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#Just go to Carlton games to be a disruption
fazcinatingblog · 6 months
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Imagine being a lovely innocent Carlton fan and having a nice peaceful time at the footy and you turn to one side and three seats down, there's the most annoying Italian talking to herself about Alex Fasolo and
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footmantravelagency · 3 years
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5 Reasons Why You Need A Travel Agent - More Than Ever
Want to rent a villa in Tuscany and do it on your own? It’s simple. Just type “Villa Rentals Tuscany” into Google, then wade through the four and a half million responses - most of which look the same, whether they are good or bad, legit or bogus. Spend just 10 seconds each vetting sites, and you’ll be done in a year and a half - and still won’t have rented anything.
Good luck with that - or even with much simpler planning, like searches for “straightforward” airfares. The major search sites routinely leave out flights (lots of them) and even entire airlines. A lot of the flights they do show are ones you don’t want, starting with “basic economy” fares that hit you with tons of restrictions and fees, so the price you see isn’t the one you end up paying, along with connections way too short or way too long, ones that no responsible travel agent would let you book.
Travel agents are even more important to luxury travelers, who ironically often think they know a lot about travel and rely on their own misguided sense of expertise. But while a good agent is so vital that it is simply foolish to plan a high-end trip on your own without one, they can also help travelers of all budgets.
The reality is that while it was widely predicted that the internet was going to kill off travel agents when digital tools were placed at every traveler’s disposal, that just hasn’t happened, for several good reasons.
Shannon Compton Game writes on money saving travel tips and budget travel for Outside Magazine, not the publication I’d expect to praise travel agents over DIY. But last year she wrote a column about his subject and opened with, “I’m a big fan of travel agents, even though I could technically book all my trips through websites and apps.” She then listed the specific pros of using an agent: “They can find crazy deals”; “They will be your advocate”; “They’ll take care of the little things”; “They’re true experts” and “They don’t usually cost extra.”
True, true, true, true and true. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
I have been writing on travel and related tips for over a quarter of a century. I’m an expert on the subject, and I get interviewed and publicly speak about it. Do I sometimes use a travel agent? Absolutely. When friends ask for travel advice, and they do, all the time, one of the first suggestions I always make is to get a good travel agent. My tech savviest friends use travel advisors, and so does every major corporation - because it is the smart thing to do.
“Yes, the travel landscape is changing,” said Chad Clark, principal of Chad Clark Travel Ventures in Phoenix, an expert I have known for years. “Information overload, thousands of new hotels on the scene, all sorts of new cruise ships, passport and visa issues, weather, transit strikes, political unrest, natural disasters, travel insurance, travel providers going out of business, it’s never ending. How does one navigate all of this? To avoid the travel landmines that lay in front of you, you need to get a great travel advisor! You’ll be glad you did. After all, do you cut your own hair?” Good question, but his metaphor is a little off because you pay someone to cut your hair, while a good travel advisor can often save you money.
I wrote a feature about this topic here at Forbes eight years ago, and I still get thank you comments from people who took my advice. A lot has changed in those eight years, and a lot has not, so if anything, there are more reasons than ever to use a travel agent (for the record, good travel agents prefer to be called travel advisors, or sometimes travel consultants, and those are both totally accurate, but since most people still think of the industry in terms of travel agents, I’m mixing and matching).
Clark explained it to me this way, “Travel agents are a thing of the past - they primarily booked tickets and beds. Travel advisors have taken on a much more complex role - part psychologist, life coach, executive producer, concierge, fixer, dream maker, and ‘Blink Blink’ genie, with the multitude of services that they provide.”
Whatever you call them, I could go on and on about all the reason to use one, but here are the 5 biggies.
Emergencies: This is the one most applicable to the average occasional travel. Stuff happens, and whether you believe in climate change or not (spoiler alert, it’s real), big weather events have become more commonplace, widespread and unpredictable, and sooner or later Mother Nature is going to bite you when flying. But there are plenty of non-weather events disrupting flights, cruises, trains and destinations, from civil unrest to volcanic eruptions to disease outbreaks to massive wildfires to labor strikes. And just about every year you read about an airline that went bust and shut down suddenly, stranding all its passengers. Just a week ago I traveled with owner of a large New York based travel agency who has been in the business for 40 years, and he told me they recently stopped selling their customers tickets on Norwegian because the airline has had too many cancellations and became, in their view, unreliable. But cheap flights still show up in internet searches, and you probably would not know anything about it without expert advice.
Anything that causes cancelled flights (or cruises, etc.) means hassles, but the people who get through this process the most smoothly and the ones who get rebooked first and get the few available seats out of Dodge are usually the ones who used a travel agent. It’s that simple. First off, you actually have someone to call, versus long lines at banks of airport phones masquerading as “help desks.” But good agencies are constantly monitoring their clients’ flights and they usually know about your problem before you do - and often have a resolution before you even call them. They also have direct access to airline GDS (global distribution system) and don’t have to wait on long phones holds to get ticketing changes made. It’s worth noting that according to the U.S. Department of Transportation, nearly two percent of all domestic flights were canceled in 2019, a significant increase from the previous year and the highest rate since 2014. Midway through the year, MSNBC reported that passengers were being bumped from flights - involuntarily - at a rate three times higher than a year earlier.
I’ve known Anne Scully for years, and as the President of high-powered Virginia-based agency McCabe World Travel, she is perennially ranked one of the world’s best travel agents, sits on advisory boards of major luxury hotel brands and cruise lines, and is an industry legend. She told me that, “Anyone who travels should have the clout of a top travel advisor in their pocket. To start, if the client’s flight is cancelled while they are waiting for take-off they could have us rebook and protect their journey before they depart the plane. No waiting behind 300 other passengers! We can have clients met at the plane door at a large number of airports worldwide and whisked through customs, either on to their tight connecting flight or simply faster to baggage claim - where they are given help with their luggage. Most clients don’t even know that service exists, but they only need to use it once to always request it on their itineraries.”
Expertise: No one knows everything about travel, no matter how deeply they are involved in the industry. I am an expert on ski travel, and I know the ins and outs of every major luxury ski hotel in this country. So, I wouldn’t call a travel agent to help me choose a ski hotel. But I know nothing about the hotel scene in Manilla or Sri Lanka. Some travelers cheat their way around this by sticking to brands like Four Seasons or Ritz-Carlton wherever the go, but in many tourism hotbeds like Fez, Morocco, all the best hotels are ones you have likely never heard of. This is where a travel advisor’s knowledge cannot be beat. And while even the best travel agent can’t know everything either, the good agencies parcel things up, so they have a safari expert, a cruise expert, a honeymoon expert, and so on, and they all work together.
Walter Brownell first escorted 10 guests to Europe in 1887, and 133 years later, Brownell Travel has 150 advisors. Sorry, but there’s no amount of research you can do or number of travel magazines you can read that can match that kind of institutional experience and collective expertise. That’s the knowledge base you want. Let’s go back to the 4.5 million villa hits - any good travel advisor will be able to tell you off the top of their head who you should be renting your villa in Tuscany from - and why. That just saved you eighteen months, and probably got you a better house.
Chad Clark believes travelers should, “Experience the extraordinary, not once in a lifetime, but every time!” and to showcase the knowledge base advisors bring to the table, he created a program he calls “Chad Clark Certified,” personally giving his stamp of approval to special hotels, restaurants, tours and experiences around the world. To date he’s certified nearly 700 different things his clients (or you) can reliably consider doing.
It is important to remember that these advantages are not just for luxury travelers. Good travel advisors do not just know what the best hotel is, they know what the best hotel is for you and your budget and can help you find the right fit. As we will see shortly, they can also save you a lot of money, no matter what style you travel in.
VIP Connections: Whether you are trying to book space at a coveted 8-villa safari lodge in Africa or get a room in a top Paris hotel during Fashion Week, most hoteliers keep emergency inventory and guess who gets it? The travel advisors they have known for years who book a lot of guests and send them a lot of business. It works this way with lots of things in the travel industry, from hard to get dinner reservations to the resort’s best ski instructor to a city’s top art expert as a private museum guide. Anytime there is scarcity, there is no substitute for personal connections, and the best agents have built these over years or decades. Plus we are living in the age of “experiential travel,” and good advisors create one of kind experiences most people would never have imagined in the first place.
“I had a client touring Russia who not only played piano well, but also took lessons from one of the best teachers in New York,” said Anne McCabe. “As a surprise, I arranged for him to visit the apartment of the great Russian composer Nicolai Rimsky Korsakov, and the curator invited him to play the composer’s piano, while his teacher listened over the phone his wife was holding. You cannot create those WOW moments if you do not get to know who your clients are, and what would make their holiday most special.” You also need to know the curator. Try booking that on TripAdvisor.
“This is a key point,” stressed Clark. “Travel advisors provide our clients with access: access to people, places, and experiences that could never be replicated, much less imagined. A great travel advisor has invested time and relationships in creating their ‘black book’ of contacts and relationships, so that when their clients travel, they are treated as a VIPs, not just a credit card number.” In my experience, everyone likes being treated like a VIP.
Seemingly simple things often annoy even the most seasoned travelers, but these irritants can be smoothed out by good advisors. One biggie is having your room ready to check in when arriving in Europe early in the morning after an exhausting overnight flight. I’ve seen lots of travelers, including myself, told to go walk around for hours and come back at two or three in the afternoon, even at the finest hotels. Do you think they tell that to Anne Scully and her peers?
Another one of the most frustrating recurring problems I hear in the industry - even at the top luxury hotels - is a notorious refusal to guarantee connecting rooms in advance for families booking multiple rooms (and paying a lot for them). But when your travel agent books hundreds of room nights with a hotel each year, the GM (or sales manager) will move heaven and earth to give that agent’s client - you - guaranteed connecting rooms. For the same price. Often with a room upgrade. And late check out. And a free food and beverage credit.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Extras: When you get more than you expected for the same price, that’s a great deal, and with travel advisors this happens all the time. The cruise industry is a perfect example of very large inventories that fluctuate in supply and demand each week, with a large audience of repeat customers who cruise again and again for years. The cruise lines do not want to lose the loyalty of those customers - or the agents who steer hundreds of them each year to particular brands. Yet it basically costs the line no more to have you stay in a deluxe suite than a basic room if that suite is available, and with the size of today’s ships, it often is. But who gets these upgrades? Advisors. Professionals who specialize in cruises have enormous volume clout and are legendary for routinely getting clients one or two class stateroom upgrades, free shore excursions, onboard credits and all sorts of things - for the same exact price you pay going direct. I would never book a cruise without using a travel advisor - it’s just foolish.
But it’s not just cruises.  
“In an age of automation, it may come as a surprise that many of our new clients skew on the more tech-savvy side, and come to SmartFlyer for the first time seeking guidance on their honeymoon,” Michael Holtz, founder of extremely successful global travel agency SmartFlyer told me. “The millennial generation specifically may have seen their parents use a travel advisor, but don’t feel like they need one - until they are deep in the spiral of research. By shifting gears to planning with an expert, they feel liberated from the immense pressure of choosing the ‘best’ resort - because we’re cutting through the noise of all the conflicting opinions they’re seeing online. Our team has actually been to the properties first-hand - not to mention has personal relationships with the General Managers. For example, we just had a couple fly to Canouan, a remote island in the Caribbean that they had no idea even existed before we recommended it. When they arrived at the Mandarin Oriental, the GM double upgraded them thanks to SmartFlyer’s close relationship with the property. At the end of the day, it’s all about personal relationships translating into exceptional experiences for our clients.”
One of the biggest shortcuts to freebies and extras is Virtuoso, a network of top tier travel agencies, most in the luxury realm. While agencies belonging to Virtuoso are independent and free to recommend and book anything they want - and often do because they have strong opinions - the network has specific relationships with over 1,800 travel partners (cruise, tours, airlines and 1,400 individual hotels in 100+ countries) with which it negotiates exclusive (and contractually obligated) benefits. Why are travel suppliers so eager to work with agencies and advisors that belong to Virtuoso (advisors can join by invitation-only based on their track records)?  Because last year Virtuoso members booked $26.4 billion in travel for their clients.
So in addition to the extras for personal connections you can get via people like Michael Holtz knowing the GM, anyone who books through a Virtuoso agency gets automatic perks like complimentary daily breakfast, room upgrades, early check-in, late check-out, complimentary airport transfers, spa credits and so on (specifics vary by hotel). According to Virtuoso, just the hotel benefits are valued at an average of over $500 per stay. Complimentary cruise benefits can be even bigger.
But having covered the luxury travel space for years, it seems that virtually every top advisor and agency I come across, the ones my friends, family and colleagues recommend, belongs to Virtuoso, as do all of the agencies mentioned in this piece besides the one in Travel Leaders. I just visited an amazing new luxury hotel in Italy, and they were quick to boast about having been admitted as preferred Virtuoso property - to them it was a mark of quality like earning a Michelin-star.
“The thing I love about Virtuoso is not just the quality of the advisors, but the strength of the entire network and the supplier partners they use around the world,” said travel writer, award-winning broadcaster and author Michael Patrick Shiels. “I decided to do this segment on running with the bulls in Pamplona and I had never been to Spain, so a Virtuoso advisor connected me with Made For Spain and Portugal, a partner ground supplier that does all the behind the scenes magic. They know everyone and totally set up an amazing itinerary and I ran with the bulls. In Italy, Virtuoso has an amazing local company called IC (Italian Connection) Bellagio that is totally wired into all the kinds of local things travelers say they want these days, special experiences, the best restaurants, art tours of private villas. When you ask your Virtuosos agent to plan a trip to Tuscany, it’s not just them, they have all this expert support behind them, down to the micro level. I’ve been all around the world, and before the first time I worked with Virtuoso I didn’t think I needed a travel agent’s help - now I can’t imagine not using one for anything complicated or specialized.”
Air: If you are trying to buy the cheapest round-trip economy ticket from New York to Dallas, even the best advisors probably can’t get it for less than you can buy it online, though you still have to deal with all the pitfalls of the online travel sites and you will lose the safety net advisors provide when things go wrong. But in a couple of other cases, buying your air through an agent can actually save you money, or miles, or both.
One case is when you are buying premium class tickets, Business, First or some of the even higher new classes. I have an extremely tech savvy friend in San Francisco who wanted to fly First class to Hawaii for his honeymoon, and even though he could afford it, he was shocked how much the airlines wanted. I suggested he call McCabe World Travel, and he was mystified how they could purchase the exact same tickets for about two thousand dollars less -each - than the best price he could find online, by calling the airline, or through the American Express Platinum Card travel desk. I don’t care how rich you are, if you can get the same tickets and pocket four thousand dollars that’s a good deal - plus you get all the peace of mind that comes with the advisor’s safety net. Not surprisingly, years later he still uses McCabe for all his travel. Consider this: the agency has three advisors in its air travel department who do nothing else, among its roughly 50 affiliated advisors.
When it comes to using miles, or miles and money, or just paying to fly in pricier premium classes, you might have trouble believing the miracles these specialists can work. As Largay’s Klimak told me, “I was working with a couple last year traveling to Australia and New Zealand for their dream cruise. They wanted to use frequent flyer miles, and I knew that they also had Dubai on their Wanderlist. I was able to change their flights from Business class on Qantas to First Class on Emirates - for half the mileage. We were also able to add a stopover with a wonderful desert and shopping experience in Dubai, checking two destinations off their list for a fraction of the cost.”
I use SmartFlyer for tricky tickets. Despite its name, it is a well-known, full-service luxury travel agency that does everything from safaris to cruises, but where they are better than just about everyone else is creative ticketing. I hear endless complaints from frequent fliers about the difficulty using miles, but I have found that is not the case - if you use a mileage and ticketing expert. I did a story on skiing in Japan, and SmartFlyer was able to get me to Tokyo in Business Class and back in First for $1,500 and 100,000 United miles. This was less than a third of the miles United directly quoted me for the same trip when I called the MileagePlus Elite desk, and I ended up getting more than three times the dollars per mile that most experts value frequent flier miles at.
On another trip recent trip to Bali, SmartFlyer found me flights on Cathay Pacific - one of the world’s best airlines - in Premium Economy to Hong Kong and then the five hour leg to Bali in Business class, for less than Cathy was selling the trip on its site just in Premium Economy the whole way. It just doesn’t seem possible, but it is, real tickets, same airline, better seats, less money. I don’t know how they do it, and frankly I don’t care, but if you know who to call this happens all the time (if you are not a client of SmartFlyer booking your vacation or business trip, they will charge you a fee to do the legwork and find you great deals on premium and mileage tickets, but in almost every case I’ve seen, it still saves you money).
“In terms of value, what we can do is unparalleled to anything clients will find elsewhere,” SmartFlyer’s Holtz told me. “Our negotiated air contracts, along with our in-depth knowledge of the carriers and actual aircraft, means we can advise travelers how to reach their destination at the best possible price and in the most comfortable configuration. Sometimes, this means hundreds of dollars in savings per ticket.” Or more.
Better Trips! At the end of the day this is the bottom line, the big win you get with a good travel advisor. They know more than you do, they are better connected, they have access to benefits you can’t get yourself, and they can match and often beat any prices you find. They plan a better trip and then provide a safety net. Having a top travel agent can make you an instant VIP, certainly will save you time and hassle, and quite possibly money.
Amanda Foshee is an advisor at Brownell Travel, and she summed it up nicely: “What everyone needs these days is more time and less stress, and that’s what we’re here for. Travel advisors take the overwhelming amount of information out there and distill it into the key points that apply to you - the best hotel/destination/tour for your interests, your budget, and your time frame. A client shared that going through all the information online to plan a trip would be a second full-time job for her, and I told her that’s why it’s my full-time job instead!”
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arplis · 4 years
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Arplis - News: 2021 LGBTQ Books by Black Authors to Preorder (And 10 That Are Already Out)
Black LGBTQ books got a bump in June of 2020. With the George Floyd protests at their peak and Pride month still happening, lists of queer Black books to buy or preorder built up steam on social media. You Should See Me in a Crown, a Black YA F/F novel, was sold out everywhere. Unfortunately, this follows a pattern that Black and LGBTQ books often see: a peak during Black History Month or Pride month, but forgotten in between. Or, a hateful act will make the news, whether it’s police brutality or violent transphobia or a worrying new law, book lists will go around Twitter, authors will be in the strange position of profiting during a horrible moment for their community, and then public attention will shift to something else. Obviously, these authors deserve support throughout the year. Black LGBTQ novels are still underrepresented — and besides, there are some incredible titles coming out this year even without considering how important the representation is. Not long ago, it would be easy to keep track of all the Black LGBTQ books coming out — or even traditionally published LGBTQ books in general — but luckily, we’re approaching a point where there are enough that you can accidentally overlook a title. Preordering is a great way to both support authors and give your future self a treat! By preordering now, you can help the author, make sure you won’t forget to buy the title, and get fun things in the mail throughout the year. It’s win-win-win! Of course, if you are impatient, there are some Black LGBTQ 2021 titles that are already out, which I will include at the end of the post. You have to read something while you’re waiting for these books to publish, after all! I’ve arranged these by publication date, noted the genre in the title spot, and have indicated the kind of LGBTQ representation included whenever possible. The descriptions are from the publishers. Some of these titles may not yet be set up for preorders: put those on your calendar to order as soon as it’s possible! 29 Black LGBTQ Books to Preorder in 2021 Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir by Hari Ziyad (March 1, Memoir) One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future. Queer man How to Dispatch a Human by Stephanie Andrea Allen (March 2, Short Story Collection) In this daring collection of speculative fiction, Stephanie Andrea Allen attends to the lives of Black women, mostly lesbian or queer, all keenly aware of the forces seeking to consume them. A Black lesbian working the gig economy runs into a trio of motorized scooters and helps them escape from Earth. An enchanted sleep mask gives a woman the gift of slumber, but what will it cost her? A suburban housewife is framed for murder by her homophobic neighbor. And in the follow up to “Luna 6000,” a young woman investigates her mother’s untimely death, and learns the truth about her family. How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions is an unapologetic, often humorous, foray into the quotidian magic that envelops Black women’s lives. The eleven stories in this collection are filled with characters who will entice and delight readers as they traverse the worlds around them. With a mix of fabulism, near future, and speculative fictions, Allen reminds us in exquisitely nuanced prose that the fantastical can be found amongst the ordinary. Lesbian and queer women characters Pleasure and Spice (How Sweet It Is #6) by Fiona Zedde (March 2, Erotica) Mayson and Renée are best friends. Two women who’ve known each other for a lifetime and are as different as they are close. Mayson is a free-spirited and out lesbian, and very much desired in her Southern California queer community. Renée, straight and sheltered, is just getting out of a difficult divorce and searching for an escape from her pain. While Mayson slips in and out of affairs, taking pleasure where it bites the sweetest, Renée steps into a dangerous game of anonymous sex-by-dark that transports her to places she’d never dreamed. But the worlds of these two friends are heading for a dramatic collision. At the end of it all, will they or their friendship, survive? **A version of this was previously published as Dangerous Pleasures** F/F relationship Learned Reactions (Higher Education #2) by Jayce Ellis (March 9, Romance) Carlton Monroe is finally getting his groove back. After a year playing dad to his nephew and sending him safely off to college, it’s back to his bachelor ways. But when his teenaged niece shows up on his doorstep looking for a permanent home, his plan comes to a screeching halt. Family is everything, and in the eyes of social services, a couple makes a better adoptive family than an overworked bachelor father. A fake relationship with his closest friend is the best way to keep his family together. If things between him and Deion are complicated, well, it only needs to last until the end of the semester. Living with Carlton is a heartbreak waiting to happen, and once the adoption goes through, Deion’s out. He’s waited two decades for Carlton to realize they’re meant for each other, and he’s done. It’s time to make a clean break. But it’s hard to think of moving away when keeping up the act includes some very real perks like kissing, cuddling and sharing a bed. Even the best charades must come to an end, though. As the holidays and Deion’s departure date loom, the two men must decide whether playing house is enough for them—or if there’s any chance they could be a family for real. M/M relationship Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans (March 9, Poetry) From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity. With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself—and us—home. Each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America—and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman. Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing. Queer woman Bruised by Tanya Boteju (March 23, YA Contemporary) Whip It meets We Are Okay in this vibrant coming-of-age story, about a teen girl navigates first love, identity, and grief when she immerses herself in the colorful, brutal, beautiful world of roller derby—from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens. To Daya Wijesinghe, a bruise is a mixture of comfort and control. Since her parents died in an accident she survived, bruises have become a way to keep her pain on the surface of her skin so she doesn’t need to deal with the ache deep in her heart. So when chance and circumstances bring her to a roller derby bout, Daya is hooked. Yes, the rules are confusing and the sport seems to require the kind of teamwork and human interaction Daya generally avoids. But the opportunities to bruise are countless, and Daya realizes that if she’s going to keep her emotional pain at bay, she’ll need all the opportunities she can get. The deeper Daya immerses herself into the world of roller derby, though, the more she realizes it’s not the simple physical pain-fest she was hoping for. Her rough-and-tumble teammates and their fans push her limits in ways she never imagined, bringing Daya to big truths about love, loss, strength, and healing. F/F relationship The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost #1) by C.L. Clark (March 23, Fantasy) In an epic fantasy unlike any other, two women clash in a world full of rebellion, espionage, and military might on the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire. Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought. Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.  Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale. 2 queer women main characters Sweethand by N.G. Peltier (March 30, Romance) After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry, and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry chef business. When Cherisse’s younger sister reveals she’s getting married in a few months, Cherisse hopes that will distract her mother enough to quit harassing her about finding a guy, settling down and having kids. But her mother’s matchmaking keeps intensifying. Cherisse tries to humour her mother, hoping if she feigns interest in the eligible bachelors she keeps tossing her way, she’ll be off the hook, but things don’t quite go as planned. Turns out for the first time in ages, she and Keiran King, the most annoying man ever, are on the island at the same time. Avoiding him is impossible, especially when Keiran’s close friend is the one marrying her sister, and he’s the best man to her maid of honour. Keiran doesn’t know what to make of Cherisse now. They’ve always butted heads. To him she’s always been a stuck-up brat who seeks attention, even while he secretly harbored a crush on her. Now with Cherisse’s sister marrying one of his good friends he can’t escape her as the wedding activities keep throwing them together. When things turn heated after a rainy night of bedroom fun, they both have to figure out if they can survive the countdown to wedding day, without this turning into a recipe for disaster. Bisexual man (M/F relationship) I’m a Wild Seed by Sharon Lee De La Cruz (April 6, Graphic Memoir) A collection of lively autobiographical comics guiding the reader through an understanding of queerness and what it means to one woman of color. In this delightfully compelling full-color graphic memoir, the author shares her process of undoing the effects of a patriarchal, colonial society on her self-image, her sexuality, and her concept of freedom. Reflecting on the ways in which oppression was the cause for her late bloom into queerness, we are invited to discover people and things in the author’s life that helped shape and inform her LGBTQ identity. And we come to an understanding of her holistic definition of queerness. Queer woman The Essential June Jordan Edited Jan Heller Levi and Christoph Keller (May 4, Poetry) The Essential June Jordan honors the enduring legacy of a poet fiercely dedicated to building a better world. In this definitive volume, introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, June Jordan’s generous body of poetry is distilled and curated to represent the very best of her works. Written over the span of several decades―from Some Changes in 1971 to Last Poems in 2001­―Jordan’s poems are at once of their era and tragically current, with subject matter including racist police brutality, violence against women, and the opportunity for global solidarity amongst people who are marginalized or outside of the norm. In these poems of great immediacy and radical kindness, humor and embodied candor, readers will (re)discover a voice that has inspired generations of contemporary poets to write their truths. June Jordan is a powerful voice of the time-honored movement for justice, a poet for the ages. Introduced by Jericho Brown, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer prize in poetry. Bisexual woman Renunciations by Donika Kelly (May 4, Poetry) An extraordinary collection of endurance and transformation by the award-winning author of Bestiary The Renunciations is a book of resilience, survival, and the journey to radically shift one’s sense of self in the face of trauma. Moving between a childhood marked by love and abuse and the breaking marriage of that adult child, Donika Kelly charts memory and the body as landscapes to be traversed and tended. These poems construct life rafts and sanctuaries even in their most devastating confrontations with what a person can bear, with how families harm themselves. With the companionship of “the oracle”―an observer of memory who knows how each close call with oblivion ends―the act of remembrance becomes curative, and personal mythologies give way to a future defined less by wounds than by possibility. In this gorgeous and heartrending second collection, we find the home one builds inside oneself after reckoning with a legacy of trauma―a home whose construction starts “with a razing.” Lesbian author Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee (May 4, YA Contemporary) Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe. When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page. In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. Trans man, M/M relationship Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (May 4, Science Fiction) Vern―seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised―flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes. To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future―outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it. Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction. Queer, non-binary author (not sure of specific representation, likely F/F) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (May 11, Fantasy) Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer. So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage. Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city―or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems… F/F relationship Thanks a Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas (May 11, Middle Grade Contemporary) Brian has always been anxious, whether at home, or in class, or on the basketball court. His dad tries to get him to stand up for himself and his mom helps as much as she can, but after he and his brother are placed in foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. And he doesn’t know if things will ever be normal again . . . Ezra’s always been popular. He’s friends with most of the kids on his basketball team, even Brian, who usually keeps to himself. But now, some of his friends have been acting differently, and Brian seems to be pulling away. Ezra wants to help, but he worries if he’s too nice to Brian, his friends will realize that he has a crush on him . . . But when Brian and his brother run away, Ezra has no choice but to take the leap and reach out. Both boys have to decide if they’re willing to risk sharing parts of themselves they’d rather hide. But if they can be brave, they might just find the best in themselves and each other. M/M crush Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome (May 28, Memoir) Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut. Brian’s recounting of his experiences—in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory—reveal a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help to soothe his hurt, young psyche, usually to uproarious and devastating effect. A no-nonsense mother and broken father play crucial roles in our misfit’s origin story. But it is Brian’s voice in the retelling that shows the true depth of vulnerability for young Black boys that is often quietly near to bursting at the seams.  Cleverly framed around Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool,” the iconic and loving ode to Black boyhood, Punch Me Up to the Gods is at once playful, poignant, and wholly original. Broome’s writing brims with swagger and sensitivity, bringing an exquisite and fresh voice to ongoing cultural conversations about Blackness in America. Queer man Off the Record by Camryn Garrett (May 18, YA Contemporary) Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this. Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head. One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will? From the author of Full Disclosure, this is a moving testament to the #MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other. Bisexual woman How to Find a Princess (Runaway Royals #2) by Alyssa Cole (May 25, Romance) New York Times and USA Today bestseller Alyssa Cole’s second Runaway Royals novel is a queer Anastasia retelling, featuring a long-lost princess who finds love with the female investigator tasked with tracking her down. Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she’s in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother’s infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania’s missing heir. Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with. When a threat to her grandmother’s livelihood pushes Makeda to agree to return to Ibarania, Bez takes her on a transatlantic adventure with a crew of lovable weirdos, a fake marriage, and one-bed hijinks on the high seas. When they finally make it to Ibarania, they realize there’s more at stake than just cash and crown, and Makeda must learn what it means to fight for what she desires and not what she feels bound to by duty. F/F relationship Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (June 1, YA Thriller) All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. ―Aces When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too. Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures. As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly? Gay man and lesbian main characters Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia (June 1, Mystery) Harlem, 1926. Young black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that. When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore—two other local black girls have been murdered in the past few weeks. After an altercation with a police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum: She can either help solve the case or wind up in a jail cell. Louise has no choice but to investigate and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind hell-bent on taking more lives, maybe even her own…. Sapphic main character The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons (June 1, YA Contemporary) Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother, and a David Beckham in training. He’s also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of isolation and bullying, Spencer gets a fresh start at Oakley, the most liberal private school in Ohio. At Oakley, Spencer seems to have it all: more accepting classmates, a decent shot at a starting position on the boys’ soccer team, great new friends, and maybe even something more than friendship with one of his teammates. The problem is, no one at Oakley knows Spencer is trans—he’s passing. But when a discriminatory law forces Spencer’s coach to bench him, Spencer has to make a choice: cheer his team on from the sidelines or publicly fight for his right to play, even though it would mean coming out to everyone—including the guy he’s falling for. Trans man, M/M relationship Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor (June 22, Short Story Collection) In the series of linked stories at the heart of Filthy Animals, set among young creatives in the American Midwest, a young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family; menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night; a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink; and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort, and cruelty. One of the breakout literary stars of 2020, Brandon Taylor has been hailed by Roxane Gay as “a writer who wields his craft in absolutely unforgettable ways.” With Filthy Animals he renews and expands on the promise made in Real Life, training his precise and unsentimental gaze on the tensions among friends and family, lovers and others. Psychologically taut and quietly devastating, Filthy Animals is a tender portrait of the fierce longing for intimacy, the lingering presence of pain, and the desire for love in a world that seems, more often than not, to withhold it. LGBTQ characters Darling by K. Ancrum (June 23, YA Fantasy) A teen girl finds herself lost on a dangerous adventure in this YA thriller by the acclaimed author of The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars―reimagining Peter Pan for today’s world. On Wendy Darling’s first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He’s dizzying, captivating, beautiful―so she agrees to join him for a night on the town. Wendy thinks they’re heading to a party, but instead they’re soon running in the city’s underground. She makes friends―a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies―the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light. Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night―and make sure everyone else does, too? Multiple queer side characters, including asexual, lesbian, and bisexual characters This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (June 29, YA Fantasy) Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage. When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family. From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her. Queer woman Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson (July 6, YA) A stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark. Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Toni is grieving the loss of her roadie father and needing to figure out where her life will go from here — and she’s desperate to get back to loving music. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again) and is beginning to feel like she’ll always be a square peg in a round hole — but the Farmland Music and Arts Festival is a chance to find a place where she fits. The two collide and it feels like something like kismet when a bond begins to form. But when something goes wrong and the festival is sent into a panic, Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other (and music) more than they ever imagined. F/F relationship The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (July 13, YA Horror) Get Out meets Danielle Vega in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee. Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can’t decide what’s worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student–the handsome Allister–and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake. Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he’s a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game–one Jake is not sure he can win. Gay man main character Busy Ain’t the Half of It by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar (August 1, Romance) Elijah Golden and Justin Monroe are uncle and nephew with eclectic careers, friends, and family in LA, trying to center Black Joy in their lives.Then their worlds turn in ways nobody expects. Elijah, a dedicated thespian, auditions by day, does theater by night, and works two jobs on weekends. With enough life for three people, he keeps his recently divorced partner Zaire coasting on bliss…until secrets and real-life dramas test their love. Justin, Elijah’s uncle, is a single father with teenage twins, and a tv journalist who’s been replaced at the anchor desk when new management arrives. No longer in the public eye, living true to his sexuality is something Justin can finally do. Dating and romance—Justin’s ready for fun. Conflicts with fatherhood and career—he’ll have none. Elijah and Justin seek happily-ever-afters, but are they too busy to notice happy when it’s there? M/M relationship No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (September 7, Science Fiction) One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters. At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark? The world will soon find out. Trans and asexual main characters Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles (September 21, YA Contemporary) There’s always been a hole in Gio’s life. Not because he’s into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio’s life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her . . . and now, just as he’s started to get his life together, she’s back. It’s hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should he tell her she lost her chance to be in his life? Complicating things further, Gio’s started to hang out with David, a new guy on the basketball team. Are they friends? More than friends? At first, Gio’s not sure . . . especially because he’s not sure what he wants from anyone right now. There are no easy answers to love — whether it’s family love or friend love or romantic love. In Things We Couldn’t Say, Jay Coles, acclaimed author of Tyler Johnson Was Here, shows us a guy trying to navigate love in all its ambiguity — hoping at the other end he’ll be able to figure out who is and who he should be. Bisexual man Note: This is not a complete list! We will likely be hearing more about the Aug-Dec releases later in the year. 2021 Black LGBTQ Books Out Now If you’re too impatient to wait for upcoming releases, here are ten 2021 LGBTQ books by Black authors that are already out! They are ordered by genre. Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (Fiction) When becoming an adult means learning to love yourself first. With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She’s a straight A, work-through-the-summer certified high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that. This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her parent’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows. In New York, she’s able to ignore all the constant questions about her future plans and falls hard for her creative and beautiful wife, Yuki Yamamoto. But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood. F/F relationship 100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell (Short Story Collection) An irrerverent, sensitive, and inimitable look at gay dysfunction through the eyes of a cult hero Transgressive, foulmouthed, and brutally funny, Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends is a revelatory spiral into the imperfect lives of queer men desperately fighting the urge to self-sabotage. As they tiptoe through minefields of romantic, substance-fueled misadventure―from dirty warehouses and gentrified bars in Oakland to desolate farm towns in Alabama―Purnell’s characters strive for belonging in a world that dismisses them for being Black, broke, and queer. In spite of it―or perhaps because of it―they shine. Armed with a deadpan wit, Purnell finds humor in even the darkest of nadirs with the peerless zeal, insight, and horniness of a gay punk messiah. Together, the slice-of-life tales that writhe within 100 Boyfriends are an inimitable tour of an unexposed queer underbelly. Holding them together is the vision of an iconoclastic storyteller, as fearless as he is human. Queer men main characters The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr (Historical Fiction) A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love. M/M relationship Love’s Divine by Ava Freeman (Romance) Go on vacation? Check. Sip cocktails and relax on the beach? Check. Fall in love? Definitely not on the list. On a whim, Genesis Malone decides to book a solo trip to the island of Barbados. A sunny beach vacation sounds like the perfect way to renew her spirit after a heartbreaking divorce. The trip takes an unexpected turn when she meets a woman who could be just what she needs to move on. That is if her heart, and the universe, will let her. Zuri Baker seems to have it all but what she really wants is someone to share her life with. When she meets Genesis, she is intrigued by her quiet nature and longs to get to know her better. Too bad her on-again off-again girlfriend isn’t willing to let her go quite so easily. When they return to their regular lives and find themselves in the midst of exes, not quite exes, and work drama, will they be able to hold onto what matters most; each other? F/F relationship Masquerade by Anne Shade (Historical Romance) Harlem, New York, 1925 is a mecca of cultural and creative freedom, where masquerade drag balls are all the rage and the music, dancing, and loose prohibition laws unite people from all walks of life. Dinah Hampton came to Harlem for better opportunities for her family but ends up working as a nightclub chorus girl to help make ends meet. Among the nightlife and danger, she finds love in the most unexpected way. When a scandal rocks Celine Montre’s family and sends them fleeing from New Orleans to Harlem, the gorgeous Dinah Hampton helps her to discover that there’s more to life, and love, than she ever thought possible. When a notorious gangster sets her sights on seducing Celine, Dinah and Celine are forced to risk their hearts, and lives, for love. F/F relationship Symbiosis (Escaping Exodus #2) by Nicky Drayden (Science Fiction) Nearly a thousand years removed from Earth, the remnants of humanity cling to existence inside giant, space faring creatures known as the Zenzee. Abused and exploited by humans for generations, these majestic animals nearly went extinct, but under the command of its newly minted ruler, Doka Kaleigh, life in the Parados I has flourished. Thanks to careful oversight and sacrifice by all of its crew, they are now on the brink of utopia, and yet Doka’s rivals feel threatened by that success.  The Senate allowed Doka to lead their people believing he’d fail spectacularly—a disaster that would cement the legitimacy of their long-standing matriarchy. Despite vocal opposition and blatant attacks on his authority, Doka has continued to handle his position with grace and intelligence; he knows a single misstep means disaster. When a cataclysmic event on another Zenzee world forces Doka and his people to accept thousands of refugees, a culture clash erupts, revealing secrets from the past that could endanger their future. For Doka, the stakes are bigger and more personal than ever before—and could cost him his reign and his heart.  He has fallen for the one woman he is forbidden to love: his wife, Seske.  Doka and Seske must work closely together to sway the other Zenzee worlds to stop their cycles of destruction. But when they stumble upon a discovery that can transform their world, they know they must prepare to fight a battle where there can be no winners, only survivors.  Sapphic main character Soulstar (The Kingston Cycle #3) by C.L. Polk (Fantasy) With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume. For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago. Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end. Nonbinary love interest One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite (YA Contemporary) When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic. One of the good ones. Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind—why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?—Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there’s a twist to Kezi’s story that no one could’ve ever expected—one that will change everything all over again. Lesbian main character Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson (YA Time Travel) Weeks ago, Andre Cobb received a much-needed liver transplant. He’s ready for his life to finally begin, until one night, when he passes out and wakes up somewhere totally unexpected…in 1969, where he connects with a magnetic boy named Michael. And then, just as suddenly as he arrived, he slips back to present-day Boston, where the family of his donor is waiting to explain that his new liver came with a side effect―the ability to time travel. And they’ve tasked their youngest son, Blake, with teaching Andre how to use his unexpected new gift. Andre splits his time bouncing between the past and future. Between Michael and Blake. Michael is everything Andre wishes he could be, and Blake, still reeling from the death of his brother, Andre’s donor, keeps him at arm’s length despite their obvious attraction to each other. Torn between two boys, one in the past and one in the present, Andre has to figure out where he belongs―and more importantly who he wants to be―before the consequences of jumping in time catch up to him and change his future for good. Gay man main character Mouths of Rain : An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought Edited by Briona Simone Jones (Nonfiction) African American lesbian writers and theorists have made extraordinary contributions to feminist theory, activism, and writing. Mouths of Rain, the companion anthology to Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s classic Words of Fire, traces the long history of intellectual thought produced by Black Lesbian writers, spanning the nineteenth century through the twenty-first century. Using “Black Lesbian” as a capacious signifier, Mouths of Rain includes writing by Black women who have shared intimate and loving relationships with other women, as well as Black women who see bonding as mutual, Black women who have self-identified as lesbian, Black women who have written about Black Lesbians, and Black women who theorize about and see the word lesbian as a political descriptor that disrupts and critiques capitalism, heterosexism, and heteropatriarchy. Taking its title from a poem by Audre Lorde, Mouths of Rain addresses pervasive issues such as misogynoir and anti-blackness while also attending to love, romance, “coming out,” and the erotic. Lesbian Looking for More Black LGBTQ Books? Of course, there are plenty of Black LGBTQ books from years past that are also worth reading! Here are some helpful resources to find more: Black Lesbian Literary Collective Sistahs on the Shelf YA Pride’s Queer YA Books by Black Authors Spreadsheet LGBTQ Reads’s Black History Month post I also discovered Jonathan’s To Be Black and Loved BookTube channel in the course of research for this post, and I sourced some titles from the video “Black & Queer Book Releases 2021 | YA & Adult Fiction.” Here on Book Riot, you might also want to check out: 20 Must-Read Black Authors of LGBTQ Books 6 of the Best Audiobooks by Queer Black Authors The videos Queer 2020 Releases by Black Authors  and Black LGBTQ YA Titles Published in 2020 !doctype> #BlackAuthors #LGBTQ #RiotRundownSubjectLinePost #Featured #Lists
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Introducing Distrito T-Mobile: Un-carrier Deepens Commitment to Puerto Rico with 10-Year Investment in New Entertainment Complex
T-Mobile (NASDAQ: TMUS) — in partnership with PRISA Group and ASM Global — today unveiled Distrito T-Mobile, a massive new entertainment complex in Puerto Rico, underscoring its commitment to the island as it rebuilds following Hurricane Maria and recent earthquakes. T-Mobile is the founding naming partner with a 10-year commitment, marking the first T-Mobile venue outside the continental U.S. and the first naming rights deal of its kind in Puerto Rico. Opening in April 2020, Distrito T-Mobile will become the hub of all things fun in San Juan, complete with some Un-carrier perks for all venue visitors.
“The residents of Puerto Rico have shown so much resilience as they rebuild after one of the worst natural disasters ever, and we want them to know T-Mobile is here to support them — this time, through a huge 10-year investment into the region,” said John Legere, CEO of T-Mobile. “We’re honored to expand our role in helping the community bounce back with Distrito T-Mobile — this is going to be epic!”
It’s true … there’s something for everyone at Distrito T-Mobile. The 476,000 square-foot complex features a Caribbean Cinemas VIP movie theater; Toro Verde ziplines; a virtual reality gaming center complete with laser tag and a bowling alley; a wide range of restaurants and a digital scenery system composed of 14,000 square feet of LED screens, including one of the largest horizontal 4K screens in the U.S. Plus, the Coca-Cola Music Hall will serve as the go-to venue for concerts and shows, while the first Aloft hotel in the Caribbean will become the ultimate place to stay.
The Un-carrier is providing all Distrito T-Mobile visitors with the awesome perks below — along with a couple of extras thrown in only for T-Mobile customers!
Device charging stations, so everyone can stay connected while they explore.
Every day of the week, visitors get their first hour of parking free. And every Tuesday, T-Mobile customers get a second of hour of parking for FREE — just for being a T-Mobile customer.
T-Mobile customers even get their own, dedicated VIP Express Line for quick entry into the Coca-Cola Music Hall — all they have to do is show their phone. And, they may even be surprised with a seat upgrade for some events!
“Today’s announcement and 10-year naming rights commitment underscores the support T-Mobile has consistently shown to Puerto Rico,” said Federico Stubbe Jr., President of PRISA Group. “There’s no finer destination for entertainment on the Island than Distrito T-Mobile, and we’re thrilled to have a disruptive partner in the Un-carrier to help bring this innovative vision of the future of entertainment to life for the benefit of all Puerto Ricans and visitors from throughout the world.”
In early 2019, T-Mobile rolled out a massive 600 MHz network expansion and in December 2019, T-Mobile launched 5G nationwide across the US, including blanketing nearly all of the island with 5G. And beyond the $450 million invested in building network coverage following Hurricane Maria in 2017, T-Mobile has repeatedly donated towards disaster recovery in the wake of recent hurricanes and earthquakes.
“We at ASM Global are thrilled to have T-Mobile as our premier, naming rights partner at this incredible new venue," said Bob Newman, President and CEO of ASM Global. "We have worked closely with T-Mobile for years, which makes us confident in our ability to elevate Distrito T-Mobile beyond anything we've ever seen in Puerto Rico."
For more information on Distrito T-Mobile, visit https://distritot-mobile.com. Follow T-Mobile’s Official Twitter Newsroom @TMobileNews to stay up-to-date with the latest company news.
About T-Mobile US, Inc. As America's Un-carrier, T-Mobile US, Inc. (NASDAQ: TMUS) is redefining the way consumers and businesses buy wireless services through leading product and service innovation. Our advanced nationwide 4G LTE network delivers outstanding wireless experiences to 86 million customers who are unwilling to compromise on quality and value. Based in Bellevue, Washington, T-Mobile US provides services through its subsidiaries and operates its flagship brands, T-Mobile and Metro by T-Mobile. For more information, please visit http://www.t-mobile.com.
About PRISA Group PRISA Group (“PRISA”) is a Puerto Rican company owned by the Stubbe family that is dedicated to the development and construction of green residential communities and resorts in Puerto Rico and Florida. PRISA has developed residential communities with over 3,000 units in the last 20 years, mainly in its Sabanera communities in Cidra, Gurabo and Dorado, and in Dorado Beach Resort. In recent years, PRISA has completed several tourism projects, including El Dorado Beach, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, first in the Americas, West Beach & East Beach Ritz-Carlton Reserve Residences, Hyatt Place San Juan / Bayamón & El Tropical Casino, Hyatt Place Manatee & Atlantic Casino, Hyatt House San Juan, Hyatt Place San Juan / City Center, Springhill Suites and Residence Inn Millenia, Orlando and AC Hotel by Marriott Metwest International, Westshore, Tampa, the latter in Florida. In the development of these projects, PRISA currently employs over 1,450 people between direct and indirect jobs. PRISA is also developing an Element by Westin in Orlando, Florida and a hospital in association with Johns Hopkins Medicine International in Dorado, Puerto Rico. PRISA has been the recipient of several awards, including Builder of the Decade, three Planned Community of the Year awards granted by the Association of Home Builders (“ACH”) and the highest honor conferred by the AC, the Frank Ramírez de Arellano Award. In November 2014, PRISA was named the Developer of the Year of the Americas by Hyatt Hotel Corporation for the development of its Hyatt portfolio. For more information: www.prisagroup.com.
About ASM Global ASM Global is the world’s leading provider of innovative venue services and live experiences. The company was formed by the combination of AEG Facilities and SMG, global leaders in venue and event strategy and management. The company’s elite venue network spans five continents, with a portfolio of more than 300 of the world’s most prestigious arenas, stadiums, convention and exhibition centers, and performing arts venues. From Aberdeen to Anchorage, and Sydney to Stockholm, its venues connect people through the unique power of live experiences.
ASM Global’s diverse portfolio of clients benefit from the company’s depth of resources and unparalleled experience, expertise and creative problem-solving. Each day, the company’s 61,000 passionate employees around the world deliver locally tailored solutions and cutting-edge technologies to deliver maximum results for venue owners and amazing experiences for guests. By consistently looking for new ways to envision, innovate and empower the spaces and places that bring people together, ASM Global elevates the human spirit while delivering the highest value for all stakeholders. For more information, please visit www.asmglobal.com.
source: https://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/44051-Introducing-Distrito-T-Mobile-Un-carrier-Deepens-Commitment-to-Puerto-Rico-with-10-Year-Investment-in-New-Entertainment-Complex?tracking_source=rss
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getseriouser · 6 years
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20 THOUGHTS: Two Weeks Doth a Season Make
ALRIGHT. So we’ve all played two games now, the Suns and Roos have played at least one outside of a swimming pool, we can start to make some long-lasting judgement.
 The Bulldogs are staring down a full rebuild, Gold Coast have turned it around and can now match the personnel prowess of the Giants and going by Monday’s centre square performance Geelong must surely end up premiers?
 April Premiers, righto. When the Melbourne supporters start to pack the ski gear into the back of the Land Rover, then let’s chat.
 1.       The Western Bulldogs. How much is that supposed post-flag offseason playing a role the best part of 18 months later? Sure, it was a 7th placed finish with an over and beyond September in their glory year, but again its two weeks, last week was colours lowered but we are not off their bus completely, save your wooden spoon bets.
 2.       This column continues to be buoyed by Fremantle. Much better on the weekend, their talented kids look fantastic, Blakely had 30, Ryan had 22 in defence, Brayshaw is showing a bit, Cerra kicked two goals, those two had nine tackles between them, Fyfe, Neale look good and Walters and Wilson are proper x-factors.
 3.       Also worth noting that we were originally wrong about the number of Perth games for the Dockers, it’s not just the standard eleven home games plus an away game to West Coast, its thirteen all up – the Gold Coast host Freo at Optus this week. Thirteen games in Perth, this is more than set up for the Dockers to rebound nicely in 2018.
 4.       Port look very industrious. Matched the Swans for grunt in their home opener and that’s two years in a row they've got that scalp. Back home this week for a soft kill with Brisbane, this is all shaping up very well at Alberton.
 5.       Clarko, moving people around, finding the right role, failing fast, motivation, development, all that – genius. This Hawthorn side still holds several guns in their arsenal, a number of premiership players to that matter, but the way he coaches that side extracts maximum performance out of the available resources, more than any other club going around clearly.
 6.       How about Geelong? Should have won although the umpires, Burgoyne's soft tissue and goal posts helped their cause too. But, Ablett 35 touches, Dangerfield 31, Selwood 29, teams are going to have to shut down one. Daniel Howe was on Selwood but didn't do enough. Ablett looks far too rejuvenated that it’s going to cause opponents issues if they don't curtail the engine room. If they can, the Cats don’t possess too much else.
 7.       If you didn’t know the backstory of the infamous starting three mids for Geelong, watched the game on Monday unencumbered, you would be excused for thinking Ablett is their best player. All the rage on Dangerfield vs. Martin, but if Ablett is fit enough (seemingly so) and has found a new lease on life being back home (clearly looks that way), maybe its back to 2015 and it’s a Ablett vs. Fyfe conversation again?
 8.       Tom Mitchell - 40 touches, two goals, four tackles. Supposedly on six Charlie votes, getting a tonne of exposure. Clayton Oliver though, 35 touches, eight tackles up in Brisbane. One is 25 next month, one is 21 in July. Still a no brainer for me.
 9.       Jaryd Roughead, big shout out to him. Cancer, overcome, and that speaks for itself on its own merits of course, but five shots on goal Monday, looked really good particularly late in the game, last year played 22 games coming back to footy and really picked up as the season came to an end kicking five in the final round. He has three seasons of over 70 goals in his career, only Buddy has done that as well, so he is a genuine star of the game who could really influence a Hawks side aiming to make finals and then do damage from there.
 10.   Good Friday - North and Footscray worked well last year, nothing against St Kilda (aside from their performance of course though, we'll cover that next) but last year felt like the making of something, great game, crowd over 40k, should have got another run. This threat of 'well performed sides' from now on is off the mark, I would go back to North and Footscray and give it three years. It should definitely stay with North, so in that case its commit to one regular opponent not rotate their opponents through.
 11.   So, the Saints. Did ok Round One then followed up with a stinker. Why? Membrey obviously had cricket finals so now that’s all wrapped up he can put the boots on. He averages four marks inside 50 a game, which is fantastic, but for such little impact. Nathan Brown is a good stopper, a premiership player, but is no longer a modern, effective defender and can be exploited. Jake Carlisle, has he gelled as a Saint yet? Not sure. He has had his disruptions but still looks a shadow, and then there's Paddy McCartin. Bless him, still only young, but he looks years off. Chuck in a midfield that yes, has Jack Steven, but Seb Ross and David Armitage don't hurt enough and it falls away big time. They were popping rubber bands at Josh Kelly for a reason.
 12.   Bryce Gibbs is just such a nice piece for this Crows side. 35 touches first up, 28 touches and a goal against Richmond, he is an All-Australian player if he stays fit. Amazing addition.
 13.   On All-Australian, going the early crow, or Magpie, but with some level of objectivity. Two games in Max Gawn would be the AA ruckman easily, no question, but Brodie Grundy, still only 23, in his 84th game had 20 touches, 45 hitouts, eight clearances, three tackles and kicked two straight. Their best player, most important player, perhaps both. He will be a strong AA contender all year.
 14.   The Pies were a little stiff on the weekend, two on the bench, no-one over six foot in the forward line, a little luck and it’s a big scalp, 1-1 into the Carlton game, it’s a whole new story. But the Pies, whilst without luck, at times the last couple seasons need to do better at making their own luck. As an example, Hawthorn definitely makes their own luck it seems, making moves, minimising errors, and they're maybe on the bounce back, perhaps overlapping Collingwood in the process? Jeremy Howe forward during games more often, things like that are required, can’t resign to same old same old, tried hard though..
 15.   Gerard Whateley interviews Nathan Buckley weekly on his radio program. Gerard was coy enough to raise Tom Lynch kicking eight on the weekend, and a normally very assured, calculated and not easily ambushed Buckley didn’t do a great job of avoiding any ‘reading between the lines’ from his responses. Short, sarcastic answers, deliberately avoiding the obvious reality, obvious narrative. Conceded that “I don’t think there's many clubs that would say that they can't do with a marking tall forward. He is a very aerobic, hard running tall forward as well – they don't grow on trees. I reckon he be well sought after.” It suggests the Pies think he is gettable, coming home, and they remain in the running which would not extend to too many clubs, or indeed have him.
 16.   Buddy watch, 12 goals already, I expect another decent bag in the Sydney Derby this weekend, talk of a ton this year is premature, but the Coleman-Brownlow double, don’t tell me you missed out when I lobbed it on all of you back in March. Utter. Value.
 17.   Credit to those down at Arden Street. The Kangas have bottomed out, got a tonne of cash, and yes, apparently asking Andrew Gaff how much he misses living in Melbourne, but Ben Brown up front, a lot of decent depth through the midfield, not a lot of star power, but it’s even, Robbie Tarrant is horrendously underrated, good kids, if you’re a Roos fan, stick fat, they’ll be ok.
 18.   A few non-footy to finish, let’s wrap the cricket up. Firstly, David Warner, couple concluding takeaways. He has ball-tampered at least throughout the South Africa series, that’s how Bancroft got caught. AB De Villiers got suspicious of Warner in the first few tests, texted his old captain now commentator Graeme Smith to watch Warner with the ball. Cluey to this Warner then courageously flipped his conduct onto Bancroft in Cape Town when the cameras would be following the ball from Paine to the bowler and low and behold, here we are.
 19.   Hiring Roxy Jacenko, a Sydney-based magazine PR pest, having wife Candice do a tell-all with News Limited, the delayed and then train wreck press conference, he will now be lost to Australian cricket and despite all the good he has a cricketer and person has done, he has made his bed he will now lie in it. Smith and Bancroft made progress to redemption upon arriving home, Warner has gone the other way sadly.
 20.   The Test Team from here? Head to England and play County Cricket. Yes the next nine months looks good, tests against minnows or against Asian countries at home, ripe conditions to succeed. But with an Ashes over there in 15 months, if I’m Burns, Renshaw, or anyone on the fringe, Kurtis Patterson, Jake Doran, get over to England, smash out a big county season with a mass of runs, and you’ll do well to be back there next year on an Ashes tour.
 (originally published April 6)
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jesusvasser · 7 years
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Extended Family: The Incredible Story of the Kircher Special and Its Long-Lost 300 SL Relative
When Jack Gallivan was a boy in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the middle of the last century, he and his brothers played a game. Their father was the publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, the local newspaper of record, and in order to prove the Trib’s classified section worked, they would buy used cars out of the paper.
“We’d look through the Sunday listings, whittle it down, make calls, go visit, and take the finalists to the mechanic to check them out,” Gallivan says. “Of course, the sellers didn’t realize that we were kids making the [initial] calls.”
In the early ’60s, one of the vehicles they came across was a 1955 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. Gallivan’s father wasn’t a car connoisseur, but he responded to vehicles he found beautiful—classic dual-cowl Lincolns such as those driven by the Trib’s owner, an automotive editor’s MG TC, and the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and Jaguar XK140 he purchased. The Gullwing was one of these vehicles. “He just fell in love with it,” Gallivan says, “the sheer beauty of the thing.”
The family looked at it, but the price was too high. About a year later, however, Gallivan’s father was driving with his younger son and saw the same car parked in a gas station with a “for sale” sign on it. “My little brother says they just made a U-turn, went back to the gas station, and Dad went in and bought the car,” Gallivan says. He recalls his father paying around $3,400.
The Gullwing became his daily driver. He drove it to the office. He parked it at meters on the street. He let valets park it. “It was not something he treated as outrageously special,” Gallivan remembers, “but that was how he loved it.”
Gallivan loved the car, as well, and drove it regularly. “There were no restrictions or ‘don’t take my car,’” he says. “It was just there.” As his father aged, Gallivan found himself in line to receive the Gullwing. “My dad decided early on that he wanted to die broke and was liquidating stuff out of his estate,” Gallivan says. “I am a junior. His name was John Gallivan, and I am John Gallivan Jr., so there was no big challenge in just moving the title over to me.”
As can happen in the life of a car enthusiast, Gallivan stumbled into becoming the owner of the one-of-a-kind Kircher when he was on the hunt for his Gullwing’s original engine, which he ran in the Colorado Grand.
Gallivan spent his career producing sports programming for ABC and ESPN on the East Coast, including airings of the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix. Now 76 and retired back in Salt Lake City, he thinks of his own fiscal legacy. “I have no plans to sell the car,” he says, “but I thought maybe the next generation would [benefit from doing so].”
One of the Gullwing’s mysteries: It arrived in the Gallivans’ possession with a nonoriginal engine; the powerplant was from a 1957 car. Factory-correct drivetrain stampings increase the value of a car such as this significantly. “We typically say at least 10 percent [added value] to be conservative, but I’ve heard figures as high as 25 percent,” says Mike Kunz, who runs the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California, a brand subsidiary dedicated to preservation and restoration of vintage Benzes. “But at today’s values, 10 percent is more than $100,000.”
Given this difference, Gallivan set out to find the original engine. He hadn’t been active in the collector car community or in researching automotive history. But he found a Gullwing owners’ group message board and posted a question. Does anybody know how the engine I have ended up in my car? “It never occurred to me to ask,” he says, “or that an engine, missing for 60 years, would ever reappear.”
A Stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines.
He was shocked to soon receive a response from a classic car restorer in Missouri named Jeff Moore, who ran a shop called The Automotive Archeologists. “I have your engine,” Moore wrote. “And moreover, it happens to be in the Kircher.”
In the post-WWII era, soldiers returning from overseas or assisting in the war effort on the homefront put their gearhead field experience to good use in the customization and hot-rodding of automobiles. According to historians, even before the Corvette was launched in 1953, there were more than 50 American-made sports-car models. Many of these were manufactured in limited numbers—by hobbyists, obsessives, or entrepreneurs—some with the dream of becoming regular production cars, some to be raced in early Sports Car Club of America events. Their activity was clustered on the coasts, particularly the West Coast, but pockets existed nationwide.
Charles Hughes of Denver, Colorado, the scion of a wealthy local family, developed a passion for speed before the war, testing planes for the military and sponsoring vehicles in the Indy 500. After the armistice, he further indulged this interest by purchasing a Jaguar XK120 to race. He bought the car new from Kurt Kircher, who owned the local foreign car shop, Denver Import Motors. Kircher was an amateur racer himself who’d had some success with a Chrysler Hemi-powered Allard J2X, one of the quickest cars of its time, if a bit crude.
The two became fast friends, quite literally. Kircher had a degree in automotive engineering—he’d worked for General Motors on post-war V-8s and the Powerglide transmission. Hughes had a degree in physics as well as a stellar machine shop in his six-car garage. So in the early ’50s, the pair decided, according to a history Kircher wrote a few years before his death in 2004, “It would be fun to try to build something better.”
Familiar with the Jag powertrain, they decided to create a clean-sheet racer around an engine and transmission salvaged from a wrecked XK120. Kircher designed the drilled chrome-moly tube frame, rear De Dion suspension, and inboard rear-wheel drums and safety hubs. The front suspension came from the Jag. The steering rack came from an MG. The rear differential came from Halibrand. The rest of the bits were either shopped or poached.
A stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines—a Ferrari 250S mated with a Jaguar D-type. But unlike either of those, it had inboard headlamps in the grille, deeply scalloped sides, and an intriguing dual-piece construction—the car’s entire top half could be unbolted to allow for mechanical massaging. It was finished after a year of work. Kircher named it for himself—the Kircher Special—and hit the track. The car was fast and handled well. “I do not have a list of all the events we participated in,” he wrote. “But we won most and never did worse than third in class.”
Still, by the mid-1950s Porsche and Ferrari upped their power games, and Kircher and Hughes decided they too needed more. Kircher set his mind on installing a fuel-injected straight-six and four-speed from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. According to a murky chronology, he apparently found a wrecked SL and traded its powertrain to a friend at Mercedes-Benz in Germany for a hotted-up race version allegedly prepared for the Mille Miglia. Kircher installed it in his car and went to work winning more races.
Soon after, however, advances such as disc brakes rendered the car’s drums somewhat archaic, and the owners decided not to invest in it further. The Kircher eventually passed to body-maker Lyons, who apparently traded the race engine in it for a stock one from another 300 SL in Colorado Springs. It was this factory engine that, again mysteriously, came out of the car the Gallivans would eventually purchase. (Confused yet? You’re not alone. It’s like a game of three-card monte with engines.)
A succession of owners followed—including Bugatti collector Carlton Coolidge and the Blackhawk Museum—before the Special passed into the hands of Court Whitlock in Missouri. Whitlock campaigned it on the vintage race circuit in the States, as well as more far-flung locales such as New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia. He had the car cosmetically restored by Moore’s Automotive Archeologists and showed it at the Amelia Island Concours in 2014.
The Classic Center’s Kunz spotted the vehicle on the field at Amelia that year and immediately noticed the big three-pointed star on the hood. “I remember walking by the car, and I went, ‘Oh my God, who did this?’” Kunz says and laughs. “Not knowing there’s a very cool story to who did this.”
Or that he’d soon be involved in undoing and redoing this.
The Gallivans had no history on the origin of the 1957 SL engine that came with their Gullwing. Neither did they particularly care. “Dad loved the car,” Gallivan says. “I don’t think it ever occurred to him that it was flawed or imperfect because of some mismatch, in part because selling was never on the table.” And no one knows why or when it was put into the car, why or when the factory engine was taken out, and whatever became of that alleged Mille Miglia racing engine from Stuttgart. But all old car stories are seemingly full of incomprehensible apocrypha. “There’s a disruption in the continuity that cannot be overcome,” Gallivan says.
When Kurt Kircher and Charles Hughes ventured to create a racer, they took inspiration and parts from several cars, but for racing they sought out a fuel-injected straight-six powerplant from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.
Convolutions aside, Gallivan wanted to reunite car and engine. Sadly, by the time he made the discovery, he’d already sent his Gullwing to the Classic Center to have the nonmatching engine rebuilt as part of a mechanical restoration. He offered Whitlock’s representative, Moore, the opportunity for a swap: his rebuilt engine for the proper one in the Kircher, whatever its condition. But Whitlock was no longer driving the car, and his interest in an updated engine was minimal. “He insisted that if I wanted the engine I’d have to buy the whole car,” Gallivan says.
“You’re exposed from the nipples up. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall”
After much consternation and bargaining, Gallivan decided to go forward with the purchase. Among his two daughters and three grandkids, no one really cares about cars—“I’m very concerned about this,” he jokes—so he viewed his plan as an investment in their future financial stability. Still, he felt obliged to write his family a note. “I am 75 years old. I have migraine auras, macular degeneration, ringing ears, some kind of weird outcropping on my kidney, a bladder condition, one bad hip, and two bad knees,” he wrote, wryly. “Today I bought a race car.”
The engine in the Kircher needed a complete rebuild before it could return to where it belonged in the SL. While this occurred at the Classic Center, Gallivan decided to have the rebuilt, unmatched straight-six from his dad’s car installed in the racer. His plan was to have it ready in time to drive it in the Colorado Grand, a 1,000-mile historic tour through the Rockies. After this, he would sell it.
The Kircher has no top or windshield to speak of. It also lacks windows, ventilation, a stereo, a driver’s side door, a speedometer, or any other modern comforts. “You’re exposed from the nipples up. You have no protection. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall,” Gallivan says. Yet despite all of this, he fell in love with the Special. “The car is so endearing,” he concedes. “It’s magic, and it’s very lucky for me. I mean, I got the engine reunited, and I had this great experience with it. I just think I will hold onto it as long as I can.”
Gallivan was kind enough to share the magic with us, allowing us to drive his one-off race car. We’ve had the good fortune of getting behind the wheel of a few 300 SLs, so the stiff four-speed shifter and period VDO gauges were familiar. We were not prepared, however, for the tractability. The Kircher’s front overhang is shorter than a Gullwing’s, so the turning circle is tighter. The suspension setup and ride quality is superior, more pliant and less unpredictable compared to the sporadically terrifying swing axles on the factory car.
But the real difference is in the speed. Because of its stripped-down interior, aluminum body, and drilled frame, the Kircher is hundreds of pounds lighter than a standard SL, closer in spec to one of the rare aluminum-bodied Gullwings. And because of the side exhausts exiting just aft of the front right wheel, the straight-six’s sound is both more proximal and more intoxicating, a guttural snarl not usually associated with Mercedes of the era. Although it’s fussy like all old sports cars, it just wants to go at all times.
Of course, it also has to stop—a bit harrowing with four-wheel drum brakes and a weirdly offset pedal. And because it is lipstick red and doesn’t look like any other vehicle ever made, when it does stop at li from Performance Junk WP Feed 4 http://ift.tt/2FuXyLI via IFTTT
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jonathanbelloblog · 7 years
Text
Extended Family: The Incredible Story of the Kircher Special and its Long-Lost 300 SL Relative
When Jack Gallivan was a boy in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the middle of the last century, he and his brothers played a game. Their father was the publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, the local newspaper of record, and in order to prove the Trib’s classified section worked, they would buy used cars out of the paper.
“We’d look through the Sunday listings, whittle it down, make calls, go visit, and take the finalists to the mechanic to check them out,” Gallivan says. “Of course, the sellers didn’t realize that we were kids making the [initial] calls.”
In the early ’60s, one of the vehicles they came across was a 1955 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. Gallivan’s father wasn’t a car connoisseur, but he responded to vehicles he found beautiful—classic dual-cowl Lincolns such as those driven by the Trib’s owner, an automotive editor’s MG TC, and the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and Jaguar XK140 he purchased. The Gullwing was one of these vehicles. “He just fell in love with it,” Gallivan says, “the sheer beauty of the thing.”
The family looked at it, but the price was too high. About a year later, however, Gallivan’s father was driving with his younger son and saw the same car parked in a gas station with a “for sale” sign on it. “My little brother says they just made a U-turn, went back to the gas station, and Dad went in and bought the car,” Gallivan says. He recalls his father paying around $3,400.
The Gullwing became his daily driver. He drove it to the office. He parked it at meters on the street. He let valets park it. “It was not something he treated as outrageously special,” Gallivan remembers, “but that was how he loved it.”
Gallivan loved the car, as well, and drove it regularly. “There were no restrictions or ‘don’t take my car,’” he says. “It was just there.” As his father aged, Gallivan found himself in line to receive the Gullwing. “My dad decided early on that he wanted to die broke and was liquidating stuff out of his estate,” Gallivan says. “I am a junior. His name was John Gallivan, and I am John Gallivan Jr., so there was no big challenge in just moving the title over to me.”
As can happen in the life of a car enthusiast, Gallivan stumbled into becoming the owner of the one-of-a-kind Kircher when he was on the hunt for his Gullwing’s original engine, which he ran in the Colorado Grand.
Gallivan spent his career producing sports programming for ABC and ESPN on the East Coast, including airings of the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix. Now 76 and retired back in Salt Lake City, he thinks of his own fiscal legacy. “I have no plans to sell the car,” he says, “but I thought maybe the next generation would [benefit from doing so].”
One of the Gullwing’s mysteries: It arrived in the Gallivans’ possession with a nonoriginal engine; the powerplant was from a 1957 car. Factory-correct drivetrain stampings increase the value of a car such as this significantly. “We typically say at least 10 percent [added value] to be conservative, but I’ve heard figures as high as 25 percent,” says Mike Kunz, who runs the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California, a brand subsidiary dedicated to preservation and restoration of vintage Benzes. “But at today’s values, 10 percent is more than $100,000.”
Given this difference, Gallivan set out to find the original engine. He hadn’t been active in the collector car community or in researching automotive history. But he found a Gullwing owners’ group message board and posted a question. Does anybody know how the engine I have ended up in my car? “It never occurred to me to ask,” he says, “or that an engine, missing for 60 years, would ever reappear.”
A Stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines.
He was shocked to soon receive a response from a classic car restorer in Missouri named Jeff Moore, who ran a shop called The Automotive Archeologists. “I have your engine,” Moore wrote. “And moreover, it happens to be in the Kircher.”
In the post-WWII era, soldiers returning from overseas or assisting in the war effort on the homefront put their gearhead field experience to good use in the customization and hot-rodding of automobiles. According to historians, even before the Corvette was launched in 1953, there were more than 50 American-made sports-car models. Many of these were manufactured in limited numbers—by hobbyists, obsessives, or entrepreneurs—some with the dream of becoming regular production cars, some to be raced in early Sports Car Club of America events. Their activity was clustered on the coasts, particularly the West Coast, but pockets existed nationwide.
Charles Hughes of Denver, Colorado, the scion of a wealthy local family, developed a passion for speed before the war, testing planes for the military and sponsoring vehicles in the Indy 500. After the armistice, he further indulged this interest by purchasing a Jaguar XK120 to race. He bought the car new from Kurt Kircher, who owned the local foreign car shop, Denver Import Motors. Kircher was an amateur racer himself who’d had some success with a Chrysler Hemi-powered Allard J2X, one of the quickest cars of its time, if a bit crude.
The two became fast friends, quite literally. Kircher had a degree in automotive engineering—he’d worked for General Motors on post-war V-8s and the Powerglide transmission. Hughes had a degree in physics as well as a stellar machine shop in his six-car garage. So in the early ’50s, the pair decided, according to a history Kircher wrote a few years before his death in 2004, “It would be fun to try to build something better.”
Familiar with the Jag powertrain, they decided to create a clean-sheet racer around an engine and transmission salvaged from a wrecked XK120. Kircher designed the drilled chrome-moly tube frame, rear De Dion suspension, and inboard rear-wheel drums and safety hubs. The front suspension came from the Jag. The steering rack came from an MG. The rear differential came from Halibrand. The rest of the bits were either shopped or poached.
A stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines—a Ferrari 250S mated with a Jaguar D-type. But unlike either of those, it had inboard headlamps in the grille, deeply scalloped sides, and an intriguing dual-piece construction—the car’s entire top half could be unbolted to allow for mechanical massaging. It was finished after a year of work. Kircher named it for himself—the Kircher Special—and hit the track. The car was fast and handled well. “I do not have a list of all the events we participated in,” he wrote. “But we won most and never did worse than third in class.”
Still, by the mid-1950s Porsche and Ferrari upped their power games, and Kircher and Hughes decided they too needed more. Kircher set his mind on installing a fuel-injected straight-six and four-speed from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. According to a murky chronology, he apparently found a wrecked SL and traded its powertrain to a friend at Mercedes-Benz in Germany for a hotted-up race version allegedly prepared for the Mille Miglia. Kircher installed it in his car and went to work winning more races.
Soon after, however, advances such as disc brakes rendered the car’s drums somewhat archaic, and the owners decided not to invest in it further. The Kircher eventually passed to body-maker Lyons, who apparently traded the race engine in it for a stock one from another 300 SL in Colorado Springs. It was this factory engine that, again mysteriously, came out of the car the Gallivans would eventually purchase. (Confused yet? You’re not alone. It’s like a game of three-card monte with engines.)
A succession of owners followed—including Bugatti collector Carlton Coolidge and the Blackhawk Museum—before the Special passed into the hands of Court Whitlock in Missouri. Whitlock campaigned it on the vintage race circuit in the States, as well as more far-flung locales such as New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia. He had the car cosmetically restored by Moore’s Automotive Archeologists and showed it at the Amelia Island Concours in 2014.
The Classic Center’s Kunz spotted the vehicle on the field at Amelia that year and immediately noticed the big three-pointed star on the hood. “I remember walking by the car, and I went, ‘Oh my God, who did this?’” Kunz says and laughs. “Not knowing there’s a very cool story to who did this.”
Or that he’d soon be involved in undoing and redoing this.
The Gallivans had no history on the origin of the 1957 SL engine that came with their Gullwing. Neither did they particularly care. “Dad loved the car,” Gallivan says. “I don’t think it ever occurred to him that it was flawed or imperfect because of some mismatch, in part because selling was never on the table.” And no one knows why or when it was put into the car, why or when the factory engine was taken out, and whatever became of that alleged Mille Miglia racing engine from Stuttgart. But all old car stories are seemingly full of incomprehensible apocrypha. “There’s a disruption in the continuity that cannot be overcome,” Gallivan says.
When Kurt Kircher and Charles Hughes ventured to create a racer, they took inspiration and parts from several cars, but for racing they sought out a fuel-injected straight-six powerplant from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.
Convolutions aside, Gallivan wanted to reunite car and engine. Sadly, by the time he made the discovery, he’d already sent his Gullwing to the Classic Center to have the nonmatching engine rebuilt as part of a mechanical restoration. He offered Whitlock’s representative, Moore, the opportunity for a swap: his rebuilt engine for the proper one in the Kircher, whatever its condition. But Whitlock was no longer driving the car, and his interest in an updated engine was minimal. “He insisted that if I wanted the engine I’d have to buy the whole car,” Gallivan says.
“You’re exposed from the nipples up. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall”
After much consternation and bargaining, Gallivan decided to go forward with the purchase. Among his two daughters and three grandkids, no one really cares about cars—“I’m very concerned about this,” he jokes—so he viewed his plan as an investment in their future financial stability. Still, he felt obliged to write his family a note. “I am 75 years old. I have migraine auras, macular degeneration, ringing ears, some kind of weird outcropping on my kidney, a bladder condition, one bad hip, and two bad knees,” he wrote, wryly. “Today I bought a race car.”
The engine in the Kircher needed a complete rebuild before it could return to where it belonged in the SL. While this occurred at the Classic Center, Gallivan decided to have the rebuilt, unmatched straight-six from his dad’s car installed in the racer. His plan was to have it ready in time to drive it in the Colorado Grand, a 1,000-mile historic tour through the Rockies. After this, he would sell it.
The Kircher has no top or windshield to speak of. It also lacks windows, ventilation, a stereo, a driver’s side door, a speedometer, or any other modern comforts. “You’re exposed from the nipples up. You have no protection. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall,” Gallivan says. Yet despite all of this, he fell in love with the Special. “The car is so endearing,” he concedes. “It’s magic, and it’s very lucky for me. I mean, I got the engine reunited, and I had this great experience with it. I just think I will hold onto it as long as I can.”
Gallivan was kind enough to share the magic with us, allowing us to drive his one-off race car. We’ve had the good fortune of getting behind the wheel of a few 300 SLs, so the stiff four-speed shifter and period VDO gauges were familiar. We were not prepared, however, for the tractability. The Kircher’s front overhang is shorter than a Gullwing’s, so the turning circle is tighter. The suspension setup and ride quality is superior, more pliant and less unpredictable compared to the sporadically terrifying swing axles on the factory car.
But the real difference is in the speed. Because of its stripped-down interior, aluminum body, and drilled frame, the Kircher is hundreds of pounds lighter than a standard SL, closer in spec to one of the rare aluminum-bodied Gullwings. And because of the side exhausts exiting just aft of the front right wheel, the straight-six’s sound is both more proximal and more intoxicating, a guttural snarl not usually associated with Mercedes of the era. Although it’s fussy like all old sports cars, it just wants to go at all times.
Of course, it also has to stop—a bit harrowing with four-wheel drum brakes and a weirdly offset pedal. And because it is lipstick red and doesn’t look like any other vehicle ever made, when it does stop at li from Performance Junk Blogger Feed 4 http://ift.tt/2FuXyLI via IFTTT
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rollinbrigittenv8 · 7 years
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Hoteliers Are Taking Different Approaches to Luxury Travel Innovation
At Le George restaurant (shown here) at the Four Seasons George V hotel in Paris, servers are encouraged to wear their own clothes instead of wearing uniforms. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Skift Take: Everyone has different ideas and approaches for the next big thing in luxury hospitality, from digital innovation and more personalization to smarter, more intuitive service, and better dining experiences.
— Deanna Ting
Everyone in travel wants to know what the next big thing — or disruption — will come from, and for luxury travel, innovation has a number of different definitions and approaches.
For some, it’s about using technology to personalize the experience. For others, like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, it’s about empowering employees to deliver the best service possible. For Sereno Hotels, it revolves around staying true to the meaning of hospitality.And for W, JW Marriott, and The Luxury Collection, innovation involves looking to sectors like retail and dining for some inspiration. AccorHotels, too, is thinking more about improving the entire travel experience from end to end.
In recent years, luxury travel, in particular, has undergone an evolution, from embodying ostentatiousness and formal, traditional white-glove service to something that embraces more low-key luxury and personalized, but not stiff, service.
And as it continues to change, many hoteliers see room for enhanced personalization and customization, as Skift found from speaking to them at the recent International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes.
Customization Is King
“Customization is the next big innovation in luxury travel,” said Chinmai Sharma, chief revenue officer of Taj Hotels Resorts Palaces and Safaris. “Every traveler has his or her own requirements. Companies that differentiate themselves will treat each customer as his or her own segment.”
Anthony Ingham, global brand Leader for W Hotels Worldwide, likewise has big hopes for better customization in the guest experience, and he thinks it will be accelerated once Marriott launches its new loyalty program that combines Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Ritz-Carlton Rewards.
“If you’re a W regular, I want the app to default to the W skin and for it to move according to the hotel/geolocation,” Ingham said. “I want the app to be a central repository of information and to be able to unlock your room, control the temperature, and have your playlists saved. To be the same way you use your phone to manage your whole life, I want our hotels to be connected by digital synchronization and that’s what scale can provide. Content should be delivered and tailored specifically to that individual. The ability to customize the window by which someone experiences a brand is endless.”
But the bigger question involved with customization and personalization is: How is that achievable through technology? It’s something that’s still very much a work in progress for many brands, while others have expressed a bit of disdain for furthering unnecessary tech investments in the name of innovation.
Technology for Technology’s Sake?
Luis F. Contreras, the owner of Sereno Hotels, said, “I don’t like innovation for innovation’s sake. I don’t want technology to be the center of the guest experience. Human warmth is what we want to do. We’re users of technology, but we don’t want guest experience to be dominated by technology.”
At the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts around the world, innovation is about using technology to empower employees to provide better, more personalized customer service.
Christian H. Clerc, president of worldwide hotel operations for Four Seasons, said, “I think, when we think about innovation in our modern world, we often times go to technology, but for us, tech is not the end game. It’s about empowerment and providing our employees and our guests with tools that help them provide better service and our guests with better experiences. When it comes to innovation, for us, it’s all about experiences. We use technology to help us achieve that consistently throughout the portfolio.”
Clerc also noted that today’s luxury traveler, who possesses a “millennial mindset,” is more interested in “experiences that are grounded in authenticity, the importance of the character of the people who provide the service. The innovation is around how we make sure our employees who are so talented shine through this service experience.”
Thinking About the Whole Experience
Other hoteliers, like Sebastien Bazin, CEO of AccorHotels, said his company’s approach to luxury travel is beginning to take a holistic approach about the entire traveler journey, and looking beyond just the hotel stay.
“When you have a luxury traveler you want them to feel free, to not have to worry about their luggage and all the other hassles of traveling,” he said. “The journey starts when you leave your home. It’s the airport lounges, the flight, the ride to the hotel. Everything has to be seamless and easy. We used to just think of luxury in terms of the lodging experience. Why can’t you have the hotel store what you need when you travel? We have to make that more accessible to more people.”
Looking Toward Retail and Dining
And others are looking beyond hotels, and to dining and retail for inspiration.
“Retail,” Ingham of W Hotels noted, “reinvents itself all the time,” and we’re already beginning to see evidence of high-end retail’s influence on the hospitality space.
Nicholas Clayton, Capella Hotel Group CEO, said, “We’re not in a position to lead in technology, but we’re really investing in food and beverage and developing partnerships.”
At Marriott’s JW Marriott and The Luxury Collection brands, vice president and global brand leader Mitzi Gaskins, said, “I’m watching the independent food-and-beverage industry, especially restaurants and bars, because it changes faster than hospitality, and it’s also becoming an increasingly integral part of the luxury experience. The transition from formal experiences to more casual ones took place in restaurants first and it’s a good way to see what’s coming.”
At the Four Seasons George V Paris, Clerc pointed to how the company is pursuing innovation at one of its restaurants, Le George, where employees are encouraged not to wear a formal uniform — they’re asked to wear their own clothes and to express their own personalities through their garb. It’s not a brand-wide standard at each Four Seasons hotel, but for this particular restaurant, the strategy works beautifully, he said.
“No name tags. No uniforms. People wear their own clothes,” Clerc said. “Of course, it’s Paris, so it’s easy to achieve here, but in the restaurant, the whole experience becomes very personal. It’s been really wonderful to see the response we see from that. It’s an example of one of the ways we continue to innovate in terms of just challenging the norms around how we deliver service and, specifically how we provide employees an environment in which they can be themselves and shine.”
Clerc continued, “In terms of hospitality, to me, one of the big opportunities is restaurants and bars. We are focusing a lot of energy behind this. With, for example, Airbnb, which is entering the hotel space, for us, we see restaurants and bars as a real point of differentiation when it comes to providing a luxury hospitality experience. The other thing about restaurants and bars is, if you think about it, they act as a gateway to the local community — as a way to expand the brand in a different way.”
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auburnfamilynews · 7 years
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Kamryn Pettway rumbles over defenders! (Photo by J. T. Wampler.)
     War Eagle everybody! It’s time now for the Acid Reign Report on Auburn’s 52-20 romp over Arkansas in Fayetteville. A week after a disastrous, 20-point-lead-blowing loss at LSU, the Tigers responded with a great week of practice, and a delicious beatdown of the Razorbacks. Auburn moved the ball well in the first half, but the 17-6 halftime score was worrisome. Auburn had squandered several scoring opportunities, and if another second-half stall was going to happen, another week of misery was likely to occur.
     This week, there was no second-half sleep walking. The Tigers game out gunning it, and scored 4 touchdowns in the 3rd quarter, to blow the game open. Kamryn Pettway returned to his devastating form of a year ago, and the Tigers exploited the mostly zone coverage of the home team. Pettway had defenders reeling, and playing back on their heels. The 5 yard hitch was there for the taking, and Ryan Davis had 5 yards or more every time it was thrown. Auburn threw in a few speed sweeps, and when Arkansas walked the safeties out there to help, Auburn responded with the play of the night. Ryan Davis got the ball on an end around, and it looked like he might lose big yardage. On the dead run, Davis launched a perfectly thrown bomb, right into the breadbasket of receiver Darius Slayton, who was off to the races for a 62 yard touchdown.
     I did have just a few complaints on offense, this week. The Tigers once again were plagued by dropped passes, but far fewer than against LSU. A lost fumble late was concerning, as was an interception on a ball thrown all the way across the field into tight coverage. I continue to be alarmed about injuries on the offensive line. It made my heart hurt, to see Darius James carted off the field with an air cast on his leg, especially since the game was well in hand at that point. I am very pleased to hear that X-rays were negative on that leg, and that James is ok. I criticized Auburn offensive line coach Herb Hand pretty severely after the Clemson loss. I’m having to admit now that I was wrong. Hand has gotten strong play out of this line since that week, despite having to do a lot of shuffling around. I tip my hat to the offensive line, this week. We’ve got some really good players, there.
     Defensively, I expect some folks will be disappointed in Auburn giving up 20 points in this game. I will remind those folks that the starting defense only gave up 2 field goals. The Arkansas touchdowns came on a kick return, and a garbage time score against the scout team. I felt like run fits weren’t as good in this game, but that’s a function of how Arkansas plays on the line. Arkansas has probably the most complicated set of run-blocking techniques in the SEC. They really work on it, and it’s really hard to account for every lane they can create. The past few years, Arkansas gets better and better at confusing defensive front sevens, and Arkansas tends to be running over teams in November. On the flip side for Auburn, the Auburn front had their best pass-rushing game of the year. Using mostly just a 4-man rush, Auburn came up with 6 sacks, the most in a game this season.
     I was very worried about the back end of the defense, this week. Starters Javaris Davis and Tray Matthews did not play, and I was concerned about what the replacements would do. Arkansas went with a lot of shotgun in the first half, and tried to light the secondary up. It did not work, as fill-in secondary members Jamel Dean, Nick Ruffin and Daniel Thomas played pretty lock-down in coverage, and made a number of touchdown saving tackles later in the game, on a few big Arkansas runs and screens.
     On special teams, there wasn’t much to brag on, this week. Daniel Carlson was solid, but even he had a bad moment, as the opening kickoff went out of bounds. Auburn did recover a fumble by an Arkansas return man, and that was the Auburn special teams highlight of the day. On the other hand, Auburn wasn’t able to return even a single one of 6 Arkansas punts, and gave up a kick return for a touchdown. That’s the second touchdown return given up, in successive weeks.
Unit grades after the jump!
Defensive Line: A. I felt like the line did a great job at getting penetration and disrupting the Arkansas game plan. Jeff Holland, Derrick Brown and Nick Coe were particular nightmares for the Arkansas line, and quarterback. Run fits could have been better on a few occasions. The line came up with 4.5 sacks, 3 quarterback hurries (officially. Stat man slept through a lot of the game, it seems. I’d have figured at least a dozen hurries!), and contributed 27 total tackles. Again, typically in an SEC game the defensive line has 10-12 tackles.
Linebackers: B+. The Auburn linebackers continue to do a good job of filling lanes and hunting the football down, although there were a few big runs given up this week. It was nice to see Tre’ Williams get a few snaps, but he didn’t really play much. Still a bit gimpy, I suppose. The linebackers as a group contributed 11 tackles, which is a pretty low number for a linebacking corps. The defensive line swallowed up too many runners, this week.
Secondary: A. I liked seeing the return of contesting catches, after Auburn did pretty poorly at this against LSU. There were pass breakups credited to Jordyn Peters, Jamel Dean, and Carlton Davis, and probably several other non-catches could have been scored this way. The secondary tackled pretty surely this week, too, contributing 25 total tackles.
Punting: C-. Auburn only punted twice in this game. The first was a short but high 39-yarder, that Arkansas fielded and fumbled. Bonus points for Darrell Williams coming out of the pile with that ball. The second punt was a cruddy 34-yarder, downed.
Punt Returns: C+. Well, at least there were no turnovers, here. Arkansas kicked a couple of touchbacks on 6 punts, and Stephen Roberts had 3 fair catches and no returns.
Kick Returns: B+. Only one opportunity here, from a couple of yards deep. I did not like seeing returner Noah Igbinoghene hesitate on this return, but he did break out for a 29 yard return, and was one trip away from breaking it for a score.
Place Kicking: C-. This may seem an unfair grade, after the only actual kicking flaw was the opening kickoff going out of bounds. However, I lump kickoff coverage into this spot, and a kick return for a score is unacceptable. Daniel Carlson did hit all of his extra points, plus a chip shot field goal. Carlson also had 7 touchbacks on 9 kickoffs.
Offensive Line: A. This unit keeps on keeping on, despite injuries. Auburn wasn’t able to just bash up front in the first half, but a lot of that had to do with Arkansas loading up the box with extra men. The line can’t block 8 or 9 guys. In the final analysis, the line allowed no sacks, and only 2 tackles for loss in the entire game. When an offense generates 629 yards in an SEC game, the line is playing pretty well.
Running Backs: A-. I probably should have counted off a bit more for the late fumble by Malik Miller, but it was with only a few seconds left, in a big blowout. Ball security is job one, for a running back. Kerryon Johnson had tough sledding early, but kept picking up first down, and he scored his 14th touchdown on the season. Kamryn Pettway got it going in the second half, and terrorized the Arkansas defense. I have to brag a bit on H-back Chandler Cox, too. It usually takes a while in a thankless job in this offense, to do well. Cox has it down, now. He’s been pretty flawless in blitz pickup, and he’s able to hunt defenders down in space and neutralize them. Cox was pretty instrumental on a lot of those big runs in this game.
Receivers: B. We are still having too many dropped balls. I saw 4 this game on Darius Slayton, alone. However, Slayton was also the top receiver. He made an amazing adjustment and catch on a badly underthrown back-shoulder fade pass. Slayton finished the day with 146 yards on 4 catches. Imagine the damage if he had caught ’em all! I also have to give a shout-out to Ryan Davis. He leads Auburn with 41 catches this season, and is on pace to break the Auburn receptions-in-a-season record at 60, held by Darvin Adams in 2009. Davis also had a magnificent touchdown pass on an end around. The ball was thrown on the run, and sailed 40 yards in the air. It hit Darius Slayton in stride, and resulted in a 62 yard score. Ryan Davis is now the most efficient passer in the SEC, at least till we try that play again!
Quarterback: B+. This wasn’t Jarrett Stidham’s most accurate game, but it was still plenty good. Stidham did a great job of taking off and getting yards (and crucial 3rd down conversions) with his feet. On the day, Stidham completed 67.8 percent of his passes, for 7.79 yards per pass. These numbers aren’t what we are used to with Stidham, and he did have one long sideways pass picked off. However, if one combs through the SEC statistics, this is a better than average day. If a few more balls were caught, that all-important yards-per-pass stat would probably be around 10. Malik Willis was more than capable in the waning moments of this game, too. Willis took off on a big run early in his appearance, then got his first scoring pass on a shovel on the goal line.
     We’ve had our angst and our moments this season, but I have also enjoyed Auburn drubbing SEC opponents in multiple weeks. The Tigers have 4 blowout wins in 5 SEC games. I think the team and coaches learned to keep the hammer down this week, too. The Arkansas game was particularly encouraging to me, because I felt like there was a real chance that a tired, beat-up team could try to mail it in, this week. It didn’t happen.
     Auburn gets a week off to try and heal some folks up. Also, I think it’s a great opportunity to self-scout, and break tendencies. Auburn can find out what has worked, and polish on it. They can also discover what they don’t do well, and work to improve. Quite frankly, I’m also looking forward to a college football day next Saturday, where I won’t be angsting over Auburn, and instead can sample a lot of football around the league, and the nation.
     A trip to Texas A&M looms in a couple of weeks. Auburn has never lost in College Station, but a talented team awaits. After a huge collapse in week one against UCLA, Texas A&M has steadily gotten better. It will take a great performance to win in that stadium, in early November.
The post Tigers Ram the Razorbacks! (Grading Auburn’s 52-20 win at Arkansas.) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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footyplusau · 7 years
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Hawthorn Hawks’ Jaeger O’Meara suffers new injury blow, Melbourne Demons’ Nathan Jones also out
Luckless Hawthorn recruit Jaeger O’Meara says he has suffered a hiccup in his return from knee pain but has dispelled thoughts he will miss the rest of the season saying he will be back to play “the back end of the year”.
The news comes as Melbourne confirmed co-captain Nathan Jones will be sidelined for up to six weeks with the quad injury he suffered in the win over the Bulldogs.
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Blight officially becomes a legend
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AFL plays of round 13
AFL plays of round 13
Darling is a ninja, Gresham is foot fancy, a Tiger stalks a Swan, Hipwood the Lion is a star and Pearce Hanley keeps goal.
Blight officially becomes a legend
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Blight officially becomes a legend
Blight officially becomes a legend
The sum total of a 40-year career sees Malcolm Blight officially receive legend status in the AFL Hall of Fame.
Melbourne smash the Bulldogs
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Melbourne smash the Bulldogs
Melbourne smash the Bulldogs
It was a day to forget for the Bulldogs as Melbourne beat them by more than 50.
Sydney produce memorable comeback
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Sydney produce memorable comeback
Sydney produce memorable comeback
After being behind for most of the game, the Swans produced a stunning comeback to beat Richmond.
Port smash Lions
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Port smash Lions
Port smash Lions
Port Adelaide improved from their 70 point defeat the round previous to smash the Brisbane Lions.
Carlton hold off Suns with late rally
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Carlton hold off Suns with late rally
Carlton hold off Suns with late rally
Carlton managed to withstand a late Gold Coast revival to beat the Suns.
FootyFix: Can the Dees maintain the rage?
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FootyFix: Can the Dees maintain the rage?
FootyFix: Can the Dees maintain the rage?
Rohan Connolly previews all the footy action ahead of round 13 in the AFL.
AFL plays of round 13
Darling is a ninja, Gresham is foot fancy, a Tiger stalks a Swan, Hipwood the Lion is a star and Pearce Hanley keeps goal.
O’Meara​ is suffering on going bone stress in his patella which is different to the patella tendon injury he suffered at the Gold Coast and kept him from playing for two years.
O’Meara played the first three rounds of the season after moving from Queensland. He suffered a knock to the knee causing “bone bruising” in round three and missed two weeks. He attempted to come back against St Kilda but was sore after that game and has not played since.
I have had a little bit of a hiccup. But we know what it is ow and I am doing a solid block of training and I am looking to play some footy towards the back end of the year,” O’Meara said.
Club fitness coach Andy Russell stressed it was a new injury and not the same as the tendon trouble that kept him out at the Suns.
“We want him back at full fitness, which he’s not. We got him to 90 to 95 per cent then new pain surfaced,” Russell said.
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As part of the deal to secure the highly rated but injury plagued O’Meara, Hawthorn traded their first round pick in this year’s draft as part of the exchange.  
Jaeger O’Meara of the Hawks has a new injury blow.  Photo: Getty Images
Hawks coach Alastair Clarkson flagged after the loss to the Gold Coast that some senior players who were battling lingering injuries might not return this season depending on where the team was in relation to the finals.
It is doubtful the 23-year-old is in that bracket as he expects to be back playing again and after so long out of the game both the club and O’Meara would rather he plays as many games as he can as soon as he can regardless of ladder position.
Melbourne’s midfield will be disrupted while Nathan Jones recovers from injury.  Photo: Getty Images
“We are really confident it will (be possible for him to return this season) because he had four months of pain free, high-quality training in the pre-season. He felt 100 per cent and he moved as well as he ever has before,” Russell said.
“He took confidence out of that and we took confidence out of that, and as soon as this issue settles down we’ll get him out there and going again, and at this stage we’ll be preparing him to play later in the season.”
Cyril Rioli will miss up to seven more weeks with a knee injury he suffered in round eight. The club said he would miss at least another month and up to seven weeks with the troublesome knee.
Josh Gibson will miss up to a month with an adductor injury but defender Grant Birchall could return this week to play Adelaide
After their best win of the season Melbourne’s midfield will be disrupted with Jones to miss between four and six weeks with a torn quad muscle.
Melbourne confirmed Jones would miss up to six weeks with the injury to his kicking leg but Jack Watts remained a chance to play this week.
“(Jones has) got a decent strain of his rectus femoris [muscle] – his kicking leg,” Demons elite performance manager David Misson told the club’s website.
“We just want to be pretty cautious with that. Sometimes that can be a tough injury to rehab and we really want Nathan at the back end of the season. So, he’ll probably be four to six [weeks].”
He said Jack Watts, who finished Sunday’s win on the bench with ice on his hamstring would have to pass a fitness test later in the week before being cleared to play.
Ruckman Max Gawn will definitely return to the team this week while Neville Jetta’s ankle and Jayden Short’s shoulder complaints would not keep them out of the team this week.
The post Hawthorn Hawks’ Jaeger O’Meara suffers new injury blow, Melbourne Demons’ Nathan Jones also out appeared first on Footy Plus.
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Arplis - News: 2021 LGBTQ Books by Black Authors to Preorder (And 10 That Are Already Out)
Black LGBTQ books got a bump in June of 2020. With the George Floyd protests at their peak and Pride month still happening, lists of queer Black books to buy or preorder built up steam on social media. You Should See Me in a Crown, a Black YA F/F novel, was sold out everywhere. Unfortunately, this follows a pattern that Black and LGBTQ books often see: a peak during Black History Month or Pride month, but forgotten in between. Or, a hateful act will make the news, whether it’s police brutality or violent transphobia or a worrying new law, book lists will go around Twitter, authors will be in the strange position of profiting during a horrible moment for their community, and then public attention will shift to something else. Obviously, these authors deserve support throughout the year. Black LGBTQ novels are still underrepresented — and besides, there are some incredible titles coming out this year even without considering how important the representation is. Not long ago, it would be easy to keep track of all the Black LGBTQ books coming out — or even traditionally published LGBTQ books in general — but luckily, we’re approaching a point where there are enough that you can accidentally overlook a title. Preordering is a great way to both support authors and give your future self a treat! By preordering now, you can help the author, make sure you won’t forget to buy the title, and get fun things in the mail throughout the year. It’s win-win-win! Of course, if you are impatient, there are some Black LGBTQ 2021 titles that are already out, which I will include at the end of the post. You have to read something while you’re waiting for these books to publish, after all! I’ve arranged these by publication date, noted the genre in the title spot, and have indicated the kind of LGBTQ representation included whenever possible. The descriptions are from the publishers. Some of these titles may not yet be set up for preorders: put those on your calendar to order as soon as it’s possible! 29 Black LGBTQ Books to Preorder in 2021 Black Boy Out of Time: A Memoir by Hari Ziyad (March 1, Memoir) One of nineteen children in a blended family, Hari Ziyad was raised by a Hindu Hare Kṛṣṇa mother and a Muslim father. Through reframing their own coming-of-age story, Ziyad takes readers on a powerful journey of growing up queer and Black in Cleveland, Ohio, and of navigating the equally complex path toward finding their true self in New York City. Exploring childhood, gender, race, and the trust that is built, broken, and repaired through generations, Ziyad investigates what it means to live beyond the limited narratives Black children are given and challenges the irreconcilable binaries that restrict them. Heartwarming and heart-wrenching, radical and reflective, Hari Ziyad’s vital memoir is for the outcast, the unheard, the unborn, and the dead. It offers us a new way to think about survival and the necessary disruption of social norms. It looks back in tenderness as well as justified rage, forces us to address where we are now, and, born out of hope, illuminates the possibilities for the future. Queer man How to Dispatch a Human by Stephanie Andrea Allen (March 2, Short Story Collection) In this daring collection of speculative fiction, Stephanie Andrea Allen attends to the lives of Black women, mostly lesbian or queer, all keenly aware of the forces seeking to consume them. A Black lesbian working the gig economy runs into a trio of motorized scooters and helps them escape from Earth. An enchanted sleep mask gives a woman the gift of slumber, but what will it cost her? A suburban housewife is framed for murder by her homophobic neighbor. And in the follow up to “Luna 6000,” a young woman investigates her mother’s untimely death, and learns the truth about her family. How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions is an unapologetic, often humorous, foray into the quotidian magic that envelops Black women’s lives. The eleven stories in this collection are filled with characters who will entice and delight readers as they traverse the worlds around them. With a mix of fabulism, near future, and speculative fictions, Allen reminds us in exquisitely nuanced prose that the fantastical can be found amongst the ordinary. Lesbian and queer women characters Pleasure and Spice (How Sweet It Is #6) by Fiona Zedde (March 2, Erotica) Mayson and Renée are best friends. Two women who’ve known each other for a lifetime and are as different as they are close. Mayson is a free-spirited and out lesbian, and very much desired in her Southern California queer community. Renée, straight and sheltered, is just getting out of a difficult divorce and searching for an escape from her pain. While Mayson slips in and out of affairs, taking pleasure where it bites the sweetest, Renée steps into a dangerous game of anonymous sex-by-dark that transports her to places she’d never dreamed. But the worlds of these two friends are heading for a dramatic collision. At the end of it all, will they or their friendship, survive? **A version of this was previously published as Dangerous Pleasures** F/F relationship Learned Reactions (Higher Education #2) by Jayce Ellis (March 9, Romance) Carlton Monroe is finally getting his groove back. After a year playing dad to his nephew and sending him safely off to college, it’s back to his bachelor ways. But when his teenaged niece shows up on his doorstep looking for a permanent home, his plan comes to a screeching halt. Family is everything, and in the eyes of social services, a couple makes a better adoptive family than an overworked bachelor father. A fake relationship with his closest friend is the best way to keep his family together. If things between him and Deion are complicated, well, it only needs to last until the end of the semester. Living with Carlton is a heartbreak waiting to happen, and once the adoption goes through, Deion’s out. He’s waited two decades for Carlton to realize they’re meant for each other, and he’s done. It’s time to make a clean break. But it’s hard to think of moving away when keeping up the act includes some very real perks like kissing, cuddling and sharing a bed. Even the best charades must come to an end, though. As the holidays and Deion’s departure date loom, the two men must decide whether playing house is enough for them—or if there’s any chance they could be a family for real. M/M relationship Black Girl, Call Home by Jasmine Mans (March 9, Poetry) From spoken word poet Jasmine Mans comes an unforgettable poetry collection about race, feminism, and queer identity. With echoes of Gwendolyn Brooks and Sonia Sanchez, Mans writes to call herself—and us—home. Each poem explores what it means to be a daughter of Newark, and America—and the painful, joyous path to adulthood as a young, queer Black woman. Black Girl, Call Home is a love letter to the wandering Black girl and a vital companion to any woman on a journey to find truth, belonging, and healing. Queer woman Bruised by Tanya Boteju (March 23, YA Contemporary) Whip It meets We Are Okay in this vibrant coming-of-age story, about a teen girl navigates first love, identity, and grief when she immerses herself in the colorful, brutal, beautiful world of roller derby—from the acclaimed author of Kings, Queens, and In-Betweens. To Daya Wijesinghe, a bruise is a mixture of comfort and control. Since her parents died in an accident she survived, bruises have become a way to keep her pain on the surface of her skin so she doesn’t need to deal with the ache deep in her heart. So when chance and circumstances bring her to a roller derby bout, Daya is hooked. Yes, the rules are confusing and the sport seems to require the kind of teamwork and human interaction Daya generally avoids. But the opportunities to bruise are countless, and Daya realizes that if she’s going to keep her emotional pain at bay, she’ll need all the opportunities she can get. The deeper Daya immerses herself into the world of roller derby, though, the more she realizes it’s not the simple physical pain-fest she was hoping for. Her rough-and-tumble teammates and their fans push her limits in ways she never imagined, bringing Daya to big truths about love, loss, strength, and healing. F/F relationship The Unbroken (Magic of the Lost #1) by C.L. Clark (March 23, Fantasy) In an epic fantasy unlike any other, two women clash in a world full of rebellion, espionage, and military might on the far outreaches of a crumbling desert empire. Touraine is a soldier. Stolen as a child and raised to kill and die for the empire, her only loyalty is to her fellow conscripts. But now, her company has been sent back to her homeland to stop a rebellion, and the ties of blood may be stronger than she thought. Luca needs a turncoat. Someone desperate enough to tiptoe the bayonet’s edge between treason and orders. Someone who can sway the rebels toward peace, while Luca focuses on what really matters: getting her uncle off her throne.  Through assassinations and massacres, in bedrooms and war rooms, Touraine and Luca will haggle over the price of a nation. But some things aren’t for sale. 2 queer women main characters Sweethand by N.G. Peltier (March 30, Romance) After a public meltdown over her breakup from her cheating musician boyfriend, Cherisse swore off guys in the music industry, and dating in general for a while, preferring to focus on growing her pastry chef business. When Cherisse’s younger sister reveals she’s getting married in a few months, Cherisse hopes that will distract her mother enough to quit harassing her about finding a guy, settling down and having kids. But her mother’s matchmaking keeps intensifying. Cherisse tries to humour her mother, hoping if she feigns interest in the eligible bachelors she keeps tossing her way, she’ll be off the hook, but things don’t quite go as planned. Turns out for the first time in ages, she and Keiran King, the most annoying man ever, are on the island at the same time. Avoiding him is impossible, especially when Keiran’s close friend is the one marrying her sister, and he’s the best man to her maid of honour. Keiran doesn’t know what to make of Cherisse now. They’ve always butted heads. To him she’s always been a stuck-up brat who seeks attention, even while he secretly harbored a crush on her. Now with Cherisse’s sister marrying one of his good friends he can’t escape her as the wedding activities keep throwing them together. When things turn heated after a rainy night of bedroom fun, they both have to figure out if they can survive the countdown to wedding day, without this turning into a recipe for disaster. Bisexual man (M/F relationship) I’m a Wild Seed by Sharon Lee De La Cruz (April 6, Graphic Memoir) A collection of lively autobiographical comics guiding the reader through an understanding of queerness and what it means to one woman of color. In this delightfully compelling full-color graphic memoir, the author shares her process of undoing the effects of a patriarchal, colonial society on her self-image, her sexuality, and her concept of freedom. Reflecting on the ways in which oppression was the cause for her late bloom into queerness, we are invited to discover people and things in the author’s life that helped shape and inform her LGBTQ identity. And we come to an understanding of her holistic definition of queerness. Queer woman The Essential June Jordan Edited Jan Heller Levi and Christoph Keller (May 4, Poetry) The Essential June Jordan honors the enduring legacy of a poet fiercely dedicated to building a better world. In this definitive volume, introduced by Pulitzer Prize winner Jericho Brown, June Jordan’s generous body of poetry is distilled and curated to represent the very best of her works. Written over the span of several decades―from Some Changes in 1971 to Last Poems in 2001­―Jordan’s poems are at once of their era and tragically current, with subject matter including racist police brutality, violence against women, and the opportunity for global solidarity amongst people who are marginalized or outside of the norm. In these poems of great immediacy and radical kindness, humor and embodied candor, readers will (re)discover a voice that has inspired generations of contemporary poets to write their truths. June Jordan is a powerful voice of the time-honored movement for justice, a poet for the ages. Introduced by Jericho Brown, winner of the 2020 Pulitzer prize in poetry. Bisexual woman Renunciations by Donika Kelly (May 4, Poetry) An extraordinary collection of endurance and transformation by the award-winning author of Bestiary The Renunciations is a book of resilience, survival, and the journey to radically shift one’s sense of self in the face of trauma. Moving between a childhood marked by love and abuse and the breaking marriage of that adult child, Donika Kelly charts memory and the body as landscapes to be traversed and tended. These poems construct life rafts and sanctuaries even in their most devastating confrontations with what a person can bear, with how families harm themselves. With the companionship of “the oracle”―an observer of memory who knows how each close call with oblivion ends―the act of remembrance becomes curative, and personal mythologies give way to a future defined less by wounds than by possibility. In this gorgeous and heartrending second collection, we find the home one builds inside oneself after reckoning with a legacy of trauma―a home whose construction starts “with a razing.” Lesbian author Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee (May 4, YA Contemporary) Noah Ramirez thinks he’s an expert on romance. He has to be for his popular blog, the Meet Cute Diary, a collection of trans happily ever afters. There’s just one problem—all the stories are fake. What started as the fantasies of a trans boy afraid to step out of the closet has grown into a beacon of hope for trans readers across the globe. When a troll exposes the blog as fiction, Noah’s world unravels. The only way to save the Diary is to convince everyone that the stories are true, but he doesn’t have any proof. Then Drew walks into Noah’s life, and the pieces fall into place: Drew is willing to fake-date Noah to save the Diary. But when Noah’s feelings grow beyond their staged romance, he realizes that dating in real life isn’t quite the same as finding love on the page. In this charming novel by Emery Lee, Noah will have to choose between following his own rules for love or discovering that the most romantic endings are the ones that go off script. Trans man, M/M relationship Sorrowland by Rivers Solomon (May 4, Science Fiction) Vern―seven months pregnant and desperate to escape the strict religious compound where she was raised―flees for the shelter of the woods. There, she gives birth to twins, and plans to raise them far from the influence of the outside world. But even in the forest, Vern is a hunted woman. Forced to fight back against the community that refuses to let her go, she unleashes incredible brutality far beyond what a person should be capable of, her body wracked by inexplicable and uncanny changes. To understand her metamorphosis and to protect her small family, Vern has to face the past, and more troublingly, the future―outside the woods. Finding the truth will mean uncovering the secrets of the compound she fled but also the violent history in America that produced it. Rivers Solomon’s Sorrowland is a genre-bending work of Gothic fiction. Here, monsters aren’t just individuals, but entire nations. It is a searing, seminal book that marks the arrival of a bold, unignorable voice in American fiction. Queer, non-binary author (not sure of specific representation, likely F/F) A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark (May 11, Fantasy) Cairo, 1912: Though Fatma el-Sha’arawi is the youngest woman working for the Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments and Supernatural Entities, she’s certainly not a rookie, especially after preventing the destruction of the universe last summer. So when someone murders a secret brotherhood dedicated to one of the most famous men in history, al-Jahiz, Agent Fatma is called onto the case. Al-Jahiz transformed the world forty years ago when he opened up the veil between the magical and mundane realms, before vanishing into the unknown. This murderer claims to be al-Jahiz, returned to condemn the modern age for its social oppressions. His dangerous magical abilities instigate unrest in the streets of Cairo that threaten to spill over onto the global stage. Alongside her Ministry colleagues and a familiar person from her past, Agent Fatma must unravel the mystery behind this imposter to restore peace to the city―or face the possibility he could be exactly who he seems… F/F relationship Thanks a Lot, Universe by Chad Lucas (May 11, Middle Grade Contemporary) Brian has always been anxious, whether at home, or in class, or on the basketball court. His dad tries to get him to stand up for himself and his mom helps as much as she can, but after he and his brother are placed in foster care, Brian starts having panic attacks. And he doesn’t know if things will ever be normal again . . . Ezra’s always been popular. He’s friends with most of the kids on his basketball team, even Brian, who usually keeps to himself. But now, some of his friends have been acting differently, and Brian seems to be pulling away. Ezra wants to help, but he worries if he’s too nice to Brian, his friends will realize that he has a crush on him . . . But when Brian and his brother run away, Ezra has no choice but to take the leap and reach out. Both boys have to decide if they’re willing to risk sharing parts of themselves they’d rather hide. But if they can be brave, they might just find the best in themselves and each other. M/M crush Punch Me Up to the Gods: A Memoir by Brian Broome (May 28, Memoir) Punch Me Up to the Gods introduces a powerful new talent in Brian Broome, whose early years growing up in Ohio as a dark-skinned Black boy harboring crushes on other boys propel forward this gorgeous, aching, and unforgettable debut. Brian’s recounting of his experiences—in all their cringe-worthy, hilarious, and heartbreaking glory—reveal a perpetual outsider awkwardly squirming to find his way in. Indiscriminate sex and escalating drug use help to soothe his hurt, young psyche, usually to uproarious and devastating effect. A no-nonsense mother and broken father play crucial roles in our misfit’s origin story. But it is Brian’s voice in the retelling that shows the true depth of vulnerability for young Black boys that is often quietly near to bursting at the seams.  Cleverly framed around Gwendolyn Brooks’s poem “We Real Cool,” the iconic and loving ode to Black boyhood, Punch Me Up to the Gods is at once playful, poignant, and wholly original. Broome’s writing brims with swagger and sensitivity, bringing an exquisite and fresh voice to ongoing cultural conversations about Blackness in America. Queer man Off the Record by Camryn Garrett (May 18, YA Contemporary) Ever since seventeen-year-old Josie Wright can remember, writing has been her identity, the thing that grounds her when everything else is a garbage fire. So when she wins a contest to write a celebrity profile for Deep Focus magazine, she’s equal parts excited and scared, but also ready. She’s got this. Soon Josie is jetting off on a multi-city tour, rubbing elbows with sparkly celebrities, frenetic handlers, stone-faced producers, and eccentric stylists. She even finds herself catching feelings for the subject of her profile, dazzling young newcomer Marius Canet. Josie’s world is expanding so rapidly, she doesn’t know whether she’s flying or falling. But when a young actress lets her in on a terrible secret, the answer is clear: she’s in over her head. One woman’s account leads to another and another. Josie wants to expose the man responsible, but she’s reluctant to speak up, unsure if this is her story to tell. What if she lets down the women who have entrusted her with their stories? What if this ends her writing career before it even begins? There are so many reasons not to go ahead, but if Josie doesn’t step up, who will? From the author of Full Disclosure, this is a moving testament to the #MeToo movement, and all the ways women stand up for each other. Bisexual woman How to Find a Princess (Runaway Royals #2) by Alyssa Cole (May 25, Romance) New York Times and USA Today bestseller Alyssa Cole’s second Runaway Royals novel is a queer Anastasia retelling, featuring a long-lost princess who finds love with the female investigator tasked with tracking her down. Makeda Hicks has lost her job and her girlfriend in one fell swoop. The last thing she’s in the mood for is to rehash the story of her grandmother’s infamous summer fling with a runaway prince from Ibarania, or the investigator from the World Federation of Monarchies tasked with searching for Ibarania’s missing heir. Yet when Beznaria Chetchevaliere crashes into her life, the sleek and sexy investigator exudes exactly the kind of chaos that organized and efficient Makeda finds irresistible, even if Bez is determined to drag her into a world of royal duty Makeda wants nothing to do with. When a threat to her grandmother’s livelihood pushes Makeda to agree to return to Ibarania, Bez takes her on a transatlantic adventure with a crew of lovable weirdos, a fake marriage, and one-bed hijinks on the high seas. When they finally make it to Ibarania, they realize there’s more at stake than just cash and crown, and Makeda must learn what it means to fight for what she desires and not what she feels bound to by duty. F/F relationship Ace of Spades by Faridah Àbíké-Íyímídé (June 1, YA Thriller) All you need to know is . . . I’m here to divide and conquer. Like all great tyrants do. ―Aces When two Niveus Private Academy students, Devon Richards and Chiamaka Adebayo, are selected to be part of the elite school’s senior class prefects, it looks like their year is off to an amazing start. After all, not only does it look great on college applications, but it officially puts each of them in the running for valedictorian, too. Shortly after the announcement is made, though, someone who goes by Aces begins using anonymous text messages to reveal secrets about the two of them that turn their lives upside down and threaten every aspect of their carefully planned futures. As Aces shows no sign of stopping, what seemed like a sick prank quickly turns into a dangerous game, with all the cards stacked against them. Can Devon and Chiamaka stop Aces before things become incredibly deadly? Gay man and lesbian main characters Dead Dead Girls by Nekesa Afia (June 1, Mystery) Harlem, 1926. Young black women like Louise Lloyd are ending up dead. Following a harrowing kidnapping ordeal when she was in her teens, Louise is doing everything she can to maintain a normal life. She’s succeeding, too. She spends her days working at Maggie’s Café and her nights at the Zodiac, Harlem’s hottest speakeasy. Louise’s friends, especially her girlfriend, Rosa Maria Moreno, might say she’s running from her past and the notoriety that still stalks her, but don’t tell her that. When a girl turns up dead in front of the café, Louise is forced to confront something she’s been trying to ignore—two other local black girls have been murdered in the past few weeks. After an altercation with a police officer gets her arrested, Louise is given an ultimatum: She can either help solve the case or wind up in a jail cell. Louise has no choice but to investigate and soon finds herself toe-to-toe with a murderous mastermind hell-bent on taking more lives, maybe even her own…. Sapphic main character The Passing Playbook by Isaac Fitzsimons (June 1, YA Contemporary) Fifteen-year-old Spencer Harris is a proud nerd, an awesome big brother, and a David Beckham in training. He’s also transgender. After transitioning at his old school leads to a year of isolation and bullying, Spencer gets a fresh start at Oakley, the most liberal private school in Ohio. At Oakley, Spencer seems to have it all: more accepting classmates, a decent shot at a starting position on the boys’ soccer team, great new friends, and maybe even something more than friendship with one of his teammates. The problem is, no one at Oakley knows Spencer is trans—he’s passing. But when a discriminatory law forces Spencer’s coach to bench him, Spencer has to make a choice: cheer his team on from the sidelines or publicly fight for his right to play, even though it would mean coming out to everyone—including the guy he’s falling for. Trans man, M/M relationship Filthy Animals by Brandon Taylor (June 22, Short Story Collection) In the series of linked stories at the heart of Filthy Animals, set among young creatives in the American Midwest, a young man treads delicate emotional waters as he navigates a series of sexually fraught encounters with two dancers in an open relationship, forcing him to weigh his vulnerabilities against his loneliness. In other stories, a young woman battles with the cancers draining her body and her family; menacing undercurrents among a group of teenagers explode in violence on a winter night; a little girl tears through a house like a tornado, driving her babysitter to the brink; and couples feel out the jagged edges of connection, comfort, and cruelty. One of the breakout literary stars of 2020, Brandon Taylor has been hailed by Roxane Gay as “a writer who wields his craft in absolutely unforgettable ways.” With Filthy Animals he renews and expands on the promise made in Real Life, training his precise and unsentimental gaze on the tensions among friends and family, lovers and others. Psychologically taut and quietly devastating, Filthy Animals is a tender portrait of the fierce longing for intimacy, the lingering presence of pain, and the desire for love in a world that seems, more often than not, to withhold it. LGBTQ characters Darling by K. Ancrum (June 23, YA Fantasy) A teen girl finds herself lost on a dangerous adventure in this YA thriller by the acclaimed author of The Wicker King and The Weight of the Stars―reimagining Peter Pan for today’s world. On Wendy Darling’s first night in Chicago, a boy called Peter appears at her window. He’s dizzying, captivating, beautiful―so she agrees to join him for a night on the town. Wendy thinks they’re heading to a party, but instead they’re soon running in the city’s underground. She makes friends―a punk girl named Tinkerbelle and the lost boys Peter watches over. And she makes enemies―the terrifying Detective Hook, and maybe Peter himself, as his sinister secrets start coming to light. Can Wendy find the courage to survive this night―and make sure everyone else does, too? Multiple queer side characters, including asexual, lesbian, and bisexual characters This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron (June 29, YA Fantasy) Briseis has a gift: she can grow plants from tiny seeds to rich blooms with a single touch. When Briseis’s aunt dies and wills her a dilapidated estate in rural New York, Bri and her parents decide to leave Brooklyn behind for the summer. Hopefully there, surrounded by plants and flowers, Bri will finally learn to control her gift. But their new home is sinister in ways they could never have imagined–it comes with a specific set of instructions, an old-school apothecary, and a walled garden filled with the deadliest botanicals in the world that can only be entered by those who share Bri’s unique family lineage. When strangers begin to arrive on their doorstep, asking for tinctures and elixirs, Bri learns she has a surprising talent for creating them. One of the visitors is Marie, a mysterious young woman who Bri befriends, only to find that Marie is keeping dark secrets about the history of the estate and its surrounding community. There is more to Bri’s sudden inheritance than she could have imagined, and she is determined to uncover it . . . until a nefarious group comes after her in search of a rare and dangerous immortality elixir. Up against a centuries-old curse and the deadliest plant on earth, Bri must harness her gift to protect herself and her family. From the bestselling author of Cinderella Is Dead comes another inspiring and deeply compelling story about a young woman with the power to conquer the dark forces descending around her. Queer woman Rise to the Sun by Leah Johnson (July 6, YA) A stunning novel about being brave enough to be true to yourself, and learning to find joy even when times are unimaginably dark. Three days. Two girls. One life-changing music festival. Toni is grieving the loss of her roadie father and needing to figure out where her life will go from here — and she’s desperate to get back to loving music. Olivia is a hopeless romantic whose heart has just taken a beating (again) and is beginning to feel like she’ll always be a square peg in a round hole — but the Farmland Music and Arts Festival is a chance to find a place where she fits. The two collide and it feels like something like kismet when a bond begins to form. But when something goes wrong and the festival is sent into a panic, Olivia and Toni will find that they need each other (and music) more than they ever imagined. F/F relationship The Taking of Jake Livingston by Ryan Douglass (July 13, YA Horror) Get Out meets Danielle Vega in this YA social thriller where survival is not a guarantee. Sixteen-year-old Jake Livingston sees dead people everywhere. But he can’t decide what’s worse: being a medium forced to watch the dead play out their last moments on a loop or being at the mercy of racist teachers as one of the few Black students at St. Clair Prep. Both are a living nightmare he wishes he could wake up from. But things at St. Clair start looking up with the arrival of another Black student–the handsome Allister–and for the first time, romance is on the horizon for Jake. Unfortunately, life as a medium is getting worse. Though most ghosts are harmless and Jake is always happy to help them move on to the next place, Sawyer Doon wants much more from Jake. In life, Sawyer was a troubled teen who shot and killed six kids at a local high school before taking his own life. Now he’s a powerful, vengeful ghost and he has plans for Jake. Suddenly, everything Jake knows about dead world goes out the window as Sawyer begins to haunt him. High school soon becomes a different kind of survival game–one Jake is not sure he can win. Gay man main character Busy Ain’t the Half of It by Frederick Smith and Chaz Lamar (August 1, Romance) Elijah Golden and Justin Monroe are uncle and nephew with eclectic careers, friends, and family in LA, trying to center Black Joy in their lives.Then their worlds turn in ways nobody expects. Elijah, a dedicated thespian, auditions by day, does theater by night, and works two jobs on weekends. With enough life for three people, he keeps his recently divorced partner Zaire coasting on bliss…until secrets and real-life dramas test their love. Justin, Elijah’s uncle, is a single father with teenage twins, and a tv journalist who’s been replaced at the anchor desk when new management arrives. No longer in the public eye, living true to his sexuality is something Justin can finally do. Dating and romance—Justin’s ready for fun. Conflicts with fatherhood and career—he’ll have none. Elijah and Justin seek happily-ever-afters, but are they too busy to notice happy when it’s there? M/M relationship No Gods, No Monsters by Cadwell Turnbull (September 7, Science Fiction) One October morning, Laina gets the news that her brother was shot and killed by Boston cops. But what looks like a case of police brutality soon reveals something much stranger. Monsters are real. And they want everyone to know it. As creatures from myth and legend come out of the shadows, seeking safety through visibility, their emergence sets off a chain of seemingly unrelated events. Members of a local werewolf pack are threatened into silence. A professor follows a missing friend’s trail of bread crumbs to a mysterious secret society. And a young boy with unique abilities seeks refuge in a pro-monster organization with secrets of its own. Meanwhile, more people start disappearing, suicides and hate crimes increase, and protests erupt globally, both for and against the monsters. At the center is a mystery no one thinks to ask: Why now? What has frightened the monsters out of the dark? The world will soon find out. Trans and asexual main characters Things We Couldn’t Say by Jay Coles (September 21, YA Contemporary) There’s always been a hole in Gio’s life. Not because he’s into both guys and girls. Not because his father has some drinking issues. Not because his friends are always bringing him their drama. No, the hole in Gio’s life takes the shape of his birth mom, who left Gio, his brother, and his father when Gio was nine years old. For eight years, he never heard a word from her . . . and now, just as he’s started to get his life together, she’s back. It’s hard for Gio to know what to do. Can he forgive her like she wants to be forgiven? Or should he tell her she lost her chance to be in his life? Complicating things further, Gio’s started to hang out with David, a new guy on the basketball team. Are they friends? More than friends? At first, Gio’s not sure . . . especially because he’s not sure what he wants from anyone right now. There are no easy answers to love — whether it’s family love or friend love or romantic love. In Things We Couldn’t Say, Jay Coles, acclaimed author of Tyler Johnson Was Here, shows us a guy trying to navigate love in all its ambiguity — hoping at the other end he’ll be able to figure out who is and who he should be. Bisexual man Note: This is not a complete list! We will likely be hearing more about the Aug-Dec releases later in the year. 2021 Black LGBTQ Books Out Now If you’re too impatient to wait for upcoming releases, here are ten 2021 LGBTQ books by Black authors that are already out! They are ordered by genre. Honey Girl by Morgan Rogers (Fiction) When becoming an adult means learning to love yourself first. With her newly completed PhD in astronomy in hand, twenty-eight-year-old Grace Porter goes on a girls’ trip to Vegas to celebrate. She’s a straight A, work-through-the-summer certified high achiever. She is not the kind of person who goes to Vegas and gets drunkenly married to a woman whose name she doesn’t know…until she does exactly that. This one moment of departure from her stern ex-military father’s plans for her life has Grace wondering why she doesn’t feel more fulfilled from completing her degree. Staggering under the weight of her parent’s expectations, a struggling job market and feelings of burnout, Grace flees her home in Portland for a summer in New York with the wife she barely knows. In New York, she’s able to ignore all the constant questions about her future plans and falls hard for her creative and beautiful wife, Yuki Yamamoto. But when reality comes crashing in, Grace must face what she’s been running from all along—the fears that make us human, the family scars that need to heal and the longing for connection, especially when navigating the messiness of adulthood. F/F relationship 100 Boyfriends by Brontez Purnell (Short Story Collection) An irrerverent, sensitive, and inimitable look at gay dysfunction through the eyes of a cult hero Transgressive, foulmouthed, and brutally funny, Brontez Purnell’s 100 Boyfriends is a revelatory spiral into the imperfect lives of queer men desperately fighting the urge to self-sabotage. As they tiptoe through minefields of romantic, substance-fueled misadventure―from dirty warehouses and gentrified bars in Oakland to desolate farm towns in Alabama―Purnell’s characters strive for belonging in a world that dismisses them for being Black, broke, and queer. In spite of it―or perhaps because of it―they shine. Armed with a deadpan wit, Purnell finds humor in even the darkest of nadirs with the peerless zeal, insight, and horniness of a gay punk messiah. Together, the slice-of-life tales that writhe within 100 Boyfriends are an inimitable tour of an unexposed queer underbelly. Holding them together is the vision of an iconoclastic storyteller, as fearless as he is human. Queer men main characters The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr (Historical Fiction) A singular and stunning debut novel about the forbidden union between two enslaved young men on a Deep South plantation, the refuge they find in each other, and a betrayal that threatens their existence. Isaiah was Samuel’s and Samuel was Isaiah’s. That was the way it was since the beginning, and the way it was to be until the end. In the barn they tended to the animals, but also to each other, transforming the hollowed-out shed into a place of human refuge, a source of intimacy and hope in a world ruled by vicious masters. But when an older man—a fellow slave—seeks to gain favor by preaching the master’s gospel on the plantation, the enslaved begin to turn on their own. Isaiah and Samuel’s love, which was once so simple, is seen as sinful and a clear danger to the plantation’s harmony. With a lyricism reminiscent of Toni Morrison, Robert Jones, Jr., fiercely summons the voices of slaver and enslaved alike, from Isaiah and Samuel to the calculating slave master to the long line of women that surround them, women who have carried the soul of the plantation on their shoulders. As tensions build and the weight of centuries—of ancestors and future generations to come—culminates in a climactic reckoning, The Prophets masterfully reveals the pain and suffering of inheritance, but is also shot through with hope, beauty, and truth, portraying the enormous, heroic power of love. M/M relationship Love’s Divine by Ava Freeman (Romance) Go on vacation? Check. Sip cocktails and relax on the beach? Check. Fall in love? Definitely not on the list. On a whim, Genesis Malone decides to book a solo trip to the island of Barbados. A sunny beach vacation sounds like the perfect way to renew her spirit after a heartbreaking divorce. The trip takes an unexpected turn when she meets a woman who could be just what she needs to move on. That is if her heart, and the universe, will let her. Zuri Baker seems to have it all but what she really wants is someone to share her life with. When she meets Genesis, she is intrigued by her quiet nature and longs to get to know her better. Too bad her on-again off-again girlfriend isn’t willing to let her go quite so easily. When they return to their regular lives and find themselves in the midst of exes, not quite exes, and work drama, will they be able to hold onto what matters most; each other? F/F relationship Masquerade by Anne Shade (Historical Romance) Harlem, New York, 1925 is a mecca of cultural and creative freedom, where masquerade drag balls are all the rage and the music, dancing, and loose prohibition laws unite people from all walks of life. Dinah Hampton came to Harlem for better opportunities for her family but ends up working as a nightclub chorus girl to help make ends meet. Among the nightlife and danger, she finds love in the most unexpected way. When a scandal rocks Celine Montre’s family and sends them fleeing from New Orleans to Harlem, the gorgeous Dinah Hampton helps her to discover that there’s more to life, and love, than she ever thought possible. When a notorious gangster sets her sights on seducing Celine, Dinah and Celine are forced to risk their hearts, and lives, for love. F/F relationship Symbiosis (Escaping Exodus #2) by Nicky Drayden (Science Fiction) Nearly a thousand years removed from Earth, the remnants of humanity cling to existence inside giant, space faring creatures known as the Zenzee. Abused and exploited by humans for generations, these majestic animals nearly went extinct, but under the command of its newly minted ruler, Doka Kaleigh, life in the Parados I has flourished. Thanks to careful oversight and sacrifice by all of its crew, they are now on the brink of utopia, and yet Doka’s rivals feel threatened by that success.  The Senate allowed Doka to lead their people believing he’d fail spectacularly—a disaster that would cement the legitimacy of their long-standing matriarchy. Despite vocal opposition and blatant attacks on his authority, Doka has continued to handle his position with grace and intelligence; he knows a single misstep means disaster. When a cataclysmic event on another Zenzee world forces Doka and his people to accept thousands of refugees, a culture clash erupts, revealing secrets from the past that could endanger their future. For Doka, the stakes are bigger and more personal than ever before—and could cost him his reign and his heart.  He has fallen for the one woman he is forbidden to love: his wife, Seske.  Doka and Seske must work closely together to sway the other Zenzee worlds to stop their cycles of destruction. But when they stumble upon a discovery that can transform their world, they know they must prepare to fight a battle where there can be no winners, only survivors.  Sapphic main character Soulstar (The Kingston Cycle #3) by C.L. Polk (Fantasy) With Soulstar, C. L. Polk concludes her riveting Kingston Cycle, a whirlwind of magic, politics, romance, and intrigue that began with the World Fantasy Award-winning Witchmark. Assassinations, deadly storms, and long-lost love haunt the pages of this thrilling final volume. For years, Robin Thorpe has kept her head down, staying among her people in the Riverside neighborhood and hiding the magic that would have her imprisoned by the state. But when Grace Hensley comes knocking on Clan Thorpe’s door, Robin’s days of hiding are at an end. As freed witches flood the streets of Kingston, scrambling to reintegrate with a kingdom that destroyed their lives, Robin begins to plot a course that will ensure a freer, juster Aeland. At the same time, she has to face her long-bottled feelings for the childhood love that vanished into an asylum twenty years ago. Can Robin find happiness among the rising tides of revolution? Can Kingston survive the blizzards that threaten, the desperate monarchy, and the birth throes of democracy? Find out as the Kingston Cycle comes to an end. Nonbinary love interest One of the Good Ones by Maika Moulite and Maritza Moulite (YA Contemporary) When teen social activist and history buff Kezi Smith is killed under mysterious circumstances after attending a social justice rally, her devastated sister Happi and their family are left reeling in the aftermath. As Kezi becomes another immortalized victim in the fight against police brutality, Happi begins to question the idealized way her sister is remembered. Perfect. Angelic. One of the good ones. Even as the phrase rings wrong in her mind—why are only certain people deemed worthy to be missed?—Happi and her sister Genny embark on a journey to honor Kezi in their own way, using an heirloom copy of The Negro Motorist Green Book as their guide. But there’s a twist to Kezi’s story that no one could’ve ever expected—one that will change everything all over again. Lesbian main character Yesterday Is History by Kosoko Jackson (YA Time Travel) Weeks ago, Andre Cobb received a much-needed liver transplant. He’s ready for his life to finally begin, until one night, when he passes out and wakes up somewhere totally unexpected…in 1969, where he connects with a magnetic boy named Michael. And then, just as suddenly as he arrived, he slips back to present-day Boston, where the family of his donor is waiting to explain that his new liver came with a side effect―the ability to time travel. And they’ve tasked their youngest son, Blake, with teaching Andre how to use his unexpected new gift. Andre splits his time bouncing between the past and future. Between Michael and Blake. Michael is everything Andre wishes he could be, and Blake, still reeling from the death of his brother, Andre’s donor, keeps him at arm’s length despite their obvious attraction to each other. Torn between two boys, one in the past and one in the present, Andre has to figure out where he belongs―and more importantly who he wants to be―before the consequences of jumping in time catch up to him and change his future for good. Gay man main character Mouths of Rain : An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought Edited by Briona Simone Jones (Nonfiction) African American lesbian writers and theorists have made extraordinary contributions to feminist theory, activism, and writing. Mouths of Rain, the companion anthology to Beverly Guy-Sheftall’s classic Words of Fire, traces the long history of intellectual thought produced by Black Lesbian writers, spanning the nineteenth century through the twenty-first century. Using “Black Lesbian” as a capacious signifier, Mouths of Rain includes writing by Black women who have shared intimate and loving relationships with other women, as well as Black women who see bonding as mutual, Black women who have self-identified as lesbian, Black women who have written about Black Lesbians, and Black women who theorize about and see the word lesbian as a political descriptor that disrupts and critiques capitalism, heterosexism, and heteropatriarchy. Taking its title from a poem by Audre Lorde, Mouths of Rain addresses pervasive issues such as misogynoir and anti-blackness while also attending to love, romance, “coming out,” and the erotic. Lesbian Looking for More Black LGBTQ Books? Of course, there are plenty of Black LGBTQ books from years past that are also worth reading! Here are some helpful resources to find more: Black Lesbian Literary Collective Sistahs on the Shelf YA Pride’s Queer YA Books by Black Authors Spreadsheet LGBTQ Reads’s Black History Month post I also discovered Jonathan’s To Be Black and Loved BookTube channel in the course of research for this post, and I sourced some titles from the video “Black & Queer Book Releases 2021 | YA & Adult Fiction.” Here on Book Riot, you might also want to check out: 20 Must-Read Black Authors of LGBTQ Books 6 of the Best Audiobooks by Queer Black Authors The videos Queer 2020 Releases by Black Authors  and Black LGBTQ YA Titles Published in 2020 !doctype> #BlackAuthors #LGBTQ #RiotRundownSubjectLinePost #Featured #Lists
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touristguidebuzz · 8 years
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What It Was Like to Work with Boutique Hotel Pioneer Bill Kimpton
Bill Kimpton, who pioneered the boutique hotel movement in the U.S. was known by colleagues as a visionary boss. Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Skift Take: If there were ever someone who truly influenced and mentored an entire generation of hotel leaders, Bill Kimpton would be at the very top of that list.
— Deanna Ting
Earlier this week we published a 60,000 word account of the early days and evolution of the boutique hotel industry in the United States, the Complete Oral History of Boutique Hotels.  
The story featured interviews with over two dozen key players, and took us from fledgling brands in San Francisco and New York in the early 1980s to the biggest brands in hospitality in the modern era. We’ll be running a series of related stories over the coming weeks.
In compiling the story, a common response we heard from nearly everyone who worked for Bill Kimpton at one time or another was this: he was simply a great boss.
Kimpton, with his hotels, was the pioneer of developing the charming, welcoming boutique hotel. His hotels were the kinds of places where you were always invited in the lobby for an afternoon wine hour. Or where you’d pop into the restaurant regularly, just because it was your favorite local hangout.
And each of those properties, especially the earliest ones, reflected facets of Kimpton’s personality, and his own vision of what hospitality should look and feel like.
Here’s what some of Kimpton’s former employees, as well as his daughter, had to say about the late boutique hotel pioneer.
Laura Kimpton, Bill Kimpton’s daughter and a contemporary artist: In terms of personality, [my dad] had the best charisma. He was very much about hanging out with the housekeepers and different people behind the scenes and letting them do what they want. He was a very personable boss; he didn’t even have a desk.
I also remember his dyslexia, which I also have. I’m an installation artist. I think my dad was an installation artist at heart, too, he just never knew it. He would go and see a space, and then he would “install” the space. He could move things around in his head, and that was his favorite part of the creative process.
Finally, I would just say he was a visionary. He always wanted to be in the hotel business since he was young. He was also a Buddhist meditator, so he ran the hotels from his heart. No one’s been able to repeat it because everybody does it from the mind, no one does it from the heart. He was able to do that and still be personable, loving and completely understand what people need. Kimpton’s always been about being warm, and accepting of everybody.
Steve Pinetti (left) with Bill Kimpton in 1991. Pinetti worked with Kimpton on the opening of the very first Kimpton hotel in San Francisco, the Clarion Bedford Hotel. Source: Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Steve Pinetti, former sales and marketing team member when Bill Kimpton opened his first hotel in 1981, now senior vice president of inspiration and creativity for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants: I had two significant mentors, other than my mom and dad, in my life.
Werner Lewin was my boss when I was with Hilton. When I was working at Hilton, that was really my first professional job. It was my first suit-and-tie job and it was my first business dinner and I had to learn about how to drink wine and what went into it and all of those things. I had an awesome teacher but the subtext of my mentorship there was how [the hotel] business is difficult and business is almost a little bit like being at war. Your hotel is either full or it isn’t and how you go about, how you go about your business of the day in a hotel or a restaurant, is fairly intense. It’s very, very busy; people are very demanding. You really need to be on your game and you need to be sharp and you need to be. You really need to bring your best you to the job every day. I got more of the business acumen, if you will, from my first mentor then.
With Bill Kimpton, it took on a completely different course. I actually got more in touch with myself. A lot of what our mission here at Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is about — it’s not in hotels and restaurants.
Bill was a pretty heart-centered guy. He had a little bit of experience with some Buddhist beliefs, and he suffered from ADD [attention-deficit disorder] and dyslexia. So I think I got the sense of business from my first mentor, but I got my sense of humanist and human connection and just my whole spirit, and so on, in connection from Bill. It’s an incredibly powerful balance between these two individual mentors.
My earliest memories of Bill were in his office, in our first hotel, and he would come to work every day. He would love being there when people are checking in to the hotel at the end of the day, with his glass of wine and he’d just say, “Welcome to our hotel.”
He wanted to be everybody’s friend and then he would be there in the morning with the coffee and the pastries and say “Do you really have to go? Can’t you stay one more day?” He made people smile. One, it was very clear that in this small, because I came from the Hiltons and the Hyatts, but it’s very clear right away where his brain was.
He loved talking to the guests. He hung out in the lobby during wine hour and then he dragged them all into the restaurant for drinks and dinner. My first memories of him. He was a happy guy. He was a centered guy. He was a very heartfelt guy, and he loved life. I guess that would be the simplest way: he loved life and everything that it had to offer.
That was good for me because it made me slow down, because I tend to sometimes not stop and smell the roses, and then, here’s a guy that’s going to disrupt the entire hospitality industry because he loves hanging out with people in this little hotel of his and he’s changing the world.
Maybe he wasn’t quite a disruptor like a Steve Jobs or somebody like that, but we did revolutionize and disrupt our industries, so says all those people who evaluate us. Those are my first memories.
Niki Leondakis, former president and COO of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants and former CEO, hotels and resorts, Two Roads Hospitality, now CEO of Equinox Fitness Clubs: I have so many fond memories of Bill, and I still have a little statue of him in my condo in the city [San Francisco] here. We gave away statues of him at some sales conference one year, and it’s just a great cut-out of Bill, a little statue of him staring down at me. I love looking at it because Bill was definitely opinionated, but he was reasonable, and very balanced. He was a very fair person. He had a strong point of view, and I felt from a leadership standpoint, he was quite empowering to his people. He was really ahead of his time in his approach to business and approach to leadership. I learned a ton from Bill.
He abhorred pretense.
One story I remember, was he was entertaining some investors and I had just joined the company. I was maybe with the company for six months. We were doing a meal in a private room at the Sir Francis Drake Hotel. The hotel wasn’t open yet, it was under renovation, but I got a team of people together assembled, a banquet staff from our other hotels, and, anyway, I really wanted to impress his investors so I rented, fresh out of my Ritz-Carlton tenure — this was like 1993 — I rented tuxedos and white gloves, and I used the silver domes and hats, and synchronized service. I organized synchronized service for dinner, meaning all the waiters go in in a synchronized way and drop all of the food at the same time. A very formal style of service. I had this execute to a T with this precision that was incredible, and I was very proud of it.
When he found out, he hated it, he absolutely hated it. He thought that level of formality was horrible, and pretentious, and unnecessary, and extravagant, and he asked, what was I doing? He would have much preferred a family-style dinner where people were passing around platters of food and sharing. That was his way. I learned very quickly to let go of that level of formality; he wanted things to be comfortable and relaxed.
Chef Walter Pisano at Tulio Ristorante. Pisano continues to run his own restaurant in Seattle in Kimpton’s Vintage Park Hotel. Source: Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Walter Pisano, executive chef of Tulio at Kimpton’s Vintage Park Hotel in Seattle: When I had mentioned that I was heading to San Francisco [to interview for the chef job at Kimpton’s new hotel in Seattle], part of the interview, in a lot of cases, especially now and even back then, was that chefs would have to do food tastings. I went over and conceptually, I knew what we were thinking about as far as the restaurant, so I went to Kuleto’s and prepared for a food tasting.
Back then it was a small group of people. It was really pretty casual. A small group of people would show up. At that time, I did my tasting in the afternoon, early afternoon, and for some reason Bill [Kimpton] got tied up and he couldn’t come. The tasting went well and everything was great. You prep, you do what we call mise en place, which is all your prep. I had all my mise en place ready. I did the tasting. I was done.
Then I got a call from Bob Puccini, who was in charge of the restaurant project I was applying to be chef for, and he said, “Hey, Bill was really sorry he missed your tasting and really would love to try some of your food. Is it OK if he brings his girlfriend over to Kuleto’s tonight, and would you mind cooking for him?” I’m like, “No, absolutely.”
Of course, all my prep was pretty much depleted so I was doing the “Iron Chef” thing, running around and making sure I could get stuff together. The memory was really great because Bill sat at the counter and at one point, I thought, “They have to be getting full,” and I went out and said, “So how are you guys doing?” He goes, “Well, if you want to keep on cooking, we’ll keep on eating.”
Christine Lawson, former sales manager of the Tuscan Inn and SVP of sales and catering for Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants, now SVP of Loews Sales Organization: It was incredible to work for him. One, because he was incredibly smart. He always continued to really tout his vision and make sure that all of us were really on the same page, and that we all understood what we were trying to do and that not just that we understood it but that we all shared his passion in it.
He wasn’t really interested in people that just wanted a job. He was interested in people that wanted to be part of this revolution. His energy and passion around it was contagious.
He also was incredibly humble, which I think might be surprising to people because he was such a force in the industry at that time. In San Francisco, he was really quite famous. He was out and about and people knew him and he was hobnobbing. He was really humble in the sense that he never threw his name around. He would always come around to the properties and talk to all of the employees no matter what your title was. He knew people’s names. He really wanted to understand what was working well and where could we actually improve on this vision of bringing this new experience to the hotel and restaurant industry.
The thing that I thought was most amazing about him was the amount of trust that he put in his employees. He had disciplined experts obviously in sales and operations. Both at the home office level, our corporate offices at the time, and also at the property and restaurant level. He really never told people how to do their job. Even if you asked his opinion and said, “What should I do about this sales opportunity?,” he would always say, “You’re the expert. What do you think you should do about that?” He would wait to really get a sense of what your vision was and then he would be willing to weigh in. Even if he didn’t agree with you 100-percent, as long as you weren’t kind of going against the grain of our commitment and our culture in the spirit of what we were offering, he really trusted all of us to dip our toes in the water and take risks.
I think that has been a huge component of our success over these 35 plus years. That kind of innovation and trust building, that currency of trust that was built by Bill is something that really has carried through at every level of the company now. It really enabled us to be very agile and to continue to never accept today as being the best that we can be. I think for a company, and Bill inspired this, to ensure that we’re constantly looking to be better and to ensure that the product and experience is better for our employees and for our guests. Bill always felt that evolution was kind of the fun part of the business, and that has been kind of a tenet of the company over all these years, even after his passing.
He used to take the directors of sales, at the time, out to lunch on a monthly basis. There were six of us at the time, and he didn’t have a lot of hotels yet. I was always fascinated by the fact that he would sit with us. The first time I sat with him at lunch he said, “I don’t really know what you do. I know you sell for our hotels, but what do you do?” I remember thinking, “That’s impossible, he used to work for Wall Street and he helped Kentucky Fried Chicken go public, he sold typewriters door to door …” Again, what I remember most about him was that humbleness and that spirit of making sure we knew we were in the driver’s seat, and that it was our responsibility and that we had his trust to ensure that we were really delivering.
For even more personal stories about what Bill Kimpton was like, check out Skift’s Complete Oral History of Boutique Hotels, or click here to view an entire collection of video interviews with current and former Kimpton employees.
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jesusvasser · 7 years
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Extended Family: The Incredible Story of the Kircher Special and its Long-Lost 300 SL Relative
When Jack Gallivan was a boy in Salt Lake City, Utah, in the middle of the last century, he and his brothers played a game. Their father was the publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune, the local newspaper of record, and in order to prove the Trib’s classified section worked, they would buy used cars out of the paper.
“We’d look through the Sunday listings, whittle it down, make calls, go visit, and take the finalists to the mechanic to check them out,” Gallivan says. “Of course, the sellers didn’t realize that we were kids making the [initial] calls.”
In the early ’60s, one of the vehicles they came across was a 1955 Mercedes 300 SL Gullwing. Gallivan’s father wasn’t a car connoisseur, but he responded to vehicles he found beautiful—classic dual-cowl Lincolns such as those driven by the Trib’s owner, an automotive editor’s MG TC, and the Volkswagen Karmann Ghia and Jaguar XK140 he purchased. The Gullwing was one of these vehicles. “He just fell in love with it,” Gallivan says, “the sheer beauty of the thing.”
The family looked at it, but the price was too high. About a year later, however, Gallivan’s father was driving with his younger son and saw the same car parked in a gas station with a “for sale” sign on it. “My little brother says they just made a U-turn, went back to the gas station, and Dad went in and bought the car,” Gallivan says. He recalls his father paying around $3,400.
The Gullwing became his daily driver. He drove it to the office. He parked it at meters on the street. He let valets park it. “It was not something he treated as outrageously special,” Gallivan remembers, “but that was how he loved it.”
Gallivan loved the car, as well, and drove it regularly. “There were no restrictions or ‘don’t take my car,’” he says. “It was just there.” As his father aged, Gallivan found himself in line to receive the Gullwing. “My dad decided early on that he wanted to die broke and was liquidating stuff out of his estate,” Gallivan says. “I am a junior. His name was John Gallivan, and I am John Gallivan Jr., so there was no big challenge in just moving the title over to me.”
As can happen in the life of a car enthusiast, Gallivan stumbled into becoming the owner of the one-of-a-kind Kircher when he was on the hunt for his Gullwing’s original engine, which he ran in the Colorado Grand.
Gallivan spent his career producing sports programming for ABC and ESPN on the East Coast, including airings of the Indianapolis 500 and Monaco Grand Prix. Now 76 and retired back in Salt Lake City, he thinks of his own fiscal legacy. “I have no plans to sell the car,” he says, “but I thought maybe the next generation would [benefit from doing so].”
One of the Gullwing’s mysteries: It arrived in the Gallivans’ possession with a nonoriginal engine; the powerplant was from a 1957 car. Factory-correct drivetrain stampings increase the value of a car such as this significantly. “We typically say at least 10 percent [added value] to be conservative, but I’ve heard figures as high as 25 percent,” says Mike Kunz, who runs the Mercedes-Benz Classic Center in Irvine, California, a brand subsidiary dedicated to preservation and restoration of vintage Benzes. “But at today’s values, 10 percent is more than $100,000.”
Given this difference, Gallivan set out to find the original engine. He hadn’t been active in the collector car community or in researching automotive history. But he found a Gullwing owners’ group message board and posted a question. Does anybody know how the engine I have ended up in my car? “It never occurred to me to ask,” he says, “or that an engine, missing for 60 years, would ever reappear.”
A Stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines.
He was shocked to soon receive a response from a classic car restorer in Missouri named Jeff Moore, who ran a shop called The Automotive Archeologists. “I have your engine,” Moore wrote. “And moreover, it happens to be in the Kircher.”
In the post-WWII era, soldiers returning from overseas or assisting in the war effort on the homefront put their gearhead field experience to good use in the customization and hot-rodding of automobiles. According to historians, even before the Corvette was launched in 1953, there were more than 50 American-made sports-car models. Many of these were manufactured in limited numbers—by hobbyists, obsessives, or entrepreneurs—some with the dream of becoming regular production cars, some to be raced in early Sports Car Club of America events. Their activity was clustered on the coasts, particularly the West Coast, but pockets existed nationwide.
Charles Hughes of Denver, Colorado, the scion of a wealthy local family, developed a passion for speed before the war, testing planes for the military and sponsoring vehicles in the Indy 500. After the armistice, he further indulged this interest by purchasing a Jaguar XK120 to race. He bought the car new from Kurt Kircher, who owned the local foreign car shop, Denver Import Motors. Kircher was an amateur racer himself who’d had some success with a Chrysler Hemi-powered Allard J2X, one of the quickest cars of its time, if a bit crude.
The two became fast friends, quite literally. Kircher had a degree in automotive engineering—he’d worked for General Motors on post-war V-8s and the Powerglide transmission. Hughes had a degree in physics as well as a stellar machine shop in his six-car garage. So in the early ’50s, the pair decided, according to a history Kircher wrote a few years before his death in 2004, “It would be fun to try to build something better.”
Familiar with the Jag powertrain, they decided to create a clean-sheet racer around an engine and transmission salvaged from a wrecked XK120. Kircher designed the drilled chrome-moly tube frame, rear De Dion suspension, and inboard rear-wheel drums and safety hubs. The front suspension came from the Jag. The steering rack came from an MG. The rear differential came from Halibrand. The rest of the bits were either shopped or poached.
A stylist named Charlie Lyons hand-built a curvaceous body out of aluminum. Like many homemade sports cars of the time, it was a bit of a mashup of Italian and British lines—a Ferrari 250S mated with a Jaguar D-type. But unlike either of those, it had inboard headlamps in the grille, deeply scalloped sides, and an intriguing dual-piece construction—the car’s entire top half could be unbolted to allow for mechanical massaging. It was finished after a year of work. Kircher named it for himself—the Kircher Special—and hit the track. The car was fast and handled well. “I do not have a list of all the events we participated in,” he wrote. “But we won most and never did worse than third in class.”
Still, by the mid-1950s Porsche and Ferrari upped their power games, and Kircher and Hughes decided they too needed more. Kircher set his mind on installing a fuel-injected straight-six and four-speed from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing. According to a murky chronology, he apparently found a wrecked SL and traded its powertrain to a friend at Mercedes-Benz in Germany for a hotted-up race version allegedly prepared for the Mille Miglia. Kircher installed it in his car and went to work winning more races.
Soon after, however, advances such as disc brakes rendered the car’s drums somewhat archaic, and the owners decided not to invest in it further. The Kircher eventually passed to body-maker Lyons, who apparently traded the race engine in it for a stock one from another 300 SL in Colorado Springs. It was this factory engine that, again mysteriously, came out of the car the Gallivans would eventually purchase. (Confused yet? You’re not alone. It’s like a game of three-card monte with engines.)
A succession of owners followed—including Bugatti collector Carlton Coolidge and the Blackhawk Museum—before the Special passed into the hands of Court Whitlock in Missouri. Whitlock campaigned it on the vintage race circuit in the States, as well as more far-flung locales such as New Zealand, Singapore, and Malaysia. He had the car cosmetically restored by Moore’s Automotive Archeologists and showed it at the Amelia Island Concours in 2014.
The Classic Center’s Kunz spotted the vehicle on the field at Amelia that year and immediately noticed the big three-pointed star on the hood. “I remember walking by the car, and I went, ‘Oh my God, who did this?’” Kunz says and laughs. “Not knowing there’s a very cool story to who did this.”
Or that he’d soon be involved in undoing and redoing this.
The Gallivans had no history on the origin of the 1957 SL engine that came with their Gullwing. Neither did they particularly care. “Dad loved the car,” Gallivan says. “I don’t think it ever occurred to him that it was flawed or imperfect because of some mismatch, in part because selling was never on the table.” And no one knows why or when it was put into the car, why or when the factory engine was taken out, and whatever became of that alleged Mille Miglia racing engine from Stuttgart. But all old car stories are seemingly full of incomprehensible apocrypha. “There’s a disruption in the continuity that cannot be overcome,” Gallivan says.
When Kurt Kircher and Charles Hughes ventured to create a racer, they took inspiration and parts from several cars, but for racing they sought out a fuel-injected straight-six powerplant from a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL Gullwing.
Convolutions aside, Gallivan wanted to reunite car and engine. Sadly, by the time he made the discovery, he’d already sent his Gullwing to the Classic Center to have the nonmatching engine rebuilt as part of a mechanical restoration. He offered Whitlock’s representative, Moore, the opportunity for a swap: his rebuilt engine for the proper one in the Kircher, whatever its condition. But Whitlock was no longer driving the car, and his interest in an updated engine was minimal. “He insisted that if I wanted the engine I’d have to buy the whole car,” Gallivan says.
“You’re exposed from the nipples up. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall”
After much consternation and bargaining, Gallivan decided to go forward with the purchase. Among his two daughters and three grandkids, no one really cares about cars—“I’m very concerned about this,” he jokes—so he viewed his plan as an investment in their future financial stability. Still, he felt obliged to write his family a note. “I am 75 years old. I have migraine auras, macular degeneration, ringing ears, some kind of weird outcropping on my kidney, a bladder condition, one bad hip, and two bad knees,” he wrote, wryly. “Today I bought a race car.”
The engine in the Kircher needed a complete rebuild before it could return to where it belonged in the SL. While this occurred at the Classic Center, Gallivan decided to have the rebuilt, unmatched straight-six from his dad’s car installed in the racer. His plan was to have it ready in time to drive it in the Colorado Grand, a 1,000-mile historic tour through the Rockies. After this, he would sell it.
The Kircher has no top or windshield to speak of. It also lacks windows, ventilation, a stereo, a driver’s side door, a speedometer, or any other modern comforts. “You’re exposed from the nipples up. You have no protection. But even in the cold of the night, in the rain, in the dark, immense heat pours through that firewall,” Gallivan says. Yet despite all of this, he fell in love with the Special. “The car is so endearing,” he concedes. “It’s magic, and it’s very lucky for me. I mean, I got the engine reunited, and I had this great experience with it. I just think I will hold onto it as long as I can.”
Gallivan was kind enough to share the magic with us, allowing us to drive his one-off race car. We’ve had the good fortune of getting behind the wheel of a few 300 SLs, so the stiff four-speed shifter and period VDO gauges were familiar. We were not prepared, however, for the tractability. The Kircher’s front overhang is shorter than a Gullwing’s, so the turning circle is tighter. The suspension setup and ride quality is superior, more pliant and less unpredictable compared to the sporadically terrifying swing axles on the factory car.
But the real difference is in the speed. Because of its stripped-down interior, aluminum body, and drilled frame, the Kircher is hundreds of pounds lighter than a standard SL, closer in spec to one of the rare aluminum-bodied Gullwings. And because of the side exhausts exiting just aft of the front right wheel, the straight-six’s sound is both more proximal and more intoxicating, a guttural snarl not usually associated with Mercedes of the era. Although it’s fussy like all old sports cars, it just wants to go at all times.
Of course, it also has to stop—a bit harrowing with four-wheel drum brakes and a weirdly offset pedal. And because it is lipstick red and doesn’t look like any other vehicle ever made, when it does stop at li from Performance Junk WP Feed 4 http://ift.tt/2FuXyLI via IFTTT
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auburnfamilynews · 7 years
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Tiger receivers and runners were loose! (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
     War Eagle everybody! It’s time now for the Acid Reign Report on Auburn’s first SEC home win of the year, a 49-10 runaway over 24th ranked Mississippi State. Mississippi State moved the ball at times in this one, but could do nothing to slow down an Auburn aerial attack that has become efficient and explosive in recent weeks. At times, Mississippi State was their own worst enemy, committing an astounding 7 false start penalties. There is a reason those are called “drive killers.”
     If we think back a couple of weeks, Auburn had just eeked by Mercer on Homecoming, and Mississippi State was the toast of the SEC after knocking off LSU 37-7. It’s funny how rapidly things can change. A young Bulldog team has been rudely thumped the past two weeks, first at Georgia, and then at Auburn. Meanwhile, Auburn has found itself in a strange situation. The issue was this: lose to Missouri or Mississippi State, and that would be a clear sign that the SEC has passed Auburn by. Win, and the skeptics will now say that those 2 teams aren’t very good. The fact is that Auburn blew both of those teams out of the water.
     The Auburn offense continues to improve by leaps and bounds. While Auburn has a stable of hobbled running backs, they are still getting the ball in the end zone when they get the chance in the red zone. And the passing game has taken off! Quarterback Jarrett Stidham has completed over 83 percent of his passes over the last 3 games, including a number of deep bombs to different receivers. I’m not sure any quarterback Auburn has ever had has put up a 3-game completion percentage like that. And that speaks well of the receiving corps, too. They aren’t dropping balls, and they are running free against SEC secondaries.
     The offensive line has become impressive, and they are doing it with different lineups every week, it seems. In the past 3 games, senior Austin Golson has moved from center, to right tackle, then left tackle. Left tackle was a spot that Golson struggle at bit at, last season. Not so, yesterday. Golson protected the quarterback’s blind side admirably, and there was often tons of time to throw. Darius James returned this week to start at right tackle. Of the group that was out there this week, I think every one of those linemen has futures in the NFL.
     A lot of preseason pundits were proclaiming Mississippi State quarterback Nick Fitzgerald to be one of the most dangerous dual-threat quarterbacks in the league. The Auburn defense gave up some yardage, but was able to pressure and harrass Fitzgerald, and Mississippi State was only able to sustain 1 drive for a touchdown. The Auburn plan was to limit the MSU run game, and force Nick Fitzgerald to beat Auburn with his arm. The Tigers were successful in doing that, and Fitzgerald was only able to complete 39 percent of his passes.
     Special teams were limited on this day. Daniel Carlson missed his only field goal attempt from 51 yards, but was again near perfect kicking off. Auburn benched punter Ian Shannon in favor of walk-on Aidan Marshall, but Mississippi State was only able to force 3 Auburn punts. Neither team really wanted to kick to the other team’s return men.
Unit grades after the jump!
Defensive Line: A. I felt like the line did a great job at getting penetration and disrupting the Mississippi State game plan. Jeff Holland and Nick Coe were particular nightmares for the Mississippi State backfield, and seemed almost unblockable. As a team, the line contributed 25 total tackles, a couple of sacks and 9 quarterback hurries.
Linebackers: A-. The Auburn linebackers continue to do a good job of filling lanes and hunting the football down, even with starting middle linebacker Tre’ Williams sitting a second game in a row out. Montavious Atkinson again filled in admirably, and the unit soldiered on. Deshaun Davis led all tacklers with 10. Linebackers were credited with 28 total tackles.
Secondary: A. This unit really stepped it up, in terms of contested balls. The secondary caused 11 pass breakups, had a couple of interceptions, one on a tip drill by Tray Matthews and Javaris Davis took one interception for a touchdown. Mississippi State tried to pick on the Auburn corners, and Carlton Davis, Javaris Davis, Jamel Dean and Daniel Thomas were having none of it. The secondary contributed 27 tackles. If the tackle numbers above seem high, it’s because the Auburn offense had a lot of big play, quick scoring drives, and the defense was back out on the field quickly.
Punting: B. New punter Aidan Marshall punted 3 times for just a 36.3 yard average, but did avoid the low bouncers we had been seeing. The first punt was a 47 yard rain-maker, and the next two were pooch punts that were killed inside the 20.
Punt Returns: B+. Mississippi State punted 5 times, and return man Stephen Roberts fielded 4 of them, letting the remaining punt go for a touchback. Roberts had a couple of fair catches in traffic, and had 2 returns for 16 yards. On the season, Roberts has averaged 8.8 yards per return, and has used good judgment at the position.
Kick Returns: B+. Mississippi State kicked a couple of returnable balls, and Auburn’s Noah Igbinoghene averaged 24.5 yards per return. That’s pretty good.
Place Kicking: A. I’m not going to count off much, for a miss from 51 yards. On kickoffs, Carlson hit for 7 touchbacks on 8 kickoffs. On the season, Carlson has kicked off 34 times, and has 30 touchbacks. That’s a pretty torrid pace!
Offensive Line: A. I thought that this week’s line had the best communication and protection of the year. Mississippi State moved people around, ran stunts, and tried to outflank the Auburn line. Really, none it worked. The only thing that did a couple of times was sending an 8 man blitz, and Auburn made MSU pay in the secondary for blitzing. The line this week featured Casey Dunn at center, Mike Horton and Braden Smith at guards, and Austin Golson and Darius James at tackles. They looked good. The scary thing for next season is that only Horton returns.
Running Backs: A-. With Kerryon Johnson and Kamryn Pettway slowed by injuries, and Kam Martin out, the backs struggled to break away. However, between the tackles, they were still able to move the chains when necessary. Some speed sweeps from outside made the rushing average look better than it really was. However, KJ, Pettway and Malik Miller combined for 139 yards, at an average of 4.4 yards per carry. I felt like Chandler Cox and Spencer Nigh had good blocking days at H-back.
Receivers: A. Auburn’s receiving corps has really improved in route running, and attacking the ball. There were no drops this week, and the unit averaged a whopping 21.5 yards per catch.
Quarterback: A. I counted off for the lost fumble, as the wise thing to do in that scenario is to take a sack, and not try to sling the ball while falling sideways. However, the brilliance and accuracy on so many passes compensates. On the season, Jarrett Stidham has thrown for 1110 yards in 5 games. He has 5 touchdowns against just 2 interceptions. Stidham has completed 72 percent of his passes, for a ridiculous 9.4 yards per pass. I also loved watching Malik Willis run the zone read, late in the game. He’s going to be a tough one to stop in the future!
     It’s another week, and another fun romp for the Tigers. Next week Auburn hosts the Ole Miss Rebels, in the dreaded 11:00 AM time slot. The Rebels are coming off back to back losses, the first on at Cal, then Ole Miss got destroyed by Alabama, 66-3 yesterday. I think this may be Auburn’s least intimidating remaining SEC game.
     I really enjoyed rewatching this game. There was some gloom and doom in the press and on the boards the previous week, but I thought the home crowd really turned out and made some noise in this one. It was great to see Auburn having fun, and it’s always great to kick a Bulldog! One last thing of note, Auburn has not beaten Mississippi State this badly since a 56-0 blank job in 1970. The 39 point win tops 34 point efforts in 1996 and 2006.
The post Auburn Bombs the Bulldogs! (Grading Auburn’s 49-10 win over Mississippi State.) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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auburnfamilynews · 7 years
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Kerryon Johnson soars back into action. (L.G. Patterson The Associated Press)
     War Eagle everybody! It’s time now for the Acid Reign Report on Auburn’s first road win of the year, a 51-14 shelling of the Missouri Tigers. For the most part, Auburn was clicking in all 3 phases of the game, and Missouri was pretty much dead and buried well before halftime. This game was a far cry from a week ago, when Auburn struggled to get any push against Mercer, and committed 5 turnovers. The offense came alive, and attacked one-on-one matchups. With better players, a lot of those plays went Auburn’s way.
     On the day, the offense generated 482 yards of total offense, but the last quarter was played with mostly backups on the field. Auburn converted 7 of 15 3rd down conversions, and had no turnovers, while Missouri had 4. That allowed Auburn to build a big time of possession advantage, keeping the ball for over 34 minutes.    
     We knew going in that Missouri was suspect on defense, but I was wary of their front four. Auburn’s offensive line made a pretty big jump this week, and had some nasty blocking. Even better was the pass protection. Jarrett Stidham was hardly pressured at all, and if a defense can’t move Stidham’s feet, they will get picked apart.
     If there is any area of concern on offense after this one, it would be on the running game. Both of Auburn’s top runners are hobbled with injuries. This week, Kerryon Johnson played at maybe 80 percent, and Kamryn Pettway took the week off. Auburn finished with 263 rushing yards, but Johnson only had 48 yards on the day. The blazing speed of Kam Martin and Eli Stove accounted for half the yardage, on only 12 carries. If I had my way, we’d see more of Martin out there. He’s a threat to take it to the house on every carry.
     Statistically, this game will appear that Auburn took a few steps backward defensively, but these things can be explained by the blowout. Auburn held two banged up starters out, and was subbing liberally even in the 2nd quarter. A lot of Missouri’s yards came in garbage time, with the game way out of hand. The starting defense regularly put the Mizzou offense in a bind, and clamped down on 3rd down.
     Missouri was their own worst enemy at times. There were 3 false starts in the 1st quarter, alone. Auburn had an interception that went through a Missouri receiver’s hands. And then there was the crazy fumble play that wasn’t blown dead. Me, I thought the quarterback’s arm was going forward, and replay seemed to confirm it. It should have been ruled an incomplete pass. I’d have been howling about the refs, if it had happened to Auburn! Missouri defenders had trouble getting off blocks, and trouble getting a handle on Auburn ball carriers.
     Auburn had a better special teams day, this week. Punting is still a bit concerning. We are seeing short punts, that so far, have hit and rolled. The average ends up around 40 yards, but those things are ugly to watch. If that keeps happening, we will see a knuckler NOT roll, when we need it most in a big game. Daniel Carlson looked like he was finally back to last year’s form, with very strong and accurate kicks.
Unit grades after the jump!
Defensive Line: A-. I felt like the line, particularly the starters did a great job of swallowing up blockers and disrupting up front. It seemed like Drew Lock was being harrassed every pass play, and runs up the middle didn’t get far. Strangely, Auburn only got credit for 1 quarterback hurry, by Jeffery Holland. I guess the home team statistician was taking a nap, instead of watching the game. The Auburn line was credited with 1 sack, 3 tackles for loss, and 10 total tackles.
Linebackers: A-. The Auburn linebackers continue to do a good job of filling lanes and hunting the football down, even with starting middle linebacker Tre’ Williams sitting this one out. Montavious Atkinson and Richard McBryde filled in admirably, and the unit soldiered on. Linebackers were credited with 16 tackles.
Secondary: A-. Most of what I counted off on was second and third team defenders getting beat deep. Fortunately, Missouri was unable to make good throws in those situations. The starting defenders played really well, and took home run threat J’Mon Moore away. Moore had just 2 catches on the day, with a late touchdown against the reserves. Moore was matched up mostly on Carlton Davis, and Davis decisively won that battle. I also enjoyed the play of Jeremiah Dinson, Tray Matthews and Stephen Roberts. Those are all guys that cover a lot of ground, and lay the wood when they get there. Auburn’s secondary contributed 28 total tackles. Missouri put the ball in the air a lot in this game, and Auburn limited them to just 5.5 yards per pass, with most of the yardage coming against the reserves.
Punting: C. Ian Shannon punted 3 times for just 39.3 yards per attempt, and frankly was the beneficiary of some lucky rolls. On the plus side, there were no returns and one was killed inside the 20 yard line.
Punt Returns: B+. Missouri punted 6 times, and there was one fair catch and one return for one yard, by Stephen Roberts. That doesn’t sound like much. However, most of these punts were backspinners landing inside the 10 yard line. Getting away from them is the smart thing for the return man to do. The Roberts fair catch at the 10 was good, too. That ball likely would have rolled down near the goal line. We won’t see another punter that good, till we face Bama’s J. K. Scott.
Kick Returns: B-. Missouri was another team that did not want to kick to Auburn return men. Noah Igbinoghene brought one out late, for 21 yards, which is pretty average.
Place Kicking: A+. Daniel Carlson was 3 for 3 on field goal attempts, and 2 of them were beyond 50 yards. That gives Carlson 12 career field goals of that distance or more. Carlson was also a busy man kicking off, notching 9 touchbacks on 10 kickoffs. We’ve seen Carlson consistently reach the end zone this year, but a lot of kickoffs on this day were actually boomed beyond the back of the end zone. It was quite impressive!
Offensive Line: A-. I still would like to see a bit more push in the run game, but I think Missouri has a decent defensive line, and Auburn held their own well. Pass protection issues seem to have been greatly reduced, if not eliminated. Jarrett Stidham wasn’t sacked, or even close to being sacked. This was the second appearance of Auburn’s shuffled offensive line, and I’m scratching my head. Due to an injury to Darius James last week, center Austin Golson moved out to right tackle, and senior Jax State transfer Casey Dunn took over at center. Early last season, we saw Golson struggle at left tackle, before being moved back to center. This year, on the right side, Golson looked surprisingly good. Missouri continually tried to beat him around the corner, and could not do it. Prince Tega Wanagho has steadily improved this year, too, and looked good in this game on the other side. I got a kick out of the Auburn participation report. It lists Chase Ritter (a walk-on linebacker) as the starting center! I’m sure he enjoyed his moment in the spotlight…
Running Backs: A. Some might question this grade, with Kerryon Johnson only getting 48 yards, but it’s kind of hard to pile up big yardage numbers when most of the carries are inside the 10 yard line! Blocking was good, especially by the H-backs. The reason all those wildcat plays worked so well was that Auburn went with 2 H-backs, Chandler Cox and Spencer Nigh, and they walled their man off consistently. Despite Missouri being stacked to stop the run, Auburn averaged 5 yards per carry, put no balls on the ground, dropped no passes, and did not turn any pass rushers loose till well into garbage time.
Receivers: B. We saw a vast improvement this week. I feel like there were a few route-running errors this week, and another glaring dropped ball by Sal Cannella. However, Auburn’s men blocked ok, got open and caught the ball. Where the blocking was not great was on outside screens, where the Missouri corner could consistently get into the passing lane. That forced the QB to pull the ball back in, and run, too many times. For those RPOs to work, blocking HAS to get better. Auburn got called for holding on the outside twice, which negated big pass plays.
Quarterback: A. Some might question this grade, as Stidham really did have all day to throw. I only saw maybe 2 out of 17 passes that were off target, and nothing even close to a turnover. Stidham is on fire, efficiency-wise, hitting 13 of 17 passes for 218 yards. That’s a gaudy 12.8 yards per pass average! Malik Willis got in the game late, hitting 3 of 4 passes, for no yards. They had Willis throwing those receiver screens, with reserve receivers against Missouri starters.
     It was a fun road trip for Auburn football. Auburn went to a hostile place, and beat the snot out of the home team, which is what they needed. Maybe there is little value in smoking a team that is clearly in disarray, but I was encouraged by Auburn’s improved execution. Like it or not, Coach Malzhan’s teams tend to take a few games to start firing on all cylinders.
     I also have to hand it to the Auburn offensive coaches regarding the Wildcat plays. I’ve been one of the biggest critics, saying that the plays were a waste of a down, and way too predictable, lately. This game, there were some pretty creative new wrinkles. I particularly liked the use of Spencer Nigh on “wham” blocks. Auburn would let a defender through, pull the guard there, and Nigh would come back to the middle and blindside obliterate any defender that came through. This did fail on one play, but Johnson shook off the tackler and scored anyway. I also loved the fake pitch to Stidham in motion. Later down the road, that play might result in a turned-loose tight end wide open in the end zone, with the ball in Stidham’s hands.
     Auburn returns home for the next couple of weeks, hosting first Mississippi State, then Ole Miss. In front of a partisan crowd, this is a great opportunity for more improvement and live competition against SEC-level talent. Mississippi State should come into this game angry. They looked like world-beaters against LSU, only to lay an egg yesterday against Georgia. If Mississippi State is to have any hope at winning the division this year, they have to beat Auburn. I would expect nothing less than their best effort.
The post Tigers Thrash Missouri! (Grading Auburn’s 51-14 win over Missouri.) appeared first on Track 'Em Tigers, Auburn's oldest and most read independent blog.
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getseriouser · 7 years
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20 THOUGHTS: Final Curtain Call
GEE what a cracker this season continues to be.
We had an amazing finals preview last Friday night in Adelaide with the Swans prevailing, even being delivered a belter of a game the next night by two bottom six teams showing a lot for next year.
All the while we have one of the greatest retirement classes saying their farewells, very emotional scenes last Sunday at Etihad and we’ll be sure to get more of the same in the final round, all kicking off with Friday night’s game where it’ll be tears all round on both sides.
But best of all, we’ve got a stellar finals campaign now on our doorsteps too, it’s all coming up Millhouse!
Onto the footy.
 1.     Got to start this week with Sydney’s win last Friday over the Crows, just a terrific performance, a terrific run since Easter really. They will likely end up with a simple-ish week one home final then it’s on the road for a couple weeks. Now should they keep this form up, and who would put them past doing just that, they could end up taking all before them and end up in the big dance. Phenomenal. They are the best team in it but by just missing the top four it opens the door for the others, the Crows and Giants, for example.
 2.     Such a shame about the Eddie Betts 50m penalty. The umpiring department has come out and said that it was definitely an error and given the closeness of the game you could argue it cost the home side four points. In the grand scheme of things it won’t affect ladder positions come next Sunday too much but the belief the Swans have should they end up playing the Crows again, in Adelaide, Sydney or dare we say Melbourne in a few weeks’ time is invaluable.
 3.     To their cross-town rivals, and the Giants are doing just enough but are so primed to go large once it ticks over into Spring. You can now get them at $5 to win the flag, they have the best side on paper, so if they can string together three wins next month that’ll do it, especially with two likely home finals in Sydney the key. Brett Deledio just a super nice addition. Getting fit too.
 4.     It’s at this place each week we mention them and this is no different – we continue to be unimpressed by Geelong. They were somewhat lucky they won on the weekend and lucky they can’t miss top four. The Giants will be circling for a scalp down the highway Saturday, then without Joel Selwood any time soon their finals aspirations will culminate by Week Three at the latest if they are lucky. The opposition putting time into Danger in September will be invaluable.
 5.     Port Adelaide, hmm… Port will play at home week one, if they can get their first finals win at home since they pumped Richmond there in 2014, they could get on a mega run. Not fancied, but formidable once in form.
 6.     As for their opponents last Saturday in Ballarat, what’s happened to the reigning premier, officially out of the finals race one year after saluting? Two things primarily, one, their entire backline largely differs to the one that won them the cup last September, but two, and this is the curious one, Luke Beveridge in his wisdom moved his assistant coaches around for 2017, for developmental reasons. So sure, his assistants by having new groups this year may be now more rounded coaching talents, but the disruption may have cost his side finals, not smart at all in hindsight.
 7.     Some rare love for the Blues this week. Got to like what they are doing. It is a slow build, sure, but there is something to like. They have a got a good mix of their own picks, plus a bunch of talented ex-GWS youngsters, if they can keep the ever-improving Levi Casboult plus secure a Jacob Hopper or Devon Smith, they’re the next Dees/Saints in 2018-19, mark my words.
 8.     Quick one on finals machinations, the Swans won’t get ahead of Port so if the Giants beat Geelong this week, the two Sydney sides can probably only meet in the Grand Final. Geelong beat the Giants it will be a repeat matchup in two weeks’ time, another loss and the Giants would host the Swans in Week Two.
 9.     The Demons, not super on Sunday at all really. A win’s a win, but they are going to be in the thick of it really soon and their performance on the weekend didn’t do much to help their cause. They need to catch fire, we like them, but whilst Brisbane are improving that wasn’t enough. Remain a ‘watch’.
 10.  Bear with here – how good were the Nick Riewoldt scenes last Sunday and will we get the same with Luke Hodge and Bob Murphy this Friday. How good is footy, how good is this town, where we are only one small city in a young country playing an indigenous sport only half the nation plays, yet so many big, passionate tribes that have all these different narratives. Friday is about two parts of Melbourne saying goodbye to legends, two traditional foes go toe to toe on Saturday, big Richmond game Sunday, Tigers on the March, Punt Rd end of the ‘G will be humming, Roo’s final game for those Saints fans too, it will be a good turnout; the top four Cats get a primetime game at home to secure a big finish, Essendon fans welcome back a return to the finals, maybe Jobe’s last game in Melbourne, Etihad will be buzzing. North have had their moments, especially the emotion of this time last year with their veterans, and we had Carlton fans in euphoria on Saturday overcoming a seemingly improbable task against another big Melbourne club. All in the one city. And let’s not forget the good amount of Bloods fans that will keep a buzz around Clarendon St as their boys march through September, and a shout out to the respectable representation of Roys fans at the ‘G last Sunday, probably more than there were Suns fans at Metricon or Giants fans in Sydney on the weekend. We know this is read interstate and internationally but goodness gracious what a town.
 11.  The Brad Scott, North Melbourne, Gold Coast story. Weird. So the Roos are half okay with Scott opting out of re-signing and taking the Suns’ gig. Don’t get why, unless it’s the most acrimonious parting ways of all time, so basically sacking him. Where there is smoke there is fire so this column must assume that at this point in time, the ex-Lion is a massive chance to be back in Queensland next year.
 12.  Josh Kelly, bloody hell, the Saints must get him, North need to make sure they do what they can too, he will be a top 5 player for 5-7 years, his game on the weekend was phenomenal. A likely top five finish in the Brownlow, he is an utter jet.
 13.  This week we present the Collingwood-Tom Lynch conundrum. It wasn’t widely reported at all but last time the Suns’ spearhead was out of contract a couple years ago, the Pies threw a million dollars a year to bring him home yet he remained loyal, signing a two year bridge deal. He will be out of contract again next year but the kicker will be that this time he is a Restricted Free Agent, meaning any suitor won’t need to trade assets to satisfy the Gold Coast. But, whilst the Pies have always maintained interest, and relative favouritism should Lynch decide he wants to move on, they really need him for 2018 and can’t afford to wait until 2019. What does this mean? Even though they could, or should, wait the extra year and get the Suns captain for free, they may bite the bullet, satisfy the Suns with a trade this year so they get something, and the Pies get Lynch a year early. Watch this space.
 14.  Seemingly Jake Lever is down to re-signing with the Crows or if he is to return to Melbourne it will be the Demons or Magpies. Watch him stay in Adelaide, can’t see him leaving to be frank.
 15.  Dusty watch, and I tell you, it still smells way too much. Here are the facts, he went into the year unsigned, rival clubs sounded out that he wasn’t re-signing anytime soon, so they got busy. Huge money was and continues to be thrown his way. It is August and Richmond are still none the wiser to what he is doing next year, it’s a long time to wait. They are allocating 1.2 mil for next year for him, “IF” if he stays, but they don’t know.
 16.  Calls for a draft lottery this week, and we don’t mind that idea although we don’t feel as bad about Brisbane and North this weekend like we might have in years previous. But it does makes a lot of sense, we already do the American model with draft and caps and what not so why not utilise this too, which has had value over there.
 17.  The Pies will be hiring a new CEO at year’s end after Gary Pert resigned, reading the writing on the wall. The short priced favourite to replace him – Simon Lethlain. Name sounds familiar? Few weeks ago, senior AFL executive resigns after affair with Sydney-based female employee goes public? Ringing a few bells now?
 18.  We are getting more and more accustomed to the Damien Hardwick-style reappointment for Nathan Buckley. Hardwick was gone last year if he didn’t have the extra year just the Tigers didn’t want to wear the bigger buyout. So they kept him but turned the coaching staff over, and it’s worked, Justin Leppitsch back, Blake Caracella in to fill a key strategic role. The Pies are looking to do something similar, keep Bucks, turn over his assistants, maybe get Roos into some sort of footy role, then roll the dice. Whether it’s that or Bucks going, the Pies need a big change of plans somewhere, they are becoming far too predictable with their level of performance.
 19.  So what happens this Friday night? Both Luke Hodge and Bob Murphy saying farewell, of course there will be guards of honour but who goes first? Does one go then everyone runs over the other side for the other, do they go neutral, it’s a bit hard to know. What we do know is that there’ll be serious choreography for the post-game nutted out during the week to get it right.
 20.  Last game at Domain Stadium this week, the demolishers are in within weeks. Yeah that happened quick didn’t it? Round One next year will see the new Perth Stadium host its first game of AFL, so when the West Coast walk off Sunday evening, so will close a storied chapter at the home of Western Australian football for many decades. Well done and thanks ‘Subi’, you’ve given all of us, even over here on the eastern seaboard some memorable matches.
 (originally published August 23)
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