#Most popular books published in October 2023

[storyofthenauseouseye]

The Duality of Woman: Anais Nin

Vogue Magazine, Anais Nin talks about being a woman, 15 October 1971

Anais Nin is a woman of duality. It's been a well-known fact for those who know or love her that she is truly a two-sided coin. She said it herself in her book Henry and June,

"I will always be the virgin prostitute, the perverse angel, the two-faced sinister and saintly woman"(bookquoters.com).

From her intense marriages to two different men on opposite sides of the country, to her literary career, to even her personal reflections and essays, Nin was a figure bathed in duality. How does one split the image of Anais Nin ideally in half? You just have to find the seam between diarist and eroticist.

The Diarist

Anais Nin is most well-loved by her adoring fans because of her published diary. As a young girl, Nin wrote her father a letter begging him to return to the family he had abandoned (The Anais Nin Foundation). This was the beginning of Nin's diary, which would be published in seven volumes, with four unexpurgated diaries later appearing after their original publication.

Her diaries were incredibly personal, full of secrets and thoughts she never thought would come to light. The biggest secret within these diaries was that she was married to two different men simultaneously, something she would remove from the diaries upon initial publication. Years later, Nin compiled the removed sections into one volume, the first of her unexpurgated diaries. It was called Henry and June, and detailed the letters and writings the two shared. The duality of Nin stretched throughout every aspect of her life.

These highly intimate journals struck twentieth-century American women directly in their souls. As one journalist famously put it in an article for The Conversation,

Anaïs Nin dreamed, in all senses. She dreamed of lives and possibilities. She dreamed in slumber and allowed her dreams to leak into the day. As I regularly committed the cardinal social sin of recounting my dreams over breakfast, she seemed a soulmate across oceans and generations (Gorman).

These teenage girls and their daydreams were instantly hooked on Nin's likeminded wonder and splendid prose. She became a sensation after the diary publications almost instantly, giving her a decent seat in literary history.

It wouldn't be long until something else gave her another boost of fame.

Ramon Casas, Decadent Young Woman. After the Dance, 1899

The Eroticist

In the late 1970s, Anais Nine published three volumes of erotic short fiction, each containing approximately ten stories. Despite their popularity, the term erotic is a tad inappropriate. Although she wasn't a follower of the transgressive art movement like Georges Bataille, Anais Nin's erotic stories are more disturbing and controversial than actually arousing.

Nin wrote about such topics as sexual abuse, incest, pedophilia, and other forms of sexual violence within her stories. These works would go on to shock and challenge readers even today (Maza).

Lost Lenore Antiques, Anais Nin ~ Little Birds and Delta of Venus ~ 1st Edition Books ~ Vintage Erotica, 27 August 2021

Works Cited

The Anais Nin Foundation. “bio — The Anais Nin Foundation.” The Anais Nin Foundation, https://theanaisninfoundation.org/bio. Accessed 11 December 2023.

Gorman, Alice. “The book that changed me: journeying to the self with Anaïs Nin's sensual, transgressive diaries.” The Conversation, 25 April 2022, https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-me-journeying-to-the-self-with-ana-s-nins-sensual-transgressive-diaries-176135. Accessed 11 December 2023.

Maza, Sarah, and Paul Herron. “Swinging: The Double Life of Anaïs Nin.” Public Books, 19 February 2018, https://www.publicbooks.org/swinging-the-double-life-of-anais-nin/. Accessed 11 December 2023.

Nin, Anaïs. “Quotes from Henry and June: From "A Journal of Love"--The Unexpurgated Diary of Anaïs Nin by Anaïs Nin.” BookQuoters, https://bookquoters.com/book/henry-and-june-from-a-journal-of-love-the-unexpurgated-diary-of-anais-nin. Accessed 11 December 2023.

Further Reading

[bethanydelleman]

Northanger Abbey Readthrough, Ch 1

Welcome to the Northanger Abbey Readthrough, October 2023! I will be posting one chapter per day, which will take us right to Halloween. This readthrough does contain spoilers, because I can't help myself.

We begin with the advertisement from the author, who is clearly annoyed that her first novel was purchased and then not published.

That any bookseller should think it worth-while to purchase what he did not think it worth-while to publish seems extraordinary.

While Jane Austen notes that books have changed, by which I assume she means the popularity of some of the novels referenced, I am pleased to inform you that Anthony Trollope mentioned Mrs. Radcliff and The Mysteries of Udolpho in his 1987 novel, Barchester Towers! Even the veil! So clearly the novels she was satirizing had not yet gone out of style.

On to the story! Catherine Morland is so very normal. The most normal girl ever. She also isn't an orphan, both her parents are living which the narrator points out is very hard for a heroine (lol). She doesn't really like lessons and she likes running around and rolling down hills.

She never could learn or understand anything before she was taught; and sometimes not even then, for she was often inattentive, and occasionally stupid.

Catherine's indifference to flowers will come up later, but this line is also funny in a forbidden fruit way:

Indeed she had no taste for a garden; and if she gathered flowers at all, it was chiefly for the pleasure of mischief—at least so it was conjectured from her always preferring those which she was forbidden to take.

This is a great description of an older sibling (I like to think this describes me as an older sister):

very kind to the little ones, with few interruptions of tyranny

And her family is so good and normal too! Her mom seems to have some good parenting practices:

She learnt a year, and could not bear it; and Mrs. Morland, who did not insist on her daughters being accomplished in spite of incapacity or distaste, allowed her to leave off.

The Morland family seems like a strong contrast to the Bennets, both of them employing no governess. We learn that the Morlands are actively invested in their children's education (unlike the Bennets):

Writing and accounts she was taught by her father; French by her mother: her proficiency in either was not remarkable, and she shirked her lessons in both whenever she could.

And even though the older girls are left to "shift for themselves", Mrs. Morland, who is both poorer and has double the children, can be more easily excused for some neglect. She sounds like a slave to the children's education, unlike Mrs. Bennet!

Catherine, a tomboy, begins to become interested in more feminine pursuits, but she does not transform into a great beauty or an accomplished young lady. Her achievements are similar to those of the ordinary person:

So far her improvement was sufficient—and in many other points she came on exceedingly well; for though she could not write sonnets, she brought herself to read them; and though there seemed no chance of her throwing a whole party into raptures by a prelude on the pianoforte, of her own composition, she could listen to other people’s performance with very little fatigue.

Catherine is just the most relatable heroine ever! She's adequate. She's reasonably intelligent, passingly pretty, a true Every Woman. And really, the whole novel is full of so many small human moments that hit just as hard as the more dramatic ones from other novels (Lucy telling Elinor Edward is engaged to her, Louisa falling from the Cobb, Lydia's elopement) because they are things that might happen to anyone. Really wanting to see your crush and instead having to hang out with someone you dislike; not knowing if someone is angry at you or not; and finding out your friend isn't a real friend... Northanger Abbey somehow explores the most ordinary things without making them boring.

Also, while Catherine may seem unintelligent, the girl must have read a lot of Shakespeare, the quotes in this chapter come from Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, and Othello. I reluctantly read 5 Shakespearean plays in high school, so Catherine is at about par with my education (I like Shakespeare now! I learned to appreciate him in university when I saw a few of the plays in person).

Catherine is also such a happy, bubbly, character. I can really imagine her being "all happiness" when her parents consent to her trip to Bath. We are told Emma Woodhouse has a happy disposition, but we don't see her dancing in her chair all the way home after a fun evening. Catherine really has joy and she comes back quickly from disappointment. She's a really great character to go on a journey with.

I feel like it must be noted, Catherine has to get away from her family to have an adventure because she has good parents. Good parents are exactly what you want to have, but as the narrator points out, they hardly make a good heroine! So the narrator is forced to remove our nascent heroine from her loving home into the dubious care of the Allens (and really they aren't that bad) for her story to begin. This contrasts again with the Bennets, who manage to supply a good deal of the story's conflict all on their own!

[thoughtportal]

Official measurements have found that Paris is rapidly becoming a city of transportation cyclists. The survey of how people now move in Paris was conducted with GPS trackers by academics from L’Institut Paris Région, the largest urban planning and environmental agency in Europe.

The institute’s transportation report was published on April 4. It found that the way Parisians are now traveling from the suburbs to the city center, especially during peak periods, has undergone a revolution thanks in part to the building of many miles of cycleways.

Those cyclists now on the streets and roads of central Paris are not Spandex-clad professionals as seen on the Tour de France but everyday transportation cyclists.

L’Institut Paris Région carried out the survey for a consortium of fourteen public and private partners, including local government and rail companies.

Reporting on the institute’s survey, French TV channel 20 Minutes told viewers that the “capital’s cycle paths are always full.”

Between October 2022 and April 2023, 3,337 Parisians aged 16 to 80 years old were equipped with GPS trackers to record their journeys for seven consecutive days. In the suburbs, where public transit is less dense, transport by car was found to be the main form of mobility. But for journeys from the outskirts of Paris to the center, the number of cyclists now far exceeds the number of motorists, a huge change from just five years ago. Most of the journeys recorded were commuter trips.

The city’s socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo has pushed through a great many anti-motoring measures during her two administrations—such as reducing the number of parking places, restricting access by SUVs, and closing some major roads to motorists—and the latest survey will be validation for her policies, none of which have caused the kind of protests that the French capital has long been famous for.

In short, culling cars has been far more popular than her petrolhead critics predicted, with Paris becoming cleaner and healthier to boot.

Notably, and without the spread of conspiracy theories common outside of France, Paris is also putting into practice the home-grown concept of the “15-minute city,” creating urban areas where access to amenities is close and hence there’s less need to drive. {read}

Carlton Reid

I was Press Gazette’s Transport Journalist of the Year, 2018. I’m also an historian – my most recent books include “Roads Were Not Built for Cars” and “Bike Boom”, both published by Island Press, Washington, D.C.

[pixelgrotto]

Adventure Paths & Strategy Guides

Those of you who keep track of this blog may have noticed that my updates have dried up since September. I have a good reason for this, because I got a new fulltime job writing for Rock Paper Shotgun. Yep, that's right - after originally starting Pixel Grotto back in 2013 because I couldn't get a job working at a video game media outlet, finally my path has come full circle. It only took a decade!

This turn of events coincides with a lot of other stuff in my life. In the past year, I've gotten married, moved from the US to the UK with my wife, and been freelancing in the tabletop RPG space all the while. In fact, my first published TTRPG work is now out in the wild in the form of Pathfinder Adventure Path #198 - With No Breath To Cry. Go grab a PDF (or physical copy) if you can, since I wrote some creepy lore about a new demon vaguely influenced by Chinese yaoguai and Japanese yokai, not to mention all sorts of Asian horror movies. I'm actually more pleased with my contributions to Pathfinder Adventure Path #199, but that doesn't come out until January. Keep your eyes peeled for it though!

Needless to say, this has probably been the most hectic and life-changing year I've gone through since 2018, when I moved from Hong Kong back to the US. And as 2023 comes to a close, I'm feeling reflective. I compare myself with others a lot, and much of my life has been spent looking at the accomplishments of people around me and feeling like I don't measure up. While I still do this to varying degrees, I suppose I can finally acknowledge that two of the goals I've always had - 1) to work in the gaming industry to some capacity, and 2) to see my writing published - have manifested in 2023. If I could venture back to 2013 when I started this blog (with a post about eating dumplings while playing Final Fantasy XII, no less) and tell my old self what he'd be up to a decade later, younger Jeremy would be chuffed.

That's another thing of note: as of this past October, Pixel Grotto turned a decade old. Technically, the site is even older than that, since prior to Pixel Grotto, I used this Tumblr for a blog dubbed Aqua Headphones that was sort of a mixture of personal ramblings combined with reblogs of whatever I found cool on the internet at the time. Since then, I've written an awful lot about video games, which led to writing about tabletop games, which led to working in both fields in a professional capacity.

It's surreal to examine my goals and observe how they unfolded in unusual ways. My original desire to work in games media came from the childhood magazines that I loved - Computer Gaming World and Electronic Gaming Monthly - and when those went the way of the dodo, I became a journalist with the sly hope that maybe one day I'd get a job working at Kotaku or something. But I finally got my gaming gig not at an American site, but a British one. And I'm writing guides, which is not something I initially envisioned myself doing. It's tricky work where we often have the chase the reins of the most popular franchises (I now know more about Modern Warfare 3 guns than I ever imagined I would), but it's also fun, since it reminds me of days spent perusing GameFAQs and leafing through physical strategy guides, several of which I still own. Versus Books' Final Fantasy VII and Ocarina of Time Perfect Guides remain on my shelf alongside Prima's Quest for Glory guides and Peter Spear's The King's Quest Companion...and while I can't do my current work in the same format of these gems (many of which were "novelizations," a style of guide writing I really miss), it does feel trippy to be following in their footsteps.

I could say the same thing about getting my words published. As a kid, I forever wanted to pen the next great fantasy novel. And while I've got more than a few discarded novel drafts sitting on my hard drive, the field of fantasy fiction isn't the one that's bearing my first printed work. Instead, it's modules and supplementary books in the fantasy tabletop gaming space - a space that has let me develop and externalize some of the plots and characters that have been gestating in my head since childhood. To a certain extent, that childhood desire to be the next great Tolkien has lessened as a result of this, and I can't say I'm displeased. I'm also happy that my first published work has been in a Pathfinder Adventure Path, because once again thinking about magazines, Adventure Paths remain one of the few remaining publications in the TTRPG space that bear some resemblance to old issues of Dragon magazine, and the nostalgia makes me happy.

I don't like to spend much time on this blog talking about myself, because there are always new ways to incite comparison to others and activate the inferiority complex in my brain. But at the end of a very long 2023 and on the tenth anniversary of the name "Pixel Grotto," I feel like it's necessary. As we move on to year eleven, I'll continue to make posts as long as my schedule permits it - after all, I can't let this blog fall to the wayside seeing as how its existence contributed a great deal to the opportunities that I now enjoy!

[namor-the-submariner-dot-net]

Marvel Super Stories

This is a book for the general public / middle graders published by a book publisher, not Marvel Comics. I'm THRILLED to see Namor on the cover and with a story! Besides the movies and games, this is how Namor gets introduced to the next generation who, TBH, just don't read floppy comics. It takes it's title from Spidey Super Stories, which may hint at the vibe and audience they are going for. The famous and fabulous, Namor and Doom tooting horn, comes from Spidey Super Stories.

"Marvel Comics is an institution that has inspired so many imaginations across the world, including my own. With Marvel Super Stories we get to continue that legacy, presenting the best and brightest creators coupled with the most marvelous heroes.” Creators with stories in the book include: Black Panther: Jerry Craft (New Kid) Wiccan: Mike Curato (Flamer) Miles Morales Spider-Man: C. G. Esperanza (Soul Food Sunday) Iron Man: John Gallagher (Max Meow) Shang-Chi: Gale Galligan (The Baby-Sitters Club) The Hulk: Chris Giarrusso (G-Man) Spider-Man: Nathan Hale (Nathan Hale’s Hazardous Tales) Captain America: Michael Lee Harris (Choco Leche) Hawkeye: Ben Hatke (Zita the Spacegirl) Ms. Marvel: Priya Huq (Piece by Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab) Daredevil: John Jennings (Kindred: The Graphic Novel Adaptation) Thor and Loki: George O’Connor (The Olympians) Namor: Lincoln Peirce (Big Nate) Squirrel Girl: Maria Scrivan (Nat Enough) Ghost Spider: Jessi Zabarsky (Witchlight) Together, this incredible roster of cartoonists delivers a new kind of Marvel story for readers young and old alike, and introduces a new audience to the Marvel Super Hero magic that can transport you to the world outside your window." Marvel Super Stories will be released on October 17, 2023

Source

For those that don't follow middle grade comic books, Lincoln Peirce is a big name in the category. His books are very popular at my library.

[thenewwei]

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the publication of my second book, Good Americans (The Human Tragedy, Volume 1). As such, the Kindle ebook version will be free on Amazon from today Thursday October 12, 2023 through Saturday October 14, 2023. Anybody who wants to check it out for free just needs a free Kindle application for any device. You also have the option of buying the paperback from almost any online bookseller.

From a strictly "literary" perspective, I suppose it is my best published book, but then it is the only ostensibly literary book I've released (until its sequel comes out), a short story collection of 6 stories, a 3-part novella, and a creative introduction.

The collection has a crazy history which I could write a book on itself. The oldest story, "Bridget's Brother," was composed in the winter of 2001 at the University of Oxford in the UK, where I was studying abroad at the ripe age of 20, writing under a special light so I wouldn't get depressed, trying to read (and unsuccessfully like) Henry Green's Loving, biking around George Street, attending the Oxford Union and spying on conversations in Blackwell's Bookshop so I could pick up British slang to use in my work (I also once sat next to Chelsea Clinton, but was too shy to say anything, not to mention that 9/11 had just occurred, making her SS detail all the more apprehensive, I figured. This is also referred to in the story). The story is derived from a real life experience with my fellow students, both American and British, and it shows with its subject matter, "awkward" prose and loose/dynamic construction. The last stories I wrote, "The Apprentice" and the three part jackhammer "Malta: A Love Story," were pumped out the summer before its publication, meant to beef up the collection, and the Introduction was literally written that Fall.

I had been shopping around the book as "Dhan's Debut and Other Stories," sending it to book agents and literary contests I would find in the back of publications like Poets & Writers, AWP Chronicle and Writer's Digest's. I would pay fees, wait for months, and get rejections, over and over again. All the individual stories were being sent out to literary journals and were rejected too. The few journals without word limits were sent "Old Guido." The Florida Review editor sent me back a hand written note telling me how much they admired it--but they still wouldn't publish it. Even "The Mountain," a now praised story within most journal limits, was dismissed.

This was code to me that I was wasting my time with the conventional literary world, just as I had with The Brotherhood. At the same time, I had the revelation that the stories, as a whole, could work as a panoramic portrait of different elements of American society, as collisions of worlds, albeit focused on its dregs. That prompted the creation of the final two stories, and the change in title. For years the story "Good Americans" had been called "A Good American" (and also rejected). I decided to rename it and the entire collection after it.

So while I might have been successful, potentially, at shopping around the new beefed up "Good Americans," at nearly 400 pages, to lit agents, I had zero stomach to do so after so many failures. Instead, I wrote up the satirical Intro as a kind of internal joke, arranged the collection, had readers check typos, and DIY formatted the collection for both ebook and print publications.

It was self-published in Fall 2013 through my own company The New Wei LLC, a year after my first and most popular book The Brotherhood, which would eventually have two sequels.

The few indie reviewers who deigned to read it praised it mightily. Kirkus Reviews called it "a solid collection of rare caliber" that "speaks volumes about the human condition and modern life in America." The Indian reviewer Vault of Books, now deceased, which had dismissed The Brotherhood as a B novel, were amazed at it, calling it a "a great collection of short stories" where "each and every story" "stands out" and "leaves an indelible impression on the mind."

The other indie reviewers also left no doubt this was an important work of American fiction. And yet, still, even after a major publicity tour, radio, TV, print interviews and article publications in HuffPost and Publishing Perspectives, no major reviewers (or publishers) picked it up, simply because of its self-published status.

Other than regular readers somewhat confounded by the contradiction of its low subject matter and high fallutin' self-lauded aims, most of the criticism came on one story, the last one and the original title tale, Dhan's Debut, mostly disappointed or puzzled with its ending. I wasn't surprised by this because I had struggled with the story myself upon composition, rewriting it several times from scratch. It also didn't fit as solidly with the grittiness of the other tales. I had two alternate endings too. I actually think the original ending, a more conventional one, worked better, but a good friend preferred the crazier ending, so I used that one. I realized I could always go back, but I've decided to preserve the published, controversial version for historical purposes.

In any case, now that you know some of the history, perhaps you will be even more intrigued to check out this dynamic work. As Readers' Favorite wrote at the beginning of its mostly praising review, "this book won't be for everyone," but if you're interesting in challenging your perspectives and leaving your inhibitions at its cover, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

And its anthology sequel, Bad Americans, is only a few months from being completed!

Tejas Desai October 2023

[xtruss]

How Birdwatching’s Biggest Record Threw Its Online Community Into Chaos

In late 2023, Peter Kaestner was about to log his 10,000th bird species seen in the wild. Then Jason Mann showed up

— Kari Paul | Sunday 24 March 2024

In late 2023, 70-year-old birder Peter Kaestner was within striking distance of a goal that had never been accomplished: seeing more than 10,000 different species of birds in the wild.

Such a record had previously been unthinkable, but with new technology facilitating rare bird sightings, improved DNA testing identifying a growing number of bird species, and public listing platforms making it easier to keep track of and share findings, more super-birders are inching towards the five digits.

Just as Kaestner approached the finish line for his record 10,000 birds, though, a previously unknown competitor by the name Jason Mann flew in out of nowhere to snatch the record out from under him.

The mystery birder seemed to have uploaded a backlog of thousands of species he had seen over several decades to now-defunct birding site Surfbirds.com, listing more than 9,000 birds over the course of a few months in a move that took Kaestner and others by surprise

“Two people break 10,000 species, and on the same day? Can it be?” one incredulous birder posted in February.

Subsequent scrutiny of Mann’s claims and drama that ensued over their veracity shook the online birding community, which revolves around a small cadre of websites but has no centralized authority. The mad dash for who could log most birds called into question whether logs should be better moderated in a competition in which sightings are largely accepted in good faith.

“On the internet, you can post anything you want,” said Kaestner, who has generally declined to comment on the veracity of Mann’s listings. “The question is, when this is not hurtful or illegal, it’s just someone making a claim, who gets to say whether any particular claim is valid or not?”

Peter Kaestner talks about bird watching at Camp Lemonnier in Djibouti on 9 October 2015. Photograph: Senior Airman Peter Thompson/US air force via Alamy

Bird observation has come a long way since the ornithologist John James Audubon announced his goal to painstakingly document all the birds in North America through physical drawings, starting around 1820. With digital cameras, birds can now be captured in high-quality photos, and artificial intelligence technology can identify birds by their calls. While in the past, birders kept lists of “lifers” – the word for a new-to-you species – in paper notebooks, most hobbyists today use online platforms to track and share their sightings. Popular apps including iBird, iGoTerra and eBird allow hobbyists to see where rare birds have been found and try their luck at spotting them.

These platforms are now at the center of the controversy between the two birders.

‘Listing’ As A Sport – With Few Rules

There is a broad range of intensity in the practice of observing birds. Casual hobbyists are known as “bird watchers”, while seeking to log species in a more competitive manner is known as “birding”. Those who log large numbers of species and rare sightings call themselves “listers”. Those like Kaestner who seek to break world records are known as “big listers”.

Given the dire rate of decline and extinction in bird populations, it may seem counterintuitive that the 10,000-bird milestone was not achievable until now. But this can be largely attributed to changes in bird taxonomies in the last century, including over the course of Kaestner’s birding career.

“When I was in college, the very first book listing the birds of the world was compiled and published, and it had about 8,600 birds,” he said. “Seeing 10,000 birds was mathematically impossible.”

Taxonomies change when the understanding of birds evolve and “split” existing species into two species (or, less commonly, “lump” them into one). In 2023, for example, the northern goshawk species was split into two – the Eurasian goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) and American goshawk (Accipiter atricapillus) – after substantial differences were discovered in the birds’ genetics and vocalizations. The speed at which species are splitting appears to be accelerating as advances in genetics make it easier to measure the biochemical markers that delineate species.

The variability in recognized species represented a complicating factor in the quest to hit the 10,000-bird milestone. The popular platform eBird only uses the Clements Checklist of Birds of the World, while iGoTerra offers users both the Clements and International Ornithological Community’s (IOC) World Bird List taxonomies. The latter recognizes 189 more species of birds, making larger lists more attainable.

Kaestner uses both sites, but he reached his record using the IOC taxonomy, which he logged through iGoTerra. Because eBird data is used for science and conservation, sightings are moderated by volunteers around the world. If a user claims to have seen a rare species, or an unusual number of a species, a moderator may reach out for more information or request photos or audio recordings as proof.

iGoTerra, on the other hand, does not fact-check sightings. The platform allows logging of plants insects and other species in addition to birds. eBird’s focus on collecting and using large amounts of citizen science data makes moderation more consequential, whereas iGoTerra is more “geared towards the individual”, said Björn Anderson, iGoTerra’s vice-president.

“iGoTerra is more of a gentlemen’s agreement,” he said. “We provide the tools for you to keep track, but it’s up to you to determine what you have seen.”

That policy created a “very delicate situation” in the race towards 10,000 species, said Anderson. iGoTerra’s official policy was to stay out of the debate, relying on the transparency of its product to let those following the drama make their own decisions.

The Race To See 10,000 Birds

Kaestner, who lives in a suburb of Baltimore, has been watching birds as long as he can remember, he says, joining his older brother birding as early as age four. The career diplomat took advantage of his travels around the world to see as many species as possible, setting a record in 1986 for being the first person to observe an example of every bird family in the wild – a feat that was recognized by Guinness World Records. He built up a reputation in the birding community as he publicly shared many of his lists and photos.

In 2018, Kaestner realized he had surpassed 9,000 lifers and began pursuing the 10,000-bird milestone in earnest. His quest was highlighted in a May 2023 article in Outside magazine, as well as on his widely followed Facebook account. He explained his goal, how he planned to accomplish it, and his timeline – a move he now questions.

“I realize now that by publishing that, I may have been putting a target on my back,” he said. “Little did I know Jason Mann would be aiming for it.”

Mann, a little-known US birder living abroad, had recently appeared on the scene, posting occasionally on the bird forum Surfbirds.com. According to his LinkedIn profile, Mann is a medical doctor and healthcare investor based in Hong Kong. In October 2023, he published a list detailing more than 9,000 species he said he had seen over the course of his lifetime. The move surprised the birding world. Nobody, including Kaestner, had ever heard of him – a rare occurrence in a close-knit community in which the top players are well-recognized. Having been in the game for decades, Kaestner knew most of his high-level peers personally, on many occasions having taken birding trips with them in the spirit of friendly competition. Mann did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

The entry of a dark horse into the race sent Kaestner scrambling. He quietly moved up a planned trip to Taiwan, where he hoped to see a handful of final species. Mann was adding nearly a dozen new species a day. The sprint was on – and on 9 February 2024, having rushed to the Philippines for another birding trip, Kaestner crossed the finish line with the sighting of an orange-tufted spiderhunter, a small bird with a long curved bill and a penchant for banana plants. Kaestner immediately posted the sighting to birding apps and Facebook, with photo proof. He thought he had won.

A small, white-breasted bird, with gray wings, a red eye, and a long curved bill longer than its head.This orange-tufted spiderhunter marked Peter Kaestner’s 10,000th bird, seen on 9 February 2024 during a trip to the Philippines. Photograph: Courtesy Peter Kaestner

Stunningly, Mann claimed to have seen his own 10,000th species in Colombia, a chestnut-bellied flowerpiercer, just hours before Kaestner on the same day. Mann’s achievement was later announced on the blog of a Colombian nature trip service in a post authored by Mann himself.

The shocking upset prompted online sleuths in the birding community to take a closer look at Mann’s list, where they found “several dozen extremely fishy species” that, besides Mann, “no one has claimed to have seen for decades”, according to one post on BirdForum, a community for birders with more than 100,000 visitors a month. The post had more than 400 comments discussing the validity of Mann’s sightings. Species Mann claimed to have seen included the Manipur bush quail and the new Caldonian nightjar, neither of which had been spotted since the 1930s.

“Either this guy is the luckiest birder alive, having rediscovered several lost species, or his list is not to be trusted,” one member auditing Mann’s list wrote.

For his part, Kaestner took Mann’s sightings in stride, congratulating him and stating he would focus on celebrating his own accomplishment. “I was not involved in disproving Jason, or criticizing him publicly,” he said. “I have no idea if he is legitimate, misguided or a complete fraud.”

After parts of his list were discredited, Mann ultimately posted on BirdForum and sent Kaestner an email conceding defeat. The Colombian blog where his accomplishment was first cited was taken down and an apology from the company was appended. Mann said that while he is comfortable with “>99% of the list” he uploaded, he “recognize[s] that in haste there were a few oversights”. Given the errors, he said: “I think it best to put my support behind Peter as the first birder to 10,000.”

“I don’t want there to be any question, and in my view he is extremely deserving,” Mann wrote. “I celebrate Peter and other world-class listers, and do not consider myself in competition with any of them.”

As the drama has died down, Kaestner is still traveling, and still birding. While competition and achieving birding records are thrilling, he said they are just a small part of what draws him to birding.

“Being recognized for having worked so long and so hard at something is a treat – you can’t deny it, but it’s not the reason I birdwatch,” he said. “I love to travel, I love the adventure of going to unusual places, I love observing bird behavior. I love teaching people about birds. Having my 15 minutes of fame is just a bonus for me.”

The Aftermath

Mann has taken his iGoTerra list private in the aftermath of the controversy. In a post to BirdForum identifying himself, he conceded that he “made some errors when inputting my sightings into iGoTerra” and explained that he is “new to the public side of big listing”. He stated that it had been a “massive effort” to collate all of his notes “after 37 years of birding almost everywhere”. The effort was complicated, he noted, by the varying taxonomies and the fact that SurfBirds.com became unstable in the midst of the race, forcing him to migrate to iGoTerra.

“To me it was a real privilege to have such a close, neck-and-neck race at the end,” he wrote. “My hope is that any associated publicity helps move birding forward, raising awareness for more people to enjoy and protect nature.”

With both birders’ lists on full display, Kaestner’s own logs came under scrutiny following the 10,000-bird achievement, ultimately leading him to remove three species. He said he had already removed the birds in question from his eBird listings but forgot to remove them from iGoTerra. One of those sightings was called into question more than three years after the fact, he said, when new research revealed it was impossible he could have seen that species in the location where it was logged. His final number of sightings still stood above 10,000.

“If I’ve made a mistake, very often it’s based on knowledge of the bird at the time,” he said. “Science is all about advancing knowledge, and as the knowledge of the bird changes, if I get evidence I made a mistake, I am more than willing to take a bird off my list.”

Anderson said iGoTerra does not plan to change the way it moderates the platform, but that the recent events have inspired more transparency and scrutiny of lists, which he said is a “very good thing”. He says public validation can be more important than that of an individual reviewer because there is more knowledge to pull from. At the end of the day, he added, the competition is meant to be friendly.

“Even if two top birders are neck and neck, I guarantee you they would help one another to get a new lifer, or even share a car on a trip to see a rare bird,” he said. “I think that is pretty unique, and it’s part of the beauty of this competition.”

Kaestner’s list, following his removal of three species that were questioned, now stands at 10,002 birds. He doesn’t have a new goal in mind and said for now he is focusing on bird conservation and leading educational trips. The response to the controversy affirmed for him why he is involved in birding to begin with: people he bumped into on bird-watching trips decades ago came to his defense.

“Some birders don’t understand that birding is a team sport,” he said. “Getting information from others, sharing information, developing relationships with people – you can’t be a complete lone wolf. It’s always been a team sport.”

[bewitchingbooktours]

“Huzza!” Toasting a New Nation, 1760-1815 by Timothy Symington #History #RevolutionaryWar #AmericanRevolution

“Huzza!”  Toasting a New Nation, 1760-1815

Timothy Symington

Genre:  Nonfiction/History

Publisher:  McFarland Books

Date of Publication:  September 29, 2023

ISBN: 978-1-4766-9315-6 Print

ISBN: 978-1-4766-5056-2 ebook

ASIN: BOCK62JP5L

Number of pages: 273

Word Count: 125,000. 

Tagline: Drinking toasts to the American Revolution and beyond!

Book Description:

During the early years of the United States, toasts captured popular sentiments regarding people and events.  Sometimes they were used to spread national ideology and partisan political views.  They could even be “weaponized” against political opponents, such as during the bitter election between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1800.  “Huzza!”  Toasting a New Nation, 1760-1815 is a retelling of the familiar historical narrative, but toasts are used to tell the story of the events and people between the American Revolution and the War of 1812.

Amazon     Mcfarland Books

Excerpt:      Israel Putnam of Connecticut, who led the rebels at Bunker Hill in June, was one of the first to be singled out for honors when the war began. The Connecticut Gazette printed toasts from a July 25 dinner in London attended by the Freeholders of Middlesex. General Putnam was toasted “and all those American Heroes, who, like men, nobly prefer death to slavery and chains.” Sons of Liberty leader Dr. Joseph Warren, who was killed on the battlefield, received the following toast from the Field Officers of the Sixth Brigade in Cambridge: “Immortal Honor to that Patriot and Hero Doctor Joseph Warren, and the Brave American troops, who fought the Battle of Charlestown on the 17th of June 1775.” This list of toasts, appearing in the August 21, 1775, issue of the Boston Gazette, or Country Journal started with a toast to the Continental Congress instead of to the British monarch. The officers raised their glasses instead to all the colonies, the Stamp Act riots, Lexington and Concord, and an end to the “present unhappy Disputes.” Dr. Warren would be a consistently toasted figure into the early 1800s.      George Washington replaced George III as the main recipient of toasts, becoming the most toasted individual in the new nation. The King was now the enemy. Even English supporters of colonial rights, such as John Wilkes and Edmund Burke, were replaced by American military heroes. English support for the rights of the colonists, however, had not disappeared. The Virginia Gazette printed toasts the London Association made in October 1775. Association members wished for “axes and halters, at public expence, to all those who attempt to trample on the liberties of their fellow subjects, either in Great Britain or America,” and that “kings remember that they were made for their subjects, and not their subjects for them.”      The former British corset-maker Thomas Paine brilliantly explained why the colonists should no longer rely on the King to protect their liberties. His pamphlet, Common Sense, demanded that Americans free themselves of Britain’s control. Paine wrote that “One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in Kings, is that nature disapproves it, otherwise she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule, by giving mankind an Ass for a Lion.” His words reached everyone in the colonies, and so he and his work were toasted: “May the INDEPENDENT principles of COMMON SENSE be confirmed throughout the United Colonies.”      Most colonies had already taken Paine’s advice to heart and declared themselves to be independent states. Members of the Virginia convention calling for a resolution for national independence gave toasts in May: “The American independent states” and “The Grand Congress of the United States, and their respected legislatures.” Washington attended a feast at the Queen’s Head Tavern in New York City, where toasts were given to the Continental Congress and the American army, and to the memory of General Richard Montgomery, killed in the disastrous invasion of Quebec in December 1775. The final toast was “to ‘Civil and religious liberty to all mankind’—mankind, that is, except Tories.” Tories, the conservative supporters of the Crown, received extra abuse in the Patriots’ toasts: “Sore Eyes to all Tories, and a Chestnut Burr for an Eye Stone.”

About the Author:

Timothy Symington received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Saint Anselm College and his Master of Arts degree in American History from Adams State University.  A former educator, he now contributes to the Journal of the American Revolution.  “Huzza!”  Toasting a New Nation, 1760-1815 is his first book.

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ToastFab4

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/tim.symington/

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Toastmaster-yu9eq

[0olong]

2023 Roundup

(also posted on my own site)

I started 2023 with pretty bad fatigue, having had covid in December 2022, following on from a different virus in December which had already given me weeks of post-viral fatigue. This improved slowly over the course of the year, only for the same thing to happen at the end of 2023 - this time, I first tested positive for covid on Christmas Day. I missed a significant amount of work as a result of all this, although I was ultimately happy with the progress that all of my students made - including the many who also missed a lot of school...

I started at a new school after the summer, and left both of the schools I'd been teaching at for a few years before that. It's smaller and more outdoorsy, and Maria Montessori's educational philosophy is far closer to mine than Rudolf Steiner's!

Outside of school, it's been a busy year. It was the third Weird Pride Day on the 4th of March; I had a fun online discussion on the day, but only got round to making a dedicated Weird Pride Day site just afterwards. I made a page on it about Weird Pride for Schools, one on the history of the idea, and pages about what Weird Pride is and its relationship with queer/LGBT identities.

Over on the Monotropism site that I made last year, I've expanded the Explanations page, wrote a piece about ADHD and Monotropism, a page for Mike Lesser, and 'I'm monotropic... now what?' to help anyone who's just realised this about themselves. I wrote a roundup of recent writing about monotropism - there's been a lot! I also wrote a piece on the Monotropism Questionnaire after our paper on it went online as a preprint and proved unexpectedly popular. Finally, I added the text of my keynote talk for the Scottish Autism Research Group (SARG) 2023 conference, Monotropism and Wellbeing.

Elsewhere, I adapted an extract from my piece on Musk from late 2022 (Elon Musk's Autistic Anti-Patterns) for Thinking Person's Guide to Autism, as We Need to Talk About Aspie Supremacists. In October, I contributed to Resisting Transphobia in Edinburgh's 'Trans Facts' resource. In November I shared a meditation on the relationships between anger and power on my Medium. In December, I reported for Bylines Scotland on the Scottish Greens voting for a ban on 'behaviour modification' practices for disabled people (which is in the Bylines Gazette for December).

I made a few videos this year: for AMASE, I posted an update on autistic access to mental health with my partner Sonny Hallett doing most of the talking; and interviews with Elle McNicoll and Pete Wharmby. I also had a panel discussion with Pete and Elliott Spaeth at the ITAKOM (It Takes All Kinds of Minds) conference. On my own YouTube channel, I made a video of my piece On Smallness and Power, and my talk on LEANS and neurodiversity at school for a Korean conference, plus a short timelapse film of a sunrise with nacreous clouds. I also made a TikTok account, and posted some videos about Weird Pride and the Monotropism Questionnaire, plus a short rant about how nothing happens for a reason.

I was sole author of a perspective piece on autism & scientism this year, and a co-author on a paper that passed peer-review, about the LEANS project: Evaluation of wider community support for a neurodiversity teaching programme designed using participatory methods. Two more papers are currently going through peer review, with another to follow soon; I also hope to have two or three book chapters published in the new year.

For a year marked by chronic fatigue, I guess I got quite a bit done! I also took some photos and put them on Instagram, made some posts on my waffle blog, and even made a few sculptures - including this fairly silly Christmas present I made for Sonny, which I figure fits in with the rear-facing nature of this retrospective...

[amonsteronmaplestreet]

2023: A Year in Review

Ko-Fi Version | Substack Version | Patreon Version

The other day I had a minor depressive episode, which is something I haven't experienced for a few months. I spent much of the day feeling like a failure, a burden, like I was incapable of doing anything right.

Today, I sit down and I look back at everything I've done and everything that's happened this year, and I'm stunned at how productive and momentous 2023 has been for me, in both my personal and professional lives.

To start off, I released three books this year: my short story collection, In Our Hearts We're Dreaming, came first, in February. Then in May I released the sixth ScaleGuard novel on Kindle Unlimited, officially beginning the second half of that series. Finally, October saw the release of my horror novella, The Last Day​.

I entered my novel The Ghosts in the Flames into two competitions this year: the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off and the Book Blogger's Novel of the Year Award. It received a review through SPFBO, but didn't make it past the first round. However, it made it to the Semi-Finals of BBNYA, and while it didn't move on to the finals, the panelists did have some kind things to say about it.

​I also started my Substack this year, and saw growth in my Patreon and the first recurring subscriber to my Ko-Fi. I made good on something I had mused about doing last year (writing about my inspirations) with my Morrowind essay, the Substack version of which was the most popular post I made in 2023.

​Outside the realm of self-publishing, I successfully sold a short story this year for the first time as well: "Zombie" was performed by Jesse Cornett in the paid version of The NoSleep Podcast, Season 19 Episode 14.

Most recently, The Last Day has been nominated for the Indie Ink Awards, and as of this writing, voting is currently open. The book has been nominated for the categories of Best Morally Gray Character, Best Setting, and Best Use of Tropes, and I would appreciate it if you sent some votes my way.

In terms of my personal life, 2023 has been quite the adventure. I got two raises, moved to a new apartment with my girlfriend, and lost my car! Those last two actually happened at the same time--the morning of the move, I went out to my car and discovered that it wouldn't start. After months of using public transport and waiting on the mechanics to get the necessary part to fix it, it was eventually confirmed that the repair would cost more than the car was worth, so I sold it for scrap.

My girlfriend as well had an adventurous year, though hers is not my story to tell. Suffice to say she was hospitalized twice this year in the span of a single month, first due to a horse, then due to a car accident. I can't express how relieved I am that she made a full recovery in both cases.

I have two more posts planned to hopefully go up before the end of the year: a review of the first Conan​ story, and a spotlight of some books I read this year. So look forward to those.

Overall, 2023 has been a wild ride. Here's to 2024. May it bring even more triumphs and successes.

[oldsalempost-blog]

The Old Salem Post

Our  Local Tamassee-Salem SC Area News each Monday except holidays                 Contact: theoldsalempost@gmail.com                              Distributed to local businesses, town hall, library.                            Volume 7 Issue4                                                                                                  Week of December 11, 2023                https://www.tumblr.com/settings/blog/oldsalempost-blog                                                         Lynne Martin Publishing

EDITOR:  I say this every year.  “Satan loves to mess up Christmas!”  So if you find yourself in a bad state such as a battle, quarrel, conflict, sickness, financial woes, and the list goes on, recognize it for what it is—a joy stealer.  The good and evil battle is with us daily, but, more emotional and prevalent during the Christmas season—-if you let it!  Don’t allow anything to steal peace found through the true joy of Christmas—Emmanuel-God with us!

TOWN of SALEM:  * Visit the Downtown Market every Sat 8am-12pm. *   Town Hall will be closed Dec 21st and will reopen on Dec 28th.    Jan. 16th 5pm swearing in Leigh Roach, new member on Town Council.

SALEM LIBRARY:  Open Monday 10am-6pm and Tuesday-Friday 9am-5pm.

JOCASSEE VALLEY BREWING COMPANY,(JVBC) & COFFEE SHOP* 13412 N Hwy 11 Open  Wed–Sat 9am-9pm and Sunday 2pm-7pm.  Events this week:  Thurs:  Old Time Jam 6:30pm   Fri: Food: Unconfirmed at print.  Music: West End String Band 6:30pm  Sat– Food: Cornbread & Soup   Music: Cornbread Heads  at 6:30pm  Sun:  Rachel Van Slyke 4pm. 864-873-0048.  

ASHTON RECALLS:  by Ashton Hester  Here is a story about the early days of the Oconee County Library System, which, includes the Salem Branch. Due to the length, I will send it in two segments for this issue and the next.   COUNTY LIBRARY EXPERIENCED PHENOMENAL GROWTH FIRST FIVE YEARS - (The following story was in the November 18, 1953 Keowee Courier. Due to its length, I will send it in two segments for this issue and the next). . .During the five years since the Oconee County Library opened in October 1948, it has experienced phenomenal growth. . .The library began operations in a 15-by-15-foot room in the county office building popularly known as the Rock building, with Mrs. Louise Powell of Walhalla as librarian and Mrs. Flossie Crenshaw of Clemson as her assistant, and 2,000 books available. . .It has since moved into its own building, which was made available rent-free by Chicopee Manufacturing Corporation, and boasts of three branch libraries in Westminster, Salem and Seneca. The number of books available has grown to more than 14,000. . .Soon after the library opened, the county purchased a bookmobile, and this "rolling library" began making trips to 32 communities in all parts of the county. Today, the service has expanded to 37 communities and also 29 rural schools. . .The library now has 2,846 registered borrowers, and this total does not include the numerous children served through the rural school deposits. . .The widespread popularity of the library system is demonstrated by the fact that 80,423 books were checked out by borrowers during the 1952-53 fiscal year, which is nearly two books for every resident of the county!. . .TO BE CONCLUDED NEXT ISSUE

.

Jottings from Miz Jeannie  by Jeannie Barnwell                     JFK's Wise Words Apply to Individuals and to Nations   Wreaths Across America is a most worthy focus for this month.  Specifically, my goal is to teach the youngsters of Salem Methodist Church to understand and respect our tradition of decorating veterans' 26 graves with magnificent wreaths with stunning red bows.  The children come forward to the altar to learn about patriotism 3 weeks before presenting wreaths.  This week, I am calling upon the wisdom of John Kennedy, 35th president, to make my point. JFK said, "In order for America to be as safe as possible,  we must be as strong and as well prepared as possible"   To  bring this down to the children's level, I will explain, that  just as schools have bullies, the world has countries that are bullies.  I will tell them that if  they walk around looking weak and scared, that the bully may choose to pick on them.  However, if they stand up tall and proud in the company of other confident children, that they will be less likely to be a bully's target.  AND TO CONCLUDE,  to keep America from being attacked--  the country must support having a STRONG MILITARY.  Pray that the children will always remember JFK's message!   Miz Jeannie

Health Corner:  Hot teas of lemon, ginger, turmeric, and honey are delicious, soothing, loosen congestion and boast of probiotic and anti-inflammatory properties.

EAGLES NEST ART CENTER UPCOMING EVENTS!                                                                                                             Christmas  with the Johnson Edition:  Dec 16 at 7pm    Tickets $10  Reserve your seats and  Bring your family to enjoy delightful time together for the holidays with this talented local family, rising in the ranks of the music world. They stay booked with events, churches, Dollywood, and beyond.                                       *Visit our website at Eaglesnestartcenter.org for more 2024 events and ticket information.                                                               

GIFT IDEA:   Name a seat at ENAC!  $200 Single Name.  $250 for couples or families.  Please call Darlene at  864 710-8758.

GIFT IDEA:  Purchase $20 tickets for the Trial By Fire, A Journey Tribute Band,  for February 10th 2024 at 7pm.  $25 day of  show.

Visit the Eagles Nest Treasure Store open every Saturday morning!  9am-12pm                                                                                   

CHURCH NEWS                                                   Bethel Presbyterian Church (PCUSA), 580 Bethel Church Rd Walhalla, 29691, worships at 10:30 a.m. Advent Schedule , 12/17 Message by Mel Davis, 12/24 Communion with Message by George Harper, 12/24 7:00 pm, Candlelight Service and Carols. Bethel Presbyterian Church,  580 Bethel Church Rd, Walhalla,29691. text for more info: 864-723-4936 or 757-288-3893. Like us on Facebook:  Bethelpresbyterianchurchwalhalla  Love to sing?  Join us! Love to be in charge? Come lead! All worshipers are welcome.  

Boones Creek Baptist Church, 264 Boones Creek Road, Salem invites you to our children’s program “A Christmas Adventure,” Sunday evening, December 17th at 6pm.  We welcome you to join us for regular worship service on Sunday morning with Sunday School at 10am and followed by worship at 11am. 

Salem Methodist Church: 520 Church Street, Salem meets at 9am for breakfast, 9:30am for Sunday School, and 10:30am for Worship. Join us for worship, especially during the Advent Season.  On Sunday Dec 10th we lit the second Advent Candle representing Peace that comes only from our Heavenly Father. We need Peace in this broken world. You may tune in to our live service on Facebook or view it later on our website.

School District of Oconee County: Please attend the next public meeting on Monday, December 11 at 6pm at the District Office, 414 SOUTH PINE STREET, Walhalla to protest the closing of our Tamassee-Salem Elementary School.  Send each board member an email with valid reasons to protect our school, and our tax-payer dollars invested on Highway 11.  Emails can be found on the Oconee School District Website  You must sign up before 6pm if you plan to speak during public comments.  LRM

Quote by Helen Steiner Rice:   “Peace on earth will come to stay, when we live Christmas every day.”  Helen was an inspirational American and Christian, poet, born May 19th 1900 and died April 23, 1981 in Lorain, Ohio.   She found faith as a child through devoted Christian parents and believed “that God loves all his creations and that the paradise of heaven is the absolute destination of those who live ethically and with love.”  

Printing by the Town of Salem                  

Pray for Peace in our homes, our country & on earth for all! LRMartin                                                              

[marjaystuff]

Interview with Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson

War Machine: Sons of Valor Book 3

Blackstone Publishing

Nov 7th, 2023

Sons of Valor, War Machine, the third book in the series, by Brian Andrews and Jeffrey Wilson finishes the overarching story of terrorist Qasim Nadar. They use their vast experience to write engrossing thrillers.  Andrews worked as a nuclear engineer on naval submarines, while Wilson was a trauma surgeon embedded with the East Coast Navy SEALS.

In the stories, Nadar fools everyone and is considered a hero in England.  Everyone that is except counter-terrorism analyst Whitney Watts.  After getting a call from her MI6 counterpart Lucy Kim she flies to England to work with Lucy to try to out Nadar as a terrorist.  Unfortunately, their investigation turns upside down and they are kidnapped by the terrorists. As Lieutenant Commander Keith "Chunk" Redman and the rest of Tier One travel across London in search of Watts, Nadar prepares to unleash his most dangerous weapon yet, an advanced drone with artificial intelligence and stealth technology.

The authors know how to keep the tension high with the suspense growing on each page.  Readers will not want to put this epilogue down.

Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?

Jeffrey Wilson: We hope to continue the series as long as people continue to read them.  This is a spin-off, a shared universe with the “Tier One Series.” The eighth book comes out next year. There was a minor character in the previous series, Chuck Redman, who was widely popular with the readers. 

EC:  What is the premise of the “Tier One Series?”

JW:  The entire SEAL team gets wiped out because of leaked intelligence.  The sole survivor gets a new identity, John Dempsey, and now is part of a covert operation task force. 

Brian Andrews: The first book of that series came out in 2016. John Dempsey, the main character of that series, is not in the “Sons of Valor Series.”  Although in the second book there are a lot of references. But there are other cross-over characters.

Elise Cooper:  Did you base Chuck Redman on the real retired SEAL Jay Redman?

JW:  He is a good friend of ours and we wanted to honor him.  We do it a lot where we put those who we had a professional and personal relationship in our books. Chuck does not represent Jay, but we did it to honor our friendship. 

EC:  How did you get the idea for the current book, Sons of Valor III: War Machine?

BA:  We tend to write our military thrillers as trilogies. The Qasim Nadar thread wraps up in this book. In the real world we like to give the antagonist characters some leeway to flush out their motives and organization. There is a great line, “Every villain is the hero of their own story.” We embrace this in our writing. It is not our point of view, but the character’s thoughts and actions..  

JW: We do not like our bad guys to be two-dimensional cookie cutters unlike Dr. Evil.  The risk is do readers have sympathy for a terrorist. We wanted to explore will Qasim do the right thing or take the path of evil. People will see his evolution through the books on becoming a Jihadi.  In book 2 there was a clear path for him to take, but the one he takes should cause someone to hate him.

EC:  Book 1 has this quote, “It is a shame that it takes personal losses and suffering for most men to find their courage.” This seems so relevant for those families that brutally lost loved ones in Israel on October 7th.  Do you want to comment?

JW:  This is a timely quote referencing how someone’s tragedy is tested under fire. It would be great if no one had to discover this about themselves. Think about the stories that came out of 9/11 and how heroic actions were displayed. I read amazing stories of how people were so incredibly brave on October 7th. A young female army officer went out in her PJs with her gun, joined up with someone else, and held off the terrorists, protecting their little village.  There is such inspiration in these stories. 

EC:  What do you want readers to get out of the books?

JW:  This is why we write these books, hoping people will have a new appreciation for the toll it takes on the operator: the relationship with one another and their families. We feel there is a higher reason we wrote the books, to honor the men/women we served with and to share that world.

EC:  How would you describe Qasim?

BA: Qasim is cold-hearted, diabolical, and evil. He cares about his cause. He cemented himself as a person of significance in the local culture. In book 3, he has drunk the Kool-Aid, taking a leadership role in a terrorist organization. He must deal with personal problems, money, motivation, logistics, and must keep secrets. He wants a Caliphate where there must be a shift of power and take control. 

JW: We want to show how the technology and information is different now.  There is an information war going on the same time as a covert war.  The operators are new but also the terrorists are more sophisticated. This is a different dynamic post 9/11.  We wanted to explore what a new generation of terrorists looks like. They are multi-educated, bi-lingual, and tech savvy. It is also an infiltration of culture and society that is no longer just in the Middle East. This is a change in the real world which we wanted to write about. These are the battlefields of the 21st century. 

EC:  How would you describe Chuck Redman?

JW:  Highly intelligent, tenacious, intuitive, mission and team before self.

EC:  How would you describe Lucy?

BA: Whitney saw her as sad, intense, brave, focused, loyal, and cared about others concerns. When she faces mortal danger, she stands her ground. 

EC:  How would you describe Whitney?

BA: She takes initiative in this book. She found a lot of strength from Lucy. Her goal is to be part of the team.

JW:  Both Lucy and Whitney are tenacious. We did not want to write Whitney as a one-woman killing machine taking out the bad guys single handedly or a mousey analyst who fades in the background. We pushed her out of her comfort zone, which she hated, but realized it made her tougher. She is someone who never quits. She is one of my favorite characters.

EC:  What about the relationship between Whitney and Redman?

BA:  They are both mirrors of the other. They recognize in the other characteristics they admire.  Both are confident. There is a scene in the book where she is on the verge of physical collapse and starts to think about who the person would be she could rely on to get her out of this situation.  Her subconscious understands it is Chuck because she does not realize her own inner strength.  Over the first two books she grasps how much she admires and respects him. Chuck also tries to think what she would do when trying to rescue her.  They both try to do what the other person would do when the other person is not there. 

EC:  Is the piece of equipment, Valkyrie, true?

JW:  It is a drone and manned from the ground. There is technology in development that has the capability. We wanted to explore how much autonomy should AI have:  should it include a kill decision?

BA: There are drones that can fly along fighter jets that augment pilots on missions.  It is a stealth drone, with a vertical takeoff from anywhere. We had in the book what safeguards would the military program?

EC:  Next books?

JW and BA:  

The next Sons of Valor book does not have a date yet but there will be one. There is a techno-thriller coming out in April, titled Four Minutes. A task force collects Intelligence from the future to stop attacks in the present.  They use this information to try to stop the bad guys.

We will be writing the next Tom Clancy book titled Act of Defiance, coming out on the 40th anniversary of the book Red October. A Russian super weapon is deployed at sea and it's up to Jack Ryan to find a countermove.

The next Tier 1 book comes out in July titled Ember, the name of the taskforce. The taskforce does covert operations.

The fourth book in the Shepherds series comes out next fall. We explore combat and faith with a speculative element.  There is a supernatural spiritual warfare element that blended into a covert ops’ thriller. This includes using scriptures of the Bible. It has demons possess bad guys.

THANK YOU!!

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: Stephen Rubin, ‘Quintessential Hitmaker’ of the Book World, Dies at 81 by Alex Traub

By Alex Traub He entered publishing when he was 43, then published many of the most popular books of recent decades, including “The Da Vinci Code.” Published: October 18, 2023 at 01:01PM from NYT Books https://ift.tt/HFPjNB8 via IFTTT

[bm2ab]

Arrivals & Departures 1932 - 12 October 2023 Collette Rossant

Colette Rossant (born 1932) is a French-American cookbook author, journalist, translator, and restaurateur, who is a member of the Pallache family.

Born in Paris, Rossant traveled with her mother to Cairo to live with her father and her father's family during World War II. Her mother spent much of the war in Beirut (part of the French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon), while her brother Eddy Palacci remained in Paris with their mother's parents.

After World War II, Rossant returned to Paris and lived with her grandmother and brother, joined occasionally by her mother. In Paris, she studied at the Lycée La Fontaine. She spent a year learning English at Roedean School near Brighton, UK. She earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature at the Sorbonne in 1954. She married American architect James Rossant in 1955.

Moving to New York with her husband in 1955, Rossant pursued several careers, often simultaneously like teaching, writing, translating, restaurant business, and raising a family.

Rossant spent many years teaching French. She was first a language instructor at the Browning School (1957–1961). She then taught French at Hofstra University (1961–1970). She became head of the French department at St. Anne's School (1970–1983). Her last position was as Liaison Officer at the New York branch of Crédit Lyonnais (1985–2000).

Exploring New York, Rossant became very interested in bettering the food she found there. She published her first of seven cookbooks in 1975 (and last to date in 1991). Her third cookbook, A Mostly French Food Processor Cookbook (1980) sold more than 50,000 copies and made a name for her in the Food industry. She became "underground gourmet" for New York Magazine in the 1980s. She served as food and design editor for McCalls Magazine (1983–1990). She then became a columnist for the New York Daily News, where she wrote a popular Wednesday column called "Ask Colette." Currently, she contributes to Food Arts and Super Chef magazines.

Rossant helped launch two restaurants in New York. Buddha Green (1998–1999) opened in Midtown Manhattan and featured original, vegetarian "Buddhist" cuisine. Dim Sum Go Go (2000–2003) opened in Chinatown and featured original Imperial Cantonese cuisine, although Rossant has stopped consulting there. Her husband James Rossant helped design both, while son Tomas Rossant helped on the interior at Buddha Green.

Rossant has traveled abroad (often with her husband, whose architectural design work took him to countries like Bhutan, Tanzania, and Turkey). Her lifelong interest in Asian cuisines took her to China and Japan, reflected in her cookbooks and restaurants.Dorceau in Orne, France, near Rossant's home since 2002

With children grown and married, Rossant's most recent books have been memoirs: Apricots on the Nile (2004, originally published as Memories of a Lost Egypt in 1999), Return to Paris (2003), and The World in My Kitchen (2006).

In 2002, Rossant moved from New York back to France, but rather than return to Paris again (as she had as a teenager), she went to live in the department of Orne, two hours west of Paris. In 2009, Rossant's husband of 55 years died. She continues to live in their home near Condeau, France, on whose town council she has served. She continues to contribute to Super Chef, Food Arts, and Pays du Perche magazines and is writing a twelfth book.

In November 2010, Rossant received the Prix Eugenie Brazier for the French translation of her first memoir, Mémoires d'une Egypte perdue (Editions Les Deux Terres 2010).

Rossant appears during an interview in Rebekah Wingert-Jabi's 2015 documentary Another Way of Living: The Story of Reston, VA, along with excerpt of an interview with late husband James

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Charles Schulz Net Worth 2023-Income, Wife & Biography

Charles Schulz was an American cartoonist and creator of the famous comic strip Peanuts. He was born in 1922 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and died in 2000 at 77. During his lifetime, Schulz wrote and drew 17,000 comic strips published in 2,600 newspapers. In his lifetime, he won many awards and accolades, including the Pulitzer Prize. Charles Schulz’s Net Worth is approximately $`200 Million. Peanuts is one of the most popular and influential comics of all time.

Charles Schulz Biography

Real Name:Charles Monroe "Sparky" SchulzDate of Birth:November 26, 1922Age:77 years oldHeight:181Cm Weight:76 Kg Birthplace:Minneapolis, MinnesotaNationality:AmericanMarital status:Married Husband/WifeJoyce Halverson​Jean Forsyth ClydeProfession:CartoonistCharles Schulz Net Worth 2023:$200 Million (Approx)

Charles Schulz Net Worth

Charles Schulz's Net Worth is approximately $200 Million. Charles M. Schulz, best known by his pen name, "Sparky," was an American cartoonist who created the "Peanuts" comic strip. The strip became one of the most popular and influential in comics. It helped to solidify Schulz's reputation as a leading cartoonist. At the time of his death in 2000, Schulz's net worth was estimated to be $40 million. Charles Schulz Net Worth in 2023 is approximately $`200 Million.

What is Charles Schulz Famous for

Charles Schulz was an American cartoonist best known for creating the comic strip Peanuts. The strip debuted in 1950 and ran for 50 years, making Schulz one of the most successful and longest-running cartoonists in history. In addition to Peanuts, Schulz created two other notable comics: Lil' Folks and Charlie Brown.

Charles Schulz's Early Life

Charles Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 26, 1922. He was the only child of Carl and Dena Schulz. When he was two years old, his father died of cancer. His mother remarried a man named Arthur Melin three years later. Schulz enlisted in the United States Army at seventeen and served during World War II. After the war, Schulz attended art classes at the Art Center School in Los Angeles. In 1948, he moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he worked as a cartoonist for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat. It was there that he created his first comic strip, "Li'l Folks." In 1950, "Li'l Folks" was renamed "Peanuts" and began appearing in national newspapers. Schulz continued to create "Peanuts" until his retirement in 2000. He passed away on February 12, 2000, at 77.

Charles Schulz's Wife

Charles married Joyce Halverson in 1951. They had four children: Charles Monroe (Chip), Meredith, Amy, and Craig. The couple divorced in 1972. In 1973, Charles married Jean Forsyth Clyde. They remained married until he died in 2000.

Charles Schulz Legacy

Charles Schulz would become one of the most beloved cartoonists of all time. One hundred years later, his birthday is celebrated all over the world. Schulz is best known for his creation of Peanuts. The comic strip first appeared in 1950 and ran for 50 years until Schulz's retirement in 2000. In those 50 years, Peanuts became one of the most popular and influential comics ever created. It has been translated into over 21 languages and published in 75 countries. In honor of Schulz's 100th birthday, several events and products are being released to celebrate his life and work. Here are just a few: The Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, is hosting a year-long exhibit, "Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown!" The exhibit will feature never-before-seen original art from the early days of Peanuts, as well as some of Schulz's personal belongings. A new book called Good Grief: Life Love and Laughter in the Time of Charlie Brown will be released on October 24. The book is a collection of essays, stories, and tributes written by people who knew or were influenced by Schulz. Contributors include Linus creator Robb Armstrong, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane, MAD magazine editor John Ficarra, and many others. Charles Schulz Net Worth in 2023 is approximately $`200 Million.

Why Did Peanuts End?

It's been nearly 50 years since the last new Peanuts comic strip was published. Why did Charles Schulz end his beloved creation? There are a few reasons why Schulz may have decided to end Peanuts. First, he was facing some health issues. In 1999, he was diagnosed with colon cancer and had to undergo surgery. This made it difficult for him to continue working on the comic strip. Second, Schulz was getting older and may have wanted to retire. He started working on Peanuts when he was 22 years old, and by the time ended the comic strip, he was 77 years old. It's possible that he wanted to enjoy his retirement and spend more time with his family. Third, some fans believe that Schulz wanted to end Peanuts before it got stale or lost its quality. He didn't want the comic strip to go on without him, so he decided to end it while it was still popular and well-loved by fans. Whatever the reasons behind Charles Schulz's decision to end Peanuts, we're grateful that he gave us such a timeless classic that we can all enjoy for years to come.

How Old was Charles Schulz When He Died?

Charles Schulz was 77 years old when he died. He passed away on February 12, 2000, just a few months shy of his 78th birthday. Charles Schulz was an American cartoonist best known for creating the comic strip Peanuts. He began drawing the strip in 1950, and it quickly became one of the most popular comics in the world. Throughout his 50-year career, Schulz wrote and drew more than 17,000 strips.

What was Snoopy'S Original Name Going to Be?

When Charles Schulz created the Peanuts comic strip, he originally wanted to name the main character "Sniffy." However, he eventually settled on "Snoopy" because he thought it had a nicer sound.

Who Owns Snoopy Now?

In 1965, Charles M. Schulz's comic strip "Peanuts" became the most popular syndicated strip in the world. That same year, Schulz sold the rights to his characters to United Feature Syndicate for $1 million. As part of the deal, Schulz retained ownership of all original artwork from the strip and continued to receive two-thirds of the income generated by "Peanuts" merchandise. In 2000, after Schulz's death, United Media merged with Universal Press Syndicate and is now owned by Hearst Communications. The "Peanuts" franchise generates millions of dollars yearly in revenue from merchandising, licensing, and publication rights. Charles Schulz’s Net Worth is approximately $`200 Million. Data Source: Wikipedia Read the full article