders, as well as one whole leg and the calf of the other, all nicely toned and tan. Don noticed that she also had a lovely long neck. She smiled a bit crookedly, and asked, “Looking for someone?” “Are you Stephanie?” he grinned. “That's what they call me,” she nodded as she stepped up and slipped her arms around his neck. “You Don?” “That's me,” he nodded, noticing that his hands automatically moved to her waist as they started swaying together in time with the music. He could feel that her body was extremely thin and fit, even for an Erosian. “I have to admit, you're younger than I expected.” “What were you expecting?” she arched her eyebrow at him in a way that reminded him of Toshia, though the way the right side of her mouth turned up higher than the left was all her own. “I don't know,” he shrugged, “but older, more experienced.” She laughed, “Oh, believe me, I'm experienced! But yeah, I was just 20 when I woke up here, so I suppose I still look about that. Counting Eros years, though, I'm more like 40.” “Well, you look amazing for your age,” Don laughed. “Ha! Thanks,” she smiled. “You're not so bad yourself.” The music shifted to a slow dance, and Stephanie moved in closer, resting her head on Don's chest. Don adjusted his embrace to hold her tighter. He had to admit she felt very good in his arms. “Is that a banana in your pocket, Don, or are you just happy to meet me?” she smiled up at him. “Definitely the latter,” he laughed, suddenly reminded of how odd the mores were here. He felt his cock rising against the unusual restraint of his slacks. Don decided to actually focus on the supposed business at hand, and said, “Charlotte said you had a lead on where or how to get those rings.” “I do,” she said. “We have to find a place, and it's not close.” “No?” Don asked, but before Stephanie could respond, Nicole and Amy appeared. “Oh, there you are, Professor!” Nicole exclaimed. “Is this her?” “Yes,” Don nodded, still holding onto Stephanie, but she pulled away to look at his two companions. Don made introductions, “Stephanie, this is Nicole, and this is Amy, and ladies, this is Stephanie.” “Oh, they're hot, Don!” Stephanie said with a hand grasping his upper arm in a way he didn't mind in the least. “Where did you find them?” “In the Manor.” “I haven't been there in ages,” she mused. “Maybe I'll go back for a visit if this doesn't pan out.” “Speaking of ‘this'…” Don prompted. “Oh, yeah, well, let's find a seat and have a chat, shall we?” She took Don's hand and led him and his lovely companions off to the nearest booth. Stephanie sat between Don and Nicole. Amy seemed to think this was going to be a sex break, so she sat next to Don and promptly started to unbutton and unzip his pants. It didn't even occur to him to stop her. “Oh, so she's not after a ring, eh?” Stephanie grinned. “What about you, cutie?” “Yeah, I'd like to be able to come back here, if I ever wind up leaving,” Nicole smiled. “I love it here.” “There's a lot to like, isn't there? Well, that's a nice banana, Don! Did someone call you professor?” “Yeah, I did that,” Nicole admitted. She was casually caressing Stephanie's thigh, having been smart enough to sit on the shorter-skirted side of the young, well, not so young, woman. “He's a history professor back in the real world.” “Well, the other real world, at any rate,” Stephanie smiled, as she returned the favor by running her hand up along Nicole's dark thigh. She was also idly moving her fingers over Don's hand and forearm. “This is just as real as where we're from.” Don was more than a little distracted by Amy's expert cock sucking, which had him at peak hardness already, but he managed to ask, “Do you have any idea how we go about getting a ring?” “Well, I actually managed to talk to a guy who had one. Now, that's distracting!” “Sorry,” Nicole grinned. She had slipped a hand up under Stephanie's dress. In turn, Stephanie had parted her legs a bit further for her. “No, don't stop,” Stephanie smiled. “Let's see how well I can resist, or how well you can distract me. Six of one, half dozen of the other. Where was I?” “Ah, you talked to a guy,” Don managed. He found himself holding the back of Amy's head as she deepthroated him intently. “Yes, and he said he wasn't supposed to talk about it, but I can be very persuasive,” Stephanie winked. “He said where I would have to go and said that I would have to 'undergo trials.'” “What kind of trials?” Nicole wanted to know. She had an impish grin on her face and had shifted around in the booth so that she was facing Stephanie more directly and could use her hand more effectively. “Oh, that's nice,” purred Stephanie. “Uh, he couldn't say. Apparently, he thought they were different for each person.” “Where do we have to go, though?” Don managed when Amy released his cock to strip off her little dress and toss it to the side. “Oh, those are very nice!” Stephanie said as Amy's tits hove into view. “Thanks!” Amy grinned. “Hey, why are you all still dressed?” “That's a very good question,” Stephanie nodded. Just then, Liu and Jimmy came up. Liu exclaimed, “Oh, there you are! Is this her?” “Yes, I'm her,” Stephanie said as she stood up to wriggle out of her dress. Don gaped at her athletic back, lingering on her tight ass, but then managed to croak out, “Stephanie, this is Liu and Jimmy, friends we made here at the Resort.” “In the Temple, at the orgy,” Liu explained while she also quickly slipped out of her clothes. Jimmy caught on quickly and was already half naked. Nicole, who hadn't missed the chance to get naked, was already pulling Stephanie back onto the seat next to her. Stephanie leaned back against Don and spread her legs for Nicole, who nestled between them, her hand going right back to Stephanie's moist sex. The two girls made out for a moment like that, and Don slipped his hand around Stephanie to cup one of her full breasts, teasing her nipple a bit. All the while, Amy kept sucking at Don's cock. Soon, Liu was laying back at the end of the booth as Jimmy expertly went down on her. Similarly, Nicole had kissed her way down Stephanie's body and was intently licking and sucking at her clit while her fingers pumped in and out of her very wet sex. Don was squeezing Stephanie's tit tightly, and her hands were, respectively, holding Nicole's head in place and clasping Don's hand. Don felt his pulse thundering in his temples as Amy inevitably brought him over the precipice into a shuddering volcanic orgasm that she directed to splash all over her pretty face. She laughed and then moved forward to rub her tits all over his twitching cock, getting cum all over herself. Don smiled down at Amy who grinned back at him, but then looked around to see if there were any other hard-ons in need of her attention. Don would have taken the opportunity to get undressed, but his arm was pinned to the back of the booth by Stephanie who was at that moment arching her back, pushing herself against Nicole's tongue. Don held onto Stephanie, now squeezing both of her tits in his hands, as she shook and cried out in orgasmic delight. While Nicole and Don caressed Stephanie, letting her bask in her afterglow a bit, a couple of men left the dancefloor in favor of the little orgy that was going on in this booth. One of the newcomers was happy to obey Amy's summons, standing in front of her and undoing his slacks, while the other moved over to caress Nicole's ass and legs as she lay on her belly between Stephanie's legs. It wasn't long before the first was getting an enthusiastic blowjob and the second was fucking Nicole from behind. “You travel in good company, Professor Don,” Stephanie smiled up at him. “Yes, I do!” Don laughed. “Want to join up?” “At least for a while,” she nodded as she sat up and turned to face him. “Why are you still wearing clothes?” Stephanie helped Don rid himself of what he was wearing as quickly as possible, before pushing him back on the bench and straddling his lap, holding his still hard cock up and then sinking down on it. Groaning with the exquisite pleasure of feeling his cock being enveloped by Stephanie's hot, wet pussy, Don ran his hands over her taut body, his eyes taking in every inch of her as she began to ride up and down on him. She held onto to the back of the booth as she ground herself against him and leaned in so that he could get his mouth on her tits. It was quite some time later when they had all managed to make their way up to one of the smaller, more private rooms upstairs, with the vague notion of finding a place to collapse after their orgy, that Don remembered that they had been in the middle of conversation when all the sex broke out. He kissed Stephanie, who was reclining in his arms again, but this time it was Jimmy going down on her. Don said, “So, you were saying, this guy told you where you needed to go…” “Oh, yeah,” she smiled and then said something. “Ah, what was that again?” Don asked, quite sure that she couldn't have said what he thought she had said. “We have to go to the Hall of the Court of the Crimson Mountain King,” she murmured with a combination of husky rising passion and exhaustion. Don could not resist laughing, so he did, long and hard. Chapter 3. The Valley “I don't get it,” Toshia frowned. “Well, you know Grieg's 'In the Hall of the Mountain King,' right?” “Of course.” “Well, there's this classic progressive rock album, by King Crimson, called In the Court of the Crimson King. Somebody apparently thought it was clever to put the two things together. At the time I thought it was hysterical.” She cocked her eyebrow at him and smirked, “I guess you had to be there.” “It gets better,” Don couldn't resist chuckling a bit. “You know 'Kublai Khan,' by
This week, we continue our series on Plato's Republic by discussing the topics covered in Book 10. In Book 10 of Plato's "Republic," Socrates critiques poetry and the arts for their ability to stir emotions and mislead people from the truth. He argues that poetry appeals to the irrational parts of the soul, promoting illusion over reality. The book also addresses the immortality of the soul, suggesting that the just person will be rewarded in the afterlife. Socrates concludes with the Myth of Er, a tale illustrating the soul's journey after death and the importance of living a just life. This final book emphasizes the philosophical quest for truth and the moral implications of art and justice.
In Book 4 of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis warns us to not be content with niceness. Good and nice is not the goal to which Christ is leading us and might actually get in the way.
In Book 4 of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes where Christ is leading us. If we do not understand what He is doing, we might start puching back. He is not building the house we thought. He is leading us to be little Christs.
In Book 3 of Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis describes how Christians are to behave. There is a signficant silimarity to chapel and temple convenants as restored in our day.
In Book 7 of Meditations, Marcus writes to himself (as the Gregory Hays translation, which you can grab a special edition of here, has it):"Take care that you don't treat inhumanity as it treats human beings."What does that mean? What exactly does Marcus mean by “inhumanity”? Hurricanes are inhuman. ChatGPT is inhuman. They might be ruthless forces of nature or technology, but they're not out to get human beings. Does it matter how you treat them? With a passage like this, it is helpful to, as we've done a few times now, look at various translations.In his great annotated edition of Meditations, Robin Waterfield translated that same passage like this:✉️ Sign up for the Daily Stoic email: https://dailystoic.com/dailyemail
Jamil Hamil from SE Oklahoma is a student of the Tru School Workshops on Women and Men. Raised in a legalistic and patriarchal church she was restricted from ministry because she was a woman.Baptized three times she earnestly loved God and sought to love and serve. She did all the crafts with the kids at church. Then she facilitated discussions in the women's ministry. Her insights often made the Bible more real to them.But her faith tradition prevented her from using her spiritual gifts to serve the Body of Christ. In Book 3 in The Eden Book Series called Back to Eden on 1 Timothy 2-3 we reveal that Paul encouraged women and men to teach and use all of their gifts!Like to go deeper? ENROLL NOW to be part of the next Tru School two-week cohort, The Eden Workshop on Genesis 2-3. Here's that link: www.Tru316.com/workshopThe Tru316 Foundation(www.Tru316.com) is the home of The Eden Podcast with Bruce C. E. Fleming where we “true” the verse of Genesis 3:16. The Tru316 Message is that “God didn't curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way.” Once Genesis 3:16 is made clear the other passages on women and men become clear too.Would you like to support the work of the Tru316 Foundation? You can become a Tru Partner HERE: www.Tru316.com/partnerFor just $3.16/month or more our Tru Partners are spreading the Word that God didn't curse Eve (or Adam) or limit woman in any way. Click www.Tru316.com/partner
Get ready for an exciting journey! In Book 5 of Confessions, we'll embark on a thrilling adventure to Carthage, Rome, and Milan. Join us as Fr. Gregory Pine and Fr. Jacob-Bertrand Janczyk delve into the fascinating experiences of St. Augustine at the age of 28 and his relentless quest for answers. As St. Augustine's dissatisfaction with Manichaeism and Faustus's teachings deepens, he eventually finds himself in the vibrant city of Milan, where his first encounter with St. Ambrose awaits. To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "CONFESSIONS" to 33-777. Please note: The Confessions of St. Augustine contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Relationship, fatherhood, heresy, and loss are all things that St. Augustine will face in the coming chapters. In Book 4 of St. Augustine, we will see him enter into a lengthy relationship which will result in his son. St. Augustine will also experience the loss of a dear friend. Fr. Jacob-Bertrand and Fr. Gregory Pine address the desire each person has for love and intimacy and how this desire was the impetus for many of St. Augustine's decisions. To get your copy of the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/catholicclassics or text "CONFESSIONS" to 33-777. Please note: The Confessions of St. Augustine contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Something I really want to see is Order 66 flashbacks. However, I don't want to see it from the point of view of the Jedi or any of the good guys, or heck even the clones. I want to see it from Anakin's perspective. We've seen Order 66 from the points of view of everyone except Anakin himself who led the attack. In Revenge of the Sith we saw it from the point of the view of the Jedi, in the battlefront 2 game in 2005 we saw it from the pov of the clones, in the bad batch we saw it from Kanan's perspective and of course the bad batch themselves. In the Clone Wars it was from Ahsoka's perspective. In Book of Boba Fett it was from Grogu's eyes. We have seen everyone' reaction to Order 66 except for Anakin's and for this reason I think we'll get the most compelling version of Order 66, from the dark lord's perspective himself. Perhaps Vader will be reflecting on Order 66 from his chamber and remembering everything he did there that night. In revenge of the Sith we got to see Anakin taking out Jedi in some holograms as obi-wan watched in shock, and we even saw Palpatine arrive at the Jedi Temple to congratulate Vader on his victory. I feel these could all be things that we witness now from Anakin's perspective, or rather should I say Vader. Imagine this scenario, Obi-Wan says, what would Padme think? And this obviously really hits Vader, or rather, Anakin deep within himself. So he retaliates by hurting Kenobi, It could be a moment of anger when Vader remembers, telling Obi-Wan of just how violent he was at the temple. The things he did. As he's describing it, we get the flashbacks from his perspective, and we finally get to see just how powerful he was. We saw Anakin fight Dooku, and once he tapped into the dark side, it was over in a matter of seconds. Beyond that duel, we didn't see him fight anyone else other than Obi-Wan. I think it'd be fun to see him clash sabers with fellow Jedi masters like Cin Drallig, the temple's lightsaber instructor, or any of the other masters and knights who were powerful in their own rights, but nothing compared to the chosen one. I think it would help draw Anakin's arc even further into the dark side if we saw just how much he struck fear into those he once protected and fought alongside. It would add much more weight to Revenge of the Sith, and that's definitely something to not take lightly. This show will change how we see Revenge of the Sith forever. That could be a great thing, or a bad thing, it all depends on the delivery and what they try to embellish. Much like the clone wars only added positively to Anakin's character, as well as the others, I hope the obi Wan Kenobi show will do the same to revenge of the Sith in flashbacks, as well as the original trilogy for Vader going forwards. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. In Book 8, Vronsky leaves for the Servian war, unable to live without Anna and hoping to die. Back at his farm with a loving wife and baby son, Levin struggles with thoughts of death and the horror of living when he does not understand "the whence, and why, and how, and what [life] was." (Summary by Mary Anderson and MaryAnn) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/librivox1/support
Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. In Book 7, Levin, in town for Kitty's confinement, finds himself drawn to the corruptive influence of Moscow society. Stiva again presses Karenin to divorce Anna, while Anna, driven by jealousy, becomes increasingly irrational towards Vronsky. (Summary by Mary Anderson and MaryAnn) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/librivox1/support
After our antepenultimate Iliad episode comes... the penultimate episode! In Book 23, Hector is dead, and Achilles mourns Patroclus, who comes to Achilles in a dream and demands a funeral. So Achilles organizes funeral games: chariot and foot races, boxing and wrestling, and more. The Argives compete, and contend over the justice of their competition. We ask: why does Homer's description of the chariot race take up half of the book? Does Achilles do a good job of managing this race and judging its outcome? Join Brian, Shilo, and Jeff as they discuss the "domestic policy" of the post-wrath, or dead, Achilles. Does he now permit pity and skill to come to the fore, and is this a sign of growth or decline? Is the world of pity and skill a world where one person can be good at everything? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brian-wilson5/support
Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. In Book 4, Anna's husband considers drastic measures to address the flagrant infidelity of his wife, while Kitty and Levin meet once again in Moscow to their mutual discomfiture. (Summary by Mary Anderson and MaryAnn) --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/librivox1/support
Here's our antepenultimate episode on the Iliad! In Book 22, Apollo, disguised as Agenor, lures Achilles away from Troy. When he sees through the deception, Achilles goes after Hector, and chases him around the city's walls. This goes on until Athena disguises herself as Deiphobus, and tricks Hector into facing Achilles. Then Achilles kills Hector, and drags his corpse around behind his chariot. Brian, Shilo, and Jeff ask: why does Hector decide to face Achilles, rather than taking refuge within the walls of Troy? We discuss whether his choice makes sense, and whether he is driven by a just (or an unjust) shame. We also consider whether Hector could have gotten help, whether he could have negotiated with Achilles, and whether he and Achilles, under different circumstances, could have been friends. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brian-wilson5/support
Welcome my friends to season 3 of the Determined to Dance podcast. My prayer is that you'll be encouraged to persevere daily in our chaotic world. Today's episode, Don't Give Up the Dance, focuses on sin and how it can move us off of the dance floor. Show Notes: Don't Give Up the Dance I am not perfect. In fact, I'm far from it in thought, word, and deed. Yes, Jesus lives in my heart, the Holy Spirit is within me as the helper, and God listens to my prayers, but I still mess up. Often. I sin. What is sin, exactly? The most basic meaning is to miss the mark. Fall short of a goal. Mess up. I have to admit that sometimes I'm jealous, I gossip, I follow thoughts I shouldn't, and I can hurt others with my words and deeds. I miss the mark. And what usually follows close behind sin? Guilt and shame. I believe God lets us experience a godly sorrow so we can turn back to Him, the only One who can forgive our sins. Jesus lived a perfect life, then died and was resurrected so we could experience forgiveness. We have only to ask. II Chronicles 7:14 shows us the right way to move past sin. “… if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. We have a part to play: We humble ourselves, admitting we need God. We pray to God, asking for forgiveness. We continue to seek God's face so we don't fall back into sin. We turn from sin and wickedness. We don't put ourselves in the position to sin again. God takes it from here: He hears. Our cries are never ignored. He forgives. He removes our sin as far as the East is from the West. He heals. He makes our broken parts whole. What a great God we serve. But sometimes the guilt and shame try to hang around. Jeff Walling explains what has been done: “Shame from sin doesn't just evaporate. It can't be expelled by wishing it away. In the court of God's will, someone must answer for the crime. Jesus was willing and able to be that someone. He allows me the chance to dance again, even after I sin—if I will give him my shame. Having faced and acknowledged my culpability, I hold out my guilt, which he graciously accepts … It is essential that once shame has been acknowledged, it be released to Christ. I must trust him with my shame. Only through allowing Jesus to bear our shame are we free to dance…” For the shame and guilt to disappear, we must first admit the sin, then give it to Jesus and refuse to hang onto the guilt and shame and the self-pity that tends to go along with them. To continue to dance with God, we must do this. No one can dance while carrying the burden that comes with sin. It's just too heavy. Let's pray: Father God, we humble ourselves before you and admit we have sinned. We have followed our own way instead of your way. We ask for forgiveness and will seek Your face daily so we won't get pulled back into wickedness. We turn from our old ways and follow your ways. Every day. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen. I might miss the mark but God forgives me when I ask. Today's featured author is Rosemary B. Althoff (ALL'-TOFF), author of the Christian sci-fi novels in the Soul's Warfare series. Rosemary wants to show God is active in science and working for people who need recovery. In Book 2, THE CAVE CHAMBER, Lewis tries hard to stop the enemy from conquering two worlds—including Earth. Meanwhile, his little brother Patrick wants to be a hero, and his friends want to find and help him, but as for his sister Gracie, … how can a little girl save the universe? Rosemary B. Althoff's books are available to order from Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and Target. Next week, we look at the problem of pain. Until then, stay determined to dance… Click to tweet: Today's episode of the Determined to Dance Podcast, Don't Give Up the Dance,
We're back, with our preantepenultimate episode on the Iliad! In Book 21, we get into the action. Achilles kills so many Trojans that the river Scamander protests the mess he is making. So Achilles fights the river, and nearly dies. Then there is a war between the gods; they lay it on without restraint. Meanwhile, Achilles kills two of Priam's sons, as he watches. And the Trojans are driven back into the gates of Troy. Join Brian, Shilo, and Jeff as they talk about what it might look like to fight a river, and wonder why Achilles cares about how his body looks after he dies. Is Achilles driven by justice in this book, or the noble, or both? Is excellence more visible in a contest between equals, or between unequals? And does Zeus enjoy the suffering of the gods because it makes them better? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brian-wilson5/support
In Book 20, Achilles gets new armor from his mom, and rejoins the battle. Zeus tells the gods to take sides, and to go nuts. And Achilles faces Aeneas and Hector, and fights them, so that the gods have to save them. Brian, Shilo, and Jeff talk about why Achilles' single combat with Aeneas is the centerpiece of the book, and why Achilles and Aeneas talk so much before they fight. Does the combat between Achilles and Aeneas prompt Poseidon to change sides? We also talk about why Zeus wants to see the spectacle of all the soldiers at Troy and all the gods fighting one another. Does Zeus find the suffering of soldiers and gods to be pleasant? --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/brian-wilson5/support
In Book 3, Chapter 58 of The Imitation of Christ, the idea of nature and grace is explored extensively. Fr. Robert Nixon says, “This is something which people who've studied theology will perhaps have thought about quite a lot, but other people maybe not so much. So the idea of this contrast or these two fortunes of nature and grace. So we do certain things by nature. It's within who we are, our created being, but we do things also by grace, which is something which comes from God above. “Now, in talking about nature and grace, it's important not to make too hard a distinction between the two because in fact our nature comes from God as well. So it actually is a form of grace. So sometimes nature and grace are in opposition, but at the same time, we don't want to draw too strongly a dichotomy between them, which is what the Protestant traditions tend to do, making nature and grace in firm opposition, which of course is not the reality because God has given us our nature in order that we may glorify him.”Episode 14 of The Commentaries dives into Book Three of The Imitation of Christ, chapters 54-59.GET THE BOOK - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF:The Imitation of Christ Deluxe Edition: https://bit.ly/44C8ymiTAN Classics Deluxe Set: https://bit.ly/41iTlUhThe Imitation of Christ Paperback Edition: https://bit.ly/41ayCC9The Imitation of Christ Zipper Edition: https://bit.ly/3LHzHvmMy Imitation of Christ Pocket Edition: https://bit.ly/3NMXyMKThe Commentaries is a podcast series from TAN in which you'll learn how to read and understand history's greatest Catholic works, from today's greatest Catholic scholars. In every series of The Commentaries, your expert host will be your personal guide to not just read the book, but to live the book, shining the light of its eternal truths into the darkness of our modern trials and tribulations. Visit http://TANCommentaries.com/ to get your copy of the book, and to subscribe for access to all the great reading plans, new episodes, bonus content, and exclusive deals for The Commentaries listeners.And for more great ways to deepen your faith, check out all the spiritual resources available at https://TANBooks.com and use Coupon Code COM25 for 25% Off your next order.
In Book 3, Chapter 38 of The Imitation of Christ, Christ says, “You must diligently make it your aim, that in every place and in every action or outward employment, you be inwardly free and master of yourself, and that all things be under you and not you under them, that you may be the Lord and ruler of your actions and not a slave or bondsman, but rather a free man.”Fr. Robert Nixon comments, “This is a great call to freedom of soul. Freedom is something which perhaps we tend to think of in political terms as something associated with liberalism and so forth. But in fact, freedom of soul, true freedom is one of the foundational values of Christianity.”Episode 12 of The Commentaries dives into Book Three of The Imitation of Christ, chapters 38-46.GET THE BOOK - USE COUPON CODE COM25 FOR 25% OFF:The Imitation of Christ Deluxe Edition: https://bit.ly/44C8ymiTAN Classics Deluxe Set: https://bit.ly/41iTlUhThe Imitation of Christ Paperback Edition: https://bit.ly/41ayCC9The Imitation of Christ Zipper Edition: https://bit.ly/3LHzHvmMy Imitation of Christ Pocket Edition: https://bit.ly/3NMXyMKThe Commentaries is a podcast series from TAN in which you'll learn how to read and understand history's greatest Catholic works, from today's greatest Catholic scholars. In every series of The Commentaries, your expert host will be your personal guide to not just read the book, but to live the book, shining the light of its eternal truths into the darkness of our modern trials and tribulations. Visit http://TANCommentaries.com/ to get your copy of the book, and to subscribe for access to all the great reading plans, new episodes, bonus content, and exclusive deals for The Commentaries listeners.And for more great ways to deepen your faith, check out all the spiritual resources available at https://TANBooks.com and use Coupon Code COM25 for 25% Off your next order.
Mackinac Island Story Series follows the life of Piper Penn in 1979 as she tries to leave her past behind and start a new life on Mackinac Island. In Being Ethel (In a world that loves Lucy) we follow her journey as a known shoplifter in San Francisco to Mackinac Island where she encounters mystery, romance, and true friendship with an I Love Lucy-loving nun. In Book 2, Being Dorothy (In a world longing for home) -1980- Piper becomes involved with a couple who have a secretive background and are not who they appear to be to anyone on the island. Next, in Being Alice (In a world lost in the looking glass), it's 1981 and we find Piper Penn meeting a young woman burdened by the scars on her face and the scars in her heart and she becomes the music tech for a famous rock star playing at the Grand Hotel for several weeks in the summer. In 1982, we meet Wendy T. Bell who is celebrating her 50th birthday by wondering which of her guests is trying to blackmail her and end her illustrious career as a famous author. An escape to Mackinac Island to elude the paparazzi and her troubled past leads to more mystery, suspense, and a look at what matters in life. Each book is filled with mystery, romance, friendship, faith, and yes, some recurring quirky characters. The continuation of the series finds Piper Penn living on the island and interacting with intriguing visitors who draw her into their story. Each book stands on its own, but reading them in order will provide a richer experience as you get to know Piper Penn and her life. Take a virtual visit to Mackinac Island with Piper Penn and an ever-surprising cast of characters, including the magical island itself, in this Mackinac Island series. Get the Mackinac Island Story series here. Mentioned in this Episode Being Ethel | Michele Olson Being Dorothy | Michele Olson Being Alice | Michele Olson Being Wendy | Michele Olson Somewhere in Time Ramona Books | Beverly Cleary Henry Huggins | Beverly Cleary Encyclopedia Brown | Donald J. Sobol Flying Nun Connect with Michele Olson Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter Don't forget to subscribe + leave us a rating and review! Be sure to visit the full show notes and listen to other episodes at thetriciagoyershow.com. And check out my newest book Heart Happy at triciagoyer.com/heart-happy! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thetriciagoyershow/support
This week the books I am reading from are 'The Light After Death: My Journey To Heaven and Back'. By Vincent Tolman and 'Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries' by Brian Allan.Vincent Tolman 'The Light After Death: My Journey To Heaven and Back'.Have you ever asked yourself, "What happens after we die?" Vincent was taken by Death. He was dead for a full 30 minutes. Did he see a bright light? What does heaven look like? What Does one feel when their heart stops beating? Are you embraced by the light?True account of life after death and touching heaven that is guaranteed to change your perspective on the meaning and purpose of life.In The Light After Death, the writer's account of his ordeal, told from the perspective of somebody who was dead but came back to life. From someone who experienced afterlife firsthand, learned about what lies beyond the threshold for those who are willing to open their mind.Vincent Tolman was found dead in the bathroom of a small restaurant. He had been dead for over half an hour at the age of 25. When paramedics arrived, they put him in a body bag and took him away. A rookie paramedic had a feeling to risk his career, break all protocols, and try to resuscitate him. Miraculously, he restarted Vincent's heart, but Vincent was in a coma for three days. He remembers what happened on the "other side" while he was dead.A True Story Like None OtherVincent remembers what he saw when he was dead for 30 minutes and talks about the 10 principles he learned from his afterlife. This book is not just a story of hope, but it also provides advice on how we can live our lives based on what this person learned during his experience.The Light After Death Vincent Todd Tolman, an experience that will change your life.BioVincent Todd Tolman was born in Arlington, Texas, and has since traveled around the world, living in both Cambodia and Thailand. He loves animals, meditating, and spending time in nature. His greatest priorities are his relationship with his Creator, his family, and the people he meets.https://www.amazon.com/Light-After-Death-Journey-experience-ebook/dp/B0BF1B6RVB/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1671186710&sr=8-1https://thelightafterdeath.com/https://livinggodslight.com/Brian Allan 'BOOK OF SECRETS: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries'.In ‘Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries', the internationally acknowledged paranormal researcher and editor of Phenomena Magazine, Brian Allan, presents many of the puzzles and enigmas that have confronted the human race since the beginning of time. The author considers everything from the Vimanas in ancient India that seem to have been flying war machines, to what actually occurred at the now apparently abandoned base at Montauk. He also seeks the truth about just who did build the pyramids, could we really be descended from ancient Martians, and are the two connected? He also asks who were The Watchers, are they connected to the Nephilim and is time travel even possible? Are UFOs and ET's actually demonic in nature and what really lies hidden in the Vatican's Secret Archives? All this and much, much more is examined in the pages of this book.BioAbout the Author: Hello, my name is Brian Allan and I was born in early March 1944, which makes me a Pisces, and I have had an abiding interest in paranormal and occult phenomena in all their varied forms for as long as I can remember. Although I have experienced strange and unusual encounters from a very early age, I had initially confined my interest in the subject to a passive role involving studying the subject via books etc, and it is only in the past thirty years or so that I actually became involved in a 'hands on' basis. During this relatively short period of time I have been privileged to meet some genuinely fascinating and spiritual people and witness at first hand some truly wondrous sights. Many people have asked if I have ever encountered anything truly paranormal, like have I ever seen a UFO, or have I ever seen a ghost, the answer to both these questions is 'yes', I have, and in the case of ghosts more than once. In the course of my investigations, initially with Strange Phenomena Investigations (SPI), and latterly with Paranormal Encounters Group (PEG) a group which is co-run with my wife, Ann, I have investigated hauntings, poltergeist infestations, possessions, UFO encounters and sightings, claims of alien abduction, in fact the entire spectrum of events that take place across the psychic battlefield, and on occasion it is indeed a battlefield. In almost all of these investigations, what the people involved experienced was, to them at least, absolutely real and in no case did any of them lie about what they encountered, indeed some of them were absolutely terrified and that is understandable. Happily, in almost all of these instances I am delighted to say that at the very least we were able to bring a measure of help and relief to those affected, and fortunately were able to resolve the problems. In addition to this, while involved with these cases I have been privileged to work and associate with some of the most talented, sensitive and gifted people it is possible to meet. They are the incredibly sensitive individuals who regularly bridge the narrow divide between the normal and the paranormal; they are the mediums and psychics without whom much of what I have seen and done would not be possible. As a result of these events and encounters I have reached certain conclusions based, not on ideas derived from other people's accounts but, instead, from hard-won first hand experience. It is these experiences that have allowed me to draw some conclusions that do not meet with the approval of, what shall I call them, hard core 'enthusiasts', particularly in the field of Ufology, who can see no further than their own, narrow, blinkered paradigm. Indeed it is something of a contradiction to note that, given the very nature of the phenomenon, those who should be the most receptive to different viewpoints are frequently the most narrow minded, dogmatic and defensive. The conclusions I have reached are varied and what follows is not by any means an exhaustive list. I say this because, in my opinion it does not have to be because a powerful common thread joins almost all of the conclusions.https://www.amazon.com/Book-Secrets-Aliens-Ancient-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0BP7ZT4TV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=https://www.phenomenamagazine.co.uk/https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/pastlivespodcasthttps://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcast
This week I'm talking to Brian Allan about his book 'BOOK OF SECRETS: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries'.In ‘Book of Secrets: Aliens, Ghosts and Ancient Mysteries', the internationally acknowledged paranormal researcher and editor of Phenomena Magazine, Brian Allan, presents many of the puzzles and enigmas that have confronted the human race since the beginning of time. The author considers everything from the Vimanas in ancient India that seem to have been flying war machines, to what actually occurred at the now apparently abandoned base at Montauk. He also seeks the truth about just who did build the pyramids, could we really be descended from ancient Martians, and are the two connected? He also asks who were The Watchers, are they connected to the Nephilim and is time travel even possible? Are UFOs and ET's actually demonic in nature and what really lies hidden in the Vatican's Secret Archives? All this and much, much more is examined in the pages of this book.BioAbout the Author: Hello, my name is Brian Allan and I was born in early March 1944, which makes me a Pisces, and I have had an abiding interest in paranormal and occult phenomena in all their varied forms for as long as I can remember. Although I have experienced strange and unusual encounters from a very early age, I had initially confined my interest in the subject to a passive role involving studying the subject via books etc, and it is only in the past thirty years or so that I actually became involved in a 'hands on' basis. During this relatively short period of time I have been privileged to meet some genuinely fascinating and spiritual people and witness at first hand some truly wondrous sights. Many people have asked if I have ever encountered anything truly paranormal, like have I ever seen a UFO, or have I ever seen a ghost, the answer to both these questions is 'yes', I have, and in the case of ghosts more than once. In the course of my investigations, initially with Strange Phenomena Investigations (SPI), and latterly with Paranormal Encounters Group (PEG) a group which is co-run with my wife, Ann, I have investigated hauntings, poltergeist infestations, possessions, UFO encounters and sightings, claims of alien abduction, in fact the entire spectrum of events that take place across the psychic battlefield, and on occasion it is indeed a battlefield. In almost all of these investigations, what the people involved experienced was, to them at least, absolutely real and in no case did any of them lie about what they encountered, indeed some of them were absolutely terrified and that is understandable. Happily, in almost all of these instances I am delighted to say that at the very least we were able to bring a measure of help and relief to those affected, and fortunately were able to resolve the problems. In addition to this, while involved with these cases I have been privileged to work and associate with some of the most talented, sensitive and gifted people it is possible to meet. They are the incredibly sensitive individuals who regularly bridge the narrow divide between the normal and the paranormal; they are the mediums and psychics without whom much of what I have seen and done would not be possible. As a result of these events and encounters I have reached certain conclusions based, not on ideas derived from other people's accounts but, instead, from hard-won first hand experience. It is these experiences that have allowed me to draw some conclusions that do not meet with the approval of, what shall I call them, hard core 'enthusiasts', particularly in the field of Ufology, who can see no further than their own, narrow, blinkered paradigm. Indeed it is something of a contradiction to note that, given the very nature of the phenomenon, those who should be the most receptive to different viewpoints are frequently the most narrow minded, dogmatic and defensive. The conclusions I have reached are varied and what follows is not by any means an exhaustive list. I say this because, in my opinion it does not have to be because a powerful common thread joins almost all of the conclusions.https://www.amazon.com/Book-Secrets-Aliens-Ancient-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B0BP7ZT4TV/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=https://www.phenomenamagazine.co.uk/https://www.pastliveshypnosis.co.uk/https://www.patreon.com/alienufopodcast
Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church's summer camp. They'll need them!Determined to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they're cornered by the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing.Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive? Adventures, friendships, and faith-testers . . . all under the watchful eye of a great big God.The Tree Street Kids live on Cherry, Oak, Maple, and Pine, but their 1990s suburban neighborhood is more than just quiet, tree-lined streets. Jack, Ellison, Roger, and Ruthie face challenges and find adventures in every creek and cul-de-sac—as well as God's great love in one small neighborhood.In Book 2 of the Tree Street Kids series, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills at the church's summer camp. They'll need them! Determined to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy from Fang, the local wildlife, the kids head deep into the woods. Just when they think they've cornered the “enemy,” the kids realize someone has gone missing. Is Fang up to no good? Or will faith and friendship be enough to see the kids make it out alive?In The Hunt for Fang, Jack and his friends learn some survival skills as they head to summer church camp. But it soon turns into an adventure they hadn't bargained for that takes them deep into the woods to find Ruthie's lost cat and protect Jack's new puppy, Arrow, from Fang. Then a crisis emerges as someone goes missing. Will they find their missing friend? Will God help them work together to get out of this sticky situation?Readers will happily head to camp with the kids and eagerly follow each chapter to find out what happens to kids just like they are. Parents will love how this series carries the spirit of the well-loved Sugar Creek Gang books from their childhood. Middle-grade readers will be excited to join the Tree Street Kids on The Hunt for Fang—continuing this journey to adventure, friendship, and fun!Amanda Cleary Eastep is not related to Beverly Cleary but wishes she were. She is, however, a children's writer, and the Tree Street Kids is her debut series. Amanda knows kids because she's still one at heart. When she is forced to act like an adult, she edits nonfiction books by grown-up authors.Amanda's children's writing has been published in Ladybug, The Friend, Sunday school curriculum, and at Story Warren. As a longtime writer, she's contributed to Christianity Today, Think Christian, and many other print and online publications. She is a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and she leads writing workshops at her local teen center. Learn more about her books at https://treestreetkids.comPlease share StoryJumpers with a friend if you enjoyed this episode. StoryJumpers is still growing, and your positive review and 5-star rating would help.The Bridge Podcast Network is made possible by generous support from The Boardwalk Plaza Hotel and Victoria's Restaurant on the boardwalk in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware - Open 7 days a week, year-round - Learn more at https://boardwalkplaza.comFeedback, or Show Ideas? Send an email to podcast@wearethebridge.orgDownload The Bridge Mobile App to get the latest podcast episodes as soon as they are published!
In Book 2 of Asimov's trilogy, new threats arise to Hari Seldon's Foundation. First a general of the fading Galactic Empire and then a mutant known as The Mule jeopardize Seldon's plan to maintain civilization in a barbaric universe. I'm Rachelle Ferguson of Kittywham Productions, and Unknown Friends is my biweekly book review podcast. Visit the Unknown Friends homepage at www.kittywhamproductions.com/podcast. To learn more about me and my work as a Christian playwright, explore my website at www.kittywhamproductions.com. Support the podcast and access exclusive content: www.patreon.com/unknownfriends Get in touch with me on Instagram: www.instagram.com/rachelle.ferguson Connect with me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/kittywhamproductions Email me: kittywham@gmail.com Thanks for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe to the podcast, leave a quick review, and share with your book-loving friends!
Peter Moon edited and published the 7 volume Transylvania Sunrise book series by Radu Cinamar, a covert operative with a top secret Romanian Intelligence unit called "Department Zero," which is investigating paranormal phenomena associated with the discovery of a Hall of Records inside the Bucegi Mountains. In Book 4 of the series, The Secret Parchment, Radu Cinamar explains his experiences regarding the discovery of an ancient Tibetan Buddhist parchment given to him by an extraterrestrial/goddess called Machandi in a remote location in the Himalayas. Peter describes Radu's efforts in translating and disseminating the Parchment's contents and its importance to Romania's Department Zero paranormal research. Peter also discusses his own fieldwork in Romania's Valley of the Golden Throne that corroborates key aspects of Book 4 concerning the discovery of an ancient underground structure filled with pure gold that had been plundered by the Romans, but has been hidden ever since their departure. Peter next discusses Inside the Earth, Book 5 of the series, which presents a wealth of information concerning space time portals and tunnels connecting the Inner Earth with the surface world. He discusses Radu Cinamar's journey's into different Inner Earth cities and the existence of the legendary city of Shambhala which exists in the etheric zone of the Inner Earth, near a singularity point, or Inner Sun. Peter finally answers questions concerning how the extensive portal system was largely shut down when the last city of the Hyperborean civilization, the legendary Troy, was defeated in a war, with much of the city disappearing and some of the population leaving to establish a colony in Rome as explained by the Roman poet, Virgil. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/exopolitics/support
I finally got to sit down with @trentoutloud after finally getting our schedules together (some back & forth emails…) but it was all WORTH IT!!What made this interview amazing & much more interesting is how Parallel our stories are!! We got to share our journeys with our mental health struggles & even made future plans to keep promoting mental health (& hopefully get my books signed and written ) Thank you @trentoutloud for sharing your mental health journey with us & thank you for being so vulnerable in your books (now give us that last one ALREADY)!!@TrentOutLoud is the founder of Exclucity. He laid the groundwork for sneaker culture in Canada and his autobiographical debut as an author, “How Sneakers Saved My Life: Book 1” and How Sneakers Ruined My Life: Book 2, gives you an up close and personal look at the man behind the brand. A child of Jamaican immigrants that went from being on welfare, to CEO of one of the most successful brands in Canadian history. From selling Long Tees and Du-rags out of the trunk of his car to ten store fronts that have employed over 800 people.Everybody wants to know how he did it, and now he's telling the unfiltered truth. Anybody can talk to you about how to get money, how to be a success, but not many are willing to be open enough to show you the toll it can take on your soul to get there. Trent Out Loud is standing in his truth and his courage will allow many to do the same.TRENT OUT LOUDS BOOKS;How Sneakers Saved My Life SynopsisWelfare, bankruptcy, arrests, failed businesses, and more. In Book 1, How Sneakers Saved My Life, Trent rips the covers off and takes us on the roller-coaster ride that is his life. While some of Trent's life experiences are shocking to read, his journey is captivating and you will find yourself rooting for his success along the way, especially during his most difficult years.He details how he brought Exclucity from the trunk of his car to the national stage, includes a police chase that will have you on the edge of your seat, and introduces the first company he started at just 12 years old. Trent also shares stories about his gambling past, being banned from the USA, modelling in New York City and South Africa, sourcing in China, getting kicked out of high school and only having $3.52 to his name. Not one page of this autobiography is boring.If you're a young or eager entrepreneur, you will learn so much from this book, and if you're not, that's fine too, there are enough life lessons in it for someone of any age to learn from. Trent's life is a MOVIE!How Sneakers Ruined My Life SynopsisWe get a rare insider's look at how the same sneaker industry that once helped to propel Trent's business to the national stage turned its back on him and started working against him as it battled for its own survival. We get to see a side of entrepreneurship that is revealing and also very shocking.In 2018, after two consecutive years of declining sales, Trent's once-thriving business was in jeopardy and those corporate meetings were replaced with bankruptcy trustees, restructuring advisors, debt consultants and a mental health therapist. Book 2, How Sneakers Ruined My Life is a story about struggle and pain but also about grit, grind and refusing to give up, even in the face of certain defeat -- a lesson we all can learn from. It's never over until it's over.NEXT: HOW QUARANTINE SAVED MY LIFE (COMING SOON)!!******#Podcasting #Podcaster #InstaPod #IGPod #May #Minipod #MentalHealth #Community #Recovery #Psychology #Love #MentalHealthAwarenessMonth #Awareness #Mental #Mind #Health #Healing #Wellness #Anxiety #BiPolarSupport the show
The Amazing Skin They're In Book looks at the physical characteristics of animals and the terms associated with appearance. Children are given the means to describe what they see in nature and the ability to make comparisons. They also learn how skins are used in the products humans use daily. Illustrations by Nikki Studio will amuse and delight.
The difficulty, perhaps the impossibility, of judging Paris and Helen, in Book 6 and elsewhere. Are they selfish and manipulative, self-deluding—or genuinely compelled by the will of the gods and fate? They seem as contradictory and enigmatic as people often do in real life. In Book 7, Big Ajax (contrasted with Little Ajax), a major figure in the Iliad, fights a duel with Hector, but inconclusively. Paris refuses to give Helen back to the Achaeans. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/michael-dolzani/support
Homer - The Odyssey - Episode 4 - The Importance Of "Oikos" And Why Odysseus Pursues It! Hi, I'm Christy Shriver and we're here to discuss books that have changed the world and have changed us. And I'm Garry Shriver, and this is the How to Love Lit Podcast. This is our third episode in our discussion of this influential classic, however else you might like to call it. In the first episode we started our discussion introducing just a few of the issues surrounding Homer, the poet himself, the Mycenean people and the semi-mythical age in which the story is set. Both of which are full of mystery. Archeology just does not fully answer questions like if Homer was a real person, or even if Ithaca existed. So, we are left with complicated pieces of a strange large game of sudoku, if you want to look at it as a puzzle. We tried to clearly portray that the Homeric poems are not historical accounts but creative pieces. This of course becomes very obvious in the chapters about the wanderings. Six-headed monsters and glamorous witches are obviously imaginative. But even the parts that seem to reflect “real life”, they still cannot possibly represent the reality of the Bronze age or the Dark age. Homer didn't know those realities. We did suggest that there likely was a Trojan war of some sorts, and perhaps King Agamemnon was a real person, but that's just about as far as we can extrapolate with any certainty. So, the Odyssey, nor the Iliad for that matter, was NOT trying to be a paint a picture of the current society of the period, but they do reflect the values and in episodes 2 and 3 we looked at a few of these values. So true- In the second episode, we tried to give an overview and a discussion of books 1-4, the Telemachy. That coming of age story where Telemachus, who was a baby when Odysseus left, arrives at a moment where he wants to embrace adulthood- or manhood as they called it. And yet, for Telemachus, as for every other teenager that has lived on this planet, that transition is not smooth. He's awkward, he's confrontational with his mother, he cries in public, but ultimately he leaves home and takes chances in the outside world. And although, he doesn't come back a hero, he does develop or maybe grow up a little as we see in his homecoming in chapter 15. He learns what a “real man” is, to use their term. He learns how to talk to adults and practice proper xenia. He sees relationships between men and women that are functional and relationships that are dysfunctional. We even see him at the end of the Telemachy, asserting some agency by giving shelter to a homeless man himself. And of course, last episode, we spent almost the entire time talking about Xenia, or hospitality. We talked about the examples of good xenia, like we saw in the Telemachy, but we also saw examples of bad xenia, most notably, in book nine through both the character of Polyphemus but even Odysseus really. We finished last episode leaving the island of the winds or Aeolia and arriving at the house of Circe. Christy, this is not the first woman we have met in the Odyssey, but she is one of your favorites, so before we get to Circe and why you seem to like her, as a woman, what do you see in general how we should understand these female characters? Or should men and women see these characters similarly. Ha! Well, that's an interesting question to raise, as today we look at the role of gender in the book as well as in ancient Greek life. But we must remember that gender roles are not isolated things. They are not simple things as we clearly see in these wandering chapters. We also have to be honest with ourselves and admit that when we read texts from other cultures, we have trouble understanding what things mean in the broader context of society as a whole. Even something as seemingly straightforward as sexism cannot be just read into a text, although there's a temptation to do just that. One aspect of this narrative that I find fascinating is that Homer in the Odyssey does explore the very raw and honest reality that no matter how patriarchial you may think a society is. What do you mean by that? Sure, so, if you want to, you could say this this is simply an old story about a man who leaves his family to fight for another man's woman because she's the most beautiful woman in the world and his friend wants his woman back back, so he dumps his own wife and son for twenty years, then wanders around sleeping with a bunch of evil women who are all madly in love with him until he finally comes back to an objectified wife who has been perfectly faithful. This said hero swoops in, kills all the bad guys and lives happily ever after. That's a brazen really uninteresting story, especially for women, especially for modern educated women. But we know highly educated modern women DO like the Odyssey, as well as other classics, and how do we know that- currently over half of students who study and teach classical studies are highly educated modern women. But beyond that, nothing that survives 3000 years survives because it's uninteresting. So, obviously, that's not the right way to approach the story- even if you want to focus on the dynamic between men and women in the story. This last week I wanted to explore that perspective a little more, so I read the analysis and commentary by Dr. Emily Wilson of the University of Pennsylvania, who, in my humble view, is perhaps the most famous expert on gender in the Odyssey. Oh wow, you rarely give these kinds of shout-outs. What should we know about Dr. Wilson. Dr. Emily Wilson, in 2017, became the first woman to ever translate the Odyssey into English. She is not the first woman to translate the Odyssey it's been translated by women into other languages, just not English. To put that in perspective, how many English translations are there? Oh my goodness, a lot, well over 60 and we keep translating it, but the translators had all been men. So obviously, I was interested in the idea if Dr. Wilson thought her gender made any difference at all as to how she translated the ancient Greek. I mean, as a higly respected translator, she was not trying to interpret the text but literally just translate it as faithfully to the original as possible. What did she say on the topic after all She literally thought about every single word in the entire text. Exactly, and I was surprised that everyone asked her that same question- which seemed a little odd, honestly. I mean over and over again, “As a woman, how did you translate blah blah blah” I mean you could suggest it makes no difference, I mean after all, Google translate doesn't have a gender. Ha! I assume that was not Dr. Wilson's perspective. No, it isn't. She makes a very convincing argument that, unless translators are reading each other and copying each others ideas, no two people will or should see things the same for a variety of reasons- not just gender. Our experiences and personal culture absolutely cannot help but color our lives and this affects even how we translate words from one language to another. One example she gives that we've already seen, but I didn't pay attention to from the part we've already read is in how you translate the word “maid” in section one. Fagles and other translators have used the word “women” or “maids” to reference these women. Wilson points out the word in the Greek clearly expresses that these women were slaves- and for her that is an important point not to gloss over- they were not maids- they were slaves. They were not free- and since in the end they are killed, the understanding of this nuance of text can influence how one interprets their role in the stories and ultimately how you understand what happens to them in the end, which we'll save for next episode. The way we understand who Circe and Calypso are can also be influenced by certain word choices. In her view, Homer, is neutral in his descriptions of these women and does not judge Circe or Calypso negatively but some translations do use heavy-handed negative language in English that just isn't connotated the same in the Greek, from her view. So, understanding that our biases and perspectives are always part of our interpretation doesn't make one person's translation necessarily better or worse, but just something to take into consideration- something to think about. So, let's think about it. What do you make of a story about a man who wanders around the ocean and pretty much all of his antagonists or impediments to getting home are female? HA! Well, for starters, for me that tells you a lot about female power. There are few societies today that are as patriarchal as the societies of 3000 years ago, and yet…look at the emphasis placed on navigating a world of women! If we assume that this is a story written by a man and the audiences were primarily male, which I think we can assume both fairly easily- at the very least the first statement of fact is that women cannot nor will not be overlooked- regardless of any formalized power arrangement. To simplify it, perhaps Homer is saying something as simple as, to underestimate women is to be destroyed by them. HA! I think that's a good starting point- because of course that goes without saying. But obviously, there's more to it than that. So, let's begin by looking at the power arrangement or social structure in The Odyssey? Last week we talked about the Greek concept of xenia, today let's introduce a new term. Develop for us this Greek concept of the “oikos”..or the household- the basic unit of community life. Life in the Greek world centered around a man building his oikos, a man with no oikos was no man at all. Exactly, so word “oikos” means household- a person's oikos is everyone and every THING within his orbit of influence- and oikos were led by strong men. One way to think of it maybe like the godfather in the godfather movies, without the crime element, of course- the head of the family. Remember this is a pre-city world, as we understand cities today. A man of means, a good word may be an aristocratic man or a noble man would build his oikos, his home, his household- he would have his wife, his children, but that's just the beginning, he would also have his slaves- of all sorts. And even these slaves, as we see in the Odyssey had levels in the hierarchy. So, in a social sense, home, or oikos, is much more than a physical space, although obviously, it contains physical space, but it is a place within personal relationships, the father/son, husband-wife, master-slave, king-competitors- and of course, in this society, the man of the household would be the leader, but the household or the home is a collection of relationships. An oikos is an economic unit as well as a social one, and since men were often at war, a lot of the economy or the business of running the oikos would be run by women. Notice all the weaving that goes on, just as one example- weaving is an economic industry. This is industry in a pre-industrial society. But it's not just weaving, there is agriculture, as we'll see when Odysseus gets back to Ithaca. Archeological evidence shows these households were running olive presses, building furniture, doing all kinds of self-sustaining and maybe even commercial ventures. So, a nobleman of means is absolutely defined by how he governs his household. The bigger the household: more slaves, more land, more live stock, more gifts he accumulates, the more successful he is as a man- a more respected oikos. Okay, so, let's go back to page one, what do we know about Odysseus, well if we go by the Wilson translation, this is a story about a complicated man, but what is he trying to do, he wants to get back to his wife. Odysseus has proved his manhood by winning at war. He got lots of glory on the battlefield which he is very proud to talk about with King Alcinous, but that is not enough- in fact, maybe it's only half enough. Penelope is central to the entire storyline because she is at the center of his oikos. She is at the heart of the story because Homer is suggesting a man without a good wife will struggle in building a good oikos. Odysseus' manhood is not complete; his glory is not complete if he does not have a well-ordered oikos that will outlive him. What does a man have if he loses his oikos? A man with no oikos is not a nobleman anymore- if we want to say it that way. In Book 11, which we're going to get to in a second, Odysseus goes down to Hades and runs into all sorts of people, one of which is Achilles and he calls Achilles blessed- he says there is no one more blest than him, that there never has been nor ever was, and Achilles responds protesting. Let's read his response.. “No winning words about death to me, shining Odysseus! By god, I'd rather slave on earth for another man- some dirt-poor tenant farmer who scrapes to Keep alive- than rule down here over all the breathless dead.” So, in other words, I hate it so much down here, I'd rather be a person without an oikos than be down here. Which suggests to me that a man without an oikos is as low as a man can go- regardless of glory. Yeah- Achilles doesn't seem to be that impressed with his Hades lifestyle. So, getting back to Odysseus, we might assume that since he wants to get home, it's because he's so in love with his wife and their marriage is so ideal- we might also assume that on her side that's exactly what Penelope wants as well- that their love story is at the heart of this story. But THAT is never stated- and that is what Dr. Wilson means by being careful about the complexities of the text and drawing conclusions based on our time period. Odysseus' return to Penelope is wrapped up in his return to his household, his little kingdom. There is no doubt that Penelope is a part of that, but Odysseus' does not to go to the grave without reclaiming and establishing his oikos. Yes- I think so. Another thing to notice is that all these noble women, the ones we're supposed to respect- are identified through their relationship with their male oikos. Arete is Wife of Alcinous the king, daughter of King Rhexenor- no one of merit can exist outside this oikos system- and the head of the oikos is always going to be a male. Circe and Calypso are independent women and unattached, BUT they only exist in the mythological world- and that is part of why they are dangerous. The Sirens are mythological and definitely dangerous. The monsters Scylla and Chrarybdis are mythological and nothing but lethal. To live well in humanity is to live well in community. Men must express success within the oikos system and so must women. At the end of the day, not even if you are endlessly spectacularly gorgeous, powerful, and sexually seductive; if you are unattached, it appears you are dangerous and you function outside the normal order of things. In some ways, you are incomplete. To be honest, there are those that would say that's true even today-maybe even me- I would word it differently, we would say something like balancing career and personal life- but it's not all that different, especially if we take the gendered terms out of the equation. Maybe, that's slightly controversial, and something worth thinking about, or if you're listening to this with a class, discussing, but let's talk about these “dangerous women”. Well, Circe is independent, and she does turn men into pigs, but she is not unkind. I guess that's why I like her. Last episode, we left Odysseus upset because he'd been blown back to King Aeolus and was told he wasn't getting another bag of winds. At this point, Odysseus still has quite a large group of men he's responsible for. They leave King Aeolus as a group of 12 ships, and they row for a week only to have a nasty encounter with a disagreeable Laestrygonian woman, one described as being “huge as a mountain crag” and who filled them with horror. Like Polyphemus, the Laestrygonian people, instead of feeding guests, eat them. They also fling rocks at Odysseus' crew, spear them like fish, and kill most of them. Unfortunately, eleven of the 12 ships go down. ONLY Odysseus' ship survives this onslaught. So by the time, he meets Circe, he's down to one ship and about 45 men. When they get to her island, they split up in two groups. Eurylochus, one of his crewmen, takes 22 men and they find her palace. But when they find it, they see it's surrounded by all these wild animals that should be wild but are actually tame: wolves and lions. We ultimately understand that they are tame because they are not animals at all, but men she's turned into animals. Anyway, when we. Meet Circe she's playing the part of a good woman, she's weaving- these women and their weaving, they all do it. Anyway, Circe invites them in, like a good hostess gives them wine, cheese, barley, all the good stuff…but in the wine she put a drug, then she struck her wand and turns them into pigs. Only the leader, Eurylochus, who didn't drink the wine escapes to warn the others. HA!! You know Circe is magical. She's a witch, an enchantress, a goddess, otherworldly, and yet she's also very much expressed as a woman. Perhaps that's what makes her so dangerous to Odysseus. Even her weaving is described as divine. There are two sides to Circe. She's the sexual temptress or evil witch, but she also excels at the art of being a woman in the traditional or domestic sense. Either way, She is too much for Odysseus, to the point that Hermes, the messenger of the gods intervenes and helps him. Let's read what Hermes tells Odysseus. Page 239 So, is the goal to trick or subjugate Circe? I don't think so. We'll see later that Circe's oath is conceded from a position of honor. Odysseus' asks for it; he doesn't demand it. She's always above him, she's a goddess- he's not. Hermes helps him get on Circe's good side, and when he does, she speaks to him with a human voice and uses her magic for good. She turns the men back into men from pigs, but look what she does, she makes them better versions of their former selves. That's nice and she treats them really well, after the small issue of exposing them as the pigs they were got resolved. At the end, even though, she really wants Odysseus to stay, she not only lets him go, but she also tells him how to get home. He's got to go to Hades. But the broader point is that he needs to WANT to go home. Life with Circe would be really nice, but to stay there would be a distraction- it would keep him from his goal of building his oikos. It would be getting away from the main thing. And as my daddy has repeated to all of us kids all my life, “You gotta keep the main thing the main thing.” Well, if the main thing is to get home, they have to go through Hades to get there. We've seen that before. Yes, your buddy Carl Jung would say it's inevitable. Let's read where Odysseus delivers the bad news to his men. “You think we are headed home, our own dear land? Well, Circe sets us a rather different course…down to the House of Death and the awesome one Persephone, there to consult the ghost of Tiresias, seer of Thebes.” So I said and it broke my shipmates' hearts. They sank down on the ground, moaning, tore their hair. But it gained us nothing- what good can come of grief? Back to the swift ship at the water's edge we went, our spirits deep in anguish, faces wet with tears. But Circe got to the dark hull before us, tethered a ram and black ewe close by- slipping past unseen. Who can glimpse a god who wants to be invisible gliding here and there?” And of course, off they go. Persephone, btw, is Hades wife, queen of the Underworld. The Underworld itself is a place you can sail to, in the Homeric world. It is located beyond the river that encircles the world. In other places of Greek mythology, we see it as being split up and really not just one place, with some levels being way better than others. However, in this story, it doesn't seem that awesome, at least we don't see Achilles liking it very much. But they go, Odysseus meets quite a few people including his mother Anticleia, Agamemnon, Hercules, Ajax, Jocasta, Oedipus' mom, as well as quite a long list of other women. We really don't have time to focus on all the little stories about Hades. Suffice it to say, that Tiresias tells him what to do and what NOT to do to get home. Let's read the advice. Page 252 In other words, stay focused!! Keep the main thing the main thing. Don't listen to the voices that can distract and seduce you. It seems, the difference between the one man who makes it versus the 44 men, who die, in large part has to do with their ability to stay focused. And so, it happens pretty much like he said. They go back by Circe's, they go by Sirens, those temptresses who sing and coax men to come close but to come near them is to to be lured men to their deaths. They avoid that pitfall but Odysseus putting wax into the ears of his men, and then tying himself up with ropes. But then there are the female monsters Scylla and Charybdis- Scylla is a six-headed sea monster who rapidly and unexpectedly snatches six men at a time as they go by. Charybdis is an enormous whirlpool that swallows Odysseus' ship. Charybdis swallows her victims slowly while Scylla gets them by surprise. I guess you can interpret those metaphors any number of ways. Either way, by the time Odysseus gets to the end of chapter 12 he is literally hanging to a fig tree trunk for dear life- alone. Everyone else is dead. Odysseus has resisted all the temptations of the mythological world, but he has one more temptation. Calypso will keep him for seven years, there's an archetypal number, and he's tempted with the most tempting thing anyone could ever be offered- eternal life. What is the value of an oikos? Is an oikos worth that? Odysseus has a long time to sit around and think about that, and in the end, he is unequivocal. He wants to go home. With Zeus' permission, he drifts back to the world of men- of humans, he's made it. He's resisted all the challenges, the temptations, the darkness; he's made his personal journey. He's found the king who will help him finally restore his own oikos, not just get home, but restore his oikos. And there is one person who is not happy about that. Let's hear Poseidon's complaint to Zeus. Page 290 Poseidon is outraged not that Odysseus is alive, but that his oikos will be restored. He punishes the Phaeacians by turning their boat to stone and by building a mountain ridge around their home, but we don't seem to care all that much about them, poor things, because our attention is now redirected to Ithaca. What's it going to be like when he gets there. You know I've heard that a lot of servicemen can really identify with conundrum expressed here in Odysseus' homecoming. After all, what is Odysseus if not a veteran combatant. Yes, Odysseus is home, but home isn't how he left it. In fact, when he looks at it, he doesn't even recognize it. It must be reclaimed. Homecomings as anyone knows who's been away for a long time, aren't always as we have imagined them in our heads. We're different people; the people we left are different. And if Odysseus is going to restore his world, reclaim or perhaps recreate his oikos, he will have to listen to the voice of wisdom, Athena. When we started the book, we met two other nobles who came back from war. In many ways Penelope has been compared to Helen. Now Odysseus' homecoming will be compared to Agamemnon's (who we met in Hades), to Menelaus and Nestor. It's interesting to notice, if we're going to look at it this way that Odysseus wanderings are expressed through a series of female aggressions- distractions, traps, sexuality, deceitful voices, apparently all kinds of things we've seen displayed in this world of imagination- and personified by female monsters, in large part. And so now, he's made it…maybe…and the nature of the aggression changes as well. I was actually surprised to see that only a portion of the story is about the wanderings and it's told in a backstory- the wanderings is really what we think of the story being about. But we're only in book 12 and there are literally 12 more to go. The climax is not getting home- not really. It's the external homecoming versus the internal homecoming. He's home externally, but that doesn't mean much at this point- it's just the halfway point. Things have to be ordered for relationships to be right. There must be a second homecoming; it's a little unsettling really- it ain't over. Oh, and there's one more thing- because we're talking gender today- let's not forget- what about Penelope? Interestingly enough, Homer NEVER let's us see inside Penelope's head, and in fact, he very intentionally conceals from the reader any insight into what Penelope really wants. What will this homecoming mean for her? Penelope has spent 20 years weaving- now think about this- that is before headphones and podcasts. The time she spends weaving is time she's spending primarily thinking and Penelope, if she is described as anything in this story, is described as a person who thinks carefully. In that she is her husbands well-suited mate- she matches him with her cunning. Except in her case, her options have been much more reduced. She has needed way more cunning to navigate her world of men, then Odysseus has needed to navigate the wild sea and the assortment of female dangers. So, where do you think that will leave these two when they meet up? The short answer is- in different places. And that's where we are going to pick up next episode. The Grand finale will consist of all these recognition scenes that lead us to Homer's vision of the promise that no matter how far out of sorts your life has gotten, there's always home—not just a physical place, but an established and recognized place within meaningful relationships- that each of us can restore our oikos. And although, what we call an oikos today isn't the same as the Greeks, the good Lord knows our households have more configurations than even Odysseus could imagine- it's a nice idea- this idea that hope of building ours is always alive- no matter how far away it feels, so lost, so screwed up we think we've made out of our world- if we just hang on to the fig tree over the whilepool trying to kill us- we too can restore our oikos- and build a home once again. Yes, and that is regardless of our gender! For sure- Thanks for listening, we hope you are enjoying this Odyssey. If you have are, please support us by sharing an episode with a friend either via text, via twitter, Instagram, facebook or how you share your favorite things! Also, take a second a give us a five star rating on your podcast app. And of course, always feel free to communicate with us! We are always hear and ready to hear your ideas on our favorite classics. Peace out!
Clare Cinnamon joins Kate to discuss Delaina – Book 3 in the Lainey Cash trilogy. Kate and Clare talk candidly about the story and the creative process. In Book 3, Mallard, Mississippi’s young and wealthy landowner Delaina (Lainey) Cash leaves her rural hometown due to drama centered around her, the magnitude of an unbelievable family […] The post Delaina by Clare Cinnamon appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
This Speak: Something-something Visser Three, yadda-yadda the ocean, let's just get to Atlantis already! When the Animorphs go to Atlantis(!), they discover the undiscovered truth about the lost city of Atlantis.... which is that it's not called Atlantis. Actually, it's "Nartec". Or at least that's what the people are called. We never get the name of their "city", it's just the land of the Nartec. The lost city of Nartec? That just doesn't have the same grandiose vibe as Atlantis. Well, whatever, the Animorphs find Atlantis, they get outta there, you know how these types of adventures go. Uhh... Ax was there.... And uh, yeah, all that and more! In Book 36, The Animorphs Do Atlantis! --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thoughtspeakcast/support
In Book 3, Mallard, Mississippi’s young and wealthy landowner Delaina (Lainey) Cash leaves her rural hometown due to drama centered around her, the magnitude of an unbelievable family secret, and her up-and-down romantic relationship with farmer Jed McCrae. She decides to finish her college degree in Texas, previously interrupted by her father’s untimely death. Her […] The post Book 3, Delaina by Clare Cinnamon appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
In Book 3, Mallard, Mississippi’s young and wealthy landowner Delaina (Lainey) Cash leaves her rural hometown due to drama centered around her, the magnitude of an unbelievable family secret, and her up-and-down romantic relationship with farmer Jed McCrae. She decides to finish her college degree in Texas, previously interrupted by her father’s untimely death. Her […] The post Book 3, Delaina by Clare Cinnamon appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
In Book 3, Mallard, Mississippi’s young and wealthy landowner Delaina (Lainey) Cash leaves her rural hometown due to drama centered around her, the magnitude of an unbelievable family secret, and her up-and-down romantic relationship with farmer Jed McCrae. She decides to finish her college degree in Texas, previously interrupted by her father’s untimely death. Her […] The post Book 3, Delaina by Clare Cinnamon appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
In Book 3, Mallard, Mississippi’s young and wealthy landowner Delaina (Lainey) Cash leaves her rural hometown due to drama centered around her, the magnitude of an unbelievable family secret, and her up-and-down romantic relationship with farmer Jed McCrae. She decides to finish her college degree in Texas, previously interrupted by her father’s untimely death. Her […] The post Book 3, Delaina by Clare Cinnamon appeared first on WebTalkRadio.net.
This episode concludes our little traipse through Lucretius's On the Nature of Things. In Book 6, Lucretius implicitly addresses the sufficiency of a naturalistic worldview in the making of great art, then brings us face to face with the concrete reality of dying. In describing a historical plague in Athens, he describes in painful detail the double agony of illness and fear to which those living in terror of postmortem judgment are often subject. In doing so, he addresses the ethical question, current in many modern societies, of prolonging a life beyond the point where the only reasonable prospect is continued suffering. In short, he seems to be laying the groundwork for what we now call “death with dignity.” But why? Why conclude a poem of consolation with a grueling description of physical and psychological suffering? Well, I won't offer a definitive answer, but it seems to me that, in addressing the origins of the world, of life, of humanity, and of society, it would then have been dishonest to have left out questions of mortality. An account of life that leaves out an account of death would necessarily be incomplete, as would such an account that shied away from the pain of dying. Looked at this way Lucretius seems to be offering his naturalistic perspective as an antidote to the real suffering caused by belief in the supernatural. We may not be able to alleviate the suffering of the body in the days leading up to death, but we can, it seems, both alleviate our mental suffering regarding our postmortem trajectory, and also have grounds for not prolonging life beyond the point where the only possible outcome is continued agony.
In Book 5 of On the Nature of Things, Lucretius presents a naturalistic account of the origins of life and, quite frankly, the origins of species in a well articulated explanation of evolution by natural selection. While he of course lacks the observational mechanisms that we now possess, or that Darwin possessed, he was pretty solid in the broad strokes, and it is probably worth noting that Darwin was familiar with this poem. He also offers accounts of both technology and civilization (both of which involve the question of language) that, like his account of life itself, owe nothing to the imagined divine. In these accounts, which knowingly contrast with both Classical and Old Testament mythologies, our drive and ability to know are neither gifted from nor opposed by those perennially threatening fictions from on high, but rather are emergent properties of us, therefore of life, therefore of matter, therefore of the Cosmos, itself. His narrative of technology is particularly interesting as this is poetically interwoven with his narratives of both evolution and civilization in a way that strikes me, at least, as anticipating contemporary notions of the feedback loops by which complex systems often develop. Of course, to stand scrutiny, a naturalistic description of humanity must also account for such matters as laws and the arts, which Lucretius does by proposing an early version of the social contract on the one hand, and on the other, his description of the arts as mechanisms by which we come to both know and appreciate ourselves and the world in which we live. Bound up in this book, from beginning to end, is an account of a naturally emergent human dignity, and a beautiful and compelling picture of true piety as being directed toward the Cosmos itself, and toward our own wondrous nature.
In Book 3 of On the Nature of Things, Lucretius addresses the idea that inspired Dante to consign Epicurus to the sixth circle of Hell: that the soul is not immortal. In making his argument, Lucretius makes a compelling case, given the observational capacities of his time, for the mind as an emergent material phenomenon, a position borne out compellingly by modern neuro-science. In making this case for the physicality and thus the mortality of the mind, which he posits as one component of a soul consisting of both mind and spirit, Lucretius also gets into areas pertaining to mental health, a matter of urgent current interest. These questions relate closely, I think, to the real psychological dangers posed by the stigmatization of mental illness on the one hand and religious threats of eternal damnation on the other. The episode therefore ends with a somewhat personal take on the clear and present danger that a non-naturalistic understanding of the mind and soul poses to human wellbeing.
Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 1 Title: Mr Britling Sees It Through Overview: Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells's "masterpiece of the wartime experience in southeastern England." The novel was published in September 1916. Mr. Britling Sees It Through tells the story of a renowned writer, Mr. Britling, a protagonist who is quite evidently an alter ego of the author. The garrulous, easy-going Mr. Britling lives with family and friends in the fictional village of Matching's Easy, located in the county of Essex, northeast of London. The novel is divided into three parts. Book the First, entitled "Matching's Easy At Ease," is set in June–July 1914 and is at first narrated from the point of view of an American, Mr. Direck, who visits Mr. Britling's establishment in Dower House and falls in love with Cissie, the sister of Mr. Britling's secretary's wife. Also in the company are Mr. Britling's son Hugh and a visiting German student, Herr Heinrich, who is forced to leave when war breaks out. Book the Second, "Matching's Easy at War," covers August 1914 to October 1915, when Mr. Britling's son Hugh is killed at the front. In Book, the Third, "The Testament of Matching's Easy," Mr. Britling learns that Herr Heinrich has also been killed, and writes a long letter to the dead German soldier's parents. Mr. Britling is a complex character whose conflicts are the chief concern of the plot. Mrs. Britling (Edith) runs the household, but she does not engage her husband's affections entirely. On the one hand, he is involved in "his eighth love affair" with Mrs. Harrowdean (though this affair does not survive the beginning of the war). At a deeper level, he feels" profoundly incompatible" with Edith, his present wife, whom he married after the death of his first wife Mary, with whom he had been "passionately happy. His deep love of the son they had together, Hugh, is inflected by his continued emotional attachment to the memory of his first wife. Mr. Britling Sees It Through is of note for its extended exposition of Wells's non-sectarian religious faith: "Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But all these things fall into place and life falls into place only with God. Only with God. God, who fights through men against Blind Force and Night and Non-Existence; who is the end, who is the meaning." The novel was used as a text at chaplains' school and was embraced by military officers and religious leaders. Mr. Britling Sees It Through was one of the most popular novels in the United Kingdom and Australia during World War I. Wells's American publisher paid £20,000 for it. Maxim Gorky called the novel "the finest, most courageous, truthful, and humane book written in Europe in the course of this accursed war . . at a time of universal barbarism and cruelty, your book is an important and truly humane work." Published: 1916 Author: H. G. Wells Genre: Literary Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Published 1900 Onward, Novel Episode: Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 1 Part: 1 of 3 Length Part: 5:47:03 Book: 11 Length Book: 17:10:18 Episodes: 1 - 12 of 35 Narrator: Peter Eastman Language: English Edition: Unabridged Audiobook Keywords: adventure, hero, struggle, camaraderie, social commentary, history, satire, futurist, utopian, aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, technology Credits: All LibriVox Recordings are in the Public Domain. Wikipedia (c) Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. WOMBO Dream. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/support
Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 2 Title: Mr Britling Sees It Through Overview: Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells's "masterpiece of the wartime experience in southeastern England." The novel was published in September 1916. Mr. Britling Sees It Through tells the story of a renowned writer, Mr. Britling, a protagonist who is quite evidently an alter ego of the author. The garrulous, easy-going Mr. Britling lives with family and friends in the fictional village of Matching's Easy, located in the county of Essex, northeast of London. The novel is divided into three parts. Book the First, entitled "Matching's Easy At Ease," is set in June–July 1914 and is at first narrated from the point of view of an American, Mr. Direck, who visits Mr. Britling's establishment in Dower House and falls in love with Cissie, the sister of Mr. Britling's secretary's wife. Also in the company are Mr. Britling's son Hugh and a visiting German student, Herr Heinrich, who is forced to leave when war breaks out. Book the Second, "Matching's Easy at War," covers August 1914 to October 1915, when Mr. Britling's son Hugh is killed at the front. In Book, the Third, "The Testament of Matching's Easy," Mr. Britling learns that Herr Heinrich has also been killed, and writes a long letter to the dead German soldier's parents. Mr. Britling is a complex character whose conflicts are the chief concern of the plot. Mrs. Britling (Edith) runs the household, but she does not engage her husband's affections entirely. On the one hand, he is involved in "his eighth love affair" with Mrs. Harrowdean (though this affair does not survive the beginning of the war). At a deeper level, he feels" profoundly incompatible" with Edith, his present wife, whom he married after the death of his first wife Mary, with whom he had been "passionately happy. His deep love of the son they had together, Hugh, is inflected by his continued emotional attachment to the memory of his first wife. Mr. Britling Sees It Through is of note for its extended exposition of Wells's non-sectarian religious faith: "Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But all these things fall into place and life falls into place only with God. Only with God. God, who fights through men against Blind Force and Night and Non-Existence; who is the end, who is the meaning." The novel was used as a text at chaplains' school and was embraced by military officers and religious leaders. Mr. Britling Sees It Through was one of the most popular novels in the United Kingdom and Australia during World War I. Wells's American publisher paid £20,000 for it. Maxim Gorky called the novel "the finest, most courageous, truthful, and humane book written in Europe in the course of this accursed war . . at a time of universal barbarism and cruelty, your book is an important and truly humane work." Published: 1916 Author: H. G. Wells Genre: Literary Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Published 1900 Onward, Novel Episode: Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 2 Part: 2 of 3 Length Part: 5:58:28 Book: 11 Length Book: 17:10:18 Episodes: 13 - 24 of 35 Narrator: Peter Eastman Language: English Edition: Unabridged Audiobook Keywords: adventure, hero, struggle, camaraderie, social commentary, history, satire, futurist, utopian, aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, technology Credits: All LibriVox Recordings are in the Public Domain. Wikipedia (c) Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. WOMBO Dream. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/support
Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 3 Title: Mr Britling Sees It Through Overview: Mr. Britling Sees It Through is H.G. Wells's "masterpiece of the wartime experience in southeastern England." The novel was published in September 1916. Mr. Britling Sees It Through tells the story of a renowned writer, Mr. Britling, a protagonist who is quite evidently an alter ego of the author. The garrulous, easy-going Mr. Britling lives with family and friends in the fictional village of Matching's Easy, located in the county of Essex, northeast of London. The novel is divided into three parts. Book the First, entitled "Matching's Easy At Ease," is set in June–July 1914 and is at first narrated from the point of view of an American, Mr. Direck, who visits Mr. Britling's establishment in Dower House and falls in love with Cissie, the sister of Mr. Britling's secretary's wife. Also in the company are Mr. Britling's son Hugh and a visiting German student, Herr Heinrich, who is forced to leave when war breaks out. Book the Second, "Matching's Easy at War," covers August 1914 to October 1915, when Mr. Britling's son Hugh is killed at the front. In Book, the Third, "The Testament of Matching's Easy," Mr. Britling learns that Herr Heinrich has also been killed, and writes a long letter to the dead German soldier's parents. Mr. Britling is a complex character whose conflicts are the chief concern of the plot. Mrs. Britling (Edith) runs the household, but she does not engage her husband's affections entirely. On the one hand, he is involved in "his eighth love affair" with Mrs. Harrowdean (though this affair does not survive the beginning of the war). At a deeper level, he feels" profoundly incompatible" with Edith, his present wife, whom he married after the death of his first wife Mary, with whom he had been "passionately happy. His deep love of the son they had together, Hugh, is inflected by his continued emotional attachment to the memory of his first wife. Mr. Britling Sees It Through is of note for its extended exposition of Wells's non-sectarian religious faith: "Religion is the first thing and the last thing, and until a man has found God and been found by God, he begins at no beginning, he works to no end. He may have his friendships, his partial loyalties, his scraps of honor. But all these things fall into place and life falls into place only with God. Only with God. God, who fights through men against Blind Force and Night and Non-Existence; who is the end, who is the meaning." The novel was used as a text at chaplains' school and was embraced by military officers and religious leaders. Mr. Britling Sees It Through was one of the most popular novels in the United Kingdom and Australia during World War I. Wells's American publisher paid £20,000 for it. Maxim Gorky called the novel "the finest, most courageous, truthful, and humane book written in Europe in the course of this accursed war . . at a time of universal barbarism and cruelty, your book is an important and truly humane work." Published: 1916 Author: H. G. Wells Genre: Literary Fiction, War & Military Fiction, Published 1900 Onward, Novel Episode: Mr Britling Sees It Through - H. G. Wells - Book 11, Part 3 Part: 3 of 3 Length Part: 5:24:48 Book: 11 Length Book: 17:10:18 Episodes: 25 - 35 of 35 Narrator: Peter Eastman Language: English Edition: Unabridged Audiobook Keywords: adventure, hero, struggle, camaraderie, social commentary, history, satire, futurist, utopian, aircraft, tanks, space travel, nuclear weapons, technology Credits: All LibriVox Recordings are in the Public Domain. Wikipedia (c) Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. WOMBO Dream. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/support
In this episode, we continue our exploration of Lucretius's humanist masterpiece, On the Nature of Things. In Book 2, Lucretius begins to explore what it means to live in a Cosmos in which divine interference lays no role and all phenomena are subject to natural laws and naturalistic explanation. Beginning with the smallest objects that can be observed with the naked eye, he leaps inward toward the question of free will and then onward to questions of what current thinkers refer to as emergence—the arising of higher-order behaviours that are not predictable from observing initial conditions and components in complex systems. He offers an explicit discussion of what the divine actually is and why we have no need to worry about it, offers a welcome debunking of the “teleological argument” that the world was made for us or that any intention lies behind our being, and concludes with a refreshing and reasonable argument for the existence of extraterrestrial life. Not bad for the first century BCE. Enjoy.
In Book 8, Alkinoös asks Odysseus to tell his tale, and in Book 9, that tale finally starts. This is probably what you were thinking The Odyssey would be about. To join the discussion, visit the blog at Triumvir Clio's School of Classical Civilization. If there's no hyperlink showing up here, you can go to triumvirclio.school.blog to find a feed of recent episodes as well as discussion pages for every episode. References Cartwright, Mark. "Odyssey." Ancient History Encyclopedia. Ancient History Encyclopedia, 15 Mar 2017. Web. 24 Aug 2020. Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Robert Fitzgerald, Vintage Classics, 1990. Tsykynovska, Helen. "The Odyssey Book 9." LitCharts. LitCharts LLC, 15 Sep 2013. Web. 11 Oct 2020. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/bethany-banner/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/bethany-banner/support
One of the most controversial novels of the year, “American Dirt” by author Janine Cummins, is now also one of the most successful. US-based publisher Flatiron Books paid Cummins a seven-figure advance for “American Dirt,” marketing the book as the antidote to America's misunderstanding of immigrants along the borderlands. In response, many writers pointed out the novel had, instead, caricatured and misrepresented not only immigrants but also many aspects of Mexican society. The social media debate sparked multiple read-this-instead lists. Still, the drama hasn't hurt sales much: The book has been on bestseller lists since it was published in late January.Related: 'American Dirt' reveals identity bias in the publishing industry, critics sayBut the controversy around Cummins' novel is symptomatic of one of American book publishing's long-standing shortcomings, says Ignacio Sanchez Prado, who researches Mexican literature at Washington University in St. Louis: Only 3% of the books published in the US every year are translations from other languages. That makes it hard for authors who write in non-English languages to gather readership in the US. “The books are there,” Sanchez Prado told The World. “It's just that the big corporate publishers don't put their machinery behind them.” The big five publishers — Penguin/Random House, Hachette, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster, and Macmillan — expect writers from the “Global South” to be native informants of their countries and cultures, he said on Twitter.“The idea of cosmopolitan Mexican writers, Mexican writers not just writing about Mexicanness — that blows peoples' minds,” he said.Sanchez Prado recommended several novels translated from Spanish to English by writers widely praised in their native Mexico. That list includes works by authors Carmen Bollousa and Fernanda Melchor — both out this spring. In “Book of Anna” (out April 14 by Coffeehouse Press), Boullosa tells a story centering on socialites and revolutionaries in Russia. In “Hurricane Season” (out March 31 by New Directions Publishing), Melchor weaves a story revolving around the murder of a small-town witch. The two books and authors are examples of the broad landscape in Mexican literature today, said Will Evans, owner of Dallas-based Deep Vellum Publishing, which specializes in international literature.“That is what is great about Mexican literature. You can write like a Central European writer, like an East Asian writer, like an American writer or like a Mexican writer,” Evans said. “Mexico is as much in the center of the world as the US is. Everywhere is the center of the world to the people who are there.”'Book of Anna' by Carmen BoullosaCarmen Boullosa, a poet, playwright and novelist, has been writing for decades. Her work has been widely praised across the Spanish-speaking world, and it seems there is no topic the Mexico City native won't tackle. In “Cleopatra Dismounts,” published in 2003, she reimagined the life of Cleopatra. In “Texas: The Great Theft,” published in 2013, she focused on the little-known 1859 Mexican invasion of the United States. And in “Book of Anna,” translated into English by Samantha Schnee, she starts off with the title character from Leo Tolstoy's famous epic “Anna Karenina."Tolstoy, in his novel, makes a brief mention of a manuscript title character Anna Karenina was writing but does not revisit it, Boullosa said. In “Book of Anna,” a copy of Anna Karenina's manuscript is found, and the stories of Anna's children converge with that of revolutionaries in St. Petersburg in 1905."Tolstoy had problems with women. He adored Anna Karenina, but she was a woman, and he had problems with them," Boullosa explained. "I wanted to restore her from her lost manuscript, so I decided that I was going to write the book."'Hurricane Season' by Fernanda MelchorFernanda Melchor, a 37-year-old from the state of the Mexican state of Veracruz, has written two novels. When her second, “Hurricane Season,” was first published in Mexico in 2017, many critics heralded it as one of the country's best novels of the year, and Melchor one of the best writers under 40. The book was translated into English by Sophie Hughes and has been shortlisted for the International Booker Prize, arguably the most significant prize for literature translated into English. It will be available in more than 10 languages. “Hurricane Season” takes place in an imaginary town in Melchor's home state of Veracruz, near Mexico's Gulf Coast. It opens with a group of boys discovering the body of the local town witch floating in a canal, and unravels with the stories of townspeople connected to the witch. Melchor wanted the novel to reflect true life in the narrative it tells and in the way people in Mexico speak, she said. The story confronts the violence that women in Mexico experience on a daily basis. Melchor said she was surprised by the broad international interest it has earned."It's a novel that talks about a small town in Mexico and has a really strong local color,” she said. “It's really harsh. It's not for every reader.”
In Book 2, chapter 5 Lewis draws some practical conclusions about Christ, the sacraments, and God's patient invasion plans. PLEASE Join the conversation at the Knowing God With Heart and Mind Facebook group
In Book 3 of the Meditations Marcus Aurelius tells himself to stop trying to read the minds of others and to pay attention to his own mind, his own tasks in the here and now. support the show by going to www.patreon.com/sundaystoic
New Release of Book #3 The Ghost Girl Listen to Podcast RSS CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE GHOST GIRL TRAILER :) Edward Guzman, Gabriela Baez, Tamara Kachelmeier, and John Kixmiller present a summary of book #3 The Ghost Girl. Produced & Edited by Tamara Kachelmeier at Ghost Dog Studios in Brooklyn, NY.Assistant Recording Engineer - Joe Vitaliano Jr.The Protectors of the Wood adventure novel series is an illlustrated story of a group of misfit teenagers who save the world from climate change. This is the third book of the Protectors of the Wood Series, a six-volume saga about a group of misfit teenagers who save the world from climate change. In Book 3, Abby becomes the church gardener and moves into the old, run-down churchyard cottage. She soon discovers that she is watched night and day by professional investigators hired by the colossal corporation trying to take over the town, and force Abby to reveal the secrets of the forest and the source of dreamstone. Reverend Tuck, Abby, and their allies form a community council to run churchyard events and gather support for their efforts to engage the church in the fight against climate change. The community in Rivergate, an island in the wetland preserve, and Abby’s childhood home, joins their mission. The struggle with Milton Morphy and his corporate empire reaches a dangerous climax as Abby flees for her life into the forest.Protectors of the Wood #3 is available in bookstores! If it is not available, please ask them to order the book. Also available on amazon.comand barnes & noble.CLICK HERE TO VIEW A PREVIEW OF CHAPTER 1
The term “adulting” has become a tongue-in-cheek term used by young adults to celebrate the completion of daily “adult” tasks such as paying bills. But what are the deeper responsibility of adults in our society? In Book 5 of the Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the adults are waging a resistance against the Dark Lord Voldemort that they do not fully let Harry and his friends into. Though this frustrates the youth, the adults have a sense that the full fight is not yet for these teenagers. In an age where our most outspoken and arguably most effective activists against violence have been youth, how are we as adults measuring up? How might we fully embrace the responsibilities of being adults?
Today I wanted to spend some time with a character I have a very dear place in my heart for and that character is Sméagol, also known as Gollum.At first glance he’s just this gangly, wicked, nasty little monster that you may find easy to hate. Maybe you even find yourself, like Frodo, wishing Bilbo had simply killed him when he had the chance and that was the end of it. And yet when we spend just a little bit of time looking for the humanity within Gollum, we find Sméagol, and we are reminded that he himself is a creature worthy of love and yet desperately broken and lost. I wanted to start out with a little bit of background information on Sméagol before the Ring.Sméagol spent his early childhood living with his Grandmother. When he was 33 years old, he was fishing with his cousin Déagol who found a gold ring in the water. I want to pause just for a second here to mention the importance of that age, 33. It isn’t in the books and I haven’t been able to find an actual source for this but I’ve read it in several places and I wouldn’t put it past Tolkien to choose this age intentionally. So you can take it or leave it, but I thought I’d mention it. His birth year is listed as Third Age 2430 and then the year he got the Ring is approx. 2463 which would put him at 33. He also referred to the Ring as ‘his birthday present’, although it’s unsure if it it was actually his birthday because Sméagol is such an unreliable narrator. This age is important for a few reasons. First, 33 is the year when a hobbit is considered officially an adult, they’ve come of age. So Sméagol chose to take the Ring as an adult, not as a child. Second, Frodo was also 33 when he was given the Ring, on his birthday. So we were talking about this on twitter and @danielhlogan referred to him in this sense as “Frodo’s Shadow”. Sméagol is, in a kind of way, an inverse of Frodo in the way that he came about possessing the Ring and what followed after. Sméagol takes it by force, where Frodo was given the Ring as a gift. (Also, drawing from Tolkien’s Catholic influence, 33 is the age of Christ when he was crucified. Just wanted to point that out.) So almost immediately, Sméagol finds himself obsessed with the Ring and ultimately chokes his cousin to death and takes the Ring for himself. After that, he quickly devolved as the Ring corrupted him, he’s kicked out of his grandmother’s home and finds a home for himself in a cave in the Misty Mountains where he lived for more than 400 years. “they Banished Us” by Foxinshadow via DeviantArt Eventually, Bilbo comes across the Ring and ultimately takes it with him home to the Shire, which leads Gollum to leave the mountains and search in vain for Bilbo. He ends up being captured and tortured in the dungeons of Barad-dur, where he reveals to Sauron what he knew about the Ring. After that, he was freed but then captured by Aragorn and brought to Mirkwood. He then escapes with the help of Orcs and continues searching for the Ring, eventually finding the Fellowship in Moria and following them until he is caught by Frodo and Sam and they take him as their guide. There’s this quote towards the end of his tale -- Book 4, Chapter 8, The Stairs of Cirith Ungol -- in which we are shown the last flicker of light within his heart and it just kills me, just absolutely kills me. After hours of sneaking around and plotting, Gollum finds Frodo and Sam asleep. Tolkien writes, “Peace was in both their faces.” “Gollum looked at them. A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam faded from his eyes, and they went dim and grey, old and tired. A spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, very cautiously he touched Frodo’s knee -- but almost the touch was a caress. For a fleeting moment, could one of the sleepers have seen him, they would have thought that they beheld an old weary hobbit, shrunken by the years that had carried him far beyond his time, beyond friends and kin, and the fields and streams of youth, an old starved pitiable thing.”But at this, Sam immediately wakes up and sort of yells at Gollum, accusing him of sneaking and calling him an old villain. In Letter 96, Tolkien calls this “the tragedy of Gollum who at that moment came within a hair of repentance - but for one rough word from Sam.”“Gollum withdrew himself, and a green glint flickered under his heavy lids.” Tolkien uses the back and forth of the green gleam or glint in Gollum’s eyes from the grey in his eyes to show us the internal struggle going on within Gollum, this turmoil between Sméagol the Hobbit and Gollum the lonely creature he has become, and after this exchange Tolkien writes “the green glint did not leave his eyes.” “Smeagol’s Remorse” by NickOnPlanetripple via deviantart After this moment, I would argue, Sméagol’s fate is sealed. We can’t really know what might have happened if Sam might have reacted differently, and even if Gollum would have had a complete change of heart in this moment there’s nothing to guarantee he wouldn’t have given into the overwhelming desire for the Ring once again. But it still makes me wonder. Can we blame Sam? I don’t think so. Sam is right not to trust him, after all. And given what he’s gone through and the desperate situation he’s found himself in, I don’t think many of us could say that we would have been any kinder. But despite his cruel words and his general disdain for Gollum, Sam ultimately chooses the same path as Bilbo when given the chance to kill him. In Book 6, Chapter 3, Frodo and Sam are scrambling up the Slopes of Doom when Gollum finally finds them once again. Tolkien writes:“'Don't kill us,' he wept. 'Don't hurt us with nassty cruel steel! Let us live, yes, live just a little longer. Lost lost! We're lost. And when Precious goes we'll die, yes, die into the dust.' He clawed up the ashes of the path with his long fleshless fingers. 'Dusst!' he hissed. Sam's hand wavered. His mind was hot with wrath and the memory of evil. It would be just to slay this treacherous, murderous creature, just and many times deserved; and also it seemed the only safe thing to do. But deep in his heart there was something that restrained him: he could not strike this thing lying in the dust, forlorn, ruinous, utterly wretched. He himself, though only for a little while, had borne the Ring, and now dimly he guessed the agony of Gollum's shrivelled mind and body, enslaved to that Ring, unable to find peace or relief ever in life again. But Sam had no words to express what he felt.” Sam allows Gollum to live, just a little bit longer… and ultimately it is Gollum who brings about the destruction of the Ring. I find it so fitting and so beautiful that Gollum, most harmed by the Ring, is ultimately the source of its destruction and the world’s salvation from it. It’s a reminder that Providence can work through the most wretched of us to bring about something so beautiful and redemptive. We are reminded, in the glimpse of his humanity, that even Sméagol was created for goodness— and even though the power of the Ring has caused him to wander so far from his original path, Providence can still work through him to help heal the world. Artist Credit: Shockbolt via DeviantArt Gollum carried the Ring for nearly 500 years. And as he carried it, it carried him away from everything beautiful or kind or true he had ever known. When Sméagol took the Ring for himself he entered into his own personal hell on earth, we might say, and he was consumed by it until the last moment of his life.I’ve been thinking about this for a while: can we hold Gollum accountable for his actions? After all, the power of the Ring is far stronger than the will of any simple Hobbit. Even Frodo himself succumbed to it at the last moment. Tolkien actually addresses it in Letter 181, and it isn’t the happy answer we might have wished for, but I think it’s better than that, it’s a good answer. He writes, “Gollum was pitiable, but he ended in persistent wickedness, and the fact that this worked good was no credit to him… I am afraid, whatever our beliefs, we have to face the fact that there are persons who yield to temptation, reject their changes of nobility or salvation, and appear to be ‘damnable’... But we who are all ‘in the same boat’ must not usurp the Judge. The domination of the Ring was much too strong for the mean soul of Smeagol. But he would have never had to endure it if he had not become a mean sort of thief before it crossed his path. Need it ever have crossed his path? Need anything dangerous ever cross any of our paths?”I think, ultimately, we are faced by the truth that although Gollum did not intend to be carried so far away from the light of the world, it was his choice to take the Ring for himself and so the burden of what he became afterward is on him. And I think that should be somewhat alarming for us to recognize in our own selves too!So what do you think about all of this?I want to end with another quote from The Stairs of Cirith Ungol, as a reminder that we’re all a part of the same story, the same world. I think often we might be tempted to look at others, maybe those living radically different lives than us, those who believe differently than us, who we disagree with, and we see them as something less than human. And guys, that’s terrible, we can’t do that. Just cut that out immediately. Frodo and Sam and Smeagol, they’re all hobbits, all worthy of love and deserving of mercy.The choices we make have led us all down our own paths, some deep into the tunnels of the Misty Mountains, some to the dungeons of Barad-Dur, some to the Field of Cormallen… but we’re all a part of the same tale. “’Why, to think of it, we’re in the same tale still! It’s going on.Don’t the great tales never end?’‘No, they never end as tales,’ said Frodo.‘But the people in them come, and go whentheir part’s ended. Our part will end later—or sooner.’”
The Truth: My Journey to the Other Side with Dee Delaney - is an amazing true story of loss love survival and healing. Following the sudden and unexpected death of three partners, all young men in their forties, Dee decided to give it all up and move to a small fishing village in India where she started to rebuild her life with her small son. But the brutal murder of a young British Backpacker stopped her in my tracks and it seemed that death had a way of following her around. In Dee's 2nd book The Truth: Is the Art of Being she examines the art of living and dying through the teachings of the Tibetan Bardo and the Pagan Book of Living and Dying. Her journey of discovery takes her across India and eventually back to the UK where she trains as a soul midwife and realizes she has the unique gift of helping the dying pass over. As Dee returned to India, the 3rd part of the story is calling to be told. In Book 3 The Truth: Within the Heart of Love Dee's quest for the truth takes her to the South of France, in search of the goddess and on the trail of the Holy Grail, as she finally realizes who she is and the divine lineage that connects her to the story of Jesus and Mary Magdalene. For more info visit: www.deedelaney.co.uk ************************************************* For more information about BITEradio products and services visit: http://www.biteradio.me/index.html
Do you hate the feeling of wet jorts, internalized misogyny and the normalization of the male gaze upon teen girls? Do you love crying underwater, intergenerational family dramz and haunted gingerbread gazebos with portals to other dimensions? Well then BOY OH BOY, do we have a Sweet Valley High book for you! In Book 21, "RUNAWAY," Jess decides she's totally over her family treating her like a trash panda who keeps knocking over their garbage bins and devises a plan to run away to San Fran (and possibly join a crime syndicate?) with her sensitive new sweetie Nicky Shepard, a young man who sometimes drinks beer. Quelle horreur! Meanwhile, over in the other story, Worst Dad Ned breaks attorney-client privilege when he encourages Liz to exploit the pain of her friends harrowing custody battle in an attempt to further her own career by writing an article for the local newspaper. Will the Wakefields wake the FUCK up and realize their bb girl needs some attention STAT before she leaves them for the mean streets of early 80's San Fran forever? Will Liz somehow doublespeak her way out of having anybody hold her accountable for her actions that caused them a world of pain? LISTENING TO THIS EP RIGHT NOW IS THE ONLY WAY YOU'LL EVER FIND OUT! Follow us on Twitter and IG: @SVHighPodcast so we can all play FUCK, MARRY, KILL together! Links to both of those things are available on our website: www.sweetvalleypodcast.com
One of the Many bits of Lore in the WoT Universe we all find ourselves woven into is the One Power. Not to be confused with the True Power which is the power of the Dark One, the One power is the force that turns the Wheel of Time itself, the wheel that weaves the very Pattern of the Ages. While we learn a great many things about the one power over time, one thing is still shrouded in mystery and speculation: objects of the power. Specifically, Angreal and Sa’Angreal. We know what they do, we know why they are used, and we know they are uncommon; almost legendary in their scarcity even. But we know next to nothing of their origins, or their production. Thanks to the speculative minds of our WoT Spoilers discord members, a very in-depth and feasible theory has been compiled. In Book 14, Rand Al’thor, The Dragon Reborn, is making his final arrangements, as he is prepared to die for the salvation of his people. Before he goes, however, He bestows Parting Gifts on those he cares for the most. Amongst them, and the most relevant to this topic, is the Ter’angreal he Presents to Elayne Trakand. He explains that he has learned that she has a Talent and a passion for Ter’angreal. He then goes on to bestow knowledge from the Age of Legends upon her, explaining in the briefest of ways, how Angreal were once made in the Age of legends. The Ter’angreal he gave her, he named a Seed. He said that the Seed was channeled through to make angreal. And that is all we have as in-text-cannon. It has been decided -through much debate and inference- that while the Seed is needed to produce an Angreal or Sa’angreal, it does not become the (Sa’)Angreal itself. Rather, A chosen item is selected to be the (Sa’)Angreal itself. Elayne an Aviendha seemed to feel like some of the Angreal they found had a feeling of being sentimental or personal in some way. They even speculate that in the Age of Legends, when the making of such items was not a mystery, it wouldn’t be surprising to find that they were made specifically for a certain person as either a gift, a memento, or as a commissioned piece. The material and size of the object to be transformed seems not to matter, as we see a wide variety of items that have become (Sa’)Angreal throughout the series, with size never being a consistent indicator for the overall Strength of the (Sa’)Angreal. Amongst them jewelry, Ivory carvings, amber brooches, and carvings and statuettes of various other materials. It is to be inferred that he process that is undertaken to create (Sa’)Angreal changes the composition of the item, Making them stronger and more damage resistant, without changing the appearance. This seems to only be a rule for (Sa’)Angreal, as some Ter’angreal are changed from their original appearance after being completed. (Such as the Stone Ring Dream Weaver Elayne tries to recreate.) An Important thing to know about Angreal and Sa’angreal is that they are specifically attuned to one half of the One power, either the male half (Saidin), or female half (Saidar). One attuned to Saidin, will do nothing for a woman and vice versa. But that tidbit begs the question of how that attunement is determined. After some speculation and reasoning it has been reasoned that the half of the One Power being used in the process of manufacturing the Angreal or Sa’Angreal determines the attunement. If it is Saidin being fed through the Seed, the (Sa’)Angreal will be attuned to men, if Saidar, women. With materials and attunement now explained and determined, It is important to discuss the Actual making of the (Sa’)Angreal. It has been determined that the Seed acts as a Conduit or a middle-man in the process. A channeler, male or female will channel the Power into the Seed. The seed will then take the Power being fed into it and amplify it, before allowing it to be sent into the object that has been chosen to become the (Sa’)Angreal. This process is very draining on those who undertake it. It requires long durations of channeling at ones capacity and dumping their very strength into the Seed. Once the Seed has collected enough Power and strength from the Channeler, it will begin to emit flows of the Power that the channeler has to direct into the object that will be the (Sa’)Angreal. This adds to the difficulty, as the channeler is now pouring their raw Power and Strength into the Seed, while directing the flows coming from the Seed into the (Sa’)Angreal-to-be. Once the Channeler has poured their Power into the Seed until no more can be drawn from them, A final weave is placed on the Angreal that makes it safe to use. This weave creates a buffer that makes channeling with an (Sa’)Angreal safe to use from drawing in more of the One Power than a channeler can handle, even aided. The Production of Sa’Angreal is almost exactly the same. The difference being that a Circle is used rather than an independent Channeler. This allows Exponentially more power to be fed through the Seed and into the item that is to become the (Sa’)Angreal. When a Sa’angreal is made, the Attunement is determined by the one who leads the circle. If it is lead by a woman wielding Saidar, it will be attuned to Women, and if by a man wielding Saidin, then Men. As with the production of an Angreal by a single channeler, Once the Seed has drawn everything it can from the Circle, it will stop, and the Buffering Weave is then placed upon the Item, concluding the process. Whether making an Angreal or Sa’Angreal, the process leaves all those involved drained and exhausted, even to the point of being unable to channel for months. It does not permanently weaken those involved. There is no fear of having ones Maximum channeling capacity reduced by this process, only temporary exhaustion. If an angreal or Sa’Angreal is used in the production of another Angreal or Sa’angreal, it is believed that the (Sa’)Angreal in the process will be less effective than it was before, as the Seed will draw some of its Strength from it and transfer it to the new (Sa’)Angreal. There are other dangers beyond Exhaustion as well. It is believed that those involved can find them selves so drained that their bodies shut down on them, as in the case of those facing starvation. The complete depletion of energy can leave one on the brink of death, making eating and resting well immediately after the process and absolute necessity. These dangers and costs explain why even in the Age of Legends, (Sa’)Angreal were not common. Few would be willing to drain themselves so completely and render themselves essentially useless for so long with out good reason. As such, it is believed that they were only made when great prices were paid for them, or when great need presented itself.
In Book 11 of The Odyssey, Odysseus tells the Phaeacians how he followed the strong advice of the goddess/sorceress Circe and made a journey to the underworld to consult with the dead seer Tiresias. The ghosts that he meets there remind him, and us, of the important connections between memory, story, and life, and how honoring the past can help us stay aware of what matters most in the present.Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/mythmatterspodcast)
In Book 10 of Aristotle's Ethics he covers pleasure and the life of happiness. Happiness is contemplation. Education is the right use of pleasure and pain. The soul is a hierarchy and trinitarian. Aristotle holds that the philosopher can be solitary. The student of ethics must apply himself to politics.
iZombie Podcast Season One Archives: Our episode about the penultimate trade of the comic book is here! In Book 3, Six Feet Under and Rising, your hosts and special guest Claire, from Intro to X and The Defenders Podcast, discuss Scooby Doo zombie outbreaks, robot arms, how handsome John Amon really is, Ben Grimm as Chimp-pa, and the wondrous world of skee-ball. In news, we still have no premiere date even though David Anders has one, and the anticipation of thoughtful Alec Guinness beard-twisting as performed by Rahul Kohli. Join us as we discuss this and more in our monthly series before the TV series!Website Email us Tweet us Like us on Facebook Join our Facebook discussion group This podcast is powered by Pinecast.
In Book 2 of this inspiring series, we discover the power of friendship and the gold mine of positive energy that’s hiding inside all of us. There have been many characters created to help children understand why these two forces exist. The Friendesahns and Oily Spoilies are the new beings from outer space visiting Earth. We hope you’ll enjoy their on-going stories.
In Book 36 of the Lost Chapters Tom Vasel of joins us to discuss podcasting ethics.
In Book 35 of the Lost Chapters Luke Retallack of joins us to discuss how to build a gaming community.
In Book 34 of the Lost Chapters Rodney Smith, of the Watch It Played YouTube channel, join Russ and Craig to discuss how to get your kids interested in 'serious' board games. Watch It Played:
In Book 33 of the Lost Chapters Russ and Craig discuss how to best quickly paint models to get them ready for table top play.
In Book 32 of the Lost Chapters Colby Dauch, the man behing Plaid Hat games, Summoner Wars, and Dungeon Run, joins Craig and Russ to discuss Podcasting basics. Everything you need to know to start your own podcast.
In Book 31 of the Lost Chapters Romeo Filip, of Battlefoam, joins Criag and Russ to discuss why some miniature war games become hits and others miss.
In Book 17 Raef, Craig, and Russ have a little book club review of "A Dance with Dragons." WARNING: Here be spoilers! Arrgh!
In Book 13 the boys take a look at games they reviewed back in Episodes 1-13 of The D6 Generation. How do the games hold up over three years later?
In Book 12 Raef, Craig, and Russ have a little book club review of "Wise Man's Fear." WARNING: Here be spoilers! Arrgh!
A lot of listeners ask us for book recomendations. In Book 9 the D6G team reviews their favorite Fantasy, Horror, and Supernatural books.
In Book 8 Ross Watson, RPG designer from Fantasy Flight Games, joins Russ and Raef as they discuss RPG philosophy. What is the best way to play an RPG? Or is there one?
A lot of listeners ask us for book recomendations. In Book 7 the D6G team reviews their favorite Sci-Fi and humor books.
In Book 4 of the Lost Chapters we have a lively debate: Is the D&D Adventure System (Castle Ravenloft and Wrath of Ashardalon) better than Descent?
In Book 2 of The Lost Chapters perform a detailed analysis of what we learned with our interview with Spartan Games founder Neil.
In Book 1 of the Lost Chapters the D6G team details what happened in an evening session of the Deathwatch RPG from Fantasy Flight games.
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