text:
Frankly...
The Rec Deficit
Edmonton is short on fields, courts and ice rinks. The addition of Lewis Farms is but a drop in the bucket
By Steven Sandor December 23, 2022
Grand opening of the Edmonton Soccer Dome, 2019
Last week, as Edmonton City Council debated what should go in and what should come out of Edmonton's four-year budget, it spent a good deal of time on the issue of the Lewis Farms Community Recreation Centre and Library.
A motion on the floor called for funding to Lewis Farms to be slashed from the previously approved $311 million to $186 million.
The motion was defeated 8-5, but council learned that — even with full funding — the centre could not be built as originally planned. Because of inflation, a competitive pool and diving platform could no longer fit into the budget. The aquatic facility would need to be scaled back.
"If we can't build a 15-minute community for one of our most densely-populated neighbourhoods, if we can't execute on that, then everyone here should have something to worry about," said Coun. Sarah Hamilton, who represents west-end Ward sipiwiyiniwak and supported keeping the funding for Lewis Farms. "We must maintain our commitment to building a city, not building neighbourhood by neighbourhood, where we do not care about what happens everywhere else. This is not what great cities are made of."
Finding a parking spot on Saturday at Saville is about as hard as finding one at West Edmonton Mall during the Christmas rush.
The City has already built mega-rec centres — with ice rinks, pools and more — in Terwillegar and Mill Woods. The South Soccer Centre was recently expanded, with courts added that can host boarded indoor soccer, ball hockey or lacrosse.
And the issue of Lewis Farms is a complex one; it's on the far western edge of the city, beyond Anthony Henday Drive, but it's among growing neighbourhoods that are actually more dense than a lot of inner-city communities. And they have a deficit in terms of facilities. As Mayor Amarjeet Sohi noted, there was similar debate when council decided to go ahead with the Meadows Community Recreation Centre in the far southeast of the city.
"Five years later, when that facility was opened, it was packed," said the mayor.
But we've also heard councillors talk about the need to change our strategy when it comes to parks and recreation; that the money should be spread throughout the city to allow neighbourhoods to decide what they need and what facilities are needed. Is it better to spend on giant rec centres, or to make sure community leagues have decent basketball courts, a well-maintained soccer field or a spray park that… works?
Coun. Michael Janz warned that the city is looking at about $900 million in needed maintenance and repair fees to existing rec facilities. He warned that, if Edmonton doesn't address this maintenance deficit, we could be looking at more decisions like that the one made earlier this year to close Scona Pool, which was done because the costs to fix it were prohibitive.
"We need to learn from Scona Pool. We need to learn from the closure," Janz told council.
The fact is, people who don't live near a rec centre or well-maintaned fields often have to spend a lot of time in their vehicles.
There are no easy answers. The truth is, we are well short of rec facilities, whether you live in the West End or in a downtown condo.
As a sports parent and sometimes volunteer coach, I can speak to how much I have to drive. For soccer, my daughter's facility is a 23 kilometre drive from my home. My son's "local" baseball training facility and home park are 10 kilometres from our front door. My daughter plays or practices an average of four times a week, while my son, during the spring, summer and autumn, will play or practice five times a week, not counting the out-of-town road trips.
So, just to get them to to their practices and games, our "local" teams require about 300 kilometres of commuting, per week. That's like adding a trip to Calgary to our mileage, every week.
Because there is a lack of game-ready, tournament-ready facilities in the core of the city, having kids and living close to downtown will just add to the pressure to have a car. For example, if your child plays baseball at a competitive level, he or she will likely play "home" games at either Callingwood (by the West Edmonton Mall), Rundle Park (Victoria Trail, east end) or in Mill Woods.
During the half day of Lewis Farms debate, council was warned that ice rinks are fully booked. Administration told council that in prime-time, the average sheet of ice in Edmonton is only available for public skating one hour per week.
As a basketball coach, I know how the Saville Centre is jammed on Saturdays, with games back to back to back. Finding a parking spot on Saturday at Saville is about as hard as finding one at West Edmonton Mall during the Christmas rush. We would sometimes play games at a school gym in Beaumont. That's right, two Edmonton teams, facing off in Beaumont, 25 kilometres south of downtown. Or, we'd use school gyms in St. Albert. But, COVID has restricted the use of school gyms, as administrators have become a lot more vigilant (understandably so) about who uses the facilities.
Well-maintained rec facilities, gyms, soccer fields and baseball diamonds mean a lot to a city, and not just for house leagues. We often talk about big events, like the economic impact of hosting a Grey Cup, or the failed bid for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But, do we often think of the number of tournaments and provincial championships hosted by our sports organizations?
Edmonton Scottish United Soccer Club provided some registration numbers from its Caledonia Cup soccer tournaments, from 2017 to present. In that time period, 233 out-of-town teams, representing 3,495 kids and their families, travelled to Edmonton for the tournament. That means hotel stays, restaurant visits and shopping. And that's just one regular tournament on the calendar.
As a baseball parent, I often spend a lot of time in Okotoks, south of Calgary. That community has taken great care at creating a number of diamonds that, frankly, put anything we have in Edmonton to shame. So, going there for tournaments or provincial championships is almost second nature. Our provincials have been held there two of the past three years. That means we are spending money in hotels in the area, and eating at Big Sky BBQ.
The Edmonton Soccer Dome, located on the grounds of the Edmonton Scottish Society in south Edmonton, is booked solid. There are games and training sessions every night, and because demand is so high, teams often don't get full fields for their practice sessions. The fields are divided into halves or even thirds, to ensure demand is met.
Lewis Farms will meet a need, but the truth is, it's a drop in the bucket.
We need the big facilities, but we also need small-scale fixes. It's hard to attract families to come downtown when they know they're facing long commutes out of the core to get their kids to practices and games. We need more facilities in established communities. Ice time, court time, field time — they're all hard to find. And, as we grapple with inflation and some hard budget realities, these are items that will be difficult to address.
But, hey, in the meantime, the barbecue in Okotoks is pretty good.
(Steven Sandor is editor of Urban Affairs and Edify, and he's a past volunteer coach at Edmonton Scottish, South Jasper Place Minor Baseball Association and Northwest Basketball).
Savvy AF. Blunt AF. Edmonton AF.
Frankly... Edmonton's Bright Solar Future Dimmed by Missed GHG Targets By Caitlin Crawshaw
Frankly... Quarrel on the Promenade By Kevin Maimann
Frankly... The Curse of Vacant Storefronts By Kevin Maimann


text:
Bulandshahr gang-rape: Minor victim moves SC seeking FIR against Azam Khan
Bulandshahr, Aug 13 (ANI): The minor victim in the Bulandshahr gang-rape case on Saturday moved the Supreme Court demanding that FIRs be registered against Uttar Pradesh Cabinet Minister Azam Khan and the erring police officials. The other demands of the minor victim include the transfer of this case to New Delhi, a court-monitored probe, security and rehabilitation. Earlier this month, the Samajwadi Party leader kicked up a controversy with his insensitive remarks suggesting that this incident of gang-rape could be a political conspiracy against the Uttar Pradesh Government. Khan received a flurry of criticism for his comments from the opposition parties, women's groups as well as the victim's family members. The Allahabad High Court had yesterday ordered a CBI inquiry into the Bulandshahr gang-rape case observing that it was "not satisfied" with the police investigation so far. The High Court, which had taken suo motu cognizance of the July 29 incident, also said it intended to "monitor the investigation into the case". A division bench comprising Chief Justice D.B. Bhosale and Justice Yashwant Varma passed the order a day after the state government submitted a status report on the investigation into the incident in a sealed cover. The incident had taken place when six members of a Noida-based family were travelling to Shahjahanpur in western Uttar Pradesh. At the National Highway passing through Bulandshahr, their car was stopped by criminals, who dragged the 13-year-old girl and her mother out and raped them in a field nearby. (ANI)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


上周加班,看到Vincent还在,我Skype跟他说我递信了。隔了一会儿,对话框里弹出了回复,I really support your decision but at the same time it's hard to accept the fact that you are leaving.
I hope this letter won't scare you a lot. If it dose, I am very sorry for that.
My name is gelei, a senior student from GW. I couldn't be luckier. After passing **'s 2013 Graduate online application, I contiuted my journey to the assesment center on Nov 7th, then the parter interview two days later, and finally received an ** offer of GZ ××.
Truth to told, I still remember how bad my performance was on Nov 9th. When I went out of the office, I was upset. I told myself, "that's it, bye, Deloitte. That's how my job seaking life comes to an end. ".
But Life is like a box of chocolates.You never know what you are going to get. On Dec 12nd 2012, I received a call from you and told I was selected. I had no idea how to open my mouth and no idea how to tell you I have already signed the contract with another company. The moment I realized I could not live up to your expectation and had to say sorry to you, the feeling in my heart was hard to describe. It seemed like there was something you had longed for a long time, but when it came, you couldn't grab it.
However, I am blessed all the way through. My dream comes ture and I will join another ×× in Guangzhou next year. Thought it's a pity that I will work in a place, one metro station away form **, I am satisficed with my current offer and really hope I can have a promising future, if I try my best.
Thank you for spending your time on this weird thing. I should have written to you earlier. Now, I summon my courage and show you the scared part of this letter.
Just convey my thank to a manager.
His name is Donald. I still regret that I haven't got his family name. Donald was the interviewer of my AC on Nov 7th 2012, a kind man with a simle in the whole interview process. After the interview, He gave me many adivices about individual development, career plan and even told me how to work hard and play hard. I feel very grateful.
I don't remember my reaction before he left. Maybe I just nodded to him. But I do remember, at that moment I was filled with power.
I know it is impossible to say thank to Donald on my own in **. Donald might forget who I am. But I am still wondering, may I have any Donald's contact? Email, qq, msn, or weibo, just one way for me to say thank to Donald myself. I promise I won't disturb him by any mean.
If it's negative, would you please help me say thank you to him.
Tomorrow is a brand new day in a brand year. Dear HR, I hope you enjoy the coming short vacation. I wish you have a happy life in ** and the same to Donald. I am sure ** will have much more excellent performance in the new year.
I am Graham. I am afraid that I am under qualified for the position myself.
The job of data type-in is challenging, and working for HSBC is gorgeous. Maybe you could not imagine how attractive HSBC is, especially for me, a college student whose major is finance. Moreover, the location of workplace is suitable, and I won't spend much time on the way from my dorm to it. Everything seems to be perfect before I know the working hours of this internship.
I am very sorry that I have to give up simply for the reason that I cannot reach the requirement of staying up all night for the job once a week. I think you will be a little surprise if I tell you I am kind of a weird guy going to bed before 23:00 and getting up at 6:00 the next day. Fewer and fewer college students do that, right?
Anyway, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to take part in today's interview. And my interviewer today, a pretty young lady, was so kind that she did give me some advices after she knows I might be busy next semester. Those advices helped me reconsider the condition I was in. She asked me whether it was a little overwhelming if I stick to this position till November. I regret that I did not remember her name even if she had already told me noticeably in the very beginning.
Alex, my resume is not the best and I didn't perform well in the typing test with my shaking fingers. I think I should prepare myself completely and wait for the next time working for your company. I am sure there are many excellent students waiting for that position and I do hope this three and a half month project of your company will have a wonderful ending.
I've been thinking about your suggestion all these days. I have no doubt that it will definitely work to activate the class, but I kind of worry those less active students might totally depend on the more active ones for the group work and become even more passive in the class.
Anyway, I am still thinking, trying to find some ways to improve the current condition.
I'm very glad to get your email. First of all, thank you very much for your suggestion about how to activate my class. I am considering seriously putting it in practice. You really thought a lot for this class, and I appreciate it very much whether I take your advice or not in the end.
To be honest, I used to be a shy student myself, keeping everything just to myself. I missed a lot as a result. Although I do not regret it, I do hope that you could make your own way. And in fact, you have already taken the very first step by writing me this lovely letter. It's marvelous, isn't it?
So you are always welcome to share with me your thoughts and ideas.
I hope this won't scare you a lot. I am Graham. I do have some thoughts and ideas about the listening class. Now back in the dorm after lunch, I still regret that I didn't show them to you this morning. I am not confident about my English and afraid to be nervous in front of you. But I believe you will not mind it. Maybe next time I will plug up my courage to show how poor my English is it.
The feeling that I have in class, as I think, is quite wired. It is too clam and too silent. Once you raise a question and waiting for the response patiently, most of the class just put down their heads immediately and fix their eyes on the textbooks, pretending looking for the answer. Some do really try to answer what you question, however, some are not. I am sorry that I don't stand up and interact with you, even some of the answers have been read silently in my heart several times.
I don't know whether you agree with me.
I like English, for I always regard that reading or reciting a passage, chatting with others in English as a cool and gorgeous thing. The more fluent my English is spoken, the more amazing others will be. Consequently, the English class should not be so quite. Everyone needs to be active. The reason why I send you this weird thing is that I want to recommend a method to make the class not as quiet as the first two times.
When nobody reacts after the question was raised, you look at the student list, and chose those lucky fellows. I think it's OK, absolutely a good way to keep our learning moving on. But it might not be the best. Some of the lucky fellows may not want to answer it at the very first time. If your students don't raise their hands spontaneously or willingly, which I think, it is not fair to your hard work.
Aviva, do you care about, as I wonder, the attendance of the students? Well, some of the teachers care little about it, while some are very strict.
Let us just put this question aside. It seems that I have so much nonsense before what I do want to tell you.
Actually, I don't really care about the final mark I get. But I think a person should be motivated to do something. For instance, I run after a pretty girl because all my brain is fulfilled with her face, her smile, and her behaviors after she went across me.
So, whether the student is willing to answer the question or not, is mostly depend on what he answers for. Some answer for a higher mark, some for practicing their English and maybe some for preventing their group falling behind others. That's quite interesting, Right? For me, I like this kind of class for I find a way to tell my group mates that I do a lot to the group, after which they may praise me or something. I am motivated to do that, and I believe, so will others.
Back to the attendance problem, if you care, you care chose one leader of each group. Check the attendance before class just by asking the leaders, which will take you no more than 2 minutes, I think. Though it looks efficient, I don't recommend you do that. Because there are some fellows cannot avoid being absent. They have their own reasons. I should not disturb their brilliant lives.
I start to doubt whether I can say all above orally, especially when facing you. It is only my partial opinion. If there is something unsuitable, just ignore it! I am trying to get rid of my shyness and raise my arm firmly. Just like the beginning, maybe I will do that next time.
Finally, it seems a little flattering but it isn't. I really appreciate your pronunciation. Your voice is special, a little masculine, which make it very clear and comfort others' ears. I hope one day I can open my mouth with this kind of standard tone as yours. You are willing to teach me, aren't you?
Hope this long Chinglish thing won't tire you.


text:
Rajasthan Government Bans Journalism Admission
New Delhi, 11th July 2015
Rajasthan Government has banned the admission to Haridev Joshi University of Journalism and Mass Communication. The admittance process has been closed for the academic year for 2015-2016 due to pending a cabinet sub-committee review.
The reason of delay is the review of the University under the cabinet sub-committee. The admissions have been banned until the next orders will be released. There are strict orders were released to the University VC in a letter by the Joint Secretary of Higher Education.
Sunny Sebastian, the University Vice Chancellor said "The admission began 36 days ago for the academic year 2015-2016 but an unexpected order to stop the admission process is quite unfortunate thing to happen".
The University is stuck between the political rife of BJP and Congress that has continued for over decades now. The varsity was formed by Congree Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot. But when BJP government came to power in the state it formed a committee to review all the decisions that were taken by Gehlot government during the last six months of his tenure.
The subject of University review was also echoed reflected in the Assembly in April this year. Presently, the situation is this that HJU students have held the protest and are demanding smooth functionality of the University sans any issues and disruption in their studies.
Oflately, Government of Rajasthan issued orders for banning of new admission in Jodhpur National University which has granted admission to more than 25,000 fake degrees to students.


The new Freightliner 108 SD truck is designed to serve the Class 7 and 8 vocational markets. With its set back axle and heavy-duty components, this truck is ready for any job in any market. The expanded SD product line provides the smart business solution for construction trucking or municipal trucking customers who are looking for a combination of toughness and efficiency. With options such as front frame extensions and radiator mounted grilles for body attachment installations; front and rear engine power-take-offs; and body specific chassis layouts that will allow vocational customers to "Work Smart" in any application from dump and refuse to utility and sewer.


Hey I'm Myles,I love being an actor, I'm confident about myself and passionate and I'm love having fun!! And right now I'm doing a script for my gold arts award, and I went to lyric theatre and chickenshed theatre and I got an A in my arts for my GCSE AND i'm currently doing my A-LEVEL. and right now I'm getting myself out there and I know it's hard but if it was easy then why bother cause as I always say hard work pays off, so if you give me a chance I promise I'll not disappoint.


Technician's Assistant: Which OpenOffice product do you have?
Technician's Assistant: What have you tried so far with your OpenOffice software?
Thank you very much for giving us an opportunity to help you. I am Jins here to assist you. On which format you saved the files? The AscII filter means that OOo does not recognize the file format.
Please create a new document and save it as odf file. Close the file. Open the odf file and check whether you zre getting the ascii filter option or not.
What is the standard conversion for ASCII in Open Office 3.3?
I do not have a product key to convert from trial to full student.
I loaded the trial for MS Office 2010 several weeks ago.


text:
require File.expand_path("../../Homebrew/emacs_formula", __FILE__)

class EpochView < EmacsFormula
  desc "Emacs minor mode to convert Unix epoch times"
  homepage "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/epoch-view.html"
  url "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/epoch-view-0.0.1.el"
  sha256 "dd6d15ce3d847af00102aab889e1d7353d7323bfa27a8907dac4a5e77d2ec2f3"

  depends_on EmacsRequirement

  def install
    mv "epoch-view-#{version}.el", "epoch-view.el"
    byte_compile "epoch-view.el"
    (share/"emacs/site-lisp/epoch-view").install "epoch-view.el",
                                                 "epoch-view.elc"
  end

  def caveats; <<~EOS
    Add the following to your init file:

    (require 'epoch-view)
  EOS
  end

  test do
    (testpath/"test.el").write <<~EOS
      (add-to-list 'load-path "#{share}/emacs/site-lisp/epoch-view")
      (load "epoch-view")
      (epoch-view-turn-on)
      (print (minibuffer-prompt-width))
    EOS
    assert_equal "0", shell_output("emacs -Q --batch -l #{testpath}/test.el").strip
  end
end

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Commodities Videos
South African Central Bank Gives, Finance Minister Takes
Prinesha Naidoo, Bloomberg News
Tito Mboweni , Bloomberg
(Bloomberg) -- The boost South Africa's central bank offered the economy by cutting interest rates last week may be fleeting after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni signaled tax rates may have to climb to help bail out Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd.
The debt-laden state power company, seen as the biggest threat to the nation's economy, will get an extra 59 billion rand ($4.2 billion) over two years and together with lower-than-expected revenue collections, this "will come at a significant cost" to taxpayers, Mboweni told lawmakers on Tuesday.
The Reserve Bank made it clear that its 25 basis-point reduction to the key rate can only have a significant impact on an economy that's forecast to expand just 0.6% this year if it's complemented by other structural reforms. While Eskom's finances and its inability to reliably supply power are major constraints to growth, funding the bailout that's meant to help fix this may stifle household spending.
Having last year raised value-added tax for the first time since 1993, another increase to the levy may be too politically contentious, according to Elize Kruger, a senior economist at NKC African Economics. This would leave government "scraping all other sources" including personal-income taxes for additional revenue, she said.
Mboweni said the extra funding for Eskom could add to the government's borrowing requirement. Higher debt costs would affect the performance of South African bonds and limit the scope for further interest-rate cuts to help boost growth, Kruger said.
The government usually doesn't announce tax changes in the October mid-term budget but may rather use the opportunity to signal steps to take effect next year.
If the National Treasury doesn't increase personal taxes outright, it will probably continue to leave the income-tax brackets unchanged instead of adjusting for inflation, which would result in a higher personal-income tax burden, said Jannie Rossouw, an economics professor and head of economic and business sciences at the University of the Witwatersrand.
The government raised income taxes for the first time in two decades in 2015 as it targeted mainly wealthy individuals to help plug a revenue shortfall.
However, an increase in taxes wouldn't necessarily generate more income due to low tax morality because of less trust in the revenue agency, said Jeffrey Schultz, a senior economist at BNP Paribas South Africa.
"We need to get the economy going in order to try and arrest the deterioration in the fiscal side of things and that requires structural reform, it requires policy certainty, all of which has not been forthcoming yet," he said. "In the absence of that, there is very little further that the National Treasury is able to do to generate the type of tax revenue that is required right now."
To contact the reporter on this story: Prinesha Naidoo in Johannesburg at pnaidoo7@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Rene Vollgraaff at rvollgraaff@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell
Pot Shots
Canopy Growth delays launch of pot-infused beverages
Commodities update: Palladium rises; Hexo issues shares; pipeline sentiment rises
Commodities update: Alberta oil sinks; U.S. shale 'fracklog' declines; Barrick rises


text:
"Arthur Jermin"
(also as "Facts Concerning...")
© The Wolverine, 1921
The Lurking Fear, 1971
--/ cool f story
"At the Mountains of Madness" (nv)
(Cthulhu Mythos)
© 1931, original
Astounding Stories, Feb 1936
novel: 1939, Gollancz
--/ third place sf novel
Talking about an H. P. Lovecraft book is -- to paraphrase that old chestnut -- like singing about food, or writing about music. What makes it doubly difficult is that so many others have tried: Lovecraft's probably been analyzed and dissected more than any other fantasy author. So much so that a comprehensive review has also to mention every other review, and so on and so forth ad infinitum.
But putting aside the difficulty of a review, and every other review, At the Mountains of Madness is still a brilliantly told horror story. Best of all, it's almost a "perfect" Lovecraft story, combining everything that makes Lovecraft … well, 'Lovecraftian:' constant impending dread, mysteries beyond time and space, characters driven to the brink of -- and then beyond -- insanity, science knocking at the doors of the nightmarish unknown, and tantalizing clues to a star-and-time-spanning mythology.
Told by William Dyer, of Lovecraft's ubiquitous Miskatonic U ("Go Pods!"), At the Mountains of Madness is about an expedition to Antarctica, which, in 1936, might as well have been the dark side of the moon. While there, Dyer and the other members of the expedition encounter various dreads and haunting mysteries (this is Lovecraft after all: specifics isn't what he's all about) until they discover an ancient city and with it, the horrifying secret of the Elder Things, the once-great-but-now-extinct terrifying rulers of time and space.
For a book written more than 70 years ago, At the Mountains of Madness still has a dreadful power. Like the tomes so often mentioned by Lovecraft, the novel crawls under the skin before twisting around the knots of the spine before working its way to the brain and then straight into the mind. Hallucinatory and haunting, the book reads more like a narrative nightmare than what most people think of when they think of a novel.
What's particularly interesting about At the Mountains of Madness is how it forms a 'bridge' between Lovecraft's mythology. Before it, his "horrors from beyond" were more mythological, but with At the Mountains of Madness he instead moves in a more science fictionlike direction -- a change many other reviewers have called extremely significant for his very long-lasting popularity.
Dream, nightmare, hallucination -- Lovecraft and especially At the Mountains of Madness might be hard to pin down, hard to quantify, but the work, and especially its author, remain truly great legends of horror, and not to be missed … if you want to lose sleep.
(review by author M. Christian)
"Azathoth"
© 1922, 1938, Leaves
Dagon & Others, 1965
"Beyond The Wall Of Sleep"
© 1934, Fantasy Fan
also in - 1919, Pine Cones
1938, Weird Tales
"The Case Of Charles Dexter Ward" (nv)
© 1927, Weird Tales
also - Weird Tales, 1941
Beyond The Wall Of Sleep, 1943
--/ cool dark f novel
"The Cats Of Ulthar"
(Kadath series)
© The Tryout, 1920
The Doom That Came to Sarnath, 1971
"Celephais"
© The Rainbow, 1922
The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath, 1970
"The Colour Out Of Space"
© Amazing Stories, Sep 1927
Famous Fantastic Mysteries, Oct 1941
The Haunter Of The Dark, 1951
--short fiction: 1971 Astounding/Analog All-Time Poll /12
--novellette: Locus All-Time Poll /26
--/ third place sf novella
"Dagon"
© The Vagrant, Nov 1919
Weird Tales, Oct 1923
"The Doom That Came To Sarnath"
© 1935, Marvel Tales
also in - 1919, The Scot
1970, Bizarre Fantasy Tales
"The Dream-Quest of
Unknown Kadath" (nv)
Arkham Sampler, 1948
At The Mountains Of Madness, 1968
--/ FIRST place f novella
Reading this novella was a peculiar experience - a dream, or rather a trance, with sights floating by, wonder upon wonder, written in ornate, intensely descriptive prose; a narrative that - if you let it - will draw you in and leave you stranded inside this very dream. Which is exactly what happened to me. Can you believe it, I've never been able to finish reading it... Somewhere half-way along the quest the sheer weird beauty and the awe of thousands of wonders reached a critical mass in my head and prevented me from going further, prompting me rather to stop, to savour at length and to reflect on what I've read up to this point. Maybe one day I will try to read this book again, approaching it in a more jaded and indifferent way, and thus escaping a bizarre dream-like effect... But for now, all I can say is that nothing I have ever read before (not even Tolkien) produced such vivid images of strange worlds and stupendous exploration in my head.
H. P. Lovecraft modelled this novel upon Lord Dunsany's magical tales, and it ended up to be perhaps the ultimate in "high imaginative calorie" food. It has a minimal plot, and fulfills exactly the promise of the title: it's "a Dream Quest in a Mysterious and Haunted Land" with elements of dark and high fantasy intermingled. A painting, perhaps? A symphony? Any of these things, but not a novel per se, rather - a haunting poetry.
(review by Avi Abrams)
"The Dreams In The Witch House"
© Weird Tales, Jul 1933
--/ fourth place f novella
"Facts Concerning The Late Arthur Jermin"
(also as "Arthur Jermin")
"From Beyond"
© The Fantasy Fan, Jun 1934
"The Hound"
© Weird Tales, 1924
"In The Vault"
© Weird Tales, Apr 1932
also in - 1925, The Tryout
"In The Walls Of Eryx"
(with Kenneth Sterling)
© Weird Tales, Oct 1939
--/ fourth place sf novella
"Innsmouth Clay"
(with August Derleth)
(Innsmouth / Dagon series)
© Dark Things, ed. A. Derleth, 1971
The Watchers Out Of Time & Others, 1974
--/ cool mer-folk sf story
"The Lurking Fear"
also in - Homebrew, 1923
Startling Mystery Stories, 1966
"The Moon Bog"
© written in 1921
Weird Tales, Jun 1926
"The Other Gods"
© The Fantasy Fan, Nov 1933
also in - Weird Tales, Oct 1938
"The Picture In The House"
also in - 1919, National Amateur
"Polaris"
© The Philosopher, Dec 1920
Weird Tales, Dec 1937
"The Rats in the Walls"
© Weird Tales, Mar 1924
"The Shadow Out Of Time"
(Cthulhu Mythos series)
© Astounding Stories, Jun 1936
The Dunwich Horror, 1963
In this particular case Lovecraft's attempt at science fiction ultimately disappoints. I approached this novella with a great expectation to find something of a magnitude of "The Mountains of Madness", but the pedantic and non-involving style of the narrative, combined with not enough tension and visuals, spoiled it for me. It is, however, a grand effort.
Here is a synopsis from Wikipedia: "It indirectly tells of the Great Race of Yith, an extraterrestrial species with the ability to travel through space and time. They switch bodies with hosts from the intended space or time destination.The Yithians original purpose is to study the history of various times and places, and they have amassed a "library city" that is filled with the past and future history of multiple races, including humans. Ultimately the Yithians use their ability to escape the destruction of their planet in another galaxy by switching bodies with a race of cone-shaped beings who lived 250 million years ago on Earth. The cone-shaped entities (now also known as the Great Race of Yith) live in a vast city in what would later become Australia Great Desert."
"The Shunned House"
"The Silver Key"
(Randolph Carter)
© Weird Tales, Jan 1929
"The Statement Of Randolph Carter"
Weird Tales, Feb 1925, Aug 1937
Avon Fantasy Reader, #10 1949
"The Strange High House In The Mist"
This is the mother of all "haunted house on a seashore" tales. Just try this short quote for size:
"And when tales fly thick in the grottoes of tritons, and conches in seaweed cities blow wild tunes learned from the Elder Ones, then great eager vapours flock to heaven laden with lore; and Kingsport, nestling uneasy on its lesser cliffs below that awesome hanging sentinel of rock, sees oceanward only a mystic whiteness, as if the cliff's rim were the rim of all earth, and the solemn bells of the buoys tolled free in the aether of faery".
As you can see, the wonder and mystery in this story are not confined to a singular "strange house" alone. In a most insidious way Lovecraftian tales will stay with you for hours, infusing your reality with a faery glow, and (in an even bigger measure) enhancing the shadows, till they grow to be sentient and grimly intent, bound to coalesce around you, if you do not swiftly flee into reality.
"The Temple"
© Weird Tales, Sep 1925
Atlantis is the theme of the story, the mystery and dread associated with the lost world ruins. Somberly poetic narrative hints of the dangers of weird science and more of the trademark Lovecraft "unspeakables" (which turn out to be pretty tame after all). A curious diversion, as are all early Lovecraft efforts.
review: 30-Sep-06 (read in 1990)
"The Terrible Old Man"
© Weird Tales, Aug 1926
The fear of old age and eccentricities that go along with it, combined with a simple "robbery" plot and supernatural surprise at the end make for passable dark fantasy. There was a movie based on this tale; also it's the first story to make use of Lovecraft's imaginary New England setting, introducing the fictional town of Kingsport.
"The Thing In The Moonlight"
© 1934, 1941, Bizarre
"Through The Gates Of Silver Key"
"The Tomb"
© The Vagrant, Mar 1922
The Tomb and Other Tales, 1970
"The Tree"
© The Tryout, Oct 1921
"The Unnameable"
"What the Moon Brings"
© The National Amateur, May 1925
The Dream Cycle of H. P. Lovecraft, 1995
--/ fourth place dark f story
"Witches Hollow"
1962, rewrite
The Phoenix Tree, ed. R. Boyer, 1974
"The White Ship"
© The United Amateur, Nov 1919


text:
La columna de mineros asturianos es un hecho peculiar de la Guerra Civil Española en León. En la noche del 18 al 19 de julio de 1936 salió de Asturias un tren especial repleto de mineros con destino Madrid, para defender el orden constitucional, pero ese tren, después de pasar por Léon, regresó a Asturias desde Benavente el día 21. Una parte de esa columna minera participó en la defensa de Ponferrada.

Organización y salida

Ante la sublevación de una parte del Ejército en África el 18 de julio de 1936, Indalecio Prieto, alto dirigente del PSOE, solicitó a los dirigentes socialistas de Asturias  el envío urgente de una fuerza de diez mil mineros para defender Madrid  de la posible sublevación de la guarnición local, sobre todo de los cuarteles de la Montaña y Campamento. La convocatoria tuvo gran éxito entre los mineros y en pocas horas se concentraron miles de ellos en Oviedo.

En el Gobierno Civil se reunieron el gobernador civil, Isidro Liarte Lausín, y el comandante militar, coronel Aranda, con los representantes del Frente Popular. El coronel Aranda expuso que no había inconveniente en que salieran los mineros hacia Madrid porque en la región no había ningún problema de rebelión militar.

A través del sindicato de transporte de la UGT se incautaron los camiones de la CAMPSA y autobuses para formar una columna que viajaría por carretera, compuesta por tres camiones, cuatro autobuses y una docena de coches. Dos camiones fueron cargados con dinamita. Todos estos vehículos se estacionaron en el campo de la Lana y en las calles Quintana, Pelayo y Covadonga, protegidos por fuerzas de la Guardia de Asalto. La columna motorizada, mandada por el socialista Francisco Martínez Dutor y el teniente de Asalto Francisco Lluch Urbano, contaba con unos 500 hombres. En Mieres se sumó a esta columna un nutrido grupo de voluntarios.

Al mismo tiempo que la motorizada, se fue organizando una columna  ferroviaria, compuesta por dos locomotoras y doce vagones. El tren salió de Oviedo sobre la una de la madrugada del 19 de julio, cargado de voluntarios hasta los topes. Contaban con doscientos fusiles y munición entregados por orden del coronel Aranda. Al mando de la columna iban el socialista Manuel Otero y el teniente de Asalto Alejandro García Menéndez. En Mieres se incorporó otro numeroso grupo, mandado por Ramón González Peña y el jefe de las milicias de las Juventudes Socialistas, Guzmán García.

A las cinco de la mañana el tren especial salió de la estación de Ujo, la última asturiana, compuesto ya por tres máquinas y dieciocho vagones, transportando a 2.500 hombres.

En León

A las ocho de la mañana del 19 de julio llegó a León la columna motorizada, que aguardó en las inmediaciones de la estación la llegada del tren especial, dos horas más tarde. Los mineros se desperdigaron por la ciudad, sin causar en ningún momento problemas de orden público, y los mandos milicianos se reunieron con el gobernador civil, Emilio Francés Ortiz, con la petición de que armara a los obreros con la reserva de la Guardia Civil y de Asalto, a lo que Francés se negó tajantemente.

Desde Astorga llegó el general Juan García Gómez-Caminero, inspector general del ejército, enviado por el gobierno para controlar las guarniciones del valle del Duero. Caminero y los mandos milicianos se reunieron con el general Carlos Bosch y Bosch, comandante militar de la plaza, que se negó a entregar armas a los mineros asturianos sin una orden escrita del gobierno. El general Caminero telegrafió a Madrid para que remitieran la orden, que se recibió en la comandancia militar de León a la hora de comer. El general Bosch accedió a entregar a los mineros 200 fusiles con 10 cartuchos por arma y tres ametralladoras, material que sería entregado una vez que los mineros hubieran salido de la ciudad.

A las diez de la noche del domingo 19 hubo otra reunión entre los dirigentes de los sindicatos leoneses y el gobernador civil, pero este se negó nuevamente a entregar armas a los trabajadores, aduciendo que estaba todo bajo control

Mientras tanto, llegó la noticia de que Valladolid estaba en manos de los sublevados, los cuales habían instalado piezas de artillería en las vías para cortar el avance del tren asturiano. El mando de la columna miliciana, al que se había incorporado el comandante Juan Ayza Borgoñós, ayudante de Gómez-Caminero, decidió entonces seguir hacia Madrid por Zamora, saliendo los camiones de León a las seis de la tarde del domingo 19 por la carretera de Zamora. Según lo pactado con el general Bosch se entregó a los mineros el armamento acordado, pero estaba todo en tan mal estado que Gómez-Caminero se negó a firmar el recibo, aunque tampoco hizo nada para solucionar el problema. Más bien lo que hizo fue abandonar la ciudad en automóvil, logrando pasar a Portugal por Puebla de Sanabria, para regresar a la zona gubernamental por Badajoz. Por su parte, el tren especial salió a las siete de la tarde por la línea Astorga-Plasencia, deteniéndose las dos columnas en Benavente para pasar la noche.

La noticia de la existencia del tren de mineros asturianos se extendió a gran velocidad por toda Castilla la Vieja, alimentando las esperanzas de los defensores del orden constitucional en aquellos primeros momentos de incertidumbre.

Regreso a Asturias

En la madrugada del día 20 llegó a Benavente, en una carrera a toda velocidad desde Mieres, el abogado Juan Pablo García para avisar de la rebelión del coronel Aranda en Oviedo. Al conocer la noticia, la opinión unánime de los mineros fue regresar a Asturias. La columna motorizada salió enseguida y logró entrar en Asturias por Leitariegos a primera hora de la mañana del día 21, incorporándose a las primeras líneas de asedio a la ciudad de Oviedo. El tren miliciano, sin embargo, llegó a Ponferrada a las nueve de la mañana. Allí se habían concentrado las fuerzas de la tercera compañía de la Guardia Civil, por orden del oficial Jaime Milans del Bosch, que se había sublevado tras la salida de los mineros de la ciudad de León. Los guardias civiles, a los que habían unido algunos guardias de Asalto, se habían parapetado en su cuartel, situado en la plaza Mayor, dominando la estación de tren.

El plan de los mineros era ocupar la estación del tren minero de la Compañía Minero Siderúrgica de Ponferrada, y con ese medio de transporte llegar a Villablino y de allí a Oviedo. Se encontraban también en Ponferrada gran cantidad de obreros procedentes de la comarca de Laciana y otros pueblos del Bierzo, que habían respondido a la llamada de las organizaciones de izquierdas. Sin embargo, el alcalde de la ciudad, Juan García Árias, se negó a entregar armas a los trabajadores.

El teniente García Menéndez, de la expedición asturiana, intentó parlamentar con los guardias y logró entrar en el cuartel ondeando una bandera blanca, pero fue detenido por los sublevados, que dispararon con ametralladora sobre la masa de mineros que esperaba en la plaza. Los mineros atacaron el cuartel con dinamita y fusilería, pero la mayor parte no disponían de armas y se retiraron hacia Villablino en el tren minero, pasando luego a Asturias por sus propios medios.

Entre el atardecer del día 20 y el mediodía del 21 diversas salidas de los guardias fueron desalojando a los mineros de sus posiciones en la plaza Mayor. Los mineros armados se hicieron fuertes en el castillo de Ponferrada, abandonando sus posiciones a primeras horas de la tarde del día 21, tras la llegada de una columna de trescientos hombres del Regimiento de Infantería Zaragoza núm. 30, procedente de Lugo.

La desorganización, la falta tanto de armamento como de líderes políticos y militares, y la reticencia de las autoridades civiles hacia las masas obreras, hicieron inviable la resistencia de las organizaciones obreras ante las fuerzas militares sublevadas, que actuaron siempre de forma organizada y decidida, incluso cuando se encontraban en inferioridad numérica.

Referencias

Bibliografía
 Álvarez Oblanca, Wenceslao. Serrano, Secundino. La Guerra Civil en León, Léon, Edilesa, 2010.
 Blas, Juan Antonio de. "La columna minera hacia Madrid". En: La Guerra Civil en Asturias, Gijón, Júcar, 1986, vol. 1.

Véase también
 Guerra Civil Española en Castilla y León
 Guerra Civil Española en la provincia de León
 Columna de mineros de Huelva

León
Benavente
Historia de la provincia de León

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Dragon wizard, p.19
S. Andrew Swann
"Never mind that. Who could have recovered that scroll?"
Elhared shook his head and chuckled. He gave Lucille a pitying look. "You don't know? Isn't it obvious?"
Something in his face made me sick to my stomach. I suddenly knew what was coming.
"Sebastian of course."
"Who in the Seven Hells is Sebastian?"
Elhared looked at her, and I swear his expression showed shock. I couldn't bear to hear the reproach in his voice. Not from an evil, scheming bastard like him. Especially since, in some sense, it was justified.
"After all you took from him, you don't even know his name?"
"Whose name?" Krys said.
Elhared waited for Lucille to make the connection herself. After a moment she started to say, "Who . . ."
She trailed off as it sank in. I knew when she understood, because I felt her stomach lurch, her heart accelerate, and her muscles clench.
Elhared's plan had been fairly simple. He hired a dragon to kidnap the princess of Lendowyn. Once the king offered said princess's hand in marriage, Elhared had hired a patsy from a dockside bar—yours truly—to suit up in armor to go "save" the princess. Once everyone had assembled in the same spot, he showed up to play round robin with everyone's souls. I had ended up as the princess, he had ended up as me, and the princess had ended up as the dragon. The plan had been to slay the dragon, now containing an inconvenient princess, so the newly minted hero Elhared would return with a newly compliant princess, and the head of a dragon. Instant peerage.
The dragon himself had always seemed the odd lizard out in that scenario.
The dragon had said that Elhared had bought his service with a promise to cover his marker for a gambling debt to the elves. Elves took those debts seriously. That promise seemed as fraudulent as everything else, given the state of the Lendowyn treasury. Even with the funds Elhared had been skimming from the crown, it seemed obvious in retrospect that he couldn't have possibly covered a gambling debt that had already consumed the whole of a dragon's hoard.
After Elhared's spell the dragon was no richer and he was stuck in Elhared's body. No prize that.
Lucille and I had always assumed that he'd been double-crossed as well as everyone else.
But what if he hadn't been?
What if that had been part of the plan? Had Elhared's plot gone as intended, the dragon who was in debt to the elves would be dead.
But what better way to cover that debt?
The dragon would be left in the body of Elhared the Unwise. Maybe not ideal, but free of any liens. He would have been established with a position, a title, and allies in the court to help enable the continuing fraud.
"The dragon's name is Sebastian," Lucille finally said.
"There you go," Elhared said. "After all that effort, and he still ends up in the hands of the elves. I suspect he was very annoyed."
"What? The dragon had your scroll?"
Elhared snorted and patted his robes. "No, I did. Just in case things went wrong. But Francis's interruption separated all of us, and I suspect Sebastian did not know whether to continue our plan or not. Besides, he didn't have the talent to invoke it."
So he had gone to the one place where it was certain that there would be someone who could, the wizard town of Fell Green. I felt sick. I remembered tackling him outside a gambling hall. I remember demanding to know the location of Elhared and the book, which he didn't know.
When I had been screaming in the faux Elhared's face, I hadn't known that, somewhere in his wizard's robes had been a scroll that could have reversed the whole mess.
Something of the realization must have colored my thoughts, because Lucille interrupted them. No! Frank, it's not your fault!
I could have stopped all this before it got so out of hand.
Don't you dare blame yourself.
I really didn't want to. I even tried to excuse it, explain it. After Elhared's spell misfired, I had only a few uninterrupted moments with the dragon—Sebastian—before the elves had shown up. After they had grabbed us, putting us on trial, Sebastian-as-Elhared had committed completely to the wizard fraud. Of course, in that context, he couldn't let on about the spell, much less the scroll that could reverse it. He didn't even let on who he really was until after sentence was passed.
My blame came later.
The elves had freed me, but had imprisoned the fake Elhared and Lucille the dragon. I had made a deal with the elf-king to buy Lucille's freedom.
Just hers.
I could have bought Sebastian's freedom with the same act. It had been clear that the elves valued the dragon as a dragon more than Sebastian in his then-current state. In hindsight I could have freed him as well as Lucille without any extra cost on my part.
For reasons hard to justify in retrospect, I hadn't bothered. Sure, Lucille had been my priority, but at that point I'd believed the ex-dragon Sebastian had been as much a victim of Elhared's schemes as we'd been. Ignoring his plight had been, at best, petty vindictiveness on my part.
Worse, my pettiness had trumped logic that should have been clear to me at the time. Even though I had no idea of the scroll carried on his person, I should have realized that a former ally of Elhared might have been somewhat useful in tracking down the wizard.
Whatever Lucille may have thought, it had been my fault. I had abandoned Sebastian because I had been too blind to understand what I'd been doing. I had not only given up the undoing of Elhared's spell however unknowingly; I had also quite knowingly created an enemy when I could have created an ally.
It was all my fault.
I think the chief problem in being a silent passenger in someone else's skull is how easy it makes it for you to disappear into your own thoughts, especially dark ones involving guilt and self-pity. For the past year or so, those latter ones had been a specialty of mine. Might-have-beens and self-recriminations can be even more addictive when you can't actually do anything physical.
I lost track of the conversation, huddling back in Lucille's skull and thinking quiet thoughts of my own uselessness. I tried to sulk in silence, because even long after the influence of the tea, Lucille still seemed to hear me. I didn't want her interrupting my depression telling me how she had come to terms with her life as a dragon, or how without me Grünwald would have conquered Lendowyn long before now. I'd heard her arguments before, and at better moments I could find them compelling.
But right now I couldn't help thinking of Sebastian the Dragon loosing his fury on an unsuspecting ballroom full of innocent people. Yes, I know, a bunch of nobles and diplomats, so they were really far from innocent. But they were innocent of the crime that fired Sebastian's wrath. Only one person in that room could claim credit for that. I didn't think Lucille could come up with a counter for my complicity in that.
Worse, now Sebastian was attacking villages with actual innocent people, pushing everything toward open war where even more would die. For all we knew, that war may have started already, the massed armies from my dream-vision marching for Lendowyn based on actions I had provoked.
I know Lucille would argue the point, and I didn't want to force her to. She had more important things to think about than inventing reasons to absolve me.
I should tell you that, at this point, it is perfectly acceptable to want to slap me. I share the sentiment. I know it's not all about me, but, then again, this is my story I'm telling, so, in a sense, it is, isn't it?
After Lucille's conversation with Elhared, there was a lot more back and forth as Lucille tried to form our group into something that might work as a team, and tried to craft something that might work as a
plan. Too much time had been lost already, and they needed Sebastian the Dragon to fulfill the elf-king's ultimatum.
Elhared's rationale for working with us was, knowing what we did of where the scroll came from, that Sebastian would suffice as the one at root bearing responsibility for the death of the prince. Thanks to Elhared, we also had some clue to where he might have gone. Sebastian wasn't native to Lendowyn, and Elhared knew the mountain pass that his one-time coconspirator called home. It was back where we had come, a straight-line route that passed through the Northern Palace and kept going to the mountains beyond.
A few days ride at best. Given the state of the hourglass, we had little more than one mortal day left.
Fortunately we had alternate transportation now.
If there was any consolation to my status as an invisible rider in Lucille's skull, it was in that flight back to the Northern Palace. I had ridden via dragon before, and it would not be on any list I'd ever draft of fun things to do. Enough so that if it was a choice between escaping in the clutches of a friendly dragon and being immolated by an approaching forest fire, it would require at least a moment or two of thought on my part.
I had also, in my one prior episode in a dragon's skull, been used as a mount by a half-dozen teenage girls. That had been disconcerting in its own way. From a dragon's perspective, humans seem so tiny and fragile I couldn't help feeling that any wrong move would reduce them to a thin smear on my scaled backside.
Lucille being in control of the dragon freed me from both concerns.
Rabbit and Krys managed to quickly return to Fell Green and, in less than half an hour, trade the now-superfluous horses and return with a considerable amount of rope and leather. They used the supplies to knot together a rope harness around Lucille's chest and neck, giving the four humans something with which to anchor themselves.
Elhared was the only one to express any reluctance, but Robin said something to him and laughed. After that Robin sprang up to straddle the dragon's neck. A grim-faced Elhared followed.
Krys and Rabbit sat forward, Rabbit in front.
Lucille launched herself into the moonlit night.
She was fast. I do not know what image that word conjures in your mind, but whatever it is, I can attest it is inadequate to convey the sheer velocity of her movement.
Wind tore by us as our passengers screamed.
Passenger, actually. I think it was Elhared. I'm not entirely sure, since Lucille did not move her head from the wire-straight path she followed. The ground blurred by below us, the hills and forest passing by so quickly that it almost seemed the earth undulated with our passage.
It must have been close to midnight when she'd launched from the island of Fell Green, the moon high in the sky. It was still night when we reached the Northern Palace, the moon low on the horizon and the dawn still hours away.
She circled the building, high up, and saw the guardsmen rallying.
"Krys, I'm going to land outside of longbow range. Run up and announce us."
"Yes, Your Highness!" Krys's shouted response was nearly inaudible over the rushing wind.
Less than a handful of minutes after we'd landed, Krys had returned with most of the Lysean guard; Mary, along with Laya and Thea, who had successfully made it away from Lendowyn Castle after our abrupt departure. Grace was evidently still hobbled by the injuries she had received during the banquet.
Krys had obviously filled them in, but it was clear they didn't know exactly what to make of Lucille.
"It is you?" Laya said nervously as she approached Lucille's crimson form.
"Who else would I be?"
Laya looked back at the Northern Palace nervously.
"There have been a lot of dragon attacks," Mary said.
"Sebastian is still attacking villages?"
"Who's Sebastian?"
Lucille explained and got more of the story from Mary.
Sebastian had been a busy dragon. He'd been torching farms and villages in a widening arc across Lendowyn's northern border and beyond. Places had been attacked three kingdoms away. It was obvious he was doing his best to incite as many nations against Lendowyn as he could.
"It's to the point that rumor has taken over," Mary said.
"Meaning?"
"It's impossible that one dragon could accomplish all the attacks we're hearing about. Three farms leveled at all points of the compass within a single day? Someone's making this stuff up."
It turned out that the Northern Palace was a garrison now, fortified with a hundred extra troops that Lendowyn couldn't afford. The only reason that no one had tried to shoot Lucille out of the sky was because none of the dragon attacks had so far focused on Lendowyn, and King Alfred had standing orders not to summarily attack the dragon that, as far as he knew, could still be his daughter.
Oh . . .
Lucille?
I never thought of . . . Letting Father think I was still the dragon, what if someone got killed because he ordered them not to attack?
No one has.
Yet. That we know of.
We'll stop Sebastian before it comes to that.
Yes. She didn't sound convinced.
Other news was predictable, but not reassuring. King Alfred was angry and conscripting every able-bodied man in the kingdom. Rumors of an anti-Lendowyn alliance had already reached the Northern Palace. And everyone seemed to realize that something was not quite right with the fae. No mortal had seen an elf for days, anywhere.
"We don't have any time," Lucille told them. "We need to go after Sebastian immediately. We may have less than a day. Did you bring Dracheslayer?"
"And the Tear of Nâtlac!" Thea said enthusiastically.
Oh great, I thought unenthusiastically.
"Back at the palace," Laya said.
"Fetch the sword. We'll head out at dawn."
Elhared looked up at Lucille. "Your Highness? What exactly is your plan here?"
"We take the dragon and return him to the elf-king, and hope that's enough for him to call off a war."
"Uh-huh. Do you have any specific ideas on how you're going to do this?"
"We have the sword and our own dragon. We'll bring him back."
Elhared nodded. "I thought not. You expect to coerce an unwilling dragon?"
"If necessary, we will kill him!" Lucile snapped. Everyone but Elhared stepped back from her.
"Might I make a suggestion?" I recognized the glint in his eye, and I didn't much like it.
Don't trust him, I thought at Lucille.
I know, Lucille thought back at me.
"If I heard correctly, you have a Tear of Nâtlac?"
I didn't like where this was going. Using that artifact the last time ended in a disaster nearly as severe as the one we were embroiled in right now.
"Your task would be considerably easier if Sebastian was easily restrained and the dragon had a more willing disposition."
"What are you suggesting?"
"The spells that placed you in Sebastian's skin, and returned him to it. They can swap him with a more . . . cooperative identity."
"You can do that without your spellbook, or that scroll?"
"Not usually. But with the Tear of Nâtlac as a focus, it would be trivial. That jewel is nothing but a solid manifestation of the same magics, distilled to their purest essence."
"Exchange Sebastian for an ally?"
"And return him when the elves have their dragon again."
I did not like the way Elhared smiled when he said that.
As th
e girls took our two guests back to the palace to equip for the trek into the mountains, I mentally yelled at Lucille, You can't be thinking of going along with Elhared?
Frank, he's right. We're on a deadline.
She spread her wings and lifted off to fly in the direction of the palace. You can't trust him.
Of course not. But I remember that dragon—even with Dracheslayer backing me up, I want every advantage available.
I don't feel good using Nâtlac's little trinket for anything. Not after last time.
She swooped around the top of the palace. The few guards gave us a salute as we passed. Better than an arrow in the eye, I guess.
You won't be using it.
But that kind of magical "gift" always has unintended—
I felt a queasy half-familiar sensation in Lucille's gut. Our gut. From the corner of our eye I saw that the moon was completely below the horizon. Everything fell into place as I had an instantaneous flash of perfect understanding.
My panicked mental scream carried with such force that the word left Lucille's mouth in a small burst of sulfurous fire.
Land now! Land now! Landnowlandnowlandnow . . .
We were too high up, way too high, and I could feel the cramps in our stomach radiating out to every part of our body. Lucille's flight became less controlled and we started tumbling down.
This wasn't going to be good.
I should have realized the risk much earlier, but I'd been distracted by Elhared's presence. Lothan had promised us each our own body, and he was, among other things, the patron of transformation. The potion he had provided was imbibed by moonlight, and the moon had been over our heads until this moment.
The full moon.
The Wizard Crumley had said that having dual personas in a single body would result in some sort of merging of our identities—except in certain cases of lycanthropy.
Lothan had an unfortunate sense of humor.
The potion hadn't turned us into a dragon. It had turned us into a were-dragon. Though not the solution I would have chosen, I probably would have admired its twisted elegance if the realization—and the transformation—hadn't hit me midflight.
Dragon Wizard by S. Andrew Swann / History & Fiction have rating 4 out of 5 / Based on32 votes
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Forests of the Night
Broken Crescent
Heretics [Apotheosis 02]]
Heretics
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Private Jet Travel Destinations: New Luxury Hotels
Daniel Slovis July 2, 2013 Blog Leave a Comment
Are you the type of person who likes to be among the first to try new things? Do you like having all the latest gadgets on your private jet? If you covet premiers, then don't miss the chance to be the first to try some of the newest luxury hotels around the world.
The Quin Hotel | New York, NY
Ideally situated on the corner of 57th Street and 6th Avenue, the Quin Hotel is New York's latest luxury lifestyle hotel. If the address sounds familiar, that's because it's the former location of the 57th Street Buckingham Hotel. The newly restored accommodation is within walking distance of hotspots like the Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Central Park and, of course, the 57th Street gallery district. When the Quin opens, it will have an art gallery that features the works of Irish painter Patrick Graham. When booking a room, ask for the O'Keeffe, Paderewaki or Penthouse Suite. The Quin informs future guests that it's fully committed between June 15, 2013 and September 14, 2013, but rooms are available beginning September 15, 2013. (http://www.thequinhotel.com/)
Waldorf Astoria Panama | Panama City, Panama
The Waldorf Astoria Panama is the first Waldorf Astoria resort in Latin America. The hotel opened its doors in March 2013 on Calle Uruguay, the capital's trendy hotspot that's near La Cinta Costera and the famed Panama Canal. Jetsetters appreciate the resort's proximity to the Marcos A. Gelabert International Airport; it's just 15 minutes away. In addition to its 130 rooms and suites, this Waldorf Astoria location also offers its guests 118 apartments, a 1,200-square-foot fitness center, 2,500-square-foot spa and four different places to grab a bite. (http://waldorfastoria3.hilton.com/en/hotels/panama/waldorf-astoria-panama-PTYTPWA/index.html)
Four Seasons Hotel Lion Palace | St. Petersburg, Russia
Poet Alexander Pushkin immortalized the Lion Palace in his 1833 poem, "The Bronze Horseman." Now you can enjoy the striking gathering place at the restored palace of Princess Cleopatra Lobanova-Rostovskaya, the wife of Prince Alexey Lobanov-Rostovsky. The hotel greets its guest with a grand marble staircase that's complete with gold accents and bronze molding. Builders painstakingly returned the palace to its 1820s glory with the help of the original architectural drawings. A couple of changes, however, include the conversion of the courtyards into a glass-enclosed Tea Lounge and a four-story luxury spa with an enclosed rooftop pool. When you charter a private jet to St. petersburg and stay at the The Four Seasons Lion Palace, book the Presidential Suite for the personal furnished terrace that's perfect for open-air dining. The Four Seasons Lion Palace is currently accepting guest reservations from August 1, 2013. (http://www.fourseasons.com/stpetersburg/)
Rosewood Beijing | Beijing, China
Set to open in the fall 2013, the Rosewood Beijing in the Chaoyang District has the travel critics buzzing about its unusually large room sizes. The standard rooms will average 538 square feet (bigger than most luxury apartments in the city) and will include spacious bathrooms, window seats, natural finishes and, yes, walk-in closets. The spa suites are even bigger. The Rosewood will also feature a day spa, indoor pool, fitness center, yoga studio and seven restaurants and bars with international cuisine. (http://www.rosewoodhotels.com/en/beijing/)
Mahali Mzuri | Maasai Mara, Kenya
The Mahali Mzuri is Sir Richard Branson's Kenyan Safari camp that's set to open in August 2013. The ultra-exclusive Virgin Limited Edition property features 12 eco-friendly minimal-footprint luxury tents on platforms in the Motorogi Conservancy, which is part of the Maasai Mara ecosystem and community. With all the amenities that you enjoy in a lavish suite, the luxury tents also have terraces with sweeping views of the wildlife and landscape. During their stay, guests will enjoy guided walks and daily game drives on the conservancy, and the opportunity to meet the residents in the local Maasai village. (http://www.mahalimzuri.virgin.com/)
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Solairus is a US-based private aviation services company whose core business is assisting aircraft owners with the safe, reliable, and efficient management and operation of their aircraft. Our services are customized to meet the client's individual travel and financial requirements, and to support their flight operation with the highest standards of safety and personalized service, regardless of the location of the aircraft.
Solairus was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. Solairus has over twenty-five base locations across the United States, Europe and Asia, employing more than two hundred flight crew and support personnel to operate a fleet currently numbering over fifty aircraft. Solairus is an Aviation Research Group/US Platinum-Rated and Wyvern Wingman certified charter operator. Solairus has also received the NBAA Commercial Business Flying Safety Award and is an IS-BAO stage two certified company. Solairus offers a full range of services in addition to aircraft management, which includes aircraft charter sales, aviation support services, and consulting. For more information about Solairus Aviation, visit www.solairus.aero or call 800-359-7861.
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Solairus is a US-based private aviation services company whose core business is assisting aircraft owners with the safe, reliable, and efficient management and operation of their aircraft. Our charter and management services are customized to meet the client's individual travel and financial requirements. Our goal is to support flight operations with the highest standards of safety and personalized services, regardless of the aircraft's location.
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Mourinho Favorite Refusing To Accept New Contract Offer
By BF Staff | September 20, 2017 | 0
REUTERS/Darren Staples
Manchester United midfielder Marouane Fellaini is yet to accept a new contract offer, as he is holding out for a better deal from the Red Devils.
The Belgian joined United from Everton in the summer of 2013, and after enduring three forgettable campaigns with the club, he progressed really well under Jose Mourinho in the 2016-17 season. Unlike other managers, the Portuguese tactician gave Fellaini more playing time, and he made 44 appearances for the Reds last term.
Manchester United already have a great bunch of midfielders, and after they pulled off the deal to sign Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, it seemed likely that the English giants would offload Fellaini, who was strongly linked with a move to Galatasaray.
There was strong speculations that Fellaini could sign for the Turkish giants in the final proceedings of the summer transfer window, but the move failed to go through, as Mourinho wasn't very keen on selling the midfielder. Despite not being a fan favourite, it is understood that Jose sees Fellaini as an integral player, who could bail the team out when they are in trouble.
Reuters / Darren Staples
The contract talks between the midfielder and the club have been ongoing, and the latest reports in Daily Mail claims that the Red Devils have offered Fellaini a new one-year deal, but he continues to hold out for a better offer with a longer deal.
However, United are one of the clubs that are known to be cautious about offering lengthy extensions to players over the age of 30.
Having said that, it would not be a huge surprise if Mourinho offers Fellaini a better contract, as the former Porto manager has always spoken highly on the Anderlecht academy graduate.
Owing to Paul Pogba's hamstring injury, Fellaini made his first United start in the 2016-17 campaign against his former club Everton on Sunday, and it is likely that Mourinho will continue with the 30-year-old until Pogba returns from injury.
Keep up to date with the biggest transfer news from the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A and a lot more
Written by Pragadeesh Shanmugam
United fan since Edwin Van der Sar denied Nicolas Anelka's penalty to earn a dramatic Euro glory. Firmly believes that Lionel Messi deserves to win the Ballon d'Or until he plays this sport. One time writer for GiveMeSport and Roar. A regular contributor to Sportskeeda and BlameFootball.
← Golden Boy Award 2017: The List Of 25 Best YoungstersFabinho Who? Stats Show Mourinho Was Absolutely Right To Sign Nemanja Matic →


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Bilawal to save a political legacy
Rehan Khan Ghauri
Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in Hamlet's state of mind "to be or not to be" as it is one of the most difficult and bold decisions of his life to disassociate himself from his father Asif Ali Zardari and aunt Faryal Talpur in order to explore new heights in politics. Sooner or later, he would have to swallow this bitter pill to save the political legacy of his maternal father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and mother Benazir Bhutto who sacrificed their precious lives beyond the call of duty. If he does not come out of Hamlet's state of mind, it would prove the last nail in the coffin of Bhuttoism which is already taking its last breath due to mishandling of the party affairs after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.
Bilawal should take a lesson from his mother, who made unwavering efforts to revive the party structure after the judicial murder of her father Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Although it was a gigantic task for her to regain the lost glory of PPP because of the unconducive environment and imbalanced level playing field, she proved her mettle and succeeded to become Prime Minister of the country twice.
Bilawal neither has adventured like his mother nor experienced the hardships of life before stepping in politics. He has been presented the party's leadership after getting some knowhow classes regarding local as well as international politics. William Shakespeare has said, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon 'em." Bilawal falls in the third category in this saying. His public persona of life is alarmingly being affected due to his offensive speeches against the on-going trial of his father, aunt, and their accomplices in corruption cases. He is making an unsuccessful effort to mould public opinion regarding such a person whose life is full of unfolded stories of corruption being gossiped at every nook and cranny of the country.
The latest surfaced money laundering and fake bank accounts case is just a minor example of it. But a layman, especially in Sindh, has nothing to do with all such fuss as he is engaged in the "war of survival" due to his ailing economic condition. Keeping in view the current situation of the PPP, it is sorry to say that both brother and sister have accomplished the unfinished agenda of General Ziaul Haq by bringing the party at the brink of destruction with their conservative and conventional approach to the politics.
Due to this reason, the PPP, which once was the symbol of federation and having strong roots in all four provinces including Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Jammu and Kashmir, is standing nowhere except interior Sindh.
Sindhis are simple and loving people so they are still in their slain leaders' trauma. This is one of the factors that they are supporting PPP for showing their strong affiliation and commitment to the departed souls. One can judge their simplicity as they are expecting the same pro-people policy of bread, clothing, and house, in the era of android cell phone and 4G internet connection.
Reviewing consecutive three tenures of PPP's performance, the Sindh government has done nothing for the development and prosperity of the people of the province. The people are still living in the Stone Age. According to some political pundits, the PPP would have been washed away in general election - 2018, if people had a good alternate in the province. But it was fortunate for PPP that there was not a single strong opposition, so it successfully made a hat-trick in constituting its provincial government.
Sheikh Rasheed who is once again Railways Minister, talking to media a couple of days ago, predicted that he was foreseeing two factions in the PPP – one to be led by father and the other one by the son. Sympathizing with the son, he said Bilawal is being made scapegoat in order to sugar-coat his father and aunt's corruption. Unfortunately, Bilawal, instead of following the footprints of his great mother who was not only a national but international figure, people called her a chain of four provinces, is using the tongue of national wealth looters.
Highlighting the drawback of Bilawal's launching in politics, a veteran PPP leader, expressing anonymity, accused Asif Zardari of his failure and claimed he wants to enjoy the portfolio of premiership after presidential impunity. He also quoted an example of Fatima Bhutto, daughter of Mir Murtaza Bhutto, who could be a good politician and fill the gap of Benazir Bhutto in the future but she could not make her career in politics, like her mother Ghinwa Bhutto.
Keeping in view the country's political history, it is sorry to say that whenever a corrupt elite ruling class has been taken to task; it has given a false impression to the public as well as the world that democracy is in danger in Pakistan. Therefore, it has been facilitated with an escape route in the shape of National Reconciliation Ordinance (NRO) due to internal and external pressure. The on-going accountability process against the corrupt elite ruling mafia has opened a new Pandora box in political circles of the country. They are accusing the incumbent government of doing the politics of victimisation. They even started to portray a negative image of the country on the globe for personal gains and giving anti-state statements; Bilawal Bhutto said Pakistan should take action against militant and proscribed organizations operating in the country. He should have avoided giving such a statement which put the country's integrity at stake worldwide.
According to some political pundits, Bilawal himself is becoming a security risk for the country by giving such statements and his future would be dark if he did not come on track. They said holding public rallies and giving anti-state statements are his political jargons to mislead the nation and to earn sympathies from the world for building pressure on the incumbent government to take refuge from on-going accountability process in the country.
PM scrambles to save coalition
Bilawal visits Farhatullah, Mehdi Shah for condolence
Save a tree, buy a reusable notebook!
Parliament ready for legislation, says Bilawal
THEY CALL US, MEET US, TALK TO US, BUT.......? ..... I THINK WE HAVE LOST OUR CLORIOUS DAYS SERVICE AGAINST GOVT
Charisma and over-confidence
Waqas Aslam Rana
Economic reforms: looking beyond the IMF
Stabilising Economy
Election Opportunists
The Right Way
IMF Loan
Transgender Community
Female riders
Amendments in Intermediate English Curriculum


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Ted Cruz: 'Odds are very good' of Supreme Court vacancy this summer
By | Fox News
Ted Cruz on how conservatives are viewing President Trump
On 'Special Report,' the former Republican presidential candidate discusses foreign and domestic policy, his relationship with the president after the campaign
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz told "Special Report with Bret Baier" Thursday that "I think the odds are very good" that a second seat on the Supreme Court will fall vacant this year.
"If not this summer, next summer," Cruz told Bret Baier. "You know, judges don't like it when people kind of nudge them out, so they'll go when they decide to go."
Cruz stressed that he had "no inside information" about any possible vacancy, but noted that "that most of my professional career has been as a Supreme Court litigator and I know the Court well."
IN RARE CONCESSION, TOP DEM PREDICTS GORSUCH WILL BE CONFIRMED
President Trump has nominated Neil Gorsuch to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia, who died last year at the age of 79. Cruz did not specify which justice he believed would retire, but two of the remaining eight justices on the court — liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg and swing vote Anthony Kennedy — are in their 80s.
Cruz said the battle over whoever is appointed to fill the forthcoming vacancy would be "Armageddon."
"[This] is going to be the opportunity to shift the course of this court [and] put a five-justice majority of Constitutionalists on the court," Cruz said, adding that Republicans "need to be prepared to take the case to the American people."
Cruz, who has been put forward as a potential Supreme Court candidate, told Baier that he was "very happy in the Senate."
SURVEY: CONTROVERSIAL REP. KEITH ELLISON FRONTRUNNER FOR DNC CHAIR
The senator also had harsh words for Washington Democrats, saying that many are "out of their minds."
"They're really angry. They're angry not at Republicans, not even at Trump. They're angry at the American people. They're angry at the voters: 'How dare you elect a Republican president and Republican majorities in both houses?'" Cruz said. "The Democrats are not in the mode of raising reasonable questions. They're in the mode of losing their minds, of screaming – it's not showing respect for the democratic process, it's not showing respect for the voters. I think that's unfortunate.


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