#Gregory is also German like reader

[akitothemightydorito]

YES HELLO INFODUMP PLS AND THANK U I wish to know about reader design, and designs in general, and also all the other characters (very curious about u mentioning Gregory - how is the chaos gremlin gonna show up, I need to know)

Info dump pt.1

YESS FINALLY!!! I GET TO INFO DUMP RAHHHH!!!!

So I did mention that Gregory would be introduced and we do in fact have an early concept of him when the prologue and other chapters were fleshed out (by the way art isn’t mine!! It’s my co-writers !!)

Here are two drawings of him! The one of the left is one “before he was trapped on island” and “After a while he was on the island” 2 years before reader to be exact which doesn’t really show much other than he’s a sneaky little bugger when reader encounters him. And oh boy is he a nuisance! Before the main plot begins Gregory was stranded after Eclipse attacked the ship he was on that he sneaked on to get away from the orphanage he lived in and pretty much was caught in the unfortunate event of Eclipse taking notice.

You could say Gregory was in a similar boat to the reader (I’m funny I swear-) and was saved somehow he survived drowning. Gregory eventually comes across Freddy and long story short he gets adopted by the giant grizzly (I’ll show size comparison soon !!) and becomes the local menace. Like, bro literally now thinks he’s invincible with Freddy by his side!? Mess with Monty and enter his territory? Freddy is there to quickly deescalate the territorial croc and remove Gregory as soon as he gets word, Greg is given a stern talking to for the nth time now. Oh what’s that? Gregory is provoking Roxy and Chica again? DAMMIT GREGORY WE DONT NEED MORE FIGHTS (context: Roxy and Chica aren’t on good terms early on due to competing for the same territory for the open plains)

All in all I think you can guess a few ways Gregory might make a first impression on the reader >:3

Okay moving onto Freddy!! The father bear himself! So I don’t remember all heights of the characters off by heart and the part where I discussed them is waaaaaayyyyyy back in a chat so until I get it I’m gonna try and estimate on what faint memory I have! Freddy is based of a brown grizzly and has a human like figure but mixed in with bear with lots of fur! His lightning marks and stripes have been turned into scars from an old conflict, of what? We don’t know since not even Gregory can pry it out from him….maybe it’s reluctance??

Here is some of the concepts! I’ll show the size difference below separately!! But yeah I hope this helps get an idea of what he’s supposed to look like!! Freddy is also known to keep the peace’s between everyone (and to keep Gregory in check-). He’s a friendly fellow but…he wasn’t always so tame before…never mind!

HABSHEINEBSUW EVERY TIME I SEE THIS I WANNA JUST SQUEEZE WHATEVER IS CLOSET RAHHH-

Freddy is basically the best to give out cuddles and a great napping partner, rivaled by DJ Music man though!

NOW I’m just gonna quickly move onto the MC themselves, Y/n!! OMG I AM SO EXCITED!! as you have probably seen in the prologue of EOTE (eyes of the eclipse. Shorter title) then you know that reader is German in WWII but!! They aren’t exactly one to see eye to eye with the views on Jews and so they vowed to help any Jew they could escape the county and basically be a human smuggler for Jews! The design I showed where reader is in a trench coat actually is what they use to get around, find sources of where Jews are being transported etc. basically just a disguise out of their Dad’s cloths. Reader also worked in a factory like some people did wearing overalls since both men and woman wore them during the mid 1930’s! (Same can also be said for Gregory’s clothes but for the early 30’s)

Headcannon: since Y/n and Gregory are both from Germany and speak both English and German, they like to confuse the others on the island on purpose by suddenly switching languages mid conversation! They also say curses in German either as a reflex or accident if it makes sense

I just find my own little HC funny hehe.

Next up we have Roxy!!! She actually is one character I remember the height for exactly and the reason I can remember Eclipse’s as well lol. She’s actually an astounding 7’3 when on her hind legs. The reason for her very tall height is because she is based off one of these:

RED MAINED WOLVES BABY!!! this also makes sense as to why she’s alone and doesn’t want to have a pack as well as wanting to have the plains for herself as she feels more in her element in taller grass! He legs and paws also have that same gradient of black fur going on as well as her having a puffy mane and fur. I also may or may not have said she is able to run top speed when she runs on all fours thus being a good way to scare reader :p

Like I mentioned she is able to walk and run on all 4’s just like she can on two legs but she prefers going on all 4’s though. Makes her hunts more easier and keep that pesky bird out her DAMMN Territory!! >:/

Only have 1 rough sketch of her so far since reader is yet to encounter Roxy or anyone else haha but here take in the tall maned beauty in all her glory! :D

Her more early concepts. Might have more added to her soon though 👀 (shhh!)

She isn’t one for being all that social and is Gregory’s #2 target whenever he feels like causing issues and risking his life. She also sometimes accidentally stumbles across Chico’s territory a few times which leads to a few scuffles and chase outs between the two so no one’s really surprised, Freddy manages to stop them before things get rough tho!!

Okay I have some juice left to dump about 1 more character before I pass out! ITS DJMM!!!! AHHHH so, so…He is a HUGE Drider that lives in a cave deep in the forest of the island. I have a few sketches but I can’t find them at the moment but in my next info dump I’ll be sure to get them! So basically he gives the vibe a jumping spider would: Harmless and sweet! Which is true when he’s Docile and unthreatened but when that changes he can show off his huge venomous fangs that can paralyze and even be lethal depending on dosage. Did I mention he also has soft fuzz on his boddy but not entirely covering his carapace? No? Oh well yeah he does but that also plays part in his threatening stance! He has the ability to shoot out barbed hairs out just like a tarantula (I physically shivered when I typed that, ugh!) but also be wary for his webs! Not only are his fangs and fluff a problem but also his webs! They have the consistency of a Golden ord weaver: strong and resilient but also soft and silky so if you’re caught, you’re trapped there for good!

Another small detail I wanna mention is the mini Music man’s in the SB game that chase you through the vents have basically become a cluster of mini driders (perhaps some young MM adopted ??) and so he is basically a protective father over all of them so anything coming their way is a threat on sight! You enter the cave without him knowing and your done for pal, game over!! >•<. Also, Also MM doesn’t speak verbally but he does communicate through chirps and other vocal sounds he’s able to make like clicks as well!! (He’s so sweet!!)

Okay that’s part 1 of this info dump done but I got more coming this way!! I got Monty, Chica, Sun, Moon and Eclipse to do next!!

[fitz-higgins]

LGBT literature of the 1860s–1910s. Part 1

Although homosexual love became more prominent in literature in the 1920s, there were dozens of different novels, poems and essays about homosexual men and women before that decade, and many of them were officially published! Here are ten such works, written between the 1860s and 1910s.

1. Une Femme M’Apparut (A Woman Appeared to Me), by Renée Vivien (1904). A beautiful autobiographical novel about Vivien’s relationship with Natalie Barney and also about her relationship with Catholicism.

[Read online in French or in English (also on Web Archive)]

2. The Green Carnation, by Robert Smythe Hichens (1894). A scandalous novel with characters based on Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas (Bosie). Bold and delicious, according to The Observer. Esmé Amarinth and Lord Reginald Hastings are followers of “the higher philosophy” and navigate their lives in the Victorian society that doesn’t favour men like them.

[Read online]

3. A Marriage Below Zero, by Alan Dale (1889). This American novel is considered the first English-language novel that portrays a romantic relationship between men. Elsie Bouverie, falls in love with Arthur Ravener and later marries him. However, soon she realises that Arthur is more than fond of Captain Dillington. Indeed, the two are in love and some time later go to live in Paris together.

[Read online]

4. Mikaël, by Herman Bang (1904). A semi-autobiographical story of an artist’s unrequited love for his bisexual student. This novel was later adapted into a silent film Michael by Carl Theodor Dreyer in 1924 which is available with English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Bulgarian subtitles here.

[Read online in Danish]

5. Wings, by Mikhail Kuzmin (1906). A tale of Vanya Smurov who is attached to his mentor Larion Stroop. An aesthete, Larion introduces him to the world of Classical and Renaissance art, and they go to Italy together. This novel offers an interesting insight into gay community in Russia.

[Read online in Russian or buy in English]

6. Poems by Digby Dolben (1860s). Dolben’s poems are plainly homoerotic, even though they don’t specify gender of the author’s love interest. My personal favourites are Homo Factus Est and A Song.

[Read online]

7. An Anglo-American Alliance: A Serio-Comic Romance and Forecast of the Future, by Gregory Casparian (1906). Get this: an Edwardian science fiction novel set in 1960 about lesbian romantic relationship, although one of them is actually a transmasc character. And they live happily. Be warned, though, that this is still an Edwardian novel, i.e. it’s rather problematic.

[Read online]

8. The Sins of the Cities of the Plain, or, The Recollections of a Mary-Ann, with Short Essays on Sodomy and Tribadism (1881). This book is based on the life of Jack Saul, an Irish male prostitute, or rentboy, and it is one of the first homosexual erotic works. Also includes a look into the Victorian transvestite/drag community.

[Read online]

9. Fridolins heimliche Ehe (Fridolin's Mystical Marriage), by Adolf Wilbrandt (1875). First work in German that presents homosexuality in a positive light. What’s more, the main character claims his soul is both male and female, and he is attracted to both men and women. Another novel with a happy couple!

[Read online in German or in English]

10. The Intermediate Sex by Edward Carpenter (1908). Carpenter, a socialist and gay rights activist, was a significant figure for gay writers of the early 20th century. In this work, he writes about homosexuality, sexual libertaion and gender fluidity.

[Read online]

P.S. One should remember that these books are very much products of their time and, once again, they can seem problematic to a modern reader, often in more ways than one. Nonetheless, they are an important part of gay and lesbian history and would be of interest to anyone who is interested in this subject.

Stay tuned, more books to come!

[multipikblog]

Diary Of A Wimpy Child, Book Evaluate And Ratings By Youngsters

How can Greg, with his attractive reputation, get on the way to this new 12 - month school? If you want your child to be exposed to inappropriate things, let your children teach them. Cartoon crazy. On the plus side, AULA’s story is very funny with its beautiful digital graphics and great character - the story stays strong in the guide. Only three sentences describe such books. I started this collection in my fourth year and now I am in my 5th year. I HAVE CHANGED MY LIFE FOREVER. The e-book traces the lives of Gregory Heffley, his brother, Rodrick, and his younger brother, Manny.

The children's book Wimpy tells the story of several children named Graham Helle who are in high school. The horrors of his life, the taunts of milk, were well received in high school. He talked about everything that happened and what happened from the point of view and discussion.

They may seem reserved for young children, but every time you learn and understand books, they are really adults. They talk about the real living conditions that a typical child botanist usually experiences. I had a lot of fun taking mom the same way. He will wear 6-inch alpine shoes when he is closest. Tom understands the academic content of the grades he taught aloud. I read to children under English in Spanish and Spanish, so I like to think they took them later.

You have overcome many challenges while entering the world of fiction. Readers will have more experience of VDPK skills, but the animations are the same. Zita isn’t Greg Heffley, a friend most kidnapped by an obscure foreign culture - but a collection of science fiction novels that have become students ’favorites. This book is really fun and enjoys cartoons. Laugh, joke, this e-book will make you want more.

Move closer - sit or stand; Bowing to death means curiosity and interest. These courses require at least b2 fluency in German. Public speaking is as important as the phonetics of discernment, the knowledge of visible conflict, and the understanding of what one is learning. This girls-built catalog is available for every boy. Primorska University is implementing high-level teaching techniques and strategies that can be used in the classroom, making the university more focused on high school teachers.

When the ice closes at Greg Heffley Middle College, he and his best friend, Rowley Jefferson, face a struggle for survival as war gangs transform the neighborhood into winter. Greg tries to cope with the dangers of high school, loves women, avoids talented college performances, and most importantly, keeps his secrets. Greg records his experience in high school, where he and his best friend are located

Rowley, simply in the hope of life, but as Rowley's style grows, Greg must take serious steps to save a great friendship. When the snow fell on Greg Hefley High School, the area turned into a winter battlefield. Competing teams fight in the field, build huge ice rinks, and create spectacular snowballs. In the region, Greg and his best friend are Rawley Jefferson.

I'm going to read every e-book in the Wimpy Kid Diary series. They go well with the e-book theme and are not where you get tired and want to stop reading. The meaning of this story is also great and shows you how to stand, and in some books it can give you information.

Do not lie and take care of your father and mother. Writer Jeff Kinney actually touches on the strings of phenomena in the characters he creates in Wimpy Kid's stories. There are naughty, stupid, intelligent, soccer girls and beautiful women.

He did not endanger him and was constantly accused of what was going on in his e-book. Four of them are my favorite yellow books, "Dog Day." Although my favorite time is my favorite time. I know a lot of people have already learned these books.

It's not exactly a pure journey as Jeff Kinney is taught in the fifth series. Greg suddenly deals with an unknown event in the child, the obligations imposed and all the problems between them. Greg could use his best friend to guide him - unfortunately Greg and Rowley had a lot of problems.

Struggling, Greg himself suggested that he must face the 'ugly truth'. You are about to order two Rodrick's rules and this guide includes one of the biggest secrets of Greg's summer trips. But hey, it's the beginning of a new faculty year, Greg has a new notebook and the past is all right (right?). But Greg's brother Rodrick knows everything and has no desire to keep his younger brother a secret

The majority of those events are linked to Greg’s efforts to enhance his social standing at college. By submitting my e-mail, I acknowledge that I have read and complied with Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. Get book recommendations, tips & recommendations, and more tailor-made to your kid's age. By submitting my e-mail, I acknowledge that I even have learned and conformed to Penguin Random House’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.

Because of the worm factor, Greg and Rowley are not usually friends. This worm factor broke his friendship with Gregin Rowley. Sometimes we fight with friends and we never share. For a long time, Raleigh and Greg were not friends.

We all received collectively in June 2016 for the Mother's Monument. As the final issue is about a detail, the two-ace heroes are left-handed speaks to most of their legacy, and the estimate of what a battery acid-stamped gripper, Batman and a lady wonder would look like. I'm on the fifth and final guide to the Mississippi capital serial edition, then I go to the third world of the potter. The eight-volume Wimpy Kid collection now brings together readers of nature-speaking nature books.

I also chose Greg Scholar’s ​​good examples and didn’t say bad sentences to students. Greg and his tem wrote bad sentences on a piece of paper and the teacher went crazy but didn’t say bad words. Teachers never say bad words to college students. Some scientists are evil and right readmore…….

[takaraphoenix]

Hey! What are your favorite fantasy/fairytale books, shows and movies?

Well, that is a very broad question. So... let’s structure this and tackle it.

Phoe’s Favorite Fantasy Books!

I don’t read much, so that’s a very short list. Seeing as you’re on my blog, I assume you know I read and loved Percy Jackson and the Olympians so that. However, there are fantasy series that I love way more than that.

For one the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire, my favorite author who I adore and worship. Takes the Wicked Witch of the West from Wizard of Oz and goes “but what if she was actually a restistance fighter trying to overthrow a corrupt government under their dictator, the Wizard?”. It’s amazing, I love it. Hardest recommend for the first two books. Been not too big on the third and fourth though, but that’s what happens when these things aren’t born out of being intended as a series but rather just... sequels... happening.

Golden classic that seems silly to even mention but I love these books - Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I. Love. Them. I love Alice, I love the world, I love the fantasy. One of only three books that I personally allow to classify as modern fairy tales (Peter Pan and Wizard of Oz being the other two. I just... I do think that there is a difference between “fairy tale” and just general “fantasy book(s)”, but these three I do think deserve a place in the canon of fairy tale classics). Also, fun fact: my above mentioned favorite author wrote a third installment for this series for the original book’s anniversary, it’s called After Alice. (I own a signed copy. I squealed very loudly when I opened it.)

My favorite fantasy book series though is the Bartimaeus series by Jonathan Stroud. I adore these books. Yes, if taken as a singular book, the first installment of the Wicked Years, which works as a standalone too due to the series’ nature of having sequels instead of being an intended series, takes the crown, however as a whole, coherent series, including all books in the series, no fantasy franchise beats Bartimaeus for me. It is sarcastic, snarky, fun, filled with heart, totally lacking unnecessary forced romance, has a fascinating world, the writing is a great read. I love this series to bits and pieces.

Now, since you specifically said fantasy/fairytale, I’d be a fool not to mention William Joyce’s Guardians of Childhood, the book-series that Rise of the Guardians is... let’s say a sequel to? While not necessarily fairy tales in the traditional sense, having the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Sandman and Santa as its main characters, it does go very much into fairy tale elements. It’s a really fun read, I personally think that Joyce has a delightful and enjoyable style.

So, that’d be the five book series that I’d recommend for fantasy.

Unless you meant actual literal fairy tale books - then I will have to disappoint you, unless you’re German. Because being German, my fairy tale collection is... well... German. I got this one. Mainly, I admit, for the illustrations - Tony Wolf worked on the majority of them and I love his illustrations, he was the author and illustrator of my favorite children’s book series when I was a kid. Which, talking about fantasy, fairy tales and books, I will absolutely also recommend here. Their English name is The Woodland Folk and it is very adorable and also very scaring for small children because fairies die in it. I was very traumatized as a kid but I still loved it a lot.

Phoe’s Favorite Fantasy Movies!

Now, movies are... it depends on what movies you want; live-action or animated. I do feel that those are vastly different categories that set vastly different expectations. And then there’s the overlapping between fantasy and supernatural in many such movies.

Let’s start with live-action, which is going to be a very short list because I am really not huge when it comes to movies - I barely watch any movies and if, then they are animated in 80% of the cases.

Lord of the Rings. Yes, I know, book-people would have filed that in the category above, but look... I am not a huge reader. And the movies have pretty blonde Orlando Bloom. But I do truly love these movies, I try to rewatch them regularly but consider I less see them as a trilogy and more as one 12 hour movie, it’s always quite the time-commitment.

And, with this one I am never quite sure whether to count it as a movie series or as a mini TV series, but the way they were released on TV, they were a movie series - so The 10th Kingdom, which is basically Once Upon a Time before that came out and without the Disney. It’s about the grandson of Snow White ending up in modern day New York and getting the help of a waitress and her dad to take down his evil stepmother, who is trying to take over the 9 fairy tale kingdoms. I love this series so very, very much.

Also The Librarian, which is a fun fantasy relic hunting movie series. But more on that when we get to TV shows, because the trilogy has a tie-in series.

I do realize that actually the majority of movies in my fantasy/supernatural section are... in fact... more supernatural than fantasy. So, pathetically enough, that is... kind of it.

Now, animated movies is harder because I quite literally have a list with 360 animated movies I saw and liked to various degrees of which the majority would qualify as fantasy due to the nature of most Western animated movies. So I’ll try to “best of” as narrow as possible (seeing as I once successfully managed to narrow my favorite animated movies down to 65...). So, a shorter version of that.

Now, when it comes to fairy tales and animated movies, Disney goes without saying so I’m not even going to say it because it’s very obvious, we all know the movies, seeing the tales. I love most of them, especially their princess movies, with one huge exception. So let’s only name-drop Sleeping Beauty because I adore it, and assume you’ve already seen all other Disney animated fantasy and fairy tale movies and move on from that.

I am also morally obligated to say “Barbie movies” here, because they did a ton of fairy tale adaptations too and the majority of them are fantasy - but to keep it brief, here is a link to my ultimate Barbie movie ranking for more individual recommendations from the Barbie canon and let me also only name-drop my favorite - Diamond Castle.

Don Bluth’s Thumbelina, as well as his Anastasia are two absolute must-sees when we’re talking fantasy (and fairy tale in Tumbles’ case).

DreamWorks wise I love and adore Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, The Road to El Dorado and Rise of the Guardians.

Now we’re getting into what I like to think of as “deep dive” territory because they’re not mainstream, they’re not big names. But I still love them.

Naturally have to say Swan Princess (1994) - the first three movies anyway, I ignore those 3D animated chep looking sequels. But the OG trilogy is a very perfect trilogy, I adore it so very much.

Another total classic would be The Last Unicorn (1998).

FernGully (1992) is a beautiful tale about fairies and one of my absolute favorite movies of all time.

A newer entry here would be Epic (2013), which is also about fairies and was written by William Joyce!

And, even if it may sound silly. The original Care Bears movies. The three from the 80s. I love them a lot, I think they’re great fantasy fun, who doesn’t love a Care Bear they are adorable, seriously.

Phoe’s Favorite Fantasy Shows!

And we move on to our last segment of this ask. I like a lot of TV shows, so I will try to keep this to my actual favorites.

My absolute favorite is Relic Hunter, it is and always will be my favorite TV show. Even if it’s cheesy at times and only has three seasons. I love it a lot. It’s... very much as it says on the tin; hot archeologist and her nerdy assistant search for magical relics.

If you like that genre, you have to also watch The Librarians - the tie-in sequel series to the movies. More librarians! More magic! More artifacts! More fun. I really love this and I mourn that they cancelled it.

Naturally Once Upon a Time - fairy tales and fantasy and I just love this TV show. Skip the last season though.

And all-time classic for me is the original Charmed - three witch-sisters discovering magic together. This was... the first ever show I actually... really consumed, with everything around it. I was totally obsessed with this, I love it. Which is why I won’t touch the reboot at all, because there’s “I loved this thing. Now there’s a new version of it! Fun!” but there is also “I loved this thing, as it is, there is no need to make a new one, why are you touching this?” - and this one was so very near and dear to my heart growing up that it is definitely the second category for me.

Definitely gotta mention BBC’s Merlin, even if it’s very, very, very flawed. It’s still fun, the characters are lovable. It has a scary fandom... in that it’s still alive and thriving, even so many years after the show’s end.

Also Grimm, though more supernatural than fantasy, it is a fairy tale show. In a way. It’s dumb but fun, because the Grimms were actually not just scholars, they were monster hunters and now modern day descendants of them are still out there hunting the same Big Bad Wolves (who aren’t all bad). I don’t know, I love it, despite the occasional cringe.

Now, lastly on the fantasy - Galavant. A musical comedy about a knight. Very fairy tale-y. Very hilarious and lovable. Sadly cancelled after two seasons.

There are many, many more fantasy shows I watch(ed), but those would be my favorites. Though I do have to tag on that elements such as vampires and werewolves are something I categorize as supernatural so they wouldn’t find mention here in fantasy (Grimm aside, due to the fairy tale theme).

I... hope I could provide a good recommendation or two!

[thewidowstanton]

The Widow’s Best of 2019

Welcome readers to our Best of 2019 round-up. Some of you might remember that when one half of The Widow, Liz Arratoon, started writing about the circus 25 years ago – with Widow other half Adrian Arratoon by her side – she was almost a lone advocate for the art form. Don’t you get jaded, people ask us. Absolutely not! But we do long for something a bit different, and this year we have been disappointed that so many circus shows and acts have started to look a bit similar and yawny.

One notable exception gets our Best Show, and we did love Company Soralino’s clowning with cardboard boxes, and Mizuki Shinagawa on silks at the 40th Cirque de Demain festival, but we have cast our gaze beyond circus to take in whatever else has taken our fancy. Just to remind people, and before any more sensitive hearts are broken, anything we have seen this year, no matter when it was created, is eligible for selection, but if we haven’t seen it, it isn’t. Our list, our rules, and, in no particular order, here it is. All shows are in London unless otherwise stated.

BEST SHOW: We really enjoyed Aurelia Thierrée’s Bells and Spells at the Norfolk & Norwich Festival, but our Best Show is La Nuit du Cerf (A Deer in the Headlights) by Cirque Le Roux, seen on French TV. This is the company’s follow-up to The Elephant in the Room, and new cast members Valerie Benoit and Mason Ames join the original troupe of Lolita Costet, Yannick Thomas, Philip Rosenberg and Gregory Arsenal. Together they showcase a sophisticated and exquisitely choreographed blend of top-flight acrobatics, handstands, hand-to-hand, roller-skating, tight wire, you name it, in a totally fresh and exciting presentation, all backed by a wonderfully eclectic soundtrack. If only more companies could come up with something so innovative.

FEMALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Extraordinary acrobat Esmeralda Nikolajeff, part of the line-up for Barely Methodical Troupe’s third show, SHIFT, which opened the London International Mime Festival at the Platform Theatre.

MALE ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Wes Peden, juggler, who had a scintillating guest spot in Gandini Juggling and Alexander Whitley’s show Spring at Sadler’s Wells. Don’t miss his solo show Zebra at the Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room during the London International Mime Festival in January 2020.

BEST GIG: Le SuperHomard in the library at the Institut Français as part of the Music Rendezvous season, and Durand Jones and the Indications, seen at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall during Meltdown.

MOST ENTERTAINING: Lucy Worsley’s talk about Queen Victoria at Southwark Cathedral.

BEST VENUE: The Poodle Club in Sydenham. 

BEST ACT: Foot-jugglers Marina and Svetlana Tsodikova, who are the Crystal Ladies in Cirque du Soleil’s Totem. They also get MOST GLAMOROUS.

BEST COSTUMES: Alejandro Gómez Palomo for The Male Dancer, choreographed by Iván Pérez, seen on the Arte app; Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fashion Freak Show (pictured below) seen at the Folies Bergère in Paris, and Queen Victoria’s crown, designed by Sheila Hay for A Night with Thick and Tight at the Lilian Baylis Studio, during the London International Mime Festival.

BEST INTERVIEW: Alec Baldwin’s chat with Elaine Stritch on his podcast Here’s the Thing.

BEST MAGIC TRICK: Shin Lim, winner of America’s Got Talent: The Champions 2019, doing card tricks.

LOUDEST GASP!: This photo of Joan Crawford, seen on @cjubarrington’s glorious Twitter account, where he posts vintage photos of Hollywood stars.

BEST MOVE: Anything by world champion football freestyler Liv Cooke.

BEST CASTAWAY: Living legend John Cooper Clarke on Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4.

BEST GOWN: Kathleen Nellis’ fabulous recreation of Marlene Dietrich’s ‘naked’ dress for Peter Groom’s show Natural Duty, originally designed by Jean Louis. Peter also wore it in Dietrich: Live in London, seen at the Crazy Coqs, Live at Zédel, for which he gets BEST CABARET.

MOMENT OF WONDER: Andy Goldsworthy throwing handfuls of snow into the wind in the documentary Rivers and Tides.

BEST LOOK AT THE MET GALA: Harry Styles wearing a sheer Gucci blouse!

HOTTEST TICKET: Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s solo triumph, Fleabag, at Wyndham’s Theatre, and, yes, we did speak to Andrew Scott this year!

FUNNIEST PERSON: David Mills, who stormed New York with Bitter Endings, but we saw him at the Poodle Club. Someone! Book this show for London!

BEST DANCE: The Seasons’ Canon choreographed by Crystal Pite at the Opera Garnier, seen on the Arte app.

BEST SET: Anna Reid’s simple, stylish and effective design for The Sweet Science of Bruising at Wilton’s Music Hall.

BEST SHOWBIZ STORY: The Man Behind the Microphone, first heard on Outlook on BBC World Service. The story of how filmmaker Claire Belhassine discovered that her unassuming Tunisian grandfather, Hedi Jouini, had been a singing megastar. Then we found the film of the same name.

BEST DOCUMENTARY: Liz Garbus’ 2016 Leave Nothing Unsaid, in which Anderson Cooper interviews his remarkable mother, Gloria Vanderbilt, about her life. Devastating and moving.

MOST FLAMBOYANT: Zack MacLeod Pinsent, who dresses like this all the time!

BEST SHOWBIZ BOOK – MALE ARTIST: Me by Elton John with Alexis Petrides.

BEST SHOWBIZ BOOK – FEMALE ARTIST: Dreamgirl: My Life As a Supreme by Mary Wilson… of the Supremes, with Patricia Romanowski and Ahrgus Juilliard.

BEST AUDIENCE: Ah, woof!

MOST NOTABLE ANNIVERSARIES: Ten years of The Double R Club, which was founded by Benjamin Louche and Rose Thorne, and runs at Bethnal Green’s Working Men’s Club, and three years of Cabaret vs Cancer, the registered charity started by Rose.

BEST VINTAGE CIRCUS PICTURE: Coo!

BEST FILM: Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman – which should have won the Oscar – and Olivia Wilde’s delightful teen comedy Booksmart.

BEST FILM SCORE: Out of Blue by Clint Mansell.

MOST IMPRESSIVE MEMORY FEAT: An hour and 40 minutes’ worth of words spoken by the one and only Maggie Smith, who returned to the stage in A German Life at the Bridge Theatre.

MOST ALLURING: Dina Martina, seen at Soho Theate Downstairs in Forgotten but Not Gone.

MOST MISSED: Agnès Varda, Clive James (born Vivian Leopold James!), and the French TV variety show Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde, hosted by Patrick Sébastien, which started in 1998 and ended this year.

GONE FAR TOO SOON: The creative genius Nell Gifford, co-founder of Giffords Circus, who died at 46.

MOST ANTICIPATED: Obviously Wes Peden’s previously mentioned Zebra, and Daniele Finzi Pasca’s latest creation, NUDA, premiering on 11 September 2020 at LAC, Lake Lugano in Switzerland.

Look out for our first interview of 2020, with Scottish aerialist and acobat Lauren Jamieson, who has a PhD in chemistry but gave up her science career to focus on circus full time. She will appear in The Feathers of Daedalus show Tarot during the Vault Festival 2020.

Picture credits: Company Soralino, Valérie Thénard Béal; Wes Peden, Pierre Feniello; Peter Groom, V’s Anchor Studio. Any we’ve missed, please let us know.

Follow @TheWidowStanton on Twitter

© thewidowstanton.com

[deniscollins]

In Amazon’s Bookstore, No Second Chances for the Third Reich

In 1998, when Amazon was an ambitious start-up, its founder, Jeff Bezos, said, “We want to make every book available — the good, the bad and the ugly.” Customers reviews, he said, would “let truth loose.”  David Duke has published several books advocating for the Ku Klux Klan, an American white supremacist hate group that argues for the purifying American society of African Americans, often based on distorted information. If you were an Amazon executive would you: (1) allow David Duke’s Klan books to be sold in honor of freedom of speech, or (2) ban Klan books by David Duke, as well as other KKK advocacy books? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?

Amazon is quietly canceling its Nazis.

Over the past 18 months, the retailer has removed two books by David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as several titles by George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party. Amazon has also prohibited volumes like “The Ruling Elite: The Zionist Seizure of World Power” and “A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind.”

While few may lament the disappearance of these hate-filled books, the increasing number of banished titles has set off concern among some of the third-party booksellers who stock Amazon’s vast virtual shelves. Amazon, they said, seems to operate under vague or nonexistent rules.

“Amazon reserves the right to determine whether content provides an acceptable experience,” said one recent removal notice that the company sent to a bookseller.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been roiled in recent years by controversies that pit freedom of speech against offensive content. Amazon has largely escaped this debate. But with millions of third-party merchants supplying much of what Amazon sells to tens of millions of customers, that ability to maintain a low profile may be reaching its end.

Amazon began as a bookstore and, even as it has moved on to many more lucrative projects, now controls at least two-thirds of the market for new, used and digital volumes in the United States. With its profusion of reader reviews, ability to cut prices without worrying about profitability and its control of the electronic book landscape, to name only three advantages, Amazon has immense power to shape what information people are consuming.

Yet the retailer declines to provide a list of prohibited books, say how they were chosen or even discuss the topic. “Booksellers make decisions every day about what selection of books they choose to offer,” it said in a statement.

Gregory Delzer is a Tennessee bookseller whose Amazon listings account for about a third of his sales. “They don’t tell us the rules and don’t let us have a say,” he said. “But they squeeze us for every penny.”

Nazi-themed items regularly crop up on Amazon, where they are removed under its policy on “offensive and controversial materials.” Those rules pointedly do not apply to books. Amazon merely says that books for sale on its site “should provide a positive customer experience.”

Now Amazon is becoming increasingly proactive in removing Nazi material. It even allowed its own Nazi-themed show, “The Man in the High Castle,” to be cleaned up for a tribute book. The series, which began in 2015 and concluded in November, is set in a parallel United States where the Germans and the Japanese won World War II.

“High Castle” is lavish in its use of National Socialist symbols. “There’s nothing that there isn’t a swastika on,” the actor Rufus Sewell, who played the Nazi antihero, said in a promotional video. The series promoted its portrayal of “the controlling aesthetic of Hitler” in its nomination for a special effects Emmy.

But in “The Man in the High Castle: Creating the Alt World,” published in November by Titan Books, the swastikas and eagle-and-crosses were digitally erased from Mr. Sewell’s uniform, from Times Square and the Statue of Liberty, even from scenes set in Berlin. A note on the copyright page said, “We respect, in this book, the legal and ethical responsibility of not perpetuating the distribution of the symbols of oppression.”

An Amazon spokeswoman said, “We did not make editorial edits to the images.” Titan, which wanted to market the book in Germany, where laws on Nazi imagery are strict, said Amazon approved the changes.

Some fans of the series said they found reading the book as dystopian as the show itself. “If you can’t even have swastikas shown in a book about Nazis taking over America, please do not make books ever again,” wrote one reviewer.

When Amazon drops a book from its store, it is as if it never existed. A recent Google search for David Duke’s “My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding” on Amazon yielded a link to a picture of an Amazon employee’s dog. Amazon sellers call these dead ends “dog pages.”

Some booksellers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said they had no problem with the retailer converting as many offensive books to dog pages as it wished.

Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

The bookseller said he only knew Amazon was forbidding titles because he received an automated message from the retailer, saying two used books he sold seven years ago — “Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star: Eye-Opening Revelations and Forbidden Knowledge About Israel, the Jews, Zionism, and the Rothschilds” and “Toward the White Republic” — were now proscribed.

“This product was identified as one that is prohibited for sale,” Amazon told him. Failure to immediately delete listings for these books, the company said, “may result in the deactivation of your selling account” and possible confiscation of any money he was owed.

Amazon said it didn’t really mean any of that about “Toward the White Republic.” “We did not intend to imply the book itself could not be listed for sale,” it said in a statement.

As for “Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star,” which is widely available from other online booksellers, Amazon said the book did not comply with its “content guidelines.”

Mr. Delzer said the email, which he posted on an Amazon forum, was clear and Amazon was dissembling about “White Republic.”

A bookseller since 2001, Mr. Delzer said he does not condone white supremacist material but believes people should be free to read what they want. The biggest seller in his shop at the moment is by Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist.

“Amazon wants its customers to trust Amazon,” he said. “The place that sells books doesn’t want much critical thinking.”

In 1998, when Amazon was an ambitious start-up, its founder, Jeff Bezos, said, “We want to make every book available — the good, the bad and the ugly.” Customers reviews, he said, would “let truth loose.”

That expansive philosophy narrowed over the years. In 2010, when the news media discovered the self-published “Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure” on the site, the retailer’s first reaction was to hang tough.

“Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable,” it said at the time.

That resolution wilted in the face of a barrage of hostility and boycott threats. Amazon pulled the book.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said Amazon has the same First Amendment right as any retailer.

“Amazon has a First Amendment right to pick and choose the materials they offer,” she said. “Despite its size, it does not have to sponsor speech it finds unacceptable.”

Physical bookstores rarely stock supremacist literature, for no other reason than it would alienate many customers. The question is whether Amazon, because of its size and power, should behave differently.

“I’m not going to argue for the wider distribution of Nazi material,” said Danny Caine of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan., who is the author of a critical pamphlet, “How to Resist Amazon and Why.” “But I still don’t trust Amazon to be the arbiters of free speech. What if Amazon decided to pull books representing a less despicable political viewpoint? Or books critical of Amazon’s practices?”

Amazon’s newfound zeal to remove “the ugly” extends beyond the Nazis. The order page for the e-book of The Nation of Islam’s “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews” stated last week, “This title not currently available for purchase.”

“The Man in the High Castle” was based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, whose stories are often about the slippery nature of reality and how it will be controlled in the future by governments and corporations. One character in the streaming series was Mr. Rockwell, the American Nazi Party founder.

In photos in “Creating the Alt World,” the tribute book, the swastika around Mr. Rockwell’s neck was removed. The real life Mr. Rockwell has been largely removed from Amazon’s bookstore as well.

After a complaint by a member of Congress in 2018, a children’s book that Mr. Rockwell wrote disappeared from Amazon. So did his book “White Power.” Other Rockwell material, like The Stormtrooper Magazine, is described as “currently unavailable.”

Some sellers circumvent the blocks by listing titles with a word or two changed, other booksellers said. One seller said he recently received a message from Amazon that several titles by Savitri Devi, also known as “Hitler’s Priestess,” were forbidden. But they are now on the site. And a copy of “Toward the White Republic” recently popped up on Amazon, for $973 plus postage.

There is still an abundance of other Nazi material available on Amazon, much of it with favorable reviews. There is the “SS Leadership Guide,” many editions of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Joseph Goebbels’s “Nature and Form of National Socialism,” to name just a few.

That only underlines how hard it can be to tell exactly what Amazon’s rules are. The confusion is reinforced by AbeBooks, the biggest secondhand book platform outside of Amazon itself.

Some of the books dropped from Amazon are available on Abe. Recently, there were 18 copies of Mr. Duke’s books on Abe, at prices up to $150. Amazon, which owns Abe, declined to comment.

[aliteraryprincess]

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

Warning: Contains spoilers

Welcome back to Fairy Tale Friday!  Today we’re going to take a look at the first “Snow White” retelling of this feature.  “Snow White” was one of my favorite fairy tales as a young kid.  Apparently I used to watch the Disney movie several times per day, and the illustrations for it in my childhood fairy tale collection (pictured above) were my favorites in the whole book.  

As a Retelling:

In terms of the elements of “Snow White” in this book, Bashardoust draws exclusively on the German version collected by the Brothers Grimm that we are most familiar with.  She doesn’t incorporate all the elements of the story.  Notable missing pieces of the tale are the dwarfs, the glass coffin, the poisoned apple, and the prince.  However, she greatly expands on the elements she does include and puts her own unique and interesting twists on them.

In the fairy tale, Snow White is the result of her mother’s wish for a child “as white as snow, as red as blood, and as black as ebony.”  Snow White famously has pale skin, red lips, and black hair.  Bashardoust’s Snow White character, Lynet, doesn’t have these specific features; instead, she is described as looking exactly like her late mother, who was very beautiful.  However, Bashardoust does keep the concepts of snow and blood involved in Lynet’s birth.  Lynet was created from snow and blood by a magician at her father’s request after the queen died.  Because of this, Lynet can magically manipulate snow.

The most important part of this story is the relationship between Lynet and her stepmother, Mina.  In the fairy tale, the relationship is wholly negative.  The queen is so vain that she immediately despises Snow White when the girl surpasses her in beauty and orders a huntsman to kill her.  Bashardoust’s Mina and her relationship with Lynet are much more developed and complex than this.  The chapters switch back and forth between the two characters, so the readers are able to see why Mina became the way she is.  Though Mina is very aware of her beauty and considers it the only way to get what she wants, vanity isn’t as strong a motivation for her as it is for the queen in the original story.  Her main concern is keeping the power she has as queen.  Though she ultimately does care for Lynet, she knows that one day Lynet will replace her, and the threat becomes greater and greater as the events of the plot continue.  At the beginning of the story, Lynet adores and looks up to Mina, but her feelings become conflicted when she realizes Mina has been lying and hiding her true self.  

Even though she is in the role of the evil queen, Mina is not the story’s antagonist.  Instead it is her father, Gregory, the magician who created Lynet.  We learn early on that he is a horrible and manipulative person when he reveals he replaced Mina’s heart with a magical glass one and claims she can never love or be loved because of it.  Creating Lynet drained his life force, so he plans to kill her and take her heart to restore it, which is a nod to the queen wanting Snow White’s heart (or her lungs and liver in some versions) brought to her in the original tale.  It is him, not Mina, who tries to poison Lynet.  There also isn’t a poison apple.  Instead, the poison is put on a bracelet Mina had given Lynet.  Gregory uses magic to create a double of Mina who then returns the bracelet to Lynet as a supposed peace offering only to be poisoned once she puts it on.  In the German fairy tale, the queen makes three attempts to kill Snow White using bodice laces, a poisoned hair comb, and the famous poisoned apple.  Of these three, the bracelet is most similar to the hair comb since they both take effect by simply coming into contact with the body.

Bashardoust also changes the way Lynet wakes up after being poisoned, though it still involves her love interest.  As previously mentioned, there isn’t a prince in this retelling.  Lynet’s love interest is Nadia, a young surgeon.  The prince in the original comes across Snow White’s glass coffin in the woods and is so entranced with her beauty that he decides to bring her back with him.  While they are walking, one of the men carrying the coffin stumbles and causes the apple to come out of Snow White’s throat, waking her up.  Bashardoust forgoes this and the perhaps more well-known kiss method popularized by the Disney movie in favor of a slightly more practical explanation.  Nadia switches the poison out for one that only causes a deathlike sleep.  Like Juliet in Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Lynet appears dead for a period of time but eventually wakes up.           

There is also a fantastic twist on the magic mirror.  In the German version of the tale, the mirror hovers between being an object and being a character.  It’s not human, but it does speak and is ultimately what sets the events of the story into motion.  Bashardoust plays with this concept and combines the mirror with the huntsman in the character of Felix.  Due to her magical glass heart, Mina can manipulate glass.  Soon after coming to live at court and setting her sights on the king, she creates Felix out of the glass in a mirror that belonged to her mother.  He is meant to teach her how to love so she can get the king to fall in love with her, though they ultimately fall in love with each other.  He becomes a huntsman to explain his presence at court and starts to become more and more human.  Despite this, he still retains some mirror qualities; he reflects the feelings of those looking at him.  It is him that Mina sends after Lynet when she runs away, though not with orders to kill her.  He does almost kill her since he believes it will be easier for Mina with Lynet dead, but as in the original, he can’t bring himself to do it.                            

My Thoughts:

I really enjoyed Girls Made of Snow and Glass.  I appreciate that the romance between Lynet and Nadia was kept secondary to the relationship between Lynet and Mina.  So many books end up dominated by the romantic relationships, and it’s always nice to find a book where that doesn’t happen, especially since the relationship between Snow White and her stepmother is so key in the original fairy tale.  And even though it is secondary, Lynet and Nadia’s relationship is very sweet and felt believable.  Plus I love finding LGBT+ fairy tale retellings!

I also liked the way Bashardoust structured the book.  The chapters switch between Lynet and Mina, and Mina’s chapters in the first half of the book focus on her past.  This worked really well to develop Mina, Gregory, and the king as characters and show the readers their motivations.  We also get to see the relationship between Lynet and her father at different points in time and from an outsider’s prospective.  If Mina’s chapters had started at the same point in time as Lynet’s, we would have missed out on all of this and the story and characters wouldn’t have been as strong.    

I do wish there had been a little more world building, especially in regards to the magic.  Lynet has magic because Gregory used it to create her and Mina has magic because he used it to make her a replacement heart.  That’s all explained and made sense to me.  However, we’re never given an explanation for Gregory’s magic.  Why does he have it?  How does it work?  I was also left wondering about the northern and southern halves of the kingdom.  The royal court is in the North, which has been cursed with eternal winter.  Nothing can grow there and food is imported from the South, which is warm and lovely.  Why would anyone stay there, especially the royal family who clearly has the means to move?  We’re given a reason that the current king doesn’t want to leave; his first wife is buried there.  But why didn’t any of the rulers before him move the court?  Questions like this aren’t really important to the plot, but they did sometimes distract me from the actual story.                 

My rating: 4 stars

Other Reading Recommendations:

The starred titles are ones I have read myself.  The others are ones I want to read and may end up being future Fairy Tale Friday books.  To keep the list from getting too long, I’m limiting it to four that I’ve read and four that I haven’t.  This was Bashardoust’s first book, so she doesn’t have more to recommend.  Hopefully she will soon!

Other Retellings of “Snow White”:

Fairest by Gail Carson Levine*

Mirror Mirror by Gregory Maguire*

“Snow, Glass, Apples” by Neil Gaiman*

Beauty by Nancy Ohlin*

The Fairest of Them All by Carolyn Turgeon

Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen

Dark Shimmer by Donna Jo Napoli

White as Snow by Tanith Lee 

About the Fairy Tale:

Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World by Heidi Ann Heiner  

Have a recommendation for me to read or a suggestion to make Fairy Tale Friday better?  Feel free to send me an ask!

[drmyler]

Kafka - Psychoanalysis

Kafka, Metamorphosis a Psychoanalytical View

 by

 Dr Stephen F Myler PhD

 Abstract:

 Franz Kafka in 1916 wrote a short novella called Metamorphosis (1. Bantam Edition 2004) a book of immense psychological and insightful nightmare into the human condition. Here we will exam Kafka's masterpiece from a psychoanalytical perspective to see that this work was an insightful self examination of depression, mental health and the role of carers when love turns to loathing. To begin our journey for the non-reader of this famous text we will give a brief outline and then turn to the specific role of psychoanalytic insight from Freudian to Burns and beyond.

 Introduction:

 Kafka was born in 1883 a middle class Jewish boy, introverted, shy and inadequate, believed to be a result of a critical father, (2. Letter to his Father 1919) he was later educated in Prague in a German University however he went on in his spare time to write many works of outstanding literature. Here we are not going to delve into detailed life but satisfy ourselves with a small picture of the man as writer. Kafka was very driven and wrote daily through the night with a dedicated passion. Today he might be seen as OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour) prone to perfectionism. It is his perfectionist emotional driver that made his literature something very special.

 Kafka wrote Metamorphosis in 1916 as a short novella about a young man who was the stalwart of the family, supporting an out of work critical father, a doting mother and childlike sister, in which our hero, Gregor Samsa was not popular at work and under daily stress of travel and deadlines to meet for which he felt a losing battle. In the beginning of the book he awakes from a troubling dream to find he has in fact turned into an ugly giant beetle his mind trapped in an alien body. From this beginning Gregor begins to explore his new limitations and narrow world view, his sight becomes dim, he cannot move without constant pain and great effort. His family are dependent on Gregor going to work, earning their keep and supporting their needs when suddenly he cannot no longer act in this role. His father is disgusted, his mother stricken and his younger sister while becoming his carer is repulsed by this new version of her brother. As time passes and he does not return to his old self – the family must make new plans to survive and now see him as their burden (roles reversed). In the beginning Gregor thought this was just a temporary situation that would soon pass and he would re-uptake his old life and continue forward. However in the end there is no solution and suffers a lonely eventual death.

 In writing the following psychoanalytical analysis I have not read the many introductions, essays and critical insights of other writers. This was purposefully done to avoid contamination of my thinking process in treating Gregor as my patient in a psychoanalytical setting. I did not want to have the bias of others opinions to my way of seeing the text as the only evidence of the patients mental health problem.

 The Patient:

 Like any new psychological patient to the clinic a first one hour session would be usually conducted in two parts – the first – why have you come to see me? The second the clients ability to vent (tell their story in their own words) and so set the scene for further sessions. Lets imagine Gregor's typical answer to why have you come here.

 Gregory: My family is very dependent on me to support them but lately I have been feeling very stressed by work and home alike. I had a very bad dream a few weeks ago and woke up in a deluded state in which I found it impossible to get our of bed. I just felt overwhelmed with exhaustion and the loss of will to keep going on with my miserable life. It was like I was some ugly bug that everyone despised and yet took for granted. All they want to do is squash my passion for life and replace it with their needs.

 Psychoanalyst: It sounds very much as if you are stressed and reached what me might call a point of exhaustion – this means your energy has been depleted both physically and mentally. So to summarise – you are depressed right now from the burden of work and a non-supportive family environment and you feel you have given up trying to be the one who supports everyone else?

 Gregory: Yes, it is like I was a donkey with burden I could no longer carry.

 Psychoanalyst: Tell me a little of your background? (second part - venting)

 Gregory: I have a very critical, controlling father who tries to dominate the household, however he is unemployed right now and his health has deteriorated through becoming lazy and irritable. My mother cowers  to him and goes along with his demands even when unreasonable, I have a younger sister – she is just finishing her education but has not found any real outlet for her abilities just yet, she is kind and sweet but very nieve about the world at large. At work my supervisor while pleasant enough but he is also under pressure from our boss who like my father is controlling and micro manages our every move. This means you feel you are being scrutinized constantly and found lacking. I have to travel a lot for my work and often come home late and exhausted but then am expected to be there for the family as the main stay of their comforts. I do not have time for relationships and I am probably not a very good catch for any girl who might have any interest in  me beyond the obvious. At home things have changed now that I have been fired and lost my income. My sister has started to care for me more and tries constantly to rescue me from my mood swings, however my mother has just fell apart and cries insistently about her poor boy yet shy away from actually helping me. As for my father he is even more disgusted by me than ever as I forced him to go out and find work, he even took in some lodgers to help make ends meet and so the burden has passed to my mother and sister to keep the household clean and fed. We have had some cooks and cleaners but they have mostly left because they refuse to have anything to do with me. I cannot really think of much else to tell you – but at least I feel I managed to get it all out.

 Psychoanalyst: I think that gives me quite a lot to think about Gregor and you have been very clear and systematic in the way you have explained the background. Tell me how are you actually feeling right now?

 Gregory: A little relieved to have finally explained myself and someone listened without a sneer on their face or laughing at me. Thank you for that. In general I know that everyday I feel sad and tired by life – I just want to lay down and sleep – that somehow when I wake up everything will be normal again – that I can function and have some sort of life.

 Psychoanalyst: Well we have had our time today Gregor, an hour can pass very quickly the first visit. I hope to see you are least once a week for an hour, in the meantime I have a little homework exercise for you to complete for me. A one page biography of your family, where you grew up, your education, relationships and the current here and now situation. I know you have told me some of this already but it will help save some time in sessions by having a short version of your life so far. Please send to me via email before our next session so that I can read and analyse the content before you come. Here is my card and details. If at anytime you feel you are in crisis and need me – please call for an earlier appointment.

 Gregory: Thank you Doctor, I will see you same time next week.

 Psychoanalytical Analysis of the First Session:

 For insurance purposes the analyst is forced to write a psychiatric number and diagnosis. This labelling is not a reflection of the true nature of the mental health problem but merely a forced situation in order to get paid. In Gregor's case – Clinical Depression DSM V 296.3.

 In reality a psychological outcome may have been Reactive Depression to stress at both home and work leading to a lack of everyday cognitive functioning in both thought and behaviour.

 Clearly in this case – depression is the key element from signs of mental exhaustion, a sense of hopelessness and helplessness from the role reversal of stalwart breadwinner to helpless victim in need of rescuing by his sister in particular – the constant disappointment to both his parents and rejection of his work colleagues. At his stage we do not have enough data to surmise the underlying unconscious drives that might be fueling his depressive state other than the external pressures of family and work. In further sessions the need will be met from a more in depth scrutinizing of his emotional world and inner conflicts. He clearly feels alone in his burden although the sister is obviously doing her mother's duty of care. The client mentioned a bad dream – this can be further pursued for unconscious motivations.

 Further Sessions:

 Over 20 or more sessions – Gregor's analogy of being an ugly beetle are further explored and his relationships with both family and work – more importantly his feelings about himself and his depressive state. It also became clear that his family were now neglecting his everyday needs for nutritious food, care and comfort. They in fact have become physically violent towards him causing him to further withdraw into his delusional world where he feels he is nothing more than an ugly beetle that should be stamped upon. Risk of suicide has now become evident in his demeanour. His appearance shows he is not looking after his ablutions, clothing is dirty and unkempt and he has lost considerable weight. He was also becoming lethargic in that he no longer cared what happened to him as long as this constant pain would cease (pain being mental anguish). His sister although dutiful in looking after him has lost heart in him getting better and so now only is a functional caregiver as opposed to a empathetic one. His biography homework showed that his father was not only controlling but bitter in that he lost a business owing considerable money to Gregor's employer who now expected him to pay off his fathers debts through a reduced salary for his own work putting considerable burden on him to support the family at home. The mother was ashamed of the home situation and was too weak to stand up to her husband in any matters of  economy or otherwise. The sister was in the past spoiled and now resented her reduced situation and blamed Gregor for being sick. Again adding to his feelings of alienation and being alone.

 Sadly Gregor died after the end of the sessions from self-neglect – basically willing his life to cease as he saw no longer any purpose to it. His father had found new employment, the mother felt relieved to see her son no longer in this life suffering and the sister finally felt free of her own burden that being her brother. While psychoanalysis would have hoped for a different outcome – the book itself determined the ending that we have to accept.

 Conclusion:

 While Franz Kafka meant his novella of Metamorphosis to be a comic tragedy of a wasted life it springs out at any educated reader in the art of psychoanalysis as a perfect example of chronic depression and futility. Those in this delusional state often contemplate suicide although mostly via ideation (I think it but don't), however self neglect is very common trait that leads to slow death from a lack of self care. When you have a non-supportive family, where their needs are being thwarted by your mental state – then further rejection can cause a spiralling effect of deeper resentment about your own part in the downfall of your mind. Many depressives play victim (3. Berne 1960's) inviting others to rescue them – when in fact they need to rescue themselves – but in the end they become their own persecutor and further victimize themselves to that bitter ending of death.

 In real life via treatment for depression a sense of purpose is sought from the client in that he can see a new fresh change to his circumstances despite the battle of a non-supportive family and hostile work environment that is all to common in today's economy. In Gregor's case over time he would have explored his past traumas and realized the underlying demons that led to his lack of self assurance and efficacy to find a new solution to his mood.

 Summery:

 This paper was an exercise in psychoanalysis from a famous work of literature and reflects the art of the analyst who tries to understand the underlying concepts of the unconscious mind in creating monsters from our own imagination to battle with when we reach that point of exhaustion both physically and mentally called – depression.

 References:

 1.      Kafka F. 1915 – Metamorphosis – Bantam Edition 2004

2.      Kafka F. 1919 – Letter to his Father – Bantam Ed 2004

3.      Bernes E. 1960's – Transactional Analysis – various volumes.

[demoban]

Release: Dengeki PS2 D61 (SLPM-61051)

Download Link

And now for Christmas present #2 in the form of a second Dengeki PlayStation 2 disc!

This disc is notable because it features a playable version of Capcom’s PS2 version of Catan, which never officially got past an online beta test held in 2003 before being quietly cancelled. Based on the German board game of the same name and with art by Susumu Matsushita, the man of a million Famitsu covers, what makes this rendition interesting beyond the online functionality was the fact that it was planned to be a freely distributed game. As this Japanese article describes, the client would be free to download to the PS2 hard drive, with actual gameplay accruing a monthly fee. (So far as I can tell, no actual price was ever announced due to the game’s cancellation, however.) Beyond basic multiplayer functionality, players would be able to use coins that they would receive monthly for things like bets on matches, as well as items to decorate their avatar. Notably, a PC version was also in development by Capcom and players from both versions were planned to be able to play against each other. It even appears that Capcom was considering bringing this overseas, judging by a video posted on IGN circa 2002, which features its fair share of visual and UI differences with what’s seen on this disc. While obviously this business plan isn’t without its flaws, bear in mind that this was at the dawn of free-to-play-looking business models even being conceived within Asian markets within the PC space, let alone for the rest of the world and for consoles especially. Things might not have obviously panned out for this game, but it wasn’t without its ambitions for the time, at least.

Based on this article and other research, it seems that the beta itself was only distributed online through the PS BB Navigator, meaning that the chances of finding that data on a Japanese hard drive in 2017 are pretty slim. While this demo does have an install option present in the main menu, I can’t get it to activate, even when emulating a PS2 hard disk; whether that’s deliberately by design for this demo, I can’t entirely say for certain. It’s not completely without any functionality, however! There is an offline component that teaches players how to play Settlers of Catan, as well as a “test” mode that more or less functions as a way to play a full 4-player game with three AI opponents. Parts of the UI are clunky, but otherwise it seems perfectly playable as it is, provided that you’re literate in Japanese.

All of this is to say that, to my knowledge, a dump of any version of this game hasn’t existed online in wide circulation and while it might “just” be for an adaptation of a board game that you can through plenty of other means at this point, it’s not every day that a cancelled Capcom game shows up in this manner, let alone one that was experimenting with the business side of things, so in that regard, I’m content.

Beyond that, the most notable demos for readers outside of Japan are bound to be ones for Silent Hill 3 and Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution, although the former had been out for several months by the time this issue of Dengeki PS2 was rolling around and the latter was just around the corner, meaning that you probably shouldn't expect too much content that’s different from their respective retail releases, if at all. That said, in I believe a first for this blog, the Silent Hill 3 demo does feature a language toggle that lets you play it in English, which, hey, as somebody who works in game localization, I find that to be pretty neat!

For the full content listing, check out the breakdown below.

Magazine Name: Dengeki PlayStation 2 (Dengeki PS2) Issue: D61 Publication Date: 2003/8/22

Demos (Red): -Catan (cancelled game) -Atelier Viorate: The Alchemist of Gramnad -Torakapu/Trouble Capture: Dash -Virtua Fighter 4: Evolution -Private Nurse Maria (movie included) -Silent Hill 3 (movie included)

Special (Green): -Capcom New Game Footage Special.   -Monster Hunter   -Onimusha 3   -Resident Evil Outbreak   -Onimusha Blade Warriors   -Gregory Horror Show   -Mega Man X7   -Auto Modellista: US-tuned

Movies (Blue): -R: Racing Evolution -Castlevania: Lament of Innocence -Altered Beast -Nightshade/Kunoichi -Nobunaga no Yabou Online -Kikou Heidan J-Phoenix 2: Joshou-hen -Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly -Monster Rancher 4 -Hungry Ghosts

Save Data (Yellow): -Memory card files for various games.

Happy holidays!

-Pepsi

[sjrresearch]

Convention Report – Cyber Wars Redux!

As many in the hobby are painfully aware, COVID-19 has played merry hell with a rather beloved staple of gaming - the convention. With venues closed and shutdowns stalking the land (not to mention a terrible disease who seems to think middle-aged wargamers are on the menu!), wargaming societies have had to get creative in holding events. Of course, the Historical Miniature Gaming Society (HMGS) East chapter has been no exception.

With the success of several online cons, HMGS has now, as of this writing, held two Cyber Wars cons to, I would say, moderate acclaim. I will admit, it doesn’t fully replace the joys of being at a con and seeing old friends, hitting the dealer’s area and the flea market, and, of course, playing in some gorgeous looking games, but it’s damn nice to see folks stepping up for the sake of the hobby!

Your intrepid writer decided to go, as much for his own enjoyment as it was for you, the reader. Cyber Wars Redux was held from Thursday, Nov. 12 to Sunday, Nov. 15. This time, the convention boasted 17 gaming events, a full course of instruction at HMGS’s “Hobby University” (which one of these days, I really must make a point of attending), and a very full round table of presenters for a variety of seminars, some of which I actually managed to attend. Half a dozen vendors offered some nice show specials, and it was nice to see that number was up from the Cyber Wars convention just a few months before. 

I attended two days on Saturday and Sunday. My morning was taken up by an unrelated wargaming event I will describe later that was hosted by the US Naval War College. They asked participants to refrain from saying much about it, and I will respect that request, but suffice to say when I can talk about it, I will. It was quite the event!

My first event of the day was “Caen Counter-Attack” by Gregory Arofan, who has been quite the fixture at these Cyber Wars conventions, putting on at the last convention an awesome looking Malaysia 1942 game, and now a game centered around the fighting over Hill 112 near Caen in Normandy, 1944. I was the Germans, and my luck was just horrible. The rules were computer-moderated, and each unit was about a battalion’s worth of actual men or vehicles, with each stand translating to about 50% of the unit or so. My Germans had some Tigers, Mk-IVs, Panzerjagers, a recon battalion, four battalions of Panzergrenadier, and some artillery. The Brits had some armor and armored cars, gobs of infantry, a few tanks, and plenty of artillery and airstrikes (it was 1944 Normandy, they should have this). 

The battlefield was a series of low hills, with Hill 112 dominating the center and a village on the north edge on the British side and in the center on the German side. There were also some dense woods on both sides as well. My plan was simple, hit the dug-in British defenses on Hill 112 with my recon elements in the flank, as well as three of my four Panzergrenadier battalions. The fourth, along with the Panzerjagers, would tie up the British in the north. In the south, I would send the armor to flank Hill 112 and present the British with an impossible choice. Needless to say, nothing went to plan.

My Panzergrenadiers nerve failed badly under fire, and they just couldn’t get up that hill. My Tigers were walloped by Allied aircraft and were a shadow of their former selves by the time the Mk-IVs stalled in their advance. About the only bright spot I had was that I shot the British mobile elements to pieces with a mix of artillery and what luck I did have. I don’t usually like to blame luck for poor tactics, but in this case, the plan should have worked. All I can blame is the dice. Ah well. Somedays, you get the random number generator. Some days, it gets you.

With the game ending early, I ran to make my Battletech seminar at 4 pm. I won’t discuss that at length as it’s a sci-fi game and we are a historical wargaming blog, but the company was nice, and considering I don’t normally make GenCon or Origins, it was nice to see some of the big names from the company here to tell us fans what’s coming.

On Sunday, I met up with some friends (virtually!) and we had a blast attending the back-to-back seminars held first by Plastic Soldier Company (and facilitated by the fine folks at No Dice, No Glory). The 10 am seminar was ably presented by Simon Hall, as Will Townshend couldn’t make it due to a happy family obligation. That said, boy, did Simon have a lot to tell us!

First, they’ll be running a Christmas Special on their Ancients line, specifically an army deal on their 15mm Carthaginians for their Mortem et Gloriam rules set. They also announced that their 100 Years War French army will be released in January, and 15mm WWII Japanese should be seeing the light of day sometime in April. These figures, like many of their new releases, are in their new Ultracast plastic (the author has yet to see this in the flesh, but he hopes to soon!) which is just plain amazing from all accounts. According to Simon, he says the technology has matured, and turnaround time for new designs has lessened a bit. I do look forward to what they’re going to do with it next. It seems the Ultracast plastic was originally used for medical purposes, and the Spanish manufacturer has had to get used to the production demands of wargaming miniatures! 

As for the release of the 20mm WWII Waffen-SS, I must say, I was impressed with the pictures I have seen of the figures, and hope to see some of those miniatures to review soon!  

What can I say? The package looks great and the figures, as painted by the indominable Piers Brand, are amazing! Simon revealed that they are going to be followed up by Deutsches Afrika Korps (DAK) and British 8th Army for the Desert War (Late War Americans in ’43 jackets would be so welcome, please!).

As for their Mortem et Gloriam (MeG) rules, there was a discussion of having downloadable army lists available in the near future, but no details were given. There was also talk of a 1:1 20mm World War II skirmish rules set under development, but Simon didn’t say too much more about that. 

The big news was that, barring COVID still being an issue, PSC was holding a 2021 Gathering in London. It would be held the weekend of Sept. 24 at a location in North London. Details of the event can be found here. American wargamers, get those passports and airline tickets ready! I asked Simon if, with all of the wonderful releases in Ultracast, there were plans to replace the hard-plastic lines. I am happy to say the answer to that question was an emphatic “no.” There are no such plans, and Simon was glad I asked. Simon did say they were very pleased with the durability of the Ultracast material, as well as it’s ability to cast on the fly. 

Some other discussions that came out of the seminar was a discussion of the upcoming Divisions of Steel rules, which are going to be 10mm WWII rules with each base being company-sized elements. The idea is that you can run an entire division on the table. I didn’t get word on when that release would hit, but there was discussion of a starter box with the rules and an army all ready for you to paint up and field with everything you’ll need to get started. 

Meanwhile, for MeG fans, the word is that Napoleonic and Pike and Shot eras are being worked on, but there wasn’t much more said about that. And there was quite the discussion on how World War I was an “under-gamed” conflict. Will that lead anywhere? That’s unclear, but considering PSC did a boardgame release with plastic miniatures a few years back?  Anything’s possible! 

The Battlegroup seminar (though it was a bit more wide-ranging than just Battlegroup) was just as informative with Piers Brand and Warwick Kinrade. They discussed the “ten-year plan” for Battlegroup, which had the remaining releases for Battlegroup to fill out the obvious holes in Battlegroup’s coverage of the Second World War.

I’ll quote Piers’s original Facebook post. He says It better than I could: 

So for those wondering its [going to] look something like this...

Battlegroup Stalingrad - 1942 Ost Front Supplement

Battlegroup Cassino - 1943 to 1945 Italian Front Supplement 

Battlegroup Bagration - 1944 Ost Front Supplement

Battlegroup Westwall - Late 1944 Western Front Supplement

These four books will close the original ten-year series of books that was envisioned when the game was created. 

However, this won’t be where the Battlegroup story will finish. 

PSC are currently developing a further ten-year plan to increase the scope and materials available to Battlegroup players and the community. The next wave of books will likely follow a slightly different format, with a focus on historical scenario packs - the provisionally titled ‘Battlegroup Firefight’ series - which will aim to provide players with scenarios based on various theatres of the war.

There was a lot of discussion and excitement on the chat about the Battlegroup Firefight series, and Piers said that this was an opportunity for Battlegroup to grow “organically.” In the short term, Stalingrad ’42 is in development, and we’ve already seen some teaser images on the Facebook page. The discussion on what the scenarios look like was interesting, with a lot of comments about new urban fighting rules to replace the ones in Fall of the Reich, and an idea towards smaller tables to better show the close quarters of the fighting in Stalingrad. But the book would also have an eye towards covering the entire Eastern Front in ’42 experience.

BG Cassino or Italy, or whatever it’s eventual title would be the next book behind Stalingrad. An early war Pacific book was discussed during the seminar, as was the online questionnaire on Facebook to see what the fans would want to see in the Battlegroup: Firefight series. Both Piers and Warwick said they were happy to see the enthusiasm and joy of the fans. 

The new project of both Piers and Warwick is, of course, ‘Nam 68. I’ve interviewed Warwick about this in a previous article. We got some more details on how Nam ’68 will work, with the Viet Cong being run by a referee and the players each playing a squad of Americans. The VC forces will be generated by playing cards (with themed playing cards being a thing potentially developed for the game). Warwick did say the game would not consist of masses of helos and support elements, but he did say that medics will play a big role for the Americans. The game is a 1:1 skirmish game, and it will be aimed towards the 20-28mm figure market, but I see no reason why 15mm wouldn’t work with it.

The other big topic of discussion was Battlegroup NORTHAG. Everyone was clamoring for when the CENTAG book would be released and what would be in it! So far, the confirmed armies are Americans, West Germans, French, Soviet Naval Infantry, Soviet Airborne, and a generic Warsaw Pact list that can be tweaked to fit the country you’re running. There was some discussion of a book for Scandinavia, as well, but the main focus of the NORTHAG system will be historical, modern conflicts, such as the Arab-Israeli Wars or the Iran-Iraq war.

The final part of the discussion was the formation of the Frontline Facebook Group for WWII gamers. This was something Warwick had wanted to do for some time as a means to build community amongst wargamers who gamed the Second World War. He said many of the Facebook sites out there simply concentrated on a given rules system, and a more “generic” Facebook site was needed. He eventually saw the site becoming the onus of a set of World War II skirmish rules, scenarios, and painting guides, based around Paetron, but he felt things were a bit early for any details.

And with that, the seminar wrapped up, and so did my Cyber Wars. I look forward to doing this again in a few months, or perhaps if all works out, we’ll be back gaming at tables for real. I think we’d all like that. But till then, good on HMGS for doing its best to keep our sense of community alive during these trying times.

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At SJR Research, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse SJR Research’s service on our site at SJR Research.

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(This article is credited to Jason Weiser. Jason is a long-time wargamer with published works in the Journal of the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers; Miniature Wargames Magazine; and Wargames, Strategy, and Soldier.)

[mastcomm]

In Amazon’s Bookstore, No Second Chances for the Third Reich

SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon is quietly canceling its Nazis.

Over the past 18 months, the retailer has removed two books by David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, as well as several titles by George Lincoln Rockwell, the founder of the American Nazi Party. Amazon has also prohibited volumes like “The Ruling Elite: The Zionist Seizure of World Power” and “A History of Central Banking and the Enslavement of Mankind.”

While few may lament the disappearance of these hate-filled books, the increasing number of banished titles has set off concern among some of the third-party booksellers who stock Amazon’s vast virtual shelves. Amazon, they said, seems to operate under vague or nonexistent rules.

“Amazon reserves the right to determine whether content provides an acceptable experience,” said one recent removal notice that the company sent to a bookseller.

Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have been roiled in recent years by controversies that pit freedom of speech against offensive content. Amazon has largely escaped this debate. But with millions of third-party merchants supplying much of what Amazon sells to tens of millions of customers, that ability to maintain a low profile may be reaching its end.

Amazon began as a bookstore and, even as it has moved on to many more lucrative projects, now controls at least two-thirds of the market for new, used and digital volumes in the United States. With its profusion of reader reviews, ability to cut prices without worrying about profitability and its control of the electronic book landscape, to name only three advantages, Amazon has immense power to shape what information people are consuming.

Yet the retailer declines to provide a list of prohibited books, say how they were chosen or even discuss the topic. “Booksellers make decisions every day about what selection of books they choose to offer,” it said in a statement.

Gregory Delzer is a Tennessee bookseller whose Amazon listings account for about a third of his sales. “They don’t tell us the rules and don’t let us have a say,” he said. “But they squeeze us for every penny.”

Nazi-themed items regularly crop up on Amazon, where they are removed under its policy on “offensive and controversial materials.” Those rules pointedly do not apply to books. Amazon merely says that books for sale on its site “should provide a positive customer experience.”

Now Amazon is becoming increasingly proactive in removing Nazi material. It even allowed its own Nazi-themed show, “The Man in the High Castle,” to be cleaned up for a tribute book. The series, which began in 2015 and concluded in November, is set in a parallel United States where the Germans and the Japanese won World War II.

“High Castle” is lavish in its use of National Socialist symbols. “There’s nothing that there isn’t a swastika on,” the actor Rufus Sewell, who played the Nazi antihero, said in a promotional video. The series promoted its portrayal of “the controlling aesthetic of Hitler” in its nomination for a special effects Emmy.

But in “The Man in the High Castle: Creating the Alt World,” published in November by Titan Books, the swastikas and eagle-and-crosses were digitally erased from Mr. Sewell’s uniform, from Times Square and the Statue of Liberty, even from scenes set in Berlin. A note on the copyright page said, “We respect, in this book, the legal and ethical responsibility of not perpetuating the distribution of the symbols of oppression.”

An Amazon spokeswoman said, “We did not make editorial edits to the images.” Titan, which wanted to market the book in Germany, where laws on Nazi imagery are strict, said Amazon approved the changes.

Some fans of the series said they found reading the book as dystopian as the show itself. “If you can’t even have swastikas shown in a book about Nazis taking over America, please do not make books ever again,” wrote one reviewer.

When Amazon drops a book from its store, it is as if it never existed. A recent Google search for David Duke’s “My Awakening: A Path to Racial Understanding” on Amazon yielded a link to a picture of an Amazon employee’s dog. Amazon sellers call these dead ends “dog pages.”

Some booksellers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation, said they had no problem with the retailer converting as many offensive books to dog pages as it wished.

Mr. Delzer, the proprietor of a secondhand store in Nashville called Defunct Books, has a different view. “If Amazon executives are so proud of their moral high ground, they should issue memos about which books they are banning instead of keeping sellers and readers in the dark,” he said.

The bookseller said he only knew Amazon was forbidding titles because he received an automated message from the retailer, saying two used books he sold seven years ago — “Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star: Eye-Opening Revelations and Forbidden Knowledge About Israel, the Jews, Zionism, and the Rothschilds” and “Toward the White Republic” — were now proscribed.

“This product was identified as one that is prohibited for sale,” Amazon told him. Failure to immediately delete listings for these books, the company said, “may result in the deactivation of your selling account” and possible confiscation of any money he was owed.

Amazon said it didn’t really mean any of that about “Toward the White Republic.” “We did not intend to imply the book itself could not be listed for sale,” it said in a statement.

As for “Conspiracy of the Six-Pointed Star,” which is widely available from other online booksellers, Amazon said the book did not comply with its “content guidelines.”

Mr. Delzer said the email, which he posted on an Amazon forum, was clear and Amazon was dissembling about “White Republic.”

A bookseller since 2001, Mr. Delzer said he does not condone white supremacist material but believes people should be free to read what they want. The biggest seller in his shop at the moment is by Greta Thunberg, the young climate activist.

“Amazon wants its customers to trust Amazon,” he said. “The place that sells books doesn’t want much critical thinking.”

In 1998, when Amazon was an ambitious start-up, its founder, Jeff Bezos, said, “We want to make every book available — the good, the bad and the ugly.” Customers reviews, he said, would “let truth loose.”

That expansive philosophy narrowed over the years. In 2010, when the news media discovered the self-published “Pedophile’s Guide to Love and Pleasure” on the site, the retailer’s first reaction was to hang tough.

“Amazon believes it is censorship not to sell certain books simply because we or others believe their message is objectionable,” it said at the time.

That resolution wilted in the face of a barrage of hostility and boycott threats. Amazon pulled the book.

Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the American Library Association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, said Amazon has the same First Amendment right as any retailer.

“Amazon has a First Amendment right to pick and choose the materials they offer,” she said. “Despite its size, it does not have to sponsor speech it finds unacceptable.”

Physical bookstores rarely stock supremacist literature, for no other reason than it would alienate many customers. The question is whether Amazon, because of its size and power, should behave differently.

“I’m not going to argue for the wider distribution of Nazi material,” said Danny Caine of the Raven Book Store in Lawrence, Kan., who is the author of a critical pamphlet, “How to Resist Amazon and Why.” “But I still don’t trust Amazon to be the arbiters of free speech. What if Amazon decided to pull books representing a less despicable political viewpoint? Or books critical of Amazon’s practices?”

Amazon’s newfound zeal to remove “the ugly” extends beyond the Nazis. The order page for the e-book of The Nation of Islam’s “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews” stated last week, “This title not currently available for purchase.”

“The Man in the High Castle” was based on a 1962 novel of the same name by Philip K. Dick, whose stories are often about the slippery nature of reality and how it will be controlled in the future by governments and corporations. One character in the streaming series was Mr. Rockwell, the American Nazi Party founder.

In photos in “Creating the Alt World,” the tribute book, the swastika around Mr. Rockwell’s neck was removed. The real life Mr. Rockwell has been largely removed from Amazon’s bookstore as well.

After a complaint by a member of Congress in 2018, a children’s book that Mr. Rockwell wrote disappeared from Amazon. So did his book “White Power.” Other Rockwell material, like The Stormtrooper Magazine, is described as “currently unavailable.”

Some sellers circumvent the blocks by listing titles with a word or two changed, other booksellers said. One seller said he recently received a message from Amazon that several titles by Savitri Devi, also known as “Hitler’s Priestess,” were forbidden. But they are now on the site. And a copy of “Toward the White Republic” recently popped up on Amazon, for $973 plus postage.

There is still an abundance of other Nazi material available on Amazon, much of it with favorable reviews. There is the “SS Leadership Guide,” many editions of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and Joseph Goebbels’s “Nature and Form of National Socialism,” to name just a few.

That only underlines how hard it can be to tell exactly what Amazon’s rules are. The confusion is reinforced by AbeBooks, the biggest secondhand book platform outside of Amazon itself.

Some of the books dropped from Amazon are available on Abe. Recently, there were 18 copies of Mr. Duke’s books on Abe, at prices up to $150. Amazon, which owns Abe, declined to comment.

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[takaraphoenix]

Book Adaptations Wishlist

Let’s start with my biggest fandom that is based on a book-series. Percy Jackson and the Olympians, by Rick Riordan.

I’m one of the... very few who likes the Percy Jackson movies. Most certainly not in the sense of them being adaptations of the books. Hah. Good one. No, I view them more as “motion picture fanfiction”. I mean, damn the pretty cast they got. I love Clarisse and Chris in particular. And I will forever be grateful to the first movie because without it, I would have never in a million years found the books simply because I’m not a big reader so the only way I ever learn about books is by watching an adaptation and deeming it to be my taste.

Now, things with PJatO were a little more complicated than that. Back before the movie hit theatres, I was checking out all the releases announced for the year and among them was this. The word “Thief” in the title caught my attention because I love a good con movie or show. I clicked it and back then the link only lead to the book and a section about it getting an adaptation, so that’s how I found out it was a book adaptation. Reading the synopsis of the book, I thought it sounded pretty cool. Next step was, of course, to check the character list. Because I love Greek mythology.

Main character a son of Poseidon. That’s cool. I love elementals, particularly those with water-powers. And there, not far down, was the name that got me hooked. Nico di Angelo, son of Hades. HOLY UNDERWORLD YES. Hades is my favorite male god. That his kid was listed as one of the main characters of the series - and NOT as a bad guy, because if modern adaptations taught me one thing, it’s that American authors love to paint everything in black and white and anything related to the underworld had to be the devil.

So Nico di Angelo was why I went to see the movie. Needless to say, Nico wasn’t in it because he only joins the series later on. But I did like the movie, Percy was cute, I was still curious to meet Nico, so when I found myself on a classtrip to Munich weeks later and was dragged from store to store and ended up in a bookstore where all six books (I do count The Demigod Files as part of the original series too) were on display at the time, I impulse-bought them.

I loved them. A lot. We’re not gonna talk about Heroes of Olympus here because that will take too many hours of my time. Let’s just say I don’t love them.

But yeah, the movies are not good adaptations of the books.

Then again, personally, I think that no movie can ever properly do a book justice. You can’t take a story that unfolds in like 500 pages of book and cram it into a two hour movie. You’re forced to cut sooo much out of it. It just doesn’t work.

That’s why I’m a huge fan of this new trend of adapting books as TV shows. It’s a very good way of covering more ground, taking things slow and giving the plot its due.

I’m desperately waiting for a good Percy Jackson adaptation. But I don’t want it to be live-action, to be honest. I mean, between Grover’s furry butt, Chiron’s horse-hide, the monsters and pegasi and demigodly powers, the show would need a huge special effects budget. And that’s just not gonna happen. So it’ll look cheap as fuck. Which would be an utter shame.

No.

I want a Percy Jackson cartoon show. I’d entrust DreamWorks with this. DreamWorks has done some amazing cartoon shows the last decade - Voltron, Dragons, Trollhunters. Particularly the cooperation with Netflix is working well for them. And with the team behind Avatar, like they’re doing with Voltron, I could REALLY envision a Percy Jackson cartoon. Imagine Percy water-bending like Katara or Korra, Nico looking like Keith in goth-clothes, I’d be dying to see that. Particularly considering that Avatar and Voltron use this beautiful 2D art style. I wouldn’t object to quality 3D like Trollhunters and Dragons, but I’d prefer 2D. I’m an old-fashioned gal like that.

To me, that would be the perfect way of adapting Percy Jackson.

Aaand I got a little lost in Percy Jackson. It happens. Oh well, I guess this is gonna be a long-ass entry then.

What I wanted to say was that I thoroughly approve of the TV show adaptation of books. I know I love Game of Thrones and Vampire Diaries and, of course as you may have noticed if you know me at all, Shadowhunters. All books I haven’t read (though I’m trying to read The Mortal Instruments. I’m just slow). I’ve just always been more of a TV-show kinda gal than a book-reader.

Now, if only they’d adapt the books that I actually love to read. That would be amazing. But somehow, I read stuff that doesn’t even get movies. Sure I read Percy Jackson and that got two failed movies, but we already covered that.

Because yes, I actually do read. Books that I haven’t met through their adaptations.

My all-time favorite book is Wicked, by Gregory Maguire.

I started reading it back in 2010 when I was doing an internship at our cozy local little bookstore - a very homey little place that was specialized on fantasy and sci-fi books. And Wicked was relatively fresh out back then and stood there in the special display and drew me in because of the green-skinned lady. I have a thing for green-skinned ladies, but that’s between me and Shego. So I started reading it during my breaks, when I had nothing else to do. Ten pages here, twenty pages there. By the time my internship ended, I was too hooked to forget about it so I bought it.

I saw its musical adaptation twice. Once in Stuttgart, the German version, and then when I was in London for the first time, the English version.

I love that musical as much as I loathe it.

The same as The Lightning Thief movie. And I mean it. Literally the same. You can view it as live-action fanfiction, but you can not with half-a-mind view it as an adaptation. It has as much to do with the book as The Lightning Thief movie had to do with The Lightning Thief book. That is to say, the characters shared the same names, but neither their behavior nor their physical appearance actually fit. And the plot, if you cook it down to a very basic one sentence summary - “Percy Jackson has to find the Lightning Thief” and “Elphaba Thropp rebels against the wizard” - fits, but do not ever dig for actual details, because those do not cover what happens in the book.

As a musical lover and someone who can view an adaptation as a separate thing from the source-material, I thoroughly love the musical. But as someone who loves that book to bits and pieces, I hate that the majority of people have only ever heard about the musical and are most likely not even aware of the book or haven’t bothered reading it and are now actually under the impression that all it is is a cheesy love-story. Which it is not. The romance is a foot-note in this long masterpiece that is basically a metaphor for the holocaust. And I will never be able to forgive the stupid fix-it shit of “Oh, Fiyero was turned into the scarecrow and they lived happily ever after”. No. They don’t. Or the fact that they turned my favorite character into a vindictive piece of crap.

(Okay, so maybe I am not as able to separate the two as I like to think, but cut me some slack they turned Elphaba’s trusted friend into a literal heartless tin-man who wants to slaughter her. What the fuck is that even.)

And I got lost again.

So, yes, I want a Wicked adaptation done right. A TV-show. After all, this is a book that literally covers her entire life, from birth to death. It tells a pretty long  story and I’d like to see it done right, instead of turned into a high school musical love drama, as the musical did. Not to mention I want to see the polyamorous relationship between Elphaba’s parents and Turtle Heart, maybe if we take more time for her childhood, we’d get more feels for the threesome too. Her two gay friends Crope and Tibbett. Her own “maybe not quite just friends” with Glinda. Her bisexual son who was entirely cut out of the musical. I mean, maybe we cut the girl out who married the Cowardly Lion, but uh they never had sex because she was a rape survivor who had no interest of ever having sex again - perhaps was even asexual, though it was never explicitely stated in the books - and only married him for safety reasons and all that did connect them was deep friendship?

I’d also like to mention my favorite book-series - while Wicked is my favorite book and its direct sequel Son of a Witch might be the only book I ever read within a literal day because I couldn’t put it down, the third and fourth books were a little on the... drawn out and exhausting side of things.

The Bartimaeus-series by Jonathan Stroud.

Bartimaeus is my favorite book-series, because it is - from start to finish - perfection. And Bartimaeus himself is a sassy little shit. We’d definitely need voice-over narration to not forget his sass. Can’t decide if I’d want it as a cartoon or as a live-action show though. But either way, I’d kiss the feet of the person who would fucking finally decide to adapt that book-series. I mean, seriously, among all the many, many shows and all the many, many adaptations these days, how has no oneever thought about giving this book any form of adaptation? It deserves it. It really does deserve a good adaptation.

And then there’s just one more. My favorite childhood books.

The Woodland Folk, by Tony Wolf.

I don’t think many people have ever even heard of this. It’s from an Italian author and as a child, I only owned two out of the twelve books that existed. But they were my most often read books. I knew them by heart, literally.

I later on, as a teen, bought the missing ten books on the internet and devoured them.

Those books are the reason I got hooked on fantasy, why I am obsessed with fairies and mermaids and witches. Tony Wolf’s illustrations in those books are the reason I always wanted to draw. They are beautiful and sweet and they would make for an amazing cartoon.

I know out of all of those books on this wish-list, this is the one that’s most far-out-there and will probably never happen, but I’d be ridiculously happy if it did.

[aracely8504-blog]

♥ Read Online Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire `Review` / Download PDF Book

How to Read / Download Ebook With Easy

💡 Hello Fellow Readers,

If you want to read online or download your favorite books, i can give you suggestion.

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The site always update hot new releases and best classics books to review before we read it, although you want to get the book in anywhere sites you like.

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Many of people very interesting to read books reviews there also. 👍

👉 How to read or download Ebook

✔ Visit: www.zarabook.club

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✔ You May Visit book ads link provided.

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Short Review about Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Book :

From the author of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller Wicked, the magical story of a toymaker, a nutcracker, and a legend remade . . . Gregory Maguire returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him. Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists' colony—a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination . . . Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann—the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann's mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's fairy tale ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter. But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults—a fascination with death and the afterlife—and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share.

[cataleya8211-blog]

♥ Read Online Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire `Review` / Download PDF Book

How to Read / Download Ebook With Easy 💡 Hello Fellow Readers, If you want to read online or download your favorite books, i can give you suggestion. There is a good site about book & reviews, the site provides the best book ads link to get easy the popular books, so maybe you can try it to read or download your favorite book on any device you like. 👍 👫 I and my friends very like to read book reviews there, Many interesting & addicting books. The site always update hot new releases and best classics books to review before we read it, although you want to get the book in anywhere sites you like. Visit the site if you want to read most popular book reviews! You will not be disappointed! . Many of people very interesting to read books reviews there also. 🤳 👉 How to read or download Ebook: ✔ Visit: www.zarabook.club ✔ Find your book and read the review. ✔ You May Visit book ads link provided. ✔ Register free account to try, then you’ll receive access to entire library. ✔ Wish you have good luck and ready to read online or download the book. 🎶 🙏 Sometimes maybe your book is unavailable depend from the advertiser. 👼 If you don’t fully love your experience, don’t worry — you can cancel of being member at anytime. 🐾 Hope this help and Happy Reading! 11909 3.25 🦁 tags: BEST READ BOOK ONLINE IN PDF. B.O.O.K DOWNLOAD ePub. Book Read Online or Download DOC. R.e.a.d New Releases Books WORD. B.O.O.K Online Library - Read Free Books & Download eBooks PPT. Free read best books online TXT. B.O.O.K Read the best books online on the App Store Ebook. Ebook Free Books To Read Online - Best Free Novels Online Kindle. BEST! Of The Best Places To Find Free Books Online Rar. Best Popular Free Online Books Zip. !BEST Classic Books Mobi Online. Best! Free eBook library Audiobook Online. D.o.w.n.l.o.a.d Best Sites to Download Free Books Review Online. Best Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Read Online Review. B.e.s.t Read Any Book Download Online. BEST! Read Online Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Book Review. ---------------------------------------------------- Short Review about Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Book : From the author of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller Wicked, the magical story of a toymaker, a nutcracker, and a legend remade . . . Gregory Maguire returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him. Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists' colony—a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination . . . Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann—the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann's mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's fairy tale ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter. But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults—a fascination with death and the afterlife—and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share.

[aliteraryprincess]

Ash by Malinda Lo

Warning: Contains spoilers

Welcome back to Fairy Tale Friday!  It’s been a while!  My work schedule was really hectic all last month.  Things have slowed down now, which hopefully means I’ll get back to consistently posting these!  

Ash has been on my TBR for ages, and I’m so glad I got to pick it up.  A special thanks to @the-forest-library since I won this book in her giveaway!   As you can probably tell, this is another retelling of “Cinderella.”  You can read the first post I did on a “Cinderella” retelling here.  

As a Retelling:

When compared with Princess of Glass, Ash is in some ways more of a straight retelling.  Lo utilizes the traditional step-family setup we’re familiar with from the most prominent versions of the fairy tale.  However, like Jessica Day George’s Ellen, Ash does not end up with the prince at the end.  In fact, the prince isn’t even one of Ash’s love interests.  Instead, we have Kaisa, the King’s Huntress, and Sidhean, a mysterious fairy.

Lo draws on both the Grimm version of the story and the Perrault version.  The mother’s grave plays a major part in the book, just as it does in the German variant of the tale.  In that version, Cinderella spends a large amount of time crying at her mother’s grave and plants a hazel tree there.  A bird that perches there throws down the gowns and slippers she wears to the festivals.  In Ash, it is at her mother’s grave that Ash meets Sidhean.  The magic itself is not tied with the grave though.  For that, Lo uses the fairy helper from Perrault’s tale; it is Sidhean who helps her go to the royal hunt and the ball by providing her with clothes and ensuring she won’t be recognized.

Unlike the majority of “Cinderella” retellings, footwear does not play a role in this story.  This is probably Lo’s biggest deviation from the fairy tale; almost every variation of the tale involves some kind of beautiful shoes, whether it is Perrault’s glass slippers, the golden slippers that appear in several versions, or the multi-colored shoes in the Irish tale “Fair, Brown, and Trembling.”  As a replacement for the lost slipper, Ash has a silver cloak given to her by Sidhean.  Ash leaves it behind after taking it off to dance with Kaisa at the Yule ball.  However, there is no equivalent to the shoe fitting.  In fact, Kaisa does not seek Ash out after she leaves the ball; it is the other way around.  After going to see Sidhean one last time, Ash returns to the palace to find Kaisa, who has kept the cloak for her.

Kaisa is, of course, another of the larger deviations in this book.  She is essentially placed into the role the prince usually fills.  Though the prince does exist in this story, he is really a non-character.  Kaisa, unlike the usual love interest for Cinderella, is not royalty, though she is connected with royalty through her position as the King’s Huntress.  Her occupation provides a way for Lo to avoid insta-love by developing the relationship.  They meet in the forest and become friends first before starting to develop romantic feelings for each other.  Kaisa is actually the one to invite Ash to the royal hunt, which is this story’s equivalent to the first ball, and she is never in doubt of Ash’s identity through any of the events.

Though Lo does use the step-family setup found in many versions of the story, she fleshes out the characters and provides reasons for their ill treatment of Ash.  Not long after marrying Lady Isobel, Ash’s father becomes ill and dies, leaving nothing but a pile of debts.  Ash is forced to do the housework as a way to pay Lady Isobel back for the lost money, a situation very similar to that of Sara Crewe in Frances Hodgson Burnett’s A Little Princess, which follows the “Cinderella” structure.  Though many modern interpretations of the story kill off the father, he is alive in most older versions of the tale and simply allows his new wife to treat his daughter terribly.  Some variants say it is because he is entirely under his wife’s control, others don’t give any explanation.  It’s easy to see why modern audiences prefer for the father to die; the idea of a father refusing to protect his daughter like that is difficult to stomach.  

The two stepsisters, Ana and Clara, are given personalities and motivations.  Ana is desperate to get married since, it’s the best way for her to live a comfortable life due to their society and her circumstances.  She’s resentful of Ash, whose father made her life more difficult by putting the family in debt, and therefore usually cruel.  However, we do get one nice scene between the two that shows how desperate Ana is due to her circumstances and that she could be a nicer person if things were different.  Clara, on the other hand, is actually fairly pleasant and on good terms with Ash.  She doesn’t completely adhere to her sister’s mindset, but she doesn’t see any other options.  She and Ash have several conversations the the subject and we as readers are left with some hope that Clara might find her own way in the world.

My Thoughts:

I’m so glad I finally read this book.  Lo does such a wonderful job retelling the story and her writing is beautiful.  And, as I mentioned in my post on Girls Made of Snow and Glass, I am always here for LGBT+ fairy tale retellings!  Bisexual Cinderella?  Yes please!  I also loved the way Lo handles the love triangle, which is something I’m usually not fond of.  For a while I thought Sidhean was going to end up being the antagonist and would try to keep Ash and Kaisa apart.  I was so happy that’s not what happens!  Lo resolves it in a way that satisfied me and doesn’t downplay Ash’s feelings for either of her love interests.

I really appreciated how character driven this book is.  There aren’t a huge amount of exciting events; there are the hunt and the two balls, but other than that it is mostly quiet moments focused on Ash’s grief over the loss of her mother and her feelings for Kaisa and Sidhean.  As a result, I felt I really knew Ash and I cared a great deal about her by the end.  It’s a quieter kind of book, and I thought that worked really well for the story.

If I had to make one complaint, it would be that I wanted it to be longer!  The paperback copy I have is just over 250 pages.  I think it could have done with maybe 100 more pages.  I wanted more interactions between Ash and her stepsisters to further delve into their relationships.  And I especially think the resolution to Ash and Sidhean’s relationship could have been drawn out longer.  It’s wonderful the way it is, but I really just wanted to spend more time in this world and with these characters.

My rating: 4 stars     

Other Reading Recommendations:

The starred titles are ones I have read myself.  The others are ones I want to read and may end up being future Fairy Tale Friday books.  To keep the list from getting too long, I’m limiting it to four that I’ve read and four that I haven’t.  This is the only novel length fairy tale retelling by Lo, but she has several other books that sound great.

Other Retellings of “Cinderella”:

Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine*

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire*

Princess of Glass by Jessica Day George*

Cinder by Marissa Meyer*

Gilded Ashes by Rosamund Hodge

Ashes of Roses by Christine Pope

Silver Woven in My Hair by Shirley Rousseau Murphy 

Ella by Jessilyn Stewart Peaslee

More Books by Malinda Lo:

Huntress

Adaptation

A Line in the Dark

About the Fairy Tale:

Cinderella: A Casebook by Alan Dundes

Cinderella Tales from Around the World by Heidi Ann Heiner

Have a recommendation for me to read or a suggestion to make Fairy Tale Friday better?  Feel free to send me an ask!  

[luzmila8163-blog]

♥ Read Online Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire `Review` / Download PDF Book

How to Read / Download Ebook With Easy 💡 Hello Fellow Readers, If you want to read online or download your favorite books, i can give you suggestion. There is a good site about book & reviews, the site provides the best book ads link to get easy the popular books, so maybe you can try it to read or download your favorite book on any device you like. 👍 👫 I and my friends very like to read book reviews there, Many interesting & addicting books. The site always update hot new releases and best classics books to review before we read it, although you want to get the book in anywhere sites you like. Visit the site if you want to read most popular book reviews! You will not be disappointed! . Many of people very interesting to read books reviews there also. 🤳 👉 How to read or download Ebook: ✔ Visit: www.zarabook.club ✔ Find your book and read the review. ✔ You May Visit book ads link provided. ✔ Register free account to try, then you’ll receive access to entire library. ✔ Wish you have good luck and ready to read online or download the book when you found it. 🎶 🙏 Sometimes maybe your book is unavailable depend from the advertiser. 👼 If you don’t fully love your experience, don’t worry — you can cancel of being member at anytime. 🐾 Hope this help and Happy Reading! 11561 3.23 🦁 tags: BEST READ BOOK ONLINE IN PDF. B.O.O.K DOWNLOAD ePub. Book Read Online or Download DOC. R.e.a.d New Releases Books WORD. B.O.O.K Online Library - Read Free Books & Download eBooks PPT. Free read best books online TXT. B.O.O.K Read the best books online on the App Store Ebook. Ebook Free Books To Read Online - Best Free Novels Online Kindle. BEST! Of The Best Places To Find Free Books Online Rar. Best Popular Free Online Books Zip. !BEST Classic Books Mobi Online. Best! Free eBook library Audiobook Online. D.o.w.n.l.o.a.d Best Sites to Download Free Books Review Online. Best Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Read Online Review. B.e.s.t Read Any Book Download Online. BEST! Read Online Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Book Review. ---------------------------------------------------- Short Review about Hiddensee: A Tale of the Once and Future Nutcracker by Gregory Maguire Book : From the author of the beloved #1 New York Times bestseller Wicked, the magical story of a toymaker, a nutcracker, and a legend remade . . . Gregory Maguire returns with an inventive novel inspired by a timeless holiday legend, intertwining the story of the famous Nutcracker with the life of the mysterious toy maker named Drosselmeier who carves him. Hiddensee: An island of white sandy beaches, salt marshes, steep cliffs, and pine forests north of Berlin in the Baltic Sea, an island that is an enchanting bohemian retreat and home to a large artists' colony—a wellspring of inspiration for the Romantic imagination . . . Having brought his legions of devoted readers to Oz in Wicked and to Wonderland in After Alice, Maguire now takes us to the realms of the Brothers Grimm and E. T. A. Hoffmann—the enchanted Black Forest of Bavaria and the salons of Munich. Hiddensee imagines the backstory of the Nutcracker, revealing how this entrancing creature came to be carved and how he guided an ailing girl named Klara through a dreamy paradise on a Christmas Eve. At the heart of Hoffmann's mysterious tale hovers Godfather Drosselmeier—the ominous, canny, one-eyed toy maker made immortal by Petipa and Tchaikovsky's fairy tale ballet—who presents the once and future Nutcracker to Klara, his goddaughter. But Hiddensee is not just a retelling of a classic story. Maguire discovers in the flowering of German Romanticism ties to Hellenic mystery-cults—a fascination with death and the afterlife—and ponders a profound question: How can a person who is abused by life, shortchanged and challenged, nevertheless access secrets that benefit the disadvantaged and powerless? Ultimately, Hiddensee offers a message of hope. If the compromised Godfather Drosselmeier can bring an enchanted Nutcracker to a young girl in distress on a dark winter evening, perhaps everyone, however lonely or marginalized, has something precious to share.