Daniel Aegan's Blog, page 3

Daniel’s Journal #70 – Dealing with TIAMS and Its Victims

Please note that this blog piece may not be for you. Feel free to take to your social media platforms, YouTube channel, call your mother to bitch about it. It’ll be in the spirit of what this is all about, so don’t worry too much about it.

Of course, I want to talk about something I’ve come to call “This Isn’t About Me Syndrome” or TIAMS. TIAMS isn’t a way for me to put the letter “I” in “teams” to stick it to middle and high school coaches who are lecturing hotshot players who can’t play as a cohesive unit. This is something far more complex than that. This is something I’ve observed countless times online through my Twitter presence and elsewhere.

But what is TIAMS all about? Well, I’m glad you asked in a completely hypothetical way through a question that sets up a paragraph in a blog post. Simply stated, TIAMS occurs when someone, usually white, middle-aged men, comes across a piece of media they don’t particularly like due to its inclusion of people of color, queer themes, or their most hated foe: women. There are other ways to trigger a TIAMS episode, but these I’ve found are the most common causes. This triggering leads them to lash out online, shouting into what they perceive as their echo chamber, challenging anyone who may come across their registered hissy fit to an argument they believe they’ll surely win. Of course, winning is subjective in their dim world.

“This piece of media isn’t meant for me!” the victim of TIAMS screams in a way that’s likely a lot more grammatically improper. “If it’s not specifically meant for me, then it’s bad! Fuck this piece of media and everyone involved!”

Most times, the triggered individual will blame “wokeness” or some form of this, claiming their chosen foe has ruined something they so badly wanted to enjoy. In these cases, TIAMS can lead to far more serious issues of wanting certain groups of people—those who don’t share the victim’s race, age range, or sexuality—to not partake in their bubble of media consumption. There is no fancy name or acronym for this since it’s straight-up racism and homophobia. But the time our victim reaches this stage, however, there is a hundred percent chance that these traits had already taken hold of their psyche. Without serious intervention, the victim of TIAMS will pitch their fit, calling all others suffering their affliction to come to their defense like a lemming ready to be pushed off a cliff by the Disney corporation for shits and giggles. When this happens, the group of TIAMS sufferers becomes what’s commonly called in this field of study as a “bunch of fuckin’ assholes” or “BOFA”.

So, now that we know what TIAMS is and what it can lead to, we can prevent those who may become afflicted with this malady to avoid such a sorry state of existence. But how? How can we coddle those who are predisposed to TIAMS from having to witness movies, TV shows, music, or any form of media that doesn’t feature white males in their forties or fifties running from explosions while wooing a young woman barely able to order a drink? 

Unfortunately, there is no cure for TIAMS or the much worse scenario of BOFA. The only treatment available is to ignore their online rants and treat them as what they are: A desperate attempt to get mommy to bring you another cookie because their younger sibling got two of them and IT’S NOT FAIR, DAMMIT! I DON’T CARE IF WE DON’T HAVE ANYMORE! YOU HAVE A CAR! GO TO THE FUCKING STORE AND BUY SOME MORE!

In conclusion, as media evolves to feature the different kinds of people that exist in the real world, more and more TIAMS victims will come forward to bitch and complain about the fact that they want everything everywhere to be about them and their fantasies rather than enjoy something that can encompass something other than themselves for two fucking hours of their lives. TIAMS isn’t a terminal condition, but you’d think it was the way these motherfuckers mount their soapbox while spewing electronic diarrhea all over their chosen social media platforms. All we can do as a society is ignore a TIAMS flareup when it happens and allow those poor, sad individuals their space to scream into their private voids by utilizing blocking technologies and realizing that these are the screams and whimpers of a dying breed.

If you or someone you love is predisposed to TIAMS, there is help. The first step is admitting that seeing certain types of people in media make you uncomfortable. Once you can say that out loud, you can figure out why these characters trigger you. If this doesn’t lead to a firm, yet polite self-discussion on how you’re the problem and how you can change, then all hope may be lost. The end phase of TIAMS is being that one old guy at work everyone ignores and dismisses because you’re from “another time” and they “shouldn’t engage that crazy old bitch”. 

Warmest regards,

Daniel Aegan

3/12/2022

Daniel’s Journal #69 – Nice

Nice.

Daniel’s Journal #68 – Not Sorry for the Misunderstood Controversy I Might’ve Caused on Twitter Recently

I’m also not sorry for the long post title.

It’s been almost a year since I’ve made a blog post. You may be thinking, “Gee, Dan, I didn’t even know you still had your site open since you haven’t blogged in almost a year.” Well, stop acting like a dingus because I already cleared that up for you.

But that’s not why I’ve returned. I’ve been meaning to grace your timelines, but I didn’t know what to talk about. My last few posts were mostly bitch-fests about the former president, but I didn’t return to this forum to rehash all that bullshit either. I’m here to dispel some nonsense over some unintended controversy from the last few days.

Before I continue, I’m not being “canceled”, nor do I believe that “cancel culture” is a tangible thing. The subject at hand was something I posted about formatting books by indie authors. I thought my question regarding its importance had been decent enough, and I wanted to know about how people who purchased indie books felt about getting a book that hadn’t been formatted properly.

What in particular am I talking about? It’s not the editing. That’s a whole separate topic that should be discussed, but I’m not getting into it here. I’m not talking about cover art either, but that’s also important. I’m looking at how pretty a book is on the inside. We’re talking about the page-to-page aesthetics of your book.

If your curious about my personal list of formatting dos and don’ts, here’s my old post about it:

Daniel’s Journal #28 – Adventures in Formatting

Alright, so let’s move onto why I’m taking about this again. Well, let me add that I’m not going to name authors who have broken these rules. I’m not here to shame anyone or any book. That being said, it drives me up the wall when I buy an indie book (and I buy a lot) that has not been formatted.

On some level I get it. Writing takes time, and it can be a pain in the ass. The whole process of self-publishing is its own monster. But, as I said in the previously linked post on formatting, you are also the publisher now. Too quote myself from either that or another post, if you don’t look good, you look bad.

What am I taking about, though? OK… I’ve bought indie books in paperback because I love the physical copies. I can’t stand reading anything longer than a few pages on a phone or tablet. I buy the book, wait for the delivery, and open it to find no splash page, double line spacing, blank pages, no page numbers, large indents, unjustified text, huge fonts, and other faux pas. Some books have zero formatting, and some have committed only a few sins. I get that, and my heart sinks.

Someone responded to my tweet about this that I was insisting indie writers pay someone to fix this, stating the consensus that readers of our books complain about the lack of editing to writers who don’t have the money to pay for editors, being independent and not having the backing of a publishing house and all. Again, I’m not talking about editing, though I maintain that you should find ways to self edit if you can’t afford an editor. You don’t need to pay for formatting. Get on Google, and search for tutorials on how to fix this shit. You can even check the Help files in whatever document editor you use as well. It costs you nothing to do this.

One could argue that it costs time. Well, tough shit if that’s your issue. I can only talk about my own books, but it takes around two years from first draft to being able to publish a book between various drafts, going over beta readers’ notes, editing, creating the cover (which usually winds up having multiple drafts too), and… FORMATTING. If you’ve given yourself a deadline and can’t be bothered with working on your internal formatting, then I don’t know what to tell you other than to push it back. I’ve dealt with stubborn writers who refused to admit they needed it, stating their stories should be good enough for things like formatting not to matter.

Oh, but it does, and most readers aside from your friends will tell you that. Most will do it through a negative review, so have fun with that.

Imagine you’re in Barnes & Noble. You pick up a book, flip through the pages like we all do, and you see it’s double line spaced, the indents are a quarter of the page, and there are no page numbers to boot. Don’t tell me you’re still buying that book because I’ll call you a liar to your face. Now, imagine if you will, buying this book online since some indie authors can’t get their books into stores, myself included. You bought the book without being able to do that page flipping you could’ve done in the store. You get it delivered to your home and see the laziness of the publisher (which is also the writer) on the page staring back at you.

I’ll admit I do get how petty this all sounds coming from me, and I’m not doing this because I always take the time to fix these issues and painstakingly ensure the book looks pretty. I want you, assuming you’re an indie author reading this, to be successful. I’m sorry for saying this if it hurts, but it has to be said: If you’re self-publishing books like this, you will not be successful. You may not believe me, but your well-written, exciting, exhilarating story will suffer if it doesn’t look good on the page.

Besides, you can keep the paper cost of your book down by fixing some of these things. KDP takes its cut of paperbacks based on the size, so fixing the fonts, margins, indents, blank spaces, and other issues might gain you a little extra in the end or help keep the price down since Amazon takes a big bite already. This is especially true since most of the books I get tend to be the default 6×9 size, which I find to be too large for paperbacks, but that’s my personal preference and not a formatting sin.

This blog piece wound up longer than I had intended, but I still feel it needs to be said. For myself, I’d want to know when my books look like shit. I stopped offering creative criticism regarding formatting after I lost a friend who went off the rails over this issue. If, by chance, you want to know, I have no trouble telling you. Again, I want you to look good. I want you to sell books. I want you to succeed at this. In the end, indie authors and self-publishers will always be judged by the worst of us. It sucks, but that’s how it is. Don’t be their bad example. Write your story, polish it up, wrap it in a pretty cover, and make damn sure it looks good when your reader opens the book. When one of us succeeds, we all succeed.

If you want to come at me for this, come at me. You won’t change my mind that this is an important step you shouldn’t ignore. If you tell me your story is so good that you can skip this step, then you’ve already lost the argument. Sorry, but that’s how it is.

As a final note, I can overlook some of the faux pas listed if the story is good, but don’t you dare let me get another book in the mail that’s double line spaced!

-Daniel Aegan, 2/4/22

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If you’re looking for a villainous romp that was most definitely formatted, you can check out by new book Reign of the Unfortunate, coming on 2/8. You can preorder the ebook by clicking here.

Reign of the Unfortunate by Daniel Aegan

Author Interview with Amara Lynn (@AmaraJLynn)

I had the distinct pleasure of setting up an interview with fellow writer Amara Lynn recently. We came across each other on Twitter some undisclosed amount of time ago, and we became mutual followers of our respective feeds that were and are full of nonsense and writing goo.

Amara is always writing and working hard to promote other queer authors in their sphere, using hashtag games and writing events in order to get more people writing and commiserating through social media and beyond. They have some new stories out and a pile of other books, so I decided to reach out to Amara to find out more.

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Let’s start by talking about inspiration. Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Is there a source, or does your Muse drop them on your out of the blue?

I always cite music as my main source, but that’s just what gets my muse/the gears turning the most. I also get inspiration from classics, and what-if questions. I like fairy tales so a lot of my inspiration is me reading classics and thinking how I can make it queerer.

What do you find most rewarding and least rewarding about the process?

The most rewarding would be when a reader tells me I inspired them to write their own stories. Least rewarding is the whole drafting process. It takes so long for so little payoff sometimes!

You do a daily Q&A on social media geared toward queer writers. Can you talk a little about that and tell us why you started and why you keep it going?

Yes! So, I started off with #LGBTQWriMo for the November 2018 NaNoWriMo (I can’t believe it’s been that long, but it has!). I got the idea from a couple other queer writing hashtags around (#writeLGBTQ and #promoLGBTQ, run by Evie Drae), and I thought, why not start an LGBTQ NaNoWriMo hashtag?

It really took off, and I loved doing it so much, that I started a regular queer writing hashtag afterward called #QWriters. Initially, it only ran weekends, due to my lack of spoons to make it daily, but I recently started doing it daily with the questions posted weekly instead of monthly, which takes a lot less energy.

The reason I keep it going is because I just love the queer writing community on Twitter. They are the kindest, most supportive people, and I genuinely love supporting them back and cheering everyone on each week.

Speaking of social media, do you think it’s changed over the last handful of years thanks to certain political groups and figures using it to push their shitty agendas? Has that affected you in any way or shunted your ability to use Twitter and other social media apps as a platform to push your writing and brand?

That’s a loaded question! I do think it’s become a different space, and while there are definitely a lot of politics going on, I mostly stick to the queer writing community on Twitter. It’s exhausting to be anywhere else, so I usually just hide on my hashtag! Which is another reason I like running it, and I’m sure others love having the space to hide, too. So I guess, it’s affected me in that, I stick to the spaces I like, but I don’t mind it. It’s less stressful that way!

A ton of indie writers have popped up over the last decade or so. Some may say too many. Is there a threshold one must meet before deciding that self-publishing is right for them, and do you feel that the market for indie writers has become too full of posers and those who just feel like pumping out books?

I think it’s become easier to self-publish in recent years, which is the reason for the flooded market. But I don’t think that’s a bad thing. Sure, there will be posers, but the gems among them will (hopefully) shine through!

As for how to decide if one should self-publish, it’s going to be different for everyone, and not all people have the means and resources to do it, and that’s okay. You’ve got to weigh the pros and cons and your own situation, and do what feels right to you!

We spoke about the indie community a little bit, but you’re also part of a writing community with other queer and trans authors. Is there a difference for you between indie authors, queer authors, and/or queer indie authors?

Short answer: no. Long answer, I’m here 100% for any queer authors, whether indie or trad pub! Just us getting our stories out there, no matter the outlet, is what’s important.

Do you ever feel like you’re in competition with other indie authors out there? Do you find any ill will between them and yourself at all, or do you get along well with everyone?

Not at all! It’s cheesy, but I always quote High School Musical and say, “We’re all in this together,” because it’s true. It’s not a competition, and there’s room for everyone!

Are there any individuals in any of writing community that you’d consider to be a cut above the others? Would you like to name names and talk about some your favorite people are? Is there anyone in your personal life who isn’t a part of the social media community who’s a big part in your writing adventure?

Some of my favorite people are some QWriters participants and discord friends. Ceillie, Christen, Sara, Abigail, and Lane, to name a few! My good friend Lore is not too active on social media; but we talk a lot about stories and writing, and ze beta reads for me. And last but not least, my best friend Emma, who inspired basically all of my stories.

I’m sure you’ve gotten your fair share of trolls and bad reviews. There are always those who remain negative in all spaces. How do you deal with the negative presences when they arise?

I try to put those out of my mind. There will always be one, and your book won’t be for everyone. But you’ll also be someone’s favorite. So, embrace the positive and push out the negative.

What are some writing ‘rules’ you habitually break, and what are ones you follow religiously?

I’m a believer that all writing rules can be broken if one does it well. A big one is “show, don’t tell” because it’s cryptic, and there’s definitely a balance. Sometimes telling can be powerful! For ones I follow, I’ve been trying to work on reducing filter words when they aren’t needed (feel, see, hear).

I haven’t forgotten about your books! You have a new one. Can you tell us a bit about it and what drew you to this story? Is there any significance to it that we may not know form the content?

Yes! My newest book is Futures, Friends, and Other Firsts, and it’s a fluffy, hopeful, post-apoc sci-fi short. It’s a prequel to my other sci-fi short, Tundras, Travelers, and Other Travesties (but can be read on its own). I got the initial spark of inspiration from an anthology call for stories about the future you want to see. The premise grew from there into what I would like a future in space to look like.

As far as hidden significance, there’s actually a good deal of science behind the story. I’m not super sciencey (and definitely not a math person), but I’ve always been interested in space travel and climate change, so my sci-fi shorts are a meeting of those two things. Humans made it to space, but climate change left Earth uninhabitable, and not in the ways people thought.

I’m such a big fan of the themes I’ve seen you use. I have to admit to not reading as much of your stuff as I should be, even if I have unfinished books of yours on my shelf. Can you talk a bit about your ‘back issues’ and the books or stories you’ve written and published in the past?

Sure! I love to write things with fantasy elements, magic, urban fantasy, and retellings. My back catalog as of right now contains:

Masks & Raven: a supervillain/antihero urban fantasy series with lots of superhero action, m/m romance, and fighting demons. Masks was my first published work, originally with a small press that closed, and I republished it as my first self-published book.

Rom & Yuli: This one is a post-apoc hopepunk short that takes some of the lore I developed for my Masks series and is a “what if the demons won?” scenario. I originally wrote it for a call for “hopeful post-apoc stories that aren’t about saving the world”, and it didn’t get in, so I self-published it. It’s also my first story that’s own voices for a nonbinary character!

Into the Deep: This is one of my first stories that I came up with, based on the prompt “language barriers”. There’s a long story behind its evolution over time, and it took me ten years to actually finish it, coming back to it on and off over the years. Anyways. This one is a pirate/merman m/m romance fantasy adventure comedy that’s Pirates of the Caribbean meets Treasure Island. I’ve loved pirates since the first POTC film came out, and this is my take on that, basically. It’s the book of my heart <3. Also, it’s coming soon to audio, so watch out for that!

Tundras, Travelers, and Other Travesties: Lastly, previously mentioned, this is another fluffy post-apoc sci-fi short, and this one came about from a couple of different calls for “solarpunk” (stories involving solar tech), and one for “hopepunk” (hopeful post-apoc stuff). This one is fluffy, a little sad, but with a hopeful ending, and is also own voices for nonbinary/agender, and chronic pain rep.

I also have a few short stories that tie into my Masks series published for free!

And that’s all they wrote for now!

What does the future hold for Amara Lynn? What projects are  you looking forward to tackling?

Many things! I wrote a full novel for November’s NaNo, which isn’t quite finished, and is a Beauty and the Beast X Alice in Wonderland mashup retelling with an all genderqueer cast. I wrote a ton last year, and now I gotta finish up all my drafts and work on getting them out into the world! Most of the stuff I wrote last year was fluffy and cozy romances set in a magical/witchy town. I’m looking forward to getting those all out in the world! And lastly, I spent most of last year rewriting the third Masks book, which I also hope to get out there very soon!

Who or what are you reading at the moment, and how big is your to-read book stack?

We don’t talk about TBRs here *eyes the huge stack of books I keep adding to lol*. I’m trying to read more, though. Currently, I’m reading Infinity Son by Adam Silvera. To read soon: Cemetery Boys, Lost in the Neverwoods, both by Aiden Thomas, The Extraordinaries by TJ Klune, and The Evanstar Chronicles by Sara Codair.

Now for the toughest question of all. Do you prefer board games over video games or vice versa? Please explain your answer.

Video games! I prefer playing things alone, or with my partner, so I’ve never been big on board games. I’m also an anime fan, and there are many anime games, so there’s that, too!

***

Amara Lynn has always been a quiet daydreamer. Coming up with characters and worlds since childhood, Amara eventually found an outlet in writing. Amara loves anything to do with pirates, villains and superheroes, and angels and demons.

Amara is addicted to music and gets the most inspiration from moving songs and lyrics. When not writing, Amara usually reads, listens to podcasts, watches anime, plays a video game here and there (but mostly collects them), and takes way too many cat pictures.

Amara is non-binary/enby and queer and uses they/them pronouns.

Amara’s first audiobook for Into the Deep just dropped as well, a pirate / merman fantasy full of adventure and romance.

You can find Amara’s website at https://amarajlynn.wordpress.com/, and her books can be found here: https://books2read.com/ap/xqN0l6/Amara-Lynn.

Amara’s newest book Futures, Friends, and Other Firsts is now available via the links above.

Daniel’s Journal #67 – Queer is Not a Genre and Star Lord is Bi

I’ve said this before, but sometimes these things bear repeating. I don’t think books with queer characters need to in an LGBTQ genre. I think they should be on the shelves in whatever genre the book represents.

So that’s it. That’s all I wanted to say. I could have fit that in a tweet (and I did), but it’s here now for all to see.

Oh, and Star Lord is bisexual and polyamorous.

These two things are related in the context of this blog post. Marvel has come a long way with its inclusion. I won’t list all the queer characters in this canon since I’m not entirely sure who is and isn’t out of the closet. But they don’t need a separate Queer Marvel brand to have gay and bisexual characters off on their own. They’re part of the Marvel Universe. They’re X-Men and Avengers. They’re Defenders and Guardians of the Galaxy. Hell, they’re probably even New Warriors, Agents of Atlas, and Pet Avengers.

Cue the neck-beards of the net-yet-banned nexus of YouTube. I’m sure they’re furiously making videos to combat that Star Lord shouldn’t be bisexual and the Gay Agenda (note the capital letters) is killing comics. They, for one, will be boycotting Marvel.

This of course is bullshit. They boycott everything and the multiverse keeps on spinning. I’m here for the inclusion, and I’m here for Marvel making their characters loud and proud about who they are.

That’s it. I was just a little happy is all. You may go about your lives again. Thanks for reading and check my ad at the bottom and all that.

Oh, wait… One more thing.

I don’t really give a shit what Chris Pratt thinks about it. His last name is Pratt for a reason.

-Daniel Aegan

12/14/20

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Ready for another ride? Check out Daniel Aegan’s latest vampire road trip book The New Council: Blood Drive 2

Daniel’s Jounral #66 – My Author Brand VS My Politics

Is everyone having a good week? You may remember this function of mine. I haven’t blogged since way back in June, but it’s been a hell of a year. I’ve tried not to sully the internet with my opinions and nonsense, but here we are. I’ve been working on my books, my drafts, and my tarot over the course of those months, yet I didn’t feel like I should be blogging. Maybe it was out of a sense of moral fiber (whatever that feels like).

But anyway… I’m back now.

I’m not going to start bashing right from the start. I do have friends who support the opposite side I support. Or I did anyway. It’s weird even taking a stance. I never considered myself a democrat or a liberal in any sense other than I agree with them on social issues. Hell, my main political stance was was indifference. It took a really horrible president with really horrible followers to get my ass off the fence and declare my side.

And again, I’m not here to shit-talk President Donny and his hissy fits and outright lies. No. I’ve done enough of that on twitter over the course of the last four years (follow @Daniel_Aegan for more of it). But I’m not here for that. And I’m not there for that. I’m here and there to write.

But my brand is under attack.

Meh. Not really. Earlier today I got into a short and bitter flame war with a follower from writer twitter regarding this subject of political leanings and brands. I believe they used the term “author platform”; but “brand” sounds more pretentious, and this whole thing is really fucking pretentious. I’ve never defined my own brand. “I think I’m funny” usually covers it. Other times I take the role of the righteous asshole. Either way, protecting my brand by not taking a stance on something this damn important isn’t something I would do.

I’m getting ahead of myself. This whole, stupid thing started with this person (who I shall try real hard not to name) tweeted a tweet on Twitter, which tweeters tend to do, regarding the current clusterfuck of an election. Unless you’re an ostrich with a stiff neck, you’ll know that Biden has been slowly and steadily pulling ahead with the absentee and mail-in voting being counted. This caused the president to blow a proverbial gasket and go a number of rants. But again, I’m off topic. See everywhere else for details on said hissy.

Making a statement that your sick of “the left” bullying because of the election isn’t a hot take. As far as temperature goes, I’d put it the take somewhere around the area of lukewarm diarrhea. I personally have not been bullying any Trump supporters unless they’ve come at me first, and I wouldn’t even call that bullying. I have, however, done a great deal of shit-posting over the last few days, and I am extremely unapologetic for it.

Why should I hold back? The bullying from the Trump supporters has been on a “heavy flow” setting since 2016. Now that their guy is losing I should hold back? No. Fuck that. I understand some people take it too far, but I’m not threating anyone or trying to sow seeds of civil war. No. Our president can do all that all by himself!

But this isn’t about that. Not entirely. It was stated by this person who caused me to have this brain fart you’re currently reading that commentary from the “left” won’t be tolerated. They said “bullying”, but I can’t in good conscience call it that. They went on to say that their brand was free or that kind of bullshit and an author taking a side is messing up their brand.

Please keep in mind I’m paraphrasing. I’m on a roll, and I don’t want to go back to twitter at the moment.

I read it all as something along the lines of “I don’t want to take a side, so no one is ok” while making the statement mainly about those on the left. There were other tweets saying the left is threatening riots, which is a huge red flag as to where they’re getting their “information”. I’ve been listening to people call protestors rioters for months, and it’s gotten old.

So getting back on subject, they also said taking a side with “the left” is bad your one’s brand. Let me take a moment to say: FUCK YOUR BRAND! FUCK ALL YOUR BRANDS! FUCK THEM! WHILE YOU’RE AT IT, FUCK MY BRAND!

Bear in mind I mean that with the highest level of respect.

This whole thing is ridiculous. This blog post I’m writing at this moment is ridiculous. Yet here we are, living in ridiculous times, blogging about ridiculous shit, while ridiculous flames consume this ridiculous democracy. I find the people I want to converse with are those who know a thing or two about who they are and where they want to fall when history sorts through the ashes that will be 2020. I’m not going to sit on the fence and say, “Gee, I don’t want to have an opinion because it will hurt my brand.” Fuck that noise. I chose my side, and I’ll deal with it. No one who supports the homophobia, xenophobia, hate speech, and all around fuckery of Donald “crybaby bitch-face” Trump want anything to do with my anyway. I think my brand will be just fine. And if it isn’t, fuck it. Not like it’ll hurt my deal with Netflix or anything.

And since we’re “just sayin'” things here: The Nazis rose to power thanks to people who didn’t take a stand or voice their concerns about it too. At least we have a platform to be heard. All of us. You can use yours to pretend you don’t take a side to protect your brand or platform or whatever-the-fuck, but the rest of us are going to use what we have to make our voices heard. And guess what, The Bitch, we’re fuckin’ exhausted and pissed the fuck off.

In conclusion: Fuck you.

-Daniel Aegan

11/6/20

Daniel’s Journal #65 – The Shit I’m Not Qualified to Say

I usually open these things with a joke. I had written one specifically for this post, but I deleted it along with the entirety to the paragraph. Most of the time I can find a way to laugh through the pain. This time, however, I don’t feel it’s appropriate. 

Our country is going through something of a revolution at the moment. I haven’t decided if it’s the end of the prologue or the epilogue of the beginning. What I do know is that the coming days will define us as a country for what could be decades. 

We are on a knife’s edge. The protesting and retaliation have been happening for days now. The proverbial line in the sand had been drawn for us, as it usually is. It wasn’t drawn by who you’re being led to believe, though.

The sad fact of me writing and posting these things is that the people who really need to read them never do. I’m not trying to make myself out to be more prolific than I am. It’s just that some people need to realize the consequences of their actions or inactions when it comes to the dangers and pitfalls that America has faced during the first half of 2020 and the years the led us to this all-important time. I’ve posted about the dangers of the political games those outside the spectrum have waged. I’ve ranted about the division that our leadership, visible and not, have done to us. I’ve raged and screamed about our president and the lack of leadership he exhumes with every tweet he sends.

Today, as you probably guessed, I’m talking about the protests, the continued ineptitude of our leadership, and the division between us that will exist for a long time.

Still, I don’t feel qualified to talk about Black Lives Matters, the movements happening in the streets, or the death of George Floyd or the countless others who have died before him. The simple fact is that privilege is real, and as a white male, I’ve experienced this privilege my whole life. So, speaking about a movement I care about still feels alien to me, though I know it shouldn’t.

I know a lot of people who also have that privilege, and they’re scared shitless of losing it. They’re the ones retorting with “all lives matter” and saying things along the lines of: “George Floyd shouldn’t have died, but that’s no reason for the destruction of property.”

Let’s make something clear. That’s not helpful, and “all lives matter” was a catchphrase created to erase Black Lives Matter and the hope it promotes. If you’re not helping the cause at this point, you’re on the wrong side of history. It’s sad to say, but people seem to be reveling on the wrong side of history like a pig in shit. 

Those who are arguing against protestors and labelling them “rioters” instead are the ones I hope would read this or something more powerful with a voice that can encapsulate the racial tensions and violence better than I can. But it’s hard making someone listen when they’ve willfully gone deaf to everything except what they want to hear.

Social media is a virus. It wasn’t intended to be that way, but it is. There are good things about it, though, and I’m starting to see it now. Maybe it’s changing back into what it was always intended to be. That’s the main focus of what I wanted to talk about when it comes to all the bullshit, violence, and ignorance that has come along with the protests and retaliation.

What has been broadcasted to the masses has mostly been about the destruction caused by these protests and the trouble the police have had keeping them contained. These are what’s meant to be seen. It’s what our leadership wants to be seen. Most of this, however, is bullshit built in lies and falsities.

My Twitter feed has been full of the truth. White cops in masks armed with hammers and spray paint have been taped smashing windows and walking away. Pallets and trunks full of bricks have been passed around as well from various sources. White supremacy groups like the Proud Boys and Boogaloos have been spotted spreading fuel on the protest and turning into pure anarchy, smashing about with their skateboards. Even Infowars, who apparently still exists in the anus of the entertainment world, has been caught burning a homeless man’s belongings just for content. All who have uploaded and continue to share this are brave as hell, and I’ll always consider them heroes for putting the truth out there for all to see when the world wants to cover-up this movement ad anarchy.

This is all on top of the police force, who has been antagonizing and using unnecessary force against peaceful protestors, turning the whole thing into a frenzy. I have to ask myself what happened to these men to make them do what they’ve been doing. What makes someone fire a rubber bullet into someone’s face, corner them and gas them, and drive barricades into them? Maybe it’s a power thing, or maybe they’ve gotten their brains scrambled by the alt right machine and have been led to believe they’re soldiers in some inevitable race war like so much impressionable youth has.

The dark side of social media brought us the aforementioned hate groups. It wasn’t on purpose, but they all met in the dark confines and corners of social media. Men in power, pariahs, preyed upon them, promising them a great race war. They were told this time would come, and they were more than happy to help turn it into what it’s become. 

So, when the eyes of a blissfully ignorant nation turn to see what’s going on, they see violence and destruction in their communities. They see what they’re told to see. If they unplugged themselves from the corporate news media feeding tubes, they may have turned toward the real images and stories coming from the protests; the stories that I’ve been watching; the ones that touched me and caused me to write this piece I still don’t feel qualified to write.

And, of course, this all ends with the Bastard King himself. President Trump is using this as he uses all things. I still attest that he’s just the puppet, and we have yet to see the one who pulls his strings. We may never know if it’s those around him, Putin, or some other force. Either way, he made a lot of daring revelations in the last few days.

One of the biggest annoyances I’ve found was people shouting in all caps about not comparing what’s happening now to what had happened weeks ago during the Covid protests and Trump’s response. I’ve said that I will make the comparison, because it’s an apt one. The armed protestors against Covid restrictions were made out to look like heroes in our leader’s eyes, and those protesting in the wake of George Floyd’s death are “thugs” and need to be “dominated”. If there ever was a question about whether or not Donald Trump was a rabid racist, you now have your answer. 

To drive this last point home: If you were ever unsure whether or not Donald Trump is a fascist with dictator fantasies, you only have to look at how he’s claimed Antifa (not an actual organization) is a terrorist organization. Then he had protestors gassed and manhandled for a photo-op. The eyes of the world are on us, and there’s shit on our faces.

But an explicit amount of quiet racism exists within the supposed innocuous white community. They’ve been led to believe that their way of life is in jeopardy. Whether it’s conscious on the surface or not, they’re afraid that privilege every white person enjoys is in danger. Some of them are quite vocal about it. Others just have a passive way about blaming the victims and categorizing everyone marching as rioters or worse. Even subtle racism is still racism, and I don’t’ want to associate anyone who even remotely thinks that’s OK. 

I don’t have a conclusion here. Hell, I think I barely had a point. It’s a frustrating time for a lot of people, and I know for sure that there are people a lot more frustrated than I am. They’re angry, and I don’t blame them. The country that’s failed them time after time is failing them again. Our own president has told us we’re either with him or against him, and he has martial law on his side if we choose the latter. 

People can only take so much oppression before wanting to take control of their own lives. You can’t criminalize their peaceful protests and then lecture from your comfort zone when they take it to the next level, telling them you’d listen if they did what they had been doing all along. This world is full of armchair hypocrites, and they seem to have no problem showing those colors.We’ve all already chosen our sides. What’s happening out there is all by design, and it’s going to get worse before it gets better. I said when I started this I didn’t know if were at the end of the prologue or the beginning of the epilogue. No matter what, I’m going to hope with everything I have that some kind of positive change comes from all this and it results in Trump’s epilogue. We don’t have to be doomed to let history repeat itself. We should be smarter than that.

Stay safe, brave souls. We’re going to need you in the future.

Black lives will always matter.

 

-Daniel Aegan

6/3/20

Author Interview with Laura Loup (@lauraloupart)

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of my fellow authors, Laura Loup. I came across her on twitter some time go since we run with the same writing communities. I got her book, shopped at her online store, and wound up reading from the Tarot in Space deck she designed and drew.

Her and I both have books coming out this month, so I reached out to her to do this interview. There’s a lot about Laura I don’t know, so I took this opportunity to learn more.

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Thank you for taking the time to do this interview, Laura. I’ve read the first Audacity book, and I loved it. I’m really looking forward to your sequel: Audacity 2: Time Warp. Did you always plan on this being a series when you started, or did the idea for more books come later?

And thank you for interviewing me! The Audacity is a nebulous world of interconnected and often contradictory stories that has been a comic, an animated TV series pilot, a radio show, and a gritty-live action movie starring one of the Chris’s and Beyonce. It’s an episodic story that has always been pitched as sort of an on-going, Doctor-Who-esque plot monstrosity.  

Short answer, yeah. Yes. It always needed a series.

Was the Time Warp song from Rocky Horror Picture Show stuck in your head while you wrote this book? I know it’s stuck in mine every time I type it.

You know, the subtitle actually came after I wrote the book! It’s working title was “The Sphere of Time” (and I think some very special limited-edition paperback copies floating around will reflect this). But now? Every single time I see the subtitle I want to do the Time Warp again.

I loved the characters you’ve created. May and Xan are incredible together. They had all the makings of an intergalactic buddy comedy from the moment they first came together. Is there anything you can tell us about the cosmic duo? Was there anyone from the real world that inspired them?

They’ve been with me for about 12 years, so they’re really their own people at this point! But yes, there are definitely some real-life people that have bits and pieces mashed in there. May’s got my workaholism and my best friend, Trista, gave her that extremely dry (but not unkind) sense of humor. Xan’s a bit a mystery. My husband definitely gave him that signature sweetness, and he’s got a kiss of Freakazoid about him. Freakazoid isn’t real-world, as far as I know. But he’s in there. 

You don’t pull your punches when it comes to your characters’ sexualities like some authors do in order to not offend. I respect any author, indie or not, who represents the queer community in any way with their stories and characters. Have you experienced any praise or negativity involving these themes in The Audacity at all? How do you deal with it in either case?

Not at all! Actually, most people don’t realize that May’s asexual, so in a late draft of book two (after a few betas chimed in) I had to get out the “She’s Asexual” skillet and bonk a few heads with it. The queer community is amazingly supportive (in fact, it wasn’t gay enough for one reviewer!) and fortunately, perhaps due to the extremely unconventional cover, I don’t think any entirely straight person has given it a second glance.

What was your inspiration for the story in general? What kind of media was consumed before you came up with the idea for The Audacity and its spinoffs and sequels? What made you want to venture into space and spoof the sci-fi genre?

It all started with a crush on a guy who gave me a book. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. The guy didn’t stick, but the book sure did, and I’m super grateful to him for that (we still keep in touch). Between that, Red Dwarf, and Doctor Who, I was hooked on British sci-fi which, while often dealing with serious issues, never takes itself too seriously. I needed a much, much gayer version of H2G2. The most unbelievable thing about that series is that there are straight aliens. Straight. Aliens?! Absurd!

I’ve noticed you do all your own art too, and you’ve even created your own tarot deck based on The Audacity’s universe (the AU). Does the art influence the stories, or is it the other way around?

It’s hard to say at this point! The book came first, then the art, then the book again, then the animation, then the art, then the book, then MORE art…The process is really linked in for me.

I’ve come to know you a bit through your writing and our interactions on Twitter. I know the tarot is another big part of your life, as is your spirituality. Does this affect your writing at all? Can spirituality as we know it here on Earth have any implications to alien races in the universe you’ve created?

 I’d like to say that my spirituality and my creations are separate, but they really aren’t. I find myself accidentally sneaking some very Buddhist themes into my books. The idea of simplicity in life, of contentedness, of feeling okay and steady in any situation…that really permeates the books. Honestly, Xan represents that spiritual voice more than anything. He’s “accidentally Zen” which is the most honest way of being Zen. The funny thing about peace is that the more you reach for it, the farther away it gets.

Sci-fi is a great genre in which to write. I’ve gone there before, and I love the feel of being able to do anything and everything under multiple suns. Creating a humorous book under these conditions is even better, because you can even better, because you can poke fun at the genre while you’re writing in it. Do you find this to be the case as well? What’s your favorite piece of the genre to flip over and give a good spanking?

Oh I love that imagery! It’s got to be sci-fi, for me. I feel I can very lovingly pastiche sci-fi. I adore it, even for all its ridiculousness (perhaps because of). I think you have to really honestly love anything you attempt to make fun of, otherwise it comes off as cruelty. Sci-fi is the only genre I love enough to laugh at.

Is there anything that’s off limits for you in this genre, or is it all up for grabs?

I do like to keep it relatively light. There are a few things I will never, ever write about because they’re just too real. Every other writer out there deals with gritty, real subjects. I may touch on them, but it’s a very, very light touch. Like kissing an ouchie. Dear god, may I never use the word “ouchie” again.

What would you tell someone who is just starting out in writing? Is sci-fi the way to go, or should one stay away from the complexities of traversing outer space till they’re ready to blast off?

Don’t shy away from anything! If you DO want to shy away from something, shy away from everything. Seriously. Write something no one has ever seen before. Get weird and hang the rules. Play first, learn what a comma of omission is later (and then use them with reckless abandon because they rock).

Self-publishing still comes with a bit of a stigma. As a fellow self-published writer, I wish it didn’t. What, as a writer, made you go the route of self-publishing rather than going through the rigorous process of trying to land an agent or a traditional publisher? Are those lanes closed up to writers of science fiction and humor, or is the freedom of publishing under your own banner too hard to give up?

Shhh! I’m not self-published. I’m published by Zing-O-Matic Publishing, a small publishing company headed by yours truly. Really, though, I do hide a bit behind that to give people some confidence in the book. I’ve never tried to get published by someone else. I’ve read some real one-star books that became best-sellers. I don’t have any faith in the publishing industry.

Critics can be tough, and none tougher than the ones we create for ourselves. As a writer, artist, and spiritual reader, are you harder on yourself than your readers?

I mean…I’m extremely critical of my readers, too! But really, I agonize over each word. I’ll read a sentence outloud five times, write it ten different ways, and drive Zack mad with “Which word is funnier: cupola or belvedere?” The answer, of course, is cupola. I see that now.

Self-love is important too. What do you practice when you’re in need of a confidence boost?

I’ve got a file full of fan art, favorite reviews, and scans of fan mail that I go to when I’m feeling down. Also, I have a small succulent that I’ve kept alive for about four years, so I can’t be all bad.

Is there anyone you seek for support, or are there those who are just there for you when you need them without asking?

Zack, my husband, is always there, shadow-like. I don’t think we’ve been more than a room apart since February, honestly. He’s amazing for bouncing ideas off of. I can just talk at him and talk at him and somehow he STILL likes me. Trista is always there for me, too, and she’s my comedic inspiration. And honestly the Twitter writing community is a blessing.

There is a vast number of people in the online writing community we both frequent, and the queer writers and readers have built up a support system I have never seen before I stumbled upon it. What’s your role in this framework? Did you look to be part of a web like this, or did you stumble upon it by happy accident?

I did sort of just stumble into the community! I made an introduction post that got a ton of interaction, and I’ve been riding that wave for over a year now. I’ve made so many wonderful friends on Twitter, I just love it. It feels very homey now.

Is there anyone in the writing community, queer or otherwise, you’d want to give a shout out to? Have any particular groups or individuals stood out to you?

Well, naturally you, Daniel! I value your friendship and support so highly (and there’s a note to that affect in the ARC I just shipped you!) And Charlie Knight, who edits for both me and Zack, is also incredibly supportive. There are just too many amazing people in this community!

I want to end this on a very personal question: Star Trek or Star Wars?

Doctor Who. Kidding! Kinda. Star Trek, though. I LOVE the original Star Wars movies, but Star Trek has more meat, you know? War bores me horribly. I love Luke, Han, and Leia, but I like the stories in Star Trek better. Plus, Data is a snack and Picard is my father.  

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Laura Loup is a professional humorologist, illustrator of Tarot in Space, and author of The Audacity space opera series. She writes technicolor fun in space for adults with a dedication to optimism and good humor that shines through even ridiculously horrible situations.

You can find out more here: LauraLoup.com

 

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May’s career as an interstellar rocket racer is just ramping up.  She’s got a stunning ship, her best friend Xan for a co-pilot, and a rocket-full of winnings.

But obscenely good luck can’t last forever, and May has been racing in a stolen ship.

When Xan’s arrested by a tea-sipping, goddess-possessed pink robot for a crime he can’t bring himself to explain without baking analogies, May’s career is over.

With the help of an adventure biologist and her freshly un-dead girlfriend, May and Xan must find a way to change the past before the goddess of Chaos squashes everything May loves.

The Audacity 2: Time Warp drops on 6/2.

 

The Aegan Report – Mike Pence: Moron for Hire

I’ve ranted a lot in the last week. I’ve bitched about Trump’s idiocy and his lack of anything even resembling leadership. Then I took aim at his army of loyal dickheads who are marching partly in his name and to get back the “freedom” that hadn’t actually been stripped from them.

Today, however, I set my sights on Vice Dildo Mike Pence.

I’m hoping to keep this piece short and bitter. There’s really isn’t much to say about Pence since he’s a walking q-tip with no personality. His software didn’t come with the personality installation disk. My main problem with him is that he’s not stupid. Not in the traditional sense anyway.

Let me explain.

Mike Pence is a puppet. I’m not just saying that because he likes to have a hand up his ass. He’s nothing more than a vapid human version of a blank slate. I originally thought Donny wanted him because he’s one of the worst people in America, and Donny loves that type of subhuman character. But no. Donny loves Mikey for an entirely different reason. He loves Mikey because Mickey is a soft piece of pale white clay.

Pence is a meme at the moment. Sure, he’s easy target, but he’s had a surge. In case you missed it, he visited the Mayo Clinic and decided he wanted to be the only guy in the building without a mask. He’s been lambasted on Social Media for this. It’s fun calling him an idiot for not doing it and bringing it all the way back to the time he touched the piece of spaceship hardware with the “DO NOT TOUCH” sign over it.

As dumb as his actions at the Mayo Clinic were, however, I think there’s something much more sinister and moronic at play here.

Let’s look at the rhetoric from President Donny. His status on the Coronavirus / Covid-19 threat has been the same since day one: deny and downplay. It bit him in the ass, but not hard enough to leave a mark. He switched tactics and started playing the blame game. When he was done with that, he started urging the protests that have been popping up all over the country.

I wrote a whole post about it. If you haven’t read it (and want to), you can find it here: The Cult of Non-Personality You can also check out my piece on the idiocy that is stay-at-home protests here: The “fight” for Freedumb

So here’s where Pence’s refusal to wear the mask comes into play. It furthers what Trump wants to promote. It’s a horribly misplaced power move. Make no mistake about what’s going on here. They want so badly to make the point that this virus ain’t shit (their words). I’m sure there will be some statement at some point where Pence eludes to the fact that the power of Republican prayers kept the virus from attacking him or some other jolly green bullshit.

It’s all about the image. Pence isn’t totally stupid. He knows to keep his mouth shut whenever possible, and he’s well versed in this. He lets Donny say all the stupid shit, and he just looks on lovingly at his man, waiting for him to slip up bad enough so he can sit at the big desk.

I have more evidence to support my hypothesis of the puppetry of our Vice President. Remember a few years ago during all the outrage of the kneeling at NFL games during the national anthem? I do. I had to listen to people bitch about that without even knowing why the players were kneeling in the first place. And why do we even play the national anthem during sporting events? Isn’t the NFL its own business entity? I know the teams have ripped off the states in which they play, but that doesn’t make them part of the American government or anything. My job doesn’t play the Star Spangled Banner every morning before we log onto our computers and start checking our customer emails.

But I digress.

Mike Pence showed up at an NFL game during this debacle. It was around the same time that President Donny, man of a certain kind of people, took to twitter (shocker) to bash the players who were taking part in the kneeling with vigorous profanity. This was all about image too. Don’t think Trump really gives a fuck about who does what during the national anthem. He only acts out according to what his favorite bobbling media heads are saying on their biased “news” shows.

But I digressed again.

The national anthem played during this fateful game, as it always does. The players knelt, as they had done at just about every game that season. Pence gave them the kind of dirty look his wife would give a waitress who forgot to put a lemon wedge in her iced tea and stormed out of his luxury box and left the stadium like a white-haired man-baby. Please keep in mind he did this all on taxpayer’s hard-earned dollar. He didn’t spend a dime of his own money for this stunt.

I’m sure there are other examples, but this was the most newsworthy one. The media ran with the ball (pun fully intended). It was plastered everywhere. It was on every screen. The point was made, and it was made well. The same will come of this no-mask stunt. Pence once again put himself out there for the sake of Donny’s continued spewing of bullshit.

Let’s hope this will all be over soon. Like a good supervillain henchmen, we haven’t seen the last of Pence earning his paycheck as a sentient butt-plug for his master. As long as there’s a Trump, there will be a pasty white shadow behind him, smirking and wondering how he can best service his boss like a butler in a frat house.

I just want to close this by saying something I’ve said a hundred times since 2016. I really do believe that Donald Trump believes his own rhetoric. He really is our savior in the demented regions of his own mind. Mike Pence, on the other hand, knows the difference between right and wrong. He just chooses to do wrong, because that wrong is what he needs in order to push his agenda. As long as he gets what he wants from his puppeteer, he doesn’t mind being the puppet.

Sometimes the strings can be pulled both ways.

-Daniel Aegan

4/29/20

Daniel’s Journal #64 – The “fight” for Freedumb

I know what you’re thinking. “Oh no. Here comes another rant!” Well this is a different rant with a different subject. Last time I wrote about our ineffectual leadership and the partisanship of the Coronavirus. This time I’m speaking of a more dangerous problem.

Stupidity.

A lot has happened since I updated this blog last week. The president told everyone to inject disinfectant into their lungs and shoot ultraviolet light through their bodies. And people listened. Boy did they listen.

But I’m not here to talk about President Donny again. I want to talk about the war on intelligence that’s been going on for a while now. We’ve reached its apex, and the morons are winning.

Everything we do can be boiled down to memes, Facebook news, and biased tweeters. That’s it. There’s no room for rational thinking and cooperation. Not when the divide between Americans keep politicians fat, rich, and happy.

People have taken to the streets in the name of freedom. They want their rights back. I wouldn’t blame them for their protests if what they imagined was true.

But no one took their rights. No one has stolen their freedom. No one has oppressed them. Though if you talk to them they’re all under the thumb of some clandestine organization that’s definitely not run by Donny Trump, but some other government that supersedes America in general.

It’s more than that. It’s the same old “us versus us” storyline they’ve been pushing for years now, long before Trump even had a chance at the presidency. They’re not fighting “the man” for their “freedom”. They’re fighting their fellow human in a bid to out-stupid everyone else and get a haircut, get a steak at Applebee’s, and be able to live their lives. They’ve even been led to believe their elders are willing to sacrifice their lives to the Coronavirus in order to reopen their respective states.

I don’t blame them for wanting things to go back to normal. I really don’t. I want those things too, and I’m a friggin’ introvert. I just want to have a good “date” again if you catch my meaning. Some states may be more ready than others to reopen sooner rather than later, but not if you’re going to be a flaming idiot about it.

Being stupid about all this, though, is going to do more harm than good. There is no “invisible enemy”. It’s a virus. Huffing bleach fumes and sunning your gaping anus isn’t going to kill the Coronavirus. It isn’t going to just go away because we prayed hard enough and rebelled against it. Hell, if the God these guys worship was real and could hit a switch and do away with this virus, I’d drop to my knees and pray in the middle of the street right now. Fuck all pretense, right?

Our leadership will never admit fault in aiding the spread of Covid-19 with their ineptness and willful ignorance. They won’t ever apologize for not taking this seriously when they should have. They won’t offer heartfelt condolences to the families of those who died because they didn’t even try to contain the virus when it was revealed it was a threat. There is no guilt. There is only the ego, and what a throbbing slab of orange flesh it is.

There will always be a mad dash to name an enemy, and when that doesn’t work they’ll just use the biased media bubbleheads to make us fight each other instead of them.

I’m not predicting the future. I’m describing the present.

We were gifted the greatest minds of any creature on Earth, and we’re failing to use them to save our species. We’ve ignored science, prompted people that their beliefs are facts if they believe hard enough, and put the truly stupid on pedestals because of their feigned confidence in their stupidity.

And that, my friends, is a dangerous combination for the sake of the World.

Be smart. You have the ability. Use your fucking brain and get those who don’t out of your life. And don’t, no matter what your told, drink bleach. You will die an idiot if you do.

And never forget that the greatest of evils will always come wrapped in the shroud of a savior. The most evil of men don’t even realize what they are. They’re just too ignorant of their own words and actions. The only way to get evil to reveal itself is through a great test of strength and magnanimous fortified.

So tell me: Does this sound familiar at all?

-Daniel Aegan

4/28/20

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