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Have you met…Emmanuelle Roger? – Female entrepreneurship in sports industry and the future of fan engagement
31 May Have you met…Emmanuelle Roger? – Female entrepreneurship in sports industry and the future of fan engagement
Posted at 13:42h in Latest News, Noticias by SportGSIC
Female visibility in sports industry has been growing significantly for the past two-three years, when we could see more women speaking at the industry events in representation of different organizations from startups to big sports entities. There are also more initiatives that support women entrepreneurs in technology sector emerging which is helpful and inspiring for this generation of female professionals and for the next one.
What is it like to be a female entrepreneur running a fan engagement startup? We decided to find it out this month talking to Emmanuelle Roger, co-founder of Immersiv.io that started its journey 4 years ago to build the future of the fan experience. Immersiv.io now is a 15-person team operating at an international scale, recognized for their expertise in Augmented Reality (Magic Leap Official Creator and Mixed Reality Microsoft Partner), and awarded for the sports solutions they've built (Dreamland XR, MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference).
She had the opportunity to start working in the sports industry quite soon in her career, which she's never stopped since. Emmanuelle has collaborated with major players of that industry such as UEFA, Bundesliga, NHL, Canal +, or Fox Sports, to deliver experiences for millions of fans.
-Q: Emmanuelle, tell us about yourself, background and experience.
-A: I'm a Co-founder and CEO of Immersiv.io. I co-founded the company with Stephane Guerin a few years ago. Before that, I have always been working as a product manager, developing digital solutions used by millions of fans and always trying to leverage the latest technologies focusing on the user. As for my academic background, I graduated from Engineering school and I did a master's degree in design. My role in this company is very aligned with my history, merging creativity and technology.
-Q: It is known that usually women are not that frequent to study STEM careers. How did you find out about this world?
-A: Concerning technology, I have been lucky because in my family and close relatives I had several women who were engineers or scientists, but I didn't realize that at the time. For me it was only natural to be in that sphere, thanks to the models I had in my environment Without me knowing, it felt completely normal and that is why I ended up in scientific studies.
-Q: Why did you choose the sports industry?
-A: It was my plan A. When I was very young, I wanted to have a professional career in football. More realistically, I rather focused on math and science. But that's why I came back to the sports industry and I'm now working in it as an entrepreneur, which I consider to be my personal accomplishment.
-Q: Have you found it challenging or difficult as a woman to work in the sports industry and being a female entrepreneur?
-A: I started working in the sports industry as a product manager and I had incredible women in my professional environment, so when I became an entrepreneur, I didn't see many challenges, but I've noticed that we are very few in the sports industry and even fewer when combining the sports industry with tech. And that's a shame because the products and services that the market is building are for a wider audience. Now that women's sports are gaining more traction, I believe that having a more diverse population in the industry stakeholders helps building solutions that are for everyone. But I want to say that what I have seen lately is that there are more and more women in panels and conferences, so it is going in the right direction.
-Q: Was there a specific female figure related to the sports industry that was inspiring you?
-A: More than having a specific person, in my context in Paris there are many initiatives to promote women's entrepreneurship. I am part of Station F, a campus and community in the heart of Paris, with 30+ programs and a full range of services. I am also part of a program called Female Founder Fellowship where we were selected to get additional exposure with different types of initiatives that promote women in tech. There are plenty of other networks of women working in the tech industry, which really helps you to have role models to be inspired by. I think these types of initiatives are especially helpful for the new generations, because they can consider this path in the tech industry as a potential way to develop their careers.
-Q: What is the most exciting part of leading a sports startup?
-A: As a sports enthusiast, it's incredible to have a front-row seat or a key role in what's coming for the fans. For me, it's a personal accomplishment to bring value to the next generation of fan technology and more so with my own team. The fact that I was able to create this company is super cool.
-Q: Why fan engagement?
-A: I started in this area because I am very keen on creating new products, services and experiences, which I consider to be very important. For me, being a part of the fan engagement industry, reflecting each day on what we can bring using the finest technologies in the market to create the best emotions for the fans, is all about building impactful experiences.
-Q: Tell us more about Immersiv.io?
-A: We rely on the latest technologies in the field of AR to reinvent the sports fan experience. For instance, using machine learning, computer vision and data, we design and develop new experiences that are immersive and interactive for teams, leagues and other sports organizations, so they can interact with their fans in different ways.
Our solution is agnostic for any device. We develop apps for smartphones but also for smartglasses, and we are especially working closely with Microsoft and their glasses (the Hololens). As a startup creating AR solutions having a giant tech company like Microsoft driving the Mixed Reality industry with their AR Glasses Hololens helps a lot. So we are very enthusiasts to be working with them.
-Q: With the COVID situation affecting the whole sports industry, how is it impacting your company?
-A: The pandemic stopped us at the beginning, because all the games were cancelled or played without fans, so all the deployments that we had for our stadium solution were paused. But what was positive is that it drove further the interest from our clients towards home experiences to engage fans. Which led us to launch our at-home solution that lets fans see their favorite players at full scale in their living room, and the game through an interactive 3D mini-pitch.
– Q: How do you envision the future of fan engagement? What do you think is next?
-A: I think that if we take a look at what the youngest generations are looking for in terms of experience, they are looking for personalization and interaction during live events. That is what we are seeing with the emergence of new leagues like Fan Controlled Football in the US for example. There is an interaction between the fan and the game within these new competitions that are inspired by gaming The future of this area leans towards this type of competition that is more immersive for the fans.
I foresee the advent of Augmented Reality in our everyday life and how it will disrupt our interaction with the digital world, and together with my team we work hard to anticipate the new opportunities it will bring for sports fans.
-Q: What would be your most important lesson from 2020?
-A: What I can say is that the crisis creates opportunities, for each person individually and globally. In the different industries, we have had the opportunity to rethink how we addressed things. I think that for us concretely it accelerated the interest in our home solution, which, without the pandemic would have taken more time.
-Q: What is your biggest plan for 2021?
-A: We are seeing the restart of competition with fans, so one of our main goals is to deploy our solution for stadiums with fans, and we are working on the future of sports broadcasting by adding new features targeted more at the media industry.
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Working Group – Governments to Mitigate the Impact of COVID-19 on the Sports Industry


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Nova Scotia > News
Big Pond group crowdfunding to save church and glebe
Erin Pottie · Multimedia Journalist | Posted: Sept. 16, 2018, 9:09 p.m. | Updated: Sept. 17, 2018, 9:15 a.m. | 2 Min Read
St. Mary's Church is Big Pond is the site where late Cape Breton songstress Rita MacNeil filmed her wildly popular televised Christmas specials. - Contributed
BIG POND, N.S. — A Cape Breton community is coming together to save its historic buildings.
Over the past number of years, Big Pond bid goodbye to its school, general store, grocery store and a church hall.
The small rural community is now seeking to shield two remaining cornerstones through a new campaign.
Members of the recently formed Big Pond Community Fundraising Committee launched a GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/help-for-big-pond-cape-breton) page last week with a goal of raising $300,000.
The money will be used to replace the St. Mary's Church roof before the building falls victim to water damage.
The replacement project is slated to cost $25,000.
Taking the lion's share of the campaign is a proposal to purchase a nearby glebe house.
The Diocese of Antigonish, which owns the property, is seeking to sell the residence for $269,000.
Committee member and Big Pond summer resident Owen Carrigan said in addition to the online campaign, there will be a community mailout in the coming days.
"To lose that church and the glebe house would be just a major blow after what we have lost already," said Carrigan.
"We've put together kind of a plan and it hinges on some of the fundraising end of it. We'll just see how it plays out."
St. Mary's is well-known as the church attended by Big Pond songstress Rita MacNeil and the site where she filmed her nationally televised Christmas specials.
Carrigan said it continues to be a tourist attraction, a mainstay for community events and a place where couples from all over Canada are married.
Along with the campaign, Carrigan said the committee is looking to launch a number of enterprises that could possibly create ongoing revenue.
"If we had some way of getting control or ownership of the glebe we could possibly run an Airbnb out of it in the summertime, and that would really be a shot in the arm for tourists coming to the area," he said.
"The glebe house actually is in pretty good shape, it's just that there's no full-time resident priest there anymore."
Other possibilities include church concerts and promoting the building as a country museum, kayak rentals, guided bicycle tours, guided walking tours and Scottish concerts for cruise ship passengers.
Carrigan said these types of activities could bring an economic boost to the community through job creation, along with placing Big Pond back on the tourism map.
Carrigan said donors who contribute to the campaign will be provided with tax receipts.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The Air Force released a new announcement about a five-year, $24.9 million research project to develop multi-domain aerial warfighting network capabilities.
The Air Force wants innovative and affordable technologies that provide agile and secure information across aerial platforms. The intent is to expand the Global Information Grid (GIG) to connect the three major warfare domains: air, space, and land, according to a sources sought notice.
The innovation would deliver timely and reliable information to warfighters and weapon systems across the Air Force enterprise to support Command and Control, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance. For instance, the network would provide a beyond line-of-sight (BLOS) communications infrastructure.
The second step is the solicitation and award that is likely to happen each fiscal year with a project lasting roughly 36 months. The Air Force anticipates multiple awards for the project using procurement contracts, grants, cooperative agreements or other transactions.
The department recommends that companies send white papers before each of these annual dates.
The projected annual funding ranges between $4 million and $5 million.
The Air Force released its announcement Sept. 19.


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Didelotia letouzeyi, aussi appelé gombé, fait partie de la famille des Caesalpiniaceae. Ses diverses appellations vernaculaires sont : Ekop-gombé ou Gombé (Cameroun), Broutou ou Toubaouaté (Côte d'Ivoire), Angok ou Tomé (Gabon), Bondu (Liberia) et Timba (Sierra Leone). Ses synonymes botaniques sont : Didelotia africana Baill., Didelotia brevipaniculata J. Léonard, Didelotia idae Oldeman & Al. Et Didelotia p.p. L'épithète letouzeyi fait référence au botaniste français René Letouzey. Il s'agit d'une espèce rare que l'on retrouve disséminée pied par pied dans la forêt primitive et souvent dans les peuplements d'Andoungs au Gabon, mais aussi au Cameroun et dans le Mayombe congolais. Le gombé est semblable à l'okoumé et on confond aussi souvent Didelotia letouzeyi avec Didelotia africana.

Description
Cet arbre peut atteindre un gros diamètre, la base de son fût comportant en général un très léger épaississement. Le fût élevé, est droit et cylindrique. Son écorce est de couleur brun-vert, parfois orangée. Le rhytidome s'exfolie par endroits en grandes plaques irrégulières et minces, sous lesquelles le rhytidome interne ressort piqueté de nombreuses lenticelles mesurant quelques centimètres. Son épaisseur est de 2 mm, formé par une pellicule superficielle brun-vert et d'une couche granuleuse ocre clair. L'écorce interne fait 10 mm d'épaisseur lors d'une section. La tranche est fibreuse, rose et tendre avec sous l'écorce un aubier blanc. À la suite de blessures fréquentes entre l'écorce et l'aubier, il peut y avoir des dépôts gélatineux de couleur blanchâtre ou jaunâtres. La feuille est composée de 2 folioles falciformes et le fruit est une gousse oblongue qui s'ouvre en deux valves ligneuses, de couleur brun-marron brillant avec de légères rides sur la face externe. Le bois est parfait, de couleur rose-saumon avec quelques veines d'un brun verdâtre et mi-tendre voire à grain grossier.

Utilité
Les utilisations principales du gombé sont : la fabrication de cercueil, charpente, coffrage, emballage ou caisserie, escalier d'intérieur, face ou contreface de contreplaqué, fermeture et volet, fond de véhicule ou de conteneur, intérieur de contreplaqué, lambris, lamellé-collé, menuiserie extérieure, menuiserie intérieure, meuble courant ou élément meublant, moulure, ossature, placage tranché, siège. Le gombé présente une bonne tenue lors de l'assemblage via clouage ou vissage.

Description de la grume
Son diamètre est de 80 à 120 cm avec une épaisseur de l'aubier de 5 à 10 cm. Il est flottable mais sa conversation en forêt est d'un indice faible nécessitant alors un traitement.

Description du bois
Le bois est rose-saumon avec un aubier bien distinct, un grain moyen et un fil droit ou contrefil, ce dernier étant léger.

Durabilité naturelle et imprégnabilité du bois
Le gombé a une faible résistance aux champignons (classe 4) et est sensible aux termites (classe S). Il reste résistant aux insectes de bois sec (classe D avec un aubier distinct et un risque limité à l'aubier), est peu imprégnable (classe 3) et fait partie de la classe 2 concernant sa durabilité naturelle à l'intérieur ou sous abri (risque d'humidification). Ce bois nécessite un traitement de préservation adapté en cas d'humidification temporaire et dans le cas d'humidification permanente son utilisation n'est pas conseillée.

Réaction au feu
Selon le classement conventionnel français, avec une épaisseur > 14mm, ce bois est moyennement inflammable (M3). Pour une épaisseur < 14mm le gombé est facilement inflammable (M4). Il est classé D-s2,d0 par euroclass, classement répondant aux exigences de la norme NF EN 14081-1 (avril 2016).

Classements commerciaux
Le gombé est classé selon le classement SATA (1996) parmi les produits sciés comme étant :

 pour le « marché général »
 classements possibles avivés : choix I, II, III et IV
 classement possibles coursons : choix I et II
 classement possibles coursons de chevrons : choix I, II et III
 pour les « marchés particuliers »
 classement possibles frises et planchettes : choix I, II et III
 classement possibles chevrons : choix I, II et III

Notes et références

Bibliographie
 De Saint-Aubin, G. (1996), La forêt du Gabon, Césalpiniées. Quae. P139
 Gérard, J., Guibal, D., Paradis, S., Cerre, J. C., Châlon, I., Thévenon, M. F., ... & Langbour, P. Atlas des bois tropicaux.
 Lemmens, R.H.M.J., Louppe, D. & Oteng-Amoako, A.A. (2008). Bois d'œuvre Volume 2. PROTA

Liens externes

Espèce d'Angiospermes (nom scientifique)
Fabaceae

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Hey guys looking for a 4ft diamter metal rimmed drop net for pier fishing. It doesnt have to be collapseable..prefer smaller inner ring as well. Any help is appreciated.
The Bass Pro Shop here in Atlanta carries them. Might want to try there.
Try any of this places if you have one around.
Saw one at the pier a few weeks ago..can kick myself in the #$$## for not asking where he got it. I'm not thrilled about the one at bass pro..local shops here dont have one yet.


I am a member of my local Freecycle Group. If you are not, or if you do not know what it is, I highly recommend you look into it. You give your useful, but no longer wanted/needed stuff away, and you can receive other peoples' useful but unwanted/unneeded stuff.
Not only were they still available, the owner of the glasses said that we were the only ones who were interested in them! I can see that; it takes a certain, rare personality (read: cheap and/or I-don't-care-what-people-think attitude like ours) to want to own an eclectic collection of wine glasses. So, I picked them up, washed them up, made room in the cupboards for them and my husband was very happy.
When the hubs has a glass of wine, he uses one of the glasses. Sometimes, when seeing daddy drink out of a wine glass at dinner, B wanted to drink out of one, too. So, on those rare occasions when we have apple, grape or pear juice in the house, we let B drink the juice out of one of these wine glasses. Recently, we bought a bottle of root beer and a bottle of birch beer at a local farmers' market that was a brand we had never tried before. At dinner a few days later, we had a "beer" tasting. All 3 of us had 2 wine goblets at our place and each bottle of "beer" was divided among the 3 glasses. B thought it was loads of fun! This brand, however, will never get us to buy it again. I am a connoisseur of root beers b/c my grandpa used to make his own and a connoisseur of birch beer b/c I am from New England.
Last night, I hosted a Girls' Night Out at my house. Instead of buying plastic, disposable cups for drinking, I pulled out these wine goblets. Since each glass was from a different winery, I didn't even need to worry about not owning wine charms! In addition to the goblets, I also put out my collection of Coca-Cola glasses in 4 different colors, that we obtained years ago from McDonald's, for the water/soda drinkers. I drank my Blood Orange Martini and then my water (b/c why dirty another glass? I'm the one who has to clean it, after all.) out of a wine goblet.
I want to read the book "The Graduate" by Charles Webb. I tried to watch the movie once, but just could NOT get through it. I got up to the point where Dustin Hoffman said to Ann Bancroft, "Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?" and I had to turn it off. To me, Ann Bancroft did not look attractive, did not look like someone a college-aged boy would be interested in sleeping with. I had suppressed my gag reflex long enough and had to turn it off. But I've always wondered how it turned out and books are so much better than movies, on the whole. Unfortunately, my county's library system does not own the book. I can't believe it! They own the sequel, published 45 years later, and 2 copies of the original movie's DVD, but not the BOOK. The book is a classic, people!
My parents live in the next county over, so I called to see if they could get it for me. My mom, who REFUSES to learn how to turn a computer on, answers the phone. I tell her I want to read the 1963 book "The Graduate", my county's library system doesn't own it, could she check and see if her library has it? She asked me who the author is, I told her, and she said she will have my dad look it up online for me. Both my county's and their county's library systems allows you to look up and reserve a book online.
Now that 2 hours have passed since this conversation, my temper has cooled after venting to the hubs. I tried to console myself and make light of the situation by thinking, "At least I am not the ONLY one who puts their foot in their mouth occasionally! He-he-he." But upon further reflection, I have this man's DNA. And I have to face the reality that at 65 years old, I will STILL be putting my foot in my mouth. Yeah.


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Sophora cassioides é uma espécie vegetal da família Fabaceae.

Pode ser encontrada no Chile e Gough (Diego Alvarez) no Atlântico Sul (Tristão da Cunha).

  World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998.

cassioides


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Home Publications Gender and remittances from internal migrants
Gender and remittances from internal migrants
Name: Gender and remittances from internal migrants
This research explores gender differences in remittance-sending behaviour, gender differences in income management of migrants, gender differences in access to and utilization of remittance-sending services and channels, and the relationship between gender and the management and utilization of remittances at the home and the community of origin. The research findings are based on 600 male and female migrants surveyed and 42 IDIs and 12 FGDs conducted between April and May 2010 in three wards of central Hanoi, Viet Nam. This study will contribute to bridging the current research gap and provides a much needed data set from which gender sensitive policies and programmes can be developed. The research aims to strengthen the potential of internal remittances to maximize the development of internal migrants, their families and their communities and to contribute to policy and programmes that support gender-sensitive socio-economic development in rural Viet Nam.
This research is part of the Joint Programme on Gender Equality (JPGE), jointly implemented by the Government of Viet Nam and the United Nations in Viet Nam. The programme and this research were generously financed by the Spanish-funded Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund (MDG-F). The General Statistics Office (GSO), with technical assistance from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Viet Nam, took the lead in the implementation of this research.
Filename: ENDER AND REMITTANCES FROM INTERNAL MIGRANTS.pdf


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She was aseti. Outcast. She, who'd never caused harm to another, who'd shown her tribe nothing but love and given them all she had. Disowned by her family, stripped of her name, forced to live on the outskirts of their city, and all because she'd been born with something that ought never have belonged to a woman: magic.
They called her a witch, shunned her from their midst. They feared her, and they should. While the Magi relied on spells and rituals, the witch's power came from within, not from the gods. When she called on her magic, it poured out of her heart on a tide of emotions. Outcasts could not work, wed, or bear children; they could only beg and pray the tribesmen would show them kindness. A witch was a blight, a curse upon the tribe, and never allowed near the others. She couldn't even beg, and no one would look upon her for fear the curse would infect their eyes and be reborn in their children.
In all her life, only one had dared to brave such perils and secretly bring an old woman food and water: the shansher's beloved youngest daughter, Mari. For her kindness, the witch had loved Mari like her own flesh and blood, and she'd cursed the shansher the day he'd sent Mari to the northern king. The witch had known the girl was riding to her doom; she'd warned him not to do this, to send another in his daughter's place. He hadn't listened. No one had, because in the eyes of the Imarah tribe, the witch did not exist.
Almost a year had passed since the riders returned with Mari's ashes. Three times the rains had come and gone, while the witch waited for the shansher to ride north to avenge his daughter. And in all that time, no one had stood up for her. No one.
How dare they let one of their own disappear this way—a princess, no less! Forgotten, as if she'd been an outcast, herself.
Now, the witch knew they'd never right this wrong. A princess Mari may have been, but she'd still been only a woman. Consumed by hatred for every man in the tribe, the witch couldn't bear to look at any of them, lest she loose a terrible wave of magic and destroy them all where they stood. It wouldn't be a good enough end for them. For what they'd done to Mari, the witch would make them all suffer.
When the sky had turned dark and the sands had cooled, the witch stole a torch and ran into the desert. Countless stars shone above, but the moon was dark tonight, averting its face so that her deeds might go unwitnessed.
The witch looked around to make certain she hadn't been followed. She hadn't. No one cared about her. If she went missing, they'd rejoice to be rid of her. For that, too, the Imarah tribe would pay.
With her toes, she traced a large circle in the sand, deep enough to create a channel. The black powder came next, sprinkled evenly all around. When fire touched it, the powder would blaze a bright green, an irresistible lure to the djinn. And once she'd trapped the djinn in the circle, she'd make it do her bidding. It would become the vessel of her wrath.
The witch stepped out of the circle, then raised her torch high, calling on her magic. She'd seen the Magi perform their rituals, summoning the gods' good will, and she mimicked their movements from memory but spoke her own words. Three steps along the left side of the circle, four back to the right. Five to the left, six to the right. At first she whispered the words, then she spoke them, and as she rounded the circle at last, the witch shouted a command into the night, forcing her will into the air, making it congeal as black smoke. When she slammed the torch down into the black powder, green fire flared as high as she was tall, and she stumbled back from its heat.
Gasping for breath, the witch returned, squinting through the fiery veil into the circle. She saw a figure within, heard its rasping sighs on the night breeze. Harsh, foreign words hissed all around; dark groans made her shudder and trace the sign against evil over her chest.
When at last the fire died down, the witch beheld the creature she'd summoned. It was tall and thin with wide shoulders and gangly limbs, its long, black hair plaited back into a thick rope that reached the sands and coiled around its feet. Or rather, where its feet ought to have been. It wore shadows as clothes, and every time the breeze blew, the creature briefly turned to smoke, as if it would dissipate in the wind.
"No one," the creature said. "How dare you summon me, no one?"
"I…" She could not find her voice. The creature's red eyes glowed, following her every move, staring straight through her, into her, and the witch hugged herself for fear of having her soul ripped out of her chest.
The djinn laughed; a terrible sound in the night. "No one wishes to be someone. To be seen and feared."
"N-no. I wish—"
"I know what you wish. I can taste your soul, no one." It licked its lips with a long, pointed tongue, and hummed. "It is as bitter as firedust. You wish to see your mistress avenged. But where to begin? With her father who gave her away? Or her mother who gave her such a miserable life?" It floated closer, touching the blackened circle of its prison. "Would you like to see the man who took that miserable life, no one?"
The creature held out its bony hand and, with a harsh command, summoned a blaze into its palm. The flame swirled like a mad thing, twisting and stretching every which way to escape, but the djinn's magic held it in place. "Look upon the face of your enemy. See how happy he is."
The witch looked, gasping at the sight.
There, the castle in the North. There, the fair-haired king sat on the bed, gazing down at a pair of swaddled babies. He looked up at the woman who'd given birth to them and smiled at her with such love, the witch felt tears slide down her wrinkled cheeks. She shook with hate. That love should have been Mari's. Those children should have been hers.
"What will we name them?" the king asked.
"My daughter's name is Liadan," the woman said. "Your son waits for you to name him."
The king peered down at the child, and at length said, "Fal. His name is Fal."
The woman smiled. "Liadan and Fal."
"They're beautiful."
Suddenly, a dark-haired man was there. "They are too much human," he said.
The king and his woman looked at each other, and a grave understanding passed between them. "They are only just born," the woman said, her eyes pleading.
"Yes," the dark-haired one said.
The witch gasped. "What demon is this?"
"He is a dragon," the djinn answered. "He has lived long before your gods birthed your tribe. The king is his grandson, and he is mighty with dragonblood coursing in his veins. Do you think he will be so easy to defeat?"
"Yes," the witch answered at once. "Because you will strike at him where he is most vulnerable."
"Ahh," the djinn breathed. "Wrath. Sweeter than a newborn's blood."
"I want you to strike them down."
"A dangerous task, and not without a price."
"I will pay it," the witch said.
"You do not wish to know what I will demand of you?"
She couldn't hear what else the Northerners said, but she did see the dark-haired one bring forth two small cups. When the king and his woman nodded, clutching each other's hand, the man gave one cup to each, and they, in turn, each fed a child from the cup.
"Now, creature—strike now!"
The djinn crushed the flame between his palms, and it exploded outward, knocking the witch down. From the ground, she looked up into the smoke left behind at what the djinn had wrought. The children screamed, one of them bursting into flames. Their parents and the dragon rushed to save them, but the witch knew it was too late.
Shaking, she touched a hand to her heart, then to her lips, and finally to her forehead. "For you, my sweet Mari. I do this for you."
"You did this for yourself." Hard hands curled around her arms, yanked her up off the ground. "And now, I take my reward."
The witch screamed, struggled in vain against the djinn's hold. No, not a djinn; a true fire spirit would never have been able to leave its circle prison. In a rush of wind, the creature's face wavered, changed into something grotesque and terrible. Its eyes slanted crooked, its nose flattened into almost nothing, and its mouth stretched halfway around its head, opening on several rows of sharp teeth.
A daeva—a demon!
The witch screamed again, her own mouth forced open wide as the daeva forced noxious smoke down her throat. It became a living thing inside her, stretching her, pushing her aside to make room for itself. It hurt in unimaginable ways as the daeva cast her out.
Then the pain was gone, and she opened her eyes. She saw everything, the entire night, in every direction at once. She focused down on her body and saw it rise up from the sands. It looked back at her, its black eyes turned to red as the daeva smiled from her own face.
"Do not fear, no one," it said with her voice. "You may be nothing now, but a deal is a deal. I will give you the vengeance you so desired. The Imarah will pay for what they'd done, just as you wished. You simply won't be around to see it."
"What do we do?" a weeping woman whispered, turning the witch's attention back to the dissipating smoke of the daeva's spell.
"I will take the girl," the dragon said.
"No!" the king cried.
"Be easy, Saeran. She cannot remain here. It is too dangerous. I will keep her safe, and you have only to think of her to be there with her. You must trust me. She is a Dragonblood, more powerful than any one of us, and until she can control it, she will need to be in a place where her fire will harm no one."
"And my son?"
A sigh. "He is a creature of water, not fire. I cannot help him."
"Then I will," the woman said fiercely.
Only when the witch heard the power in the woman's voice did she realize what she'd done. No human woman had a voice like that, one that could command the earth and heavens to move to her tune. I have failed. I never stood a chance. And she'd paid a terrible price for the attempt.
It was the last thought she had before the northern wind scattered her across the desert sky.
Back to Dragonblood | Continue to Chapter 1 >>


Rob gives us a look at the brand new mini pedal from TC Electronic and finds it to be rather useful.
Www.ProGuitarShop.com - Nova System is the complete, floor-based effects solution for the dedicated guitar player who knows quality when he sees it.
We check out this popular stage tuner with an even smaller footprint.


Click "Allow" to play Park Strikers! Click "Always allow" to play Park Strikers!
Welcome to the beautiful world of Mordecai and Rigby. They are two best friends who love to spend time together playing video games, going out in parks, playing bowling, tennis, and many other sports. Today they decided to prove the fact that they can be cool as well, and they want to play a bowling game with all their friends. You can take part in the competition if you play the Park Strikers game. With a little bit of luck, you will have chances to win the game, and show everyone how good you are. The rules are not hard at all. All you need to do is break the pins of the same color with a bowling ball. The pins will fall on the board, and using the left, right, up, and down arrow keys on your keyboard, move them from one side to another, until you get them right. Be careful when the balls fall. You need to use a ball of the same color as the pins to break them. The more pins you burst at once, the more points you get. The game has three different tournaments. In the first one, you have to beat three opponents. In the second one, four opponents, and in the last competition, you need to beat five people. You can play the game against a friend, or against your computer. No matter what way you choose, we are sure that you will have fun. Good luck, and do not give up on your purpose.