S.J. Pajonas's Blog, page 63
August 9, 2019
The Origins of the Flyght Series
About a year and a half ago, I was coming into my fifth year of publishing, and I just wasn’t happy with my business. I was a part of a million author Facebook groups, and so many authors were crowing about their success. They were writing fast, publishing once a month or quicker, taking advantage of Kindle Unlimited, and really making bank. I had tried to write fast for the Hikoboshi Series. I had three books mostly written before the first book published, and I had planned to use Kindle Unlimited. And the series did not do as well as I hoped (don’t worry, I’ll be back to it next year). I saw what happened and I had an epiphany.
I needed to do something different. I needed something fun and sexy. Hikoboshi Series was fun but also serious, not sexy enough for me. I needed something that I would write for myself, taking a break from the hustle and bustle of publishing. Do the exact OPPOSITE of what everyone else was doing. I’m such a rebel!
About this time, I had started reading a bunch of reverse harem books. If you don’t know what this trope is, it’s exactly what you’re thinking. It’s a poly relationship, one woman, three or more men, in a relationship. Initially, I was captivated by this trope because it seemed to explode out of nowhere.
Then I realized that this trope fixed something I always hated about certain romance books, it eliminates the love triangle. Why does she have to choose? CHOOSE THEM ALL, I say! (Just FYI, I’m happily married to ONE man. Lol. More than that is too much work, and I’m lazy. This is purely for fiction.) Anyway, I loved how these books I read dealt with the introduction of men into the mix, and I wondered if this was something I could accomplish in my own work. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED!
In the Nogiku Series, and by extension the HIkoboshi Series, I have the Earth history set up to fail. There are wars and then an environmental collapse. At this point in the history, the decimated population on Earth decides to get up and leave. Colonization ships leave from all the major countries on the major continents, and they head out to inhabit the stars. For the Nogiku Series and Hikoboshi Series, I naturally follow the ships that leave from Japan.
But I’ve always been fascinated by the Japanese in the diaspora, those that immigrated from Japan to places like Brazil and the United States. How they hold onto some Japanese traditions and marry those with the ones of their adopted home country. I love Japantown in San Francisco. Such a great place! I spent a whole afternoon there in 2006. And I’ve read all about the Japanese who ended up in Brazil in the 1920s and onwards from Diaspora and Identity: Japanese Brazilians in Brazil and Japan. Want to learn more? Check out this brief Wikipedia article on Liberdade, São Paulo.
Japantown San Francisco (Depositphotos)
This made me think… “What if I follow the ships that left California and Brazil? Plenty of Japanese in diaspora. And I make it reverse harem too.” This, I knew I could have a lot of fun with. Just a bit of culture, nothing too heavy handed like my other books. Fun? Check. Sexy? Absolutely. It had to have a good mystery too. I love a good mystery!
So I came up with the Duo Systems. The Californikos System colonized by the ships that left California (backstory, they were very heavy US military) and the Brazilianos System colonized by the ships that left Brazil. Spoiler, I really love Brazil and Brazilian culture too. I thought it would be cool, too, to connect them both with a gate system, something that they had planned in the initial launch and developed to bring them together in the first 30 years of colonization. Things go wrong, of course, but that was over 200 years ago by the time we fly with my heroine, Vivian.
Liberdade, São Paulo, Brazil. Home to the world’s largest ethnic Japanese community outside Japan. (Depositphotos)
Then the final idea that strings the whole story together was an idea I had two years ago and wrote down in my Idea Notebook in Evernote: “Uber in space.” I had been listening to my husband tell me about all his Uber drivers and the interesting conversations he had with them. I thought it would be fun to apply that to a sci-fi space opera. The name Lyft is great because they just changed the I to a Y in their name. Hence Flyght! There is a Flyght competitor too which is only ever mentioned in the books named Ampla, which means “big” in Portuguese like Uber means “big” in German. See what I did there?
And there you have it! The origin of the Flyght Series. We begin with Vivian getting the kind of news no one ever wants to get… she’s been robbed by her own brother! What will happen next in the Duo Systems? You’ll have to read to find out.
Next week, I’ll share a map of the Duo Systems and we’ll get to know the planets that make up the background of this series!
Viber
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August 8, 2019
Featuring NIGHT OF THE GHOUL By Graeme Ing
We have a double feature this week! This one is not reverse harem scifi, but instead I’m bringing you some urban fantasy by a fantastic author. This is a new release and on sale! So snap it up now while you can.
I asked Graeme, “What inspired the Urban Ghoul series?”
Graeme replied…
This series tugged at my brain for a long time, demanding to be written. I’d been unable to forget this image of the Ghoul from Middle-Eastern mythology – a carrion eating monster that appears like a beautiful woman to lure men into the desert for her kill. Also, for some time I’d had this germ of an idea about a near-future dystopia where common people are indentured servants working for Mafia-like Families, a dark, twisted version of the Houses in the Dune series. The third piece of the puzzle was an idea I had where women would alter their physical appearance to look like cats or squirrels or cute animals, to attract men.
So the seeds were sown. Rachel is an agent for a powerful Family, and the Ghoul inside her makes her the perfect assassin. How would this harm her humanity? Her relationships? How does she handle being betrayed by the Family that raised her?
These are the questions I sought to answer in this series, along with which wins out of Family or family, an allegory for people of today’s insane dedication to work, often before family. There are several other allegorical statements made, which I’ll leave the reader to discover. All the supernatural creatures in the series are based on Persian mythology, so I hope the reader enjoys that originality too.
I really love stories about powerful families, and this mix with mythology sounds super interesting!
Welcome to 2050. I’m Rachel, and there’s a monster inside me that makes me a perfect assassin. Like everyone else, I’m indentured to a Family. I do their dirty work.
Someone’s pet geneticist toyed with my sister, and now she’s not human either. When I find them, they’re going to make her right, and then I’m going to tear them apart. Tania’s the only real family I have. Killing whoever gets in my way is the easy part; enlisting my ex-lover’s help — not so much. I don’t have time to dredge up those old emotions.
Night of the Ghoul is the first in a series of four and a mashup of Urban Fantasy, Dystopian, and Cyberpunk.
Warning: This book contains adult language, explicit sexual content, and some depictive scenes of intense blood and gore.
Check out NIGHT OF THE GHOUL on…
Amazon Nook Apple Books Kobo Google Play
Find This Author Online
Learn more about Graeme Ing on…
Website: http://www.graemeing.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GraemeIngAuthor/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/GraemeIng
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August 7, 2019
Featuring A GIRL NAMED BLUE By Cecilia Randell
Continuing with our features of other sci-fi reverse harem books, today I have Cecilia Randell on the blog to talk about her series The Adventures of Blue Faust!
I asked Cecilia, “What inspired The Adventures of Blue Faust series?”
Cecilia replied…
I wrote The Adventures of Blue Faust because it was story that needed to be told. I love adventures in unknown worlds, and exploring other cultures. I also love mixing the ideas of sci-fi and fantasy. Where do you draw the line? I really wanted to play with that. Take a familiar trope in the fantasy genre (portals) and adapt it to sci-fi.
I also really wanted to play with the idea of writing a relationship involving one woman and multiple men, but without the “fated mate” trope that is often seen. How would that work? What types of personalities would be needed? What kind of woman would be able to keep them all in line? How would they come together?
And finally, I really wanted to write a heroine who had that fine balance of what I like to call “quiet strength.” An ordinary person, with their own anxieties and insecurities, but with enough strength of will to set a goal and work toward it. That I got to pluck her out of her normal life on Earth and throw her into the big, wide universe and see how she dealt with it was one of the funnest things I’ve ever gotten to do.
Because that’s the main thing I love about sci-fi, asking “what if?” and exploring new worlds.
I also wanted to play with something other than the “fated mates” trope for my Flyght Series, so I completely understand how much fun it is to work around that. It’s such a popular trope in Reverse Harem! “Quiet strength” is also a great term for a heroine!
An ordinary girl, thrown into extraordinary – and deadly – new worlds…
After the death of her father, Blue Faust is struggling. When she and her mother move to a new city yet again, Blue is determined to begin living her life once more. She even makes a list.
Everything starts to come together. Then, while out hiking with new friends, the ground shakes and the air changes, and they find themselves in a strange new world.
And that’s just the beginning. Blue discovers a conspiracy of planets, and whole new universes. Suddenly, she is dealing with kidnappers and barbarians, grumpy beast-mounts and advanced technology, all while trying to find a way home.
Along the way, she’ll encounter hooligans, mercenaries and clansmen, not to mention a whole slew of those pesky buried family secrets… But she’ll also find something within herself that craves this life, and she’ll find the beginnings of a love that will defy universes.
Check out A GIRL NAMED BLUE on…
Find This Author Online
Learn more about Cecilia Randell on…
Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/746599072207824/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cecilianrandell/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/cecilia-randell
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/divLmj
Facebook Author Profile: https://www.facebook.com/Cecilia-Randell-816496085179222/
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Cecilia-Randell/e/B073ZHHRL9/
Website: https://ceciliarandell.com/
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August 4, 2019
Sunday Update – August 4, 2019
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.
We’re now really into August! Summer is just flitting on by, isn’t it?
This week was a week wholly without camp, so I keep us busy around here in other ways. Basically, I bribed the children with money to help me clean out the basement. This was going to be a “spring cleaning” chore, but then I broke my leg and I wasn’t able to tackle it. Now was the time! We worked on it Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday mornings and got it all done. Yay! I just have one more morning of vacuuming and mopping down there, and the project will be complete.
I’m so happy to have this done! I’m donating EIGHT boxes of old books my parents dumped on me when they moved to South Carolina (I still love them), several bags of old clothes, FOUR boxes of old toys, and two dollhouses. Everything gets picked up on Thursday. Plus, I have thrown out over TEN bags of trash, and I have some bigger items for bulk trash pickup and a mountain of recycling. All of it will be gone by next Tuesday.
This week we also picked up physical therapy again as my therapist was back from his vacation. My kids came with me to my appointments and got to see what mommy does.
We had a rainy afternoon one day and stayed home to clean out the pantry as well. Yeah, I really DID put the kids to work, and the house feels lighter and happier now.
All week long I continued to write and work on my writing business. I tried to keep up with my daily word counts and somedays I did a better job than others. I was physically exhausted from all the cleaning, so I had a lot of trouble concentrating, and one day I had a headache so I didn’t do much then. What can you do? Not much when your body rebels against you!
I also decided that there were some things in my life that had to go. I did two full years of One Second Everyday, and I just didn’t have enough video to put together for July, so I let it go. I hope to take off August and get back to it in September. Sometimes I just need a break. I also am continuing to take time off from Facebook. I thought about going back, but instead, I made some changes to the ways I post there, and I’ve been keeping off of it except to update my FB Page.
What else happened this week?
Found some fun books in the basement! I kept THE GIRL WITH THE SILVER EYES but donated that crochet book because YIKES.
This dead ash tree is on its way out. We’re getting quotes to have it removed. It’ll cost more than a new Apple computer. (Cries.)
Lots of deer in the yard this week! Pretty much every day.
Got some more knitting done. I’m onto Part 4 of this shawl! I sit and knit on it most days now while listening to podcasts and my audiobooks.
Cleaning out the pantry and then the various parts of the basement. I divided up the basement so we tackled a new section each day.
This basil smelled amazing.
And happy birthday to Harry Potter! He turned 39 this past week on the July 31st.
Have a great week everyone!
Viber
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August 2, 2019
Join The #Bookstagram Blitz for FIRST FLYGHT
We’re coming up on one month away from the publication of FIRST FLYGHT! And to celebrate the launch and spread the word, I have lassoed my favorite person, Lola of Lola’s Blog Tours, to organize a #bookstagram book blitz!
There will be fun and pretty images. There will be a fabulous grand prize! There will also be a great first prize for my international readers too. Plus, there are ARCs of FIRST FLYGHT and a few paperback copies available too (for US Residents only).
If you’re a blogger and/or instagrammer, I would love to have you participate. Here’s some of the information you’ll need, coming to you from Lola…
First Flyght is an Adult Science Fiction Romance Reverse Harem book. The blitz runs from 6 till 13 September. If you sign-up for this blitz you agree to post at least once during that time frame, but more would be appreciated. You need to have an Instagram account, a blog or another social media account like Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest to participate in this blitz.
All participants will receive a free copy of First Flyght either through Bookfunnel with no review obligation (though you can read and review if you like and doing so would be very much appreciated) or a review copy through Booksprout for those who would like to review the book. Making a picture during the tour of your copy of the book would be very much appreciated.
There is a limited amount of paperback review copies available for instagrammers who sign-up for the tour. If you request a physical copy it would be very much appreciated if you could make a picture of the book and post that during the tour. The paperback copies are for Instagrammers only and US Only.
Sound interesting? You can get the full details by signing up for the blitz via Lola’s Blog Tours.
Sign-up for the FIRST FLYGHT Bookstagram Blitz
I would love to see your posts for this new book in a new series! I can’t wait for you all to read it!
Viber
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August 1, 2019
August 2019 Goals
Where is the summer going? It’ll be over before I know it and we’ll be back to school. Sigh. I love summer, so I hate when it rushes on by.
What Happened With July’s Goals?
Start writing Flyght 4. I’m over 25,000 words into this book! Coming along just fine.
Write a blurb for Books 2 and 3 of the Flyght Series. I wrote Book 2’s blurb and its fine, but I struggled so much with Book 3 that I paid for someone else to do it. That blurb should be coming in the next week or two.
Set up pre-orders for FIRST FLYGHT, Books 2, and 3 everywhere. Books 1 and 2 are up for pre-order! I wasn’t able to put Book 3 up for pre-order since I haven’t hit the 90-day window yet and I’m waiting on the blurb.
Set up the FIRST FLYGHT paperback on Ingram Spark. Done. And I ordered copies!
Keep up with SFR Station. This has been easy. I have a whole system for keeping it up to date which includes doing most of my work on Sunday mornings.
Get Lola everything she needs for our September event. I didn’t get most of this done. It’s been super busy around here. Lola has most of what she needs but this month I need to give her the rest.
Keep up outpatient physical therapy. I have done this! I had a week off while my therapist was on vacation but I kept at the walking and stretching.
Keep up with the pool and walking. Turns out I’m a horrible swimmer who is only going to hurt herself if she keeps up her awkward strokes. I have ditched swimming in favor of walking whenever I can.
Reading and knitting. Been doing both!
Business Goals For August
Finish writing Flyght 4. I’m on track to finish this book at the end of the month. Just have to keep up with my daily words!
Make teaser images for FIRST FLYGHT. I usually make teaser images for all of my books and post them to the blog and social media. I’m hoping to do this for this book as well.
Set up pre-orders Book 3 everywhere. As soon as I get my blurb, this will be done.
Brainstorm up Book 6’s cover with my designer. I need to square away my titles and get this one taken care of.
Keep up with SFR Station. As usual now.
Get Lola everything she needs for our September event. Rolling this over to this month as it has to be done. She needs images and a few other things from me.
Personal Goals For August
Keep up outpatient physical therapy. As one does.
Keep up with walking. I plan on some morning walks this month. Definitely.
Reading and knitting. As usual.
Have a great August everyone!
Viber
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July 31, 2019
Featuring PERFECT: HER REVERSE GENUS By Adell Ryan
Continuing with our features of other sci-fi reverse harem books, today I have Adell Ryan on the blog to talk about her series Her Reverse Genus!
I asked Adell, “What inspired the Her Reverse Genus series?”
Adell replied…
After I got married and started growing my family, the naive little bubble I seemed to have grown up in, burst, and I quickly learned just how much it seems authority figures like to misuse their positions of seniority. While I like to live a very positive lifestyle, I also easily worry about the degradation of society as a whole on account of the many liberties these sort of people like to take. With that mindset and concern, it wasn’t at all difficult for me to weave a story in my mind about the government going as far as using our blood — the very blueprint of who we are — and capitalizing on that as well.
In Her Reverse Genus, we hop into the near future (2044) and see what things might be like should our free agency and rights continue to decline at a rapid rate.
Throughout the process, we also learn that our DNA just might determine who we are and are not compatible with and what authority figures think about this and intend to do with that type of valuable and world-changing information!
This is what I love about sci-fi! Take a concept and try to project it forward to see what you get. I spend a lot of days staring out into space and thinking about what I could make of the future. I love this concept of using DNA to determine our possible mates. It reminds me a lot of one of my favorite movies, GATTACA.
My name is Thessaly, and at 22, I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up. Living with my parents, going to college, and hanging out with friends is pretty much the extent of my mediocre life. The biggest drama I have going on with me is fighting a growing attraction toward my best friend Bram. Oh and avoiding needles—specifically ones that draw my blood.
See, on January 27, 2044, the DNA Networking Act was set into action. This new law provides those in authority to gather genetic information from citizens in an effort to achieve nationwide resistance to diseases and other weaknesses. Sounds promising, right?
Maybe. But to me, it infringes on a person’s freedom. The act prohibits citizens from declining to undergo genetic testing when summoned, and the deadline for everyone to voluntarily submit a DNA sample is fast approaching. I’m avoiding the process as long as possible.
Until one night the unthinkable happens: I’m ruthlessly abducted. Bleeding is no longer voluntary… it’s a requirement. And as it turns out, my captors aren’t anything like I expected.
Fear. Friendship. Betrayal. Lust. Hate. Passion. Despair. It’s no-holds-barred in this fast-paced Sci-Fi Reverse Harem Romance.
Trigger Warning: In 2044, while the world isn’t terribly different, human rights are. Our heroines and heroes in Her Reverse Genus find themselves thrust into one unfortunate event after another where they’re forced to explore varying degrees of highly triggering topics that some readers may find difficult to read. These topics include but are not limited to: gun violence, kidnapping, drugging, torture, abuse, discrimination, infertility, miscarriage, and non-consented medical procedures.
Check out PERFECT on…
Amazon
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Learn more about Adell Ryan on…
Website: http://adellryan.com/follow
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July 28, 2019
Sunday Update – July 28, 2019
The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.
I was all ready to call it a night and shut down when I remembered the Sunday Update! So let’s make this quick since I’m so tired I can barely keep my eyes open.
Monday and Tuesday this week were our last days of camp. On Monday, I went in to see the “play” my younger kid’s class put together to end camp. Then on Tuesday, they both had their last day of morning camp and then summer music camp in the afternoon. Summer music camp involved practicing for the summer musical, Mary Poppins, so there was a lot involved with that this summer including buying costumes, doing makeup, and lots of dress rehearsals.
Wednesday and Thursday, we did the pool from noon to 4pm and then the kids got ready for their two performances on both nights. I went both nights to see them perform and they all did a great job! I’m really proud! My husband was able to make it for the second night on Thursday.
Then Friday, they had their wrap-up celebration at school for summer music from 9-11am. I picked them up, we went grocery shopping, and then we returned home to await our new dryer delivery and installation. While waiting, I cleaned out all three freezers in our house of old and expired food. We ended the evening with some more pool time.
Both Saturday and Sunday were spent, you guessed it, at the pool. We went out to dinner last night because no one wanted to cook. Can’t really blame us!
I’m making great progress on Flyght Book 4. I’m happy with my writing so far, and I think I’m doing well with the series as a whole. Yay!
What else happened this week?
I made salsa this week. It’s so darned good!
I also went for two walks this week and enjoyed the scenery in my park.
Crime scene or cooked beets? You decide.
Wrote about these two great books on my latest Book Chat.
Mary Poppins talks to Jane and Michael Banks. Neither of my children were main cast members. They were in the ensemble.
Kind of a ghost town at the pool yesterday.
Oh hey, our ancient sink faucet decided to die right before we’re planning on gutting this bathroom. Of course. $30 sink faucet later and it should last until the bathroom’s demise.
And finally knitting. I love my knitting but it makes me super sleepy. Yawn!
Have a great week everyone!
Viber
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July 26, 2019
Book Chat #48 – Jessie Mihalik and James S. A. Corey
A quick book chat before we cruise into August! This one will be short because I had a book I DNFed at, get this, the 94% mark. Yep, I got all the way to the end and decided that I was sick of the main character and couldn’t care less about what happened to her. Sigh. I had a feeling this was going to happen and I WISH I had given up on that book a lot sooner. Oh well.
Let’s talk about what I did read and LOVED!
POLARIS RISING by Jessie Mihalik
Wow. I loved this book from beginning to end. A strong and capable heroine who’s been on the run for a long time, put in intense situations, and then a fantastic romantic storyline too. I loved all the intrigue with the Houses, the witty banter, and the fact that Ada always had a plan, even if she knew the plan would fail. This was everything I loved in a good sci-fi romance, and if you enjoy my books, you’ll love this one too.
TIATMAT’S WRATH by James S. A. Corey
This the Expanse Book 8, and if you didn’t know that I love this series by now, then you should be able to figure it out with this post. Lol. There are so few series where I’ve read more than 3 books and stuck with it. Harry Potter is one of the few and the Expanse now is up there with it! These characters get better with each book and so does the overall story. I was on the edge of my seat listening to this one. Seeing what the protomolecule can do is awesome. And I was happy to spend time with Naomi and see her come into her own. There’s a good reason why people stick with this series! This newest book already has over 300 great reviews on Amazon. Do yourself a favor and start the series NOW. (Really.)
What have you been reading or listening to lately?
Viber
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July 24, 2019
Featuring THE SPACE MERCHANTS By Wendie Nordgren
Over the next month and a half, I’ll be featuring other sci-fi romance reverse harem books here on the blog. Since FIRST FLYGHT is also sci-fi reverse harem, I thought you might like to get to know the genre a little!
Today, I have Wendie Nordgren here to talk about the first book in her series, THE SPACE MERCHANTS.
I asked Wendie, “What inspired THE SPACE MERCHANTS?”
Wendie replied…
My inspiration for The Space Merchants was a simple question which I asked myself. I’ve read so many stories with main characters who are brilliant scientists, but what if a girl with nothing, no family, education, or money, got a chance to explore the universe? Teagan begins not mattering to anyone, but all of that changes as she learns her own self-worth.
This tugs at my heart. I love seeing a protagonist really come into their own! Become strong and worth not only the love of others, but of themselves too. Very powerful.
Teagan Green dreams of escaping the drudgery of Earth and traversing the stars.
How will her dreams come true when events from her past are intent on destroying her?
As soon as Teagan Green turns eighteen, she leaves her painful childhood behind and travels as far as her credits will take her. In Union Port City, she is homeless until she becomes a reclamation worker. Teagan’s only dream is to one day make it up into the stars. She gets her wish when she is hired as a domestic assistant on Tora, a merchant starship. On Tora, Teagan meets Yukihyo Lee, an alien who survived the brutal slaughter of his entire clan at the hands of the Parvac Empire. Yukihyo is of a race in which the males require emotional bonds with their females in order to control their aggressive tendencies. He finds that bond in Teagan. While exploring the Galaxic Expanse with the crew of Tora, Teagan discovers a universe full of beauty and danger, true love, and her own personal worth.
Check out THE SPACE MERCHANTS on…
Amazon Nook Apple Books Kobo
Find This Author Online
Learn more about Wendie Nordgren on…
Website: http://www.wendienordgren.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thespacemerchantsseries/
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