Back in 2021 I created the subreddit TrueCultureMovement, which now serves as a community for those who are fans of anime and manga, yet disapprove of how these mediums of artistic expression are used to spread vice. Be it through hentai, fan-service, and other depravities best left unmentioned, which the larger fandom has seemingly embraced. The name of the subreddit is a parallel to the self-proclaimed "men of culture", infamous on Reddit, for finding pride in their extensive knowledge of pornographic cartoons.
If you are a fan of anime and manga as yet another way humanity can convey beauty, have not revolved your entire personality around consuming as many shows as each season is capable of popping out, and wish to separate yourself from the unpleasantries and utter cringe found in other anime subreddits, you are more than welcome to join. Currently we have reached 439 members.
For those who are reading this and are sympathetic for the cause, yet are not particularly interested in anime and manga, I present you the alternative of visiting AntiHentai. As the name implies, it's revolved around the harms brought upon by hentai, on individuals and society as a whole, which are becoming more self-evident each passing day. Here we have reached 258 members.
My conversion and recent initiation into the Catholic Church has but strengthened me to more passionately commit myself to these subreddits, and God willing, they will grow into healthy, welcoming, and perhaps a bit niche communities in a corner of the Internet.
If anyone cares to join either, or let an acquaintance of yours know about their existence if they could be interested, you will have nothing but our endless gratitude.
May God bless you all.

• Kyros 👑

There was work to do. Plenty of work, in fact. Jaime Robles Arámburu, known to those around him as “El viejo barbudo”, had been a Falangist since the early days. He knew the works of José Antonio Primo de Rivera by heart, and sang Cara al Sol every day. It was no surprise that he was the man that the Spain had picked out to serve them well.
The leadership of the 26th of July Movement, now officially merged with the mainland party apparatus as the Movimiento 26 de julio - Falange Española de las Juntas de Ofensiva Nacional Sindicalista had been placed in the hands of two men. A mainlander from Castille, Rodrigo Cherro Hidalgo, and a young Puerto Rican, Adolfo Ballivián Fernández. While El viejo barbudo would oversee the day-to-day administration of the Caribbean in the Regional Administrative Office, Rodrigo Cherro and Adolfo Ballivián would be set with the goal of truly implementing the Falange across the Caribbean.
A few days prior, Fidel Castro Ruiz had arrived at the Regional Administrative Office to meet with Jaime Robles, expressing his personal sympathy to Falangism and towards untiy with Spain. While Fidel Castro may not be entirely trusted by the men in Madrid, Robles knew that having him on side would gather much needed support amongst the Caribbean population. Castro was offered a place in the administration, putting him in charge of the Ministry of Welfare.
A multitude of former Caribbean bureaucrats, politicians, and soldiers, have opted to join the administration, either working for the government, joining the Spanish Armed Forces, or joining the Blueshirts. Above all, the relief of normalcy and law returning to the long-chaotic Caribbean has urged many to appreciate what they now have.
Yet not all have opted to work with the returning Spaniards. Although the Caribbean Red Army (Ejército Rojo del Caribe) operating in the western islands of Cuba and based out of San José de las Lajas was driven out of the cities by the National and Popular Army of Spain (Ejército Nacional y Popular de España) during the invasion, the ERC and the Caribbean Communist Party (Partido Comunista Caribeño) still operate in the countryside and conduct routine attacks on the on the Spanish Army and the Falange Militia. The ERC, led by the Cienfuegos brothers of Osmany and Camilo Cienfuegos, has vowed to conduct a total anti-fascist war against the Falangists. A related insurgency by the Dominican Revolutionary Popular Force (Fuerza Popular Revolucionaria Dominicana) in western Santo Domingo also threatens Spanish rule. Puerto Rico, which was the first landing point of the Spanish Forces on July 26 1967, the pro-American yet separatist government of Luis Muñoz Marin was abolished. Muñoz fled the island on July 27th to the United States, while the Spanish military government began recruiting various Panhispanicists and veterans of the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico as collaborators to fill posts. The non-Communist opposition consists mainly of liberals and social democrats of the former Socialist Party and Party for a Democratic Constitution, aligning together into the underground Democratic Action (Acción Democrática).
On the Director’s desk was a report titled Acciones de emergencia contra la rebelión en Santo Domingo. Reading through it, reports indicates that the Army had successfully rounded up twenty-five men of the Dominican Revolutionary Popular Force, subsequently executing them in the process. Robles stroked his goatee, reading over the full report with satisfaction. He understood that to ensure the unity of the Hispanic world, to ensure that Spain would keep what had previously been lost, the mistakes of the old rotten kings could not be repeated. The olden days of slavery, of serfs, and of capitalism, must be exterminated and the Spanish Caribbean thrust into the future.

In the Quenta Silmarillion, the people of Nargothrond in general (and Orodreth their second king in particular) are depicted as fickle and weak of character, less like a bulwark and more like a flag in the wind (sorry for the German idiom).
For Orodreth, Curufin straight-out calls him a “dullard slow” (HoME III, p. 237)—and Christopher Tolkien agrees: “It may be that the position imposed on him by the movements in the legend led to the conclusion that [Orodreth] cannot have been made of very stern stuff.” (HoME III, p. 246) Orodreth also leans fully on Túrin from the moment he arrives in Nargothrond (see CoH, p. 163). (For more on how Orodreth became weaker and weaker with every iteration of the story, see here https://www.reddit.com/tolkienfans/comments/1aywrzg/celegormor_the_fall_of_a_prince_charmingpart_2/ )
But the same applies to the people of Nargothrond. The moment Celegorm and Curufin arrive in Nargothrond, even though Finrod is still alive and still king, they immediately take over. As Finrod tells Beren, “And now Celegorm and Curufin are dwelling in my halls; and though I, Finarfin’s son, am King, they have won a strong power in the realm, and lead many of their own people. They have shown friendship to me in every need, but I fear that they will show neither love nor mercy to you, if your quest be told.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19) If his people hadn’t already fallen under Celegorm and Curufin’s sway, Finrod wouldn’t have needed to be concerned about this; note here that he says that “they have won a strong power in my realm”, and that they “lead many of their own people”.
That Finrod is right in his assessment of the backbone of his people is shown the moment Finrod tries to convince his people to follow him on Beren’s quest. Celegorm and Curufin sway the people of Nargothrond with two speeches, putting so much fear into them that they will drastically change how they act for many decades (until Túrin shows up and sways them into the other direction):
“Many other words he [Celegorm] spoke, as potent as were long before in Tirion the words of his father that first inflamed the Noldor to rebellion. And after Celegorm Curufin spoke, more softly but with no less power, conjuring in the minds of the Elves a vision of war and the ruin of Nargothrond. So great a fear did he set in their hearts that never after until the time of Turin would any Elf of that realm go into open battle; but with stealth and ambush, with wizardry and venomed dart, they pursued all strangers, forgetting the bonds of kinship. Thus they fell from the valour and freedom of the Elves of old, and their land was darkened. And now they murmured that Finarfin’s son was not as a Vala to command them, and they turned their faces from him. But the curse of Mandos came upon the brothers, and dark thoughts arose in their hearts, thinking to send forth Felagund alone to his death, and to usurp, it might be, the throne of Nargothrond; for they were of the eldest line of the princes of the Noldor. And Felagund seeing that he was forsaken took from his head the silver crown of Nargothrond and cast it at his feet, saying: ‘Your oaths of faith to me you may break, but I must hold my bond. Yet if there be any on whom the shadow of our curse has not yet fallen, I should find at least a few to follow me, and should not go hence as a beggar that is thrust from the gates.’ There were ten that stood by him; and the chief of them, who was named Edrahil, stooping lifted the crown and asked that it be given to a steward until Felagund's return. ‘For you remain my king, and theirs,’ he said, ‘whatever betide.’ Then Felagund gave the crown of Nargothrond to Orodreth his brother to govern in his stead; and Celegorm and Curufin said nothing, but they smiled and went from the halls.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19)
The text explicitly tells us that “they fell from the valour and freedom of the Elves of old, and their land was darkened” (Sil, QS, ch. 19)!
A very short time later, the people of Nargothrond change their minds again: now, they totally had nothing to do with abandoning Finrod, whoever would ever think that?? No, they had always supported Finrod, is the gist of this passage: “There was tumult in Nargothrond. For thither now returned many Elves that had been prisoners in the isle of Sauron; and a clamour arose that no words of Celegorm could still. They lamented bitterly the fall of Felagund their king, saying that a maiden had dared that which the sons of Fëanor had not dared to do; but many perceived that it was treachery rather than fear that had guided Celegorm and Curufin. Therefore the hearts of the people of Nargothrond were released from their dominion, and turned again to the house of Finarfin; and they obeyed Orodreth. But he would not suffer them to slay the brothers, as some desired, for the spilling of kindred blood by kin would bind the curse of Mandos more closely upon them all. Yet neither bread nor rest would he grant to Celegorm and Curufin within his realm, and he swore that there should be little love between Nargothrond and the sons of Feanor thereafter.” (Sil, QS, ch. 19)
Also, did the people of Nargothrond try to murder the two Elves who they had let persuade them what appears to be mere months before?
Anyway, despite this change of mind, the people of Nargothrond are still afraid, not going into open battle (including the Fifth Battle—shoutout to brave Gwindor and his people, though!), and instead using, among other things, “venomed dart[s]” (Sil, QS, ch. 19). Note that other Elves would have found this use of poison despicable: “For the Eldar never used any poison, not even against their most cruel enemies, beast, ork, or man; and they were filled with shame and horror that Eöl should have meditated this evil deed.” (HoME XI, p. 330)
The people of Nargothrond only recover their courage when Túrin, a Man in his 20s, shows up and quickly becomes Orodreth’s favourite. Weirdly, it sounds like they liked him because he was young and good-looking: “In the time that followed Túrin grew high in favour with Orodreth, and well-nigh all hearts were turned to him in Nargothrond. For he was young, and only now reached his full manhood; and he was in truth the son of Morwen Eledhwen to look upon: dark-haired and pale-skinned, with grey eyes, and his face more beautiful than any other among mortal Men, in the Elder Days.” (Sil, QS, ch. 21)
Easily swayed, aren’t they? And particularly by beauty. Meanwhile, the people of Nargothrond stop respecting Gwindor, and why? Because he was tortured as a prisoner of war: “Gwindor fell into dishonour, for he was no longer forward in arms, and his strength was small; and the pain of his maimed left arm was often upon him.” (CoH, p. 163)
Túrin convinces Orodreth and the people of Nargothrond to “buil[d] a mighty bridge over the Narog from the Doors of Felagund, for the swifter passage of their arms. Then the servants of Angband were driven out of all the land between Narog and Sirion eastward, and westward to the Nenning and the desolate Falas; and though Gwindor spoke ever against Túrin in the council of the King, holding it an ill policy, he fell into dishonour and none heeded him, for his strength was small and he was no longer forward in arms. Thus Nargothrond was revealed to the wrath and hatred of Morgoth” (Sil, QS, ch. 21).
At this point in the war, building that bridge and engaging in open warfare was obviously a terrible idea for the hidden kingdom of Nargothrond (as ideas originating with the Silmarillion’s Anakin Skywalker tend to be). Even Orodreth realises this: “Orodreth was troubled by the dark words of the messengers, but Túrin would by no means hearken to these counsels, and least of all would he suffer the great bridge to be cast down; for he was become proud and stern, and would order all things as he wished.” (Sil, QS, ch. 21)
So Orodreth basically managed to get deposed too, just like Finrod, by a handsome prince who’s strong and rhetorically persuasive.
So what’s up with the people of Nargothrond? Here’s a list of their allegiances over a period of thirty years: Finrod → Celegorm and Curufin → Orodreth → Túrin. In thirty years!
And the text itself gives us the answer: they’re fickle—“they fell from the valour and freedom of the Elves of old” (Sil, QS, ch. 19).
But why are the people of Nargothrond specifically so fickle, compared to the peoples of Fingolfin and Fingon in the West, and of Maedhros in the East? I think that u/xi-feng has the best answer to this question: “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” (G. Michael Hopf) https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/8751435-hard-times-create-strong-men-strong-men-create-good-times
Finrod, a strong man, created a safe hidden kingdom in the South of Beleriand, far away from the lines of the Siege, which was fought mostly by Fingolfin, Fingon and Maedhros. Nargothrond is safe, and the lives of the people are easy. They become weak, changing allegiance at the drop of a hat, swayed by the strong personalities of Celegorm, Curufin and Túrin (with a short moment of self-reflection upon Finrod’s death that immediately nearly turned into a lynching).
And interestingly, the text hits us over the head with this, telling us that the people of Nargothrond have lost their valour, while highlighting that the peoples of the Northern kingdoms holding the Siege are full of valiant people:

• “But Fingolfin was held overlord of all the Noldor, and Fingon after him, though their own realm was but the northern land of Hithlum; yet their people were the most hardy and valiant, most feared by the Orcs and most hated by Morgoth.” (Sil, QS, ch. 14)
• “Maedhros did deeds of surpassing valour […]. Thus the great fortress upon the Hill of Hirming could not be taken, and many of the most valiant that remained, both of the people of Dorthonion and of the east marches, rallied there to Maedhros.” (Sil, QS, ch. 18)

Sources:
The Silmarillion, JRR Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins, ebook edition February 2011, version 2019-01-09 [cited as: Sil].
The Lays of Beleriand, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME III].
The War of the Jewels, JRR Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2015 (softcover) [cited as: HoME XI].
The Children of Húrin, JRR Tolkien, ed Christopher Tolkien, HarperCollins 2014 (softcover) [cited as: CoH].

I just cant with this.It feels like my desires are out of control.I desperately wanna do all the cool girly shit I've been wanting to do but I feel like I cant.I dont feel like Im in a safe enough space to freely explore those desires.I just want to be as overly feminine as posible
Im at the point where I just wanna totally abandon my AGAB.One day I wanna be totally free from any sign that I was ever a man.I used to be certain I didnt want surgery or anything but all Ive been thinking about recently is how much I want a vagina
I could go off on a long tangent listing every girly thing I wanna do but theres no real point.
Why was I born like this?I hate manhood,I hate masculinity,I hate all of this.I hate being surrounded by men all the time.I wasnt made for this
Why are there so many people around the world that hate me and people like me?Why are so many of them in power?

I am a queer woman attracted to women and non-binary people, with occasional romantic (but usually not sexual) attraction to men. When I'm deeply romantically attracted to a man, it feels different from friendship, but I can't bring myself to be physical with them. Sometimes, I later gain sexual attraction, but it never feels the same as with other genders. Despite loving some men deeply and having long-term relationships with them, something often felt missing compared to when I've dated other genders.
Whenever I have a romantic crush on a man, I struggle with my sexuality. While I am not confused about my sexuality, it is confusing for others. Being openly queer is hard enough, but my complex sexuality outcasts me more. I even sometimes feel outcasted within the LGBTQ+ community, because I don’t fit neatly under a label.
I feel sad that I don’t have the sexual attraction to men that I do to other genders. It makes me sad that I deeply enjoy spending time with some men (and who enjoy spending time with me), but don’t think we’d be satisfied sexually. It’s a lot of let down for everyone. At one point, I openly labeled myself a Lesbian to avoid these situations, but it didn't prevent my feelings for men.
Currently, I have a crush on a guy who likes me too, but when he shared his feelings with me two days ago, I told him I only saw him as a friend, because I do not want to be physically intimate, only romantically. Despite my attraction to his respectfulness, ability to make me laugh, kindness, and intelligence, I feel nothing about his physical appearance. The idea of being intimate with him makes me uncomfortable. It feels better to let these feelings pass, even though it hurts knowing we share mutual affection.
Ultimately, I don’t think I couldn’t be happy long term, and I doubt he could too.
It’s heartbreak every time I fall for a guy.
I am open to suggestions, solutions, empathy, anything. Thank you for listening to me vent.

My husband recently took a new job that moved him to overnight shifts while I am still working days. This leads to a TON of alone time, which I struggle with. I’d love to find some new friends to chat with!!
About me:
29, very much a “country” girl. I love reading, anything outdoors like swimming/camping/fishing (we own a camper, so it’s up to you to decide if that still counts lol) I’ve been married for 6 years and have a 5 year old who’s enjoying his last summer before kindergarten 😂
I’m usually pretty active throughout the day!
About you:
Can be M or F! I usually get along with men better due to my hobby and working in the office for a construction company. You learn pretty quickly that sometimes it’s easier to have male friends 😂
I would prefer if you at least be North America based, but US would be extra special! Looking for someone who is generally pretty active. I know we won’t talk 24/7, but good morning and goodnight texts, casual chatting through the day, maybe a daily catch up in the afternoons would be perfect for me.
I’m not looking to talk on Snapchat, telegram, whatever else. If I was, I’d make a post there 🤷‍♀️
I’m okay with exchanging selfies/pictures early on so we can put faces to names as well!!
If you think we can hit it off, send me your age, gender, location and your favorite color! If you don’t include that, I’m not going to bother answering to save myself time and trouble :/

After defeating Samoa Joe at AEW: Dynasty, Swerve Strickland is finally the AEW World Champion, and looks to establish himself as the top man in All Elite Wrestling with a dominant and hopefully lengthy title reign. However, now that Swerve finally has the top title, with it comes a target on his back, and now every man in the locker room will have their eyes set on him. Let’s see if he can rise to the occasion and prove himself worthy of being champion, or find out if his time on top ends up being short lived.
Road to Dynamite
On the first edition of AEW Dynamite following Swerve’s win as champion, Strickland kicks off the show by cutting a promo, promising to bring the company into a new era which he will lead by example. He criticizes several other world champions, name dropping Samoa Joe and MJF, and mentioning the “Head of the Table” as paper champions who rarely wrestled and were more than happy sitting in catering while the rest of the roster broke their necks performing on TV. Swerve says he plans on being a fighting champion and promises to wrestle on TV each week before his opponent, Kyle Fletcher, comes out to face him in an AEW Championship Eliminator match, which Swerve wins inside of 10 minutes.
The following Saturday, Swerve holds an open challenge for the AEW Championship on AEW: Collision, which is answered by Claudio Castagnoli. The two go on to wrestle in the main event of the show for over 20 minutes, which once again, ends with Swerve picking up the victory and retaining his title. Following the match, the two shake hands, but after Swerve is left in the ring alone by Claudio to celebrate his win. Swerve is attacked from behind by the former AEW Champion Samoa Joe. Joe brutally attack’s an exhausted Swerve, who is left unable to defend himself. Joe lays the champion out with a muscle buster before locking him in the Conquina Clutch, choking him out in the center of the ring. As Swerve reaches out gasping for air, Prince Nana runs out of the ring with Brian Cage and the Gate of Agony to chase off Joe, who escapes through the crowd as Collision comes to a close.
Following the attack, Samoa Joe is interview backstage in an AEW exclusive by Lexy Nair, who asks Joe why he attacked Swerve the way he did. Joe takes the microphone and says:
“Well Lexy, it's very simple, I was at home on Wednesday recovering from my match at Dynasty, watching Dynamite when I heard Swerve come out on national television and call me a paper champion. Let’s get one thing straight, I am a lot of things, but a fraud isn’t one of them. And I am not a man that takes disrespect like that lightly. So Swerve, take tonight’s beating as a lesson that your actions have consequences. Now as for your other declaration that you’re a fighting champion, how about we put that to the test too? This Wednesday, you versus me in a steel cage match for the AEW Championship. No Prince Nana. No Mogul Embassy. Just you and me man to man. Let’s see who the real fighting champion is. Accept the challenge if you think you got the balls for it, Swerve. I’ll be waiting.”
AEW: Dynamite - 5/1/2024
Despite pleas from Prince Nana and the rest of the Mogul Embassy not to accept the challenge, Swerve Strickland agrees to defend his AEW Championship against the former Champion Samoa Joe in a Steel Cage match, just 4 days removed after a brutal title defense against Claudio Castagnoli, after which, Joe attacked Swerve and choked him out in the center of the ring. Not wanting to wait for the main event, the two men decide to kick off the show with the title bout, and make their entrances to the rings alone before squaring off in the center of the ring as the cage door is locked and the referee calls for the bell.
Swerve Strickland © vs Samoa Joe: AEW Championship Steel Cage Match
The two men lock up to begin the match, with Swerve trying to nail Joe with punches to start off the bout, but Joe quickly overpowers him, backing Swerve up against the turnbuckle pads. Joe nails the champion with repeated chops across the chest before irish whipping him across the ring into the adjacent turnbuckle pads. Joe rushes at Swerve, hoping to squash him against the ring pads, but the champion bounces off the pads and nails Joe with a running knee to the chest, dropping the challenger down to a knee. Seeing an opening, Swerve runs the ropes and tries to hit Joe with a running cross body, but Joe catches him in mid air and hits Swerve with a snap scoop powerslam. The champion tries to get up to his feet quickly, but Joe grabs him by the hair and hurls him face first into the sides of the steel cage. Swerve tries to pull himself up quickly with the ropes, but Joe charges towards him and slams the champion against the cage walls.
Staying on offense, Joe drags Swerve back to the center of the ring before lifting him up onto his shoulders and nailing him with a knee crossed gutbuster. As Swerve lays down on the mat squirming as he tries to regain his composure, Joe hits him with a running senton, and as his massive weight crashes down on the champion, Joe goes for the first cover of the match, but Swerve kicks out at 2. Frustrated, Joe pulls Swerve up by the hair and irish whips him into the turnbuckle pads again. He charges towards him and slams him against the pads before climbing the ropes to gain leverage and starts nailing him in the head with jabs. Joe gets to the count of 9 with punches before Swerve gets a second wind, grabs Joe by his trunks and runs forwards to nail him with a running powerbomb. Swerve goes for the cover, but Joe kicks out and the match continues.
Now on offense, Swerve gets up to his feet and nails Joe with a chop across the chest before drilling him with a roundhouse kick right to his jaw, dropping Joe down to a knee. Seeing an opening, Swerve leaps onto the ropes before diving back towards Joe and nailing him with a cutter. Swerve goes for the cover again, but Joe kicks out at 2 once more. Looking to put him away for good, Strickland climbs up to the top ropes and leaps off of them to hit Joe with a House Call but at the last second, Joe rolls out of the way. Swerve rolls through the move ,regains his footing and charges at Joe, but Joe pulls himself against the ropes, catches Swerve and nails him with an ST Joe, dropping the champion to the ground. After taking a second to regain his composure, an exhausted Joe lifts up Swerve onto his shoulders and nails him with a muscle buster, hoping to finally but the champ away, but Swerve once again kicks out.
Furious, Joe quickly transitions into the Coquina Clutch and tries to incapacitate Swerve to win the match. The champion looks like he’s beginning to fade, but manages to power out of Joe’s submission and nails him with a spinning back kick as the two pop up to their feet, dropping Joe down to a knee. Swerve summons all the strength he has left and bounces off the ropes before nailing Joe with a running knee to the back of the head before going for the cover 1-2-NOOO!! Somehow Samoa Joe kicks out again and Swerve is in disbelief. Desperate to win, Swerve looks towards the sky and decides to climb to the top of the cage as Joe slowly makes his way back up to his feet. As Swerve reaches the top of the cage and turns back around, Joe finally stands back up and faces him with a daze. The champion takes a leap of faith and dive off the top of the cage, nailing Samoa Joe with a cross body before going for the cover and pinning him 1-2-3 to finally win the match.
Swerve Strickland def. Samoa Joe to retain the AEW Championship
Following the match, the cage is raised and Joe rolls outside the ring to be treated by the AEW medical team while Prince Nana and the rest of the Mogul Embassy come out to the ring to celebrate with Swerve. Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony lift the AEW Champion high onto their shoulders in victory as Strickland’s music plays through the arena, as for the time being, Swerve’s reign will continue.
Road to Double or Nothing
The following week on Dynamite, a 4-Way match pits Christian Cage, Samoa Joe, Wardlow and Dustin Rhodes against each other with the winner being named no. 1 contender for the AEW World Championship, set to face Swerve Strickland at Double or Nothing. Swerve joins the commentary team for the match and Christian Cage manages to pick up the win after pinning Dustin Rhodes. Following the match, Swerve gets up from the commentary desk, and he and Christian have a stare down in the center of the ring. In the lead up to Double or Nothing, Swerve teams up with the Gates of Agony to face off against Cage, Nick Wayne and Killswitch in a 6 man tag team match, which the Mogul Embassy lose after Bishop Kaun gets taken out by Killswitch and then pinned by Christian Cage. On the final edition of Dynamite before Double or Nothing, Swerve defeats Nick Wayne in a singles match and picks up momentum heading into his title defense against Christian.
AEW: Double or Nothing - 5/26/2024
In the semi-main event, the AEW World Champion Swerve Strickland defends his title against Christian Cage. Earlier in the evening, Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony are attacked backstage by the Patriarchy, meaning they will be unavailable for the evening’s main event. Cage makes his entrance first, escorted out to the ring by the entirety of the Patriarchy, while Swerve comes out only with Prince Nana in his corner. After a brief stare down prior to the start, the referee calls for the bell and the match begins.
Swerve Strickland © vs Christian Cage: AEW World Championship Match
The pair lock up and Swerve quickly gets the upper hand on Cage, backing him up against the turnbuckle pads and nailing him with chops across the chest. Swerve then takes a step back and bounces off the adjacent pads before rushing at Cage to hit him with a big boot against the post, but Christian rolls out of the ring to evade the attack and recover with his stable. Cage calls for a water bottle to rehydrate himself before rolling back into the ring at the count of 8, but quickly rolls back out again to regroup. Frustrated by the challenger's antics, Swerve jumps up onto the top turnbuckle and leaps towards the outside, taking out the entirety of the Patriarchy with a diving crossbody, however, Christian escapes at the last moment. As Swerve tries to get up to his feet quickly, Christian charges towards him and nails him with a spear on the outside of the ring. With the champion down, Cage clears off one of the announcers tables and loads Swerve onto it before nailing him with a killswitch on top of the table. The champion rolls onto the ground in pain, and Cage grabs him by the hair, rolls him back into the ring to go for a quick cover, but Swerve kicks out at 2 and the match continues.
Christian tries to stay on offense, nailing Swerve with punches to the forehead before setting him up for another killswitch. Swerve fights out of Cage’s finisher, grabs him by the waist and nails him with a german suplex as a reversal. Cage tries to pull himself up with the ropes, but Swerve stays on the attack and nails him with a running knee against the turnbuckle pads before dragging him back towards the center of the ring and going for a pin, but Cage kicks out at 2. Seeing a chance to put Cage away for good, Swerve climbs up to the top ropes and sets up to nail Cage with a House Call, however, Nick Wayne jumps up on the ring apron and tries to stop him. Swerve kicks Wayne off the apron, but the distraction allows Cage enough time to recover, and he runs up the turnbuckle pads, grabs hold of Swerve and nails him with a german suplex off the top ropes. Both men are down and slowly start to get up to their feet as the referee starts to count them out.
They both manage to beat the count and start trading punches in the center of the ring. Swerve gets the upper hand and manages to take down Christian. He climbs back up to the top ropes, finally nails Cage with the House Call and the referee goes to count the pin 1-2- Killswitch pulls the referee out of the ring and throws him into the ringside barricade to break the count. As Swerve stares down Killswitch in disbelief, Nick Wayne slides into the ring behind Swerve and nails him in the back of the head with the AEW Championship belt. The champion goes down and Wayne and Killswitch take turns beating him down. Killswitch nails him with a chokeslam before he and Wayne pull Swerve up to his feet and Cage picks up the AEW Championship belt. He sets up to nail Swerve in the face with it, but before he can, Brian Cage and the Gates of Agony rush out to the ring to make the save. The two stables end up in a massive brawl into the crowd, leaving Cage and Swerve alone in the ring. Cage goes to hit Swerve with the belt but the champion evades it, bounces off the ropes and nails him with a running knee. With Cage down, Swerve climbs up to the top ropes one last time and leaps off of them to nail the House Call on Christian as the referee rolls back into the ring to count the pin 1-2-3.
Swerve Strickland def. Christian Cage to retain the AEW World Championship
Following the match, an exhausted Swerve is joined back in the ring with the rest of his stable, and together the 5 of them walk towards the top of the entrance ramp and pose with the AEW World Championship. On the 5th anniversary show, it appears that Swerve Strickland has solidified himself as the top champion in AEW...or has he?
Road to Forbidden Door
Following Double or Nothing, Swerve Strickland continues his streak of dominance, picking up singles victories against the likes of Daniel Garcia and Rey Fenix in Championship Eliminator matches on Dynamite and Collision. Following these victories, Swerve is interviewed in the ring by Renee Paquette regarding who he plans on defending his title against at the upcoming AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door PPV. Swerve says that he is the most dominant champion not just in AEW, but in professional wrestling today, and it doesn’t matter who he is matched up against, because he 100% plans on bringing home a “the dub.” Just as he finishes speaking, microphone static begins to sound through the arena as Wild Thing by X begins to play and the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Jon Moxley, fresh off of his victory against EVIL at NJPW Dominion, makes his way to the ring. After a brief stare down, Moxley takes the microphone out of his wife Renee’s hand before asking her to leave the ring while he and Swerve talk “man to man.”
“Swerve, listen man. You’re on a nice little run right now. I’m not gonna say you’re not. I mean you’ve got the belt. The crowd likes you. You have that short guy with the funny hat doing that dance when you make your entrance. It’s all good stuff. There’s only one problem. You don’t get to call yourself the best until you beat me. I don’t care that you’re the world champion. Right now, so am I. In fact, that belt on your shoulder, I’ve held more times than anyone. As of today, I am the only man to hold the AEW, IWGP and WWE World Championships. You think just because you had a few good months that you get to call yourself the best? I’ve been in the main event for 10 straight years. I am the ace of this company. Every conversation about who’s number 1 begins and ends with me. But don’t worry, I’m going to give you the chance to prove yourself. You see, you need an opponent at Forbidden Door and so do I. So I say, let’s settle the who’s the real world champion debate to bed and put both belts on the line. AEW Championship vs IWGP Championship. Are you man enough for it?”
After a moment of contemplation, Swerve takes the microphone from Moxley’s hand before simply responding, “You’re on!”
In the lead up to Forbidden Door, Swerve Strickland and the Mogul Embassy enter into a feud with Moxley’s Blackpool Combat Club. Swerve picks up a singles win against Wheeler Yuta on Dynamite while Moxley defeats Brian Cage on Collision. On the final edition of Dynamite before Forbidden Door, in the main event, Moxley teams with Claudio Castagnoli and Shota Umino to face off against Swerve and the Gates of Agony, in which Moxley picks up the win for his team after forcing Toa Liona to submit to a rear naked choke, putting the AEW Champion at a disadvantage heading into their title vs title clash at Forbidden Door.
AEW X NJPW: Forbidden Door - 6/30/2024
After weeks of build up, for the first time ever, the AEW and IWGP Championships will be defended in a title vs title match, with the winner walking out with two of the top prizes in all of professional wrestling. Strickland comes out to the ring flanked by the entirety of the Mogul Embassy, while Moxley is walked out by his BCC stablemates. However, before the match begins, by order of AEW CEO Tony Khan and NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi, all of them will be barred from ringside to keep the match fair. Once all are clear, the referee calls for the bell and the main event is underway.
Swerve Strickland vs Jon Moxley: AEW Championship & IWGP World Championship Match
The two circle each other around the ring before locking up, and Moxley quickly gets the upper hand, overpowering Swerve and putting him into a headlock. AEW Champion manages to fight off Moxley and pushes him into the ring ropes. Moxley bounces off of them and goes to hit Swerve with a clothesline, but he ducks under it and as Moxley stops himself on the ropes, Strickland rushes at him and clotheslines him over the top and to the outside. Moxley quickly tries to get back up to his feet, but Swerve takes advantage and bounces off the ropes before nailing Jon with a suicide dive to the outside of the ring. Swerve stays on offense and grabs the IWGP Champion’s arm before irish whipping him into the ring post, dropping him down to the ground.
With his opponent down on the outside of the ring, Swerve walks over to the time keeper’s area and picks up both championship belts and holds them up over his head, cockily taunting Jon Moxley. Swerve then pulls up Moxley by the head and rolls him back into the ring before climbing up to the top ropes. The AEW Champion leaps off of them and goes to hit Jon with a diving elbow, but Moxley spins his body around at the last second and catches Swerve, locking him in a headlock. As Moxley tries to choke Swerve out, Strickland flails his arms around trying to escape Jon’s hold before flipping his body over, turning Moxley’s submission into a pinfall and forcing him to break the hold. The two both pop up to their feet and Moxley rushes at Swerve, taking him down with a clothesline. Strickland tries to rush up to his feet, but Moxley grabs him from behind and nails him with a suplex, dropping Swerve on his head. Swerve tries to crawl over to the ropes to pull himself up, but Moxley rushes at him, nailing the AEW Champion with a running knee to the back of the head. Swerve falls backwards onto the mat and Moxley goes for the cover, however, Swerve kicks out and the match continues.
Moxley sits Swerve up and begins nailing him with elbow strikes to the head repeatedly before he falls backwards onto the mat. Moxley stands him up and goes to nail Swerve with the Deathrider DDT, but Strickland plants his feet and fights out of Moxley’s hold, grabbing him from under his legs and lifts him up over his shoulders, nailing Jon with a vertical suplex and taking the IWGP Champion down. With Moxley down, Swerve pops up to his feet and bounces off the ropes before nailing Moxley with a running knee. Moxley drops down to a knee but doesn’t go down, so Swerve sets up for a second running knee. As he charges forwards, Moxley evades his attack and grabs onto Swerve’s right arm, dragging him down to the mat and locking him in an arm bar submission. Strickland tries to fight out of it but Moxley has it locked in tight, and as Jon looks to force his opponent to tap out, Swerve manages to swing his body around and get one of his feet on the ropes, forcing Moxley to break the hold.
Frustrated, Moxley pulls Swerve up to his feet and irish whips him across the ring into the ring post. Moxley rushes at him and nails Swerve with a clothesline against the pads before climbing up the ropes to gain leverage on Swerve, and he begins nailing him with punches. Moxley hits Strickland with punch after punch, until he snaps out of his daze, grabs Jon by the pants, lifts him up onto his shoulders and rushes forwards, nailing him with a powerbomb. The AEW Champion goes for the cover, but Moxley quickly kicks out of it. Swerve stays on offense and locks Jon into a crossface submission, trying to force him to submit, but Moxley refuses to, and instead fights out of Swerve’s hold. The two men make it back up to their feet in the center of the ring and go back and forth exchanging punches.
Swerve nails the IWGP Champion with a punch, but Jon follows it back with one more in return. Shot after shot. Each blow gets harder and harder before finally, Swerve gets off a few consecutive strikes, sending Moxley falling backwards into the ropes, but Moxley explodes off of the ropes and nails Swerve with a clothesline. Both men slowly get up to their feet, but Moxley manages to stand up first. He sets up to hit Swerve with another thunderous clothesline but as Moxley charges forwards, Swerve pulls the referee in front of him and Moxley takes him out by mistake. As Moxley looks on in horror as the referee rolls out of the ring in pain, Swerve takes advantage and nails Moxley with a low blow. As Moxley drops down to the mat, Swerve climbs up to the top ropes, jumps off of them and nails the IWGP Champion with the House Call and goes for the cover but there is no referee to make the count.
As Swerve lays across Moxley exhausted, Brian Cage rushes out from backstage and grabs the AEW Championship belt from ringside. He slides into the ring and tells Swerve to hold Moxley up so he can hit him with it, but as Cage charges forwards, he double crosses Swerve and nails him in the head instead. As Swerve collapses on the mat unconscious, Cage looks on in disgust as he throws the title to the side and heads backstage as the crowd is in disbelief. Moxley slowly drags himself up to his feet, pulls up Strickland and nails him with the Deathrider DDT before the referee rolls back into the ring and counts the pinfall 1-2-3!!!
Jon Moxley def. Swerve Strickland to retain the IWGP World Championship and win the AEW Championship for a record setting 4th time.
Following the match, the rest of the BCC came out to celebrate the victory with an exhausted Jon Moxley, who has now made history, becoming the first man to hold the IWGP and AEW World Championships Simultaneously. However, on the losing side, Swerve Strickland is in disbelief his own stablemate Brian Cage cost him the match and the top title in the company, and will surely want an explanation from him come Wednesday. Forbidden Door ended up being one of the most unpredictable of PPV’s AEW had ever seen and the landscape of the championship picture in All Elite Wrestling has now shifted. But one thing is for certain, as crazy as 2024 has been for AEW, plenty more twists are likely still to come.

This is going to be a long one, so if you don’t like to read this is not for you.
So just like the title says. I (F 39) have been no contact with my father (M 61) since November 2023.
My Dads girlfriend is 39, the same age as me, and he has 2 new children (3 yo and 7 months). For context I also have 2 children (8 yo, 17 mo old) and 2 step children (9 yo and 17 yo). I have a younger brother (33 yo) who is marrried with no children yet.
My brother and I have worked for my Dad and ran his company (me since 2009) and my brother since 2021. My Dad is a gigantic man child. He yells and screams and berates people including those unrelated to him. He is a horrible boss, so my brother and I try to manage the employees and day to day duties as much as possible in order to minimize any discomfort or abuse towards employees. There have been times where the company has hit ‘hard times’ and I have had to take pay cuts to keep the company afloat- sometimes up to 50%. I have missed bonuses and raises with the promise of them coming when “things get better” but they never came. I have sacrificed a lot to be there for him, work for him and support his company.
At the end of 2019, he met this woman, and started dating her. To be fair, my Dad has dated women younger than me or my same age for years, but they never last long for the most part. My Dad is wealthy so mostly gold diggers that eventually want more from him relationship wise. I never liked her. She was no different. The woman was a foreigner who worked at a low level retail job, lived with 5 roommates, and didn’t own a car. My Dad was paying for ubers for her to come over. She always said how she didn’t want kids, didn’t like kids, couldn’t have kids so I tolerated her and kept my opinion to myself because Im a grown woman and who he dates is really not my concern and I figured eventually she would just fade away like the others. I had heard that she was dating a man who lived around the corner from my Dad (he lives in a wealthy neighborhood) and would hang out at the local ‘rich bars’ I assume hunting for men.
Fast forward to mothers day 2020 and were celebrating at my Dads house. My brother whispered to me that shes looking a little “plump.” But I just ignore the idea. Come to find out, shes pregnant. And my Dad has been hiding it. Shes obviously been pregnant for quite some time, even thought hey just met and were only dating for a short time. Needless to say this devastated me and my siblings. Theres no fear of being replaced or jealous of any kind. My son was 4 at the time and my brother hasn’t even had kids yet. So here is my 60 year old father competing with my brother and I and having children at the same time. Frankly, its embarrassing and disgusting and when people bring it up, I hate talking about it - everyone asks me how I feel and I do my best to avoid it at all costs. I had a choice to make, to cut him off or to accept and intermingle my family with his needs family. So for my son, I sucked it up and tolerated the situation. They went on to have an additional child who is now 7 months old today. My father also paid for the girlfriend’s mother to immigrate from her home country to live with them and be a built in chef and babysitter. The whole thing is nauseating to me honestly. My father also pays the girlfriend about 40k per year to be a stay at home mom. Hes a relatively hands off Dad to his new kids, which breaks my heart because he was such a good Dad to my growing up for the most part.
So now we are in November of 2023, and I was having a casual conversation about the family trust with my Dad. I was always under the impression based on what he said, that the business would be handed down to my brother and I because we have dedicated our lives to his business. However in this conversation he disclosed that everything, including the business, is now split equally 5 ways. Meaning, the girlfriend and her 2 children will be majority shareholders in my Dads company when he dies. We always agreed the business would be separate. In every conversation he always said she would be no part of the business and that it was our legacy we built together. I was stunned. I told him he was welcome to do whatever he wanted with his personal finances but to leave her and his children who have never worked or contributed to the business as majority shareholders is bananas. The conversation wasn’t ugly but I made the decision right then and there to go no contact. I hung up, blocked him, quit working for him, found another job at a very well known high paying tech company and haven’t spoken to him since. My kids are welcome to have whatever type of relationship they wants with him but I cannot and will not continue having a relationship with him.
It makes me so angry. All the times I sacrificed my pay, worked long hours, and brought in sales “for the family.” Whos family? Certainly not mine. He always convinced me I would never survive on my own at another hobby, which was why I never left. For the record, Ive been promoted a couple times already in a short period and receive regular kudos and bonuses for my performance. Im angry my kids will be jipped out of a grandparent because hes too busy starting a whole new family at 60. Im angry my children and I were living paycheck to paycheck on the “for the family” precedent when he never intended on making good when he said he would. And now what? Im supposed to just look his girlfriend and her children in the face and smile and be ok with giving up 66% of my lifes work? Maybe I should be the bigger person but I cant. She just feels like a gold digger who set her, her mother, and her children up for life by using the ole’ bait and switch on the right man. He says Im greedy and selfish and that if he were to die I would leave them destitute. No I wouldn’t. But I definitely wouldn’t be supplying them with the lavish lifestyle they have now and she would definitely have to work. He says I have my own family and I shouldn’t be worried about what hes doing with the business, and that Im just sitting around waiting for him to die so I can get rich. What the actual f*ck?
I miss my Dad. We were very close and I miss him. But when I think about the betrayal and manipulation that he has used on me and my brother it makes me sick and I cant bear the thought of forgiving him. My brother still works for him and maintains a relationship with him. I dont, but I do speak to my brother but its not the same because of the shift in dynamics. I know deep down that I will have to get to a point where I can be around him and not be angry, but honestly Im in no hurry to get there, if at all. And since we haven’t spoken or spent any holidays together, he has seen my kids 3 times in about 6 months. Which makes me even more angry. He doesn’t show up for birthday parties, baseball games, he barely calls, etc. To me its just yet another reason why I don’t need someone like that in my life. And it hurts that one day my kids will ask why their grandfather never comes to anything anymore. I have talked to so many of my friends and they say Im not the asshole for not talking to them, and truthfully I would like someone to tell me that I am so maybe I suck it up and get over it a little bit sooner, but I honestly don’t feel like I am. I have gone above and beyond for him, I have lined his pockets with nothing to show for it for nearly my entire career and Im done. Im angry at myself for not seeing this for what it was a long time ago. Im angry that I intermingled my family with his so the split is harder than it would have been if I hadn’t. I know it doesn’t change that he loves me, but Im also done excusing his behavior and actions and unfortunately this is something I don’t know that I will ever be able to do. Deep down, I know I may regret that but the pain of the past is too much for me to grin and bear. I don’t know how to deal or get over this and its devastating for me honestly and I have never felt so alone. But the ladder, feels worse and fake and that isn’t who I am so I feel cutting ties is best for me at this point. Luckily, I have an amazing husband and children and my husband’s family shows up for the kids all the time. So my kids will not miss out of grandparents. But the void of losing my Dad is like a punch to the heart, and I truly don’t know if I will ever move past it.
So, AITA for going no contact? Am I selfish and need to get over this?

To start with, I’m a pansexual woman. I’ve only dated men up to this point because I think women are a bit intimidating lol. It’s not as if it’s easier for me to date men either, but I kind of know what to expect from them/what signs to look for. I did try to go on some dates while I was on Tinder, but the conversations always fell short on either end.
I currently have a boyfriend and I do love him a lot. I’ll have the normal daydreams of marrying him someday and starting our life together as a married couple. Seeing him makes my heart swell with happiness and I appreciate him for all the love and understanding he’s given me.
There are just times when I’ll be watching a vlog or see TikToks of sapphic relationships and…yearn for it? It makes me think of the possibilities of a life I could have. How it would feel to wake up next to my girlfriend or wife. To see her smile every morning and listen to her talk about her day. Mostly, these fantasies will star whoever I’ve seen in the videos as they are gorgeous and seem so sweet.
My boyfriend is my best friend and I naturally want to tell him how I feel when I see these videos, but I don’t want to hurt his feelings. I don’t think there’s anyway to tell your S.O. you daydream/think about marrying someone else. My other friends and I have been quite busy lately so I haven’t had much time to hang out and talk with them about this.
Even if I could have that life, I would be worried of what my family would think of me. To them, I’m just straight. Part of me thinks they’d react fine if I told them and another part of me is worried they won’t since they’re religious. I hope for the best, but the fear of losing them just stops me. It’s not like life has a rewind button and I can take it all back. I also wouldn’t want to put that on my partner if I did date a woman. It would be shitty to throw her into an environment where she’s not as accepted.

We have discussed men who are looking for nurses and purses in our age group as those things seem to be more prominent these days. What are the more subtle signs that a man you are dating is looking to be financially supported by you, either now or in the future? Are there recognizable patterns that a woman should be aware of when dating?

https://imgur.com/a/9HmSzXF
There are far too many books for me to list the condition they’re all in. I’ve included notes about the condition on a few of the books, but anything beyond that can be discussed in PMs.
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Round 15 deadline: Tuesday 28th May, 11pm GMT

Hello peopleee. So we have the results from round 14, and I must say I was shocked by how many votes ahead of the others the top voted episode was. We haven't had results like this since round 1. But anyway, the episode to be eliminated today is...
...
NOT AGAIN. It may have survived several rounds only just making it through, but in this round it gained a massive 9 votes, compared to Gone Gone which ended up with the next most votes with only 3.
How will the results turn out this time? It's up to youuuuu.

ROUND 15: DOUBLE ELIMINATION ROUND!

Vote for the episode that you like *the least. The **two episodes that gather the most votes will be eliminated with the 15th and 16th places in this game. Make sure you have watched all episodes before voting and don't vote more than once. (I don't think you can anyway)*

VOTE IN ROUND 15 HERE

Round 14 results
Living Episodes: (SPOILERS!!!)
S1E1 - Who Do You Think You Are?:

• Alison and Mike inherit Button House
• Ghosts haunt them
• Captain annoyed at Fanny screaming

S1E2 - Gorilla War:

• Mike starts renovating house
• Ghosts annoy Alison
• Alison accepts ghosts as real

S1E3 - Happy Death Day:

• Pat's death day, family visit
• Kitty asks where babies come from
• Captain & Julian try to get rid of builders

S1E5 - Moonah Ston:

• Beg-Chetwyns visit for dinner party
• Captain & Mary help kill/prepare pheasant
• Ghosts do Moonah Ston ritual & watch Friends

S2E3 - Redding Weddy:

• Captain flashback
• A&M clear garden
• Fanny fancies Mike
• Pat keeps ghosts occupied (moon landing video, volleyball)

S2E4 - The Thomas Thorne Affair:

• Thomas death flashbacks
• Mike worries about meeting Alison's ex

S2E5 - Bump in the Night:

• Alison goes out
• Burglars break into house
• Ghosts try to warn Mike

S2E7 - The Ghost of Christmas:

• Mike's family visit for Xmas, parents help too much
• Julian feels guilty about avoiding family at Xmas
• Alison gets presents for ghosts

S3E1 - The Bone Plot:

• TV crew making documentary about Humphrey (death flashback)
• Julian thinks Barclay is having heart attack
• Pat tries to make Fanny & Captain laugh
• Thomas prepares Alison for interview

S3E3 - The Woodworm Men:

• A&M camp outside during fumigation
• Kitty watches Grease

S3E5 - Something to Share?:

• Kitty shares story about ball
• Mike tries to find way to see ghosts

S4E4 - Gone Gone:

• Pat cheers Kitty up over Mary moving on
• Mike organises children's birthday party last minute
• Alison helps ghosts deal with their feelings about Maryland

S4E7 - It's Behind You:

• Ghosts put on panto
• Alison shows Pat old VHS recordings
• A&M get stuck in traffic on way to parents

S5E1 - Fools:

• Alison does April Fool's pranks on ghosts
• Insurance company person investigates insurance claim for fire

S5E3 - Pineapple Day:

• Ghosts figure out how Kitty died
• Mike discusses selling land with Barclay
• Thomas, Julian & Humphrey want blue plaque
• Kitty watches 'Is It Cake?'

S5E5 - Carpe Diem:

• A&M have spontaneous night out
• Robin thinks someone will move on before midnight
• Fanny & Julian make most of possible last day
• Captain's death flashback

Episodes that have been sucked off:
34th place: S5E7 - A Christmas Gift
33rd place: S3E7- He Came!
32nd place: S2E1 - The Grey Lady
31st place: S2E2 - About Last Night
30th place: S4E5 - Poached Guests
29th place: S4E1 - Happy Holiday
28th place: S1E4 - Free Pass
27th place: S5E2 - Home
26th place: S1E6 - Getting Out
25th place: S5E4 - En Français
24th place: S5E6 - Last Resort
23rd place: S2E6 - Perfect Day
22nd place: S3E2 - A Lot to Take In
21st place: S3E4 - I Love Lucy
18th place: S3E6 - Part of the Family, S4E2 - Speak As Ye Choose, S4E3 - The Hardest Word
17th place: S4E6 - Not Again

Lonely Castle in the Mirror, by Mizuki Tsujimura
"Lonely Castle in the Mirror" is a genre-savvy portal fantasy about junior high students who get drawn into a mysterious castle when they're supposed to be in school. Kokoro had a terrible experience early in the school year that's made her terrified of facing her classmates, and develops some kind of (psychosomatic?) illness that prevents her from attending either the normal school or a special alternative school for students who need more support. Shortly after this, her bedroom mirror turns into a portal to the castle with six other students who are also not in school during the normal hours. The "Wolf Queen" in charge--an elementary school girl who enjoys allusions to "Little Red Riding Hood"--tells them all that there's a secret key in the castle that can grant one wish, and they have a year to find it and, potentially, use it. Also, if anyone is caught in the castle outside of the 9-5 school day timeframe, they'll all be eaten by a wolf.
So, these painfully shy students have the opportunity to make friends and have a non-terrifying experience with kids their own age, and they all enjoy bonding and playing video games and drinking tea together, and for the most part nobody cares about finding the key, because that would make the castle close and prematurely end their new friendship. For most of the book, the contrived quest stuff doesn't play into it. And then when it does, it kind of lampshades "oh yeah I have to do this on speedrun mode."
There are a lot of takes pointing out that books where "the magic goes away"/"everyone loses their memories"/"we just have to move on with our lives and pretend like the portal fantasy never happened" can be pretty messed up. In this book, however, I couldn't find myself relating to the characters because it felt like a perverse incentives situation. Yes, middle school is an emotionally volatile, turbulent, unpleasant environment full of many immature people. This is a pretty common experience, actually. Kokoro just can't handle it, and as a response, the infinitely patient teacher at the alternative school reassures her mother that she's battling really hard and it's not her fault, she just can't go to school, and then she gets to go through a portal into fantasy world with people who play video games and eat snacks all day...? I understand there's more to it than that, but something has to change about this situation because otherwise this really isn't the message you want to send. (Once we learn about the backgrounds and life situations of some of the other students, I can imagine how it was easier for people like Subaru and Aki to fall through the cracks, but it feels like, eg, Masamune and Ureshino's junior high situation should have had some kind of guidance counselor or adult in the room. The readers' guide in the back of the book describes Kokoro as a "futoko," and I understand this is more pervasive in Japan than elsewhere, but I have a hard time accepting that seventh graders staying home for months on end with no apparent homeschooling or tutoring gets such a shrug.)
The prose didn't really grab me, sometimes it felt awkward ("That day, Fuka apparently enjoyed the chocolates back home, for she faithfully reported to Kokoro that 'they were delicious.'") and there were a several parts with very. short. one. line. paragraphs.

Kokoro tried to convince herself that she hadn't been at home that day. Miori and the others had simply pounded on the door of an empty house, trampled over the patio, gone round and round over outside of the house. But nothing actually happened. Nothing at all. She never was about to be killed. And yet the next day, she said, "I have a stomachache." And she really did. It was no lie. And her mother chimed in: "You do look pale. Are you OK?" And that's when Kokoro stopped going to school.

A few paragraphs later:

Would she be able to protect herself?
The only place she could now go to freely from her bedroom was the castle.
If I'm in the castle, she started to think, then I'll be safe.
Only the castle beyond the mirror could offer her complete protection.

Girl, I know your mental health isn't the greatest, but we're talking about the place where people threatened you with being eaten alive by a wolf. ??? Sorry, my suspension of belief does not extend this far.
There's also a random red herring with a neighbor student whose father has an interest in researching fairy tales, and like, maybe that "real world" location/characters are related in some way to the portal world? No, it's just a fortuitous coincidence that helps Kokoro have access to more Western fairy tale info.
The good news is, about halfway through the characters start developing some genre-savviness and realizing what they have in common, and towards the end, things pick up significantly in terms of how and why some of the arbitrary fairy-tale logic came about. So it definitely sticks the landing in that way.
Bingo: Prologue/Epilogue, Author of Color, Book Club
Promise of the Flame, by Sylvia Louise Engdahl
At the end of "Stewards of the Flame," to which this book is a sequel, our heroes Jesse, Carla, and Peter had hijacked a spaceship and jumped to an uninhabited planet to set up a colony where humans could develop psionic powers free from the medical bureaucracy of Undine. Jesse's hyperspace jump was rushed and not perfectly calculated, so in order to ensure their oxygen supply makes it all the way to planet Maclairn (named after their late founder), the Group had to confront their deepest fear and brave the stasis boxes that had been Chekhov-gunned several times in the last section. As the existence of the sequel implies, the protagonists and most of their comrades survive stasis. But while, in "Stewards," the hyperspace navigation "error"/imperfection sets up the Group's ultimate test, here it casts a long shadow as Jesse keeps wondering, "could we have picked a better landing site if I hadn't screwed it up?"
The early days on Maclairn are a struggle. The first part of the book is a recurring cycle of "should we do things this way or that way? Well, we came here to set up a society fully founded on mind powers, we pretty much have to commit to the bit or else what's the point." Repeat ad infinitum. Later, this broadens somewhat to "we have to have psi powers coexist with modern technology to fulfill Ian [Maclairn]'s dream, otherwise what's the point." There are clear parallels to (Engdahl's older trilogy) "Children of the Star"; that society represents the endpoint if they go down a path of giving up on modern technology--and the burdens of agrarian, high-population-growth societies fall disproportionately on women. If "Stewards" had motifs of baptism, this is more of an Exodus story, with the characters sulking about "why did you bring us out of Undine just to starve in the wilderness, at least there we had enough to eat." "My God, came Carla’s thought, we’re homesick! Homesick for Undine! I never admitted that to myself, it was so foolish, I’d wanted so much to leave . . . I guess I just pushed it down inside, into a place I didn’t dare go. . . ."
The consequences of the hyperspace jump being off are a minor tonal retcon/change in perspective on the events of the first book. A more significant one, to me, involves love triangle dynamics. In "Stewards," we learn that Carla and Peter both previously had spouses who died under the authoritarian Undine government. Fortunately, Jesse shows up just when Carla is ready to love again, and their relationship brings him into the Group and thus enables their escape from Undine. "Promise" adds that Peter has been silently pining for Carla all along, but needed Jesse's starship skills too much to say anything. We're told the Group's adult recruits skew slightly female, but that isn't represented among the main characters, and you're telling me that none of them are Peter's type? All three of them sigh and angst about "oh, we're such great friends, we can't let this love triangle come between us," and at times it feels like it's setting up for a polygamy plotline (they're all highly powerful telepaths, they can't keep secrets from each other!) And then it just...goes nowhere. As in the first book, I can accept that sex is probably great among telepaths; I can't buy that every single person has to have sex in order to fully level up their telepathic sensitivity!
The best parts of "Promise" involve the culture clashes between Jesse, who grew up on Earth; the rest of the adult Group members, from Undine; and the Maclairn-born generation. Undine's environment is so tightly regulated, they don't even have insects or lizards, so the planet's "collective unconsciousness" doesn't have a fear of creepy-crawlies; Jesse's initial revulsion risks "contaminating" the psyche until everyone faces their fear.

“Horror vids involving animal life aren’t permitted on colony worlds,” Peter told him. “Haven’t you ever wondered why starship libraries don’t contain any? Earth has always banned their export as a measure to protect extraterrestrial lifeforms. It’s one of the few government trade regulations I think is wise.” Of course, Jesse realized. The average Earth citizen’s reaction would have been to kill the crawlies—if possible, to exterminate them. That hadn’t occurred to anyone yesterday. And horror vids often portrayed even intelligent aliens as repulsive; what kind of precedent would that set if similar ones were ever encountered?
Traditionally, said the knowledgebase, small farmers had chopped chickens’ heads off with a hatchet. Wringing their necks was said to be more humane, but nobody wanted to experiment on live, squawking chickens despite the specific instructions provided. These warned that the hardest part, in the physical sense, would be catching a grown chicken in the first place—a fact soon borne out by experience, as chickens are not devoid of telepathic sensitivity and the pursuers were unconsciously broadcasting their intent to kill.
Kel, like many of the Group’s other children, had been slow in learning to talk. It had taken awhile before it dawned on the adults that this was because the kids’ telepathic bonds with their parents had been so strongly encouraged that they felt no need to communicate vocally. Speech could not be allowed to die out in a psi-based culture; it was essential not only to reading but to the framing and communication of complex ideas. Now, everyone realized that like the skills for volitional control of the body, telepathic conveyance of concepts, as distinguished from emotions, must wait until the kids were older.

On the other hand, the scope of "this is dangerous, but we must, to commit to the psionic bit" and "well, we've come through a lot of tough situations before, but this time really is the end...jk never mind we got out of it" got repetitive. There was one scene towards the end where it's like "okay, we're almost done, I can see how telepathy might be used to enable a permanent self-sacrifice...nope, we're still going, huh," and even though some of the resolutions were nice callbacks/tying up foreshadowing, it was still a lot.
Like in James P. Hogan's "Voyage to Yesteryear," the kids who were raised outside of Earth and Undine's prejudices are, overall, a great step forward for humankind, but there can be some values dissonance. In both cases, the desire for lots of population growth leads to a much lower age of consent than Earthlings are used to. Justified somewhat more in Maclairn's case; telepathy means almost everyone wouldn't fathom hurting each other and of course sex is consensual, as well as amazing. On the other hand, in both cases, there's no prison infrastructure; if someone is determined to be evil and is posing a grave threat to others, you just have to kill them. "Promise" gets a little more philosophical about the problem of evil--if it's not nature and it's not nurture, what causes it? Free will? Sure, but it seems as if some people are also evil from day one even if their DNA is just fine.
There are a couple shoutouts to Lord of the Rings and Star Trek that fit in nicely. I found "it's just like using the Force, you know, like in that old vid, Star Wars" to be more of a distraction. Similarly, Engdahl's commitment to showing her work ("in the twentieth century on Earth, you know, people experimented with remote viewing!") got to be a distraction. But the exploration of "okay, let's try a rain dance, even if it fails we're learning something and pushing knowledge forward" was a great use of the "sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" trope, which is what I come to Engdahl for anyway.
Some people, like Peter, tend to believe in an afterlife; others, like Jesse, are more skeptical. Earth religions don't transfer well to other planets because the interstellar gap is too big for the collective unconsciousness to bridge. Despite this, characters use the word "God" (like in a telepathic context of "Carla . . . oh, God, Carla, answer me!") approximately 144 times. Do you have no one else's name to take in vain???
Criticisms aside, I do think that this is less heavy-handed than "Stewards" and at least as good a starting point!
Bingo: Dreams, Prologues/Epilogues, Self-Published, Survival. One prominent character acquires a physical disability midway through the story. Jesse and Peter's Criminal record on Undine is not very important (since the entire book is set on or around Maclairn), but it becomes more prominent in the last section.
The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi, by Shannon Chakraborty
Once upon a time (1100s Indian Ocean) there was a notorious nakhudha (pirate captain) named Amina al-Sirafi. Ten years ago, she retired, and now she's a single mom with a bad knee and a leaky roof. However, a wealthy noblewoman who believes her granddaughter has been kidnapped by a Western European would-be sorcerer insists on having Amina rescue her, never mind Amina's own family responsibilities. So Amina has to put the band back together, staying one step ahead of the authorities while getting to the bottom of the mystery.
Amina and her crew are likable rogues. I found this easier to get into than Chakraborty's "City of Brass". That book focused more on a long-term conflict between two factions, neither of whom consistently seem like the "good guys"; maybe that's supposed to be sending a message about RL actually works, but I found it confusing at times. In contrast, the early sections of "Amina" are about tracking down individual allies, from a gay smuggler stuck in a prison in Aden, to a navigator and family man in Mogadishu, while researching the notorious Falco Palamenestra and speculating what he might be up to.
At first, Amina's Muslim identity comes through more in the ways characters talk, and some level of monster-fighting exorcism (like Catholicism in some horror movies), than actual practice. But gradually, we see more of how she's struggled to be a parent in her post-pirate life:

If the criminal past didn’t alert you, I have not always been a very good Muslim. Drinking and missing prayer were among my lesser sins, and if I tried to straighten myself up every year when Ramadan rolled around—a new life of piety easy to imagine while dazed with thirst and caught up in the communal joy of taraweeh—I typically lapsed into my usual behavior by the time the month of Shawwal had ended.
But then Marjana was born. And Asif was . . . lost. And if one of these events made me feel as though I had no right to ever call upon God again, the other filled with me a driving need I could not deny. So I keep my daily prayers, even if I feel unworthy the entire time.

To me, this rang true as a depiction of a complicated, realistic, person of faith.
This is a time and place that I knew very little about. For instance, one plotline involves the island of Socotra, an island off the coast of Somalia which is today part of Yemen. There are caves there with graffiti from sailors going back thousands of years, in Indian and Greek and Ethiopic scripts. This is a real place! I would not have been able to tell you anything about it before reading this book! So Chakraborty's vivid descriptions of places this, and of the diverse cultures and religious backgrounds of pirates who live and work alongside each other, is compelling. There's a danger in this as a reader, though, in that getting too caught up in the "worldbuilding" of the actual world can make it feel like its "foreignness" is what makes it speculative and fantastical, which is obviously inaccurate and beside the point. That's one reason why jumping in at the deep end with an honest-to-goodness sea monster in chapter one might have been a good choice, to remind us that there really are otherworldly things happening.
The themes of "rich people love to jerk poor people around" and "the male gaze sucks" are clear, but there's lots of quippy banter mixed in.

“That was you, was it not? The woman who poisoned the soldiers at the wali’s office, freed a crew of homicidal pirates, set a score of ships on fire, and fled the harbor in the middle of the night?” “I would never confirm such a thing and put you at risk of consorting with criminals. But it was two ships, not a score. I wouldn’t wish to encourage exaggeration.”
Sailing past its ancient breakwater—the stones said to have been set there by giants—you might feel as though you have entered a mythical port of magic from a sailor’s yarn. You would be sorely mistaken. Aden is where magic goes to be crushed by the muhtasib’s weights, and if wonder could be calculated, this city would require an ordinance taxing it.
“She knows you are a pirate?” “I am not a pirate,” Majed huffed. “I am a cartographer with a checkered past.” “Yes. A checkered past of piracy.”

The book contains a few chapters that are "in-universe documentation" or chronicles of the places and people in the main narrative. This is a trope I really enjoy at times. However, in this case, I didn't feel it added much, beyond underscoring the themes that "men feel threatened by powerful women, oh no."
The biggest issue for me was how all the diverse, sympathetic characters just kind of went along with developments that felt more reminiscent of 2020s Tumblr idiolect than 1100s Indian Ocean. How fortuitously convenient! (At least it got a Hugo nom.)
Smaller quibbles: the timeframe with Amina in her forties is appeSaling to the extent that it's a story about a working mother trying to follow her own dreams while also desperately missing her kid. But in order to make that work, the narrative sometimes withholds a lot of important information about the tragedies in Amina's past/her relationship with her child's father until it can be brought forward for dramatic effect, and it made me wonder what a story from the younger Amina's POV would look like without the artificial suspense problem.
More broadly, I felt like the second half's pace wasn't as crisp as the first--there's a dramatic near-death experience, then a bunch of fantastical creatures are introduced in quick succession as if to make up for the "worldbuilding via the actual world" stuff earlier, then we get a very contrived in-universe sequel hook, then we double back to a setting that had already been introduced. Whereas the first part was "we need to go to A to do B and then that gives us a clue that leads us to C."
Who wore it better?

“It is invalid!” I burst out. “Our nikah. It is not permissible for me to marry a non-Muslim.” Raksh frowned. “Is that why the man had me say all those words about God and prophets?” He returned to studying the contract. “Trust me, dear wife, I can be a vast number of things.” “But—but you are not a believer.” “Of course I am. Best to know the competition, yes?”

Compare "Alif the Unseen" (which is one of my favorites and I suspect I probably was harsh on "City of Brass" by comparison):

"But I told him I couldn't marry him even if I wanted to, because I can't marry an unbeliever. And he laughed and said he'd been a believer, 'for a the better part of a thousand years,' I believe were the exact words." "What?" said Alif. "Vikram? Vikram the madman who bites people?" "He might be those things," said the convert hastily, "but did you ever know him to do or say anything really blasphemous?" "I guess not."

Bingo: Alliterative Title, Criminals, Dreams, Reference Materials, Readalong! It's planned to be First in a Series but the sequels aren't out yet. (Statistics from last year just came out and this was the most popular book across all 2023 bingo cards, with ~200 reads!)
Spinning Silver, by Naomi Novik
When I read "Uprooted" and griped about the implausible romance and/or reactive plot, people's reactions were "try Spinning Silver, it's an improvement in some of those ways." And yeah, it is! I was aware that Spinning Silver was set in the same world as Uprooted, ~1700s Eastern Europe but with some fantasy elements, and that it was based on Rumplestiltskin.
But it's a lot more than a simple retelling. "Spinning Silver" teases out the individual trope elements of Rumplestiltskin--a mercenary father trying to get his daughter to marry up, the dead mother looming over the plot, a woman given the impossible task of making gold out of other elements, terrible bargains, aloof and unknowable beings from the fae world, the power of knowing someone's true name, the horror of a mother trading her child to inhuman creatures--and blows them all up, turning them inside-out, and creating something original.
It also does a lot with POV. For the first chunk, we have two young women from a small town who go back and forth telling the stories of their business dealings. But as the book goes on, we start jumping into more and more people's heads, and everyone's voice is very different. Sometimes this can be used for dramatic irony; we hear what character A thinks of their interaction with B, then we jump back and tell the same scene from B's POV and what was going through their head is very different than what A assumes. Once in a while, this makes the plot drag--there's a couple of scenes towards the end where we can't have any suspense about "oh no, will they find what they're looking for" because we've just seen the corresponding scene from another POV, and it would have been more effective to rearrange them--but overall, things are propelled forward much more intriguingly than "Uprooted."
Our POV characters are:

• Miryem, the daughter of the village moneylender. Miryem's family is Jewish, which means her father is one of the few people socially permitted to work as a moneylender--but he's more interested in currying favor with the neighbors than getting his debts repaid, so his family goes hungry. Miryem steps up, grows "cold" and "wintry," and takes on his job, to her parents' horror. But an offhand remark about "look, I can turn silver into gold" (metaphorically, because of, you know, capitalism) inadvertently catches the ear of the "Staryk," monstrous elven raiders who live in a parallel realm.
• Wanda, the daughter of an abusive alcoholic. Miryem is like "he can't pay off his debt because he's drunk everything away, I'll have them repay me by hiring Wanda to assist me with our work, I know this is cold and ruthless but I have to." Then when we see it from Wanda's POV she's like "you're giving me money to be out of the house and away from my father? And you'll even feed me? What an undeserved kindness!" Her reaction to "learning to manipulate numbers and do arithmetic is an amazing kind of magic!" felt cheesy and over-the-top, but the contrast between the literal phrasing of a royal decree and the way she "translates" it was more convincing.
• Irina, the daughter of the duke of Vysnia (Vilnius, Lithuania). Like Wanda, her mother is dead and her father is trying to arrange the most profitable marriage for her, never mind what she wants. When Miryem is compelled to turn magical Staryk silver into gold, she does so by having an acquaintance forge silver jewelry which the duke purchases--so when the gold takes on magical powers in the Staryk world, so does the silver with Irina, and brings her to the attention of a tsar. Despite her cold relationship with her father, she learns a lot from him and is a true politician, adept as anyone at cutting deals to keep her realm safe.
• Stepon, Wanda's younger brother. His narration is very simple and childlike (amazing cold open with "I like goats because I know what they will do.") It's possible he has some kind of sensory/mental health issues, or it's possible he's just eleven and overstimulated by unfamiliar crowds.
• Magreta, Irina's nurse/caretaker. She can be kind and supportive, but her casual antisemitism provides a contrast to how Miryem is treated by the villagers.
• Mirnatius, the tsar. For a while we mostly see him through Irina's POV ("this guy is so full of himself he requires a new outfit every day, that's no way to manage the economy"), but again, his narration provides a very different perspective on what's going on.

So I said the romance was better than "Uprooted," in that we didn't have the implausible "elderly magician berates young woman all the time but also they can't keep their hands off each other." In "Spinning Silver," both {Miryem and the Staryk king} and {Irina and Mirnatius} are paired off without much say-so on anybody's part, it's being manipulated by magic/higher-ups. So the timeframe of the book is mostly them all learning how to tolerate each other, and the romance is kind of left to your imagination in the future era.
The Staryk magic is kind of like...you can see their roads briefly if they make incursions in the human world, but as soon as they've disappeared, you start forgetting them and it really takes effort to remember. This means that if someone, like Miryem, disappears into the Staryk world, she's forgotten almost immediately except for little irregularities that don't seem right. These depictions were well-done. (Except that I was trying to remember if the Staryk were the same as the [jerk, mundane human] aristocrats in "Uprooted." They're not. I think I was half-remembering "Marek," the creepy prince, instead of "Staryk," the winter elves.)
There's a cool liminal space that sets up back-and-forth "communication" between the human and Staryk realms, and again, the multiple POVs are a good framework for this. On the other hand, there are some things, like, why do the Staryk want human gold, that are kind of chalked up to "magic idk" and not completely spelled out; for some of the confrontations at the end, again, it's better not to worry too much about hard magic systems and just go with the vibes. There's also an earlier plot that definitely plays the trope of "the less the audience knows about the plan, the more likely it is to succeed" trope straight.
Especially early on, it can be a very bleak "everyone sucks here" setting. Wanda and Stepon's father is horrific. Irina's father is mercenary and sets her up with Mirnatius, a dandy who abuses animals for fun. Nobody in the village respects Miryem's family, and when she tries to reclaim what she's due, her parents are horrified. The Staryk raid the village and carry off women and demand impossible tasks. There's a lot of "I have my wife to murder and Guilder to frame for it" coming from all sides. Even though the plot is moving forward, it's hard to feel like there's anything to root for.
But cracks of light shine through. Miryem's mother, and her mother, defy the "dead moms" trope, and are able to be loving parental figures to Wanda, Stepon, and their brother Sergey. Miryem's grandfather is wise and conscientious, warning her of the risks that some of her choices pose not only to their family but to the Vysnia Jewish community as a whole, but still recognizing she's mature enough to make her own choices. They even make use of a real-world Jewish blessing for the first blossoming of trees in the spring. Even when people are trying to be cold, sometimes they're just too human!
Bingo: Alliterative Title, Under the Surface (not for most of the plot, but there is a secret tunnel that gets use), Multi-POV (and how!)
The Infinite Arena (edited by Terry Carr)
Anthology of SF short stories about sports, stumbled upon while browsing a used bookstore. I like sports and the first one was based on "Casey at the Bat," so okay, sold.
It's from 1977, and the stories were originally published in the 40s-70s timeframe. The sex ratio among writers appears to be nine men, zero women, which is pretty "impressive" considering there are only seven stories. Three of them are installments from series that feature the same recurring character(s), so maybe that explains some of the...paucity? I don't want to say they're "flat" or "shallow" or anything, most of the contemporary "deep" stuff isn't to my taste either, but it feels like there's "no 'there' there" for several of these. In some cases, it's like, "we have to raise the stakes by involving gambling/someone's fate being on the line"; in others, it's looking for parallels between sports and other aspects of life (warfare? weird alien insects?) that provide the impetus for two plots to intertwine.
-Joy in Mudville (Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson)--very impressionable and earnest teddy-bear-like alien species imprints on humans, and immediately become obsessed with baseball. One of the aliens names himself Mighty Casey, but unfortunately, opponents can rattle him by reminding him of how "Casey at the Bat" turned out. Fortunately, what poetry can break, poetry can also fix...

"You untentacled mammal! raged Ush Karuza. "You sslimeless conformation of bored flesh!" Alex had long ago discovered that mankind rarely reacts to insults couched in nonhuman terms. It did not offend him at all to be told that he was slimeless.

-Bullard Reflects (Malcolm Jameson)--Dazzle Dart is a sport played by bouncing light rays around with reflective gear and aiming for a goal at the opponents' end. Like American football, one team is designated on offense at a time, and the other is on defense, but you can "intercept" and score from on defense. In Dazzle Dart, this is worth bonus points. Except instead of normal goals and "turnover" goals being worth one and two points respectively, it's twenty-five and fifty. And you thought Quidditch was silly. (This is from 1941.)
-The Body Builders (Keith Laumer)--the best of the stories, in my opinion, in that it predicts both technological advancement and the social changes that will ensue in a clever way.

So it's a little artificial maybe--but what about the Orggies, riding around in custom-built cars that are nothing but substitute personalities, wearing padded shoulders, contact lenses, hearing aids, false teeth, cosmetics, elevator shoes, rugs to cover their bald domes? If you're going to wear false eyelashes, why not false eyes? Instead of a nose bob, why not bob the whole face? At least a fellow wearing a Servo is honest about it, which is more than you can say for an Orggie doll in a foam-rubber bra--not that Julie needed any help in that department.

-The Great Kladnar Race (Robert Silverberg and Randall Garrett)--bored humans on an alien planet try introducing something like horse races that they can bet on. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition and betting don't necessarily align with the humans'.
-Mr. Meek Plays Polo (Clifford D. Simak)--guy who has only seen one space polo game in his life somehow accidentally stumbles into being the "expert" space polo coach, oops. Also there are weird alien bugs that are great at computation (a little like "The Circle").
-Sunjammer (Arthur C. Clarke, whose name is spelled wrong on the front cover)--a solar flare interrupts a solar sailboat race. Felt timely given the storm of a few days ago! (I did not get to see the aurora, alas.)
-Run to Starlight (George R. R. Martin)--short and slow but extremely muscular aliens enter an American football league and crush everyone, metaphorically and literally. However, the aliens' concepts of sports and competition don't necessarily align with the humans'. Too bad he never wrote anything else ;)
Bingo: 5+ short stories.

For starters, I just wanna say that TPAB is one of the greatest albums of all time and I think it is probably better than MMBS, musically speaking. My appreciation for MMBS stems from its relevance to my personal life.
Kendrick has talked about how the most rewarding part of making MMBS is not its reach, but that is has touched so peoples' lives on a human level. As one of these people who has been personally touched by this profound piece of work, I really feel what he means. I connect with MMBS on a level that I never knew music could take me to. I've been trying to work through problems with my childhood and some of the decisions I've made in my adult life. My childhood left me emotionally stunted; repressing my emotions because I was bullied and ridiculed as a child by the men and boys around me whenever I let them show; I was raised in a very culty religion that has a history of promoting a cycle of intergenerational misogyny; I grew up with an older brother who was sadistic and had nothing but contempt and embitterment for life; I came out of my childhood a very selfish and morally flawed person; I've hurt people in my life and feel overwhelmingly guilty for the mistakes I've made in the past. People around me tell me that my mistakes are not that big of a deal; and that I should just move on.
I don't open up to my family and friends very often because they don't think I've done anything that bad, and that I should move on and stop thinking about my past because I'm overreacting. But they don't understand the struggle of trying to become a better person when that means having to fundamentally change who you are. They just see my flaws as stupid mistakes. They don't understand what I do; that my mistakes are a product of my most fundamental flaws as a person; that they show me I have to make fundamental changes to my character and psychology. And frankly, they don't understand the extent to which my mistakes have hurt people because they are so wrapped up in this misogynistic culture.
This guilt overpowers me every day. I have trouble sleeping at night, because I have nothing to distract me from my thoughts. My insomnia turns into depression, which perpetuates the cycle. The more guilty and depressed I get, the less I sleep. The less I sleep, the less I feel psychologically capable of handling my emotions, and the more guilty and depressed I feel. I contemplate suicide throughout the day, every day. When I'm in class, when I'm doing homework, when I'm trying to sleep. Fortunately, I have found in college over the last couple of years the most amazing group of people. People who I look up to and who have inspired me to change. And I feel that I have changed. Not completely, but dramatically. I am able to empathize and feel love for others in a way that I had never been able to for the first 27 years of my life. I've learned that love and humanity are the most important things in life, and that the material bullshit that gets in the way of that means nothing in comparison. But this has only made my guilt and shame worse, because I know that if these people knew about my past, they would come to think of me in a completely different way. So the turmoil that I have been feeling is at once soothed and at the same time amplified.
Fast forward to the beef, and I hadn't listened to much rap in years. But Kendrick has always been my favorite rapper and Drake has always been my least favorite, so I got invested. This lead me to getting back into Kendrick's music, which I hadn't listened to since DAMN. I decided to give MMBS a try a few nights ago and listened to it in one sitting from start to finish. I fucking bawled throughout. It was so impactful that I spent the next day doing absolutely nothing. I just sat in my backyard and thought about what I just experienced the night before. I've felt so guideless for so long; I've suffered from the loneliness and pain of trying to change when everyone around me is telling me to just forget. No one has ever come along to tell me, not to hide from my demons, but to face them, because in doing so, with love and forgiveness, we can seek *transformation*. Holy fuck, I can't begin to tell you how much I needed this message and an example like Kendrick to give me hope that it is possible. It has helped me understand the nuance of responsibility; that I can't blame myself for the things that were outside of my control growing up, but that I can hold myself accountable for my past decisions in order to seek growth and find redemption. It has encouraged me to swallow my machismo pride and seek therapy; first session starts tomorrow.
My love for this album transcends that of any piece of music or art that I have ever experienced. I love TPAB, but MMBS is more than a genius work of art to me. It's a rare message that so many desperately need to hear in an age where vengeance is more dearly cherished than forgiveness. It's a message of hope to people who want to become better humans when the world around them would rather see them burn. When I first heard Kendrick had Kodack on his album I was disappointed in him (without actually knowing any of the context or the point to the album, of course), but now I realize just how important that move was for the album, and how courageous it was of Kendrick to make it. Whether or not you're worthy of redemption has nothing to do with what you have done, but what you're willing to do about it with a genuine and vulnerable heart.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with this album?

I wanna start this off by saying I’ve never considered myself homophobic or anything like that. I do believe in love is love and everyone should be able to freely love who they want to (within the law of course)
So my (21 F) bf (23M) of 7 months told me the other day he was in love with his male friend a few years ago. He confessed to his friend, who didn’t reciprocate but took it very well. My bf told me this casually and added “I think I might be pan sexual” I was just like “oh cool” and we didn’t talk more about it. Initially I felt weird about this but I tried to ignore the feeling, because I know it shouldn’t matter. But why is it that I continue to feel bad about this fact? Like physically bad. I’ve tried to figure out why. Maybe because I feel like there is this whole new side of him I didn’t know about, and not only that but a side I won’t ever really know. I’m not a man, so… I’ll never be able to fulfill that part of him? I think I’m also afraid that he in reality likes men more than women and that he one day will realize he wants to be with a man and not a woman but is held back because of stigma and because it’s just “easier” to be straight.
For context my bf has had two girlfriend before me, only one of whom he was in love with. He has been with over 20 girls sexually.
I feel like/know I’m acting irrational. I don’t know what to do. I feel like I have to talk to him about this since the feeling won’t go away, but I don’t want him to feel I don’t accept him the way he is or feels like he can’t tell me things.
Please share your thoughts. What should I do? And why do you think I might feel this way?
And please be nice, I know the topic around sexuality is a sensitive one and you can quickly be stapled a bigot. I really try and want to be open and accepting but I can’t help my gut feeling. I wish it would go away.

I wish I could be clearer with the below, but I just found out the timetable has been expedited. This post might seem very polished. That's probably because I began drafting it two weeks ago.
I also wish I could have reviewed more posts to get the "feel," but I don't think I can.
My wife and I have been married for more than thirty years. We have been through an awful lot of horrible things, but have come out the other side. Our history began in the early ’90s when we were in college. The way we met was quite unconventional for the time. She attended a university about 250 miles away from the one I was going to. We were more like electronic pen-pals on the fledgling internet of the day. I was working on a US government-funded research project involving computer networks, which is part of how we were able to keep “connected” that way. I was a senior, and she was a freshman. We fell in love. Hard. We knew we were a solid match even before we met each other face to face six months later. Our first meet-up happened only two weeks before I graduated. We met again the weekend before my commencement. After graduation, I moved more than five hundred miles farther away from her college town. We were able to get together only three or four more times before I proposed to her during the fall semester of her sophomore year. I flew to the city nearest her college and dropped to my knee in the middle of the airport's concourse. We were married the following summer.
Life was awesome. I had my dream girl, the one I’d prayed to find for years. Financially, we were incredibly blessed. We were able to pay off my wife’s student loans, lived frugally, and saved money hand over fist. Because of all that, we were able to move out of our single bedroom ~800 sq. ft. apartment into a newly built 2,200 sq. ft. house before our second anniversary. Gen-Y and Z’ers: Don’t judge. Please. Us X’ers do understand your plight caused by massive inflation. We knew from conversations we’d had before I proposed that two children was our ideal. By our third anniversary, things were still going great, and we decided we were ready to start our family. She surprised me when I got home from work one night when she handed me a pregnancy test showing a positive. I was so happy! Then “Round 1” happened. My wife of barely four years was taking night classes to complete her bachelor’s. She’d earned her associates the year before. She was in class when I received a call from her younger sister, age 13. What she told me was devastating: their father had been killed in a wreck on the highway on his way home from work. Cell phones weren’t exactly affordable back then, so I had to wait until my wife came home two hours later to tell her what had happened. Her father’s injuries were so severe that the funeral had to be closed casket. My wife stayed at her former home for a few weeks to try to help her mom and her three other siblings find some kind of normalcy. Then came “Round 2.” Barely two weeks after my wife returned home, our phone rang in the middle of the night. To this day, I still remember the clock reading 2:03 AM. I answered and heard a voice I didn’t recognize. It was one of my wife’s aunts calling to inform us that my MIL had been found dead in their house with an empty prescription vial of Valium sitting next to her. My wife's siblings had been with other relatives, so at least they hadn’t witnessed her suicide in person. As we drove to her hometown for the second time in a month, my wife decided in no uncertain terms that we were going to bring her siblings home with us. She had not one ounce of trust that anyone else in her extended family would step up to take care of them because most of them were below the poverty line and could barely provide for their own families. The following week, we brought her siblings, aged 13, 8, and 4 back home with us. We’d gone from being carefree young marrieds of less than four years to suddenly being the legal guardians to her siblings while also dealing with the legal hurdles of settling an intestate estate. My wife miscarried at the end of her first trimester. That loss devastated us as much if not more than we’d already endured. We got the kids (and ourselves) into grief and trauma support groups which were certainly beneficial. But we also knew our plans to have our own biological kids had to be canceled, or at least indefinitely delayed. A few years into the new adventure, my wife and I agreed she could quit her job and be a stay-at-home “mom.” Years passed, my eldest SIL graduated high school, and went on to quickly get a certificate in a health-care field. Barely a few months after my SIL moved out, my wife again surprised me with the news she’d tested positive for pregnancy. To abbreviate the history, but not to understate it, our first baby came healthy, graduated with an IB diploma, and is now a junior in college, ready to tackle the world when she graduates. Back to my SIL back then. She was able to find immediate employment in her field, with competitive pay, but within a year, got pregnant. She was unwed, and the father bolted. Over the following seven years, she had two more kids by other men who also bolted, leaving her as a single mother of three with no child support. The state appears to not give a crap because it's done nothing. She’s been unable to hold steady employment and has been on welfare the majority of the time. I can’t remember the number of times we’ve paid her rent to avoid her family being evicted. Granted, it wasn’t a bank-breaking amount because she’s in Section Eight housing, but still. The middle of the other B/SILs began developing mental illness in high school. No one (meaning us, teachers, etc.) recognized it at the time, but it became obvious in hindsight after things which transpired later. He became incredibly rebellious at home, and decided during his senior year to leave our home and live with a friend. Thankfully, he decided to enlist in the military after graduating HS. When he returned from basic training, we saw a changed man. He’d become incredibly respectful to the adults he’d before rebelled against (especially us) and was incredibly disciplined and orderly in the construction job he took after his service ended. Things were looking good for him. Apparently, he also looked good to a girl he’d met in high school. They got married while he was still active and had two kids of their own before she went bat-shit crazy. She served him with divorce papers, and, no surprise, was given primary custody of their children because family courts in most US states are insanely biased to the mothers. Right before the divorce decree was finalized, she went on a rampage in their co-owned house and caused about $40K in damages. Despite all of this, my BIL had the fortitude to earn a bachelor’s degree. He graduated summa cum laude at a major state university and found a fantastic job with one of the most recognizable construction equipment companies in the metro area. If you live in the same area, you’d see their trucks everywhere. That’s how big they are. He reported to the Chief of Operations and was changing the shape of that business in good ways. “Round 3.” He began to spiral into and was clinically diagnosed with bipolar disorder after he went to a shopping center in a seedy part of town, stark naked, waving a pistol around. Thankfully, the responding police officer recognized that his behavior was abnormal and was likely suffering a mental crisis. He and the other responding units were able to get him under control with no lasting harm. My BIL was institutionalized at the VA hospital for almost a month while they titrated his medications. Things were “normal” for about a year until his ex decided to sue him for increased child support and sole custody of their kids. He rightfully fought it, but he went off his meds and began another spiral that cost him his well-paying job. His attorney told him he was going to stop representing him because of how far behind he was on payments (almost $15K). Because we didn’t want him to lose his family, we paid the bill, plus another $10K retainer, knowing we’d not likely ever see the money again (It’s been five years now and we haven’t seen a penny, but it worked. He still has joint custody). Then, he married another woman with three kids of her own who turned out to be just as heartless and crazy as his ex. He started spiraling once again, and instead of helping him, she called the cops on him, took her kids, abandoned his children, and demanded us to come and “deal with his kids.” My wife was dealing with him at his house, alone, because I was in charge of their children at our house. Her youngest brother, then about 25, insisted he go with her to the hospital. Thank GOD, because, on the way there, the older BIL opened the door of the car and tried to exit it on the interstate at 60+ miles per hour. If his younger brother hadn’t been in the back seat, my wife would likely have been the witness to a successful suicide. You can imagine the hysteria in the voice I heard when she called me afterward. The trauma and anxiety of dealing with that drama weighed heavily on all of us, including our children, and still does to this day. “Round 4.” The eldest SIL became pregnant again, but this time, the father didn’t bolt. Their baby came right before Thanksgiving ‘23 but was kept in the hospital until last month because of medical problems. The doctors decided the baby needed a tracheotomy because of a defect in her larynx. My wife attended training classes with her sister which taught them how to change the trach tube, which will have to be done every week for three years. The baby requires constant attention because she can’t audibly cry. Her mom and the father are exhausted, of course, and their own children are also exposed to this and probably feel some abandonment as a result. Fast forward to two weeks ago. The baby had a seizure and stopped breathing. EMTs were called. The mother and father performed CPR for almost a half hour before an ambulance showed up. She was kept in the NICU overnight but was discharged the next morning as they couldn’t find a “root cause” other than a “minor infection.” Last week, CPS showed up at their door. They took the baby back to the hospital and the other siblings to separate foster homes. From what we’ve been told so far, the baby’s urine was collected during the NICU visit and later tested positive for drugs (I don’t know what kind), and they believe one of the parents is to blame. My wife decided that we’d get a foster house check by CPS and take in her sister’s children, including the baby when she’s cleared to leave the hospital. This is a baby that requires 24-hour observation. As fosters, we “might” qualify for a home nurse. Sounds great, but that means we’d have a total stranger basically living in our house in room we don’t have. My SIL’s initial court hearing isn’t for another month. I’m at my wits end. I’ve given the last thirty years of my life basically supporting my wife’s family. My gut knows that I could have otherwise provided more to my own kids if not. My childresn are going to be exposed to the chaos. For a year or two after my wife decided to bring her siblings into our home and delay our own family, I seriously considered a divorce. We didn’t have a lot of community property to split, none of our own children to impact, whatever, but I held to the vows we gave each other. I’ve come to that same point now. I’m only a few years away from retirement. If I agree to my wife’s terms, it’ll possibly lead to resentment just as it did after Round 2. If I don’t agree to my wife’s terms, I know she’ll resent me. I just found out that CPS is coming next week, and we might have SIL’s kids all summer. I don’t know if I can do it again and maintain my sanity. What should I do?

I don't have a current crush right now but I was bored and I know people really like Medusa's subliminals to attract people so I decided to listen. I put like 2 or 3 of her general attraction subs as in not a specific person but just attracting men on my playlist but I wasn't paying attention when it was playing throughout my playlist and I listened to another one with the song 'Thinkin bout you' by Ariana Grande with no one in particular in mind. (The results part): Last night and today after listening to her subs for probably only a day or 2 of consecutive listening, I keep getting Instagram requests from guys and this guy I used to have a crush a couple months ago texted me.

I (18F) have been struggling with a really high sex drive to the point where it is all I can think about, even on a busy day when I have loads to do. I can’t walk past men on the street without thinking about sex, regardless of whether they’re attractive or even remotely close to my age. Watching porn or sex on screen, sending and receiving nudes does nothing for me, even masturbation has lost all it’s satisfaction because it just reminds me what I’m not getting.
I have a casual hookup that I can have oral sex with, and I know he’d jump at the chance to have sex with me, but I just don’t to lose my virginity to him, something in me doesn’t want to do it with him because I’m not really all that attracted to him and we also share tons of mutual friends so there’s no way we could have sex without anyone finding out. Word travels around the young community where I live so fast and I don’t want people knowing intimate details like whether I’m a virgin or not.
It’s gotten to the point where I’m considering just going out and going home with a stranger to have sex. I’m attractive if not very attractive by most people’s standards - not trying to be conceited but I’m a model and full chested so I’m being self aware that my success rate in asking men to sleep with me would be pretty high, as I already get asked a lot. The trouble is I wouldn’t be able to go out with friends since I don’t want them to know, so I know it’s a potentially very dangerous situation I’m putting myself in - to go to a (probably tipsy) stranger’s house, not to mention STDs. I’m scared but I need to have sex that badly that I’m willing to risk it.

Let’s clear this up first n foremost: this an honest question up for debate and discussion, not troll or karma bait or attention
First of all as everyone’s expecting, the rise of posts here and other subs surrounding “how old were you when you first had sex?” and the like. Clearly pedo bait. The amount of people engaging in these posts is notably more numerous than people against it or advocating against it
Second of all I am a Moderator of some big subs on here (won’t name don’t ask). Every day 95% of the posts being posted surround “freshly 18” or “virgin here” or “just had my 18th birthday was it worth the wait” and things like. To add to that the vast majority of the comments are clearly from older men in their 30s (mostly), 40s and 50s. It’s almost like they weed out the “fresh meat” and swoop in like vultures
Third, in regards to seeing these posts everywhere else, I almost never see any moderation on them anywhere? I see these posts and subscribe to them to see how long they stay up or go back and check the comments and they are just still there. Why though?
In relation to that just today I had to remove a post in a queue that was captioned “an 11 year olds penis” and had to removed/block THREE people who commented. What the fuck??
Sexualization of m*nors becoming normalized? Am I overthinking it? What’s everyone think

I need some advice. My partner (24M) and I (23M) have been together for a while, but recently he's been hanging out a lot with a coworker he just met a couple of months ago. They spend most weekends together for 7+ hours, visiting fun places and exploring different spots.
On the other hand, my partner doesn’t really take me out, and we mostly stay at home. For instance, I recently took him to a museum in San Francisco, hoping we could explore the city together afterward. However, he wanted to go home after just 2-3 hours. The next day, his coworker invited him to the city, and he was out with him for over 8 hours. I’ve brought up this issue with him, and he said that he's allowed to enjoy life and explore new experiences even if he's in a relationship.
I don't want to feel jealous or worry that he's cheating because I do believe gay men can have healthy friendships with other men, but they already spend working hours together so why spend even more time together. I can’t help but feel hurt that he spends more quality time with his coworker (who I jokingly refer to as his “work husband”) than with me. I also suggested we should have a photography day, but he shot down my idea because he didn't feel like going out anymore. Now, he's currently out with his coworker having a photography session lol. Should I be worried about this situation, or am I overthinking it?
TL;DR: My partner (24M) spends more time and has more fun with his coworker than with me (23M). When I brought it up, he said he’s allowed to enjoy life. I don’t want to feel jealous or suspicious, but it’s hard not to. Should I be worried?