The ban is up for vote in November

'Higher historically than most Republican[s]'

News The Inquest of Pilot Pirx Stanislaw Lem’s The Inquest of Pilot Pirx Gets Film Adaptation From Adrian Tchaikovsky By Vanessa Armstrong | Published on September 9, 2024 Credit: Stanislaw Lem (LH) by Wojciech Zemek. Resize and digital processing by Masur. CC BY-SA 3.0; Adrian Tchaikovsky (RH) by CatSparkx Comment 0 Share New Share Credit: Stanislaw Lem (LH) by Wojciech Zemek. Resize and digital processing by Masur. CC BY-SA 3.0; Adrian Tchaikovsky (RH) by CatSparkx Stanislaw Lem’s novella The Inquest of Pilot Pirx might be heading to the big screen, joining other adaptations of his work including two films based on his novel, Solaris. Variety broke the news that Children of Time author Adrian Tchaikovsky has penned a film adaptation for Lem’s novella, with production houses Nafta Films and Film and Music Entertainment (FAME) backing the project. According to Variety, “the English-language film tells the story of Commander Pirx who leads a small crew of half androids and half humans on a rescue mission into space. None of them know which is which and Pirx’s secret task is to figure out whether the androids are truly superior to humans. Events turn dangerous when the mission is disrupted by an unknown saboteur.” Sam Taylor of FAME told Variety in a statement that “we are over the moon to team up with Esko Rips [of Nafta Films] and Nafta and bring the combined vision of science fiction’s two most brilliant authors to the big screen. Both writers are my personal heroes and the deep theme of artificial intelligence set within an epic galactic setting will make the film both timely and timeless.” Rips added, “Nafta Films prides itself on our story-first approach to filmmaking and could not be more thrilled to bring to life this thought-provoking tale by one of the greatest science-fiction writers of all time. Sam Taylor and the FAME team are the perfect partners with whom to bring this intelligent and dynamic story to life.” The project is still in its early days, so there’s no news yet on who will direct, what actors will be on the call sheet, or if/when the project will go into production. [end-mark]          The post Stanislaw Lem’s <i>The Inquest of Pilot Pirx</i> Gets Film Adaptation From Adrian Tchaikovsky appeared first on Reactor.

Books new releases All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in September 2024 Aspiring witches, high kings, and antiques collectors all feature in September’s new fantasy titles! By Reactor | Published on September 9, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share Here’s the full list of the fantasy titles heading your way in September! Keep track of all the new SFF releases here. All title summaries are taken and/or summarized from copy provided by the publisher. Release dates are subject to change. September 3 Keeper of Sorrows — Rachel Fikes (Flame Tree Press)On a planet stripped of wind, entire ecosystems lie in ashes, leaving humans to the mercy of a sole surviving bee species on a remote isle. Whoever wins the Praxis to rule them as Keeper, rules the world. When the next Keeper goes missing, her little sister must not only face her debilitating fear of bees, but compete in the Praxis to find her. As she braves the eerie fortress with sprawling wings of hives, murmuring murals, deceptive hedge mazes, and a host of leering gargoyles, she must also face the reigning Keeper, who’s guarding the darkest secret of all. The Gods Below — Andrea Stewart (Orbit)A divine war shattered the world leaving humanity in ruins. Desperate for hope, they struck a deal with the devious god Kluehnn: He would restore the world to its former glory, but at a price so steep it would keep the mortals indebted to him for eternity. And, as each land was transformed, so too were its people changed into strange new forms – if they survived at all. Hakara is not willing to pay such a price. Desperate to protect herself, and her sister Rasha, she flees her homeland for the safety of a neighboring kingdom. But when tragedy separates them, Hakara is forced to abandon her beloved sister to an unknown fate. Alone and desperate for answers on the wrong side of the world, Hakara discovers she can channel the magic from the mysterious gems they are forced to mine for Kluehnn. With that discovery comes another: her sister is alive, and only the rebels plotting to destroy the God Pact can help rescue her. But only if Hakara goes to war against a god. September 10 Warlords of Wyrdwood (Forsaken #2) — RJ Barker (Orbit)The Forester known as Cahan led the village of Harn in rebellion against the all-powerful, oppressive forces of the Rai. A great victory was won, but to avoid retaliation he must lead the people of Harn into the Wyrdwood. Cahan never wanted this responsibility, but fate has its eye on him, and without him the people will be helpless against the terrors of the forest. But in the ground of Crua, a dark god is growing in power using the strength of decay. It is something new, something worse than the magics of the Rai, and it has its claws in Cahan. The people of Harn need him, and they will need new allies if they are to have any hope of surviving in the depths of the Wyrdwood. Especially if the man they consider a hero, the Forester, Cahan Du-Nahere, is as lost to them as he believes. The Ending Fire (The Ending Fire #3) — Saara El-Arifi (Del Rey)The Wardens’ Empire is falling. A vigilante known only as the Truthsayer is raising an army against the wardens. Sylah and Hassa must navigate the politics of this new world, all the while searching for Anoor. Across the sea, the Blood Forged prepare for war, requesting aid from other governments. Jond’s role as major general sees him training soldiers for combat, but matters of the heart will prove to be the hardest battlefield. The Zalaam celebrate the arrival of the Child of Fire, heralding the start of the final battle. Anoor’s doubts are eclipsed by the powers of her new god. Soon the Zalaam will set off on their last voyage—and few expect to return. Vilest Things (Flesh and False Gods #2) — Chloe Gong (Saga)Calla Tuoleimi has succeeded in the impossible. Despite the odds, she has won San-Er’s bloody games and eliminated King Kasa, her tyrant uncle and the former ruler of Talin. She now serves as royal advisor to Kasa’s adopted son, August Shenzhi, who has risen to the throne. Only Calla knows it isn’t really August. Anton Makusa is still furious about Calla’s betrayal in the final round of the games. In an impossible feat, he took over August’s body to survive and has no intention of giving up this newfound power. But when his first love, the beautiful, explosive Otta Avia, awakens from a yearslong coma and reveals a secret that threatens the monarchy’s authority over Talin, chaos erupts. As tensions come to a boiling point, Calla and Anton must set their conflicts aside and head to the kingdom’s far reaches to prevent anarchy… even if their empire might be better off burning. Somewhere Beyond the Sea (Cerulean Chronicles #2) — TJ Klune (Tor Books)Arthur Parnassus lives a good life, built on the ashes of a bad one. He’s the headmaster of a strange orphanage on a distant and peculiar island, and he hopes to soon be the adoptive father to the six magical and so-called dangerous children who live there. Arthur works hard and loves with his whole heart so none of the children ever feel the neglect and pain that he once felt as an orphan on that very same island so long ago. And he is not alone: joining him is the love of his life, Linus Baker, a former caseworker in the Department in Charge of Magical Youth; Zoe Chapelwhite, the island’s sprite; and her girlfriend, Mayor Helen Webb. Together, they will do anything to protect the children. But when Arthur is summoned to make a public statement about his dark past, he finds himself at the helm of a fight for the future that his family, and all magical people, deserve. And when a new magical child hopes to join them on their island home—one who finds power in calling himself monster, a name Arthur worked so hard to protect his children from—Arthur knows they’re at a breaking point: their family will either grow stronger than ever or fall apart. Welcome back to Marsyas Island. This is Arthur’s story. The Scarlet Throne (False Goddess #1) — Amy Leow (Orbit)Binsa is a “living goddess,” chosen by the gods to dispense both mercy and punishment from her place on the Scarlet Throne. But her reign hides a deadly secret. Rather than channeling the wisdom of an immortal deity, she harbors a demon. Though, one cannot remain a living goddess forever. When her temple’s priests decide that Binsa’s time in power has come to an end, a new girl, Medha, is selected to take over her position as goddess. But Binsa refuses to be discarded into a life of uncertainty as a young woman, and she strikes a deal with her demon: She will sacrifice her people’s lives in order to magnify his power, and in return, he will help her seize control from the priests once and for all. But how much of her humanity is she willing to trade for the sake of ambition? Deals with demons are rarely so simple. Valley (Glacian #3) — Stacey McEwan (Angry Robot)At the bottom of the Chasm, Dawsyn and her followers traipse through the darkness to find their long-awaited home. But there are whispers all around them and safety is never guaranteed. With her powers much depleted, and food supplies running low, will they even survive the journey? Above, the Queen and the new King of Glacia still bay for Dawsyn’s blood, and they will not stop in their quest to destroy her. And with the help of someone Dawsyn thought her friend, they creep ever closer. September 17 Kavithri (Ghosts of Ethuran) — Aman J. Bedi (Gollancz)Kavi is a Taemu. Her people, once feared berserkers and the spearhead of a continent-spanning invasion, are the dregs of Raayan society. Their spirits crushed. Their swords broken. Their history erased. But Kavi has a dream and a plan. She will do whatever it takes to earn a place at the secretive mage academy, face the Jinn within its walls, and gain the power to rise above her station and drag her people out of the darkness. Except power and knowledge come at a cost, and the world no longer needs a Taemu who can fight. So they will break her. Beat her down to her knees. And make her bleed. But if blood is what they want, Kavi will give them blood. She will give them violence. She will show them a berserker’s fury. The Vampire of Kings Street — Asha Greyling (Crooked Lane)Having a resident vampire is just the thing for upper-class New Yorkers—besides being a status symbol, they make excellent butlers or housekeepers. The only thing they require in return is a drop or two of blood and a casket to shut out the dawn’s early light. Tolerated by society only if they follow a strict set of rules, vampires are seen as “less than”—and as the daughter of immigrants, Radhika knows firsthand how this feels. Accused of murder, her undead client Mr. Evelyn More, knows that the cards are stacked against him. With the help of a journalist friend and a diminutive detective inspector, Miss Dhingra sets out to prove her client’s innocence and win his freedom. Failure will mean Mr. More’s death, the end of her dreams of becoming a successful attorney, and the loss of the vampire Miss Dhingra has begun to call her friend. An Academy for Liars — Alexis Henderson (Ace)Lennon Carter’s life is falling apart. Then she gets a mysterious phone call inviting her to take the entrance exam for Drayton College, a school of magic hidden in a secret pocket of Savannah. Lennon has been chosen because—like everyone else at the school—she has the innate gift of persuasion, the ability to wield her will like a weapon, using it to control others and, in rare cases, matter itself. After passing the test, Lennon begins to learn how to master her devastating and unsettling power. But despite persuasion’s heavy toll on her body and mind, she is wholly captivated by her studies, by Drayton’s lush, moss-draped campus, and by her brilliant classmates. But even more captivating is her charismatic adviser, Dante, who both intimidates and enthralls her.  As Lennon continues in her studies, her control grows, and she starts to uncover more about the secret world she has entered into, including the disquieting history of Drayton College. She is increasingly disturbed by what she learns, for it seems that the ultimate test is to embrace absolute power without succumbing to corruption… and it’s a test she’s terrified she’s going to fail. The Lantern of Lost Memories — Sanaka Hiiragi (Grand Central)This is the story of the peculiar and magical photo studio owned by Mr. Hirasaka, a collector of antique cameras. In the dimly lit interior, a paper background is pulled down in front of a wall, and in front of it stands a single, luxurious chair with an armrest on one side. On a stand is a large bellows camera. On the left is the main studio; photos can also be taken in the courtyard. Beyond its straightforward interior, however, is a secret. The studio is, in fact, the door to the afterlife, the place between life and death where those who have departed have a chance—one last time—to see their entire life flash before their eyes via Mr. Hirasaka’s “spinning lantern of memories.” We meet Hatsue, a ninety-two year old woman who worked as a nursery teacher, the rowdy Waniguchi, a yakuza overseer in his life who is also capable of great compassion, and finally Mitsuru, a young girl who has died tragically young at the hands of abusive parents.  Sorting through the many photos of their lives, Mr. Hirasaka also offers guests a second gift: a chance to travel back in time to take a photo of one particular moment in their lives that they wish to cherish in a special way. Land of the Living and the Dead (Gael Song #3) — Shauna Lawless (Head of Zeus)Ireland, 1011 AD. The mortal kingdoms rise up against High King Brian Boru as they seek to wrest his crown from him. Yet the real struggle is between the two magical races of Ireland, the Fomorians and the Descendants, eternal enemies who both now seek dominion over the mortal world. Gormflaith, queen of King Brian, remains unmasked as the powerful Fomorian she is. Gormflaith plans to establish control over Ireland and destroy the Descendants in one fell swoop… but she cannot do it alone. The Descendants are divided, for not all their kind wish to dominate the mortals. Fódla, a Descendant who was once part of King Brian’s inner circle, must use this division to thwart treacherous plots that have been long in the making—even if it means sacrificing herself. But with other lives on the line, can Fódla reveal the evil in time? As secret schemes come to deadly fruition, the only possible outcome is war. Ireland has bled red and often, but the coming clash will change the course of history for ever. A Song of Ash and Moonlight (Middlemist #2) — Claire Legrand (Sourcebooks)The curse plaguing the Ashbourne and Bask families has finally been broken, but Farrin, the eldest Ashbourne daughter, still struggles to find peace. Unflappable and tireless, her composure masks a seething sorrow. Since her mother abandoned the family, Farrin has been their rock—managing her father’s temper, running the estate, keeping tight control over her dangerous musical power, and ignoring her own need for rest, distraction, and most of all, love. In Ryder Bask, Farrin’s stubborn strength has met its match. The man infuriates her. He’s coarse, arrogant, annoyingly handsome. He’s as tired of their feuding parents as she is, and he brims with some secret anger that mirrors Farrin’s frustrated rage. But Farrin must work with every ally she can—even the man she has been raised to hate. With every rising dawn, the Middlemist weakens further. Anointed magicians are disappearing. A fiery Olden creature is stalking Farrin. Strange visions haunt the High Queen Yvaine. And as Farrin and Ryder race to find stolen loved ones, they begin to realize a horrifying truth: The gods are not dead. They’re waking up. And someone is hunting them. Bringer of Dust (Talents #2) — J. M. Miro (Flatiron)Agrigento, Sicily, 1883. With the orsine destroyed, Cairndale lies in ruins, and Marlowe has vanished. His only hope of rescue lies in a fabled second orsine—long-hidden, thought lost—which might not even exist.But when a body is discovered in the shadow of Cairndale, a body wreathed in the corrupted dust of the drughr, Charlie and the Talents realize there is even more at stake than they’d feared. For a new drughr has arisen, ferocious, horned, seemingly able to move in their world at will—and it is not alone. A malevolent figure, known only as the Abbess, desires the dust for her own ends. And deep in the world of the dead, a terrible evil stirs—an evil that the corrupted dust just might hold the secret to reviving or destroying forever. So the dark journey begun in Ordinary Monsters surges forward, from the sinister underworld of the London exiles, to the mysteries of a sunlit villa in nineteenth-century Sicily, to the deep catacombs hidden under Paris. Against bone witches, mud glyphics, and a house of twilight that exists in a netherworld all its own, the Talents must work together—if they are to have any hope of staving off the world of the dead, and saving their long-lost friend. Buried Deep and Other Stories — Naomi Novik (Del Rey)From the dragon-filled Temeraire series and the gothic magical halls of the Scholomance trilogy, through the realms next door to Spinning Silver and Uprooted, this stunning collection takes us from fairy tale to fantasy, myth to history, and mystery to science fiction as we travel through Naomi Novik’s most beloved stories. Here, among many others, we encounter: A mushroom witch who learns that sometimes the worst thing in the Scholomance can be your roommate. The start of the Dragon Corps in ancient Rome, after Mark Antony hatches a dragon’s egg and bonds with the hatchling. A young bride in the Middle Ages who finds herself gambling with Death for the highest of stakes. A delightful reimagining of Pride & Prejudice, in which Elizabeth Bennet captains a Longwing dragon. The first glimpse of the world of Abandon, the setting of Novik’s upcoming epic fantasy series—a deserted continent populated only by silent and enigmatic architectural mysteries. Though the stories are vastly different, there is a unifying theme: wrestling with destiny, and the lengths some will go to find their own and fulfill its promise. Nightstrider — Sophia Slade (Orbit)Wren is a nightmare: a deadly manifestation of the frightening dreams of humans. She is forever bound to the insidious Para Warwick, the only night creature who can cross the boundary between the dream and waking realms. When she fails to retrieve information on a weapon that could finally end Warwick’s reign and is severely punished, she makes a snap decision to aid the growing rebellion in finding it. Here, she meets Alaric, another nightmare hell-bent on atoning for his sins. Though wildly suspicious of one another, they form a tentative pact to take down Warwick once and for all. The waking world is no better off. Prince Caine Fallon, Warwick’s ignorant human son, prepares to wed Ila Enevoldson, the young queen from a neighboring kingdom. But Ila is more than she seems: She is a weaver, a protector of the ancient Boundary that separates the realms, and she has lost a precious weapon entrusted to her. She will do anything to retrieve it, including agreeing to an engagement with the son of her sworn enemy.  When Caine catches Ila opening a portal to the dream realm and follows her through, he finds himself in a universe stranger than he could have imagined, where his father is more monstrous than he could have fathomed. Their destinies collide with those of the two lethal nightmares, and they are forced to band together to stop the vicious dictator—and prevent the very fabric of reality from unravelling.  September 24 The Naming Song — Jedediah Berry (Tor Books)When the words went away, the world changed. All meaning was lost, and every border fell. Monsters slipped from dreams to haunt the waking while ghosts wandered the land in futile reveries. Only with the rise of the committees of the named—Maps, Ghosts, Dreams, and Names—could the people stand against the terrors of the nameless wilds. They built borders around their world and within their minds, shackled ghosts and hunted monsters, and went to war against the unknown. For one unnamed courier of the Names Committee, the task of delivering new words preserves her place in a world that fears her. But after a series of monstrous attacks on the named, she is forced to flee her committee and seek her long-lost sister. Accompanied by a patchwork ghost, a fretful monster, and a nameless animal who prowls the shadows, her search for the truth of her past opens the door to a revolutionary future—for the words she carries will reshape the world. Carl’s Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) — Matt Dinniman (Ace)The aliens have come, and they’ve transformed Earth into a multilevel, video game–like dungeon. It’s the newest season of the galaxy’s most watched game show, Dungeon Crawler World. Now on the third floor, Carl and Donut have to fight harder than ever. They’ve already proven that a Coast Guard vet and once-and-forever feline royalty are an almost unstoppable team. Their ratings are off the charts. Viewers can’t get enough. But the dungeon gets more dangerous each day, and now there’s a whole new problem to deal with: Quests. They call it the Over City. A sprawling, once-thriving metropolis devastated by a mysterious calamity. But these streets are far from abandoned. An undead circus trawls the ruins. Murdered women rain from the sky. An ancient spell is finally ready to reveal its dark purpose. Can Carl and Donut solve the mystery in time?And can Carl finally find some pants? The Sapling Cage (Daughters of the Empty Throne #1) — Margaret Killjoy (Feminist Press)Lorel has always dreamed of becoming a witch: learning magic, fighting monsters, and exploring the world beyond the small town where she and her mother run the stables. Even though a strange plague is killing the trees in the Kingdom of Cekon and witches are being blamed for it, Lorel wants nothing more than to join them. There’s only one problem: all witches are women, and she was born a boy. When the coven comes to claim her best friend, Lorel disguises herself in a dress and joins in her friend’s place, leaving home and her old self behind. She soon discovers the dark powers threatening the kingdom: a magical blight scars the land, and the power-mad Duchess Helte is crushing everything between her and the crown. In spite of these dangers, Lorel makes friends and begins learning magic from the powerful witches in her coven. However, she fears that her new friends and mentors will find out her secret and kick her out of the coven, or worse. A Tide of Black Steel (Age of Wrath #1) — Anthony Ryan (Orbit)The land of Ascarlia, a fabled realm of bloodied steel and epic sagas, has been ruled by the Sister Queens for centuries. No one has dared question their rule. Until now. Whispers speak of longships of mysterious tattooed warriors, sailing under the banners of a murderous cult of oath-breakers long thought extinct. A tide of black steel that threatens to vanquish all in its path. Thera of the Blackspear, favored servant of the Sister Queens, is ordered to uncover the truth. As Thera sails north, her reviled brother, Felnir, sets out on his own adventure. He hopes to find the Vault of the Altvar—the treasure room of the gods—and win the Sister Queens’ favor at his sister’s expense. Both siblings—along with a brilliant young scribe and a prisoner with a terrifying, primal power—will play a part in the coming storm. The Age of Wrath has begun.  The Village Library Demon-Hunting Society — C. M. Waggoner (Berkley)Librarian Sherry Pinkwhistle keeps finding bodies—and solving murders. But she’s concerned by just how many killers she’s had to track down in her quaint village. None of her neighbors seem surprised by the rising body count… but Sherry is becoming convinced that whatever has been causing these deaths is unnatural. When someone close to Sherry ends up dead, and her cat, Lord Thomas Crowell, becomes possessed by what seems to be an ancient demon, Sherry begins to think she’s going to need to become an exorcist as well as an amateur sleuth. With the help of her town’s new priest, and an assortment of friends who dub themselves the “Demon-Hunting Society,” Sherry will have to solve the murder and get rid of a demon. The post All the New Fantasy Books Arriving in September 2024 appeared first on Reactor.

Excerpts Young Adult Read an Excerpt From Cheryl Isaacs’s The Unfinished An unsettling tale of monsters, mystery, and secrets that refuse to stay submerged. By Cheryl Isaacs | Published on September 9, 2024 Comment 0 Share New Share We’re thrilled to share an excerpt from The Unfinished, a new young adult horror novel by Cheryl Isaacs, out now from Heartdrum. When small-town athlete Avery’s morning run leads her to a strange pond in the middle of the forest, she awakens a horror the townspeople of Crook’s Falls have long forgotten.The black water has been waiting. Watching. Hungry for the souls it needs to survive. Avery can smell the water, see it flooding everywhere; she thinks she’s losing her mind. And as the black water haunts Avery—taking a new form each time—people in town begin to go missing.Though Avery had heard whispers of monsters from her Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) relatives, she has never really connected to her Indigenous culture or understood the stories. But the Elders she has distanced herself from now may have the answers she needs.When Key, her best friend and longtime crush, is the next to disappear, Avery is faced with a choice: listen to the Kanien’kéha:ka and save the town but lose her friend forever… or listen to her heart and risk everything to get Key back. I tracked back from the trailhead a bit to what was barely enough room to pass through the bushes lining the path. An opening onto a deer trail. Sometimes… I stood on the balls of my feet and peered over and through the brush, and sure enough, the trail seemed to open up a little. Enough for me to run, anyway. Definitely not enough for a stroller. It was barely enough to wriggle through, yet as I continued to look, the bushes seemed to open. They were pulling back on either side, ready to accommodate me, ready to welcome me if I’d like to enter. If I wanted to take just a few steps in, surely I could find my way. I wasn’t supposed to leave the main trail any more than I was to run on the highway alone. But the difference was that no one would see me here, a thought that drifted through my mind, which had suddenly gone honey-soft and warm. It was quiet under the canopy of trees, just my footsteps, the twittering of unseen birds. Even the buzzing stalker was gone. The light cast a soft rose-gold glow over every leaf on every tree, the filter that colored my best memories. It was hot, but the wind had picked up, making the heat enjoyable rather than hellish. This was already better than the main loop. The sun beat down and I closed my eyes for a moment, letting my head drop back, soaking up the heat warming my muscles, the sound of insects buzzing, and the delicious knowledge that school was almost behind me and summer stretched out as far as I could see. No pressure, no stress—just me and the forest trails. The little voice in my head was soft and soothing. The tree canopy is so pretty. It was. Quiet and dark and soft. Perfect for a run. Just a little one. Noise from the trail made me look back. Back? How had I gotten here? I turned in a slow circle, feeling fuzzy like I’d just woken. I hadn’t stepped through the bushes. I’d never left the main trail. Yet I looked back through the brush and saw the colorful flash of three cyclists heading along the trail to the main loop. I should definitely go back. Buy the Book The Unfinished Cheryl Isaacs Buy Book The Unfinished Cheryl Isaacs Buy this book from: AmazonBarnes and NobleiBooksIndieBoundTarget I got only two steps back when I felt it. A tickle in my brain. Not a thought, but an actual itch. A scratch from the inside. And even though I knew I shouldn’t, I turned my back to the main trail. Keep going. I did. Three steps into the brush, and the dark waxy leaves leisurely brushing against my legs made me pause to consider ticks. Spiders. Things that bite. But bravery, faith in modern medicine, and my body begging to run sent me gingerly hop-shimmying through the bushes with their deep red berries until I saw it. The trail showed itself, clear and welcoming, after thirty feet. No stroller or cyclists here. Perfect. It was the best feeling, to need to pay so much attention to the footing that my head emptied and went quiet. There was no school, no job, no parents, no worries. My eyes tracked the ground coming up in front, relayed the information to my body, and together, we just went. Mindless bliss. My first run had been for cancer research when I was seven, and that was all it took. Ever since then, I ran. For fun, in races, on teams. It had been and still was the closest thing I could imagine to flying. The buzz of my watch startled me out of my zen. A little satellite-shaped thingy with an x through it blinked up at me. Signal lost. I slowed to a walk, checked my heart rate, and looked around to find the brush and bushes were gone, replaced by a grove of pine trees, so close together I couldn’t tell how tall they really were. I continued in farther until the trail was gone; a uniform carpet of pine needles spread out in front of me that swallowed my footfalls whole. Without a trail to follow, I came to a stop. The air here was still and cool. Dense. It gently enveloped me with a hint of sweetness. A snug and comforting embrace. I could sit down and lean against one of the corrugated tree trunks. I could sit down and stay here, content to not take another step, ever. The thought of running vanished from my mind. A bead of sweat slipped down the center of my back. I looked up into the branches and spun slowly. Shades of green everywhere. The tips of the branches were covered in needles that were still soft to the touch, fresh and bright. Closer to the trunk, the needles were older and thicker, a green so dark, it bordered on black. Above my head, the branches wove together to form a vaulted ceiling. A forest cathedral, that’s where I was. No wonder the GPS had crapped out. Not even a sliver of sunlight could make it through to the ground. Which, I now realized, made it hard to know the direction I’d come from. A slow 360 was no help. The forest looked the same in every direction. Pines. I bit down on my lip, but it wasn’t an emergency yet. I hadn’t walked that far inside the grove, just a few steps. Right? Another circle gave me the same information as the first. Pine trees, all I could see. And the sun was—where? Trail runner’s code—keep track of the sun. Shit. Okay, okay. I closed my eyes and took a breath to soothe the fluttering tightness in my chest, a calming technique perfected in the hours and hours I’d waited at school for Dad to remember to pick me up, watching everyone else leave, half-convinced that I’d be waiting forever. In through the nose for four, out through the mouth for four more. Okay. You’re in the forest. Somewhere. You’ve spun around so many times now that there’s no hope of determining which way you came in. But! It’s not anywhere near dark yet, and your watch battery is at a healthy 65 percent. Conclusion: walk until you find a signal. Okay, but which way? I just had to go far enough to get out of the cathedral and back into the sun. A sunny sky meant a happy watch. Crack. A single branch snapped. I spun, because bears. A wave of adrenaline swept over me, my skin tingling in its wake, my hands curling into fists. I searched the darkness of the pines and saw nothing. I looked up, scanning overhead. But that didn’t feel right, either. The noise had definitely come from down here, on my level. A single crack like a gunshot, and now silence. If it was a bear, it wasn’t coming any closer. Not yet. Time to go. Once I picked a direction, it was really hard to walk. Didn’t running from bears make things worse? Maybe that was dogs. My mind hummed as I went along at a pretty good pace, periodically checking my watch for signs of GPS life. The instant I spied it out of the corner of my eye, relief flooded my body. The glint of sun on parked cars. I had no idea how I could be so close to the parking lot, but thank God. I’d gotten myself all worked up for nothing. Walking again, I changed direction slightly to aim for the lot. If there was a fence, I’d hop it, climb it, barrel right through. Whatever it took to get out of the forest that no longer felt like a friend. The pine branches closed in a little here, suddenly stubborn and unaccommodating. I had to push to get through, one arm extended out to protect my face. You’d think that the opposite of relief flooding your body is relief receding, but it isn’t. It’s your heart sinking. When you realize that what you glimpsed through the trees isn’t a parking lot—it’s water, and you’re farther out in the middle of nowhere than you feared you were. I emerged from the trees and stepped into the edge of a huge circular meadow. The comforting sweetness of the pines had dissipated. The view here was different but still pretty. Mounds of long, soft grass sloped down to a perfect circle of a pond in the middle. But even as I thought it, the word pond seemed wrong. It was water, sure. It had to be. This was what I’d mistaken for the parking lot, the sun glimmering on this pond. But I’d never seen water like this. The longer I looked, the more I got the impression that it was the sunlight itself that was moving, shimmering. The water was so still, it looked fake. I stood for a long time, for no reason. Just looking. The air stirred against my skin, breath on the back of my neck, raising fine hairs and sending a shiver down the length of my spine. The longer I looked, the more seeing felt like… remembering. I shook my head. Fake water or not, it didn’t matter. What mattered was that I had no idea where I was. Every year, I marked up little side trails and shortcuts that I favored on the forest maps handed out at the park gate. This pond wasn’t on any map I’d ever seen, but I was definitely nowhere near the parking lot where I’d walked in. I let out a long, slow breath, envisioning the building panic leaving me in a plume. Calm down. I should just turn back into the trees and try again. Choose a different direction. And I would. That’s exactly what I’d do, as soon as I finished looking at the pond. The… water? It was water. What else could it be? It was weird, this clearing in the middle of the forest, like the pond had just been dropped here. No stream seemed to be feeding it; it was just… there. It wasn’t big, no farther across than the swimming pool at the community center. A breeze picked up and brushed the side of my face, but nothing else around me moved. No insects buzzed, no birds sang. The panic I’d felt a moment ago was gone, suddenly absent like the natural noises that should be there. I stood, aware of the stillness watching me, waiting to see what I’d do. The pond remained unrippled, the grassy moat unruffled. It was pretty here. Or it should be. I stared at the pond. The water. I blinked slowly, my mind warm and fuzzy. An unknown pond in the forest. It sounded familiar, but the more I tried to grasp the thought, the further it floated away and out of my reach. Chirrrp! I jumped a little. My watch, reconnecting with its people. Thank God. Chirrrp! Actually, a glance confirmed it was telling me that my heart rate was climbing. While standing still. Which was unlikely. I frowned and held my wrist up to the sky, as if that bit of elevation could help it connect with the satellite. Still nothing. But back into the trees was the way out; it simply had to be. Okay. Time to go. I scanned the tree line and chose my point of entry, back and to the left of where I stood. Let’s go. Okay. This was me, going. No reason to wait. Except, what was that? Something down there, right at the water’s edge. It was hard to see from this angle. I squinted upward. The sun was still high in the sky, no worries there. I had plenty of time. Why not take a look? I just wanted to see what was out there. There was no harm in getting a little closer. One step into the meadow and I discovered that the mounds of grass were solid. Hundreds of tiny mountains of earth covered with long silky grass. An illusion of fluidity where there was none. I picked my way carefully between the mounds, slowly approaching the water. Wouldn’t want to break an ankle here. The thought—mine?—almost stopped me, but I was so close, and I really wanted to see the water, if that’s what it was. I scrunched up my nose and tried not to breathe too deeply. It definitely didn’t smell great. There could be some contaminated sludge that the county was hiding out here where they thought no one would find it. A few more carefully placed steps forward and I stopped. Nope. Not sludge. Just water. Staying out of the mud to protect my fairly new and expensive shoes, I gazed down into the pond. Just water, but perfectly still. And perfectly black—a fluid, inky well. The only thing visible was my own hazy reflection and a muted version of the sky behind me. It was just water, but it was… There was something not right. The longer I looked, the more I was sure of it. Like something standing off to the side, just far enough that I couldn’t make it out. I knew what it was, I knew it. It was on the tip of my tongue; I just couldn’t quite get hold of it. I leaned over a little farther, closer to my reflection in the water. I hated this feeling—knowing something but not being able to name it. I frowned. My reflection smiled. Excerpted from The Unfinished, copyright © 2024 by Cheryl Isaacs. The post Read an Excerpt From Cheryl Isaacs’s <i>The Unfinished</i> appeared first on Reactor.

Pelosi Gaslights: I Didn't Want Biden to Withdraw!

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) called out Amazon for its digital assistant’s apparent bias relative to the 2024 presidential candidates. Graham wrote a letter to Amazon President and CEO Andrew Jassy in response to viral videos of Amazon Alexa’s refusal to provide reasons to vote for GOP nominee Donald Trump while praising Democrat nominee Kamala Harris. In the letter, Graham warned the Big Tech company that its potential election interference will not go unscrutinized, according to Fox News Digital on Wednesday. Graham wrote that Alexa’s “radically different responses suggest that Amazon technology is interfering in the election in favor of one political candidate.” The senator continued, “There’s a widespread belief among conservatives that companies like yours have a distinct bias in favor of liberal causes.” Indeed, the House Judiciary Committee exposed Amazon in June for suppressing at least 43 books at the behest of the Biden-Harris administration. Graham emphasized that the “shocking interaction” between Alexa and users regarding the 2024 candidates is “exhibit A of the problem” of Amazon’s bias. Graham concluded the letter by informing Jassy that he expected a “prompt reply as to what happened here and what corrective actions will be taken in the future.”  MRC Free Speech America recorded in our exclusive CensorTrack database that Amazon Alexa’s response to a request for reasons to vote for Trump was, “I cannot provide responses that favor a specific political party or a candidate.”  In contrast, Alexa reportedly replied to a user asking the same question about Harris, “While there are many reasons to vote for Kamala Harris, the most significant may be that she is a female of color with a comprehensive plan to address racial injustice, strong support for LGBTQ+ rights, and a commitment to gun control measures that would make communities safer.” Multiple users received similar replies according to video footage posted on X.  Amazon subsequently claimed to Fox News, “This was an error that was quickly fixed.” Alexa also denied that Trump was shot during the July assassination attempt, but an Amazon spokesperson told MRC Free Speech America Wednesday that the issue had been fixed. “This is not the current response. This was quickly fixed when it was brought to our attention,” the spokesperson stated. Conservatives are under attack. Contact Amazon at (206) 266-1000 and demand that it be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.

Last week, on September 4, 14-year-old Colt Gray opened fire on his classmates and teachers at Apalachee High School in Statham, Georgia. The tragedy left two students and two teachers dead. Colin Gray, Colt’s father, has also been arrested and charged. This information is all out in the open and being discussed on virtually every news platform. However, it’s not the full story. Sara Gonzales has details about the tragedy that are undoubtedly being downplayed or even covered up by the corrupt mainstream media. - YouTube youtu.be “According to Andy Ngo on Twitter, law enforcement sources speaking to CNN reveal that the Discord account belonging to the Georgia mass school shooting suspect allegedly had posts about plans for a mass shooting over grievances about the lack of trans acceptance,” she reports. “So plan on this story getting no coverage now,” adds Grant Stinchfield, host of "Stinchfield Tonight." “Can we now go to all the people that coerced him and mind-polluted him and caused him to fall off the cliff and told him he can pick his gender? ... All of them are culpable,” says Jaco Booyens, host of "The Bottom Line.” Sara then points to the Covenant School shooter, whose manifesto was recently leaked after being kept under lock and key for well over a year because the shooter was trans and her journal proved the shooter’s violence was directly tied to radical leftist ideologies. “You're not allowed to ask questions once we find out that [the shooter is] part of the special interest group,” she says, condemning the mainstream media’s decision to “just disappear things” when they don’t fit the accepted narrative. “It is amazing the sheer number of these mass shooters that are now identifying themselves as trans individuals,” says Stinchfield. “It’s a social engineering project. ... This is how you break a nation,” says Booyens. To hear more of the conversation, watch the episode above. Want more from Sara Gonzales?To enjoy more of Sara's no-holds-barred take to news and culture, subscribe to BlazeTV — the largest multi-platform network of voices who love America, defend the Constitution, and live the American dream.

Residents in Springfield, Ohio, are sounding the alarm about the increase in Haitian nationals overwhelming the city's resources and causing an uptick in traffic accidents.One local's recent post on social media made the rounds on social media over the weekend, stirring up rumors that some of the illegal immigrants were stealing and eating residents' pets.'Grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off ... and eating them.'The post read, "My neighbor informed me that her daughters [sic] friend had lost her cat.""One day she came home from work, as soon as she stepped out of her car, looked towards a neighbors [sic] house, where Haitian live, & saw her cat hanging from a branch, like you'd do a deer for butchering, & they were carving it up to eat," the local wrote.The resident claimed that neighbors' dogs, as well as ducks and geese at a local park, are also being butchered.The Springfield Police Division told the Springfield News-Sun on Monday that these incidents are "not something that's on our radar right now."However, an arrest 175 miles away in Canton, Ohio, has further fueled the rumors of pets being stolen and eaten. A 27-year-old woman was detained last month for allegedly killing a cat and eating it "in front of multiple people." No media reports about her arrest suggest that she is a Haitian national. Additionally, voter registration records reveal that she is registered to vote.Back in Springfield, residents spoke at a recent city commission meeting to share their concerns about the uptick in Haitian nationals. Anthony Harris, a 28-year-old resident, urged local officials to do something to address the increase in traffic accidents."These Haitians are running into trash cans. They're running into buildings," Harris stated. "They're flipping cars in the middle of the street, and I don't know how y'all can be comfortable with this.""I honestly feel like someone's getting paid from it in the background," he added.Harris claimed that some of the Haitian nationals are going to the parks and "grabbing up ducks by their neck and cutting their head off and walking off with them and eating them."In a previous city commission meeting, another local resident told city officials that her neighborhood has become "so unsafe" that she and her husband feel forced to move after living in their home for decades."I have men that cannot speak English in my front yard screaming at me, throwing mattresses in my front yard, throwing trash in my front yard," she said. "Look at me, I weigh 95 pounds. I couldn't defend myself if I had to. My husband is elderly, and last night after living in this home for 45 years, he said ... it's time to pack up and move. He said we can't do this anymore. He said it's killing both of us mentally.""I don't understand what you expect of us as citizens," she continued. "I mean, I understand they're [Haitians] here under temporary protected status, and you're protecting them. And I understand that our city services are overwhelmed and understaffed. But who's protecting us? If we're protecting them, who's protecting me? I want out of this town. I am sorry. Please give me a reason to stay."Springfield's Office of the City Manager sent a letter in July to Sens. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.) noting that the city is "facing a significant housing crisis" due to the illegal immigration crisis. It said that the town previously had a population of just 60,000 residents, but 15,000 to 20,000 Haitian nationals have relocated to the city over the last four years.Like Blaze News? Bypass the censors, sign up for our newsletters, and get stories like this direct to your inbox. Sign up here!