Conversation with the Princess:

Princess: “Today the boys bodder me.”

Me: “They bothered you again?”

Princess: “They bodder me EVERY DAY! One say ‘Marry to me’ and he say , ‘Isn’t Ping-Ping beautiful.’ He say it VERY LOUD. First period, twelve people in the class. Everyone look at me.”

The poor beautiful princess is beleagured by uninteresting boys every day. I am reminded of Akane at the beginning of Ramna 1/2 shouting "Hate boys! Hate boys! Hate boys!" as she beats up the boys who are waiting to date her.

Eternally curious Rachel Griffin lives in the World of the Wise, hidden from the eyes of mundane modern earth. Arriving at Roanoke Academy for the Sorcerous Arts—a school for magic located in New York’s Hudson Highlands—she discovers a more secret world, the motives of which she had reason to distrust. Instead, Rachel puts her faith in those others fear: dark elves, demons, and junior Supervillains. The friendships she forges will save her world. Or, if she missteps, destroy it.

Juss:  "Oh ho! You said, 'H. E. Double Hockey  Sticks.'

Juss's friend:  "Nu-uh. I said H. E. and one hockey stick and then I stopped myself."

It contains a story by me:

From the seed of a dream, a host of brilliant worlds grow.

In the mysterious plane of Dream, across the vast and shifting Slumbering Sea, sits an impossible island which glimmers in the mind's eye like a beckoning alien star. There, within a chimeric arena wrought from pure crystaline terror, the monstrously charming Khan of Nightmares holds a tournament of bloodsport beyond imagination, drawing forth strange and powerful gladiators from across the multiverse to compete and kill in hopes of winning immortal glory and a cup that runneth over with wishes. To and fro beneath the dark shadow of the Coliseum Morpheuon, dreams are born, live, and die.

Clinton J. Boomer and Jonathan McAnulty's acclaimed Coliseum Morpheuon set the stage and the standard for epic adventure past the bleeding edge of reality – and now that legacy of glorious dreams and terrifying nightmares continues. Inspired authors of game and fantasy including Steven E. Schend (Blackstaff, Blackstaff Tower) , L. Jagi Lamplighter (Prospero's Daughter Trilogy), Tim Hitchcock (Pathfinder Adventure Path #31: Stolen Land [Kingmaker 1 of 6]), Neil Spicer (Realm of the Fellnight Queen),  and many more, reveal the myriad facets of this creative jewel and herein spin tales of haunting nightmares, dauntless dreamers, and the limitless possibilities of the world that is born and breathes anew each time we close our eyes.

Open these pages and dare to leave the waking world behind.

Available in print, .mobi (kindle), Epub, and PDF, 

Check out the full sized preview or get yoru copy HERE

I just saw a map that showed that the jurisdictions in NC that voted against Amendment 1 were all college towns. This amused me because I could not think of anything I'd seen in a long time so likely to make both Liberals and Conservatives crow.

The Liberals take this as proof that the educated agree with them and their oponents are stupid. (That was basically the caption on the map.)

The Conservatives take this as proof that the Ivory Towers of Academia are filled with Leftist intellectuals who have never done an honest day of work and who fill their students heads with foolish ideas–as they have always thought.

Both sides are happy.

May the Fourth — be with you.

From All Girls Allowed. I am particularly sadded by the failure of our government to help. One of the things President Clinton did that I really liked was save another famous Chinese activist.

At the end of last week, exciting news broke out of the escape of Chen Guangcheng, the blind attorney who was imprisoned in 2006 for filing a class action suit against the Chinese government on behalf of 130,000+ victims of forced sterilization.  The western media immediately picked up the story, as Chen's escape was daring and occurred at a critical time ahead of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's visit to Beijing.

Unfortunately, recent reports have revealed that the U.S. government has reneged on its promises to help Chen and his family to safety, as Chen was sent out of the U.S. embassy to a hospital with no embassy escorts.  He is now pleading for the opportunity for his family to safely leave China.

In a statement, Chai Ling said, "It's disappointing. Chen's escape gave the U.S. a chance to demonstrate its commitment to freedom and be on the right side of history-and now the chance is all but gone." Chen's friends have said that he is already under intense government surveillance and has not been allowed to make outside contact. Ling continued: "Secretary Clinton, whose work I've admired, had the power to provide asylum for Chen and his family. But she gave way under pressure-and now we don't even know what will become of the activists who were arrested last week after helping Chen escape."  (Read Ling's Huffington Post article here.) 

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