Hey mates, so i've made this State Machine, with Idle, Walk, and Run states. My aim is to transition from: walk -> run: when the user press the arrow keys + shift run -> walk: when the user release the shift, or just press the arrow keys
idle -> walk: when the user just press the arrow keys idle -> run: when th user press the arrow keys + shift
Now, after tons of tries and fails, I stumbled upon this StackExchange_post and i've modified my code to this:
#idle_state.gd
var run_flag: bool = false
func _input(event):

`if event.is_action_pressed("run_key"):` `run_flag = true` `if event.is_action_released("run_key"):` `run_flag = false` 

func input(_delta):
#this function is being called by a _process(delta) function btw

`if Input.get_axis("ui_left", "ui_right"):` `print(run_flag)` `if run_flag:` `transition.emit("RunState")` `else:` `transition.emit("WalkState")` 

this code, changes from idle to either walk or run state. It works, but not how it should be when it comes to idle -> run. You see, in order for me to transition from idle to run, i must first press and hold shift, if i start with the arrows, even if the "run_flag" is changed to true, it will not do anything, the player will still go to walk state. But if i press and hold shift first and then an arrow, the code works
Another problem is, when i go into run state, by pressing and hold shift first, even if i release the shift key but still press and hold the arrow keys, the player still remains in the run state.
This is the run state:
#run_state.gd
var run_flag: bool = true
func _input(event):

`if event.is_action_pressed("run_key"):` `run_flag = true` `if event.is_action_released("run_key"):` `run_flag = false` 

func input(_delta):
#this function in being called from _process(delta) function btw

`direction = Input.get_axis("ui_left", "ui_right")` `if Input.get_axis("ui_left", "ui_right"):` `if run_flag == false:` `transition.emit("WalkState")` `else:` `hero_ref.hero_animation.play("run")` `elif direction == 0.0:` `transition.emit("IdleState")` `else:` `hero_ref.hero_animation.play("run")` 

would really apreciate if you mates could help me with this, and also, would you mates give me some advice on how im hadling the inputs so far? im still a bit lost regarding handling inputs, as there are many different ways, and i know, based on these codes alone, you might not have an opinion, but if you do, please do tell. I have like 27 more states to add, and i really dont want to mess things up right on the start with inputs handling.

I finished the story-part of the game yesterday and have many thoughts on it I want to share.
Before I get into it though I do want to stress that I overall really enjoyed Eiyuden Chronicles and that my criticisms come from a place of love, because I want to see these issues ironed out for this game or at least a possible sequel.
I mean... I care enough to produce this huge review.
But to repeat again: I do like this game and would recommend it.
And as for context: As for most of us Suikoden II was also a dear childhood game of mine, though I haven't actually played it in probably a decade and I actually don't want to compare it too much to EC.
Obligatory: This is all just my opinion and experience with the game.
So let's begin.

Story, Protagonists and the Villain

After having read through many threads this seems to be one of the most discussed points for the game, with many thinking the story is too soft or that Aldric is a cookie cutter villain.
Generally I do tend to somewhat agree, though I also think the story is serviceable enough to act as a backdrop to what you are really here for, which is to build up this humble group of freedom fighters into an outright army or even nation that stands against an evil empire.
And yes, we don't actually see a lot of the actions of the evil empire. Even with Yaelu's story, which is about the empire abducting an entire village and using them in lethal human experiments, it is something we are mostly just told about but don't actually see. The empire attacking Nowa's home village or taking over Marisa's also felt like it had no real consequences, because in each instance everyone was successfully evacuated and people simply rebuild or later on retook their home. It wasn't like we had some kind of funeral scene where the characters took a moment to mourn all the people who didn't make it. And for all other cities... imperial occupation seems to be a rather casual affair, yeah you have some rude soldiers in the streets but it didn't seem like life changed much for most.
I think what bothered me more was that in many ways the story was simply too superficial and glanced over many interesting ideas. For example... Nowa's entire idea of meddling because he saw his father go up against bandits when he didn't had to, maybe that could've actually been explored as a kind of trauma, that Nowa felt the urge to meddle because he wants to prove his father's action right.
Or as another example: Aldric's entire idea to create rune-lens based technology that everyone can use actually sounds good and reasonable on paper and nobody ever really acknowledges that, even when such technology has proven to be beneficial. Yeah Aldric's methods are wrong, definitively, but I don't even think that we are ever given much to support the idea that Aldric is only doing this because he lusts for power, it always felt like everyone simply assumed that to be the case and we, the players, are to just agree. It doesn't help of course that Aldric is indeed written without much ambiguity, always being condescending and spouting very generic villain lines, but we are also never really given a chance to see things from his perspective until the very final confrontation in his castle, when the main characters simply brush aside Aldric's claims on his motivation.
Btw. maybe I just missed it or it was never acknowledged that Hurstwine escaped from his cell, ignoring we saw a cutscene of him doing so, until he made an attempt on Nowa's life and only then someone said "We knew he escaped, but we didn't think he was still in the castle."
Beyond all of that the epilogue felt very rushed in my opinion, you quickly get literally 2 sentences to quickly tell us what happened to this or that character, and you get 3 at a time at a pretty fast pace, which robbed it of some of the impact. The small cutscenes which played in between felt too generic to tell us much about where these characters are now in life, the only exception being Maxim trying to propose or court Elektra who runs away in panic, that was a good moment.
However! It's not like I think the story was just bad from beginning to end, there were actually many parts, bigger and smaller, which I really enjoyed.
For example the entire story around Euma and Hishahn in general was actually executed pretty well. I really liked the ways in which Yulin, Melridge and Kassius supported their young and inexperienced king and some of the dialogue had some pretty good lines even, like for example the whole example of a veteran knight being more powerful than a rookie one, but unlike the veteran the rookie has a future ahead of him.
Now as for the three protagonists of the story...
Nowa was actually fairly good for a main character, yeah his personality might be a bit bland and generic as this nice guy who wants to help everyone, but they did pull it off well enough, even giving him a small backstory to give us a reason for it. I also like how at times he genuinely gets invested into the quirky side-stories of other characters, such as when recruiting Mellore or the entire Beigoma questline where Nowa really takes it serious.
Seign was actually a somewhat weaker protagonist. I did like some of the early moments when Nowa's and Seign's friendship formed and was build up, but later on Seign just kind of feels like his story ended before it even started. He has very little conflict, if any at all really, over not playing along with the Empire's plans and siding with Nowa instead.
Gameplay-wise the two of them also have the problem of being somewhat lackluster when compared to other characters, without really anything to make them stand out. They don't have super amazing stats (but still good) or any kind of unique ability that would make you want to take them with you.
And here is where I would bring up Suikoden II, where early on in the story both Riou and Jowy receive special runes that gave them pretty good unique powers. I actually really thought that perhaps the prologue portion was leading up to that when Nowa and Seign were separated from the others... that they would reach the primal lens but something would cause it to shatter or whatever and imbue the two of them with a part of their power.
And... well, then there is Marisa, who I have the most thoughts on perhaps.
Let me start with the positives for her... I do think that she is made to be likeable enough, like she is also a character who wants to do the right thing and recognizes early on that her people cannot afford to sit out this brewing conflict. I also kind of like that the story really makes it feel like Marisa had her own story going on, with her and her friends referencing events we never saw, such as finding Nil in some Runebarrow, her befriending Aleoir and Leene and so on...
However... this also really meant that I always felt like I was missing context... yes I know she'll get a story DLC... which made it harder for me to care and get invested into it.
It also always felt like Marisa was only the third protagonist of the game, because the game and its story really insisted on it being the case... because her actual role in the story isn't very large or even impactful, she doesn't offer a unique perspective on things and her primary motivation to join the resistance feels weak... especially since she goes on and on about how she wants to make the Empire pay for what they did to her home village, which I quickly found quite jarring. Wayve even calls her out on caring more about the physical location than the people who they successfully evacuated anyway. Nowa has his home village burned down but doesn't dwell on it that much. Yaelu had her village abducted and many of its members killed, including her parents... and yet even she isn't that obsessed with it.
To even take a step back, I personally am not a big fan of the entire trope of having these "secret ancient guardians who guard this place of secret something", like... "the Guardians" as a faction felt completely irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, despite other characters bring up how Marisa is a guardian like it is a huge deal.
Both Nowa and Seign feel simply so much more connected to the overall plot of the game.
Two smaller "btw." things about Marisa... the first is that I personally always disliked baby or animal characters which constantly have to interject in conversations by making noises, so her Pooby or whatever was really annoying to me.
The other is... I did went back and checked on the original Kickstarter for this game and early promotional material and while Marisa was there, she did not seem like she was intended as a main character really. Originally it was Nowa and Seign front and center. Now I didn't follow the Kickstarter after it was announced and successfully funded, but it did came as a surprise for me to see Marisa suddenly share the spotlight with Nowa and Seign.
It would actually explain a lot if Marisa being a protagonist was a decision made later in development or something, but maybe I am just wrong on this, either way it doesn't invalidate any of the points I've brought up.
Personally I think that there would've been many other characters who could've been given that position of third protagonist, even just among the roster of female characters if you wanted to round it out.

Gameplay and the many questionable design choices

I do have a lot to criticize here and I know that with a lot of the criticism I am not alone as I've read it in many other threads.
However, I still want to emphasize again that I did enjoy the game and the regular gameplay was very fine for the most part.
But Eiyuden Chronicles simply has many, many flaws and it is a mix of simply questionable design choices and some outright bugs, which I will give its own section.
Given how varied the issues with the gameplay is it was hard for me to came up with an order in which to mention them, so please excuse if this section seems like rambling.
I'll also put it into bullet points, which I hope makes this easier to read.
Let's start with things related to combat:

• Characters have different rates of stat growths, which means that some characters are basically "late bloomers" and start out rather weak, but then become much stronger. However in practice this means that a lot of characters are very weak for the majority, if not the entirety of the actual story. So characters like Mio or Mellore are pretty strong during the post-game, when you get them to lv 99 with all the best equipment and boosts, but for the actual story, which goes up to lv ~60, these characters are weak and won't be able to contribute during combat as well as others.

Many of the in-battle mechanics are not worth engaging with:

• Hero Combos are largely useless, because they are often too expensive for a lackluster payoff. They are mostly too expensive when it comes to SP and especially the opportunity cost of using up both character's turn. The action economy simply favors having two characters take separate actions. I did play around with Hero Combos a lot and really tried to use them until I eventually gave up on them, because it simply was so much more effective to not use them.
  
• Similarly, as most of us have noticed, Magic is for the most part useless because spells are weak and too expensive with MP recovery being only possibly in very inefficient ways. The only MP recovery item you can buy (during the story) restores 45 MP and only stacks 2 items per inventory slot, which means if you regularly want to use the big and expensive spells a huge part of your inventory will be reserved for magic drops. (which to be fair, isn't that huge of an issue late game)
  
• The only spells which are worth using are the Water rune's Recovery Wave (and possibly Holy Rain sometimes), Rock Thrust and the high level Fire spells.
  
• Btw. as far as I am aware there is no way in-game to tell a character's elemental affinity, such as knowing that Milana for example is good with water, fire and especially dark magic, but terrible with light, while Markus is actually good with light and dark. How are you supposed to know? Best way, as far as I can tell, is to take good note of what runes characters come equipped it.
  
• Shields don't feel like a huge factor, the majority of enemies don't have one to begin with, the ones who do but aren't bosses aren't strong enough to make it matter and even for the few times you want to disable an enemy's shield... Rock Thrust is a low level, cheap, Earth spell that absolutely shreds shields.
  
• This in turn also means that the different types of physical damage are largely irrelevant. When you select your characters, do you even pay attention to whether they deal slice, blunt or grapple damage and so on? I know I never did and I never had any issues with shielded enemies.
  
• In a similar vain to magic pretty much all "generic" skills, the ones you can manually equip, aren't worth using in my experience, because the SP cost often isn't worth the pay off. Even the unique character skills vary wildly in quality. Some have useless skills on them, while some others have actually have useful ones.
  
• As a result for many characters having rune slots dedicated to skills hinder their potential.
  
• Also as a result for a lot of characters the most effective way to use their turn is to simply "attack" with regular attacks.
  

Now besides regular combat there are two other kinds with their own flawed mechanics:

• Duels between two characters really feel more like a puzzle by making the correct choice based on what the characters are saying, however what I really dislike is how the current HP of a character is taken into such a duel, which nearly messed everything up for me during the final duel with Aldric. Marisa wasn't in my party and I didn't had her healed from the last time I used her, so when I suddenly had to face Aldric in a duel with Marisa she was already near defeat from the beginning.
  
• Speaking of which, it is kind of bizarre how characters that are not in your party do not heal, even when you are using an inn. This has caught me off guard quite a few times when the story made me pick certain characters and go into a fight, only to discover they still had low HP or MP from last time.
  
• Besides duels there are also the tactical battles which simulate war. These are cool on paper, but in practice most of your choices don't matter too much during these, especially given how often the story intervenes to change the battle around. I don't think there isn't a single fight until the very last where you simply have to straight up win without any gimmicks such as sudden allies, extra effects or changing the goal.
  
• Set up of your army never felt like it made a huge difference, despite me tinkering quite a lot with different army configurations.
  
• The shoulder button options, the damage boost and the one that prevents retreats, fill up too slow in my opinion. I think I've used the damage boost only once and the no retreat twice in the entire story.
  

As for Minigames:

• Fishing isn't very involved and doesn't feel like you actually get much out of it. After recruiting Huang I never bothered with it again.
  
• The card game was fine, on paper, but it feels like it is a game that is easy to optimized simply by having better cards. Higher rarity cards are simply always better than lower rarity cards. There is no real strategy involved and once your deck is sufficiently build up you simply brute force win most games. There are no real interactions between you and your opponent, so you can largely ignore what they do. At least you only have to buy a ton of cards and only win a single game to recruit the character locked behind it. (btw. missed opportunity to make Shixeen the character who throws cards like Shuriken, since Nowa thought Glen would do so, who in turn thought it ridiculous)
  
• Beigoma is one of the worst minigames I've ever seen in a game . From the moment it is introduced it is very hard to make adequate progress in it until much later in the game where you can grind better tops off certain enemies to simply brute force win your duels. The most "skill" required here is to time your attacks which leads you to some button smashing and hoping that this will deal enough damage to make a difference. I also hate how you are forced to play the third round even after the winner has already been decided. The questline is also one of the most tedious, forcing you to fight against filler NPCs to progress and having huge difficulty spikes. There is a reason many suggest putting it off as long as possible. Reid was the last character I had to recruit so I could get Leene.
  
• I don't even think Beigoma is unsalvageable though. For a sequel they should make it so you have more direct control over the tops (just say they have small rune lenses in them that react to its user's will), make them be built from different parts which you can win, buy or find and only make it go 1 round. For inspiration I would look at any actual Beyblade game or even at Yakuza 0's mini-race-car minigame.
  
• The egg racing minigame felt completely isolated, there is no reason to ever engage in it for better or worse. It reminded me of FF7's Chocobo breeding, but without any actual gameplay benefits.
  
• The cooking minigame is very unfun as well, because scoring felt very arbitrary, even when using a guide to try and appeal to the judge's preferences. The actual cooking is also only smashing the X button until your finger hurts.
  
• Outside the minigame I found cooking to be not useful as well, it provides you with healing items that have some buffs on them, but when trying them out I didn't find them useful enough to justify the effort.
  
• Really the whole cooking minigame should've instead be kind of like a "date" minigame. Nowa would talk to Kurtz and then invite a single character, any character, to have dinner with him. Kurtz would then bring a dish made for that other character and leave the two alone to talk. This could've had a lot of potential for fleshing out characters, how they see Nowa or how Nowa sees them, having them just bond a bit, have funny moments of awkwardness or even some ship-tease for the people who like that stuff. Basically I wished the cooking would've been kind of like the theater, but more character driven.
  
• Speaking of which, the Theater is brilliant and I am impressed how each character has lines for every role. I've had a lot of fun with it so far and am planning to try and see each character in each role. (according to ChatGPT this can be done within 114 performances, but who knows whether I described the problem correctly.)
  

Some other things to mention in regards to the castle/HQ and its upgrades and other general gameplay mechanics:

• Often it feels like many upgrades are for the sake of upgrades, because not too often does it feel like you actually get much out of something. Even when you upgrade shops they often only offer the kind of selection you would see at the latest location the story had you visit. It isn't until close to the end of the story where you are able to get some good pay off by having the best armor and best smith available to you.
  
• I wished instead of manual trading you would've been able to set up trading routes similar to how you set up Guild missions. You select a small party, perhaps with different roles such as a negotiator, a hauler and security, and then select locations to visit and what to buy or sell where. This could've given more use to the Guild stats of many characters, such as charisma, luck or strength.
  
• Appraisal seems severely underused, in my entire game I've used the appraisal service perhaps 4 times or so, because you very rarely find treasures that you have to identify first, even though that could've been kind of a fun mechanic. Money becomes rather trivial later on anyway though, so the value of treasure would've started to fall off.
  
• The Nr. 1 location I teleported to within the castle/HQ was the Castle F1 where you could talk to Carrie, Iris, Sumire and Ymir. Why is that not the first option in the teleportation menu? Why is the first option the main gate? Why would you ever teleport there? The second is the Pasturage area, why would I ever teleport there? The order of options in that menu is weird to me.
  

General Quality of Life stuff:

• The default walking speed is too slow and it can be outright painful to walk around certain areas without a boost. The dash boots should be the default speed. There is literally no good reason to make the default speed so slow, you are wasting your player's time.
  
• I genuinely love how you have support and attendant slots in your party so you can take plot critical characters with you without putting them into your party. However there were a few times when the game forces you to take 4 or more characters with you, forcing you to put some into your party. Iirc this was for example when you go into the Ice Cave to rescue the children.
  
• As for support slots, the usefulness of support characters seems all over the place, some are so useful you would never want to not pick them, but some are so useless you wonder why you would ever need them. For a sequel I would love to see 3 support slots just to give some room to take on some non-obvious choices.
  

Bugs

Eiyuden Chronicles is certainly no Bethesda game or Cyberpunk 2077, I actually didn't feel impeded by bugs for probably 90% of the time, which didn't mean they weren't there though.
The perhaps most common and basically omnipresent bug for me was gamepad-drifting, which for me was the game reading a constant input to move to the right until I input another direction. I had to fight with this a ton and at first I genuinely thought my gamepad was beginning to break down, but then I've read other threads on this subreddit and saw other people had similar issues.
The only other times I've encountered bugs was pretty consistently during cutscenes when things would progress without your input.
For example during the escape from Eltisweiss when Nowa and Seign had their duel there were moments when Seign said something and it would take up to about a minute before the scene continues, it would simply stop on a speech bubble with Seign and Nowa still being animated though, it's not like the game froze.
During the song when you recruit the Shark people I got stuck in an endless loop, which I didn't realize at first, I though the song was simply unreasonably long and repetitive... until about the 8th loop or so when I began looking online and found others having experienced the same issue. Luckily I could just skip the scene.
A similar thing happened during the escape from the castle after beating the game, just when Nowa's group meets up with Wayve's, the dialogue simply stopped on a speech bubble and I had to skip the entire scene to progress.
Though the absolute worst was the final duel against Aldric. It started off okay during Nowa's part, but as soon as Seign took over the game just went crazy. The sound effects became completely desynced from what was happening on screen. Animations would repeat, which even made me see characters twice. The camera swayed around drunkenly which made me miss stuff, like at one point Marisa was charging up and launching some attack, but the camera just zoomed in on Aldric and then on the empty ground behind Marisa. When the three protagonist attacks together to give Aldric the final blow, the whole scene played twice but without Aldric present the second time...
It was a complete fever dream that kind of ruined what should've been the big finale to the whole story.

Visuals and Audio

Here I actually have to praise the game the most, even if again it isn't without flaws.
The pixel art of the game is really good, I love the general aesthetic and how most things look. There isn't a single character or creature I thought looked bad.
However you do have this weird issue of... to be honest I don't know the proper term, texture pop-in perhaps? It's that textures which are further away are more blurry or something, then when you move closer they become sharp. This was something that is very noticeable in many areas of the game when you move around. There is a quite distinct and sharp cut-off point and it can look really weird to have the world slightly shift as you are moving or have shadows dance around and such.
As for the audio, the music is all around very serviceable, though I don't think any particular song stands out or would be something I would listen to on my own, though I realize this is very subjective of course.
As for voices, I played with the Japanese voices and was very positively surprised at how fantastic the casting is. If you are a fan of Anime you will even recognize many voices. Like it really seemed like they spared no expense here to get a stellar cast of professional and experienced voice actors, some characters having incredibly iconic voices.
This also makes the Theater even more of a treat.
One more criticism though... since I was playing with Japanese voices and am not fluent in Japanese I was mostly relying on the speech bubbles... and for the love of... please STOP with the shaky speech bubbles when characters were screaming, they were driving me crazy. There are many others ways to make speech bubbles more dynamic and to show a character is screaming. I absolutely hated this design choice.

The localization issue and controversy

Just around the game's launch it became apparent that the game would be localized by a company with people that had some weird ideas and even outright changed some of the dialogue.
Now... this is usually something I am very concerned about and it was disappointing to hear this when the controversy flamed up. Though it was never a deal breaker to me since I really was looking forward to this game for so long and I would've just criticized it harshly if it became a problem.
However... it's fine actually. The instances which really stand out where the localization is bad are actually pretty rare and very spread out. Mio's line about the Rune Golem's gender was probably the only line that made me roll my eyes.
So even I have to say that this actually wasn't a big issue at all, though I still do wish they go with a different option for the sequel.

Other small misc. notes on characters:

• I kind of liked Isha's hairstyle from Rising more.
  
• Mellore's design, especially her expression and little fang, always made me expect that she would be kind of bratty in a way, but she really wasn't at all.
  
• I am surprised that Lian is such a divisive character, with many thinking she is annoying. But this might really be due to a difference in voices. In the Japanese version she is very endearing and you can feel how much she cares for Nowa.
  
• On the flip side, I thought Alwe and Momo were a bit annoying. Awle's voice and personality was grating to me and Momo's voice required some getting use to. Though Alwe at least has a pretty awesome spammable 1SP AoE attack and Momo is just god-tier from the moment you get him.
  
• Speaking of which, Sumire was adorable and I hope we see her again in a seque. Her "Haii haii~" also reminded me of Xiao Pai from Rune Factory 4.
  

In Conclusion

As I said in the beginning, I did really enjoy playing through the game. It definitively scratched that itch of wanting to replay Suikoden II and have a fun turn-based jrpg, which is exactly what I wanted to get out of this.
So I am fully satisfied and the wait for the HD Remasters for Suikoden I+II has been made so much easier.
But the game has many many flaws. But I do think many can be ironed out with patches (the latest patch buffed characters, so buffs to magic, skills and hero combos should be on the table too) or can be done better in a sequel.
If you read all of this, thanks for spending the time.

Looking for the ones I mentioned in the title, please no hacked or genned pokemon, cloning is fine as long as the pokemon is legit. Most pokemon shown in the pictures were traded to me from a community or caught by me, all are legit, I can show proof on the mons info on the ones you're interested in. The one red marked out has already been traded.

Enhancing WooCommerce Checkout with Custom Fields

Customizing the checkout experience in WooCommerce not only enhances user interaction but also caters to specific business needs. By adding custom fields to the checkout process, businesses can collect additional information from their customers, tailor-made to their unique requirements. This customization becomes crucial when dealing with products or services that require more than the standard checkout details, such as personalized items or registrations for events.
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Custom Checkout Fields Explained

Function	Description
get_specific_cart_item_quantity	Calculates the quantity of a specific product in the cart, identified by its product ID.
add_custom_checkout_fields	Adds custom fields to the checkout page based on the quantity of a certain product in the cart.
validate_custom_checkout_fields	Validates the input from the custom checkout fields before order submission.
save_custom_checkout_fields	Saves the custom field data as custom order metadata upon order creation.

Implementing Custom Fields in Checkout

PHP in the context of WooCommerce

 
Validating Custom Fields
 Using PHP for WooCommerce Validation
 
 
Saving Custom Field Data
 PHP Scripting for WooCommerce Actions
 
 
Enhancing WooCommerce Emails with Custom Checkout Fields
 Integrating custom checkout fields into WooCommerce email notifications is a powerful way to personalize and enrich the communication with customers. This customization allows for a more detailed transaction record, providing both the customer and the business with important information that goes beyond the standard order details. Implementing these custom fields requires a deep understanding of WooCommerce's hook system and the ability to manipulate email templates to include dynamic data. The ultimate goal is to ensure that every piece of relevant information, collected at the checkout, is accurately reflected in the emails sent to both parties. This level of detail not only improves the customer experience by keeping them well-informed but also aids in the internal management of orders, ensuring that all necessary details are at hand for processing and customer service.
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Answer: Yes, it's possible to conditionally display custom fields based on the cart contents by using conditional logic in your function that adds the custom fields to the checkout.
 
 
Streamlining WooCommerce Checkout and Email Communication
 Customizing the checkout process in WooCommerce by adding custom fields and incorporating these fields into email notifications represents a significant enhancement to both the customer experience and the backend order processing workflow. This approach allows businesses to capture and utilize specific information from their customers, ensuring that every detail, from personal preferences to critical order specifics, is communicated effectively. Implementing these customizations requires a solid understanding of WooCommerce's architecture, including its hook system and email template structure. However, the effort pays off by enabling more personalized customer interactions and streamlined order management. Through careful integration of custom fields into WooCommerce emails, businesses can significantly improve their operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. It is a strategy that, while technical in nature, yields substantial benefits in terms of enhanced communication and data handling, underscoring the importance of adapting eCommerce platforms to meet specific business requirements.
 https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/woocommerce/integrating-custom-woocommerce-checkout-fields-into-email-notifications 
 

hello ! i am stress testing a lot of dragging actions in a card game for pc, and i noticed that on func _on_gui_input(event): using: if Input.is_action_pressed("leftclick"): ... compared to if event is InputEventMouseButton and event.button_index == MOUSE_BUTTON_LEFT:
if event.pressed: ...
gives very different results.
the 1st method is very responsive on grabbing stuff (in this case cards) but sometimes doesnt get the drops right. whilst the 2nd method is less responsive on grabbing stuff (if you are very fast) but gets the drops right seemingly all the time. This is the only thing changed in the code to test responsiveness of both methods obvs..
Has anyone else noticed this ? and what did you chose to go with in your game ! ?

Hi,
I sometimes hear from other gamedevs that they avoid engines because they prefer a "code first" approach.
Thus I'd like to present the way I work with Godot, using almost only code.
By that I mean this:

• I basically have a single empty main "scene"
• all nodes are fully defined and instantiated from code.

I'm using C#, and when defining node trees I make heavy use of extension methods, to make the nodes configuration more compact and I believe easier to read (at least for me - you will tell me :) )
To make this more concrete, here a (fake) sample of some UI code instantiating a few nodes:
``` // A pannel with a title and two buttons vertically aligned public class MyTestPanel: PanelContainer { public MyTestPanel(string title) // Not a scene; I don't need parameterless constructor ! { var vbox = new VBoxContainer() .SetSeparator(15); // SetSeparator is an extension method, I let you guess what it does

 new Label() .WithTxt(title) // WithTxt is an extension method, which just does what you think and allows one-liners. .SetFont(GobFont.SmallTitle) // another extension method .SetFontColor(Colors.Red) // ... .AsChildOf(vbox); // equivalent to vbox.Addchild(label). But this way I don't even need a variable name for this label new DoStuffButton(OnButton1, "Button 1") // custom subclass of button which connects to the action I pass as parameter .AsChildOf(vbox) .SetLayoutAndFlags(LayoutPreset.TopRight); // aligning to the right new DoStuffButton(OnButton2, "Exit ") .AsChildOf(vbox) .SetLayoutAndFlags(LayoutPreset.TopRight); vbox.WrapInMarginsContainer(20) // puts vbox ina margin container and returns the margin container .AsChildOf(this); // finally adding vbox to the scene } void OnButton1() => GD.Print("hello"); void OnButton2() => this.GetTree().Quit(); 

}
// empty placeholder scene for testing -- here I have a tscn file in the editor, refering to this script and containing nothing else. public class TestScene : Control { public TestScene() { this.SetTheme(); this.RectMinSize = new Vector2(1920, 1080);

 new MyTestPanel("My test panel title") // class defined belows .AsChildOf(this) // adding it to the tree .SetLayoutAndFlags(LayoutPreset.Center); // and centering it } 

} ``` ( Result here: https://imgur.com/yv44cBI )
Of course this is just a dummy example; if you really want to see what kind of game I'm making this way (spoiler alert: with goblins and silly quest)you can have a look to my steam page (and we are between devs - I know you're not here for that; but I don't need to explain you why wishlisting would help me ;) )
Reasons why I mostly do not use the editor
Of course, you may wonder why I work this way. The main answer could be summarised as "personal preferences", but here are some more argumented reasons. Please note here that I'm not saying you should not use the editor!! These are just the reasons why I'm * personnally * more confortable working this way.
Scene refactoring Quite often, I will want to make a new "scene" which has strong similarities to another already defined scene.
With my code-only approach, a "scene" is only a subclass of some kind of node, it is quite easy to either extract a base abstract class and make two concrete subclasses, or to extract some components or function to reuse. When I tried working with the editor, my experience trying to refactor one scene in two similar subscenes was less good.
No magic strings well, when I see code like this.GetNode("some_magic_name"); my eyes cry. Indeed, with the structure of the scene defined in the editor, changes to this scructure will require to change the code; I find this just difficult to maintain.
the same thing goes with signals: for a custom signal, I can write something like: public const string _signaWithMeaningVariableName = "whatever_string_I_dont_care"; this.Connect(_signaWithMeaningVariableName, targetNode, nameof(OnSomeEventMethod)); I am never scared about renaming the signal or a method, because I know that there's nothing in some config file somewhere relying on this exact name.
No parameter-less constructors Most of my node subclasses require some parameters to be correctly instanciated.
I much prefer having all these parameters directly in the constructor, and since these nodes are not editor defined scene I just don't need a parameterless constructor.
Generated world Another reason why I'm not so much using the editor is that my game content is for a large part procedurally generated. I don't have "predefined" characters, or locations, tilemap, ... to put in the editor, they are all procedurally generated from code.
That was my "initial" reason for trying to work without the editor.
But once I got used to this code-only approach, I used it also for part of the game where this argument is not really valid, such as the game ui. (no my UI is not procedurally generated, I'm not that crazy yet : ).
And what about the drawbacks?
Well, obviously once in a while I would prefer to just click in the editor to correct some missplaced ui component than having to guess the right number of pixels and recompile :) For me, this is not enough to outbalance the reasons above why I prefer skipping the editor; but once again that's just personal preferences.
But here we arrive to what I believe is a very strong point of Godot: I can mix working 99.9% from code and once in a while use the editor !! I actually use it a bit to quickly load a scene difficult to reach from the game (making an empty test scene) , and I use it also for animations and particles.
Making animations. Ok, disclaimer here; animations are not my strong point. But I still use a few animations for my characters and enemies, and here I did use the editor to define these animations.
What's tre trick if I don't have scenes?
The sub tree I wanted to animate is made of a few sprites, with a structure like this: character root -- foot (Node2d) -- head (Node2d) -- body (Node2d) -- shield (Node2d) -- weapon (Node2d) -- AnimationPlayer ... plus tons of other subnodes irrelevant to the animation.
So I made a scene in the editor with an exact copy of sub tree above. In the editor I added some sprites below these node2ds to view what happens, defined the animations in the animation editor, and exported the animations as standalone resources files. After that, I can just load the animations from code on the code defined scene and it works. The only constraint for this to work is that I have to keep the same tree structure and node names in this "fake" scene and in my code. Since it is just one single scene, this was not really an issue.
To summarize, I really like the fact that Godot does not enforce using the editor, and is perfectly usable this way.
I hope this post will motivate "code first" to try godot, which I believe provides a lot of value even in this less usual workflow.

Hi,
I have a WIN2011 event shiny Raikou: OT: WIN2011 ID: 2071 How it was obtained: Self Redeemed WC Proof: https://imgur.com/a/cRGVcVM
I'm Looking for a self redeemed shiny Zacian from the 2021 distribution. Please provide proof you self redeemed if interested.

'way the wind blows' (idiom) - If a person tries to discover which way the wind blows/is blowing, they try to discover information about a situation, especially other people's opinions, before they take action (cambridge dictionary)
Battle looms in Meereen and in a last effort to free the Yunkish hostages (including Dany's beloved Daario) Barristan plots to release Quentyn's companions, Arch and Drink, alongside their Windblown hostages so they can blend in unnoticed back to the Yunkish camp with a secret mission. To 'speak with the queen's voice' and to promise the Tattered Prince that if he delivers the hostages unharmed and whole they will help him to claim Pentos. Its the city Tatters covets above all else, that which he grew up in but was forced to flee - escaping a mandated ascension to the position of Prince, which, despite its lofty imagery, is used more as a sacrificial figurehead for the magisters of Pentos (who spill the prince's blood to curry favor with the populace in times of strife).
But before Barristan orders his iconic charge into the Yunkish trebuchet line he dreads that he has placed the chances of his beleaguered forces at the mercy of fickle mercenaries...

The White Bull would have called it folly. He would have warned Barristan against trusting sellswords too. This is what it has come to, my queen, Ser Barristan thought. Our fates hinge upon a sellsword’s greed. Your city, your people, our lives … the Tattered Prince holds us all in his bloodstained hands.

And yet... a glimmer of hope arrives when he least expects it. What Barristan could not have foreseen is the landing of the Iron Fleet all the way from Weteros, crushing the Qartheen fleet in the bay and turning the tide. And reportedly (from a fan recount of the Barristan II reading) recognizing the Greyjoy kraken he shouts out gleefully

“It’s like Baelor Breakspear and Prince Maekar, the hammer and the anvil. We have them! We have them!”

And soon after this we hear that the Windblown have turned cloak to Dany's side as well, cutting down the Yunkish commander Gorzhak zo Eraz in an act of 'Pentoshi treachery'. Its a very optimistic note to end the teaser chapters on, and this has led to fans conjecturing on the future of Dany's new allies in a secure Meereen all the way to besieging Pentos. But... can we really trust the Tattered Prince's newfound loyalty? Or Barristan's triumph in Meereen?

Keeping Options Open

A lot of the insight into the Tattered Prince is buried within the Quentyn chapters, which maybe don't get reread by the fandom as much as they should in preparation for Winds being that it has all the seeming of a closed story, and even aside from that is a less celebrated pov in the already unpopular Meereenese arc. But I still believe there's solid insights and side characters setup in these chapters that may be important later.
The more you look into him I think the Tattered Prince emerges as a weasely and duplicitious character ("Tattered and twisty, what a rogue I am." by his own words) ... One of his most defining leadership traits that starts to emerge to me, aside from having zero leniency towards deserters, is that he rarely seems to commit to a side fully, always seemingly keeping his options open. Which is maybe not so strange for sellswords, a contract can't be collected if you end up on the losing side right? Tatters offers pretty similar advice to Quentyn "In this world, a man must learn to seize whatever gifts the gods chose to send him. That was a lesson I learned at some cost."
When we first see the Windblown in action it is for the very unsavory cause of driving thousands of starved and diseased Astapori carrying the pale mare towards Dany and Meereen at the behest of the Yunkai'i who don't want them seeking refuge in their own city. Yet despite the Windblown being under contract with the Yunkish Tatters also schemes to have his men appear to defect to Dany's side and to be taken in (which would allow him to feel out their options):

"… but if she does, what then? Are we spies? Assassins? Envoys? Are you thinking to change sides?" Caggo scowled. "That is for the prince to decide, Hungerford. Your part is to do as you are told." "Always." Hungerford raised his two-fingered hand. "Let us be frank," said Denzo D'han, the warrior bard. "The Yunkai'i do not inspire confidence. Whatever the outcome of this war, the Windblown should share in the spoils of victory. Our prince is wise to keep all roads open."

While in Meereen, Pretty Meris uses the chance to offer the Windblown to Dany in exchange for coin and the promise of Pentos. But Dany refuses... partly because she was unsure she'd ever even head back to Pentos, but also because Illyrio serves as a magister there and he helped arrange her marriage to Khal Drogo and gave her her dragon eggs "I will not repay that debt by giving his city to some sellsword. No."
This scene is important because when the Tattered Prince is offered Pentos later by Barristan, he must realize he is being offered something he knows Dany previously refused to agree to on principle. And with that you have to wonder if Tatters truthfully expects he can deliver Pentos or if he realizes Barristan is overpromising and desperate... maybe its like he tells Quentyn "[...]men who pay in promises should have at least the sense to promise more." Barristan's forces don't inspire too much confidence in succcess against the combined Yunkish and Volantene might at the moment, let alone eeking out enough survivors to topple the Free City... To add to the equation Tatters also hints that he doesn't believe Dany is still alive either "somewhere in the grasslands a dragon nibbles the tender flesh of Daenerys Targaryen." Which leaves out her dragons. But if didn't believe something was there, why do we see him defect later? Maybe Barristan did inspire something... though his defection does seem suspiciously timed with the landing of the ironborn and change in momentum on the battlefield.... so I kind of believe, in typical Tatters fashion, he may have just been playing both sides.
We can also look back at the last time Tatters was promised Pentos - as Quentyn hired him to help steal a dragon. Did he really commit to that cause believing Dorne could swing Pentos in his favor? I'm not sure... but Tatters does go along with it. Though... something also feels off about the Windblown's 'help' on this venture too.
For starters, the code word 'dog' that the is provided to get past the Brazen Beasts is bad intel. That's not clear immediately because when the first set of guards hear it they only exchange a look and leave... maybe they were just hesitant to attack this larger group of people after a long day so chose to ignore it? But the second time the passcode is used the serjeant immediately stiffens and orders them to be seized. In hindsight, 'dog' seems like it was maybe just improvised by Tatters on the Meereenese stereotype of eating dog as a delicacy and the Brazen Beasts' association with animals. It doesn't seem very similar to the actual code word from the Brazen Beasts we've seen before - 'Groleo', chosen in honor of the late admiral killed by the Yunkish. So I don't think Tatters was too concerned with avoiding violence going in. There's probably a dark story hidden in the background of the Brazen Beast costumes they acquired for the mission too (connected to the recent upsurge in violence by the Sons of the Harpy). Though Quentyn doesn't question it... ("Never ask the baker what went into the pie. Just eat.")
Also the cart the Windblown bring to supposedly carry the dragon is only a small butcher's cart that Archibald eyes sourly "Will that cart be big enough to hold a dragon?" And when Quentyn asks if they've brought sufficient chains, Pretty Meris promises they have 'enough for ten' concealed beneath the meat in the cart... though we never do see them, its hard to believe the chains would have been any more effective than the thick ones the dragons were breaking through already. And when things start to fall apart for Quentyn and Caggo Corpsekiller calls out to his men, that's when one of the Brazen Beasts starts to shoot the dragons with a crossbow. So we have to wonder, were the Windblown really there to help Quentyn? Or were they just using him as bait while they prepared to kill the dragons for the Yunkish allies? Keeping in mind this is right after the events of Daznak's Pit where anti-dragon sentiment was in full swing and Harghaz the Hero was being celebrated for trying to slay Drogon. In typical Tattered Prince fashion its probably both... he was willing to gamble and wanted to see if Quentyn could do it, but ultimately he had a backup plan.

The Cloak of the Betrayer

Your sellswords once served your foes, and once a man turns his cloak he will not scruple to turn it again. (- Barristan)

The Tattered Prince's defection in the Battle of Fire is hopeful sign for Barristan, but given what we've seen of his reliability we should maybe be cautious too. Tatters could easily swing to the side of a villain again if the tide of battle turns in the Yunkish favor once more. And even Arch and Drink's chances are looking pretty precarious at the moment...
Throughout our time with the Tattered Prince we've repeatedly heard of his notoriously dim view of deserters, doling out harsh punishments regardless of how justified the motive for deserting was. And Arch and Drink are deserters.. they may have gotten off free before, but it probably helped that they had a Prince of Dorne with them. Now they are going back empty-handed, alongside the Windblown they ratted out, carrying a message from Barristan with few assurances of safety. Has their luck ran out? Maybe the Windblown could use Archibald though, he's a strong fighter. But Gerris...
There's another cause of concern too... the Yunkish may not have revealed their full hand in battle yet. For one the Volantene fleet hasn't shown up yet, which is actually the main enemy force, though they may take some time to arrive as they were delayed en route by weather at sea. The Ironborn are also pretty unreliable - Victarion has prevoiusly plotted to only stay as long as it takes to bind the dragons and steal away Dany, that could shift the balance too. But perhaps the thing to watch out for near term is the 'big' dothraki khalasar that has been rumored to be allied with the Volantenes and yet to be be revealed.... (we've actually gotten quite a few hints of this ranging from Brown Ben to Benerro... and imo its probably Khal Pono's horde, who's had a hand in the slave trade and has reason to oppose Dany, and was seen traveling alongside the Volantene ships earlier by Tyrion assuming he misinterpreted that they were guarding against them). The Dothraki would best be served by striking at Dany's Unsullied as they form up (as Barristan thinks 'If the Yunkish commanders had any sense, they would send their horse thundering down on the eunuchs before they could form ranks, when they were most vulnerable.') But it all depends on the timing of their arrival from the Demon Road.
Regardless, the winds of fortune turning against Barristan at some point would create the perfect opportunity for a shifty sellsword captain to reasses his position... potentially betraying Barristan's cause and giving up his dubious promise of Pentos, giving Arch and Drink to Pretty Meris, and setting up a clash between the two veteran fighters, who almost seem to represent opposite sides of honor - one that's made his living a knight and a kingsguard, the other a rogue and an exile.
And if they do there is perhaps a checkhov's gun that we've neglected to mention so far..... the Tattered Prince's most iconic feature in battle, his ragged cloak 'made of twists of cloth of many colors, blue and grey and purple, red and gold and green, magenta and vermilion and cerulean, all faded by the sun. ' Its said that this cloak is made from strips of cloth torn from the surcoats of men he has slain. A dark scenario but could a strip of cloth be added to his cloak from someone we know before the end? Arch and Drink are surely contenders, but would their clothing be recognizable to anyone after they switched out their Dornish outfits for generic ones? When it comes to recognizable cloaks there's one tends to stand out. And Dany witnessing a strip of Barristan's bright white cloak on her return could serve as a dreadful symbol of Tatters' treachery.

TLDR This post explores the Tattered Prince, a shifty rogue sellsword captain who may play a crucial role in the Battle of Fire as either hero or villain. Tatters always seems to keep his options open in battle, playing both sides... and while he's on team Barristan now, a man that turns cloak once will not scruple to turn it again. He desires Pentos but the promise only goes so far as Tatters believes it can succeed. He also carries a notoriously dim view of deserters - which puts Arch and Drink in a precarious position now that they are heading back to him alongside the Windblown they previously sold out. The Winds chapters end on a high note, but it could be setting up a shift in the winds of fortune. If the Yunkish gain the upper hand again before the end of the fighting (say with the reveal of their rumored dothraki horde) the Tattered Prince may reassesss his position and betray Barristan, setting up a fight between these two veteran fighters representing opposite sides of life and honor. In one dark outcome Dany may come back and recognize a white strip of cloth added to his tattered cloak.....

Link.

Long time lurker, first time poster. Don't share my stuff, even if this is a burner.

Get fucked. This entire fictionalized story was written in the hopes that TikTok bots and YouTubers will read it.

My MIL is actually fine, just a clueless boomer. But she quickly fell in line when she realized her son picked someone with a backbone.

That's just code for "I'm a mouthy asshole."

Funny story, when my BIL and his wife were having their first, she was heading to the hospital. She said something about this was the first of who knows how many grandkid briths she would experience. I laughed and said, oh just as many as BIL and wife will give you because you won't be at the birth of any kid of mine. She scoffed and said my son has a say too. Without missing a beat, my DH was like oh no, it's her medical event, so I won't tell you when she goes into labor if she doesn't want me to. True gem.

I do not believe a man would ever say that without being coached first, because that particular verbiage is pretty much only used on Reddit. So I guess he's a "gem" in that he can regurgitate your speeches when you pull the string in his back, right?

Now my BIL's MIL is a whole different story. She's actually the bio aunt of my SIL. She adopted SIL at birth and lied to SIL for years about her actual parentage, until she decided to use the adoption as a weapon to hurt SIL when she was a "rebellious" teenager. SIL was fine, just smoked pot a couple of times at like 17. Nothing major. Aunt is just a piece of work.
Now my SIL and I have not always had an easy relationship. She had some serious issues that she won't acknowledge and then added kids to the mix. Then they moved back in with her 'mom' because SIL and BIL can't afford childcare or being a single income household. After the third was born, she was dealing with pretty serious PPD but she was safe person around her children. BIL tried so hard to help, but MIL was always in SIL's ear saying shit like SIL can't go to therapy or else she would get her kids taken away just like bio mom. I'm leaving out a lot for privacy, but it was awful and super hard to watch. We tried everything we could to get SIL help. There was so much conflict and tension in the family because we were so worried about SIL and the kids but no one knew what else to do.
Thankfully after time and moving out on their own, SIL and BIL are doing better. She found Jesus rather than going to therapy, so the root of the issues are not being addressed, but she's doing great, and now BIL is WFH. Her kids are also a bit older (12, 7, 6), so that's helping. But no one on our side has EVER confronted her mom in anyway all these years.

As a deconstructed Christian I internally roll my eyes at the whole, "I found Jesus and now I'm better" but the way that this OP wrote that is just offensive.

So onto the SUCCESS. I just had my first kid a few months ago. It's been rough, but manageable. We're 'older' parents and both have good jobs with benefits, so we've been able to both be at home a lot. My husband is an active dad, and he's more than competent to take care of our LO.

One of the hallmarks of a faker is the way that they make sure to separate themselves from the usual rabble in subs like JustNoMIL. They're older, they're making good money, OP has good enough mental health not to succumb to PPD like her Jesus Freak SIL, her DH has a shiny spine and is the best dad ever. No problems for this OP, she's the hero!

We were visiting my MIL a couple of weeks ago, when the cousins dropped by with their grandma. We are polite and this is the first time that BIL's MIL has met our baby. She immediately starts up with unsolicited advice. I can feel my blood pressure rise and side eye by husband. I'm not about to listen to this abusive woman tell me how to raise my kid. We make an excuse that babe needed to be fed and changed (also true). We thought that nasty MIL might leave while we were gone, but no. I just finished feeding babe, so dad did a quick change and walked back out to the common space with babe. I'm two-three paces behind.
Then she does it. She opens her mouth one more time. "Oh dumb daddy, that's not how you hold a baby. Have you tried..." When my normally cool, calm collected husband just looks at her dead in the eye and says "Have you ever just tried shutting the fuck up?"

If it ended here I could almost see that actually happening. But no, dear reader, OP can't let her HUSBAND have the good one liner!

And ofc, all hell breaks loose. She looks at me, like I'm on her side. What the actual fuck? No, I fucking hate you lady. Not only are you a terrible human to your daughter, but you're a snobby bitch who never gave me the time of day until you realized where I went to college and who I work for. 🤮

That last line is another subtle dig at being better than her in-laws.

"Are you just going to let him talk to me that way?" Yes, I think he accurately represented our feelings on the matter. We don't allow sexist shit around our kid. And we certainly don't take advice from abusers. Do you need any further clarity on your cuntery?

And there it is, the line that confirmed that literally none of this happened.

She didn't know that we knew EVERYTHING. I've never seen someone shrink down so small in my life. She really thought she was academy award winning level and she fooled us all. 😂
Thankfully the two little kids didn't hear anything. The 12 year old heard, but she sees it. She knows grandma can be bossy and has commented that she doesn't like how grandma treats her mom. But I'm pretty sure it's the first time she's heard someone called the c-word so I'm probably not winning any aunt of the year awards. 🤦🏻‍♀️

I imagine you fucking suck to be around in general so that kid probably already has a list of reasons not to like you.

It's been weeks now, and she only just mentioned the 'incident' to BIL and SIL and did so in passing. I hope that acknowledging that we know who she is will help keep her in check for the foreseeable future... we shall see.

So yeah, that happened.

Welcome to the /pokemontrades Scarlet and Violet Daily Casual Trade Thread!

This thread is for competitive/casual trades, and tradebacks, in Scarlet and Violet.
Do not trade, or tradeback, shiny or event Pokémon or event serial codes in this thread.
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Stay alert, and happy trading!

I was in an emotionally abusive relationship which I didn't realize until it was too late. I saw all the red flags, his bouts of anger, unpredictable reactions to the same situation, throwing things, throwing things at me, breaking walls, blaming me in all that. But there were so many good moments that I actually took the blame most of the time because I thought that since he can be that extremely good to me, it must be me who's doing something wrong. Took me a while to recognize it as abusive, learn about the cycle of abuse, boundaries, trauma bond and all those words that everyone throws around for the last few years (yes, narcissistic abuse, gaslighting and so on). I am embarrassed about the fact that I tried to break up with him for 2 years and wasn't able to get out. Basically, I broke up with him but he refused to accept it and bullied me for the next two years. We kept living in the same house but different rooms. It is crazy to me that it took me so long to actually stand my ground firmly and finish what I started. I had undiagnosed major depression most of that time. Once I got diagnosed and got prescribed meds half a year ago, I am finally getting out. I now am extremely embarrassed to even think that I wasted 2 years in constant fear and anxiety, feeling trapped in my own house and just wishing everything to stop. I didn't have any social support, there was nowhere to go. We moved to another city far away so I had no one here. It took time to find some friends. It is especially hard when all your steps are being controlled. And not very many people want to be friends with a person who's being abused it turns out /s.
Anyway, this is not what I want to take off my chest. 3.5 years ago my ex and I started hanging out with some of his co-workers. And we all became very good friends. One of his best friends grew especially close to us. He'd come to our place almost every other week, and we'd hang out somewhere else other days, go camping, hiking and all that. The only time I felt safe around my ex was when that friend was around. Let's call him G. I liked chatting with G. It was like a gulp of fresh air. I finally felt heard and understood. He'd finish my sentences when I'd struggle to find the right word (English is not my first language), and that was exactly what I meant. This has never happened with other people. Sometimes I try to explain something and unless I find the right words myself, the person can't always figure out what's the point that I'm trying to make. I digress.
He also had quite a bit of knowledge in psychology (one of my biggest interests), he liked horror (and knew about my favorite movie of which not very many people heard), he read books. Basically, he had everything I lacked in my relationship. The depth of conversations, my god, I missed that so much. He would tell me we were similar. I slowly started realizing that the problem might have not been me. I tried very hard to learn how to communicate with my ex. I read countless of books on relationships and communication and it still felt like I couldn't get through to him. He just didn't seem to understand what actions of his were making my life hell. So, when I started getting closer with G. I realized that I'm fine and there are two people in a conversation. And if you say that something hurts you, you can expect the person to stop his hurtful behaviour and not question your sanity instead.
(I'm writing all this and I can't believe it was me who went through all of this with so little self worth and non-existent boundaries. I am so embarrassed.)
Anyway, you can probably figure that I started crushing hard on G. But I couldn't admit it even to myself. I am a good person, I don't cheat so I shoved it and tried to be a good friend to him while still trying to bend backwards to make it work with my ex. And it seemed to me that we were getting closer as friends with G. I confided in him. I know, he wasn't my friend but I was constantly stressed and lonely in my struggle, and were trying to find someone to talk to. We had a few phone calls, he told me that I could call him any time if I needed anything at all and he'd drop everything for me and will listen. I was telling him that I wanted to get out but I was scared because there was nobody in the whole world to give me at least a little bit of support. And my ex gets so angry and unruly sometimes that I couldn't even imagine starting pulling it off on my own. G. said that he'd be there for me, "will I just disappear?" he said. That gave me some reassurance that I actually could rely on him.
That was the second last time I saw him. He went silent after that for about one month. I can't remember what I felt then but I was afraid of being rejected so I let it be for about a month. My ex and him stopped being friends, I'm not sure about the nature of their conflict and what exactly happened between them. I missed him a lot. I was so used to him being around that now not only I never felt safe anymore, I also lost a dear friend I thought I finally found. After a month I reached out and to my surprise he replied and we went for a coffee. The conversation felt so forced that I knew that this was the last time I saw him. Even though he left saying something that implied that we will continue to be in touch. We didn't. I reached out another 2-3 times by text in the next 6-7 months. He replied after a day or two. Last time I texted him on the day I finally told my ex that it's over. I asked something stupid and never mentioned what happened. He never replied. That was it. It was 2 years ago. He moved to a different city. I've been replaying the warm little memories of us spending time together ever since. It felt so genuine that it honestly left me confused. One day he was there for me and then he disappeared from my life like I was nobody. And I don't know how to finally let it go and accept the void it left in me. How to drop the hope of reconnecting and snap out of the stupid fantasy land.
Those little memories, though, helped me to escape the reality I was in for the past 2 years. But now I feel like they served their purpose and it's time to let go. I'm not even sure he remembers my name at this point. I also realized today that between the first time I met him and the last time I saw him was less than a year time. But it was so full of events that it felt longer. But the most embarrassing part is that I'm thinking about him on and off for more time now than I've known him.
I am now 33. I don't think I will meet anyone who I can feel the same way. Safe. Understood and heard. This connection I felt was very different from the connection I have with everyone else. Even my psychologist doesn't make me feel heard to that extent. Anyway, the thing that I actually wanted to get off my chest is that I was emotionally cheating on my ex. I was definitely flirting with G. even though it felt like a friendly banter at the time since I knew that it was safe to be myself around him because nothing was possible between us. And I don't know how to live with all this. I am very sorry.

In the realm of mental health, we often search for that one piece of advice that can act as a guiding light, something that cuts through the fog of anxiety and uncertainty. For me, the single most transformative piece of mental health advice I've ever received revolves around the acceptance of what we cannot control.
Imagine this scenario: you've just had a stellar job interview. You need and want this job badly. You worked hard to prepare, and you walked out feeling confident. But now, as the days drag on without a response, anxiety starts to creep in. You find yourself worrying incessantly, replaying the interview in your head, scrutinizing every word and gesture. The uncertainty gnaws at you.
Here's where the advice comes in: anxiety is a preparation for handling some bad event in the future. It's your mind trying to equip you for a potential negative outcome. But here's the catch—you can't control the outcome. The decision is out of your hands. So why worry about it?
This nugget of wisdom emphasizes a profound truth: anxiety stems from the illusion that we have control over the future. We often believe that if we worry enough, plan enough, or think enough, we can influence the outcome. But the reality is, life is like a train on a predetermined track, and while we can influence some aspects of our journey, we cannot control everything. Once we accept this, we can start to let go of unnecessary worries.

Control Your Thoughts, Control Your Life

The Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) triangle teaches us that our thoughts dictate our emotions and behaviors. This means that by controlling our thoughts, we can influence how we feel and act. This piece of advice is incredibly empowering: control your thoughts, control everything else. It sounds simple, yet it can be profoundly life-changing.
By consciously redirecting negative, anxious thoughts towards more positive, constructive ones, we can change our emotional responses and behaviors. For example, instead of fixating on "What if I don't get the job?", you can shift to "I've done my best, and whatever happens, I'll find a way forward."

The Power of Physical Activity

Never underestimate the power of exercise. It's criminally underrated as a mental health booster. Engaging in physical activity, whether it's playing a sport, jumping rope, or even taking a brisk walk, can significantly reduce anxiety and improve your mood. Just 15 to 30 minutes can make a world of difference. The endorphins released during exercise are natural mood lifters, helping to alleviate stress and anxiety.

Establish Healthy Boundaries

Leave work at work. This simple yet powerful piece of advice helps create a clear boundary between your professional and personal life. It's essential to allow yourself time to unwind and recharge, free from the pressures and stresses of work. This also extends to other habits: watch your sleep routines, limit screen time (especially on social media), and be mindful of smoking or drinking habits. Healthy routines foster a healthier mind.

Avoid Imaginary Arguments

Stop having imaginary arguments in your head, especially with people who aren’t even there. This habit not only fuels anxiety but also creates unnecessary mental stress. Redirect that energy towards something constructive or calming.

The Elusive Pursuit of Happiness

A crucial lesson in mental health is recognizing that happiness is not a destination but a state of mind. You'll never be happy if you always think happiness is elsewhere. Learn to find joy in the present moment and appreciate what you have. This shift in perspective can be incredibly liberating.

Embrace Creativity

Engage in creative activities. Whether it’s writing, painting, playing music, or any other form of creative expression, these activities can be therapeutic. They provide an outlet for your emotions and a way to channel your thoughts into something tangible and positive.

Conclusion: Embrace the Journey

In conclusion, the most effective piece of mental health advice I've ever received is about embracing the lack of control we have over certain aspects of life. Anxiety often stems from the desire to control the uncontrollable. By accepting this and focusing on what we can control—our thoughts, actions, and responses—we can navigate life's uncertainties with greater peace and resilience. Remember, life is a journey, and learning to enjoy the ride, despite its ups and downs, is the key to lasting happiness and mental well-being.

I have two Github actions one for auto formating and another for linting:

Auto lint

``` name: Lint Changed Files
on: pull_request: types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
jobs: lint: name: Lint Changed Files runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps: - name: Checkout code uses: actions/checkout@v2 - name: Set up Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v3 with: node-version: '20' - name: Install pnpm run: npm install -g pnpm - name: Install dependencies run: pnpm install - name: Get changed files id: changed-files run: echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}" > base_sha.txt echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}" > head_sha.txt git diff --name-only $(cat base_sha.txt) $(cat head_sha.txt) > changed_files.txt - name: Create lint script for changed files run: # Read the list of changed files changed_files=$(cat changed_files.txt) # Initialize an empty array to hold files to be linted files_to_lint=() # Loop over each changed file for file in $changed_files; do # Add JS/TS files to the list if [[ $file == *.js $file == *.ts $file == *.tsx $file == *.cjs $file == *.mjs $file == *.astro $file == *.spec.ts $file == *.mdx ]]; then files_to_lint+=($file) fi done # Create a temporary lint script if there are files to lint if [ ${#files_to_lint[@]} -eq 0 ]; then echo "No JavaScript or TypeScript files were changed." > lint.sh else echo "pnpm run lint:check -- ${files_to_lint[@]}" > lint.sh fi chmod +x lint.sh - name: Run linter on changed files run: ./lint.sh 

```

Auto format

``` name: Autoformat Changed Files
on: pull_request: types: [opened, synchronize, reopened]
jobs: autoformat: name: Autoformat Changed Files runs-on: ubuntu-latest

steps: - name: Checkout code uses: actions/checkout@v2 - name: Set up Node.js uses: actions/setup-node@v3 with: node-version: '20' - name: Install pnpm run: npm install -g pnpm - name: Install dependencies run: pnpm install - name: Get changed files id: changed-files run: echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.base.sha }}" > base_sha.txt echo "${{ github.event.pull_request.head.sha }}" > head_sha.txt git diff --name-only $(cat base_sha.txt) $(cat head_sha.txt) > changed_files.txt - name: Create format script for changed files run: # Read the list of changed files changed_files=$(cat changed_files.txt) # Initialize an empty array to hold files to be formatted files_to_format=() # Loop over each changed file for file in $changed_files; do # Add JS/TS files to the list if [[ $file == *.js $file == *.ts $file == *.tsx $file == *.cjs $file == *.mjs $file == *.astro $file == *.spec.ts $file == *.mdx ]]; then files_to_format+=($file) fi done # Create a temporary format script if there are files to format if [ ${#files_to_format[@]} -eq 0 ]; then echo "No JavaScript or TypeScript files were changed." > format.sh else echo "pnpm run format -- ${files_to_format[@]}" > format.sh fi chmod +x format.sh - name: Run formatter on changed files run: ./format.sh - name: Commit formatted changes run: git config --global user.name 'github-actions[bot]' git config --global user.email 'github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com' git add . git commit -m 'Autoformat changed files' echo "No changes to commit" git push origin HEAD:${{ github.head_ref }} 

```
When running these two with Act and github actions they fail with the error:
``` [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ✅ Success - Main Install dependencies [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ⭐ Run Main Get changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] 🐳 docker exec cmd=[bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail /varun/act/workflow/changed-files] user= workdir= [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ✅ Success - Main Get changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ⭐ Run Main Create lint script for changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] 🐳 docker exec cmd=[bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail /varun/act/workflow/5] user= workdir= [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ✅ Success - Main Create lint script for changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ⭐ Run Main Run linter on changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] 🐳 docker exec cmd=[bash --noprofile --norc -e -o pipefail /varun/act/workflow/6] user= workdir= ./lint.sh: line 1: No: command not found [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] ❌ Failure - Main Run linter on changed files [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] exitcode '127': command not found, please refer to https://github.com/nektos/act/issues/107 for more information [Lint Changed Files/Lint Changed Files ] 🏁 Job failed
[run-tests/format changed files ] ❓ ::endgroup:: [run-tests/format changed files ] ❓ add-matcher /run/act/actions/actions-setup-node@v4/.github/tsc.json [run-tests/format changed files ] ❓ add-matcher /run/act/actions/actions-setup-node@v4/.github/eslint-stylish.json [run-tests/format changed files ] ❓ add-matcher /run/act/actions/actions-setup-node@v4/.github/eslint-compact.json [run-tests/format changed files ] ✅ Success - Main actions/setup-node@v4 [run-tests/format changed files ] ⚙ ::set-output:: node-version=v20.14.0 [run-tests/format changed files ] ⚙ ::add-path:: /opt/hostedtoolcache/node/20.14.0/arm64/bin [run-tests/format changed files ] ⭐ Run Main actions/checkout@v4 [run-tests/format changed files ] 🐳 docker cp src=/Users/ekrich/git/eTech-UI/. dst=/Users/ekrich/git/eTech-UI npm error code ENOTEMPTY npm error syscall rename npm error path /opt/hostedtoolcache/node/20.14.0/arm64/lib/node_modules/pnpm npm error dest /opt/hostedtoolcache/node/20.14.0/arm64/lib/node_modules/.pnpm-i4BzBorb npm error errno -39 npm error ENOTEMPTY: directory not empty, rename '/opt/hostedtoolcache/node/20.14.0/arm64/lib/node_modules/pnpm' -> '/opt/hostedtoolcache/node/20.14.0/arm64/lib/node_modules/.pnpm-i4BzBorb' npm error A complete log of this run can be found in: /root/.npm/_logs/2024-06-08T03_31_06_800Z-debug-0.log [Autoformat Changed Files/Autoformat Changed Files] ❌ Failure - Main Install pnpm [Autoformat Changed Files/Autoformat Changed Files] exitcode '217': failure [Autoformat Changed Files/Autoformat Changed Files] 🏁 Job failed [run-tests/format changed files ] ✅ Success - Main actions/checkout@v4 [run-tests/format changed files ] ⭐ Run Main pnpm install ```
Any idea what is wrong here? Is there a pre-made action I can use instead? I've tried using actions/changed-files but that doesn't work either.
Refrences I've looked at but still had no luck in: - https://stackoverflow.com/questions/74265821/get-modified-files-in-github-actions - https://github.com/marketplace/actions/github-action-auto-format

Automating Your Workflow with Google Apps Script

Delving into the realm of Google Apps Script offers a plethora of opportunities to enhance productivity and automate repetitive tasks, especially when dealing with Google Sheets. One common challenge many face is keeping track of updates or the lack thereof in their spreadsheets, particularly when collaboration is involved. Ensuring that every cell in a specific range is filled out can be crucial for data integrity and completeness. However, manually checking these cells daily is not only time-consuming but also prone to human error. This is where scripting comes into play, offering a solution that can automate the process of monitoring and notification.
Imagine a scenario where you need to send out an email reminder at a specific time each weekday if any cells within a designated range remain blank. Not only does this requirement call for a check on the spreadsheet's state, but it also involves scheduling and email automation — a perfect use case for Google Apps Script. This task might seem daunting to those unfamiliar with scripting or coding. Yet, the ability to write a script that automates email notifications based on cell content (or the lack thereof) can significantly streamline operations, ensuring that all team members are promptly informed about the data entries pending their attention.

Command/Function	Description
SpreadsheetApp.openById()	Opens a spreadsheet by its ID.
getSheetByName()	Gets a sheet within a spreadsheet by name.
getRange()	Gets a range of cells within a sheet.
getValues()	Retrieves the values of the cells in a range.
MailApp.sendEmail()	Sends an email with the given subject and body.

Enhancing Productivity with Google Apps Script

Google Apps Script stands out as a powerful tool for automating and integrating various Google Workspace applications, including Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Gmail, among others. It is particularly adept at simplifying complex tasks through automation, thereby boosting efficiency and productivity. One of the common use cases involves automating email notifications based on specific triggers within Google Sheets, such as the presence of blank cells in a predefined range. This capability is invaluable for project managers, educators, and teams who rely on up-to-date information to make informed decisions. By automating reminders or alerts, stakeholders can promptly address data gaps without the need for constant manual checking, which is both time-consuming and error-prone.
The process of setting up an automation script in Google Apps Script involves a few key steps. Initially, one must identify the trigger – in this case, blank cells within a specific range of a Google Sheet. The script can then be configured to run at predetermined intervals, such as daily or at a specific time, using Google Apps Script's time-driven triggers. This flexibility allows for the customization of notification schedules to fit various project needs or working hours. Furthermore, integrating the script with Gmail enables the automatic sending of emails to designated recipients, providing a seamless way to communicate and prompt action. As a result, teams can maintain the integrity of their data with minimal manual intervention, leading to more efficient operations and better outcomes.

Script for Checking and Emailing on Blank Cells

Google Apps Script

function checkAndSendEmails() { var spreadsheet = SpreadsheetApp.openById("yourSpreadsheetIdHere"); var sheet = spreadsheet.getSheetByName("Sheet1"); var range = sheet.getRange("D22:G35"); var values = range.getValues(); var emailsRange = spreadsheet.getSheetByName("Sheet1").getRange("B41:G51"); var emails = emailsRange.getValues().flat().filter(String); var blankCells = false; var timeCell; for (var i = 0; i < values.length; i++) { if (values[i].includes("")) { blankCells = true; timeCell = sheet.getRange(i + 22, 2).getValue(); break; } } if (blankCells) { var subject = "Please fill out points for " + sheet.getName() + " " + timeCell; var body = "There are not any points put in for " + sheet.getName() + " on " + timeCell + ". Please put in points for this time and date.\nThis is an automated message. Please do not reply."; emails.forEach(function(email) { MailApp.sendEmail(email, subject, body); }); } } 

Streamlining Operations with Automated Email Alerts

Automating email alerts through Google Apps Script is a powerful strategy for enhancing operational efficiency within organizations. By leveraging scripts, users can automate various tasks, including sending out notifications based on specific conditions within Google Sheets. This automation is especially beneficial in environments where timely communication and data accuracy are paramount. For example, project management teams can use automated emails to notify members of incomplete tasks or deadlines, while HR departments might set up scripts to alert managers about upcoming performance reviews or document submissions.
The true power of Google Apps Script lies in its integration with Google Workspace, enabling the creation of custom workflows that fit the unique needs of each team or project. Beyond just sending email notifications, scripts can be developed to manipulate spreadsheet data, manage calendar events, or even interact with other Google services, creating a highly interconnected ecosystem. The ability to trigger scripts based on time or events within a Google Sheet—such as updating a cell or adding a new row—allows for real-time responses to data changes, ensuring that teams are always informed and can react promptly to new information.

Frequently Asked Questions About Google Apps Script Email Automation

1. Question: Can Google Apps Script send emails automatically?
2. Answer: Yes, Google Apps Script can automatically send emails using the MailApp or GmailApp services, triggered by specific conditions in Google Sheets or other Google Workspace applications.
3. Question: How do I schedule a script to run at a specific time?
4. Answer: Scripts can be scheduled to run at specific intervals using time-driven triggers in the Google Apps Script editor under Edit > Current project's triggers.
5. Question: Can I send an email to multiple recipients with Google Apps Script?
6. Answer: Yes, you can send an email to multiple recipients by specifying their email addresses separated by commas in the "to" parameter of the sendEmail method.
7. Question: Is it possible to customize the email content based on spreadsheet data?
8. Answer: Absolutely, you can dynamically customize the email content by incorporating data from your Google Sheets into the email body or subject, using script logic to personalize messages.
9. Question: Can automated emails include attachments?
10. Answer: Yes, emails sent through Google Apps Script can include attachments. You can attach files from Google Drive or other sources using the advanced options in the sendEmail method.

Empowering Teams with Automated Google Sheets Monitoring

Implementing Google Apps Script for automated email notifications based on cell activity in Google Sheets exemplifies how automation can significantly enhance operational efficiency and data management. This approach is particularly valuable in collaborative environments where the timely completion of tasks and the accuracy of data are critical. By automating the monitoring process and email alerts, teams can avoid the pitfalls of manual checks, ensuring that all members are promptly informed about necessary updates or actions. Furthermore, the customization capabilities of Google Apps Script allow for tailored communication, making it a versatile tool for various project needs. Ultimately, embracing automation in these processes not only fosters a more productive and error-free working environment but also enables team members to focus on more strategic tasks, driving overall project success.
https://www.tempmail.us.com/en/script/automating-email-notifications-for-unfilled-google-sheets-cells

Boys: Justin, Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK
Episode 18: The Aftermath III: Cutting to the Chase
In place of the standard introductory recap, the episode was opened by the now-familiar theme of the TDA Aftermath show. The logo formed and gleamed in the artificial light, and the 'D' popped forward with its usual camera-shutter sound effect.
Clip 1
"We're ready! Uno, dos, tres!!!" Izzy chanted and eagerly pushed the plunger down.
Almost immediately, a chaotic series of explosions were set off all around the base. They were accompanied by hectic and disjointed notes in the background music, and the host and other four Gaffers were shown cringing with their fingers in their ears. Eventually the explosions stopped, the dust settled, and everyone except Izzy leaned past the paint-splattered wall with curious expressions.
The camera then showed Izzy's paint pattern from another angle – it took the shape of the host's own grinning face.
The 'D' retreated briefly, then popped back out again before the next clip was shown.
Clip 2
"Don't worry. You'll be the hottest cave girl here!" Chase told his girlfriend.
"I don't want to wear animal skins, but your compliment is already lifting my spirits up," Millie smiled back and pecked his cheek with a kiss.
The 'D' repeated its standard motion, retreating briefly before popping back out as a transition to the next clip.
Clip 3
“Relationship with Chase aside, I don’t really think you’re that cute,” Millie said to Justin. “Why else did I not want to kiss you in that challenge?”
For a fourth and final time, the logo's 'D' performed its transitional sequence.
Clip 4
"This challenge was built for me!" Chase boasted in the make-up trailer. “No puzzles or tricks. Just me dribbling a ball and slam dunking! Swish!"
The 'D' was shown again, now as a signal of the recap's end.
(Theme Song)
The Aftermath intro sequence played again, fading this time into the show's stage as the crowd cheered wildly. "Hey everyone!" Damien greeted from the center couch, Priya on his left and the filled-up Peanut Gallery to Priya's left. "We're back for another Total Drama Action Aftermath Show! I'm Damien," the nervous wreck waved at the camera as it came in for a close-up.
"And I'm Priya," the reality TV fan added with a smile as the shot panned over to her. "A lot has happened since last time.”
“We've lost some serious competitors,” Damien said. “There's Izzy," the shot cut to the screen hanging above the hosts where the wild child's smiling portrait was displayed while the crowd applauded.
"What happened to her was mind-blowing!" Priya interjected.
"Then we got Millie," Damien added to more applause as the author's face moved Izzy’s out of the way. "She was doing so well too."
"And we can't forget Chase!" Priya said, the audience cheering once more as the hanging screen's picture changed to that of the daredevil. "All will be with us here today!"
"Not to mention our friends from last season," Damien added as the camera moved back to the hosts, "and the ones who already lost this time." The camera panned to the Peanut Gallery, where Rodney, Katie, Sadie, Brick, Trent, and Sky sat in front; Sam, Gwen, Eva, Geoff, Scott, and Izzy sat in back; and all smiled and waved for the camera and cheering audience.
“Even though we lost Izzy again, she's already been a guest, so she won't take the hot seat today!” Priya reminded everybody.
“So for the first time, we'll only be interviewing two people this episode,” Damien added.
"You know," Priya leaned towards the camera and audience, "Damien and I have been having a bit of a squabble over what you guys want to see increase ratings."
Damien frowned. "I know that this is a reality show and everyone wants to know what went down, but the people that competed on TDA have already been tortured by Chris!” he claimed. “Add in losing out on a million bucks and they should be able to come here and feel safe to speak their minds."
“No one goes on a reality show to feel safe, Damien,” Priya argued. “This isn't a cushy talk show. With the lighting on these shows, who needs to win a million bucks when you look like a million bucks?”
“I'm not sure everyone would agree with you there, Priya,” Damien said back.
“Our lighting isn't all that good, but I'm not going to make a big stink about it,” Priya muttered. “The point is, this isn't a therapy session where people come to talk about their problems. And even so, I'm not gonna make them feel any better about them.”
Priya's comment earned a scoff from her boyfriend. “I'm just doing what our producers tell me to do. And I take my job seriously.”
“We're supposed to get the goods from people,” Damien added. “How are they supposed to open up to us when they might get hit over the head with a hammer?! Or an anvil?!”
They looked over at the still intact anvil swinging slightly. “The anvil is pretty cool!” Priya claimed happily before getting serious. “All this is the point of the segment. To get the truth! And we've got something even better for today!”
“You know, you've become a total Chris clone!” Damien stated in disapproval. “Sadistic and cocky!”
“I'm gonna ignore that for now,” Priya talked over him cheerfully as the audience cheered. “Our show is thrilling! And we have not one, but two guests tonight. And because they've had their moments of awesome during the show, they're getting something extra.”
“Millie and Chase have been voted out by some behind-the-scenes stunts!” Damien protested. “No way are they getting tortured!”
"Before you get to the interviews, I have to interrupt!" Scott exclaimed as he stood up and got looks from those seated around him. He still had a sling on his right arm. "There's no way that I am not the only one who has seen this!"
"Seen what exactly?" Priya asked.
"Izzy's elimination!" Scott exclaimed. "Didn't anybody notice something a little cuckoo?"
Priya and Damien shared an odd look before turning it on Scott. "Just play the clip so I can point out the obvious to you."
"If you say so," Priya said in confusion. The camera moved up to the hanging television, which quickly switched from static to the over-the-shoulder view of the Gaffers’ votes.
"No, not that clip!” Scott objected. “The clip where the final Gilded Chris was handed out!"
"You should've been more specific," Priya reminded the dirt farmer. "Roll the clip."
The camera panned back up to the other screen just as it cut from static to the footage in question.
Chris took another look at his envelope. “And the final Gilded Chris goes to… MK."
The music took a sudden, loud twist as everyone gasped while MK caught her prize with an expected smirk.
The clip paused at that instant, and the shot cut to Scott looking up at it with an expected look on his face. "See?" he said. He received only blank looks from the hosts, and groaned. "Fine, I'll point out the obvious," he said while walking over to the central couch and bent down in front of the display on the table.
The camera focused back on the paused clip, showing three of the Gaffers in mid-gasp – all except MK, whose smirk was quickly circled.
"There it is!" Scott exclaimed as the scene cut back to the studio. "MK was expecting it!"
"I remember MK voting for me," Izzy spoke up. "Why else would she not be satisfied?"
"Because obviously, MK should've been the one eliminated that episode," Scott explained. "She should have been just as surprised as the rest of you, Izzy!"
A short dramatic score accompanied the accusation, and the audience gasped.
"Whoa," Damien said in surprise. "Scott may have figured out something juicy! So what do you think happened?" he said to the dirt boy.
“Well, first of all-” Scott opened his mouth.
"Hold up!” Izzy interrupted. “I'm not going to let you say that Chase voted for me on purpose. I can't see him working with MK in order to get rid of me."
"But what else could it be?" Priya asked. "Maybe MK manipulating him?"
"I wouldn't be shocked by that," Izzy replied, "but if she told Chase a lie just to get rid of me, I think Chase would've said something about it once I was voted off."
"Hmm. Good point," Priya thought about it.
"Plus, I'm pretty sure Chase would have said something in a confessional, and as far as I've been told, he’s said nothing about the sort," Damien pointed out.
"As I was going to say," Scott said with a hint of annoyance, "I don't think Chase intentionally voted for you and you intentionally voted for Ripper. I’d say that MK found a way to rig the voting devices so that you’d get the most votes no matter what."
Everyone gasped at that claim. "I say a lot of wild things, but I have to agree with Scott here," Izzy said. "The votes were definitely rigged!"
"Thank you," Scott replied.
"Sorry, but that seems out of the ordinary to me," Priya said. "Wouldn't the producers have done something if MK fudged with the votes?"
"Yeah," Damien chimed in. "They punished Chef for making a deal with a contestant."
"Then maybe the producers didn't know about it and it wasn't caught on camera!” Scott pointed. “Back in the first season, I sure as heck didn't have the game rigged for me! The same can be applied for MK."
"Uh, dude, they film us half the time,” Geoff spoke up. “They're obviously looking over everybody's shoulder when it comes to voting."
"But it's the only thing that makes sense here!" Scott exclaimed. "Why is Izzy the only one here that believes me?"
"Whoa there," Damien said suddenly. "You can cool down now."
"Yeah," Priya said, "you're starting to look insane. We’ll look into the episodes closely if it suits you well."
"This is something that I’m not making up just to trick you, you know," Scott finished and walked back to the peanut gallery.
"Well, that was interesting," Priya said awkwardly.
"But on the upside, it means we don't have to fill up this episode’s run time with useless filler," Damien added.
"And now we can get to the first interview!" Priya said with a confident smile. "But before we see what's in store for Chase, let's see what he's been through already!"
The shot cut back up to the hanging screen where Chase's portrait was displayed once again. "Chase started this season the same way he starts everyday," Damien said.
"Eager and ready for action!" Priya finished as the screen transitioned to a clip of Chase swinging on a vine in the war challenge.
"Sadly, it couldn't score him the win," Damien said over Chase performing well in the surfing challenge.
"His relationship with Millie gave his fans even more reason to root for him," Priya added as the couple eating sandwiches was replayed, "even though they ended up on different teams."
"Unfortunately, Chase's time in the spotlight was cut short after he received the majority of the votes," Damien's comment played over the scene of Chase's elimination.
"So sad!" Priya said as the screen cut to static and the camera pulled back, then panned back down to the hosts. "But at least he didn't get robbed out of the game, right?!" she asked the crowd, who responded with applause. "Our first guest is a sports master, can outrun seven contestants, and is no stranger to over-salting other people's eggs. Everyone give a warm welcome to Chase!"
The crowd went wild as the Aftermath theme played, but nobody appeared at the backstage camera.
"Ahem," Priya loudly cleared her throat. "Chase, everyone!" The Aftermath theme played again but nobody came out, leaving the hosts and Peanut Gallery to exchange confused looks with one another.
The scene cut backstage as a young white man with blonde hair knocked on an open door. "You're on," he said as he looked at the clipboard in his hands.
The camera pulled back to show Chase and Millie sitting on the couch together.
"I can do this," Chase smiled confidently. "I've been on TV before. I can definitely handle an interview." He stood up, and the author smiled up at him.
"You'll do great," Millie said reassuringly.
"I know I will!" Chase nodded, and the Aftermath theme played once again as he made a beeline for the exit.
Chase walked out on stage with a smile and a wave towards the cheering audience. After a moment, he turned and walked towards the guest couch.
"Damien! Priya! It's cool to see you two again!" he told the hosts, shaking Priya's hand and fist bumping Damien.
"It's so great to have you here!" Priya replied.
"Yeah," Damien added. "It's not like we wanted to see you eliminated," he explained as they all sat back down, "but we are glad that you're not being a bad sport over your elimination.”
“How are you feeling now, after everything that's happened in the game?" Priya wondered.
"It's hard to know where to begin," Chase answered with a light laugh.
Damien laughed as well. "Just speak your mind."
"Well, I was doing pretty good for myself," Chase said. "I got along well with the contestants and hardly made any enemies at all. Up until my elimination, I don't even remember being in the bottom two. Izzy, sorry again about your elimination!"
“Water under the bridge,” Izzy said with a smile. “It wasn't your fault!”
"When you put it like that, you almost had it easy on the film lot," Damien chuckled.
"And it's no surprise why you were eliminated. You were too skilled for them!" Priya quipped, and the audience laughed.
“I'm not a god or anything,” Chase claimed, “but I wouldn't be surprised if someone hired me to be a stuntman for a movie.”
"I wonder if you'll be able to keep that cool attitude when you're in the hot seat while playing 'Truth or Electrocution'!" Priya told the boy before winking knowingly at the camera.
The same theme as 'Truth or Hammer' and 'Truth or Anvil' played over a receding shot of the same golden statue of the Lady of Justice. The audience applauded wildly, and the sequence came to an end with the statue getting destroyed by a bolt of lightning.
Chase looked towards the backstage curtain, and the camera panned over to show a rather large wooden electric chair with a pumpkin-headed test dummy seated in it. The same male intern from earlier pressed a button on a remote, which lowered the helmet onto the pumpkin. After a surge of electricity and a dramatic twist in the background music, the pumpkin exploded to the shock of the audience.
"Can I sit this one out?" Chase asked cautiously, turning his eyes back to the hostess. “I'm all for danger, but I'm above electrocuting myself!”
"Yeah, this is totally going overboard, Priya," Damien added. "You cannot think that electrocuting people on live TV is a good idea!"
Priya shrugged apathetically. "Sorry, but the producers were bent on doing this. Don't worry," he told the athletic boy. "They've assured me the chair is totally safe. It's on low voltage!"
"Okay then..." Chase muttered as he walked over to the chair.
"Are you seriously going to go through with this?" Damien asked in disbelief. "You don't have to do everything the producers say!"
"I do not have anything to hide," Chase told him as the blond intern from earlier strapped him into the chair.
Priya giggled. "That's the spirit!" A few chuckles came from the audience, and she continued. "So Chase, tell us: who are you mad at the most right now? Is it Anne Maria, Justin, and Topher for being the ones to actually vote for you? Or maybe even MK, for not warning you about you being targeted?" The crowd gasped at the last remark.
Chase was shown to be flabbergasted. "So MK knew that I was going to get eliminated? That's why she convinced me to vote for Topher. So the votes would sway away from Justin! That girl is so ratty!" he ranted.
"Okay then," Priya laughed a bit. "What about the others? You've got to be mad at the three for even targeting you."
"Them I'm not upset at!" Chase answered. “They just had to vote for someone, and Ripper had immunity while I didn't!"
"How correct you are," Priya said. "In fact, we have a clip that partly explains your elimination!" She looked up at the hanging screen as it started to play footage from the superhero episode.
"I'm happy that Anne Maria won the first challenge and all," Topher said, "but I want either Chase or Ripper to win the second part. That way, we can vote out the non-immune player.”
The scene paused there. "So if you won the superhero challenge alongside Anne Maria, you wouldn't be here right now," Damien said.
"Yeah, but I guess it is kinda my punishment for how I got Izzy eliminated," Chase said as the camera cut back to him.
"Well," Priya stated forcefully, "you did vote her out, but I'm not holding that against you. Enough about that. I think it's time we finally get to know you well."
Chase raised an eyebrow, and Priya continued. "Remember, if you don't answer this question truthfully, you get electrocuted."
"I got it," Chase nodded.
Priya smirked. "Glad to hear it! Now Chase, tell the truth. Who inspired you to be who you are today? Pranking and looking for danger, to be precise."
Chase was stunned by the question, but he sucked it up and answered "Well, I have an uncle named Nick. He's 30, and he used to be a daredevil before switching to selling skateboards as a job."
"And what does that have to do with you?" Priya wondered.
"I'm getting to that," Chase told her. "After he got that job, he told me stories about his own endeavors, and all of them influenced me to take up his old mantle as the family's stuntman. If he was here, he'd go into depth about it all."
"You know,” Damien spoke up, “I thought this might happen so I did some stuff ahead of time. Just give me some time to get prepared. “I'll be back in a couple minutes."
As Damien got up and walked off stage, the Aftermath theme started playing and Priya shot an uncertain look at the camera. "I guess this is where we’ll be taking a short break! Don't turn off your TV just yet!"
(Commercial Break)
The logo's 'D' transitioned the scene to Priya announcing "It's time for 'That's Gonna Leave a Mark'!" as the segment's intro sequence played and the audience cheered.
Both the montage of pain and it's campy theme music started soon after, the footage beginning with Topher combing his hair until his brush got stuck in his couf. That was followed by a clip of Izzy getting hit in the forehead by a monocle.
Next up was Chris throwing the ball to Justin, only to end up hitting his groin and making him fall over. Several more nutshots were shown next: Ripper trying to move across the lasers, only for a beam to hit in-between his legs; Chase rolling along the roof after the cast ziplined away from the water tower and getting stopped by a poorly-placed metal chimney; the Grips’ cheering after winning the heist challenge, only for Topher to get hit in the nuts by a boom mic; and Ripper getting hit in the jewels during the sports challenge via the badminton birdie.
The next clip featured the blond intern, walking through a grassy area until a pillar from the caveman duels fell on him. During the caveman challenge, the Gaffer team symbol fell on Jasmine, and the Grip symbol whacked Millie during her confessional. After Ripper dropped his rock onto MK's foot, MK was then crushed by a falling large rock.
As the teams ran to their get-away cars in the bank heist, Jasmine got her leg stuck in an oddly placed bear trap. Ripper was making his confessional only to be knocked unconscious by an intern.
Chef drove the golf cart with the rack of ribs towards the fake tar pit for the reward, only to rear-end another golf cart driven by Sasquatchanakwa. The yeti got out and started bashing Chef's cart with a golf club, then made a gesture with his fingers that had to be blurred out.
The music came to an end and the audience laughed and cheered. The camera panned back down to the hosts as Damien took his seat back on the couch.
"What was that about?" Priya asked in a hushed tone.
"I wanted to prove that we can care about the viewers and our friends," Damien whispered before looking at the camera. "And now, I'd like to introduce a surprise guest," a drumroll began in the background as Damien looked at the curtain past the Peanut Gallery, "Chase's uncle!"
The drumroll led into the Aftermath theme as a middle-aged man walked out on stage. His hair was an afro and he wore a yellow jacket with blue jeans.
"Uncle Nick!" Chase said excitedly, still strapped into the electric chair.
"Hey Chase!" Nick smiled as he strolled right past the host couch and stopped in front of Chase. "Question, why are you in an electric chair?"
Chase looked at his bonds, then back at his uncle. "Because they didn't let me out during the commercials."
"We'll have someone get you out of there," Priya said as the blond intern approached the chair. The moment the straps were undone and the helmet lifted, Chase and his uncle shared a hug.
"It's so nice to see you again," Chase said.
"I missed you as well," Nick replied.
"Why don't you two have a seat? We don't have time for a lot of questions," Damien added as the pair sat on the couches, "so maybe you can explain how you inspired Chase to be who he is, right Nick?"
"Well, I used to do stunts that were extraordinary, and even though I'd get injured, I had fun risking my life and surviving to leave a legacy on the world,” Nick recapped, “but as I entered college, I knew that I had to retire and move on with my life, but that didn't mean that I couldn't tell stories to my nephew.”
"He told me every single stunt that he pulled and he even gave me one of his skateboards so I could practice down at the skatepark," Chase added. "My uncle may have left me to take up the family's mantle of daredevil, but I owe everything to him for making me discover my purpose in life."
"I just met you, but you're a pretty great uncle!" Damien said to Nick.
"Thank you. I want my nephew to be happy just like his parents," Nick confirmed.
An 'aww' was uttered forth from the audience. "Good on you for bringing Nick out here, Damien!" Priya said.
"No problem," Damien smiled. "But I think it's about time to introduce our last guest, don't you?"
"Definitely," Priya answered and looked at the camera. "Our next guest is easily the most studious person on the show," the hostess said as the camera panned back up to the hanging screen, which now showed an image of Millie.
"Yeah, and while she may not look it," Damien said over Millie writing in her book while sitting on her bunk, "she’s a strong player and contributor to her team," Millie was shown preventing Trent from falling over and trying to crack open the safe. "Heck, she can even step up as a leader at times!" A few short clips of Millie taking charge during the war challenge played.
"Too bad for her that she wasn't able to get further, though," Priya added while Millie fell into the tar pit. "Despite being a major part of her team and even winning a reward trip with her grandfather," Millie was shown holding a megaphone and producing moans to scare the Gaffers and getting declared the winner of the hospital drama, "she got voted out right before the merge for lacking any kind of connections to her team." Millie's elimination was replayed in part, and the hanging screen cut back to static.
Damien smiled for the camera. "Our next guest spends most of her days focusing on a journal, got shoved off a diving board, and is a pretty good getaway driver, it's Millie!"
The crowd went wild as the Aftermath theme began to play, and Millie trotted out on stage, giving the electric chair a quick look before turning her attention to the crowd. She waved at the audience then walked over to the hosts with a smile on her face.
"Hey guys!" Millie greeted, waving at the hosts before sitting down on the guest couch and waving at Chase and his uncle on the couch behind her. "Thanks for having me here!"
"Great to have you," Damien said.
"Totally," Priya added. "I was loving what you had to offer this season. Too bad you got cut so short!"
“Yeah, but I still have my dignity and pride,” Millie said to them.
“And that’s more important to you than winning money that could make your finances better?” Priya wondered with disappointment.
“I do not have any financial problems, Priya,” Millie told her. “And I’m starting to think that something happened between you two. Do you want to talk about that?"
"Hey, we're the hosts of this show," Priya refused. "We ask the questions and you give the answers."
"I’m good at answering questions," Millie said confidently. “Hit me with your best shot.”
"Then you won't mind taking a seat over there," Priya pointed over to the electric chair which had reappeared on-stage again.
"Umm...sure?" Millie answered hesitantly.
"All you have to do is be honest!" Geoff called out before the shot cut back to the blond intern strapping Millie into the chair.
“I’m not going to lie at all,” Millie promised. “Unless I want a high voltage surprise flowing through my bones.”
"Okay Millie, first question," Priya began. "Who do you blame for your elimination?"
"I'd say Justin," Millie said quickly. “It's pretty clear that he somehow convinced Anne Maria to vote for me. And it was easy for Topher to vote for me as well.”
Priya frowned when no shock came. "How do you feel about Anne Maria even voting for you despite you two becoming friends?"
"I don't hold anything against her," Millie explained. “I am a little bit upset that she fell for Justin's looks, but I probably would if I was in her position.”
“Even though you and Anne Maria have boyfriends?" Priya asked teasingly.
"We resisted Justin during all of our time competing in the season," Millie said. “What makes you think that I'd fall in love with Justin beyond shallowness?”
"I was just asking a question," Priya muttered.
“And I want to move on to the next one,” Millie urged.
“Okay. Do you think that Jasmine switching over to the Gaffers resulted in your downfall?” Damien asked.
Millie sighed. "Kind of. The two of us are good friends, and she supported me throughout the season. Had she not swapped teams, then maybe I'd have a better chance of staying in the game."
"So you expected her to protect you from the votes?" Priya wondered.
"I'm not the strongest player in the game, but that doesn't mean that I'll depend on people to shield me," Millie said with a bit of anger.
Having enough, Damien grabbed Priya by the arm. “We've talked about this after the end of the last episode,” Damien scolded. “You said that you were going to tone down your antics, and so far, I'm not seeing that at all. In fact, I don't even know who you are now.”
Priya took her hand away. “Um, I'm the best and only girlfriend that you have right now.”
“Not anymore!” Damien huffed. “It's over!”
“We don't have time for a short break!” Priya replied.
“No, I was talking about us! Our relationship is finished!” Damien declared, causing the audience to gasp while Priya was blank faced.
Millie was also shown to be stunned as well. “I'd hate to get in-between this problem, but can you two continue the show?”
“I will,” Damien took a deep breath, “but don't expect me to be on good terms with Priya for now.”
“Same with me as well,” Priya responded in a standoffish tone. "And with that out of the way, it's time to talk about something a bit more interesting," she said with a playful smile.
Millie raised a confused eyebrow. "What do you mean?" she asked curiously.
"Well," Priya said knowingly, "we've gotten a lot of viewer requests to talk about what you said on that reward trip you took a few weeks ago."
"That was private!" Millie said in sudden alarm. "You can't show it on live TV!"
"Sorry, Millie, but it's already on the Total Drama website," Damien told her apologetically.
"And as far as the producers are concerned, it's fair game for it to be shown!" Priya said.
"But I didn't think anybody was going to see it," Millie continued in sadness as she slumped further back into the electric chair.
"Well it's too late for that," Priya told her. "Almost everyone at home has seen it, so it's time to show it to the few left who haven't." The camera quick-panned over to the guest couches where Chase was giving Nick a questioning look and receiving a shrug in return.
The camera moved up to the hanging screen as it cut from static to the footage of Millie and her grandfather inside the limousine of losers.
"I have a lot to talk to you about ever since I competed in the first season," Millie said to her grandfather.
Her grandfather smiled proudly. "Spill the details. I can tell you had a ball, but don't blame me if I start to doze off more than I do while writing best selling books."
"I'm not that boring!" Millie laughed cutely. "So it all started when I was dropped off on the dock. I mostly focused on writing my book, but there was a certain boy that caught my eye."
“And who could that young man be?” Millie's grandfather wondered.
“That person is Chase,” Millie answered. “I'll start off with his flaws first.”
“Flaws?” Millie's grandfather raised an eyebrow.
“Well, at first, Chase was inconsiderate, cocky, and had a tendency to show off a lot,” Millie said. “And this is not to bash him at all.”
“Right now, he sounds like a bum to me,” her grandfather said with doubt.
“But there's more to him than that,” Millie continued. “He's funny, friendly, and a well-meaning person, and as we got to know each other, he helped me be less uptight and rule-abiding.”
“And did Chase improve himself for you at all?” Millie's grandfather asked.
“Yes he did, granddad,” Millie responded. “He became more caring and thoughtful, and after he wrote me haikus, we finally started to date. I know he doesn't meet the family's expectations, and he can still be reckless at times, but I really love him, and he does as well.”
Her grandfather was touched to hear the words coming from her granddaughter's mouth. “Millie, I had no idea you two had a healthy relationship going on, and with how nice this boy is, you have my blessing to date him,” he said.
“Really? You and my parents are not going to forbid me from dating Chase?” Millie asked with shock.
“We would if he wasn't treating a lovely lady like you right,” Millie's grandfather said. “Enjoy your relationship with him. I’ll put in a good word for Chase when I tell your parents.”
Millie smiled and gave her grandfather a hug. “I love you, granddad.”
“I love you too, Millie,” Millie's grandfather returned the hug. “Now let's enjoy ourselves on our spa night. That facial is calling my name.”
The footage cut to static, and the camera pulled back and panned down to Chase and his uncle.
“So that's what you wanted to show to us?” Chase asked the hosts. “Personal information?”
“Don't blame us for wanting to spice up the show,” Priya giggled.
“Okay, can someone get me out of this thing?!” Millie demanded, and the blond intern came over to unstrap her while the helmet was lifted off. After he left, Millie got to her feet. “What is your deal, Priya? You're normally kind-hearted, and now you're being super nasty!”
"Tell me something I don't know!" Damien sighed.
"I was able to tolerate this until you decided to show my conversation with my granddad to the world just to embarrass me!" Millie reprimanded.
"This is a reality show. People are bound to get embarrassed," Priya countered. "Can you back me up on this, Chase?"
Chase was also shown to be upset as well. "Sorry, but you are acting like a full-blown jerk now, Priya," he added. “Even if I wanted to know what Millie's family thinks of me, I would not be nosy about it.”
“And I thought you learned that from last season after you tried to figure out the haiku,” Millie scolded.
“This is just all for fun,” Priya pouted. “Don't take it personally.”
"You know what I think would be more enjoyable?" Damien interjected as he walked over to the two guests and whispered something in their ears.
"Since you're a big fan of Truth or Electrocution, we think you should take a turn!" Millie grinned before she, Chase and Damien ran over to grab Priya.
“Hey!” Priya protested while the Peanut Gallery was entertained by the event going on.
Priya was thrown onto the chair, and after the helmet got dropped on her head, the intern strapped her tight while the audience were guffawing about.
"Now it's our turn to ask the questions," Damien said deviously.
"No problem," Priya said with fake confidence. "I'm really honest."
"Priya, is all the secret revealing, narcissism, and apathy really the new you? Or is this just what you think the producers want from you?" Millie asked.
Priya pursed her lips. "This is me completely." She was promptly electrocuted, earning a gasp from the audience. "Okay, I’m just acting like this so that the show doesn’t get canceled and we don’t lose our jobs."
"I've got one! How do you really feel about Damien and all of us?" Chase asked next.
"Alright! I still care about Damien a lot. I’m really sorry about how I acted. I lost control of myself, and I wasn’t surprised that Damien dumped me. I let the show become my fullest priority, and it made me do some underhanded stuff. Can you all forgive me?" Priya looked sadly at the people in front of her.
"Don't worry, Priya," Damien reassured her. "We understand now, and we all forgive you. In fact, I take back us being broken up. I don’t know what I’d do without the girl I hooked up with back on the island."
The audience awwed as Priya smiled gratefully. "Thanks!"
"So are you going to apologize for showing my private conversation to everyone?" Millie asked.
"Millie, I’m also sorry for that as well," Priya apologized. "I know the producers already put it up online, but I had no right to show it to everybody just for ratings. Your relationship with Chase is your own business, and I really promise to not invade you like that again."
“I can see that you’re being sincere,” Chase said. “Thanks for not lying.”
"So you promise to be yourself from now on and not pull any strings?" Damien asked Priya.
"Double promise," Priya nodded. "I am not going to stoop to Chris’ levels anytime soon."
“Yeah, the last thing we’d need right now is a female Chris,” Millie added as Chase agreed with her.
The Aftermath theme began as the scene cut back to Damien and Priya, the latter already out of her bonds. "Well, I guess that's it for tonight," Damien told the audience as he helped his slightly-singed girlfriend to her feet.
"Join Chris and the cast next time," Priya said as the crowd began to clap and cheer again, "for another totally suspense-filled episode of Total! Drama! Action!" The shot pulled back from the stage, and the two hosts shared a kiss.
(Roll the Credits)
(Bonus Clip)
Priya and Damien were shown to be happily kissing each other on the host couch. After a few moments, the camera panned to the guest couch, where Millie and Chase were watching awkwardly.
"Do they even know that we're still here?" Chase asked.
"I don't think it matters to them," Millie said.
"How about we go to the guest room for some alone time?" Chase said with a knowing wink.
“You don't need to ask me twice,” Millie smiled teasingly before they ran off together.
Eva - 15th
Geoff - 15th
Izzy - RETURNED
Trent - 13th
Sky - 12th
Brick - 11th
Scott - 10th
Izzy - 9th
Millie - 8th
MERGE
Chase - 7th
Boys: Justin, Ripper, Topher
Girls: Anne Maria, Jasmine, MK

Wuthering Waves Review

Wuthering Waves is an open-world action RPG set in a hostile world trying to fight against the Tacet Discords. However, a question is raised. Is it worth playing?

What is Wuthering Waves?

Wuthering Waves has you take the role/position of a character named The Rover, a mysterious individual who came into the world without a clear memory of their past identity. The world they awoke to? A harsh world attacked by creatures called Tacet Discords that have brought ruin to the land. To understand who they are — they must navigate the war-torn regions, numerous factions and roaming monsters to understand who they are, and the world around them. It’s a large world filled with mystery and intrigue waiting to be explored!
However, what can be explained is this: A world that’s a mix of swords and guns where people who are lucky to receive a mark can harness one of the six elements (Glacio, Aero, Fusion, Spectro, Electro and Havoc) to combat monsters called Tacet Discords in a fight for survival.

What does it offer?

As an open-world action-adventure RPG, Wuthering Waves is home to plenty of familiar features for long-time genre players but modifies the formula that makes the game refreshing.
The content the game displays is:

• Combat that requires skill and rewards those who play smart.
• A lore-heavy world with plenty of threads to invoke curiosity.
• Refreshing fast-paced navigation mechanics
• Well-balanced farming mechanics that don’t feel too grindy.
• Forgiving and attractive gacha system.

Sounds and Visuals

When it comes to Wuthering Waves' graphical and audio performance for the audience; both display excellent results that are satisfying to the eyes and ears of the gamer in question.
Looking at the game's visuals first, even though my device isn’t cutting edge like many official or unofficial game reviewers, I can guarantee that Wuthering Waves offers a beautiful sight from its environments to the designs of its assets and characters. The NPCs found in the world are also plentiful and diverse, being memorable and easy to tell apart based on the appearance of their clothes, like the military Huanglong, the Midnight Rangers, or the delivery group in the city, Lollo Logistics. Both groups have striking visuals that separate them from other NPCs and give them a flair that helps them stand out and be easy to identify like the playable characters. Although the game is relatively fresh, the faces seen aren’t forgettable and easy to tell apart.
Now for its audio. Admittedly, the BGM of Wuthering Waves isn’t exactly memorable and at times doesn’t match the feel the fight has for it. Some BGM’s, not all, there are a few that just hit it right and make me feel immersed — the BGM for Jinzhou is particularly amazing — while others are forgettable. Onto the sound effects and other audio queues (Voice Acting will come last here). They are absolutely amazing from the parrying effects to the noises enemies and bosses make. To hear the units you play as fight and make waves against the enemies makes it feel very impactful! Now for the voice acting. The EN voice lines, mainly in the story, it is bad. It’s weak and off-tune compared to other languages. For example, the tone used in scenes doesn’t make sense or doesn’t match the subtitles. It breaks the immersion because of that and ruins the story — which I’ll get into soon — even further.

Gameplay

Experiencing Wuthering Waves combat is a breath of fresh air as it includes elements reminiscent to Devil May Cry — rewarding the player for utilizing skills and timing in a fast-paced combat. Outside of combat, exploration shows itself as equally rewarding to the player; they possess great mobility in traversal -- bypassing jagged environments that don’t require extended periods to think about carefully or taking the long way around. That makes the climbing aspect of the game more brilliant as you could backflip to get out of the way and then grapple up to get over the obstacle. Puzzles in the game are fun to perform. Unfortunately, when it comes to aiming, there is a bit of difficulty, and at times there is a delay when buttons are pressed to initiate commands (That issue is being fixed during the writing of this review, but it’s still best to make it known in case it does pop up for others). Then there are the puzzles for the side quests. Some are fun, but some are also simple.

Story

The story is quite full of lore, and I admit to being intrigued by it; however, the game dumps terminology and information that it quickly becomes overwhelming. Admittedly, the characters that remain after certain moments do alleviate the problem by allowing you to select the questions you have about certain terms or pieces of lore, it is overwhelming and makes it hard to get immersed in the world. Unfortunately, it gets worse as the story itself is the game's weakest point despite slowly getting better closer to the end of Chapter 1. I had done one of the Exploration quests regarding the Inferno Rider and Jiyan’s Companion story, and it was amazing to experience! Some side quests were also fun to do as they expanded the world and let us see into the lives of others like the Exiles littering the region.

Pros & Cons

The game comes with an assortment of pros and cons that can impact ones experience, which is why I’ll be listing them out and going into brief detail.

Pros:

• Responsive Devs

Kuro devs are very responsive, having done many things to compensate players and make statements. They have recently changed their schedules, releasing Yinlin in advance while adding a mini-event to allow players to farm more EXP materials and Shell Credits.

• Excellent Beginner Gacha

The beginner gacha guarantees your first five-star with the first ten pull. the Devs were so generous that by the time Yinlin came out, I still had 38 pulls for limited banners and received a convene coupon to select a 5-star Resonator of my choice.

• An Interesting World

The world of Solaris-3 is quite expansive and diverse in its environments. It’s only the 1.0 map, but there are many things to see and explore with many mechanics and puzzles.

• Merciful Grind

The equipment your Resonators use that aren’t weapons are Echoes; the remains of enemy frequencies you can collect and equip to fight with. Because of that, you don’t need to grind specific locations and spend Waveplates, but rather hunt them down to harvest.

• An Interesting Story/Side quests

If you can ignore some of the filler portions and manage to understand the world itself. Chapter 1 presents an interesting story and mystery regarding the Rover and Threnodians. The story doesn’t deliberately keep it blank but gives us something to follow. The same can be said with some side quests as they are interesting and sometimes put a twist on things. Secret Investigations is by far the best side quest that isn’t a chain due to needing you to memorize information and sneak inside in disguise.

• Amazing Combat

The combat utilizes most mechanics for exploration. It has the dodge button, but you get rewarded with a brief slow-motion, a parry window to stop certain attacks and throw in counters, and because you can jump high, you can avoid some aoe attacks like the one from the Feilial Beringal.

Cons:

• Spell mistakes

Throughout the game, there are bits of spelling errors and mistakes found in the coding, such as some descriptions having the code for colouring left in, inconsistency with some lines of dialogue in the story and a description in an item giving rise to a misunderstanding.

• Weak EN VA

The English voice actors have…issues. It’s related to the following point, but the voices in the story were off-tone to the scenario with the Rover and Yangyang being the main culprits.

• Weak Story

The story is full of info dump that ram into the player for the prologue and half of chapter 1. The prologue can be forgiven since you are thrown into the world; however, because of the verbose info thrown at you with no gameplay between, or even dialogue in between exploration…well, it got boring for me reading through everything despite being interested in learning about the world of Solaris-3 and the Huanglong region.

• Weak Music

The music is forgettable in combat and not even recognizable. I had to go on YouTube to listen to the music and know what was done for it. While it can be praised that each open-world boss has its own music, the lack of memorability hurts the game.

• Delayed button response (May be irrelevant)

I’m unsure if it’s only me or if it is the same for others; however, there is a delay in reaction before the character does as intended. Sometimes they dodge too late or hit out of sync. Since it’s a game relying on skill, I thought it was just me being a button-masher; however, after adapting, the issues are present, but not as often…so this point may be irrelevant.

• Grindy post-game

After finishing the game and beating the story, all you can do is build your characters; however, with the lack of quest stopping you from going straight into the next phase, you are forced to face the enemies without the necessary preparation. While the difficulty can be appreciated, it makes farming a drag or annoying as you’re strongest end up needing more work compared to other units you want to build.

Final Verdict

After looking at everything and typing the review. Wuthering Waves has a few problems; however, it’s also a game worth playing despite its cons. For casual players, it’s the perfect game to enjoy at your own pace. The issues are small and are likely to be ironed out over time, making it likely for this game to be a contender for Game of the Year for Mobile games despite just launching. It’s generous, expansive, and fun to play with its addictive combat, easy-to-farm echoes and intriguing world!
Well, if you can get past the tedious bits and accept the grinding aspects it’ll throw at you, the gains will be enormous!

From the beginning...
Cast

Part 2, Chapter 11

The room fills with dust and smoke. The smell of decay mixes with sulfur and fetid air. One of the gnolls whimpers as his sensitive nose is assaulted. Everyone spreads out, bumping into each other and tripping over other feet. And paws. Just as the air begins to clear, a monstrous winged demon climbs up from the new hole in the stone parapet. In his hand is a massive sword, that, before the horrified eyes of the mortals in the room, sprouts flames. A splash of slimy goop erupts from pustules on the demon’s arms, spraying the room with an acid that eats away clothes and splotches armor. A cry of terror, then a casual backhand by the demon sends one of the gnolls flying across the room to slam into the stone wall. He leaves a bloody trail down the wall as he crumples to the floor. Zander, a handy target, is slashed with the huge flaming sword.
Without hesitation, everyone springs into action. Arthur, Zander, Ser Reginald, and many gnolls attack with axes, hammers, swords, and arrows. Each of them gasps in horror as their weapons bounce off, doing little damage but for the magical effects attached to their attacks. Novos, seeing all this, somersaults over several gnolls to stab the demon, and unleash a spray of acid from his Drakeblade [1]. This hurts the demon and he howls in pain and anger. The priests are hard pressed to keep healing up, but Mar manages to manifest her Spiritual Weapon that baps the demon. Before he can strike back, Novos nimbly makes his way through the crowd to the other side of the room.
The demon instead causes the whole chamber to shake and quake, knocking many to the ground and breaking off chunks from the ceiling to rain down on the unlucky. Again, he swats Zander, misses Arthur, and rains blows down on one of the unfortunate gnolls in front of him who has fallen to the ground. Nobody has the time to observe basic mosh pit etiquette [2]. Ser Reginald is the target of a tail slap. Arthur, seeing that his sword was useless, pulls out a scroll and reads a spell that isn’t useless. Zander tries a shield slam, but because the demon is MANY times larger than he is, it doesn’t do much. Ser Reginald manages to duck the tail and smite the demon, and one of the gnolls is likewise able to get in a blow. For a moment the demon seems … vulnerable. Dillium maintains her healing spell, but she notes that an anti-healing spell was employed, probably by Mar. She mentally makes a note to talk with her about that. Novos swoops in and delivers a debilitating blow to the demon’s back.
The room fills with a thick fog that baffles the senses and makes getting around extra difficult. The demon, of course, has no problems with the fog, finally smacking Arthur and Zander, and back-handing a gnoll. Ser Reginald’s smite seems to do no damage at all, but Arthur pulls out his divine mace and Zander goes back to slicing the demon with his sword. Gnoll attacks seem to hit home, but it is Felicity’s totally wand-based lightning bolt that finally finishes him off. As the sword falls out of his hands, the fire on the blade goes out.
Mar turns on the gnolls, and several of the gnolls are ready to resume combat with the party, but the gnoll shaman and Ser Reginald see each other with a new respect. As they speak, calming tempers, Arthur borrows Dillium’s cloak to pick up the sword because his is too white. Or something. Later he transfers the sword to an old blanket and returns her cloak to her.
Not quite arm in arm, the nevertheless united party makes their way out of the tomb, though Mar stands back away from everyone, particularly the gnolls. The trek back to Samek is as long as the journey to the tomb, but Ser Reginald and Raa’ka, with occasional mediation by Felicity, seem to make progress. At least, nobody is called evil or accused of eating anyone’s babies. When they reach Samek, Ser Reginald has some heated words with the guards, but eventually Dillium, Felicity, and Raa’ka are permitted to be escorted by Ser Reginald and a group of rather more-heavily-armed-than-really-necessary gnomes inside. Outside, Task Force Chimera settles in for the night, while the gnolls, whether because they are nervous this close to the gnome town or because they have their own errands, slip off into the night one by one. The night otherwise passes uneventfully, though Arthur is astute enough to not let Mar have a shift by herself.
Late in the morning, the door opens and a clearly exhausted Dillium and Felicity emerge with Raa’ka. The gnoll gives a farewell wave and disappears into the brush a few minutes before Warren, the guide, returns.
“Where are you off to now?” he asks.
“Actually I have a job for you,” says a new voice. Everyone whirls around to see a large coppery-colored dragon head poke up over the top of the hill. It is soon followed by the rest of the coppery-colored dragon as it steps up and settles down on top of the hill. “Warren,” the dragon acknowledges the guide with a nod.
“T’aint my name.” he responds.
“I know.” A dragonish chuckle escapes his mouth.
“Do you know him?” Zander asks Warren.
“Never seed him before now,” he responds.
“But clearly he knows you,” Dillium protests.
“I know many things, actually. I have taken it upon myself to sort of… watch over this valley.” The dragon says. “Actually, I’m thinking of calling it a gnalley.” There’s no response. “You know, a gnalley, because of the gnomes and the gnolls?” Under his breath, he adds, “It’s always funnier when you have to explain the joke.”
“Do you have a name?” Arthur asks, trying (perhaps) to be polite.
“Of course I do, and I’ll give five coins to the one of you who guesses it.”
“Clearly a pointless exercise. I shall call you Max,” says Atticus.
“Max is typically a name humans give to males of the species. How do you know I am male?”
“I know not, but in the event you turn out to be female, I can simply refer to you as Maxine.”
“That is not my name either. And I permit you no more guesses.” The dragon says petulantly. His, or its, tail swings back and forth, giving away his (or its) irritation.
“It is well. Good morning to you, Max.” Atticus bows deeply.
“You may call me Izzy, for that is as close as your crude language will permit,” the dragon snaps back.
“Very well. Good morning to you, Izzy.” Atticus remains bowed.
This seems to mollify the dragon somewhat. To the guide, he says, “Do you know of the path that runs up to the Jagged Mountain, as it passes by the tomb of Kazzlezan that you just opened?” After waiting for a nod of acknowledging nod, Izzy continues. “I want you to venture up that path to the top and … do whatever you find that needs doing.”
“Such as what, exactly?” Felicity asks.
“What am I, a guide to tell you what you should put right? You are sentient beings, work it out.” With that, the dragon leaps straight up. His wings catch the air, and he flies off to the north.
Warren looks at Felicity, shrugs, and heads back in the direction they came from the day before. The party breaks camp, saddles up, and catches up to the guide (who had been waiting just out of sight).
The party can clearly see where they’ve trampled the grass and left tracks in the dirt from their previous trek, so they make good time back to the tomb. Warren leads them around the tomb on a small barely visible trail that heads higher into the hills. By afternoon, they are clearly climbing up a tall hill that leads to what can be accurately described as a “jagged mountain.” Warren calls a halt at a conveniently wide spot that is more or less flat and level. “They say the dwarfs used to stop here for the night,” he explains unnecessarily.
The pavillionsol is set up and a few branches are gathered for a fire. “Do you hear that?” Mar asks. Nobody does, but she insists that there is something. It sounds like a particular buzzing sound. Several of the party do hear it, now that she’s described it. “It sounds like vampire bees.” [3]
Pocky gives a snort of derision. “Vampires bite, but bees sting. You can’t fool me, Mar.”
“These bees make blood honey. They sting a creature to death, then instead of gathering nectar, they gather blood from the corpse to make their honey. They are nothing to simply ignore.” Pocky’s eyes grew wide.
“All right, it sounds like we have to find this hive and destroy it.” Arthur says. “Stay here and set up the camp. We’ll be back.”
After looking around, Novos finds a fairly well traveled trail hidden behind some bushes. Following the trail up through a few switch-backs, they come to a neglected “road” of laid stone. On one side the ground drops off in what appears to be a quarry filled with dark water with an oily sheen. On the other is the side of the mountain, and, a doorway. The rooms inside are empty, though that doesn’t stop Novos from searching for traps everywhere and trying to unlock doors that are unlocked. The floor has a damaged mosaic of an intricate design with no particular pattern, and the walls are adorned with faded frescos of dwarves doing mining stuff. Arthur, as he looks around, sees a secret door, and Novos spends some time finding that a hidden catch is cunningly placed inside a dwarf’s nose on the fresco. Novos and Arthur lead the way, though Novos is still very hampered by the fact he can’t see in the dark. Still, he finds a room, checks for traps, and unlocks the door. Inside is a room covered entirely by a strange metal. The walls glow faintly, providing some light, but there are otherwise no features at all. Without trying to figure out what the metal is or why it might cover every single inch, he invites Arthur and Dillium in to look around. Seeing nothing of interest, they leave.
Further down, the corridor comes to an abrupt end. A simple catch lets the party out into a new room. Signs of ancient chaos abound. The room is obviously dwarven, and obviously abandoned some time ago. Yet on the ground are three human-sized skeletons, each with a rusty knife near them. Dillium inspects them (“Don’t touch anything”, Arthur warns) and determines them to be cheaply made ceremonial-style knives. Novos, meanwhile, has inspected, unlocked, and opened two empty closets. Well, mostly empty. One closet has another rusty knife. Elsewhere in the room, a double-door stands ajar, barely held on by a single hinge. Peering in, Arthur notes a large rough circle on the ground and the remains of several candles placed around the room. Profane graffiti is smeared on the walls, possibly in blood, but more likely in some sort of paint. As everyone has a look around (“Don’t stand on the circle,” Arthur warns), they decide it was originally some attempt at a summoning circle, but there are too many breaks and smudges to tell what was summoned, if anything.
A mystery too mysterious to unravel, they team leave through the remaining door and are back out facing the quarry-pit. Questions are asked aloud as the group tries to grapple with what is going on. Arthur surmises that the dwarven work and the deterioration means the rooms they’ve seen so far are probably a millennium or more old, and probably abandoned nearly that long. The skeletons are not nearly that old. Dillium abruptly swats her arm, and holds out the smooshed body of a large wasp or bee. They look, but it doesn’t have fangs or a cape. Arthur offers to Lay Hands on her to cure her, but since nobody knows what to cure her of, that is abandoned.
Ahead of them, the group sees an ancient stone bridge. Several of the party are concerned at the rickety appearance of the bridge, but as there is nothing else for it, they agree to go across one at a time, with the lightest members first. Dillium, Flea, and Novos skip across, and there is some thought of sending a rope back for Zander and Arthur to tie off in case the bridge collapses. Zander asks, who is going to hold the end?
“We’ll hold this end, and you tie the other end around your waist,” Novos replies.
“OK, here, hand me your end…” as they both realize Zander has already crossed the bridge. Arthur confidently strides across after.
There is yet another door, and a room similar to the first room they encountered—frescos on the wall, (intact) mosaic on the floor, and some signs that someone was here at some point after the dwarves left. And nothing else. The room isn’t quite finished, though, and a passageway beyond leads to what was obviously a campsite and another room. This one has a single thing—a desk. With a drawer. And in the drawer is a red shiny faceted gemstone. Novos manages to wipe all the drool off of it before admitting that he can’t, for some reason, lift the gem out of the drawer. Arthur’s brute strength isn’t enough. Neither is Zander’s. Dillium decides that either this gem is a fundamental constant of the universe, around which all other things in the universe revolve, and therefore you can’t just pick it up and move it, or much more likely, it’s magically “glued” to the drawer. She and Arthur combine their powers to Dispel Magic and on a second try, the gem pops right into her hand. With literally nothing left to see, the party opens the door into the next room. As soon as they open the door, they hear the sound of bees. Lots of bees. Closing the door, the party stops to think what their next move is.

End o Chapter 11.


[1] Part 1, chapter 23
[2] "If someone falls, help them up"
[3] taken from Blood Honey, by Roving Band of Misfits Press

This years Nebulas are being awarded tomorrow night, so I thought I’d give my rankings of the Hugo and Nebula nominees. The Hugos are awarded on August 11th. Obligatory mention of how the Hugos appear to have been fixed last year, but that has been thoroughly discussed elsewhere, so I don’t really want to rehash it. And this year appears to be completely transparent, and I’m guessing and hoping will include efforts to prevent any similar corruption again.
For those who don’t like the Nebulas or Hugos, or don’t find them useful ways to find things you like to read, that’s certainly understandable. I’d love to hear your thoughts on any nominees you did read, or on works from 2023 that you enjoyed and feel are award worthy!
Notable things from this year: Martha Wells declined Murderbot nominations, a classy move for an already well awarded series. Lot’s of our usual nominees, while the only notable absence I caught was Seanan Mcguire’s Wayward Children novella, which is a bit of a shame as #8 is easily the best of the series, and it functions as a stand alone like all of the even numbered ones. But also, once you’re 8 books in, it does seem past due to start nominating other things. I’ll be curious to see if it was the Chinese works that edged it out.
A couple last things. Fantasy is doing their Hugo read, and it has some great commentary. u/brent_323 put out his rankings and comments on the Nebula novel nominees, and they differ from my somewhat if you want a different perspective. Lstly, I’ve added Goodreads ratings (out of 5 stars) for novels and novellas to give some context on how generally liked and how widely read each book is.

Best Novel

9: (Nebula Nominee) Shigidi and the Brass Head of Obalufon, Wole Talabi (DAW, Gollancz)
Stars: 3.70
Number of ratings: 633
Thematically, Shigidi is pretty similar to American Gods but with an emphasis on the Yoruba religion. My apologies in advance for any potential inaccuracies, my knowledge of Yoruba is based on this book, and some cursory Wikipedia reading. Different creators or gods have their own corporate structure, with minor sub-deities as employees. Olorun is the creator in Yoruba, with Orisha’s being lower level gods. One of these, Shigidi (a nightmare god in the book, although Wikipedia lists him as Guardian of Home and Environment), is trying to split from the Yoruba corporation and be an independent entity, along with his lover, the succubus Nneoma (based on Naamah, a demon from Jewish mysticism). To pay off his debt to the company, Shigidi has one last job.
It’s an interesting world, but despite the thematic American Gods comparisons, it feels nothing like that and has little else in common, and its structure ultimately makes it a much less successful book. Approximately a third of the book is the present day story, but most of that is in the second half of the book. The first half is brief tastes of the present in between longer chapters of background events. Those events are telling a single secondary story, just filling in the info you need to understand how we got to the present situation. Everytime we finally had some momentum, that thread would be done and I’d have to ‘get into’ the book all over again. If it wasn’t so broken up, I think I would have really enjoyed it, but as it is I was pretty done with the book by the time I got to where the bulk of the present day heist story was, and ended up skimming the last 50 to 100 pages.
8: (Nebula Nominee) The Terraformers, Annalee Newitz (Tor; Orbit UK)
Stars: 3.38
Number of ratings: 5,213
I loved The Future of Another Timeline, and on that alone will read any future Newitz novels, but so far nothing else of hers has come close to the same heights. The Terraformers is a set of 3 novellas set around 500 years apart, watching the terraforming of a planet over time through the eyes of the workers owned by the corporation terraforming the planet. Most of the plot is focused on terraforming, the corporation’s shenanigans, civil engineering, and civil rights, as the populace works to win the freedom to enjoy their home.
Very interesting, but it definitely drags at times. I loved the themes explored, although the civil engineering could be a bit much at times (said as a Kim Stanley Robinson fan). I did love the sentient buses, naked mole rats, and the cat reporter! Ultimately, more interesting than it was enjoyable.
7: (Hugo Nominee) Starter Villain by John Scalzi (Tor, Tor UK)
Stars: 4.18
Number of ratings: 43,367
I really enjoyed Starter Villain! There was some criticism of The Kaiju Preservation Society for being ‘light’, and that seems somewhat fair, although I likewise enjoyed it. People have leveled similar criticism at Starter Villain, but that seems less true. It’s quippy, a bit light hearted, but so are the other Scalzi books I’ve read (Redshirts, The Android’s Dream) it’s not exactly dealing with light topics despite that. It’s a critique of capitalism, and how wealth can become entrenched to both oppose what’s good for society, and oppose innovation. That said, I found the ‘villain’ idea pretty silly, as it’s essentially being used as a shorthand for disruptive technology, not for anything actually villainous or bad. I probably wouldn’t vote for it for a major award, but it was a fun and thoughtful novel.
6: (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) Witch King by Martha Wells (Tordotcom)
Stars: 3.71
Number of ratings: 16,432
While Martha Wells declined nominations for Murderbot, she did accept them for Witch King! It’s really imaginative and interesting world, and I’m hoping we get more of it (I hear she’s working on another book in the setting, so I trust we will). It has two narrative threads, the present day, where the main character Kai has been held prisoner during a pivotal political moment. The story focuses on his escape and the efforts to figure out what’s going on. The second thread tells the backstory of Kai’s life, and how the world came to the current situation.
I loved the world, and really enjoyed the book! It seems like quite a few of the people who didn’t disliked it because they thought the back story was a lot more interesting than the present day story, which I have to agree with, honestly. I wish they were told as two separate books, or in a way where splitting them contributed to the story. For example, a historian character that wheedled Kai about what has actually happened in the past could have been a vehicle for exploring the past events. Regardless of these qualms, I still enjoyed the book and look forward to more.
5: (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) Translation State by Ann Leckie (Orbit US, Orbit UK)
Stars: 4.11
Number of ratings: 9,848
Translation State is yet another book set in Leckie’s Raadchai universe. It’s not necessary to read the Ancillary books first, although I think it would help (and they’re awesome). Not sure how much Provenance relates, as I didn’t enjoy it and DNFed. Translation State is really good though, looking at the life and society of the Presger translators (as you might imagine), and giving some glimpses of what’s going on in the broader setting. I have enjoyed the books giving hints of that bigger picture, but would love one like Ancillary Justice where that’s more of a primary focus. I’d say this book is award worthy (as are all the ones I ranked higher), but I also feel like it’s linked enough to the setting that it’s fair to treat it more like a sequel, and I’m less inclined to award sequels major awards.
4: (Nebula Nominee) The Water Outlaws, S.L. Huang (Tordotcom; Solaris UK)
Stars: 3.82
Number of ratings: 2,326
The Water Outlaws is a queer, gender bent retelling of the Chinese classic Water Margin. And by classic, I mean in the sense that Don Quixote or Middlemarch is classic. It’s (probably) a 14th century novel, set around 1120 and following the rebellion of the outlaws at Mount Liang against the Northern Song dynasty. It is one of the 6 classics of pre-modern Chinese literature. At least, that’s what Wikipedia says, and it sounds like retellings and adaptations are pretty common.
I really enjoyed The Water Outlaws, and it’s the first that I would actually be happy to see win. It was fast paced and fun, but also had quite a bit of interesting insight into gender. It was also interesting to see how more Eastern values played into the story. I’m not necessarily very attuned to that, although it sounds like other readers can attest that it felt both like a Western and an Eastern novel. But I definitely noticed that the outlaws weren’t rebelling against the Emperor or the Empire really, just the corrupt people just under the top who were managing it. To me at least, it seemed to reflect the Eastern collectivism over Western individualism. S. L. Huang also has a great AMA on Fantasy from a month ago that’s worth checking out. This and the following novels are the ones I’m really hoping win.
3: (Hugo Nominee) The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (Harper Voyager, Harper Voyager UK)
Stars: 4.28
Number of ratings: 44,645
A 12th century century Muslim lady pirate comes out of retirement for one last job. It’s fantastic! It’s also apparently set in the same world as Chakraborty’s Daevabad Trilogy, albeit some centuries earlier. I appreciated the obvious effort that went into research and world building, and writing that made it a lot of fun even when it was dealing with heavy subjects. And I loved when things finally got on the weird side, and supernatural entities took over the story. I also thought that it was pretty interesting to see how Chakraborty was able to incorporate quite a lot of diversity and modern ideals in a way that genuinely felt authentic and believable. Related, but perhaps a bit different, it was interesting to see Amina as a devout Muslim, despite not always being a great person (she is a pirate after all). So often, religion is portrayed in pretty uncompelling ways, either as bad or dumb (sometimes in ways that feel accurate and sometimes in ways that feel like caricatures), or in ways that are very pro-religion such that some big bias is showing. In Amina, it was a significant part of her life, but didn’t feel in your face. It felt lived in, if that makes sense, but well balanced with the other aspects of her life.
I’m very much looking forward to the next two books!
2: (Hugo Nominee) Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh (Tordotcom, Orbit UK)
Stars: 4.06
Number of ratings: 7,957
This book appears to be pretty well regarded, but also a bit divisive. The main character, Kyr, lives on Gaia Station, the last outpost of (real) humanity in the fight with the broader galactic society of aliens and their reality warping AI, the Wisdom. Despite losing the war and most other humans moving on and integrating with galactic society, Gaia Station is still fighting. The book is ultimately an exploration of indoctrination, how your upbringing and surroundings shape your worldview, and what can later shake you into new perspectives. It reminds me of a scene from the book, Touching Spirit Bear, where a counselor demonstrates that people change from slow, steady pressure that pushes them off the course they’re on, or by a single big push that jolts them out of their path. Some Desperate Glory is several of those large pushes. In some ways, that does make it feel a little less authentic, as we don’t see Kyr really change over time, just have some pretty abrupt shifts (the first of which very much was unexpected, although the second not so much), but it also makes those changes much more accessible, since that time could be pretty hard to show. Despite that, it’s a really interesting look at indoctrination and deprogramming. As someone who grew up in and subsequently left what could be called a ‘high demand religion’, albeit one that is much, much milder than Gaia in the book or Jonestown in real life on the cult-o-meter, there’s a lot of resonance.
It seems like the main reason people didn’t like the book is that Kyr is a pretty unlikeable character. To be honest, that isn’t a thing that normally affects me, at least not for main characters. I tend to be in their headspace, as that’s what’s presented, so I’m usually not seeing them as unlikeable. Some obvious exceptions if they’re really annoying, and of course it became pretty clear over time that Kyr wasn’t exactly a considerate or kind person, but Kyr’s growth throughout the book is pretty specifically the point, so that wouldn’t really bother me either, honestly. The other issue is a scene towards the end where Kyr is touching (with consent) an alien’s feathers as a show of acceptance that he’s a person too, but some people have felt it comes off racially coded and offensive. I feel like that is pretty clearly not the author’s intent, and it’s a bit overblown, but I’m also not from a group where that would be triggering. Someone on the publishing team definitely should have seen that this would come off wrong, and changed it to something else that got the idea across in a way that wouldn’t be offensive.
I do hope that we get more of the world. It’s an interesting setting, and I would love a book exploring how the Gaians integrate into society. And also looking at Kyr’s dynamics with her group now that she has a broader perspective, and isn’t always a well meaning asshole, as we didn’t get a whole lot of that once she had grown out of it.
1: (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera (Tordotcom)
Stars: 3.71
Number of ratings: 2,056
My wife bought this for me as a birthday present, thinking I’d like it based on the description. And I did! He is now on my must read list, and I’m pretty excited for Rakesfall, which comes out this month. I had never heard of The Saint of Bright Doors, or Chandrasekera, but I absolutely loved it. Then I was surprised to see people periodically mentioning it on reddit, and then I was thrilled when it was nominated for both the Hugo and Nebula. This is easily the most daring and innovative book on this list, mostly because it’s pretty atypical. Honestly, the closest thing I can think of to it is Some Desperate Glory due to reality warping, but they’re mostly nothing alike. The Saint of Bright Doors follows Fetter, with a brief bit of his childhood, and then a jump to his 20’s or so. Fetter appears to be based on Rāhula, the son of Siddhārtha Gautama (the Buddha), with Rāhula meaning fetter, as he was a fetter on Gautama’s path to enlightenment. The book also appears to engage quite a bit with Sri Lankan politics, particularly surrounding Buddhism. I’m not super familiar with any of that, although some Wikipedia reading gives some clear parallels. Even without that added depth, the story was fascinating. The world is complicated and at times pretty opaque, and it has a tendency to shift and change as the story progresses. There’s a pretty deep sense of mystery with the bright doors, but they ultimately end up becoming just another part of the world for most people in the setting. Fetter ends up being part of a support group for ‘Unchosen Ones’ from different religions that, for whatever reason, were meant to be ‘Chosen’ but ultimately weren’t. Interestingly, each of the religions appears to be true. We don’t get nearly as much of the other members of the group as I would have liked, but maybe some day we’ll hear about their stories. I hope so.
The primary complaint I see is that the story meanders a lot and is quite aimless, and that’s mostly because Fetter doesn’t really act. He has little agency, and instead things just happen to him. When he does make choices, it’s pretty unclear why. That’s a pretty fair assessment, but again, not something that bothered me at all. I loved how I never knew where the book was going. I’d get comfortable with where it was at and what was happening, and then it’d shift pretty quickly. I can see why that could bother some, but it worked for me in this book, and kept me interested. The other aspect of that is how the story is told. There’s a big reveal towards the end that I won’t spoil here. We get a few hints of it along the way, some that if you catch it you definitely know something is going on, even though you don’t know what. But it goes a long way towards explaining why the story has jumps in time, why we don’t get much view into Fetter’s mind and decisions, and just how the story is told. The one downside is that the story ends a bit abruptly, and while it makes sense in context, it’s also less satisfying. But it makes me think about what I want from a story, and the place the storyteller has in it. Sometimes things being unsatisfying can stir more thought, and maybe that’s worth it. Should a storyteller always give us everything? It makes me think of a song from Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, The End of the Movie (some spoilers for that show). It captures some of the ambiguities in Bright Doors, but that ends up just adding to why I like it, whereas for some it definitely seemed to detract.

Best Novella

9. (Hugo Nominee) Rose/House by Arkady Martine (Subterranean)
Stars: 3.76
Number of ratings: 1,850
I really didn’t care for this story. I admittedly listened to it as an audiobook, rather than read it, and that isn’t usually as good an experience for close readings for me. Plus the only place I could find it was Hoopla, my least preferred app for audiobooks, because it’s pretty glitchy on the audio. My library has it on order, so I’ll give it another shot when I can do so in print, but all of that speaks to the larger issue that this novella was really hard to get a hold of, which is maybe not ideal if people are going to vote for it.
Anyways, on the story itself, it seemed a bit ambiguous. I couldn’t always tell what was going on, and on looking at reviews, that wasn’t just my listening experience, that was other people’s experiences as well. I didn’t feel like it added much to the AI discussion, although I did enjoy the house being convinced that a police detective was not in fact a person, but rather a police precinct. The story wasn’t all that interesting. All around, not a great read, with the above caveat on the listening experience, which is a shame since I loved the Teixcalaan books.
8. (Hugo Nominee) “Life Does Not Allow Us to Meet”, He Xi / 人生不相见, 何夕, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)(Originally published in 2010)
This was a bit of a frustrating story. Some of the setting was interesting, but the insistence on both modifying humans to adapt them to other worlds, and that those modifications can’t be too much not human, because then they’re aliens, and humans can’t cultivate alien intelligences because they may at some point turn on us. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but it has quite a few things that just don’t make a lot of sense.
7. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher (Tor, Titan UK)
Stars: 4.01
Number of ratings: 25,644
I loved What Moves the Dead and Nettle and Bone! As did many others, given the nominations they received. It’s starting to look like Kingfisher might join the ranks of the usually nominated at this point. And I definitely look forward to more of her work, with What Feasts at Night one of my next several reads. That said, Thornhedge was not my favorite. I loved Toadling, pretty much everything about her and her life, and the twist on Sleeping Beauty was interesting, but the story just doesn’t shine the way the others of hers that I’ve read do.
6. (Nebula Nominee) “Linghun,” Ai Jiang (Linghun)
Stars: 4.00
Number of ratings: 1,594
A thoughtful meditation on grief, and what it looks like if we could be haunted by those we’ve lost. In some ways it feels a little unrealistic, as people are more or less fighting to the death to get access to the houses where said hauntings can actually happen, but I can see how society might not have the will to ban such obviously harmful things if they also offered the chance to see your loved one again. The one and only reason this isn’t one of my top picks is because it falls apart in the last third. There’s a second story element that is introduced early on, but doesn’t take on much prominence until towards the end, and it doesn’t really fit. It’s another character whose story is relevant, and does add nuance to the themes, but it just feels like an insertion that distracts from the rest of what’s going on in the story. Linghun would ultimately work better if that character was stripped out.
5. (Nebula Nominee) The Crane Husband, Kelly Barnhill (Tordotcom)
Stars: 3.89
Number of ratings: 6,326
This is an odd book, to say the least. It's a retelling/subversion of the Japanese folktale, The Crane Wife. The main character is a 15 year old girl telling us the story years later. The setting is a pretty normal, slightly dystopian near future, with elements of magical realism when the girl's mother brings home a crane to be her new husband, and horror as that relationship turns (more) bizarre and abusive. It’s a symbolic exploration of both abuse and generational trauma, and it’s pretty interesting, but I’m still not sure how I feel about it. It definitely feels like the most ‘out there’ of the novella nominees, but this is the first I’d be happy to see win.
4. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) The Mimicking of Known Successes by Malka Older (Tordotcom)
Stars: 3.64
Number of ratings: 5,689
I rather liked this story, and I'm pretty excited for when I get around to reading the sequel! While I've seen complaints about the language and style, that's a large part of what I like. More than almost any book I've read, besides ones by Gene Wolfe, every word Older uses feels specifically considered and used intentionally. And unlike in academic texts, the other main place that writing feels like this, this doesn't makes the meaning confusing or hard to sort through. Older uses complex, nuanced sentences with quite a bit of clauses and qualifiers, but it illuminates rather than obscures. It feels like the way I think (or at least the way I think I think), so I appreciate that. There's also a story and characters and such, and those are pretty nifty. One of the things I love on that front is how deftly words are used; without explicitly telling us things, the setting, characters, and world really come clear. While there is a story, the driving force really is the interactions between the two main characters, particularly as the viewpoint character deduces that thoughts and intents of the other main character through subtle signs. Anyways, more than any other element, the writing for this story really worked for me!
3. (Nebula Nominee) Untethered Sky, Fonda Lee (Tordotcom)
Stars: 3.90
Number of ratings: 8,153
Another book about birds, where the main character is a ruhker, someone who trains with rocs so they can be used to fight manticores. The book feels quiet, with the primary relationship being two humans who are both quiet introverts, and their birds who of course don’t talk. There’s action and violence and terror , but on the whole, it feels like a quiet meditation. This book is one of the reasons I’ve grown to love novellas. It could easily be a novel, but instead it just tells its story and is done. There’s a power in limiting your scope like that, a purity, and I feel like this book has that more so than any other novella on this list.
2. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) Mammoths at the Gates by Nghi Vo (Tordotcom)
Stars: 4.25
Number of ratings: 4,478
My comment from the Fantasy Hugo discussion of Mammoths at the Gates:
Each of the 4 books to date have Chih take on a greater role in the story.
In the 1st, they mostly seem like the context of the frame narrative, and not really a main character.
In the 2nd, the framing has its own story with the tigers that's as significant as the story being told by Chih and the tigers.
In the 3rd, the story told merges with the framing story, and they become one at the end.
In the 4th (Mammoths at the Gate), the framing story is the story, dealing with the grief of Cleric Thien passing, with the other smaller stories about him within adding or illuminating but never really being separate from the framing.
It seems that over time, it's shifting from Chih and Almost Brilliant being a means of telling different stories to Chih and Almost Brilliant being the story. It makes me curious what book 5 and beyond will be, because I can only imagine one more book of following that trend before I'm out of ideas on how they could be more of the story.
At the same time, it shifts the focus from what a story is and how we tell it, how we know what the 'right' version is, and makes it more and more personal. Book 1, the historical figures had different understandings of what was happening, to the detriment of the overthrown kingdom. Book 2, Chih and the tigers had different understandings, and together told a fuller story by sharing that. Book 3, the story becomes much more complicated when you actually meet the characters. Book 4, a person you know becomes more complicated and nuanced when you learn from others their experience with the person. There's more to the story of who a person is than your personal experience of them.
All that's super interesting to me. Each of the books really does function fine as a stand alone, and I'm not sure that there's a clear overarching storyline outside of Almost Brilliant's having a kid, but there's a thematic evolution that seems to be following a specific path. I'm pretty curious to see where it's headed. (In the Fantasy Hugo read along, u/tarvolon confirmed that book 5 is thoroughly The Adventures of Chih, so I guess that trend is accurate, and u/Nineteen_Adze thought that perhaps later books could have Chih hear stories where he featured as a main character, an idea I really like).
1. (Hugo Nominee) “Seeds of Mercury”, Wang Jinkang / 水星播种, 王晋康, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)(Originally published in 2002)
This was ultimately my favorite of the stories. It’s about secretly seeding life on Mercury. Sometimes the language is clumsy, and I’m not sure if that’s the original writing or the translation, but ultimately it’s not too much of an issue. I loved the look at the alien life and their society!

Best Novelette

10. (Nebula Nominee) “Imagine: Purple-Haired Girl Shooting Down The Moon,” Angela Liu (Clarkesworld 6/23)
This is a weird story, and one I really didn’t care for. It deals with memory and how that shapes who we are, and quite a bit with people being used. Oh, and purpose haired girls. But if it was trying to say something in particular, I missed it.
9. (Nebula Nominee) “A Short Biography of a Conscious Chair,” Renan Bernardo (Samovar 2/23)
The story of a chair, as you might guess from the title, but just as much it’s the story of the family that owns the chair. It has an interesting family secret that’s eventually revealed and which hinges on the chair, but ultimately, this was a more interesting idea than story.
8. (Nebula Nominee) “Saturday’s Song,” Wole Talabi (Lightspeed 5/23)
This is the sequel to Wednesday’s Story. Like Talabi’s novel nominee this year, Saturday's Song features Shigidi as a nightmare god again, but also Hausa spirits. Both stories feature a frame narrative, with a story within a story similar to Vo’s Singing Hills noellas. I enjoyed it, and Saturday’s Song does tell you what you need to know from Wednesday’s Story, but it works better if you read them in order, as it functions more as a resolution than anything.
7. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) I AM AI by Ai Jiang (Shortwave)
This is a decent story, looking at capitalistic dystopias. Specifically, the pressure to be better while competing against AI, to the point where the main character is slowly morphing into a machine to catch up but in doing so loses what makes them unique and human. I don’t know that it adds a lot to the conversation exactly, but it makes some good points and summarizes some common concerns pretty well. I would have likely ranked it higher, but there were quite a bit of plausibility issues in the setting that I couldn’t really get past, and which made it much more dystopian than it would otherwise be.
6. (Hugo Nominee) “Ivy, Angelica, Bay” by C.L. Polk (Tor.com 8 December 2023)
This is a sequel to St. Valentine, St. Abigail, St. Brigid. And it was pretty good! I wouldn’t say there’s anything super special about it, but I enjoyed it. The lead of the previous story has grown up and taken on her role keeping her area of the city safe through small magics, but trouble is stirring. This story onwards are ones I’d feel comfortable voting for.
5. (Hugo Nominee) “One Man’s Treasure” by Sarah Pinsker (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)
Our only Pinsker nominee this year! And while it’s pretty good, it doesn’t seem like a top contender to me. It reminds me of Wiswell's DIY from last year, thematically. It’s about several garbage collectors who remove magical items once a month, and the rich people who don’t particularly care about basic safety. Like DIY, it focuses on finding common person solutions since the rich don't care, something I can sympathize with. It’s a well told and interesting story, but that’s hardly a surprise from Pinsker.
4. (Nebula Nominee) “Six Versions of My Brother Found Under the Bridge,” Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 9-10/23)
This is a story about the bargains and sacrifices we make for grief, and how they can further harm and traumatize us. Also, it’s about how the devil exploits our grief and trauma to mess with us. It turns out when you go under the Devil’s bridge, you really ought not to make deals. This story and the following are the ones that I actually hope win.
3. (Hugo Nominee) “On the Fox Roads” by Nghi Vo (Tor.com 31 October 2023)
This story was pretty light on magical or sf elements, at least until the end, much like Vo’s other early to mid 1900s books (The Chosen and Beautiful, Siren Queen). This one is about finding yourself, and how relationships with others can help you do it. Even when those others start as complete strangers. Oh, and it’s about heists. I really enjoyed this one, and the ambiance Vo summons with her more real world settings.
2. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) “The Year Without Sunshine” by Naomi Kritzer (Uncanny Magazine, November-December 2023)
On the Fox Roads was pretty light on the magical elements, but they were there, and they were integral to the story. The Year Without Sunshine could pass as non-genre fiction just as well as it could as SF. The only element is an unspecified calamity that temporarily put a bunch of ash in to the air. THe story itself focuses on community working together when social safety nets are only semi functional, and resources become pretty scarce. I really enjoyed the the characters and how people worked together. It felt genuine and realistic, if optimistic, and seems much more helpful for real world disasters where things start to break down but aren’t post-apocalyptic. I would say it’s a very inspiring story.
1. (Hugo Nominee) “Introduction to 2181 Overture, Second Edition”, Gu Shi /〈2181序曲〉再版导言, 顾适 translated by Emily Jin (Clarkesworld, February 2023)(Originally published in 2020)
This is science fiction is the most classic sense, and done well, in that it looks at a technology (cryosleep) and extrapolates what kind of impact it would have on society. The closest comparison I can think of to it would be Stephen Baxter and Arthur C. Clarke’s The Light of Other Days. But of course, this is completely different in that it’s written as an introduction to a fictional nonfiction book, which gives Gu Shi a lot of freedom to tell the story in a unique way, with fictional quotes with commentary from fictional people who are important to the history of cryosleep. Towards the end, it gets into the personal story behind that history, the creator of the book, and the person writing the introduction, and that allows the technical and sociology exploration to add a really touching emotional component. While I don’t agree with all of the extrapolations (hardly a surprise for a story like this), this is easily the best of the translated nominees this year, and one of my absolute favorites overall from this year.

Best Short Story:

(Hugo Nominee) 美食三品 (“Tasting the Future Delicacy Three Times”), 宝树 / Baoshu (银河边缘013：黑域密室 / Galaxy’s Edge Vol. 13: Secret Room in the Black Domain)
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to read this story. It appears to have only been translated into English for the Hugo voter packet. Since I’m not actually a member of the Hugos (maybe one day, if I can attend the actual convention), I don’t have the packet.
9. (Hugo Nominee) “Answerless Journey”, Han Song / 没有答案的航程, 韩松, translated by Alex Woodend (Adventures in Space: New Short stories by Chinese & English Science Fiction Writers)(Originally published in 1995)
Easily the worst of the translated fiction this year, or really just the worst nominee. The writing is stiff and clumsy, and it’s not just the translator as we have 2 other nominees to compare it with that were also translated by Alex Woodend. Minimal plot. The main character, who is human, is called ‘Creature’, presumably because amnesia has made him forget his name. It just doesn’t make a ton of sense all around.
8. (Hugo Nominee) “The Mausoleum’s Children” by Aliette de Bodard (Uncanny Magazine, May-June 2023)
This feels like an interesting story, except I can’t really tell what's going on. The setting isn't particularly clear, despite seeming pretty interesting. The story was ok outside of that, but not amazing, and it’s hard to come back from not really getting what’s happening.
7. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) “The Sound of Children Screaming” by Rachael K. Jones (Nightmare Magazine, October 2023)
This piece has some insightful comments on gun violence, but those make up approximately 2 or 3 paragraphs. It goes from a somewhat generalized description of a shooting to a specific one to a portal fantasy to a world with evil mice. Interesting, but it doesn't make a ton of sense and doesn't really all fit together.
6. (Nebula Nominee) “Bad Doors,” John Wiswell (Uncanny 1-2/23)
I didn’t care much for Wiswell on first reading him, with The House on Haunted Hill. I mean, I liked that and thought it was a cute story, but it wasn’t something I’d vote for. But his writing has grown on me, with each year getting better and better. Bad Doors breaks that trend though. It’s not a bad story, it just wasn’t that interesting to me. Not much happens besides a family falling out over political drama, and honestly that is a bit too much like real life to be worth reading unless it’s going to give some good insight or be really good.
5. (Nebula Nominee) “Window Boy,” Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld 8/23)
A strange story about the anxieties around the other, set mostly in post apocalyptic underground bunkers. It looks a lot at the relationship between the haves and the have nots, and the imbalance around friendships in that context. Are have nots always only friends to take advantage of the haves? Is that actually unreasonable if it is the case? But also maybe they have nots are actually weird 20 foot grackle bird things. The reality filters on the cameras to see outside the bunkers make it hard to tell.
4. (Hugo Nominee) “How to Raise a Kraken in Your Bathtub” by P. Djèlí Clark (Uncanny Magazine, January-February 2023)
This is where I’d really start voting for the nominees. How to Raise a Kraken is a funny story about an ambitious idiot who gets a newspaper ad kraken, one that is actually real, and the fall out from doing so. It addresses colonialism and hubris in a pretty amusing and satisfying way.
3. (Nebula Nominee) “Once Upon a Time at The Oakmont,” P.A. Cornell (Fantasy 10/23)
This is a thoughtful story about time. It’s set in an apartment building with tenants from different points in time going about their normal lives. Because of that, there are lots of rules to prevent info being transmitted to the past and to stop any harm from foreknowledge. The story centers on a lady from the present in a relationship with a man from the 1940's. It’s one of the more interesting ways of playing with time that I’ve seen.
2. (Nebula Nominee) “Tantie Merle and the Farmhand 4200,” R.S.A Garcia (Uncanny 7-8/23)
This is set in Tobago, with the local vernacular, and tells of a robotic farmhand trying to take care of an old lady's goat, and gaining further intelligence in the process. It’s a powerful, moving story. It’s occasionally a little unconvincing, in that the old lady used emojis in her youth but seems unfamiliar with what would be basic tech from her childhood, but also old people do frequently tend to struggle with technological things, so perhaps that’s unfair of me. It does a really good job looking at the social isolation of the elderly though. Tantie Merle and the following story are both the ones that I’d really hope win.
1. (Hugo & Nebula Nominee) “Better Living Through Algorithms” by Naomi Kritzer (Clarkesworld May 2023)
The second Naomi Kritzer story, this one is about an AI app that directs people on what to do to make them happy. It’s a nifty idea, well executed, and something I could actually see lots of people being interested in in real life if it worked as described. It also has well written, interesting, and relatable characters. I’ve only read the CatNet books by Kritzer, and while I liked them, it didn’t have me searching her out. After Better Living and The Year Without Sunshine though, I’ll have to check out the rest of her work.