Movies like 12 Angry men, Social network, Mass, The Artifice girl, all of Tarantino movies......those kind of movies where the dialogues are so intriguing that characters could just sit in a room , talk and do nothing else at all.Movies where character traits, motivations are revealed with every dialogue and not just lazy expositional scenes . In brief , fast-paced sharp dialogues that keeps people engaged and intrigued.

25F here, was 23 when I started treatment with my ex therapist, at the time 35M. I was in treatment for depression and sexual trauma. I'd had a quite abusive childhood, left home at 17, and it took me about seven years to build a life and stabilize on my own to be able to go to therapy and try to start healing. I started treatment in June 2022 and was in treatment for fourteen months total. In the last four months, we'd been dealing with some stuff around erotic transference, but mainly I was just dealing with being attached and fantasized therapy conversation becoming my default internal state. I'd decided before I started treatment to take a year off of dating to really focus on myself. After about a year in treatment, I wanted to start dating again (in part because I was getting uncomfortable with the fact that my therapist was the only man in my life at the time other than one male supervisor at work).
My therapist seemed really shut down about me dating. He said a couple of encouraging words, but the looks and tones were very clearly....not encouraging. He also said it was bittersweet to him that I was starting to see other men. Sex is really complicated for me, and I hadn't had sex with a cis man in a few years when I started dating again, even though that's the demographic I'm most attracted to, so it was important for me to be able to talk to my therapist about what was going on there, but the fear that his regard would change or that his feelings would be hurt was really distracting and upsetting. Around this time, I was processing sexual trauma from when I was six, and then more from when I was twelve to sixteen, memories I'd repressed until I was in treatment. I was having intense flashbacks and panic attacks, and he didn't have any....feedback, advice, anything. He seemed to like that I spent most of my day fantasizing about talking to him, and encouraged that, but didn't lead me toward any other tools or resources, seemingly in the assumption that his presence alone would be healing.
All this came to a head at the end of August 2023. I asked him to take a few weeks off to consult with a female therapist in the hopes that that'd alleviate the sense that there was something wrong with how he was treating me. He fired me, telling me, and this is verbatim, "I seduced you, and then you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop," adding "if I could give you that relationship, I would." I was never asking him for a dual relationship. I was attached to him, and had a lot of those types of feelings toward him, but I always knew that those weren't actually about him and was definitely never asking for a dual relationship.
I had brought up repeatedly over the course of treatment that it was a material financial burden. I had out of network benefits through my insurance, but it was still $225/week out of pocket, and I'd only get $140 back per session, and only after waiting at least a month for the claim to process, and only after meeting a $2k out of network deductible. Not the most expensive therapy but for me, it was a lot, and I told him that a number of times, and that I couldn't afford to do twice a week with him (something he recommended a few times in the last couple months of treatment). He's the only man in his practice group, and instead of refer me to one of his colleagues, he gave me the names of two completely unrelated clinicians whose fees were both over $300/session and he once again recommended I see someone twice per week.
About a month later, I emailed him to ask for my progress notes. He took a week to reply, only responding when I followed up, and then only sent me my treatment summary (a few brief sentences just saying when I started treatment, what the treatment was, and when it ended). I emailed his boss and got my notes from her. He'd written in the notes that we'd been dealing with erotic transference in every session for the last four months of treatment, even though that....was not the case, and there were plenty of sessions where I was just there to talk about my past, or what was happening during the week. He really didn't seem to understand the difference between being attached and erotic transference, even though he practices attachment based therapy.
Almost nine months later and I really don't know how to move on. My mental health absolutely tanked in the fall and it's been a long, uphill road to get back to something like normal functioning since. It was highly, highly retraumatizing, both in how I suddenly had zero support while processing the most traumatic events of my childhood and so I was just completely overtaken with the memories for months, all while blaming myself because...he said I seduced him, so it was my fault, so I was asking for it, so I had been asking for it the whole time. I know that's not true, but he really did a number on his way out. I'm doing better on that front at this point, not thanks to therapy, (I've tried with eight practitioners since him but he really poisoned the well), but I still can't let this go, and I don't know if I should make a complaint to the relevant office of professional discipline.
TLDR: 24F psychotherapy client asks 36M therapist who's been treating her for sexual trauma to take a few weeks off and consult with a female therapist about his behavior; therapist fires client, does not refer to any of the female clinicians in his practice group, refers only to clinicians he knew were unaffordable, and said "I seduced you, and you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop" and "if I could give you that relationship, I would." Is this a reportable offence?

25F here, was 23 when I started treatment with my ex therapist, at the time 35M. I was in treatment for depression and sexual trauma. I'd had a quite abusive childhood, left home at 17, and it took me about seven years to build a life and stabilize on my own to be able to go to therapy and try to start healing. I started treatment in June 2022 and was in treatment for fourteen months total. In the last four months, we'd been dealing with some stuff around erotic transference, but mainly I was just dealing with being attached and fantasized therapy conversation becoming my default internal state. I'd decided before I started treatment to take a year off of dating to really focus on myself. After about a year in treatment, I wanted to start dating again (in part because I was getting uncomfortable with the fact that my therapist was the only man in my life at the time other than one male supervisor at work).
My therapist seemed really shut down about me dating. He said a couple of encouraging words, but the looks and tones were very clearly....not encouraging. He also said it was bittersweet to him that I was starting to see other men. Sex is really complicated for me, and I hadn't had sex with a cis man in a few years when I started dating again, even though that's the demographic I'm most attracted to, so it was important for me to be able to talk to my therapist about what was going on there, but the fear that his regard would change or that his feelings would be hurt was really distracting and upsetting. Around this time, I was processing sexual trauma from when I was six, and then more from when I was twelve to sixteen, memories I'd repressed until I was in treatment. I was having intense flashbacks and panic attacks, and he didn't have any....feedback, advice, anything. He seemed to like that I spent most of my day fantasizing about talking to him, and encouraged that, but didn't lead me toward any other tools or resources, seemingly in the assumption that his presence alone would be healing.
All this came to a head at the end of August 2023. I asked him to take a few weeks off to consult with a female therapist in the hopes that that'd alleviate the sense that there was something wrong with how he was treating me. He fired me, telling me, and this is verbatim, "I seduced you, and then you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop," adding "if I could give you that relationship, I would." I was never asking him for a dual relationship. I was attached to him, and had a lot of those types of feelings toward him, but I always knew that those weren't actually about him and was definitely never asking for a dual relationship.
I had brought up repeatedly over the course of treatment that it was a material financial burden. I had out of network benefits through my insurance, but it was still $225/week out of pocket, and I'd only get $140 back per session, and only after waiting at least a month for the claim to process, and only after meeting a $2k out of network deductible. Not the most expensive therapy but for me, it was a lot, and I told him that a number of times, and that I couldn't afford to do twice a week with him (something he recommended a few times in the last couple months of treatment). He's the only man in his practice group, and instead of refer me to one of his colleagues, he gave me the names of two completely unrelated clinicians whose fees were both over $300/session and he once again recommended I see someone twice per week.
About a month later, I emailed him to ask for my progress notes. He took a week to reply, only responding when I followed up, and then only sent me my treatment summary (a few brief sentences just saying when I started treatment, what the treatment was, and when it ended). I emailed his boss and got my notes from her. He'd written in the notes that we'd been dealing with erotic transference in every session for the last four months of treatment, even though that....was not the case, and there were plenty of sessions where I was just there to talk about my past, or what was happening during the week. He really didn't seem to understand the difference between being attached and erotic transference, even though he practices attachment based therapy.
Almost nine months later and I really don't know how to move on. My mental health absolutely tanked in the fall and it's been a long, uphill road to get back to something like normal functioning since. It was highly, highly retraumatizing, both in how I suddenly had zero support while processing the most traumatic events of my childhood and so I was just completely overtaken with the memories for months, all while blaming myself because...he said I seduced him, so it was my fault, so I was asking for it, so I had been asking for it the whole time. I know that's not true, but he really did a number on his way out. I'm doing better on that front at this point, not thanks to therapy, (I've tried with eight practitioners since him but he really poisoned the well), but I still can't let this go, and I don't know if I should make a complaint to the relevant office of professional discipline.
TLDR: 24F psychotherapy client asks 36M therapist who's been treating her for sexual trauma to take a few weeks off and consult with a female therapist about his behavior; therapist fires client, does not refer to any of the female clinicians in his practice group, refers only to clinicians he knew were unaffordable, and said "I seduced you, and you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop" and "if I could give you that relationship, I would." Is this a reportable offence?

25F here, was 23 when I started treatment with my ex therapist, at the time 35M. I was in treatment for depression and sexual trauma. I'd had a quite abusive childhood, left home at 17, and it took me about seven years to build a life and stabilize on my own to be able to go to therapy and try to start healing. I started treatment in June 2022 and was in treatment for fourteen months total. In the last four months, we'd been dealing with some stuff around erotic transference, but mainly I was just dealing with being attached and fantasized therapy conversation becoming my default internal state. I'd decided before I started treatment to take a year off of dating to really focus on myself. After about a year in treatment, I wanted to start dating again (in part because I was getting uncomfortable with the fact that my therapist was the only man in my life at the time other than one male supervisor at work).
My therapist seemed really shut down about me dating. He said a couple of encouraging words, but the looks and tones were very clearly....not encouraging. He also said it was bittersweet to him that I was starting to see other men. Sex is really complicated for me, and I hadn't had sex with a cis man in a few years when I started dating again, even though that's the demographic I'm most attracted to, so it was important for me to be able to talk to my therapist about what was going on there, but the fear that his regard would change or that his feelings would be hurt was really distracting and upsetting. Around this time, I was processing sexual trauma from when I was six, and then more from when I was twelve to sixteen, memories I'd repressed until I was in treatment. I was having intense flashbacks and panic attacks, and he didn't have any....feedback, advice, anything. He seemed to like that I spent most of my day fantasizing about talking to him, and encouraged that, but didn't lead me toward any other tools or resources, seemingly in the assumption that his presence alone would be healing.
All this came to a head at the end of August 2023. I asked him to take a few weeks off to consult with a female therapist in the hopes that that'd alleviate the sense that there was something wrong with how he was treating me. He fired me, telling me, and this is verbatim, "I seduced you, and then you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop," adding "if I could give you that relationship, I would." I was never asking him for a dual relationship. I was attached to him, and had a lot of those types of feelings toward him, but I always knew that those weren't actually about him and was definitely never asking for a dual relationship.
I had brought up repeatedly over the course of treatment that it was a material financial burden. I had out of network benefits through my insurance, but it was still $225/week out of pocket, and I'd only get $140 back per session, and only after waiting at least a month for the claim to process, and only after meeting a $2k out of network deductible. Not the most expensive therapy but for me, it was a lot, and I told him that a number of times, and that I couldn't afford to do twice a week with him (something he recommended a few times in the last couple months of treatment). He's the only man in his practice group, and instead of refer me to one of his colleagues, he gave me the names of two completely unrelated clinicians whose fees were both over $300/session and he once again recommended I see someone twice per week.
About a month later, I emailed him to ask for my progress notes. He took a week to reply, only responding when I followed up, and then only sent me my treatment summary (a few brief sentences just saying when I started treatment, what the treatment was, and when it ended). I emailed his boss and got my notes from her. He'd written in the notes that we'd been dealing with erotic transference in every session for the last four months of treatment, even though that....was not the case, and there were plenty of sessions where I was just there to talk about my past, or what was happening during the week. He really didn't seem to understand the difference between being attached and erotic transference, even though he practices attachment based therapy.
Almost nine months later and I really don't know how to move on. My mental health absolutely tanked in the fall and it's been a long, uphill road to get back to something like normal functioning since. It was highly, highly retraumatizing, both in how I suddenly had zero support while processing the most traumatic events of my childhood and so I was just completely overtaken with the memories for months, all while blaming myself because...he said I seduced him, so it was my fault, so I was asking for it, so I had been asking for it the whole time. I know that's not true, but he really did a number on his way out. I'm doing better on that front at this point, not thanks to therapy, (I've tried with eight practitioners since him but he really poisoned the well), but I still can't let this go, and I don't know if I should make a complaint to the relevant office of professional discipline.
TLDR: 24F psychotherapy client asks 36M therapist who's been treating her for sexual trauma to take a few weeks off and consult with a female therapist about his behavior; therapist fires client, does not refer to any of the female clinicians in his practice group, refers only to clinicians he knew were unaffordable, and said "I seduced you, and you seduced me, and it got pretty hot, and we should stop" and "if I could give you that relationship, I would." Is this a reportable offence?

Over a century ago, a British archeologist named Howard Carter began excavations in the unforgiving Egyptian Desert with the hopes of discovering something; something that remained a mystery for many centuries: the 3400-year-old tomb of an ancient king, Tutankhamun.
The site Carter chose for this excavation project was the Valley of the Kings, which was a burial place of ancient kings for many centuries. Before Carter, several archeologists carried out excavations in the Valley. And in the process, discovered several tombs and artifacts.
But archeologists weren't the only ones the Valley attracted. For generations, the Valley was raided by thieves, who exploited it in every way possible. So much so that when Carter arrived at the site with his men in 1917, they found themselves standing atop 30-foot piles of debris stones.
And it's for the same reason why many archeologists questioned Carter's sanity when news of his excavation reached them. Without exception, all of them labelled the Valley a heavily exhausted Site.
But Carter would listen to no one.
He gathered all the resources, and manpower, and for the next five years, went all in into the excavations with the support of his rich patron George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon.
Those five years were a rough period for the passionate archeologist because up until the end of it, he wouldn't discover anything worthwhile to justify the enormous money being spent.
At one point Carnarvon lost all his hope and called Carter to inform him about the partnership break. But Carter was somehow able to talk Carnarvon out of his decision. He pointed out how some artifacts discovered by another archeologist nearby had Tutankhamun's name inscribed on them. And that Tut must be lying somewhere underneath that place waiting to be found.
Finally, the day arrived in November 1922.
After back-breaking labor, nasty heartbreaks, and burning ₹210+ crores, it happened. A boy carrying water slipped and fell over what at first seemed like a stone. It was, of course, a stone, except it was the first stone step of the flight of stairs to the tomb.
In the weeks that followed, the stairs kept spiraling downwards reaching a distance of 26 ft. At the end of the final step, one of the workers' picks clanked against a limestone wall. Unsure of what was inside, Carter made a tiny crack in the wall and reached a candle inside—to check if the air inside was harmless to breathe. After reassuring, he widened the crevice to look inside the chamber…
When his eyes recalibrated to the low light of the chamber, after a brief blurriness at the candlelight, he witnessed the softly illuminated objects gradually coming to life—objects that last saw light over 3400 years ago. Carnarvon asked from behind, "Can you see anything?" Almost breathless, Carter answered, "Yes… wonderful things!"
At last, the team discovered the Tomb of the 19-year-old Boy King Tutankhamun. To date, it's the most intact tomb of a pharaoh to be ever discovered.
In the years leading up to the opening of Tut's Coffin in 1925, over 5398 objects were found in the chambers of the tomb, including furniture, golden jewels, figurines, musical instruments, board games, war weapons, clothes, vessels, carts, and a number of other things that Tut would need in the afterlife. Almost every object inside the tomb was either made of Gold or covered with it.
Tut's mummy lay inside three layers of coffins, with the innermost one made entirely of solid Gold and the rest wooden. Altogether, the total value of the entire collection in the tomb is estimated to be around $27 million in today's money.
Now, it's been a century since Carter opened that Tomb, but still, there's been no discovery in archeology that has matched its magnitude. Nothing ever has remotely come close to that.
Doesn't this story sound ridiculous to you in a way? How delusional someone should be to continue digging for five straight years despite seeing no evidence of progress?
On top of it all, Carter or nobody knew whether the Valley of Kings was exactly where Tut's tomb was located. They just went with their hunch. Five whole years and hundreds of crores would have been for nothing if the hunch turned out to be wrong. Carter knew this. But still, he took that leap of faith and persevered.
If Carter's mental strength and confidence are one thing, the faith Carnarvon had in Carter is everything. I couldn't understand the logic behind Carnovan's decision. Why would someone in their right mind bet a ridiculous amount of money on something that was just a theory with little to no evidence? What if Tut was never buried in the valley? Is it because Carter was a better salesman or was it Carnorvan's conviction that had him pouring money regardless? We know not.
But it's their combined belief, intuition, and effort that made this ultimate discovery possible.
It's easy to get discouraged when you don't see the results early on. But despite that, if you trust your guts, believe in your skills, and keep putting in the work.. one day you will find your own version of Tut's treasures.
So keep digging. For if you never dig, you will never know.

This post is not intended to explain how bigo works, though it does require a very brief explanation. The “hosts” livestream and their “fans” gift them. In return the hosts get a percentage of the earnings from gifts while the company itself gets the largest portion of the profits, no surprise there.
This where is explanation ends and where the shit talk begins. Though bigo is not unique in format, other apps offer this format, TikTok probably being the most successful and established, i find Bigo to be the absolute asshole of the internet. Never before i had seen a place where mediocrity thrives more than on the stupid app. it is the most boring environment and waste of human intelligence. most of the broadcasters offer nothing in the way of entertainment and are even exciting to watch, they offer no value, because they are just there to get in their hours and beans, No BODY WANTS TO WATCH YOU. You're fucking boring. Then there are all the pretty bimbos on there who just want lonely and desprite men to give them all there money, a story old as time. other than that, its people bitching and causing drama, which sadly more entertaining than half of crap on their.
There are a few streamers i have found that do have some good content, but other than that is a sea of shit!
People, do what you want, but in my opinion this app is waste of your day, for a majority of hosts and fans alike. I would rather go watch paint dry.

Hello , short version, only interested in something serious and longterm. USA strongly preferred.Absolutely no : History of abuse, Addiction, mens haircuts, Colored hair ( blue, pink etc) heavy drinkers, single moms, cigarette smokers , NEW ACCOUNTS, no activists on any level, NO Black woman, im sure there is more but mind is blank at the moment. \\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_I am looking for someone who is willing to actually put 50/50 effort into this. If you have zero desire to talk, check messages, respond in a timely manner etc we have absolutely ZERO to be talking about. I am very much over these types of interactions, I honestly dont get it haha. Communication is very key.\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\_\\\Brief info about me : Enjoy all things true crime related ( podcasts, documentaries etc), I listen to all types of music to the point its just easier for me to say if I like it, ill listen to it period. If you saw me in person and then saw my Spotify it would probably shock you, not in a bad way though haha. I like to cook and BBQ when weather permits although I have been slacking on the bbq aspect lately. I use to compete with my exes father and it was a ton of fun. learned alot of things and made some amazing ribs and chicken. I love to try new foods when possible, id love to travel more, I do enjoy cruises, im pretty laid back type of person in the sense im open to whatever as long as it isnt lame.Please be 420 friendlyIts really pointless to write a lot here considering most messages are fake accounts / bots. Please send your basic info when you message instead of just "hi". Name, Location, age please thanks. Also be ready to exchange photos, if as an adult you "cant" do that, please dont message me lol.

Jerry and George are talking in the diner and the topic of the Columbia protests comes up. Jerry goes on a diatribe about how college are the most important years of someone's life and who should overhear him but the President of Columbia, who invites Jerry to give the year's commencement address not realizing that Jerry was being sarcastic the whole time.
Jerry, with George's help, scrambles to write a commencement speech, but no matter what they come up with, it sounds like Jerry is being sarcastic when he doesn't mean to be. Recognizing this is a problem, George advises Jerry to write the most boring, banal, boilerplate speech he can think of, and to make it brief. Jerry settles on "Education is really important, and all of you are really important too."
Finally, the big day comes. As the university president is delivering a long-winded introduction for Jerry, George is sitting at the very back of the crowd when a young college grad begins coming on to him. She makes it clear she has "a thing" for short, stocky bald men with glasses, and proposes that she and George head to the President's office, but a stone's throw away, which she knows will be unoccupied at this time, but there's a catch: she only has as much time with George as Jerry's commencement address will last, because after that she is the first student to cross the stage and receive her diploma.
Flustered, George does the one thing he can think of: as soon as Jerry walks up to the podium, he lets out a massive "BOOOOO! Free Palestine!" and walks out with the young woman in tow, only to be followed by several dozen more students.
The President of Columbia storms off the stage in a huff, thinking the graduation ceremony has been ruined. Jerry asks him where he is going: "Back to my office! I'm going to revoke the diplomas of everyone of those spoiled children who think they can use this college as their own personal play-thing for their sick, hedonistic desires."
Cut to George and the young graduate getting hot and heavy in the President's office; the President walks in, sees what's happening, and asks George "What do you think you're doing?"
"Freeing Palestine?"---freeze frame ending.

⚠️ WARNING: Maasverse Spoilers—Proceed with Caution ⚠️

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Part 1: Characters and Courts - YOU ARE HERE
Part 2: World Map, Items, Terms & Other
-----------------

Well, here we go. A master list of all things ACOTAR + the "real" world.

Now, do I believe every single name and location on this list was chosen by SJM with a specific real-world allusion in mind? Of course not. But when you look at the similarities, you'd be hard pressed to deny some of their very probable relations.
As far as this list goes, I've provided what was within my ability to find—coupling each with that which made the most sense relationally—though several definitions would appear to have zero connection to the story at large.
I can't promise perfection. Heck, I can't even promise 100% accuracy (though I did cross-reference the more obscure sources). And I will gladly welcome any missing pieces and/or additional insight you may have.
\Note: If a character or place/item is minor enough, I've included a reminder of their book roles.*

So come on, friends. Let's dive on in.

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https://preview.redd.it/6wts6t7iwd0d1.png?width=832&format=png&auto=webp&s=9f0abc281511431ad28cd76819c77b1907b49432

UK + IRELAND

PRYTHIAN

A combination of Prydain, the old Welsh name for Britain, and Brython, which translates to “Ancient Britons” from Welsh.

HYBERN

A riff of Hibernia, the Classical Latin name for Ireland.

​
Artist of Prythian map: P-dulcis on redbubble

*A continuing list of world map related locations is provided in Part 2 of this post (see link above)

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https://preview.redd.it/0r8gk0ptwd0d1.png?width=840&format=png&auto=webp&s=f82b8e420140957e0aa7c13ee334d4f9b8cdd032

MAIN CHARACTERS

RHYSAND

Rhys (also Rhŷs) is Welsh in origin and means "ardent, enthusiasm." It has deep roots in Welsh culture and is the name of several famous Welsh kings and noblemen, including Rhys ap Thomas, a solider who rose to prominence during the Wars of the Roses.

FEYRE ARCHERON

Feyre is a variant of Feyre and is Old English in origin. It means "fair, beautiful." A similar name in Old Norse is Freyja (also spelled Freya), meaning "Lady," denotes a woman of nobility. In Norse mythology, Freyja is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, and war.
In Greek mythology, the Archeron is one of the five rivers of the Underworld and is often the principal river through which the ferryman Charon transports the dead. It said to be the River of Woe or the River of Misery.

CASSIAN

Cassian is Latin in origin, means "son of Cassius," and denotes one of the oldest families in Rome. Arguably the most well known Cassius was one of the leading instigators of Julius Caesar's assassination plot.

AZRIEL

Azriel is Hebrew in origin meaning "God is my help." In some religions, Azrael is the benevolent angel of death who carries souls of the deceased to the afterlife.

MORRIGAN

The Morrígan is a Celtic goddess associated with war and fate and is seen as a guardian of the earth and its people. Her name means "great queen" or "phantom queen."

AMREN

Amram is of Hebrew origin and means "exalted people." It is the Biblical name of Moses' father.
Note: This tracks with Amren being able to interpret The Book of Breathings which is a play on the very real The Books of Breathing, a collection of ancient Egyptian funerary texts.

NESTA

Nesta is the Welsh version of Agnes meaning "pure, holy." May also have potential connections to Nestor, a legendary Greek king who was known as a great warrior and for the sage advice he offered younger soldiers.

ELAIN

Elain is Welsh in origin and means "fawn." Elaine is associated with the Greek name Helen meaning "light, bright one."
Fun fact: Elain is an anagram of Aelin.

NYX

Nyx is the Greek mythological goddess and personification of the Night. She is the mother of Day (Hemera) and Darkness (Erebus). She often appears alongside other celestial deities such as Selene, Helios, and Eos.

ILLYRIANS

EMERIE

Emerie has Old German origins and means "home strength, brave, powerful."

ENALIUS

In Greek mythology Enyalius is a son of Ares but is also a byname for the god of war. He is often seen as the god of soldiers and warriors from the Ares cult.

DEVLON

Devlon is Gaelic in origin and related to the name Devlin meaning "fierce courage."

BALTHAZAR

Balthazar is Akkadian in origin meaning "God protects the King." It is a name commonly attributed to the wise man who gifted myrrh to the Christ child (the myrrh symbolizing the future death of a king). It is an alternate form of King Belshazzar who played a pivotal role in a coup d'état that overthrew a Neo-Babylonian king.
ACOTAR role: Balthazar helped Nesta during the Blood Rite.

PROTEUS

Proteus is a prophetic sea god in Greek mythology and means "versatile, mutable, capable of assuming many forms."
ACOTAR role: Proteus is Emerie's father and was killed in the war with Hybern.

BELLIUS

May refer to Belus, the Babylonian god of war.
ACOTAR role: Bellius is Emerie's cousin and was slain by Cassian during the Blood Rite.

KALLON

No clear references found, but kalon in Ancient Greek translates to "ideal perfect beauty."
ACOTAR role: Kallon incited the Illyrians against the Night Court leaders and was ultimately slain during the Blood Rite.

HEWN CITY

KEIR

Keir is Gaelic, meaning "dark," and is related to the Irish name Ciarán. In Greek mythology, the Keres (singular being Ker) were female death spirits who personified violent death. There is a suggested connection between the Keres and the Valkyries of Norse mythology, each representing opposite ideals; the Valkyries being benevolent deities in death, versus the Keres representing feasting destruction.

THANATOS

In Greek mythology, Thanatos is the personification of death. He is a minor figure, often referred to but rarely appearing in person (I see what you did there, SJM).
ACOTAR role: Thanatos is mentioned briefly by Keir during the alliance meeting with Eris.

THE LIBRARY

CLOTHO

In ancient Greek mythology, Clotho is the youngest goddess of the Three Fates and spins the thread of human life. Her name means "spinner."

MERRILL

Merrill is of British origin meaning "sparkling sea, sea-bright."

GWYNETH BERDARA

Gwyneth is Welsh in origin and means "blessed, happiness." In Irish mythology, the Lady Gwyn is a headless woman (cough, Catrin, cough) who chases wanderers at night. In Arthurian mythology, Guinevere has an evil half-sister—"False" Guinevere—who bewitches Arthur.

ANANKE

Ananke means "necessity, fate personified." In Greek mythology she is one of the primordial deities and is the personification of necessity and inevitability.
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who joins in the training to become a Valkyrie.

DEIRDRE

Deirdre is Gaelic in origin and means "broken-hearted, wanderer." The name is associated with a tragic heroine in Irish mythology.
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who joins in the training to become a Valkyrie.

ILANA

Illana is Hebrew in origin nd means "tree, bright light." It stems from the name Elena and is potentially related to the name Ileana, a beautiful young female fairy in various myths.
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who joins in the training to become a Valkyrie.

LORELEI

Lorelei in German in origin and means "alluring, temptress." In German folklore, she is a siren-like seductress.
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who joins in the training to become a Valkyrie.

ROSLIN

Roslin is Scottish in origin and means "rose, red-haired."
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who joins in the training to become a Valkyrie.

RIVEN

Riven derives from Old Norse meaning "to split, tear asunder."
ACOTAR role: A Priestess who avoids contact with strangers and whose background is unknown.

SIDE CHARACTERS

MADJA

Madja is Slavic in origin and may mean "splendid, noble one." In Arabic it means "the women with glory." It is related to the name Madeleine meaning "from Magdala."

NUALA

Nuala is Irish in origin and means "fair shouldered one." In modern Irish storytelling it means "born of the sea." It is considered a diminutive form of the name Fionnuala, a mythological figure who was the daughter of a sea god.

CERRIDWEN

Cerridwen is an enchantress in Welsh mythology. She is said to possess the cauldron of poetic inspiration and is regarded by many as the Celtic goddess of rebirth, transformation, and inspiration.

RITA

Rita stems from the name Margarita and comes from the Greek word meaning "pearl." The Greeks promoted pearls as a symbol of honesty and integrity.
ACOTAR role: Rita owns the "how does the IC not know the clientele is gay" bar.

SEVENDA

No clear connection found, though venda in Latin means "sell" while sev means "strew, spread" and enda means "end." Could also potentially be related to the number seven.
ACOTAR role: Owns a restaurant the IC frequents.

NEVE

Neve is of Latin origin and means "snow."
ACOTAR role: The jeweler from whom Rhys buys jewelry for Amren in ACOFAS.

POLINA

Polina has Latin origins and derives from Apollo, though it could also be seen as a variant of Paulina/Paul meaning "little, the younger."
ACOTAR role: The faerie who owned Feyre's art studio before her untimely death.

RESSINA

Resina means "resin of the pine." Plants secret resin as a protective response, guarding them from insects and pathogens.
ACOTAR role: Ressina opens the art studio with Feyre. She has green skin and stood outside her shop in response to Hybern's attack on Velaris, protecting the terrified faeries inside.

ARANEA

Aranea is Greek in origin and denotes a genus of orb-weaving spiders.
ACOTAR role: Aranea is the weaver who created the Void cloth.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

TAMLIN

From the "Ballad of Tam Lin," a legendary ballad from the borderlands of Scotland. Reminiscent of the fairytale Beauty & the Beast where a mortal woman plucks a rose and encounters a man in the forest, later learning he is captive to faeries. She must hold onto him as he is transformed into various beasts and upon his rescue, the faerie Queen muses that she should have taken out his eyes (Lucien, anyone?) or capture his heart (Tamlin's stone heart) to prevent his escape.

LUCIEN

Lucien is French in origin and means "light." Lucian was also the name of a Hellenized Syrian satirist who was known for his tongue-in-cheek style is said to be the inventor of comic dialogue.

ALIS

Alis is a variant of Alice and translates to "noble, exalted."

SIDE CHARACTERS

IANTHE

Ianthe is Greek in origin and means "she who delights." In Greek mythology she is a water-nymph daughter of Oceanus and a companion to Persephone when she was abducted by Hades.

ANDRAS

Andras has Welsh origins and means "manly, brave."

BRON

Bron is Old English and means "brown."

HART

Hart has Irish origins and means "hero, brave, firm." A hart is also the term for a male deer and in Celtic mythology, the white hart is said to appear when one is transgressing a taboo (Tamlin's whipping of his other sentry comes to mind).

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MAIN CHARACTERS

BERON VANSERRA

Beron is French in origin and is a pet form of the name Bero meaning "bear."
Vanserra is a combination of the prefix van meaning "from, of" and serra meaning "saw, view from a high place" or "mountain range." Vanserra can be said to mean "of the mountains."

ERIS

In ancient Greek mythology, Eris is the Greek goddess of strife and discord. Her Roman equivalent, Discord, is the goddess of chaos. She is associated with the war goddess Enyo who is frequently associated with the war god Ares.

SIDE CHARACTERS

JESMINDA

Jesminder is Indian in origin meaning "flower queen."

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MAIN CHARACTERS

TARQUIN

Tarquin is of Latin origin and means "ruler, strong soldier." Two of the seven kings of Rome bore the name.

VARIAN

Varian is of Latin origin and means "variable."

CRESSEIDA

Cressida derives from Chryseis and means "golden." She is a character associated with the Trojan War and is the archetype of a faithless lover.

SIDE CHARACTERS

NOSTRUS

Nostrum comes from the Latin noster meaning "our, ours." Nostos is an Ancient Greek literary theme concerning an epic hero returning home, often by sea. It is deemed a high level of heroism or greatness and focuses on the hero retaining or elevating their identity while often resisting temptation.
ACOTAR role: The High Lord prior to Tarquin who was slain by Amarantha after participating in a rebellion Under the Mountain.

BRUTIUS

May refer to the Latin name Brutus meaning "heavy, dull."
ACOTAR role: Mercifully slain by Rhys Under the Mountain after his attempted escape.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

HELION

Helios is the Ancient Greek god personifying the sun. He is often depicted with a solar crown and drives a horse-drawn chariot through the sky. He played a significant role in ancient magic and spells and is the son of the Titan Theia and brother to Selene.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

KALLIAS

Callias is Greek in origin and means "beauty, beautiful voice." He is a diplomatic and wealthy figure in Ancient Greece.

VIVIANNE

From the Latin word vivianus meaning "alive." Commonly associated with the Irish name Bébinn meaning "beautiful, fair one" and is the name of an underworld goddess in both Irish and Welsh mythology.

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THESAN

Thesan is the Etruscan goddess of the dawn. Greeks identified her with Eos, the goddess and personification of the dawn. She is sometimes depicted with wings.

NUAN

Nuan is Mandarin and means "warm, genial."

THE PEREGRYN

The peregrine is a falcon renowned for its speed.
Fun fact: The peregrine is the fastest member of the animal kingdom and can reach speeds of over 200mph.

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AMARANTHA

Amaranths is Greek in origin and means "unfading." The amaranthus flower, often deep red in color, is said to symbolize immortality as it blooms for so long.

BRANNAGH

Brannagh is of Irish origin and denotes a "beautiful female with hair dark as a raven."

DAGDAN

In Irish mythology, the Dagda is considered the chief god of the Tuatha Dé Danaan. His name means "the good god, the great god."

CLYTHIA

In Greek mythology, Clytia is a water nymph who loved the sun god Helios. Helios left her for another woman after coming under the influence of Aphrodite. Clytia exposed the affair to the other woman's father, but eventually lost herself in mourning for Helios's love. Her name means "glorious, renowned."
ACOTAR role: Amarantha's sister.

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HISTORICAL FIGURES

THEIA

Theia is a Titan and is the Ancient Greek goddess of sight and vision. She is the parent of Helios, Selene, and Eos. She is most known not for her own role, but for that of her childrens'. Her name means "goddess, godly."

SILENE

Selene is the Ancient Greek goddess and personification of the moon. She is the daughter of Hyperion and Theia and sister to Helios and Eos.

HELENA

Comes from the Green name Helen meaning "shining light." There are various Helens in Greek mythology: Helen of Troy, Helen a friend to Aphrodite, and Helene the Amazonian who fought Achilles.

FIONN

Fionn is of Irish origin and means "fair-haired." In Irish folklore, Fionn Mac Cumhaill was a leader of a band of young hunter-warriors.

PELIAS

Pelias is Greek in origin and means "rock pigeon." Pelias was the king of Ioclus while Peleus was the king of Phthia. Peleus was husband to Thetis, father to Achilles, and left several (men and women) dead in his wake, both through means of accident and betrayal, fleeing more than once to escape punishment.

OLEANNA

Oleanna derives from the Greek name Helene meaning "sun ray, shining light."
ACOTAR role: The High Priestess who dipped Gwydion in the Cauldron.

REPORTED DECEASED

CATRIN BERDARA

Catrin is Greek in origin and means "clear, pure." It's commonly used in Wales and is connected with the ancient goddess Hecate, who is the goddess of witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy.

MINOR CHARACTERS

TANWYN

Tanwan is of Welsh origin and means "white fire."
ACOTAR role: Tanwyn was a Valkyrie and Cassian's former lover.

OSIAN

Osian is Welsh meaning "young deer" and derives from the Irish legendary poet and warrior Oisín, who was regarded as the greatest poet of Ireland and a warrior of the Fianna (small warrior-hunter bands). He was a demigod son of Fionn Mac Cumhaill and Sadhbh.
ACOTAR role: The author of A Brief History of the Great Sieges

RABATH

Rabath is an anagram of Bharat, one of the names of India. Derived from the Sanskrit word bharata, meaning "to bear, be maintained" it can also mean "one who is engaged in search of knowledge."
ACOTAR role: Lord of the Western Wind and ancestor to Merrill.

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JURIAN

Jurian is Greek in origin and means "farmer, earthworker."

GRAYSEN

Graysen is of English origin and translates to "son of the steward/gray-haired man."

NOLAN

Nolan is Irish in origin and denotes a "child of nobility, champion."
ACOTAR role: Nolan is Graysen's father.

ISAAC HALE

Isaac is Hebrew in origin and means "one who laughs or rejoices." Hale is Old English in origin and means "nook, recess" and denoted someone who lived in a nook or hollow.

TOMAS MANDRAY

Thomas is Hebrew in origin and means "twin." No clear reference to Mandray, though Mandrew is Greek and means "man, warrior."
ACOTAR role: Tomas was Nesta's former betrothed.

CLARE BEDDOR

Clare is French in origin and means "bright, clear." No reference found for Beddor.

AUNT RIPLEIGH

Ripleigh is Old English and means "shouting man's meadow." It is connected to the name Ripley meaning "strip of clearing in the woods."
ACOTAR role: Aunt Ripleigh is the feigned aunt Feyre takes care of.

Ms. Laurent

Laurent is French in origin and means "from Laurentum" and "bay laurel."
ACOTAR role: Ms. Laurent is the mortal caretaker of the Archeron estate.

BRIAR

Briar is of British origin and means "thorny bush of wild roses, brambles."
ACOTAR role: Briar is the mortal woman rescued by Feyre and Azriel.

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HUMAN QUEENS

VASSA

Vasilissa is Greek in origin and means "queen, empress." It is also the name of a Christian child martyr who was left unharmed during her capture, but after her release was slain in a field as she prayed.

BRIALLYN

Briallen is a Welsh name meaning "primrose." Primrose comes from the Latin word meaning "first" and the primrose flower often represents youth and renewal (SJM, you dog—this may be my favorite tongue-in-cheek naming thing you did).
ACOTAR role: Briallyn is the first queen who enters the Cauldron and is rewarded with immortality as a withered old hag.

DEMETRA

Demeter was the mother of Persephone, an Ancient Greek goddess of the harvest and an emblem of growth.
ACOTAR role: Demetra was the golden queen who provided the mortal half of The Book of Breathings to the Night Court and was subsequently slain by the Attor.

ANDROMACHE

Andromache means "fighter of men." In Greek mythology, she was representative of the suffering of Trojan women during the war and was famous for her virtue and fidelity. Andromache was also the name of a famous Greek Amazonian who fell at Troy.
ACOTAR role: Andromache was the former mortal lover of Mor.

FAE CHARACTERS

DRAKON

Drakon is of Greek origin and means "dragon."

NEPHELLE

In Greek mythology Nephele, meaning "cloud," is a cloud nymph who is considered the goddess of loyalty, generosity, peace, and shyness.

THE SERAPHIM

A seraph is a celestial being regarded as belonging to the highest order of angels in Christian angelology.

HUMAN CHARACTERS

MIRYAM

Miriam of of Hebrew origin and means "sea of sorrow." She is the Biblical daughter of Amram and Jochebed and sister to Aaron and Moses.

URSTIN

No plausible connections found. Potentially an anagram for Rustin, an English name meaning "Rust's estate" or Surtin, a Middle English name meaning "reliable, trustworthy."
ACOTAR role: Urstin is a cousin of the Archerons via their mother.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

THE SURIEL

Suriel is a Hebrew name meaning "God's prince, divine authority." May also reference Sariel, an angel from Judais tradition, one of the seven holy angels. He is considered to be a primordial power invoked for his protective powers.

ATTOR

Possibly an altered form of the German tatter meaning "goblin, puppet." Likely inspired by the Ahool, a bat or primate-like winged cryptid said to live in the jungles of Indonesia.

DEATH GODS

THE BONE CARVER

Self-explanatory.

STRYGA AKA THE WEAVER

Stryzga is a female demon in Slavic mythology similar to a vampire. Stryzga stems from the mythological Strix of Ancient Greece, referring to birds of ill omen (and also witches) who fed on human flesh and blood.

KOSCHEI

Koschei is a common villain in East Slavic tales. He is often given the epithet of "the Immortal, the Deathless" and is said to hide his death inside nested objects for protection. He often takes the role of a malevolent rival figure who competes or entraps a male hero's love interest.
Fun note: The love interest trapping tidbit has interesting connotations for both Lucien (regarding Vassa) and Azriel (regarding Eris). For a breakdown of the Azriel x Koschei scene in ACOSF, see HERE.

PRISON INMATES

BRYAXIS

Bryaxis was a famous Ancient Greek sculptor. His name may mean "delight, lust."

LANTHYS

No information or connections found (and it is KILLING me).

LUBIA

In Albanian mythology, the lubia is a multi-headed, serpentine-like, female watestorm demon-dragon. Her irresistible taste of flesh leans toward that of young girls.
ACOTAR role: Also called Seven-Headed Lubia, imprisoned for preying on girls on the western coast of Prythian.

ANNIS

The Black Annis is a bogeyman in English folklore, depicted as a blue-faced witch with iron claws who has a taste for human flesh, especially that of children.
ACOTAR role: Also called Blue Annis, imprisoned for her craving of female flesh.

VESPERUS

In Greek mythology, Hesperus is the Evening Star. Her Roman equivalent is named Vesper.
ACOTAR role: Vesperus is the Asteri found beneath the Prison.

MINOR CHARACTERS

MIDDENGARD WYRM

Midgard is the realm of human beings in Norse mythology, ie Earth. Wrym is an Old Norse word and refers to a wingless and limbless dragon.

THE BOGGE

Bogge is a Middle English word meaning "frightening specter" from which the term bogeyman originated. Bogeyman have no specific appearance and conceptions vary drastically by culture.
Fun fact: A boggart is a supernatural being from English folklore and also derives from the term bogge (Harry Potter facts, yo).

NAGA

Throughout various Asian religious traditions, Angus are a divine or semi-divine race of half-human, half-serpent beings residing in the netherworld.
Fun fact: A female naga is called a Nagi or a Nagini (more HP facts, yo).

MARTAX

A manticore is a Persian mythological creature similar to the Egyptian sphinx. The martax describe in ACOTAR has a head like a lion's and three rows of teeth. A manticore has the body of a lion and eats its victims whole with its three rows of teeth. The term manticore stems from Latin and Ancient Greek.

PUCA

Púca is Irish for "spirit, ghost" while puca is Old English for "goblin." They were said to be shape-changers.

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MEALLAN

Meallán is Irish in origin meaning "small pleasant one."
ACOTAR role: Helion's pegasus.

ELLIA

Ellia is of various origins and can translate to "beautiful fairy maiden" with hints to the "Otherworld."
ACOTAR role: Mor's horse.

-----------------
For Part 2: World Map, Items, Terms & Other, click HERE

Barron, Laird. “Jaws of Saturn.” The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All. Night Shade Books, 2013.

Summary

Carol is Franco’s girl, and when he learns a two-bit stage magician is practicing hypnotism on her, Franco goes to pay the old man a visit. But Phil Wary is no mere purveyor of parlor tricks. The line between dreams and waking, between our reality and one of monstrous dimensions, erodes, as Franco and Carol find themselves ground to bits between the “Jaws of Saturn.”

Characters

• Franco - a private security attache and enforcer. Well groomed, well read, well armed.
• Carol - Franco’s lover and resident of The Broadsword Hotel.
• Phil Wary - an elderly resident of The Broadsword and career stage magician; also a powerful practitioner of the Black Arts.

Story

In the lounge of the Broadsword Hotel, Carol tells Franco of a dream she had of her former lover Marvin Cortez. Franco tries to explain it away as mere messages from her subconscious, but he’s also jealous. In her room, they engage in vigorous sex and Franco observes that, for a moment, one of her irises is inhumanly oblong. He doesn’t know what to make of this and presses Carol on her current state of mind, especially her recent weird dreams. She admits she’s been visiting old Phil Wary in his apartment upstairs, paying him for hypnosis sessions to help kick her smoking habit. That’s all Franco needs to know. This old sheister is trying to get into Carol’s pants and he’s screwing with her head. He’ll pay Phil Wary a visit. But first, he falls asleep and dreams of lovely, voluptuous Carol standing frozen in the Broadsword lobby as a shadow of “colossal dimensions” looms over her.
Franco is a bodyguard/enforcer for millionaire Jacob Wilson and is no stranger to intimidation, violence, and murder. He ferrets out Wary’s number and rings him up. Wary dismisses Franco contemptuously over the phone (“You sound like an oaf, a knuckle dragger.”) so Franco breaks into his apartment where he confronts the old man about making moves on Carol under the guise of therapeutic mesmerism. Phil Wary is both sardonically condescending and oddly patient with Franco, giving him more than one opportunity to walk away. But Franco is consumed with (perhaps nurses) his jealousy and strikes Wary across the face with a belt, ordering him to stay away from his girlfriend. Franco’s action does not have the intended effect. Wary shakes off the blows and effortlessly subdues Franco.
Wary stows the bound Franco in a closet, on tiptoes with a belt tightened around his neck, and leaves the door ajar so he can watch as Carol enters for her hypnosis session. Something’s wrong about the closet: he can’t see its ceiling. The dimension of height goes up and up into darkness. Franco struggles to maintain consciousness and can only watch as Wary entrances Carol then guides her to his apartment wall where he pulls back a flap of old wallpaper and has her look through a hole at… Franco doesn’t know what she could possibly be seeing other than the back lot of the Broadsword. Wary releases Carol from the trance and sends her on her way. Now Wary leads Franco to the wall, telling him, “All this flesh is but a projection. We are the dream of something greater and more dreadful than you could imagine. To gaze into the abyss is to recognize the dreamer and in recognition, to wake.” He forces Franco’s eye against the hole in the wall. Franco passes out. When he comes to, he receives a call on Wary’s phone from his boss Jacob Wilson, who fires him on the spot. Wary offers tepid consolation before ejecting Franco into the hall. Franco suddenly wakes in Carol’s bed, screaming.
Franco and Carol’s nightmares intensify as the boundary between dreaming and waking life erodes. Their nightmares increasingly feature familiar locations distended into cyclopean dimensions, and threats from above - at first tendrils descending from the sky, then the hand of a giant. In desperation, Franco returns to the Broadsword, packing his pistol, but the opportunity to kill Phil Wary has passed if it truly ever existed. He has a vision of Carol in the vaulted hotel lobby and, above them, Wary - now a colossus like the titan Saturn in de Goya’s famous painting - towers above them. The giant picks up Franco and raises him to its face - but Franco “had a long, agonizing moment to recognize his own face mirrored by the primordial aspect of the giant.” Franco is devoured.
There’s a brief coda where Franco (?) wakes, a giant in an ancient or future world, and is joined by his titanic lover. Together they loom over “all the tiny houses and all the tiny works of men.”

Analysis

As I write this, I have just woken from a dream. In the dream, I am asleep and dreaming of looking at a reproduction toy catalog and, sure enough, there are three pages of the old Micronauts toy line with which I am still obsessed. I wonder if these toys will ever be reissued. Then I wake up. There’s a book at the far end of the bed. It’s out of reach and I’m still sleepy and don’t want to stretch to grab it. I wonder, as I so often have: if I focus on that book and believe that waking reality is mine to shape as I do in dreams, can I make that book really leap into my hand? I do, and it does! I double-check to be sure I’m really awake. Yes - yes, I’m awake! This is finally, really happening! I try it again, pulling a rock from the ground through telekinesis. It’s easy. I have come into my own, a demigod among men. Then I wake up, for real this time.
My subconsciousness giggles. Pwned again.
All this to say: it’s disconcerting when the line between dreaming and waking consciousness breaks down, which is what’s happening for Franco and Carol, and at a scale that defies Euclidian geometry.
In fact, Franco’s experience is like stumbling onto the Devil’s Narnia. The closet in Phil Wary’s apartment - like C.S. Lewis’ coat-filled wardrobe - opens onto an impossibly large dimension, one lighted not by a snow-strewn lamppost but a hideous red light. For both Franco and Carol, the gulf between dreams and waking reality is melting away. The dreaminess/nightmarishness doesn’t make their experiences of this other (truer?) world any less real. Again, the occultist tells Franco, “We are the dream of something greater and more dreadful than you could imagine. To gaze into the abyss is to recognize the dreamer and in recognition, to wake.”
In The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the Pevensie children’s true identity is revealed as the sons of Adam and the daughters of Eve. Franco and Carol’s journey in “Jaws of Saturn” makes them a kind of Adam and Eve, but of a titanic cast. Their early sex scene shows Franco on the verge of an atavistic state, nearly unbridled from the abstraction that is modern human consciousness. The knowledge he seeks - what is Wary doing to Carol? - opens the door on a transformation that grounds him, bringing him closer to the true, perilous state of being alive, an atavistic state that finds its ultimate form as a titan in the post-civilization world of the coda. And herein we see a common journey for the Barronic hero: the search for Cursed Knowledge begins the Unraveling/Unveiling of Reality culminating in a Hideous Fate which leads to one’s Ultimate Form. (Note: Laird has a story titled "Don't Make Me Assume My Ultimate Form.”)
As I write this, my daughter has just called me from DC, upset by terrible dreams of a book that looks like the Bible, but it’s not the Bible, and our cat Izzy who died a few weeks ago has returned, but she keeps fading in and out of view. In her dream, my daughter is scared to get on an elevator because she’s on roller skates and the people in the building say the elevator is really slow, but the doors open, she gets in and the elevator moves so fast she’s floating. When it stops, the doors open onto a garden filled with people who want her to read a passage from the book that’s not the Bible: it’s Zanderthonis, book 2, chapter 3. And she keeps trying to wake up from the dream so she can tell someone about it but she can’t escape the building.
All this to say: Watch out, friends. The dreams, they’re catching.
Connections to other stories:

• The setting of “Jaws of Saturn” is the Broadsword Hotel, seen previously in “The Broadsword.”
• Carol’s former lover is Marvin Cortez, protagonist of “The Imago Sequence.” She mentions him to Franco, and Franco knows who he is. Franco works for Jacob Wilson, nephew of Teddy Wilson whose disappearance is mentioned in “The Imago Sequence.”
• “Hand of Glory” - Phil Wary - under his pseudonym Helios Augustus - sets Johnny Cope on the trail of Conrad Paxton.
• It’s not insignificant that “Jaws of Saturn” clearly ties together the transhumanism stories of The Imago Sequence to the Old Leech stories of Occultation by placing Franco’s and Carol’s conversation about Marvin Cortez in the Broadsword Hotel where Pershing Dennard ran afoul of the Children of Old Leech.

In part VI, the doctor examining Franco checks his eyes and says “something about coloboma.” ClevelandClinic.org notes: “The most recognizable and common colobomas affect your iris (the colored part of your eye) and cause your pupil (the dark center of your eye) to have a keyhole shape.” In other words, what was happening to Carol is now happening to Franco, and the change is the key to unlocking the underlying reality of the world.

Discussion

1. What did Franco see through the hole in the wall in Phil Wary’s apartment?
2. What’s the significance of Saturn, and specifically the de Goya painting of Saturn eating his children?
3. Did I miss connections to any other Laird Barron story?
4. Which Broadsword resident has the worse fate? Pershing Dennard (“The Broadsword”) or Franco (“Jaws of Saturn”)?
5. Which other Barronic heroes undergo the ordeal of Cursed Knowledge > Unveiling Reality > Hideous Fate > Ultimate Form?

I wrote mini reviews of each arc here, but because there are so damn many arcs, this ended up being a wall of text, despite me trying to keep them short. Feel free to skim or read only what interests you!
--
The episodic nature of Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla means that its narrative is split into chunks. These chunks take place across the many shires of medieval England and vary in terms of length, depth and, well, pointlessness. I thought ranking them would be a fun exercise — a competition of story arcs, all vying for best Viking mini-narrative.
It goes without saying, but I’m about to spoil the whole damn game, so read at your own risk.
--
21. Wincestre
Wincestre is just another Lunden or Jorvik, accept with more Jesus, more King Aelfred and way less… anything worthwhile. This one was just a total nothing-burger of an experience. The fact that it comes so late in the narrative really hurts it, too, because by now you’ve experienced arcs that are a similar traditional Assassin’s Creed city-style that at least aren’t this bad. Aelfred’s turning on Eivor at the end also didn’t feel coherent, convincing or warranted to me. Big miss.
20. Lunden
The smaller, denser cities with multiple targets to track down and ‘social stealth’ options are certainly here to attempt to replicate the traditional AC experience, but Lunden fails to do so meaningfully, and even gets a huge points deduction for being misleading.
The arc is set up to feature twists with Stowe and Ercke (is one a traitor? Will your romancing of Stowe make things complicated?), but after their initial scenes they’re mitigated to what I would hardly even call side characters as Eivor unveils three randos as Order members, kills them and then leaves town. At least there was a cool boss sequence on the river?
19. Snotinghamscire
This arc sees you reunite with Hemmingr Jarl, his son Villi and his compatriot, Trygve. Eivor has an existing relationship with these characters, but the player doesn’t. As a result, nothing that happens with them lands meaningfully.
After Hemmingr passes, this arc boils down to running dull errands to prepare for the burial ceremony. Eivor chooses whether Villi or Trygve will succeed Hemmingr in the end, but the decision is very clear-cut and suggested to the player, lacking the nuance of the game’s other difficult decisions. This arc isn’t memorable, doesn’t concern the main quest, and feels like fluffy filler in the worst way.
18. Jorvik
Another version of the Lunden & Wincestre arcs, Jorvik is stronger than its competitors for presenting the Order members to your face before you deduce who they are. There was nothing shocking about their reveals, but each provided an interesting set piece to navigate during assassinations.
Problematically, the arc sets itself up for Eivor to accuse a traitor, only for her decision to not matter at all. You never get to act on your accusation at Yuletide — the Order member interrupts and attacks the feast no matter who you accuse.
17. Cent
The Cent arc sees Eivor team with Basim to track Fulke. It feels important and part of the main story, but it’s all for naught in the end — you come face-to-face with Fulke in what seems like a meaningful story moment, only for her to run away. Your reward is finding out Sigurd had his arm cut off.
This arc earns some points for getting Fulke screen time and tiptoeing the tightrope of Eivor and Basim’s rocky relationship believably, but certainly can’t be called good. This is because once you pull back the veil, you realize you never advanced the plot and were running in circles for nothing the entire time. At least the other “filler” arcs were forthright about their (lack of) connection to the main story.
16. Jotunheim
This arc has a compelling story to it — Odin running from his fate and bending over backwards to flee from it is interesting, his broken relationship with Loki should be a strong point for the arc, and his moral gray areas (sleeping with a Jotunn, betraying Tyr) certainly make for a complex character’s development.
It has the ingredients of a strong arc, but I just couldn’t shake the why am I doing this feeling I had the entire time. Everything in between Odin’s big moments is a fetch quest and I just felt like I was wasting my life.
This one is weird because on paper it feels like there’s a lot of substance here, but ultimately, I felt nothing while playing it besides contempt for having drank the potion in Ravensthorpe again.
15. Lincolnscire
Heir to the throne Hunwald is exiled from Lincoln and reaches out to Ravensthorpe for help. Eivor tracks down his sickly and dying father and then must cast the deciding vote for whom the new Ealdorman will be after his death.
The game wastes your time with one of Hunwald’s competitors, Aelfgar, (who is a dork) and paints the bishop as evil pretty clearly (he turns out to be an Order member). I suppose this arc could hit hard for someone who accidently put an Order member in charge. For that and for Hunwald at least having a strong drive and personality, this arc earns some marks.
14. Essex
Eivor is brought in to repair a marriage by separating husband and wife naturally without a public divorce. She reunites Ealdorman Birstan with his former lover and sets up a fake public kidnapping to whisk away his wife, Estrid.
I think many would rate this arc far lower than I have here because it is pure side mission nonsense — but for me, this arc stands strong on the backs of convincing and fun characters in Birstan and Estrid, as well as the tangled web of relationships between the two of them, Birstan’s son, and Rollo, Estrid’s former lover.
13. Ledecestrescire
Ledecestre sees the intros of Ivarr, Ubba and Ceowulf. You team up with the sons of Ragnar to help put Ceowulf’s father on the throne in Mercia.
Ledecestrescire earns points for strong, realized characters in the Ragnarsons and Ceowulf, a believable conflict with the Mercian king, as well as the arc’s biggest moment with killing or sparing Leofrith in Tamworth.
12. Asgard
Asgard looks pretty and hits hard when you first arrive. I appreciate Ubi for creating places like Atlantis and Asgard to run around and explore in.
Unfortunately, both felt supremely empty. However, watching Odin fight tooth and nail to run from his fate was satisfying and Loki is aptly deceptive and frustrating. The Builder gave the arc a nice wrinkle, too and climaxed with a nice boss fight.
I spent too much time tracking down tears, but I think if you look at just the main missions here, this is a solid experience in an incredible environment.
11. East Anglia
In this arc, Eivor works alongside Oswald to fend off violent Dane aggressors and claim his leadership role.
Oswald is honorable and likeable — watching him teach the Danes in his court that bravery can reveal itself in more nuanced ways rather than physically was powerful, and giving Eivor the decision to allow Oswald to fight his own battles or fight for him solidified the feeling of fathering Oswald through this arc into manhood and leadership.
I bought into this arc because I felt the story was touching and meaningful and the cast was strong.
10. Vinland
Nothing really happens here aside from hunting down Gorm Kjotveson, but the arc earns major points for how refreshing it is.
I played it late in the story when I was feeling quite a bit of fatigue towards the game and everything about Vinland just landed for me, giving me new energy to actually enjoy what I was doing.
The new landscape is insanely gorgeous and fun to navigate. The stripping down of Eivor’s equipment essentially forces you to start from scratch — but it really makes the four stealth encounters stronger; you have to approach them differently due to being unarmed and unarmored.
The whole thing was a little bit of a reset button for the entire experience of Valhalla and it sorely needed it.
9. Suthsexe
Suthsexe is the meeting with Guthrum and the rising action leading up to defeating Fulke.
The arc is fun, feels impactful as well as meaningful and sees you reunite with all the old friends you’ve made up to this point. Fighting alongside Soma and others was a big positive for me. Storming Fulke’s fort at least included some different mechanics than many forts up to this point, so it felt fresh. Her boss fight in the darkness of the crypts was exceptional, as was her confession sequence.
This arc was mostly good, satisfying fun the whole way through, but didn’t include too much intrigue as the ones ranked above it did.
8. Rygjafylke
Look, I’ll be honest. I’m writing this particular paragraph after completing the game and this opening section was so long ago that I don’t have a great memory of it.
What I do know is that Valhalla opened strongly. I found it all pretty compelling. I remember it being atmospheric, believable and driven by strong characters like Sigurd, Varin, Haytham, Basim and Kyotve. I was bought-in very early and Rygjafylke really got the game off to a strong start.
7. Hamtunscire & Epilogue
Aelfred screen time is a good thing, and this arc earns marks for his badassery in the face of Guthrum, as well as his manipulation of the Dane army. Ally deaths in the battle at Chepeham give the arc meaningful stakes and ratchet up the tension. This arc is brief and straightforward — there’s not much story to it since it’s really just war throughout the whole thing.
Afterwards, Eivor tracks down the final member of the Order and confronts him in a touching sequence over some burnt bread in a small swampy town in the middle of nowhere. It’s a humble conclusion for Aelfred and the swirling epic that was AC: Valhalla.
6. Hordafylke
The return to Norway contains two things: Eivor & Sigurd finding closure with Sigurd’s father, and the two locating “Yggdrasil.”
I quite enjoyed the pit stop with Sigurd’s father, and the entire Yggdrasil sequence was incredibly interesting. It was a refreshing change of pace from what you’ve been doing for the past 100 hours and featured a nice boss fight at the end. No matter which ending you get, the conversation with Sigurd after the dust settles is impactful and weighty.
5. Oxenefordscire
Finally reunited with Sigurd, this is the arc we learn of his obsession with his ancestry and true nature. Eivor’s reaction of discomfort and distrust towards Sigurd’s change is honest and relatable and she must juggle relations between Sigurd and the Thane they are working to put in charge, Gaedric.
Negotiations with King Aelfred are complex and a late intervention from Fulke reveals her true allegiance to the Order and puts Sigurd in enemy hands.
This arc moves the plot along moreso than the last 400 hours you’ve been playing the game, while also establishing and reinterpreting Eivor’s relations with the cast in meaningful ways. It ratchets up the tension of the main quest and narrative, which up to this point had been lagging behind due to a breadth of shire arcs.
4. Glowecestrecire
I’m so surprised to see myself rank this so high — after the first third of the arc, I was considering putting it in dead last. I felt Gunnar’s fiancé’s unintelligible dialogue, the trick-or-treating, the druid encounter, and Eivor’s 400th drunken night of debauchery to be a disrespectful waste of my time this deep (over 80 hours) into the game.
But then the arc turned, with two solid stealth encounters and a stellar boss fight. Navigating the Aelfwood was a gorgeous thrill and the confrontation with Modran is atmospheric and a fantastically fresh take on the typical Valhalla boss or mini boss fight.
When I decided to focus-up on the story and let the Celtic and Welsh mythos shine, the arc became a terrestrial fever dream of satisfying magic, intrigue and character interactions.
3. Grantebridgescire
Eivor looks to ally with Soma, the leader of Grantebridge, but her town’s just been sacked from the inside by a traitor. After saving her three companions in the thick river bogs, you take back Grantebridge and then embark on an investigation to discover the rat.
Its the investigation that makes the whole arc. It has a slew of clues, nuance and red herrings to consider. One of its strengths is how open ended the investigation is — you can follow the quest markers, but talking to the town’s people and hunting down the yellow-painted ship is up to you (at least I think, I played on the most ‘difficult’ exploration setting).
This arc earns big points because the investigation matters — you have to tell Soma to kill one of her closest friends and then watch her do it, living with your right or wrong decision.
2. Eurvicscire
Finally meeting the third of the famed Ragnarson’s, Eivor finds Halfdan a paranoid soul, waxing poetic about friendship and treason. The arc balances the two on a blade’s edge to tremendous effect.
Halfdan believes he has a traitor in his midst and the main culprit is his right-hand man, Faravid.
Faravid's dialogue is expertly written to feign allegiance to Halfdan, but never reveal too much of his true nature. Eivor’s wavering relationship and trust with him are complex and the Wolf-Kissed can lie to both him and Halfdan depending on dialogue choice. Every decision feels like it carries weight. It’s this ambiguity that makes the arc compelling and gives the decisions importance.
This arc could feel disconnected (it’s not part of the main plot and Halfdan doesn’t appear in the late game, no matter your decision) and thus appear as pointless fluff, but I won’t fault it for that. As a self-contained story, this was flat-out interesting and kept me in anticipation of the next reveal or twist. Imagery and foreshadowing, red-herrings, and great atmosphere all make for an engaging and compelling experience. I only wish every shire arc could’ve reached these heights.
1. Sciropscire
Sciropescire’s strengths come somewhat from the arcs that came before it, as it sees Eivor quickly reunited and working with Ivarr and Ceowulf. Your preexisting relationship with both gives this arc an advantage over others where it doesn’t have to establish too much all at once, as well as it starting off with you already having a personal connection of some sort with the main cast. Still, each set piece here is strong enough on its own –

1. Eivor & co. join to negotiate peace with King Rhodri. She can offer 600 silver to whomever she chooses to try and quell the peace talks. Each option is mired in obscurity, has obvious pros and cons, and plenty of uncertainty. It felt impactful, difficult and nuanced.
2. After peace talks go sour with Ivarr’s outburst, Eivor, Ivarr and Ceowulf sack a village under Rhodri’s control. It’s brutal and takes a long time to burn (on purpose!). You then fight a huge party of Rhodri’s men. The whole scene feels vile, over the top and harsh (on purpose!).
3. The twist is that Ivarr kills Ceowulf in cold blood to earn himself the opportunity to get his own revenge on Rhodri — only revealed after you sack Rhodri’s fort (after reaching peace with him). A brutal blood eagle from Ivarr and the game’s best boss fight ensue.

It’s close between the top 3, but this is the best arc in the game, for me.
For once, the game forces you to face the trail of bloodshed and destruction your ‘pacifying’ of England has left in your wake. Additionally, the ambiguous decision-making process in negotiating peace, the brutal village burning sequence, the tangled web of Ivarr’s relationships and motivations, the twists of the peaceful alliance and Rhodri’s fate, and finally, the Ivarr boss fight are just too good all in tandem to not take first place.
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I’m conflicted looking back on these.
There’s many that feel even more empty than I remember them being now that I draft them as text. However, a surprising number of highly-rated arcs aren’t actually part of the main quest.
Ultimately, I’m left bewildered at the scale and scope of the epic that this game took me on. I was so fatigued by the end of it, but in hindsight so happy I completed it.

I was on the comic book website and in one of the past lower articles there was a post of a post from twitter suggested by beau we watch “Final Decision” as last minute homework. This was one of my favorite episodes! I thought I remembered it better, especially magneto’s expositions, but I was surprised/shocked that wolverines last lines to magneto, where direct quote from magneto in this episode. Easter egg or something deeper in meaning?
“Final decision”, “TNG- cause and effect”, “pryde of the X-men”. I think these are pointing to an apocalypse saga intro to season 2. Magneto is ready to destroy the earth. (Pryde of X-men), and we are loaded up for an epic sentinel battle (final destination), but Xavier will dye (cause and effect) setting off the ripple in time and the apocalypse saga. This is also weighed heavily on the fact that Magento leading the X-men ( beginning episodes of 97, and the apocalypse saga) are far more richediffferent story telling than Xavier leading the X-men against Magneto and his band of Mutants. We’ve also seen a brief clip of apocalypse in the intro, but no hint of Onslaught
*interesting side note: in the pryde of the X-men Magneto refers to himself and his band of mutants as terrorist. Not revolutionary fighters. Just made me think a little more about identity

I (32f) am dating my bf (37m) for almost 6 months, long distance.
I have noticed my bf has a possessive side to him. I may have brought it out through our sexual side, as he claims he hasn’t ever been this way with any other woman before.
Situation #1: we were at a house birthday party for his best friend. My bf and I had a super romantic moment outside when it started pouring down rain. We went back inside soaking wet and his best friend had gone back out in the rain to grab some things. His bestfriend, the host, grabbed us a towel to dry off. Out of instinct, I dried his friends head and face off bc he got us the towel. It was brief, not even 10 seconds long. My bf gut reacted and shoved him. It wouldn’t have looked so bad but his friend was next to something and it kind of tripped him when he got shoved. My boyfriend says he never wants me to put my hands on another man, unless they are seriously injured or they are family.
Situation #2: this situation, he says he is working on but and agrees he needs therapy. He frequently gets upset if I am with people and don’t respond in a reasonable amount of time. He doesn’t get mean or angry or cuss me out, but he gets short and I can tell he is aggravated. This happens with men and women. It typically happens more if I am with people, him and I are having a semi active convo, and I disappear for a bit 30-60 minutes. It’s happened with my boss, my male friends, my girl friends, a potential networking person for my career..
Situation #3: this one, I can understand but it’s difficult for me to get over. I have a male best friend of 16 years. We have had sex twice. Once as teens (awkward) and once as adults (which I realized then, that those feelings aren’t there for him). I told my bf up front, that him and I are extremely close, we rough house including wrestling, talk crap, and just have a great time. My bf now said.. that he doesn’t want me wrestling with him. Said he doesn’t want his hands on me. Said it’s a make or break deal now. Said it wasn’t an issue before because his feelings weren’t as deep as they are.
Situation #4: while we were discussing males touching me at all or me touching any male at all.. (if they are in their prime age), I told him that I am the type of person that willingly helps anyone, no matter the sex. It just happens. I told him I would try my best not to touch or help as much as I use to (I already backed off prior to him), but it still happens. I am a trained massage therapist and I am active in sports. Occasionally injuries happen around me and I briefly assist and try to help the situation. My bf got sick to his stomach while discussing this. Said he doesn’t like the thought of me touching men in any capacity. He is okay if they are seriously injured but if they are capable to help themselves, then I shouldn’t touch them. That also includes arm tears or rolled ankles.. etc.
I told him that him restricting me like this, is asking me to restrict a core part of me that just wants to help people. He doesn’t seem to care.
I told him that I worry about his possessiveness and he could kind of see where I was coming from but it’s inconclusive right now.
I need advice please. He is incredibly sweet. 80% of the relationship is amazing. 80% of the time, he is amazing in all he does. I just —- I don’t know what to do or what to think. I’ve been in abusive relationships before. I know I’m highly sensitive to red flags and what is reasonable and what isn’t.
I just need advice please.
Edit: I fully understand and already understood prior to this post, about how wrestling with my best friend is wrong. I haven’t done it since we’ve been together. I just know sometimes we rough house. I understand it is wrong and was accepting something that was normal, and it is not normal.

Marketing is one of the most crucial operation for a Shopify store. There are lot’s of tactics Marketing is one of the most crucial operation for a Shopify store. There are lot’s of tactics to grow quickly and none of them not working. Well, if you looking for a way to create solid marketing plan, then this guide is for you. In this guide you’ll learn

• Definition of Marketing
• Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market
• Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding
• Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy
• Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels
• Marketing Plan Template
• FAQs

Definition of Marketing

American Marketing Association defines marketing as activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Source
What do you see here?

1. Marketing is not about activities, it contains activities, set of institutions and process.
2. Function of marketing is not generating sales. It’s creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that has value.
3. In this post we’ll focus on Shopify stores marketing. However in the big picture marketing has not limited with companies. Marketing can be done within organization or society.

Let’s summarize what marketing definition for a Shopify store. Marketing will create, communicate, deliver and exchange offers that have value for customers. As you can see main subject in here is customers. Because of this, I’ll put customers as the center of this guide. Everything we’ll do has to something with them.

Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market

This is a practical guide for marketing so I want to continue with a hypothetical Shopify stores for each steps.
Let’s say we have a Shopify store that has some high-end, organic baby clothes targeting new parents.

Market Research

How can we do the market research?
Let’s say you have a new Shopify store that has less than 500 order per month. You can hire expensive agencies, expensive experts to research the market, create market reports for you, etc. Even if you do that, I highly suspicious if it helps you.
However you can talk with your new-parent friends. Ask them about how do they decide to buy baby clothes? What they are looking for before completing their purchases? Do they get any expert opinion before making buying decision? How do they search online and what they want to see? Is there any great YouTube channels about this.
Don’t have any friends? Checkout your friends not a new-parents but parents and ask similar questions to them. If you also don’t have them, try to make new born friends. I know how hard it is but let’s be honest here. If you don’t know anybody in your target audience, how do you manage to get know them? All of the successful stores I saw they have direct relationship with their target audience.
When you make your research with real people, then you can extend your project to online. Try to search as they do. What do you find? Deep in dive and take your notes.

Competitor Analysis

When you done this market research, you’ll also see there are some other brands. This is a huge subject but let’s call these brands as competitor for now.
Now it’s time to analyze them.

1. Checkout their branding strategy.
2. What are their value propositions?
3. What is hot about them? Return guarantee, free shipping etc.
4. What is not hot about them? Poor product or store design, low UX on the website, etc.
5. What people think about them? Google reviews, Trust pilot reviews, product reviews on the store.
6. Are there any partnership or influencer program they’re running?
7. What is their Google/YouTube campaign strategy? Check it here.
8. What is their Facebook/Instagram campaign strategy? Check it here.

Create a spreadsheet with all of this information. We’ll use this when working on positioning and marketing strategy.

Define Your Target Market

What do you say about our target market? Can all of new parents be our target market?
Nope, it can’t. You need to deep dive into your market and find a sub-segment, a niche that will need your products much better than anybody else and afford it easily.
This is what I called ideal customer profile (ICP). Check out what is ideal customer profile and how to create your ideal customer profile posts to learn more about the concept.
For our hypothetical store, ICP can be something like this;
Demographics

• Age: 25-45 years old
• Gender: Primarily women, but also some men
• Education: College degree or higher
• Income: $75,000+ per household
• Location: Urban areas
• Occupation: Professionals, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents

Psychographics

• Values: Health, wellness, sustainability, social responsibility
• Lifestyle: Active, eco-conscious, family-oriented
• Interests: Organic food, natural products, children’s activities
• Media consumption: Social media, parenting blogs, magazines
• Shopping habits: Researches purchases thoroughly, values quality over price

Pain Points

• Concerns about harmful chemicals in baby clothes
• Difficulty finding stylish and affordable organic baby clothes
• Wants to make sustainable choices for their children

Needs

• High-quality, organic baby clothes that are safe and healthy for their children
• Unique and stylish designs that make their children look and feel good
• A brand that shares their values and commitment to sustainability

Buying Behaviors

• Researches products online before making a purchase
• Reads reviews and testimonials from other parents
• Shops at specialty stores and online retailers
• Willing to pay a premium for quality and sustainability

After creating ICP, it’s important to spend some time on empathy map. Don’t forget to check it, too.
Now we know our baby clothes Shopify store market, customer’s buying process and our ideal customer profile.

Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding

I’ll follow the American Marketing Association (AMA) in here too.
First look at brand definition. AMA defines brand as “any distinctive feature like a name, term, design, or symbol that identifies goods or services”.
Branding is for creating and managing your brand’s identity. It involves your mission, values, culture and public image.
I’m not an expert on brand, but I know how branding can be effective for your conversions and performance. Here are some checklist for you.

1. Design consistency is the key. Your visual identity should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
2. Copy consistency is the key. Your communication style should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
3. Experience consistency is the key. Let’s say your brand looks like a high-end brand and when a new visitor visit your store first they see is an annoying popup saying want to get 10% OFF. This is simply how to destroy your brand.
4. Craft a story and stick to it. What makes you create this brand? Faces behind the brand. This is a huge leverage for creating trust and building bonds.

Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy

So far we identified our target market and ideal customer profile. Check out competitors and creates the branding for our store.
Now it’s time to work on go-to-market strategy and crafting our marketing strategy.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Let’s say you recently launched your Shopify store or add a new line of products.
You need a plan to introduce your store or new products to the market. This is what we called go-to-market(GTM) strategy.
Main goal of the GTM is letting people know that there is a new brand or product line. It’s similar to launch marketing. Key message here is there is a new products/brand launched and it offer the best for you. Give it a try, you’ll love it.
All of your messages and communication should be parallel to this process.
Our focus is convincing people to try our products/brand. So I always offer a special campaign just for the launch to give people to a reason to try your products/brand.
For our hypothetical Shopify store we can run a special campaign for launch like;

• Free shipping until X date.
• 5 different boy and girl bundle with 40% OFF to try our products.

Marketing Strategy

This is your plan of actions to sell or advertise your products. Now we can talk about selling part of the marketing.
Let’s say you have GREAT advertising creatives and a huge budget and just spending it. Don’t wait to crack the code and having lot’s of sales.
Your marketing strategy should be follow sales funnel. If you don’t have a high-converting sales funnel, you can’t expect people to buy from you. Check out How to Build High Converting Sales Funnel For Shopify post.
AIDA Sales Funnel Framework
Now we can continue with our hypothetical store example. We’re selling high-end, organic baby clothes on our store. We crafted our ICP, empathy map, work on branding and created our story.

Example Marketing Strategy

First step we’ll work on attention step. Our focus is getting attention of our target market attention.
We can create a educative e-book like “7 Harmful Chemicals Commonly Used in Baby Clothes and How to Avoid Them” and run some campaigns targeted new parents on social network (Facebook, Instagram or YouTube)
This ads will land on a landing page that gives brief information about why we should pay attention to chemicals in baby clothes for our little ones and make a promise like “I spend my last 5 years about researching chemicals on baby clothes and prepare this book for you and your little one”. Also there can be a quick video about our story explaining our expertise in this field and why we’re building this brand.
We can ask for their email address to share the book with them. When they enter their email address, we’ll send them this ebook.
After first email with the ebook, we can send a few more emails with easy to digest information about chemicals.
This will create an expertise image on our target customers and start to create a bond with them. Not a bad start, right?
At the same time we can use this content on our social media, right? Quick videos, infographics and posts about the chemicals in the baby clothes.
After getting a few thousands subscribers we can organize a webinar to answer questions. This will also a great content for re-used social media content and creating trust and expert image.
Then we can share a time-limited promotion with this people for a bundle. Like we’re running a campaign and these 5 chemical free baby clothes bundles 10% discounted until next week!
We can send emails about it and use this campaign for remarketing for only people who show interest in our e-book and webinar.
This is a very brief template of marketing plan.
Now let’s take a look at more common one.

• Post product photos on social media with lot’s of hashtags
• Run a Meta campaign without any targeting, land people on product detail page
• Give them WELCOME10 discount if they enter their email address
• Send them 15 emails in the next 5 days to maximize your sales.

It’s time for you. Which one do you want to choose? All of the experts recommending this without even asking who are your customers. Can you believe it?
Don’t forget that marketing strategy is not a hope. It’s a well documented plan of actions designed for turning strangers into customers.

Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels

Inside the marketing strategy, channels plays a vital role. There are lot’s of ways to group channels. I’ll use most basic one.
Inbound Marketing Channels: With the inbound marketing your customers will find you and start the interaction. Most common channel for inbound marketing is organic search engine optimization.
After creating high quality content, when customers search something online, they can see your articles and first interaction happens.
Outbound Marketing Channels: With the outbound marketing you reach out to customers. Facebook/Instagram/YouTube ads, influencer marketing, display ads, podcast ads can be count in this category.
As you can imagine inbound marketing channels takes lot’s of efforts and time however over the time you’ll have organic marketing channel and it brings you customer without needing any budget.
Outbound marketing channels generally works with advertisement models and you need budgets to run these channels.
Most of time I recommend to start with outbound marketing channels and then invest inbound marketing channels overtime. Don’t forget to check Mastering Paid Ads For Shopify post.
Succesful marketing plans should be supported by high converting growth and conversion plans. Don’t forget to check Growth Guide For Shopify and Conversion Optimization Guide For Shopify too.
to grow quickly and none of them not working. Well, if you looking for a way to create solid marketing plan, then this guide is for you. In this guide you’ll learn

• Definition of Marketing
• Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market
• Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding
• Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy
• Inbound and Outbound Marketing Channels
• Marketing Plan Template
• FAQs

Definition of Marketing

American Marketing Association defines marketing as activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large. Source
What do you see here?

1. Marketing is not about activities, it contains activities, set of institutions and process.
2. Function of marketing is not generating sales. It’s creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that has value.
3. In this post we’ll focus on Shopify stores marketing. However in the big picture marketing has not limited with companies. Marketing can be done within organization or society.

Let’s summarize what marketing definition for a Shopify store. Marketing will create, communicate, deliver and exchange offers that have value for customers. As you can see main subject in here is customers. Because of this, I’ll put customers as the center of this guide. Everything we’ll do has to something with them.

Market Research, Competitor Analysis and Defining Your Target Market

This is a practical guide for marketing so I want to continue with a hypothetical Shopify stores for each steps.
Let’s say we have a Shopify store that has some high-end, organic baby clothes targeting new parents.

Market Research

How can we do the market research?
Let’s say you have a new Shopify store that has less than 500 order per month. You can hire expensive agencies, expensive experts to research the market, create market reports for you, etc. Even if you do that, I highly suspicious if it helps you.
However you can talk with your new-parent friends. Ask them about how do they decide to buy baby clothes? What they are looking for before completing their purchases? Do they get any expert opinion before making buying decision? How do they search online and what they want to see? Is there any great YouTube channels about this.
Don’t have any friends? Checkout your friends not a new-parents but parents and ask similar questions to them. If you also don’t have them, try to make new born friends. I know how hard it is but let’s be honest here. If you don’t know anybody in your target audience, how do you manage to get know them? All of the successful stores I saw they have direct relationship with their target audience.
When you make your research with real people, then you can extend your project to online. Try to search as they do. What do you find? Deep in dive and take your notes.

Competitor Analysis

When you done this market research, you’ll also see there are some other brands. This is a huge subject but let’s call these brands as competitor for now.
Now it’s time to analyze them.

1. Checkout their branding strategy.
2. What are their value propositions?
3. What is hot about them? Return guarantee, free shipping etc.
4. What is not hot about them? Poor product or store design, low UX on the website, etc.
5. What people think about them? Google reviews, Trust pilot reviews, product reviews on the store.
6. Are there any partnership or influencer program they’re running?
7. What is their Google/YouTube campaign strategy? Check it here.
8. What is their Facebook/Instagram campaign strategy? Check it here.

Create a spreadsheet with all of this information. We’ll use this when working on positioning and marketing strategy.

Define Your Target Market

What do you say about our target market? Can all of new parents be our target market?
Nope, it can’t. You need to deep dive into your market and find a sub-segment, a niche that will need your products much better than anybody else and afford it easily.
This is what I called ideal customer profile (ICP). Check out what is ideal customer profile and how to create your ideal customer profile posts to learn more about the concept.
For our hypothetical store, ICP can be something like this;
Demographics

• Age: 25-45 years old
• Gender: Primarily women, but also some men
• Education: College degree or higher
• Income: $75,000+ per household
• Location: Urban areas
• Occupation: Professionals, entrepreneurs, stay-at-home parents

Psychographics

• Values: Health, wellness, sustainability, social responsibility
• Lifestyle: Active, eco-conscious, family-oriented
• Interests: Organic food, natural products, children’s activities
• Media consumption: Social media, parenting blogs, magazines
• Shopping habits: Researches purchases thoroughly, values quality over price

Pain Points

• Concerns about harmful chemicals in baby clothes
• Difficulty finding stylish and affordable organic baby clothes
• Wants to make sustainable choices for their children

Needs

• High-quality, organic baby clothes that are safe and healthy for their children
• Unique and stylish designs that make their children look and feel good
• A brand that shares their values and commitment to sustainability

Buying Behaviors

• Researches products online before making a purchase
• Reads reviews and testimonials from other parents
• Shops at specialty stores and online retailers
• Willing to pay a premium for quality and sustainability

After creating ICP, it’s important to spend some time on empathy map. Don’t forget to check it, too.
Now we know our baby clothes Shopify store market, customer’s buying process and our ideal customer profile.

Brand Identity and How to Create Your Branding

I’ll follow the American Marketing Association (AMA) in here too.
First look at brand definition. AMA defines brand as “any distinctive feature like a name, term, design, or symbol that identifies goods or services”.
Branding is for creating and managing your brand’s identity. It involves your mission, values, culture and public image.
I’m not an expert on brand, but I know how branding can be effective for your conversions and performance. Here are some checklist for you.

1. Design consistency is the key. Your visual identity should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
2. Copy consistency is the key. Your communication style should be consistent across social media, Shopify store, emails, product detail pages, etc.
3. Experience consistency is the key. Let’s say your brand looks like a high-end brand and when a new visitor visit your store first they see is an annoying popup saying want to get 10% OFF. This is simply how to destroy your brand.
4. Craft a story and stick to it. What makes you create this brand? Faces behind the brand. This is a huge leverage for creating trust and building bonds.

Go-to-Market Strategy and Defining Your Marketing Strategy

So far we identified our target market and ideal customer profile. Check out competitors and creates the branding for our store.
Now it’s time to work on go-to-market strategy and crafting our marketing strategy.

Go-to-Market Strategy

Let’s say you recently launched your Shopify store or add a new line of products.
You need a plan to introduce your store or new products to the market. This is what we called go-to-market(GTM) strategy.
Main goal of the GTM is letting people know that there is a new brand or product line. It’s similar to launch marketing. Key message here is there is a new products/brand launched and it offer the best for you. Give it a try, you’ll love it.
All of your messages and communication should be parallel to this process.
Our focus is convincing people to try our products/brand. So I always offer a special campaign just for the launch to give people to a reason to try your products/brand.
For our hypothetical Shopify store we can run a special campaign for launch like;

• Free shipping until X date.
• 5 different boy and girl bundle with 40% OFF to try our products.

Marketing Strategy

This is your plan of actions to sell or advertise your products. Now we can talk about selling part of the marketing.
Let’s say you have GREAT advertising creatives and a huge budget and just spending it. Don’t wait to crack the code and having lot’s of sales.
Your marketing strategy should be follow sales funnel. If you don’t have a high-converting sales funnel, you can’t expect people to buy from you. Check out How to Build High Converting Sales Funnel For Shopify post.
This article first published at MarketingLib.
Don't forget to check Growth Suite on Shopify App Store.

I (26M) recently discovered that my girlfriend (24F) might still be in contact with her ex, and I'm not sure how to approach the situation. My suspicions arose on her birthday when she got excited about a call from a work colleague. Given my history of being cheated on, I was already sensitive to such things. Later, I saw an Instagram notification from her ex on her phone, increasing my concerns.
When I asked her when she last spoke to him, she claimed it was before we started dating. However, I checked her phone and found they had been interacting intermittently over the past year while we were together. Their interactions included liking stories and brief "how are you" messages.
What really concerned me were a few messages where she initiated conversations, saying she missed him and wished he were at an event we attended together. She explained this as a cultural way of speaking from his country. They also mentioned meeting up when he visited our city, though she claimed these were just empty agreements they never followed through on. Another message had her joking about starting an OnlyFans account due to AI taking over, to which he responded non-flirtatiously.
When I confronted her, she accused me of invading her privacy and said this was traumatizing for her. She also claimed her ex was depressed and that she was just trying to cheer him up when he posted worrying stories. Their relationship lasted seven months and supposedly ended because they didn't have much in common, though I suspect it might have been because he moved away. She always spoke kindly of him, which adds to my suspicions.
After our first fight, she said we should only discuss this once and that I should trust her. Not wanting to hurt her, I was willing to believe her. However, before we slept, she deleted all the texts between them as well as a message to a coworker she had described as flirty, where she commented on a story saying it was a thirst trap and he repeatedly called her "pitchoune." The next day, I couldn't get it out of my mind. When I questioned her, not about deleting the messages or the coworker, she got angry, saying I was being hot and cold and that I didn't want her to talk to any men (which I hadn't mentioned). She then left the house.
During that time, I decided the evidence I saw wasn't damning enough and that deleting her texts with her ex was irrelevant because I believed I saw everything. As for the coworker, the text was in French, which I don't fully understand, so maybe it was okay. We talked things out, but now I don't feel okay seeing her texting or just being on the phone raises my heartbeat. She also started badmouthing the coworker, which didn't sit right, and I don't know what to do.
I'm really struggling to understand if I'm overreacting or if my concerns are valid. She lost her virginity to me, so I feel like cheating should not be in question. Any advice on how to handle this would be greatly appreciated.
TL;DR: I found out my girlfriend has been texting her ex and a flirty coworker behind my back. She claims it's harmless, but I’m not sure if I’m overreacting or if my concerns are valid. Looking for advice on how to handle this.

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Now, I’m not one of those old men yelling at clouds, as I understand they are necessary for certain content of a problematic nature, but it struck me while watching ‘Sugar’ recently, that even things like ‘scenes of self harm’ are pre-warned now. Is this a recent thing, or even just an Apple thing?
In the example of Sugar, it plainly gives away that a certain character is going to attempt suicide as their previous character arc before it signposts the possibility.
Is there any evidence that scenes like these actually trigger people into self-harm or even causing trauma? Don’t we all watch shows like this, to be engrossed by them and escape our own lives for a brief time, rather than align what we are seeing unfold before us with our own personal circumstances?
I think there was some scientific data that the suicide scene in ‘13 Reasons Why’ did correlate with an uptick in youth suicide attempts, so again, I can see certain scenarios where they can be necessary, but that scene was even altered years later, to reduce its intensity, so that surely is enough at this point?
It is an interesting recent development for me, but I find it often gets overused. I know it is film related, but I bought Total Recall last year and even that had a warning before it. I honestly couldn’t even tell what they were referring to and I find myself attuned to the subject.

This might be long, so please bear with me.
Info about this annoying guy: let's call him R, we've been friends for the last 10 years, basically because his dad and mine are colleagues and share the same workplace, we went to the same school, same tuitions, and have met each other out of academic arenas also, as in get together parties organised by my dad's office members. We both know each other pretty well, as if we were siblings, but our relationship is not sibling-like, we consider each other just friends but he gets on my nerves sometimes and I don't like this behaviour at all.
A few problematic points I'd like to highlight:

HIS TOXIC TRAITS

First ~ He doesn't like when I talk to other boys, even though I'm not flirting with other guys and just engaging in normal conversations with them, he gets agitated for no good reason and picks up petty fights with others and I need to step in such silly situations to resolve the conflicts. Yeah basically he has anger issues, and I've tried my best to treat these problems by talking with him about this but to no avail.
Second~ He's a literal playboy, he knows he has the pretty privilege and he utilises it perfectly, he takes complete liberty in sweet talking with other girls, lusting after gorgeous models he sees on social media, but he doesn't expect me to do the same. He's so toxic that he changes girlfriends almost every month, and he bitches behind his girlfriend's back to me, although he's stopped doing it now with the same frequency as he used to before because I had once scolded him pretty harshly about this vile behaviour of his.
Third~ He flirts with me frequently, and I've always rejected his advances, and expressed my resentment regarding his behaviour, but he never stops in his attempts, almost as if he never loses hope, he tormented me immensely because of this creepy manner of his when we were in school, and now when he's in his first year of BTech in Hyderabad (I stay in West Bengal btw) he still keeps up with his persuasive behaviour and I want him to stop it at this point. I once tried blocking him on WhatsApp and phone calls but then my dad got to know about it and he asked me why I'd stopped talking with him, I couldn't complain to dad about his manners because I'll be honest, he's never misbehaved with me, so I don't have anything to complain about regarding him, so I had to go back to talkin terms with him even though I didn't want to. Moreover, not talking with him might have been detrimental to the healthy friendship my dad and his dad share.

HIS AMBIGUOUS TRAITS

Ohkay. Firstly I am to blame here too. I'll confess this, I do like him slightly, BUT ONLY SLIGHTLY. I DO DISLIKE HIS BAD TRAITS AND I'VE CONFRONTED HIM OFTEN ABOUT THIS, I DO CRITICISE HIM WHENEVER HE'S DONE MISTAKES, but I can't deny he's behaved in a wholesome manner in multiple instances and I can't just neglect that about him.
He supported me and stood by my side once when I was involved in a controversial issue with a few other classmates, it's a personal issue so I won't delve much into it but in brief the thing that happened was that I had been accused of unethical behaviour and bullying in school when in fact I was the one who'd faced such mistreatment because of my Nepalese ethnicity and east asian facial looks. I really needed people to support me that time but not many came forward, however this guy R did. And I'll forever be indebted to him for this gesture.
I was catcalled in a local fair by a group of creepy men when I was in 8th standard and I could've almost been a victim of sexual assault that day if it had not been for this guy R who came up to help me, he helped me escape that time and handled the goons himself, thankfully we had police officers in the fair in the premises and we called them up for help, they soon arrived and the goons ran away instantly on seeing the police. Again I cannot thank him enough for acting with great presence of mind that day and saving me from something so gruesome and traumatic.
He always knows what gifts will cheer me up the most, almost as if he can read my mind and my thoughts perfectly, I eagerly wait for his gifts every birthday. I'm basically a book nerd and he somehow knows which books from which genre will suite my mind and appeal me the most, I often get surprised at this fascinating ability of his, yeah so I must confess I find him a really amusing character.
But ultimately I must say, his constant flirting and dominative behaviour gets in my nerves occasionally and he does act annoying at times, so what should I do in this situation??
TLDR: I have a male friend, who's toxic on some occasions but wholesome on other instances. I have called him out for his toxic behaviour always, but I can't help but like him slightly because he's helped me out on several occasions and I will be grateful to him for it always. However I just don't like how he's a top tier Playboy who toys with other girls (I must confess he's never treated me like that, but I'm still sceptical about him anyways).