#Carlos Allende

[new-jersey-high]

The Morning After

The next morning, Niff woke up to the smell of... food. It'd been... a while since she'd smelled something - anything, really - that wasn't from the school cafeteria, much less anything that smelled that good. She got out of her bed, and made her way to the kitchen.

"Hey, there, sleepyhead; what'cha want?"

There was Chucho, making breakfast.

"I made my basic grains-" he pointed to frozen box waffles that he'd toasted to a golden brown next to some... long marshmallows. "Proteins-" he pointing to eggs, sausage, ham, and bacon. "And fruits-" he pointed to apple slices, orange slices, sliced bananas, blueberries, and grapes. "-but I can buy something if you're not hungry for any of this."

Niff shook her head. "No, I'll eat anything you've got, Chucho." she grabbed a plate and began stacking up a few waffles, eggs, and orange slices. "So, uh, where are your forks n' stuff?"

"In the first drawer, next to the sink."

She opened the drawer and took out a plastic fork. She placed it on her plate, before setting her plate down. "Got anything to drink?"

"Yep; I got beer, milk soda, coffee, water and juice."

As Niff opened up the fridge to look inside, she could tell Chucho kept everything well-stocked. He had five brands of beer, four brands of soda, three brands of juice, two opened and half-empty gallons of milk, and - on the counter next to the fridge - a pot of hot coffee.

She grabbed a box of orange juice. "Cups?"

"Above the dishwasher."

She opened the cupboard and grabbed a cup that read 'PAPI CHULO'. She poured her fill before she capped it back up and tucked the carton back into the fridge, sitting herself down and beginning to have breakfast - the first real breakfast she'd had for a while. However, as she ate and drank, she kept smelling something that she couldn't pinpoint the smell.

At that point, Niff heard a toilet flush, a sink run for about a minute, and the bathroom door open to show Carlos stepping out.

"G'morning, cuz! So; how'd you guys like the bed?"

"Uh… I kinda… slept on the floor."

"What?!" Chucho set down the pan where he was cooking more eggs. "Dude; that bed was big enough for the two of you!"

"I'm sorry-"

"No-" he sighed. "I'm just… no, don't worry about it. If you wanted another bed, you could've just asked."

"I don't remember you not getting into bed with me," Niff said, "but... I also did pass out almost immediately." She paused. "Why'd you sleep on the floor?"

"... back problems," Carlos said, as he began to plate up and sat down next to Niff. Because of her preparation, Niff was able to dress with pajamas, which - due to her large chest - seemed to create a draped effect with the shirt she chose.

CLANG!

Carlos' sights shot straight up as he saw Chucho's comically large plate of food which he placed down on the table. However, his cousin's smile fell as he saw Niff's sparce selection. "Niff, girl; you didn't want to try out the French toast?" He pulled up what she believed to be marshmallows.

Niff was able to finally pinpoint the smell. However, despite her realization, she didn't let on.

"Nah, not right now; thanks, for making it, though." She continued to eat. "I don't usually eat much, this is pretty much enough."

"Cool, cool." He paused before turning to face his cousin. "Carlos, how 'bout you; French toast?"

"Sure, I'll try some." He grabbed a stick, and a pound of powdered sugar fell off, partly revealing the darker bread underneath. He then gingerly dipped it in small bowl of maple syrup, careful not to taint it with too much of the sugar.

He took a bite and his eyes widened. "Dude; this is really good!"

Niff raised an eyebrow. "It is?"

"Yeah-" took the remaining bite and handed it to her, careful to shield the rest of the table with his plate. "Here; try some."

Niff took the stick and - after dipping it in like Carlos did - tasted Chucho's handiwork, her eyes widening as well.

"That's... surprisingly good." She grabbed another piece, quickly dipped it in, dusting the maple syrup, before shoving it in her mouth. "That's like, the best French toast I've had!"

"Thanks," Chucho said, smiling. "Yeah, I got them off this website; I think it was 'homerecipes.org' or something like that." He began to dig into his own plate. "To be honest, I only started getting into it..."

Chucho's voice trailed off as Niff began to think back on her first bite of French toast.

…

"Jenny," she heard her father - her real father - call from downstairs, "breakfast is ready!"

"Coming, Dad!" Her father had promised to make her breakfast and as the smell wafted upstairs, her mouth began to water. Jenny had been waiting for this all week. She quickly got out of bed, then her room, down the stairs, and then to the table.

"Hey, there, muffin; I got all your favorites," he said, as he wiped off his hands on an apron that read 'kiss the cook'. There were waffles, scrambled eggs, and banana slices. However, her nose picked up on a certain smell and her eyes darted to its source; a few thick browned sticks, lightly dusted with a light tan powder.

"Oooh," she said, as she sat down. "You made your special French toast, I see!"

Her father beamed. Michael Weston was a stay at home dad who loved to experiment with his baking. One of his greatest successes was his French toast, to which he added chocolate chips and extra brown sugar, leading to the resulting sticks being sweeter than normal sticks.

"Yep; since you got your B+ in history, I thought it'd be good to mark the occasion with a little something special."

"Hey, I'm also the cheer squad, too!" Jenny said, "Why aren't we also celebrating that?"

"Well, because it's one thing at a time, young miss, and I wouldn't want you to get a tummy ache!"

As he saw her pout slightly, he continued. "But if you'd like, we can go to Target to get that bike you always wanted."

"Da-ad," she said, as she put her fork down, "I'm a freshman now. We don't 'ride bikes' anymore. Can I just get an iPhone instead?"

Okay, okay; I'll get you an iPhone." he paused. "I'm still buying that bike."

While the other girls had been raving about the new iPhones, Jenny actually was hoping to still get that bike. "Thanks, Dad."

"No problem." He plated up his daughter's plate, before plating up his own. He set hers in front of her and his in front of himself. He then served her a glass of orange juice and himself a rich cup of black coffee. "To good grades." He toasted with his coffee.

"To good grades," Jenny agreed, and completed his toast of her success with her glass of OJ.

…

"Uh, Niff?" Chucho asked. "You okay, girl?"

As she heard his voice, she was brought back to the moment. She was back in Chucho's apartment that vaguely smelled of weed. She was still in her (pajama t-shirt that was too large and her shorts that were a touch too short). Her sparce selection went mostly untouched, whereas Carlos and Chucho's plates were half-done.

After Chucho's question sank in, she blinked quickly, and wiped away what she could feel was a small tear forming. "Yeah, thanks. It's just been a while since I had good French toast." She paused as she controlled her breathing, which she felt start to grow heavier. "My... my dad used to make it really good, too."

"Oh, I see." Chucho took a sip of his 'Irish' coffee though - given his choice of alcohol - it was more Mexican than Irish. He paused. "Can I ask about him?"

"I guess. Whaddya wanna know?" Niff asked, raising her emotional haunches, ready to defend herself.

"Is he dead or in jail?"

She took a sip of her juice. "He's dead. According to how they found and to what the witnesses said, he hit a tree swerving to avoid someone driving on the wrong side of the road. And just left him there" She took a breath. "I hope that when he died, that it was instant; I don't wanna think of him feeling how fucked up he got."

"Damn." He took a sip. "You have my condolences, girl." He took a pause, which became an awkward moment of silence. "Do you want a hug?"

"No; thank you though." Niff, after a moment of being in thought, then added, "I'd never thought it this way before, but I guess I'd say that my life started going downhill when he did." She took another sip of her juice. "My mom's sure did."

"What happened to her?" Chucho asked.

"She took to the bars and pubs to drown the grief of losing Dad and my sister Penny. I think she tried dating again, 'cuz she started coming home with a bunch of different guys, until she settled on Mitch. She couldn't handle paying for the house without my dad, so we moved into that shithole you pulled us out of."

"Ah, gotcha, gotcha." He pulled out a card. "Well, if your mom needs help, there's this woman in San Francisco who's got connections."

As Niff took the card, she looked it over, not getting what he meant. "Who's she? What kind of connections?"

"Her name's Catalina Aguilar, but everyone calls her Miss Lina. "Her whole schtick is helping out immigrants and down-on-their-luck women."

As he spoke her name, she was able to piece together her name at the top. "Catalina Aguilar," she read slowly, before the rest of the card started to make more sense. "Con... counselor... and... way-women's sau... services."

"Yeah." Chucho continued to finish his plate. "I think she was like, an ACTUAL mob boss, but her son took over after he got married and had a kid. He took a sip. "He's a good guy, but from what I heard, he's a bit of shit family man."

Niff focused on the first half of what he'd said. "My mom definitely needs help. Maybe this could be it." She looked up at him. "Can I keep this?"

"Yeah, I got a whole stack of them. A word of caution, though; she's like, in her eighties now."

"Why, is she old-fashioned in a bad way?"

"Well, she's old-fashioned in that she believes that a man should take charge for his actions and that women should be respected for the gifts of God that they are, but if you're asking if she's homophobic; nah. Her son's queer, I think."

"I was mostly asking for that, yeah."

"Yeah." Chucho shot back the final sip of his coffee. "Like, he got married, but the bride's face was never shown and there were rumors that they're getting divorced when their kid's eighteen."

Niff raised an eyebrow. "So, wait; she's in her eighties, but she has a kid who isn't even eighteen?"

"No, no, no; her SON has a kid; she's like seventeen, now, I think, so there's not much longer."

Niff's eyes widened with a deep confusion. "So, she's NOT in her eighties, she's seventeen?"

Chucho chuckled. "You're a funny kid, Niff. No, Miss Lina has a son named Lou. Lou got married and had a kid. There were rumors that the relationship of Lou and his wife didn't work out, and that they're set to divorce a week after the kid's 18th birthday, which will be either this year, or the next."

"Ohh."

[slypuzzle]

The Mystery of the Philadelphia Experiment

Did the USS Eldridge teleport and time travel in 1943, or is it all an urban legend? Despite being debunked, the Philadelphia Experiment remains a captivating tale of government experiments and mysterious phenomena. What do you think happened? 

[albytremo]

Viva il Cile! Viva il popolo! Viva i lavoratori!

Queste sono le mie ultime parole e sono certo che il mio sacrificio non sarà invano, sono certo che, almeno, sarà una lezione morale che castigherà la fellonia, la codardia e il tradimento."

[txttletale]

this sculpture of salvador allende's broken glasses -- no tiene nombre (unnamed) by chilean artist carlos altamirano, is in the lobby of the venezuelan foreign ministry. today is a tragic day not only for chileans but for all latin americans who dream of a free and better life for their countrymen and for their homelands to be free of us imperialism, whether it comes in the form of sanctions or multinational corporations or bought-and-paid-for right-wing governments.

if you ever wonder why i'm a marxist-leninist and not a democratic socialist, why i think a vanguard party and an armed and militant proletariat are necessary, why i think you can't just go through the established systems and peacefully improve the conditions of the working class by winning a bourgeois election, this is why. this is why. maybe the people of some countries have that luxury -- but not our continent. salvador allende tried to do everything 'right', and from him we can learn that it's never going to work. the only question left for us to figure out is, what will?

"Mucho más temprano que tarde, se abrirán las grandes alamedas por donde pase el hombre libre para construir una sociedad mejor." — Salvador Allende

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

My 2024 TBR List So Far

I only read nine books in 2023 😭 compared to 51 in ‘22 and 63 in ‘21 I have fallen. I beg of you, my tumblr fam, please hold me accountable.

Does anybody have recommendations for books I should read in 2024? I try to read mostly books by female-identifying & BIPOC authors, and I am making it a goal this year to read more books by LGBTQ+ authors with a specific emphasis on trans authors. I enjoy magical realism & historical fiction (not sci-fi) and some of my favorite authors are Zadie Smith, Isabel Allende, Gabriel García Márquez, Brit Bennet, Susan Abulhawa, Yaa Gyasi. I also enjoy non-fiction like Joan Didion and Ross Gay’s essays, Samir’s Habib’s memoir about growing up queer in a Muslim family, Qian Julie Wang’s Beautiful Country destroyed me and I always love a good music memoir!

Tagging a few folks below the cut who I think have similar tastes to me, but I will take recommendations from anybody please!!!

Please help @welcometololaland (I know you share my love for GGM!), @never-blooms @ladytessa74 @chicgeekgirl89 @freneticfloetry @alrightbuckaroo @basilsunrise (music book recs?) @carlos-in-glasses (essays? Poetry that won’t put me to sleep 😂) @guardian-angle22 (my dog, I know you’ve got some recs for me), @lightningboltreader (some beach reads?), @liminalmemories21 (historical fiction?) @orchidscript (historical fiction??) @paperstorm (HISTORICAL FICTION???) @thisbuildinghasfeelings @tailoredshirt @theghostofashton (did I see you read like 50 books this year?) @carlos-tk (👀)

[deqiltrosycalle]

La verdad no me acuerdo si alguna vez subí estas fotos al blog, ya que rara vez me meto pero sé que la comunidad y el admin Carlos lo mantienen bonito.

Perritos jugando y refrescandose en el monumento a Salvador Allende (San Joaquin, Chile).

[nancywheeeler]

PLEASE share some of your favourite books!!! of all time And ones that you discovered this year!! (also only just noticed your header… i love those two <3)

omg anon i would love nothing more!

books of all-time: the secret history & the goldfinch by donna tartt, the haunting of hill house & we've always lived in the castle by shirley jackson, the night circus by erin morgenstern, the immortalists by chloe benjamin, lincoln highway by amor towles, say nothing by patrick radden keefe, the collector by john fowles, never let me go by kazuo ishiguro, tell the wolves i'm home by carol rifka brunt, the night tiger by yangsze choo, the shadow of the wind by carlos ruiz zafon, in the woods & the likeness by tana french, and the bell by iris murdoch.

i'm sure there are some i'm forgetting; i'm sorry to those books!

i try to read a broad range of genres & sub-genres, but my soft spots are magical realism, the promise of an ambiguous and bittersweet resolution, family sagas (or a codependent pair of siblings who are all the other has in the world), novels strongly influenced by classic literature, and unconventional murder mysteries.

and this year, i have favorites for all of the above!

magical realism: the house of the spirits by isabelle allende; ashamed i had not read this classic before, but i arrived at the party and i never wanted to leave.

also recommend: the light pirate by lily brooks-dalton

bittersweet: the memory police by yoko ogawa; more like bittersweet from beginning to end, and haunting. so very haunting.

also recommend: we all want impossible things by catherine newman (if you read the blurb, you'll understand why this is bittersweet, but it is also the funniest book i read all year)

family saga: tom lake by ann patchett; my book of the year, a beautiful exploration of mothers and daughters, our town by thornton wilder, first loves, and the summer stock theater scene.

classic influence: the historian by elizabeth kostova; brilliant take on dracula and vampiric folklore.

also recommend: state of wonder by ann patchett (a heart of darkness, but with women in the amazon!); demon copperhead by barbara kingsolver (tbh i felt it follows david copperfield a bit too closely, but her writing! oh her writing!)

unconventional murder mystery: i have some questions for you by rebecca makkai; not too unconventional, but it has some great takes on the true crime industry.

and since those are all fiction, i'll also add, for non-fiction, that i really loved the wager by david grann, the extraordinary life of an ordinary man by paul newman, and the premonition by michael lewis (great for anyone interested in what america's pandemic response was supposed to be, how it was developed, and why it went so wrong in 2020)

alright wow, this got so long—i'm so sorry! i'd love to hear what everyone else's favorite books they read this year are!

[elwenyere]

Her technique helped make her one of the most sought-after translators of Latin American literature in the 1980s and ’90s. She was among those who gave English-language readers access to the works of Gabriel García Márquez, Isabel Allende, Carlos Fuentes, Laura Esquivel and others who were writing in an entirely new genre known as magical realism.

Dr. Grossman became Mr. García Márquez’s preferred translator after an agent who lived in her building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side asked her one day, “Would you be interested in translating García Márquez?”

“Are you kidding me?” she recalled responding.

She sent in a 20-page sample of how she would translate Mr. García Márquez’s masterwork “Love in the Time of Cholera,” which was originally published in Colombia in 1985, and thus began her lifelong collaboration with him, a Nobel Prize-winning author whose work she found both exhilarating and challenging. Her English version was published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1988.

Translating him, she said in the interview, “was like doing an intense crossword puzzle.”

He later paid her the ultimate compliment, telling her, “You are my voice in English.”

[spanishskulduggery]

what are some spanish books you'd recommend? (i'm probably about a high schooler in terms of reading comprehension, but if you have any difficult/gritty recommendations, that would be perfect) muchos gracias :D

(An anon sent in a similar question looking for B1/B2 level books)

One of the better contemporary authors of what you might consider YA fiction is Laura Gallego García so I'd recommend her especially if you like fantasy.

I first found about her from Las memorias de Idhún. If you're on Netflix, you can see an anime based on it called "The Idhun Chronicles" - and one of the main actresses is Michelle Jenner who is an extremely well-known Spanish actress [she played Isabel in the well-known historical drama Isabel about the Catholic Monarchs in Reconquista times]

If anyone has any other suggestions, please write them in

Other books/stories you might like:

Esperanza renace by Pam Muñoz Ryan

Como agua para chocolate by Laura Esquivel

La casa en Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

La sombra del viento by Carlos Ruiz Zafón [fairly advanced]

La casa de los espíritus by Isabel Allende [somewhat advanced]

El Conde Lucanor by Don Juan Manuel [advanced at times; but it's styled like fables or multiple short stories]

El burlador de Sevilla y el convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina [advanced at times with language, but very easy to follow; also a play]

I would also say look into translations of things like Harry Potter, Percy Jackson, or Hunger Games [Los juegos del hambre] and other YA fiction that is more geared towards highschoolers and teenagers because the language used is not as complex but still really useful. Also, many 1st person novels are really good for showing you the yo forms of a lot of verbs especially irregular verbs.

Also some people really recommend El alquimista "the Alchemist" in the Spanish version by Paulo Coelho. It's a very well-known book for high schoolers though it is somewhat advanced in places

PS Also gotta recommend Hombres necios que acusáis by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz. It's a poem, but it reads like the rawest slam poetry you've ever heard and also still frighteningly relevant in feminism

-

You may also enjoy short stories. If one author has multiple stories I'll just include the name once in the list. Some of these are translations of other short stories you'll probably know of which helps the comprehension better!

El rubí by Rubén Darío La ninfa El velo de la reina Mab La muerte de la emperatriz de China El palacio del sol

Blancanieves [Snow White] by the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Pulgarcito [Tom Thumb] La Cenicienta [Cinderella]

Cuentos by Esopo [or, "Aesop's Fables"]

El barril de amontillado by Edgar Allan Poe Los crímenes de la calle Morgue La máscara de la muerte roja

El loco de Sevilla by Miguel de Cervantes [a story within a story; it's from Don Quixote, but it's a very well-known vignette in the novel] La pastora Marcela [also a story within a story; some frame of reference, Don Quixote is riding around and comes across a funeral and people are accusing a shepherdess Marcela of spurning this dude's love and he couldn't handle it - Marcela then appears out of nowhere and drags everyone and we love to see it]

Cine Prado by Elena Poniatowska

El regalo de los Reyes Mago [The Gift of the Magi] by O. Henry

La sirenita [The Little Mermaid] by Hans Christian Andersen

Caperucita Roja [Little Red Riding Hood] by Charles Perrault La Bella Durmiente [Sleeping Beauty]

Las mil y una noches [1001 Nights] by Anonymous

La muñeca menor by Rosario Ferré

El almohadón de plumas by Horacio Quiroga

La noche boca arriba by Julio Cortázar

Los dos reyes y los dos laberintos by Jorge Luis Borges

Biblioteca Digital Ciudad Seva

This is my usual go-to for reading classics translated into Spanish [there's also the Gutenberg Project if you're looking for ebooks]

Just some general advice:

-Anything by Cervantes is quite old and you will need to find a more modern version or you'll end up with some very antiquated spellings and grammar. He wrote Don Quixote and some other short stories/plays, and all of his mini-stories from Don Quixote are the same general difficulty.

-I do love Borges but for God's sake DO NOT read El jardín de los senderos que se bifurcan "The Garden of Forking Paths". It is advanced, and confusing even for native speakers. I mean this is a story people dedicate a thesis on to try and unravel. It's the kind of thing that you read, you read the wikipedia/rincón del vago entries, and reread and still get confused

-If you're feeling like you want a good challenge, try reading El Popol Vuh which is a book of Maya myths/history/etc, and it's an extremely important in indigenous cultures and history. People have called it the Maya Book of Genesis [though be aware the original translation was done by a Dominican friar named Francisco Ximénez, and there are some modernized versions]

...

Also, speaking of Rincón del Vago is like a Spanish version of Sparknotes. I'm not saying you should be using it to do your homework, but if you happen to find something like Alice in Wonderland / Alicia en el país de las maravillas you can read through the entry in Spanish as reading practice

[dailyunsolvedmysteries-movedd]

Philadelphia Experiment, UFOS?

According to legend, on Oct. 28, 1943, the USS Eldridge, a Cannon-class destroyer escort, was conducting top-secret experiments designed to win command of the oceans against the Axis powers. The rumor was that the government was creating technology that would render naval ships invisible to enemy radar, and there in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, it was time to test it out.

Witnesses claim an eerie green-blue glow surrounded the hull of the ship as her generators spun up and then, suddenly, the Eldridge disappeared. The ship was then seen in Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia before disappearing again and reappearing back in Philadelphia.

The legend states that classified military documents reported that the Eldridge crew were affected by the events in disturbing ways. Some went insane. Others developed mysterious illness. But others still were said to have been fused together with the ship; still alive, but with limbs sealed to the metal.

Carl M. Allen, who went by the pseudonym, Carlos Miguel Allende. In 1956, Allende sent a series of letters to Morris K. Jessup, author of the book, “The Case for the UFO,” in which he argued that unidentified flying objects merit further study.

Jessup apparently included text about unified field theory because this is what Allende latched onto for his correspondences. In the 1950s, unified field theory, which has never been proven, attempted to merge Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity with electromagnetism. In fact, Allende claimed to have been taught by Einstein himself and could prove the unified field theory based on events he witnessed on Oct. 28, 1943.

Allende claimed that he saw the Eldridge disappear from the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and he further insisted that the United States military had conducted what he called the Philadelphia Experiment — and was trying to cover it up.

Jessup was then contacted by the Navy's Office of Naval Research, which had received a package containing Jessup's book with annotations claiming that extra-terrestrial technology allowed the U.S. government to make breakthroughs in unified field theory.

This is one of the weirdest details. The annotations were designed to look like they were written by three different authors -- one maybe extra-terrestrial? According to Vallee's article for the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Jessup became obsessed with Allende's revelations, and the disturbed researcher took his own life in 1959. 

[copperbadge]

Hi Sam, I finally bought and read Six H. and it has brought me so much joy! It was one of those stories that I tried to pace myself reading because I knew I would miss it when I was done (and I do!). Now, if it isn't too cheeky to ask the author of all people, I wanted to ask if you could think of any 'read alikes'? I was reminded in the best way of Ocean at the End of the Lane, which is one of my favorites! Eery but not scary, magic that does not need to be explained...? But mostly: THANK YOU!!

I'm so glad you enjoyed Six Harvests! As much as I've been enjoying the hell out of writing the Shivadh novels, Six Harvests is probably the book I'm most proud of -- I think it really was a kind of "master piece" in the traditional sense of demonstrating mastery of a craft. At least, in relation to my own work; I don't think I'm like, Master Of All Writing, but I feel that I've developed a mastery relative to where I began that I'm very proud of.

As for read-alikes...hm, that's a difficult one actually. I don't know if it qualifies as "not scary" but the aesthetic of Six Harvests was absolutely informed by Carnivale, the television show -- not for the faint of heart but extremely enjoyable if you like your historical drama with a heavy side of the supernatural (it is quite violent and some aspects haven’t aged wonderfully, but it’s still a great watch). Also if you haven't read my book Nameless, it's very much in the same vein as Six Harvests. And kind of fun to compare the two I think, because Nameless was the first novel I wrote and aside from the romances, Six Harvests is my latest.

I think if you enjoyed the "magic that doesn't need explanation" and eerie without scary, I would look around in general at magical realism. It often gets confused with urban fantasy, but magical realism’s essence is that there are magical or surrealistic aspects to the story that aren’t systemically explained, and generally advance the reader’s understanding of the story without always directly impacting the plot. I love magical realism as a genre and there's so much good writing in it, plus it was originated by latine writers so the majority of it is by nonwhite, often non-American authors so it's very horizon-broadening for a lot of readers.

I raided my old book reading log for some magical realism, so I did come up with some authors and titles! Julio Cortázar's short stories are fantastic and I really enjoyed Blow Up and Other Stories. A very famous one is Like Water For Chocolate by Laura Esquivel, and Chocolat by Joanne Harris is a fun book and a GREAT movie. I don't recall much about them but I recall very much enjoying The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón and Isabel Allende's The House Of The Spirits. G Willow Wilson's Alif The Unseen is very very intense, but also extremely compelling and "readable", like it's a big book but it reads fast. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is most well known for 100 Years of Solitude but I haven't read that one; I did very much like his Strange Pilgrims.

Hopefully amongst those will be many things you enjoy! Readers, feel free to chime in with your own recommendations either for magical realism or for comps to Six Harvests in comments or reblogs. Good luck and happy reading! :)

[new-jersey-high]

Escape

The next few weeks weren't too eventful for Carlos. Niff would show up, he would help her manage her dyslexia, and she would 'motivate' him to help him get better in Mr. Jackson's class.

Niff's soft breasts were wrapped around Carlos' cock with its head - just barely sticking out - being sucked off by her mouth. It popped out of her mouth as she asked him a question about homework.

"U-Uh… homework?" Carlos reiterated, still in a daze.

"You told me that the answer was 'syphilis blankets', and we're on World War I; are you still so blinded by your dick and balls that you can't remember what you studied?" As he failed to sputter out an answer, she stood up, grabbed the pile of flash cards he made himself, and handed them to him. "Look over these again, and focus."

"R-right."

"Good." She went back to her knees, as Carlos looked over the notes.

"Th-the treaty of Versailles was... in..." He focused until he gave the answer. "June… 28th, 1919."

Carlos waited as Niff checked the answer. It was a painfully long time as she concentrated and used the methods she'd learned on the letters that made the words that made the answer.

"Okay, good." She returned to her former position - her breasts around his cock. "Next card." She began to stroke him while reciting the next question and, upon finishing it, began to lick and suck on the bellend.

"The… hah~... death of… archduke…. Ferdinand, started… World War One."

As they continued, they lost track of time, as well as forgot to lock the door. She began to recite the next question, before beginning fellatio again and Carlos giving her the answer. At that exact moment, the door swung open to reveal his mother, whose face read of shock, surprise, anger, and, for the briefest of seconds, vindication.

"What the fuck is going on here?!" She shouted. Before he could explain, his mom grabbed Niff's hair and pulled it off and away from her son. "Is THIS what you've been fucking doing with my son?!"

"M-Mom, I can explain-"

"What are you going to explain?! How this chaotic little whore has been avoiding her tutoring duties and sucking your penis?!" She pulled Niff out of the room. "Get the fuck out!"

"Ah, fuck; let me go! Let me go, you crazy bitch!" Niff tried to pull herself free, but only felt Carlos' mother continue to pull on her hair.

"No, Mom; let her go! I swear I can explain!"

However, Carlos' pleas and eventual threats fell on deaf ears, as his mother and Niff continued to scrape, scratch, and fight against one another.

Niff and Carlos' mother's fight made its way out his bedroom door, of which Niff was violently thrown out. "Leave my house, you gross slut!"

There was a pause that Carlos felt lasted an eternity. He exchanged glances with Niff, and thought she would say something. However, she just took a breath "Fine, you fuckin' bitch; fuck you!" She turned away and began to step down the stairs. Shocked by the scene in front of him, Carlos was snapped back into the moment when his mother slammed the door. He looked over and saw her pulling out a phone. "I'm calling the cops and I'll make sure that whore never goes anywhere near you ever again. I knew I was right about her. Nothing but fucking trouble."

"Mom-"

"How could she be anything but? You saw how she was dressed in those spooky black clothes all the time, making her look like a whore!"

Carlos' hands balled, as he heard his mother talk.

"Not even to mention that she totaled my car!"

"Fuck you," he muttered.

"What?"

"I said 'FUCK YOU', Mom!" He went after Niff, and slammed the door behind him as well. "NIFF!"

As he ran out, he saw his... he saw Niff, sauntering out of the neighborhood, who was unable to grab her shirt before she left. Nevertheless, she sauntered with her head held high, and her tits fully out, an aura of murder surrounding her.

Carlos managed to catch up to Niff. "Niff, I am so, so sorry; my mom's-"

"A fucking bitch; yeah, I know." As she stopped, she crossed her arms, achieving ample cleavage catching Carlos' attention, before he looked her in the eyes.

"Yeah..." He paused, before he began to strip off his shirt-

"Here."

-And handed her the shirt. Not having any other options, she was quick to put it on, and while it did eventually fit covering the 'offending' body parts, there was a bit of a stretch that warped the decal on its front - or at least, it would have, if Carlos were allowed to have any decal t-shirts.

There was moment where neither of them spoke, that nevertheless spoke volumes. Finally, Carlos broke the silence.

"Do... do you wanna get back at her?"

Niff scoffed. "I'm already listening for the cops, and I don't think actually attacker would do me any good." She looked off to the middle distance, eyeing down the backroad that ran against the neighborhood. "I think your mom might've been right... about me. I'm a bad person. I've stolen shit and beaten people up. I stole my mom's car and crashed it into yours'." Here eyes started to water, but her face remained stoic. "Maybe I should just go back to doing that." She looked back at him. "Every time I try to change or improve, it's always the fuckin' same; I'm knocked down a peg, and I end up back in the gutter."

"No, no; she's a Karen, and everyone knows it." He looked around and was fortunately met with no one and nothing but the sound of crickets. He then looked back at Niff. "Niff, if you can deal with me for just a bit longer, I can- I am going to make this shit worth it."

She gave Carlos an inquisitive demeanor. "And how's that gonna work? I don't think I'll be allowed back into your house again."

"No, no; hold on." He took a moment to gather the courage to say his next line of thought.

"Niff Weston," Carlos said, as he held both her hands. "Do you... wanna go out with me?"

Her demeanor shifted and her eyes slowly widened. "Huh?"

"Listen, your mom's been dropping you off for the last month, we've been in a closed room, you're hot, so…" he shrugged. "I figure the cops would believe it."

She looked him up and down. She saw his tanned and slender build, which had the thinnest glint of sweat. "Okay."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll go out with you. You're a dork... but it's kinda cute."

"Alright." he paused, studying Niff's face, before he gave her a quick peck on the cheek, causing her to raise her eyebrow.

"That's it?" I've had your dick in my mouth. I deserve at least some tongue."

"I'm sorry I just didn't wa-" Carlos' sentence was cut short as Niff pulled him in by the chin into a wet, sloppy kiss. Her tongue slid into his mouth, and her breasts - which were braless underneath the borrowed shirt - squished against his bare chest. Their tongues danced and collided until Niff detached, slurping back a trail of spit connecting their mouths.

"How was that?" She asked, a subtle smile creeping onto her face. "First time?"

"U-Uh, y-yeah." He wiped the remaining spit off from the sides of his mouth. "Uhm, so... we're dating now, then." He paused until he realized he had been smiling like an idiot this whole time. As he stopped smiling, he returned to the moment. "So, what's out story, then?"

"What story?"

"Like..." Carlos paused. "I mean, sure we can lie and say that we've been dating this whole time, but like, the cops don't know us; what's the story?"

"No."

"What?"

Niff's slight smile dropped. "Look, if I'm ever near a cop, I'm gonna be through." She paused. "Let's just go to my house until things cool down."

"Okay." The two walked off, Niff doing her best to keep them off the main road on the chance that someone would be looking for them until it was dark out, which led Carlos through various patches of woods and forest, an abandoned construction site, and a seedy park. Thankfully for him, however, he was forced to be on a hiking team back in middle school and - despite his insistence otherwise - did enjoy it enough to continue hiking for a few more years.

Eventually, they made it back to Niff's house, which Carlos would tell was in a notably shady part of town. On the property's overgrown lawn that grew onto the sidewalk, , there was an old and rusting pickup truck that visibly had the bumpers taped on with various types of tape. Nearby, on the gravel parking lot, was an old brown sedan with a large gash in the front. He could tell that the building in front of him had seen better days. He could tell that the vehicles in front of him had seen better days.

He was unsure if Niff had seen better days.

As he looked up, he saw that the bushes that lined the bottom of the porch overgrew onto it. The wood of the actual porch was so cracked that it'd probably creak with a gentle summer's breeze. The railing hung loosely with one side loose from its socket and the other missing chunks.

As he began to step on the porch, he felt his weight shift substantially and dangerously. However, the wooden door looked as damaged as the porch; beaten, scratched, and chipped with what used to be green paint peeling off and turning into a mulch color. As Carlos continue to observe, he saw there were small holes lined up on the wall next to the door, leading to the windows that were cracked in some places and completely shattered in others, seemingly only barely secured in place out of pure spite.

Niff put a key in the rusted lock and opened the door.

"Hey, sugartits," a male voice said from inside, "how's my favorite sl-" A man in a greasy wifebeater and with a scraggly beard that let Carlos know that he'd been probably 'out of work' for the last year. However, the amount of beers let him know that the 'probably' was more closely related to 'definitely'.

"Oh," the man said, disappointed. "It's you." He paused as he looked Carlos up and down. "Who's the beaner?"

"He's from school," she said dully. "We're gonna study in my room."

"You? Study?!" He began to guffaw, his mouth opening and letting out a putrid and cloying smell of alcohol, chewing tobacco, and a general lack of dental hygiene.

Niff's neutral demeanor gave a fiery aura that seemed to burn. Nevertheless, the only thing Carlos could actually see was her scowling and baring it.

"Good luck trying, beaner!" He cracked up laughing at his own low-effort racism.

"Yes, sir." Carlos chuckled nervously, before Niff pulled him away by the wrist upstairs. On the way, he saw trash on the staircase, trash on the landing, and a strange wet spot in the carpet leading down the hallway. She threw open one of the doors and rushed the two of them in, before she closed and locked the door behind them.

"Sorry," she said, "Mitch wouldn't like it if we were dating."

"Ah." Carlos paused. "So, how long do you wanna hide out in here, then?"

"That's... that's as far as I've thought. I don't know." She gave a sheepish shrug. "We're back to square one, I think... though your mom's probably gonna be freaking out soon, for sure."

"Yeah, but I can just say that I'm not going back. Your… dad…" he said, unsure if it was her dad. "…can take the brunt when they come for us, and we just change our names."

"Stepdad," Niff clarified. "Mitch isn't my real dad. He'd never do something nice for me or my mom. He'd actually sooner turn us in to anybody looking for us if it'd make us laugh."

"Oh..." Carlos thought about the situation from as many angles as he could, before he spoke. "Then... I guess we wait him out, and we head back out, until we find my cousin; he'd probably be able to help."

"Your cousin?"

"Yeah, the one I told you about."

As she seemed to look through him, he realized. "Oh, right, I never said; he's like, in his thirties and lives upstate."

"How far upstate?" she asked.

"Like..." Carlos began to do the math in his head. "About an hour, maybe two?" He gave a hopeful look before he remembered-

"By car, though."

Niff groaned. "This is hopeless," she said, deflating. "Just... go home. I'll see you at school if I'm not arrested for either 'assaulting' you or wrecking your mom's car."

"No." he grabbed her hand. "Niff, my mom's crazy, and your… Mitch doesn't look any better. My cousin is going to be worth it, I promise."

"I said-" she snatched her hand back. "Go." her voice was a low gravel and her eyes were daggers, but only lasted a second, as she immediately dropped the demeanor, her features softening. "I don't want anything to happen to you, just because you got involved with me."

"No, I want y- I want to be involved with you." Carlos' heart beat fast.

"Why?" As she let her anger ebb away, her tone denoted a genuine interest in knowing his answer, as well as a sorrow based on her expectation of the answer. "I'm just... I'm mean, and dumb, and... and all I am is trouble." Her eyes began to water as she looked away. "You shouldn't wanna be involved with me."

"Because... because..." his foot tapped as he looked past her shoulder to the door. "Uhm... does the door actually lock?"

Barely," she answered.

Carlos sighed. He got up, looked around Niff's room, and was met with a bed, dressers, and a closet with a mirror in front. On the bigger dresser, there were melted candles that had seeped into it, as well as a cheap looking television with the VCR slot. Below it were various video tapes, all seemingly untouched. On the smaller dresser, there was a stereo radio with a CD slot, with a stack of CDs next to it, with names Carlos couldn't quite make out. Within those CDs, however, seemed to be legible handwriting that had recordings of library books read aloud. While there was much dust in the house, Carlos saw that Niff's room - especially her corner of tapes and CDs - was dust-free.

"Alright." He went back to Niff and kissed her. "I... I think I love you, Niff."

Niff, not knowing what else to do, kissed him back, though her kiss seemed to be more aggressive than romantic, as if his confession of love filled her with a hope that she hadn't known for a long time, and her kiss was in defiance of Mitch, of Carlos' mom, of everyone who thought she wasn't worth shit.

As she moved back from the kiss, she locked eyed with Carlos, who looked at her with an astounded expression.

"I take it that you love me back?"

Niff paused as she took in what she had done, and where she found herself, both physically and mentally.

"I... like you, is all I can say right now." She held his hand. "I want you around."

"Okay." Carlos nodded, as he heard and understood her answer. "Yeah; I think I can manage that." He paused. "I'm gonna call my cousin and have him pick us up at the end of the street; sound good?"

Niff nodded. "Yeah, okay." As she stood up, she took off his shirt and handed it to Carlos, before heading to her dresser, grabbing a new bra and shirt, and put them on.

"Thanks." He put on his shirt again, and noticed that it smelled like her. He turned on his phone, and - after swiping past all the missed calls of his mother, and outright blocking her number - called his cousin's number.

"Hey, Carlitos; wassup?" his voice said.

"Hey, Chucho, I need your help, bad; my mom-"

"Uhp; say no more. Just tell me when and where, and I got'chu."

"Uhh, yeah; gimme a sec." He turned to Niff. "Hey, what's the name of this neighborhood?"

"Hoplite Lane," she answered.

"Hoplite Lane," he repeated.

"Oh, yeah; I'm like, actually twenty minutes away. Gimme about ten and I'll be there. Peace!"

Before anything could be said by Carlos, Chucho hung up.

"What'd your cousin say?"

"Ten minutes."

"That's... actually really nice," Niff said, as she grabbed a duffel bag and started throwing clothes and personal items into it.

"Yeah; kinda curious why he's in the area, though."

"I try not to think about stuff like that," Niff said, not looking up, as she continued packing.

"Yeah," Carlos said, putting away his phone, "it's probably for the best."

The strong aura of dread and decay permeates the house as Niff finished with her clothes selection. Afterwards, she started on toiletries as well as a couple of keepsakes, one of which was a picture of a girl. The girl looked like Niff, but it wasn't her.

Not anymore.

This girl looked happier. This girl was happier. She was in the arms of her mother and father, who looked nothing like Mitch. Among them, there was another girl.

"Alright, I think he's gonna be here in about five minutes, so-"

Carlos caught a sight of Niff having a moment.

"I'll uh, just…"

He moved to unlock the door as quietly as he could. As he did, the door opened from the hinged being screwed in incorrectly. This led him to hear a commotion that came from a room downstairs, sounding like wild banging and drunken ramblings.

"Hey, uh, Niff?" he asked in a whisper. "Is that normal?"

She sighed. "Yeah. We just have to be quiet getting out; he won't notice." She zipped up the duffel bag, and wiped her tears. "I'm ready to leave. Let's go."

"Alright, then." As he went down the stairs, Carlos saw what all the commotion was about. He saw Mitch rambling and raving at a news station with a large bottle in his hand and two cigarettes in his mouth; one in each corner, spewing out mostly nonsense and only a few choice slurs directed at people whose skin color tones weren't porcelain.

Niff, focused on leaving and leaving as little of herself behind as possible, was light on her feet, despite her boots The old stairs - which looked in about the same condition as the porch outdoors - did not creak; a practiced gait.

As they made it out of the house, with Niff following Carlos close behind, Carlos saw a truck waiting at the end of the street, which was a few houses down. Niff carefully closed and locked the door behind her, a thud and sound of shatters heard from inside. Niff turned to meet where Carlos was looking at.

"Is that your cousin's truck?" she asked.

"Uhm, I think so," he answered, unsure. It had been several years since he had seen any of his family members in person, though he had been aware of them, when he had a letter placed inside his locker once and gave him his maternal family's real name, as well as a number that belonged to Chucho.

"Alright, then; let's go."

"Okay." As they walked down the street, the truck's lights went out and drove at them at a snail's pace. As both approached each other, and the truck came more clearly into focus, Carlos could finally see a familiar face. Well, familiar in that he'd seen the face on Facebook lining up with the story the person texted him about.

"Chucho," he said, with a slight smile.

As Niff came out behind Carlos, and the window was level with them, she was able to make out a handsome dark-skinned man; darker than any she'd seen at her predominantly white school, but not necessarily black, she knew that much.

"Hey, cuz," the man said, with a toothy grin, "how's it hangin?"

"It's uhm… well, my mom caught… us having sex, and she was gonna call the cops."

"Ah, the ol' 'Santa Clara', huh?" Chucho chuckled at the inside joke.

"Yeah, so… I mean, we're both adults, so there's nothing she can really do now, right?"

"Well, there's gonna be some paperwork we'll have to get, but don't worry; I'll just take you to my place, and we'll figure it out next week."

"Cool."

There was a pause as his eyes looked over to Niff. "So, is this the girlfriend?"

Carlos nodded quickly and Chucho nodded slowly in understanding. "Nice to meet you, girl."

Seeing her stay quiet, he added, "Don't worry; I'm not gonna bite."

“I’m Niff. Nice to meet you too, thanks.”

"Niff." he repeated it to think about where the name might've come from. "I'm Chucho." The door unlocked. "Alright, primo; ladies first."

Carlos stepped aside and let Niff step inside to the truck. However, when Carlos got in behind her, her thighs were pressed into the side, making her quick to put her bag in between her legs.

"Okay; you both strapped in?"

As the two of them nodded, Chucho gave another toothy grin, though one that carried a more chaotic intent. "Alright, hold on tight, then-" He turned on the high beams, and sped off while he began blaring a heavy rock version of "La Cucaracha". While Carlos was caught off-guard by the sudden change and his cousin's maniacal laughter at all the neighbors poking out their heads, Niff was calm and vibed with the music.

After they cleared the street and made it onto the highway, Chucho killed the high beams, and turned down the music. "So, Niff, what's the deal? How'd you meet my lil' cousin?"

"Uh, well, I kinda crashed my mom's car into his mom's car, so I had to help him study or his mom would call the cops."

"Ahh, I see, so-" he then looked at Carlos, who had managed to calm down as Chucho went the speed limit again. "you saw her beuatiful face and thought, 'she'll be more than just my tutor'?"

"U-Uh, well, the sex was her idea," he clarified.

"Yeah," Niff corroborated, "turns out I'm dumb as shit and I wasn't gonna actually be able to help him, so I thought, 'he's a guy so his dick's probably distracting him'." She took a beat. "I guess helping him with that's been making the difference, 'cuz it'd been working."

"Yeah, I get that," Chucho said, understanding. He paused. "I dunno how much Carlos told you about me, but I have dyslexia, so words and letters got mixed up in my mind. However, before that I thought it was me being gay that was fucking up my learning."

Niff gave him a quizzical look, though Carlos could almost see a smile forming at the corners of her mouth. "You thought it WAS your dick distracting you?"

"Yeah; I was crushing HARD on this one dude, and I really just wanted to fuck his cute little ass." He smiled.

"Nice, I respect that." Niff took a beat. "I'm being honest, I only really crashed because I looked at the PRNDL and got the 'R' and 'D' mixed up."

Chucho shot a laugh. "Dude, I had the opposite thing; I was getting chased and accidentally went in reverse. Luckily, I learned I was good at speeding backwards."

Niff laughed. "I guess we would've gotten away with it if our brains didn't suck."

"Well, I hate to break it to you, girl, but I actually did get away with it."

Niff raised an eyebrow. "What did you do?"

"So, the guy I was crushin' on was bicurious, so he invited me so that I could suck his dick. Not bad; it was about the normal amount of salty. However, the money shot was when his dad walked in, so I jumped out the window, and hauled ass, before he could catch me." He gave a chuckle which was followed by a sigh. "That's the last time I saw either of them, but MAN, was that fun." There was a slight smile as he thought about it.

Carlos saw as Niff's subtle smile grew wider as she felt a camaraderie with the grown man. "I bet that was exhilarating. Did you crush on anyone else after that?"

"Ehh..." Chucho made a face of uncertainty. "Not really." He paused. "I think if his dad hadn't shown up, we would've become official."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "That sucks, dude; I'm sorry to hear that."

"It's all good," he answered, "I'm an old man now, anyways, and we probably would've broken up after that year."

"Says who?"

"Says the fact that I wouldn't've kept my mouth shut about it, and he was the lead of the theater production 'Pippin' the year before that. People would've found out."

Niff raised an eyebrow. "And this was how long ago?"

"Oh, about..." "fifteen, years ago?"

"So why're you still stuck on it?"

"Oh, trust me; I'm not. I'm just givin' my backstory." Chucho paused. "Or 'lore' as the kids call it nowadays."

"Good." she began to sense a kindred spirit in Carlos' cousin. "So, what helped you read better?"

"Well, I told my parents that I was gay, and they were really supportive. They were New York punks, so it kinda made sense. When my grades didn't improve, they took me to a specialist friend they had who told 'em that I had dyslexia and they helped me manage it."

As Chucho saw Niff's face fall, he added; "I'm sorry if you were lookin' for some more drama, but it was really nothin' special."

Eventually, he pulled into the parking lot of a tall building. Eventually, Niff was able to make out that they were at an apartment complex.

"Well, here we are; home sweet home."

Carlos got out of the truck and stretched out. "Neat. So… are we alone then?"

"Yeah; it's gonna be that way for a few weeks."

Niff soon followed suit, looking at where Chucho parked. While it was leagues better than Mitch's neighborhood, but it was definitely suspiciously empty.

"Oh, don't worry," he said, as he locked the truck. "I know this place looks kinda sketch, but it's got a whole lotta security. No one's goin' in or out without getting found out."

As she heard his comment, she then noticed how... many, security cameras were around. Some in the usual locations of in the corners of ceilings of the inner cove and on the sides of the building. However, she also noticed other cameras giving away their locations atop trash cans and on streetlights by a blinking red light.

As they entered the lobby, she saw the button code system on the door leading into the rest of the building. It had the numbers 3, 4, and 6 worn down. Chucho hit the pin, and a buzzer rang, letting him know the door unlocked. He opened it, and let them in, leading to them hearing pornographic moans of pleasure both male and female.

"Dude, I thought you said we were gonna be alone," Carlos said.

"Oh, yeah; we're alone; like, inside my apartment. These guys just spend the night, but they're gone in the morning."

"Hey, at least it's better to what I usually hear at home," Niff quipped.

"Well, don't worry, either way; cousin Chucho's here to save the day." He did a weird pose that - with his slight paunch and skinny arms and legs - made for a funny visual.

Despite her amusement at the stance, Niff did not laugh. As the three of them stood in silence for a few seconds longer than awkward, Chucho readjusted himself.

"Alright, so lemme just-" Chucho took off his carabiner and flipped through his keys. He passed his car key, jeep key, sedan key, truck key, van key, garage key, trailer key, chain lock key, pass key, skeleton key, gas key, water key, until-

"THERE it is!" He pulled out his house key, which - as Carlos and Niff could tell - was 1) right next to the car key, and 2) nothing like the other keys. He opened the door and turned on the lights, which revealed a living room that only vaguely smelled of weed, but definitely looked like it should smell more.

"Cool; so... where do we sleep?"

"Well, I'll be sleepin' on the couch, and the two of you can share my bed."

Noting Carlos' widened eyes, he added, "it's a big deal."

"I'll take it, no big deal," Niff stated.

"Alright." Chucho gave a medium smile before he turned to the couch. He fished around underneath the couch cushions, until he pulled out a loop that looked like a seatbelt. As he pulled on it, the couch slowly but surely turned itself into a full-sized bed. After a bit of huffing and puffing, he gave a chuckle, which led into a wide grin.

"Man, I never get tired of doin' that."

[dailyunsolvedmysteries]

Philadelphia Experiment, UFOS?

According to legend, on Oct. 28, 1943, the USS Eldridge, a Cannon-class destroyer escort, was conducting top-secret experiments designed to win command of the oceans against the Axis powers. The rumor was that the government was creating technology that would render naval ships invisible to enemy radar, and there in the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, it was time to test it out.

Witnesses claim an eerie green-blue glow surrounded the hull of the ship as her generators spun up and then, suddenly, the Eldridge disappeared. The ship was then seen in Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia before disappearing again and reappearing back in Philadelphia.

The legend states that classified military documents reported that the Eldridge crew were affected by the events in disturbing ways. Some went insane. Others developed mysterious illness. But others still were said to have been fused together with the ship; still alive, but with limbs sealed to the metal.

Carl M. Allen, who went by the pseudonym, Carlos Miguel Allende. In 1956, Allende sent a series of letters to Morris K. Jessup, author of the book, “The Case for the UFO,” in which he argued that unidentified flying objects merit further study.

Jessup apparently included text about unified field theory because this is what Allende latched onto for his correspondences. In the 1950s, unified field theory, which has never been proven, attempted to merge Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity with electromagnetism. In fact, Allende claimed to have been taught by Einstein himself and could prove the unified field theory based on events he witnessed on Oct. 28, 1943.

Allende claimed that he saw the Eldridge disappear from the Philadelphia Naval Yard, and he further insisted that the United States military had conducted what he called the Philadelphia Experiment — and was trying to cover it up.

Jessup was then contacted by the Navy's Office of Naval Research, which had received a package containing Jessup's book with annotations claiming that extra-terrestrial technology allowed the U.S. government to make breakthroughs in unified field theory.

This is one of the weirdest details. The annotations were designed to look like they were written by three different authors -- one maybe extra-terrestrial? According to Vallee's article for the Journal of Scientific Exploration, Jessup became obsessed with Allende's revelations, and the disturbed researcher took his own life in 1959. 

[shallicomparetheetolagrenouille]

2024 in books (last one in June)

Language: Italian (translation)

Original title: Allmen und die Libellen

Boy, is the picture out of focus.

I liked this mystery book, all in all, but it is not world-changing. Also, I always expect a bit of detective work in the books published by Sellerio, but that is on me - the description on the back did not promise any.

The main character manages to be fun, despite the too-rich-to-understand-how-the-world-works-for-most-people-despite-having-no-funds-left-now background and being able to think "huh, a regular income would be nice" after spending 900,000 CHF in two pages and a half (an no way to earn them back). I think I will read the other two novels with him as a protagonist, but with no rush.

The character of Carlos is too close to an Allende-coded mystic native wiseman-turned-oddly-loyal-personal-valet with no limit to his skills or timeliness in times of trouble to be all that interesting. I hope he gets better in the next novels but I do not have much hope.

[transboysokka]

So growing up in Guatemala, are there any books in Spanish that you enjoyed? Like teen/young adult level?

(I'm trying to learn Spanish and I don't want just a translation of Twilight; I want books written BY native hispanohablantes, FOR hispanohablantes. If that makes sense.)

Okay full disclosure jsyk I grew up between Guatemala and the US so most of my fave books in Spanish I actually read in college as a Spanish lit major

But Isabel Allende is a good place to start.

I personally really really love magical realism so there are a lot of short story authors I love, for example Julio Cortázar. Read “La Noche Boca Arriba” omfg

Also check out Carlos Fuentes, “Choc Mool” specifically

[lemonlyman-dotcom]

Last book I…

Thank you for the tag @guardian-angle22 🥰

BOUGHT:

The Fraud by Zadie Smith - Zadie is one of my absolute favorite authors I’ve read almost all of her books. I highly recommend White Teeth and On Beauty especially.

BORROWED:

Violeta by Isabel Allende - Isabel Allende, the absolute GOAT. I’ve read almost all her books, she pretty much never misses. Chilean author, her uncle was the socialist president of Chile in the early 70s before the military coup d’état (backed by the US 🙄). He was executed and her family fled the country, and so she does a lot of exploring of the politics and the effects of that event and era in a lot of her novels. Most of her books take place in real or imagined South American countries and span generations. Known to feature magical realism.

WAS GIFTED:

The Wind Knows My Name by Isabel Allende - See above about Allende. I highly recommend the House of the Spirits, Eva Luna & A Long Petal of the Sea.

GAVE/LENT TO SOMEONE:

Vanishing Half by Brit Bennet - GOD THIS BOOK IS SO GOOD!!!!!!!! Follows two light-skinned twin sisters, one runs away and starts a new life passing in the white world. Their daughters eventually meet decades later and don’t know they’re related.

STARTED:

Tropicália by Harold Rogers - I started this one back in January lmao. Set in Copacabana, another generational familial novel!

FINISHED:

We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry - A SHOWSTOPPER! This one was so fun and weird and funny I couldn’t put it down. Set in the town that was home of the original 1690s witch trials, this one follows a high school girl’s field hockey team in the 80s. They pledge their souls to evil (in a Emilio Estevez notebook OBVIOUSLY) in exchange for a winning season.

GAVE 5 STARS:

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - Both of Gyasi’s books are INCREDIBLE but this is my favorite!!! Follows the lives and paths of two half sisters and their descendants through eight generations: from the Gold Coast of Ghana to the plantations of Mississippi, from the American Civil War to Jazz Age Harlem. One sister is royalty and stays in Ghana and the other is sold into slavery in America. Follow their stories and their descendants until their great-great granddaughters find each other.

GAVE 2 STARS:

Wahala by Nikki May - it was fine!! Hehe. It was a little too mean girls for my taste, but it had its fun moments. I think this would be a good beach read!!

DIDN’T FINISH:

Wintering by Katherine May - I was inspired to read this after hearing the author interviewed by Lauren Laverne on BBC6 but I didn’t finish because it was boring LOL

Tagging @chicgeekgirl89 @literateowl @lightningboltreader @liminalmemories21 @freneticfloetry @never-blooms @messymindofmine @fangirl-paba @carlos-in-glasses @firstprince-history-huh @filet-o-feelings @tailoredshirt @fitzherbertssmolder @fifthrideroftheapocalypse @bonheur-cafe @alrightbuckaroo @thisbuildinghasfeelings @ladytessa74 @goldenskykaysani @toomanycupsoftea @happilylovingchaos @cold-blooded-jelly-doughnut @herefortarlos @captain-gillian @basilsunrise @theghostofashton @thebumblecee @decafdino and open tag as always!!!