![]() ğrom the clues in the story, we can tell it is set from September 1988 (Clay goes to watch Die Hard, Crocodile Dundee II, and strangely, She’s Having A Baby at the cinema) to March 1989. The conflict between their growing love and trust in each other against the backdrop of the massive secret Clay can’t share with her, culminates in that visit to Stonehaven, where Elena’s life is changed forever. ![]() Elena, a former foster child, now in her third year of studying journalism, is wary – and it is easy to see, from her perspective that Clay shows more than a few ‘red flags’ in his behaviour. After only a few days, he bumps into Elena and is instantly smitten. Now an academic, Clay takes a two-month position at Toronto University to teach anthropology. This is the start of the Otherworld series proper, in my opinion. ![]() I love the story of Clay and Elena’s meeting. Story #8 in my chronological re-read of the Women of the Otherworld series Re-read 1: June 2010 (in Tales of the Otherworld) ![]()
0 Comments
![]() The note declares that in his time in confinement he has learned to despise material goods for the fleeting things they are. However, the banker finds a note written by the lawyer. ![]() The day before the fifteen-year period concludes, the banker resolves to kill the lawyer so as to not owe him the money. In the meantime, the banker’s fortune declines and he realizes that if he loses, paying off the bet will leave him bankrupt. The man spends his time in confinement reading books, writing, playing piano, and studying, and educating himself. They agree to a bet of two million rubles that the lawyer cannot spend fifteen years in solitary confinement. ![]() Guests at a party that he was hosting that day fell into a discussion of capital punishment the banker argued that capital punishment is more humane than life imprisonment, while the young lawyer disagreed, insisting that he would choose life in prison rather than death the bet was on and the lawyer cast himself into isolation for fifteen years. The story has a twist ending.Īs the story opens, the banker is recalling the occasion of the bet fifteen years before. ![]() “The Bet” is an 1889 short story by Anton Chekhov about a banker and a young lawyer who make a bet with each other about whether the death penalty is better or worse than life in prison. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is an impressive story written will that will keep you interested and wanting more. This story of the women who became Empress Orchid where a smart you woman, who lived during very turbulent time in China, is able to rise in a very male dominated environment to become a person who greatly influences and even helps run the country of China. Min makes the people come alive as she describes the inner working of the palace and the relationships among the different people who live there. The palace dynamics and intrigue is very interesting. She learns very quickly the culture and power structure of the Forbidden City. She begins her life in the Forbidden City where she learns how she must survive and overcome a life of loneliness. ![]() There, while living in her uncles house her life takes a major turn when she is selected to be one of the wives of the young Emperor. Tzu Hsi and her family move to Beijing following the death of her father. Empress Orchid by Anchee Min is the fictional story of a country girl who becomes on of the wives of the Emperor of China. ![]() ![]() ![]() However, the play also contains a terrible secret about Savernola, so when he begins killing innocent people in revenge, Giovanna decides she must deliver the only copy of the play to him in the hope that this will turn back the terrible consequences of her father's words. Unaware that Savernola's men are in the audience at a lush banquet, Ennio performs his latest parody - a scorching criticism of Prince Savernola - and now his and Giovanna's lives are in danger. ![]() Ennio has been court jester to Duke Ubertini, ruler of Valenzio, for several years and is renowned for his witty and satirical plays. When Giovanna and her father Ennio run up against a representative of the tyrannical Prince Savernola, they have no idea of the far-reaching consequences of their actions. But when to openly denounce him brings certain death, will Giovanna have the courage to speak out? ![]() She alone holds a secret which, if made public, will end the prince¿s reign and liberate his oppressed people. The jester¿s daughter, Giovanna, must journey into the heart of danger to turn back the terrible consequences unleashed by her father¿s words ¿ and becomes entangled in a treacherous plot to overthrow the prince. They can grant freedom ¿ or begin a war.¿ In a world where it is a crime to speak against injustice, a jester dares to perform a play that enrages a powerful tyrant prince. They can break a heart, or give it a reason to live. An exciting historical fantasy YA by award-winning New Zealand author Sherryl Jordan. ![]() ![]() Though the book ends with a rather facile slam-dunk, the authors offer authoritative insight into this six-foot-six-inch-tall hoopster's boyhood spunk as well as reassurance to young athletes impatient for a growth spurt. One day, his father convinces him that, rather than being tall, ""practice, determination, and giving your best"" are the keys to being ""a real winner,"" and Michael runs off to join his brothers in the park, where he makes the game's winning shot. Though he obligesDand continues to practice shooting baskets at homeDhis efforts don't immediately pay off. If I were taller that wouldn't have happened."" When he asks his mother what will make him grow, she advises him to put salt in his shoes and say a prayer every night. ![]() Michael tells his older brothers, ""I am really sorry, guys. In the opening scenario, a bully intimidates young Jordan during a basketball game at a neighborhood park, causing him to flub a pass. Nelson (Big Jabe) is also a strong player here he contributes animated art, rendered in a cartoon style that is informal yet polished. ![]() ![]() Michael Jordan's mother and sister team up for an inspirational story about this athlete's earliest on-court efforts. ![]() ![]() ![]() And also another time, a Raisinet that definitely was not a Raisinet. I’ve eaten worse.” “Oh.” “A worm,” he says. But if Halmoni’s right about the spell, it might not be so bad for him. And I shouldn’t have fed you mud.” I mean this, mostly. How much of a relief it is to know he doesn’t think Halmoni is creepy or scary or whatever. I didn’t realize how much I was hoping to hear that. Sometimes my mouth keeps talking even when my brain knows it shouldn’t.” I can’t help but smile. I feel really bad that I said she’s sick. “But we really do think your hall-money is cool. Ricky’s dad seems nicer than he did in the grocery store, but it’s still sad that Ricky feels that way. My friends and I can be kind of the worst sometimes. Then he sighs and crumples, looking at me with pain on his face. ![]() I created a hostile environment, and…” He frowns, like he’s trying to remember his lines. “I apologize for judging your culture and for being intolerant of other beliefs. ![]() ![]() ![]() "With biting wit, Roberson explores the dynamics of heterosexual dating in the age of #MeToo" - The New York Times ![]() And really, was that date even a date in the first place? With sections like Real Interviews With Men About Whether Or Not It Was A Date Good Flirts That Work Bad Flirts That Do Not Work and Definitive Proof That Tom Hanks Is The Villain Of You've Got Mail, How to Date Men When You Hate Men is a one stop shop for dating advice when you love men but don't like them. ![]() She collects her crushes like ill cared-for pets, skewers her own suspect decisions, and assures readers that any date you can mess up, she can top tenfold. Blythe Roberson's sharp observational humor is met by her open-hearted willingness to revel in the ugliest warts and shimmering highs of choosing to live our lives amongst other humans. From New Yorker and Onion writer and comedian Blythe Roberson, How to Date Men When You Hate Men is a comedy philosophy book aimed at interrogating what it means to date men within the trappings of modern society. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() The beeping from inside stopped and Nick returned to roll the luggage out of the way. Kelly knew Ty’s and Owen’s security codes, had a key to the docks where Nick’s yacht stayed, and had a mental map of Digger’s bayou booby traps. They all knew where the keys to the castles were. Nick left the luggage sitting at the door and hustled inside to turn off the beeping alarm. He was exhausted and all he wanted was his own bed. ![]() It had been a long plane ride, even in first class, and the hour long trip from the airport hadn’t been much better on his healing wounds. Kelly had to lean against the deck railing of his front porch while Nick dealt with the lock and the alarm. Please excuse typos or mistakes, the editing process has been sacrificed for speed. It’s largely what I consider a first draft. This is the Nick/Kelly snippet I promised. ![]() ![]() ![]() If fiction is more your speed, Nicole Dennis-Benn's novels are both incredible. ![]() If you need a good laugh and also want to examine the very real, very large issues facing our world today (racism, pride, religion, and mental health, to name a few), look no further than Thomas's excellent collection. Eric Thomas (the columnist behind the popular " Eric Reads the News" on ) uses his charming sense of humor in Here for It: Or, How to Save Your Soul in America (Ballantine, $26), his first collection of essays, to explore his life as a gay, Black, Christian man and what it means to be different-and to be one's truest self. ![]() Kendi's How to Be an Anti-Racist to arrive, why not consider marking both movements with a book by one of these Black LGBTQ+ authors? So while you wait for your backorder of Ibram X. The push for equality for the LGBTQ+ community has been, and continues to be, intertwined with the push for racial equity (look at the activists who led the Stonewall uprising in 1969). Pride celebrations look a little different this year Covid-19 has resulted in the cancellation of most Pride parades, and the murder of George Floyd has led to protests across the world in the name of Black lives and racial equality. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() George wakes in the night to find a note from Kenny, who has left. Invigorated by “ the stunning baptism of the surf“, George invites Kenny back to his house, and attempts to seduce him, but stops himself. ![]() They head to the beach, stripping naked and swimming in the night-time surf. ![]() He visits the seaside bar where he first met Jim, and re-encounters Kenny, who flirts drunkenly with him. He goes to dinner with his friend Charlotte, a fellow British expatriate who has been abandoned by her lover and adult son, and laments that she and George could never be a real couple. After a gym workout, he goes to a hospital to visit Doris, a former lover of Jim’s who is dying of cancer, then has a brief encounter with a young hustler at a liquor store. He has a long conversation with his student Kenny, a heterosexual ex-Marine who hero-worships George and insists on calling him “Sir”. Alienated from Jim’s family and resentful towards his neighbours who tolerate rather than accept his sexuality, George moves through his day in an existential funk, teaching a literature class at his college, using a Aldous Huxley novel to expound his views about society’s fear of outsiders. The novel follows a day in the life of George, a 58 year-old college professor, who is devastated by the sudden death of his long-term boyfriend Jim. In which I review A Single Man, Christopher Isherwood’s Californian-set 1964 novel about a middle-aged gay Englishman grieving after the sudden death of his long-term boyfriend. ![]() |