Those of us whose suburbs lacked hollow stumps would gather in someone's basement and pore over her dad's (not-so-) secret stash. I don't think any of us had any idea what to make of it, but I have very vivid memories of being really confused as to why that naked lady was caressing a python. We were 10.
I'm so sorry. It's always ridiculously painful to lose a pet, but I think it's even worse when it happens suddenly, giving you no time to say goodbye. My golden retriever, Rosie, had surgery in October to remove her spleen because there was a tumor on it -- they didn't know whether it was cancerous, but it had to come out either way. It was amazing that we caught it as early as we did, and she was doing really well after the surgery, which made it that much more of a gut punch when she suddenly got a blood clot and died. I never knew it was possible to hurt this much. I still cry. But we adopted a puppy two months ago, and she has cheered us all up (including our other dog) with her goofy antics. Pets are irreplaceable, but each new one brings its own unique brand of joy into our lives. I never want to live without one again.
Maybe he's busy training his space army of adolescent boys who are really good at video games.
I bet Ross Douthat fantasizes about this.
Check out Lois McMaster Bujold's four-part "Sharing Knife" series for great folk magic AND characters who aren't gigantic assholes AND amazing women. In fact, you'll find amazing women in all of her books.
'Murrica! Although for some reason my seventh-grade English class was chock-full of really amazing sci-fi by the likes of Bradbury, Asimov and Vonnegut, for which I will be eternally grateful even though I spent the next year or so utterly convinced that my parents had been replaced by pod people.
Maru gets my vote. I mean, he could hardly do any worse than the current crop.
That seems like a perfectly understandable mistake, given all those beatings and whippings -- but only the BAD slaves got them, and you know it hurt TJ as much as it hurt them! (Except, y'know, insofar as it didn't affect him at all, but that's just wishy-washy communist semantics, amirite?)
Somehow I had no idea that was a book! I watched the miniseries years ago and loved it. I'll have to check it out.
Yes! The fact that every child keeps both parents' surnames is one of my favorite things about Latin American culture.
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erdehoff 
Brainchild