Title: The Garden Intrigue
Author: Lauren Willig
Genre: Historical spy romance (Napoleonic Era)
Thingummies: 3

Synopsis: She lost her first husband tragically. He's trying to steal plans for a superweapon from Napoleon. They fight crime, by which I mean write a play.

Thoughts: ( So, what did you think?Collapse )

Got another 1000 words added to the WIP while waiting for big brother to finish his medical appointment. He's doing fine, weaning off codeine, only has to wear the collar in the car. maybe I'll get a bit of my own life back. Not all bad. I got that 1000 good words done. I love my netbook. A full computer that goes everywhere and fits my hands.

Title: The Summer Tree
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Genre: World-walking high fantasy
Thingummies: 2

Synopsis: Five grad students from Earth have to save Middle Earth. Like you do.

Thoughts: ( So, what did you think?Collapse )

It's cloudy outside. I thought it was going to rain at first. But the weather reports doesn't have any chance of rain being reported. So the sky is merely cloudy for the sake of being cloudy. That's fine. I know that the sky is still bright blue above all of those clouds. Nothing much is going on in my life beyond drinking coffee, surfing the Internet and working minimum wage. I keep hoping to win the lottery, but I'll need to purchase a lottery ticket in order to win the lottery. You can't just stand next to the lottery machine, say that I deserve the win the lottery because I'm a nice guy and expect to win. Getting involved and buying a lottery ticket is the only way to win the lottery. Well, anyway, it's a cloudy day and the weather outside feels like Summer. It's a good day. I'm feeling calm and I'm feeling at peace with myself.

There are 2 things that are pinging for me.

1) The lack of empathy & emotional understanding/ connection, mixed with the stubborn refusal to stop anyway ( when they're told it's causing harm ).

2) How the lies seem to be getting bigger and bigger.


Number 2 is easy. It's a group psychosis. Drunk, working it out for themselves, not reading the situation properly, and ultimately concluding an utter fantasy is true and justifies the hatred that then drives the rest.

The first one is, well, more disturbing. I'm used to dealing with fantasy. I work with and look after Schizophrenics after all. But for the end result to be violence is actually very rare for Schizophrenics. So...

What's in this group of women? There'll be some Schizophrenics sure. Fantasy taking over, frustrations leading to hatred etc etc, and then hiding from me when the normal moral safeguards kick in. That makes sense, and is common-enough Schizophrenia.

But then there is the group that attack. They aren't afraid ( Schizophrenics should be afraid ), they don't care they're injuring me ( words/ gossip & the threat of violence causing me to suffer as my health fails ), and they are not caring at all that they are beating up a Disabled person. This, in plain english, is a major warning bell. There is zero empathy or moral anything there. And this is where it REALLY gets interesting.

Back in 1995 the diagnosis of Psychopathy was separated off from the diagnosis of Schizophrenia. Much as both can be tied to delusion and psychosis Schizophrenics still have empathy and moral 'lines they won't cross'. Like me, and how I retreat rather than attacking. I won't hang myself by harming these people. I prefer to leave that bit to the powers that be.

Psychopaths often can't tell they're harming anyone as they do their thing, because of this lack of feedback/ empathy to the brain. Their emotions don't work properly.

There are 2 crowds in this Ship gang of women. 1 is afraid of me. The other is attacking me and, quite frankly, enjoying it. They think it's a game. 1 person has even made out I was un-cool ( as in she was cooler than me ) because I was so injured I could barely walk and asked her for help ( she refused ).

So it's cool to be so cold and uncaring you either directly harm a disabled person, or leave a disabled person to die/ rot ( neglect. An act of betrayal and cruelty. ) Both of these are deemed fine.

And this crowd will befriend you as long as you entertain them, but will give nothing back when you need real help as well.

There is so little affection in this group. They are stone cold. Either through fear, or through being genuinely that uncaring.

I'm not thinking Sociopath here. What I am encountering is causing real injury through abject unlawful a-moral cruelty. And it's up-close in many ways. Hence why I am drifting towards Psychopath.

I never did understand why the Ship community will protect each other no matter what. Even when someone has done something really dodgy ( which is common enough for that crowd to do ). Slug, Gayle, so many others. Theft, violence, obscene levels of insanity as they exploit & thieve. Like a pack of wild animals.

And this is why I am steering clear of that crowd full-stop now. Turning a blind eye to a Disabled person being beaten up or robbed is, well, shockingly a-moral. And that's the normal crowd. Then you get the attack 'dogs' who attack. Protecting those who are 'afraid'. None of them have any working morals or they'd be out of their like a shot ( like me ).

Birds of a feather have been known to flock together.

I'm thinking all of them have a lack of empathy ( symptom ); and after that it's delusion ( symptom, why they are doing what they are doing ) mixed with either anger ( symptom, to attack ), or fear ( symptom, to hide ).

Some will have empathy, but will be too afraid to speak out. Others won't, so don't.

I'm thinking we have a mix of undiagnosed Schizophrenics & Psychopaths. Birds of a feather. The symptom in common being the delusion bit, and that is a group psychosis as they are all sharing the same delusion.

The delusion has grown and grown as they are bouncing off of each other with no-one there to stop them & calm them down/ set them straight. That was Dean's job with me writing to him, but he's refusing to comment instead. Simon should have also calmed things down, but instead threw out the victim.

Dean & Simon are VERY interesting here as well. What on earth have they been up to? They are clearly protecting this mixed crowd.

Birds of a feather? We shall have to see.

I got this email the other day, it amused me:

Hi all! Hi there! Casting a furry couple for a True Life. The show is tasteful, informative and fun. Documentary. NO making fun of anyone! We'd love to focus on an event. such as wedding or an important day in your life or a couple's life. If interested please email me and if not I understand! I can be reached at ****

We've been casting this for a few weeks and understand some people's concern with the media. We get it and are very sensitive casting gals that are not out to harm anyone but hope to EDUCATE others on the fandom! Based on what we have heard the fandom has saved many lives, provided fun and a safe place for people to share and express themselves. ALSO quite a few of you are VERY talented artists! Please email me if interested. We would SKYPE first, then pitch stories to network. Our crew would then come out to film you and your significant others for the documentary. THANKS!


Aside from the fact my husband is NOT a furry and I really don't want a TV crew following me around while we like.... go to a barbeque or something.... it's almost impossible to trust a TV network not to whip out the "So do you have sex in costume?" card once they realize how absolutely normal and boring most furs are in real life.

I see they also fail to mention what the show is and if it is for a TV show/movie/internet thingy. Very shady I'd say.

Do you like the idea of voting with your wallet, of having a say in which creative endeavours see the light of day ?
Do you think that People of Color are under-represented in today's media?
Do you like Steampunk that goes beyond Victorian England?

Then you might like Rite of Passage , a steamfunk movie set in Kansas featuring (among others) Harriet Tubman and John Henry. The movie project is endorsed and supported by the School of Literature, Media and Communication at Georgia Tech but the crew still needs funds to make this movie happen, so they set up an IndieGoGo fundraiser

Any kind of help is appreciated, from contributions (of course) to signal-boosting