Éric

Éric has had an eclectic career which ranges from casino dealer to canal boat captain to radio station DJ. Since 2009, he’s worked as a desktop publisher for the federal government. During his off time, he works as a freelance typesetter for various Canadian-based authors and publishers, roasts gourmet flavoured coffee, runs several pen-and-paper role-playing games, writes, and helps run JenEric-Designs.ca (Home of the TravellingTARDIS.com).

He lives in Ottawa, Ontario with his author wife, daughter, and son.

Only Human (Serial Story) Part 4

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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

“Dreamy,” sighed Ginny with a faraway look.

“I’m guessing you know him then?” asked Rachel sarcastically.

“Everyone knows him,” added Tim. “And I agree with Ginny, he’s dreamy.” The two girls turned and looked at the gnome in his wheelchair with surprise in their eyes. “What? I have a thing for tricksters.” Tim blushed and did his best not to meet Ginny’s eyes. “So what happened next?”

“The teacher said that anyone who hadn’t lifted their hand in the first wave should find another class, those that lifted their hands in the middle group had potential and should stay in the class, while the two of us would be bumped up to the next level since we either had training or talent.”

“It’s probably cause you’re a demi-god,” said Tim. They were all in the cafeteria avoiding studying for various subjects. No matter what time of day she’d been there, Rachel had never seen the cafeteria be anything but busy.

“Probably,” replied Rachel.

“Right, absolutely,” replied Ginny.

“Wait, what am I missing?”

“Nothing.” Ginny’s voice cracked. Her perfect hair and flawless skin were the perfect frame for her large worried eyes.

“You may be supernaturally pretty, but you’re a terrible liar,” laughed Tim.

Ginny actually blushed her cheeks turning almost as red as her hair. “You think I’m pretty?”

“The only parts of me that don’t work properly are my legs. My eyes are perfectly fine.”

Unsure if she’d been outed, or used for the most adorable flirting, Rachel cleared her throat and said, “What are you getting at Tim?”

“Huh? Oh, Yeah. You two are hiding something and I want in.”

“Two nights ago you were begging me not to kill you and now you want in on a secret?”

“What, you’re an efficient killing machine and absolutely terrifying but you’re growing on me.”

Rachel laughed awkwardly. She hadn’t told Ginny about the details, “Coming from the guy who’s flirting with a vampire.”

“Just tell him,” Ginny ignored her.

“I’m not a demi-god. I’m human. I have no idea why I’m here.” It wasn’t easy keeping this lie straight but it was better than avoiding talking in front of one of her new friends.

“Shit, you are a Huntress?”

“No, just human with training.”

“So if you’re human, than why could you see through Dowan’s illusions?” Tim asked.

“Some Humans have divinatory powers.” Ginny shrugged, seeming over her earlier bout of blushing.

Nodding Tim said, “It would explain your speed and fighting ability.”

When Rachel chose a spot to sit, she always tried to have a wall at her back. It meant she couldn’t be surprised by someone sneaking up behind her. When she felt hands placed over her eyes and a warm breath on the back of her neck, she panicked. She threw her head back into the nose of the person behind her and reached up to grab the quickly retreating hand. She used her shoulder and back to lever the person and toss them over the table. Jumping out of her seat she ran to her attacker and placed her foot on his neck.

Staring up at her with a look of terror was Dowan, looking more the frightened child than the usual cocky trickster. He gurgled at her and she took her foot away from his throat.

“I normally avoid the rough stuff until the third date,” he tried to sound glib as blood flowed from his nose. The cafeteria patrons giggled awkwardly.

“I’m sorry. Why’d you sneak up on me?” She ran and got some paper towels. When she came back he was sitting in her chair at the table.

“Some girls like it when a handsome man tries to surprise them.” He nudged a small bouquet of crushed flowers with his foot.

“Not a fan of surprises.”

“I’m starting to get that.” He laughed and took the paper towels. After a little while, the blood stopped and he managed to clean himself up a little. She could already see the bruises turning dark blue on his brown skin. “So would it be stupid of me to ask you out anyways?” he asked with a small smirk and eyebrow raise.

“Suicidal maybe,” suggested Ginny, which made everyone laugh.

“Well…” Rachel trailed off. He wasn’t likely to be a killer monster, so maybe it wouldn’t be that bad. He was handsome. She seemed to have trouble taking her eyes off his lips. She really wanted to taste them.

“Yo! Rachel. How’s it hanging?” yelled Ronnie from across the cafeteria. Somehow he still managed to make it look cool; strutting in flanked by two other boys, all in the same football jackets. When he came closer he asked, “So how’s my favourite demi-god?”

Standing up in a fury, Ginny said, “She’s fine and off limits jackass.”

“Let the girl talk for herself, sis. She’s old enough, and certainly hot enough.” That’s when he saw Dowan and growled. He actually growled, and it sounded like a something that should have come from a large wolf.

Standing, Dowan was still half a head shorter than Ronnie, but he had a natural presence that made him seem more intimidating. “Do you really want to do this?”

“I’m a sixth generation vampire and a fourth generation all-star athlete, your little tricks don’t scare me.”

“I’m descended from the raven himself, white-boy. Or should I call you dead-boy?”

The cafeteria hadn’t reacted much when Rachel had thrown Dowan across the room, but now the entire room grew silent and more than half of the patrons suddenly remembered they had other things to do. Even Ginny looked cowed.

The lights flickered and darkness swirled around the two men despite the daylight coming through the windows.

Pulling two of her longer knives Rachel jumped forward and placed herself between the two men. Part of her enjoyed that they were ready to fight for her; it was thrilling to be wanted. It didn’t mean she was going to allow them to act like idiots.

“Gentlemen. I understand that you want to prove which of you has the biggest… you know what…” she blushed, feeling that she had just lost all her intimidation. She tried to think of something witty to say and decided on tapping each of their inner thighs with one of the knives, “Go away.”

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Natural Marriage Vs Same-Sex Marriage

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

In case you’ve missed the news, on June 26th, 2015 the Supreme Court of the United States voted to legalize same-sex marriages. What this means is simple, State and City governments must recognize same-sex marriages in the same way they recognize opposite-sex marriages. The Canadian government started recognizing same-sex marriage in 2005.

Some people seem to think that this is a terrible thing and that it means the government is meddling in people’s personal lives. This ruling actually does the opposite, telling the government to get out of deciding who people can marry.

Natural Marriage

A family member posted a video on facebook that argues that the only form of Marriage should be Natural Marriage. This seems to be a bastardization of Roman Catholic Canon Law which says Natural Marriage, “The matrimonial covenant, by which a man and a woman establish between themselves a partnership of the whole of life and which is ordered by its nature to the good of the spouses and the procreation and education of offspring, […]” Source – Vatican Website

The video makes no references to Roman Catholic laws but uses this definition. The video is here but I’ll summarize:

Marriage is for the perpetuation and stabilization of our society.

It argues that the government has three roles when it comes to behaviour; Promote Permit or Prohibit. In this argument they say that the government is now promoting same-sex marriage, which is a detriment to society. It also states that these are facts based off of nature and society not biology.

It says that Natural Marriage:

  1. “Creates Children;
  2. Best Raises Children;
  3. Protects Women;
  4. Civilizes Men;
  5. Lowers crime, poverty and welfare – which reduces the government spending and deficits, still for crime defense check over here to find legal resources for this.
  6. Marriage is rooted in the biological facts of nature.”

It then goes on to say that everyone, even those that don’t get married, benefit from Natural Marriage because it stabilizes society.

This is should seem antiquated to you if not offensive. Number one is so ridiculous that even the above stated canon law makes exceptions for those that are sterile. It does however have clauses about consummation (AKA you have to try to get pregnant even if you can’t AKA SEX). They say later in the video that sterile marriage is ok because it’s the exception.

The next one is stupid plenty of well-respected and good people have been raised by same-sex couples, single parents, orphanage, foster parents, Etc. (As a certified Bastard raised by a single mother, I take offence at this one.)

Three, Four, and Five boil down to, “Boys will be boys. Best make sure you have one to protect you.” Assuming that the base instincts of man are to rape, pillage, slaughter, and cause mayhem; effectively gives men permission to do it. It’s an attitude that needs to change if we’re ever going to live in a society that isn’t dominated with fear.

It then states that Same-Sex marriage doesn’t have any benefits and that it’s detrimental to society because unlike Natural Marriage it concentrates on validating a relationship instead of bringing children to be law abiding citizens. According to them Natural Marriage “provides the best possible family for children and if we alter the definition of marriage the losers with be the children”. Blarg… Bullshit total bullshit. As long as a child is raised by at least one loving parental figure they’re fine. Statistically their chances of a good life are more affected by money than anything else.

How Same-Sex Marriage is Promoted

“Schools subject your children to mandatory curricula.” Duh and good. Ignoring something won’t make it go away. Let’s give our children all the information they need for life. I don’t see how this can be bad.

“Your business and taxes fund homosexual relationships.” Yup, they’ll get the same tax breaks you do. Meaning they’ll want to stay in your country and spend that money to stimulate your economy.

“Your freedom of speech is gagged.” BULLSHIT! You have the right to say whatever the hell you want but you do not have the freedom to avoid the consequences of your speech. Freedom of Speech means the government cannot prosecute you for saying something. (Threats of violence and true hate speech are not covered.)

That means I can go up to the owner of a local coffee shop and tell them they are a bIHnuch devoid of all honour, but it doesn’t mean they have to listen to me. They can throw me out on my ass. The same goes for your bosses. Being fired, kicked out, shamed, or slapped for saying something doesn’t impinge on your Freedom of Speech.

“Your religious freedom is overruled.” You have the right to practise your religion if it doesn’t harm others. That’s all that Religious Freedom means. It doesn’t mean you have to right to tell people what to do. NO ONE is asking religious institutions to marry same-sex couples. This argument is like saying you have the right to walk on the sidewalk and then getting angry when someone else wants to walk on it.

Both the US and Canada have a separation of church and state which means that Religious Freedoms applies to everyone. If the Jewish faith started trying to pass laws against pork products because people eating them impinges on their religious freedoms, wouldn’t everyone think that was silly?

“The government has no compelling interest in legally promoting same-sex marriage.” The government’s number one priority should be the benefit of its people; not certain people, ALL it’s people. If you want to pander to the, “Think about the children!” mentality, then consider that on average Same-Sex couples adopt. Which means all those kids without parents can be paired with all those couples without. That seems like a pretty compelling reason. Also, in the US, same-sex couples are better educated and make more money.

The video goes on to say that it isn’t being biased against homosexuals and that by not allowing same-sex marriage they’re not discriminating against homosexuals but homosexual behaviour. Sounds kinda like what they said to Allan Turing.

They end with the lovely tagline of, “That’s not Bigotry, that’s biology.”

So if you haven’t guessed I think this video is full of shit. It shows no real reason to be against Same-Sex Marriage other than the usual fear and bigotry disguised as pseudo-science and sociology.

If you truly believe that Same-Sex Marriage hurts you personally than maybe you should look to your faith for an answer. Almost every faith has a version of the Golden Rule here are a few:

“Therefore whatever you desire for men to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” Mattew 7:12, New Testament

“What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow: this is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” Shabbath foli: 31a, Babylonian Talmud

“None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.” An-Nawawi’s Forty Hadith 13 (p. 56)[63]

“Putting oneself in the place of another, one should not kill nor cause another to kill.” Buddha (Siddhartha Gautama, c. 623 – c. 543 BC)

“Beware lest ye harm any soul, or make any heart to sorrow; lest ye wound any man with your words, be he known to you or a stranger, be he friend or foe.” `Abdu’l-Bahá[43]

I hope you have a Love filled day,

Éric

The 16th of September, 2039

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Hello,

I have skills, but sometimes I feel utterly useless when it comes to the working world. There aren’t a lot of full time jobs for Layout Artists, which means there’s little to no advancement. I have a good job and I’m good at it, but both the public service and private industry are moving away from print layouts and going straight to website. It’ll take a while before I’m completely obsolete, but it is inevitable.

I got my Pension Statement today. I can retire in 2039 with penalties or 2044 without penalties. I’m lucky that I was hired before they bumped the retirement age by 5 years. So in theory, I’ll be able to retire between 56-61 years of age. Those numbers are scary for me; both my parents died before 60. My plan is to live until 90 so I can yell at kids to get off my space lawn, see the 200th anniversary of confederation, and the 100th anniversary Doctor Who special.

My dream is to make enough money from writing and freelance work to never need to retire. I want to love my work so much that I’ll gladly keep going until I can’t anymore. I’ve been at this seriously for just over 5 years now. It’s a slow business but I’ve:

  • written 5.5 novels,  four of them that I’m proud of;
  • updated my blog regularly for 2 years.;
  • written dozens of stories;
  • designed two role playing games;
  • received rejections from 8 book agents, 3 book publishers, and a dozen magazines or anthologies
  • received one conditional acceptance from a book publisher;
  • made lots of friends that understand (and some that don’t);
  • and drank enough coffee to fill several Olympic pools.

I have a lot going for me, but sometimes it’s important to list the things I’ve done, if only to prove to myself that I haven’t been idle or wasteful.

One of the issues with writing, or any other creative calling, is the constant fear that you’re wasting your time. Even when you succeed it’s not perfect.

It’s not always easy to have faith, especially when the odds always seem against you. I know I’m a good writer and I know my stories are fun. All I can do it keep working and hope for the best.

I’ll get there! (Hopefully before 2039)

Thank you, my imaginary and not so imaginary friends, for everything, but mostly thank you for listening.

 

In what dramatic way would you quit your job if you could?

Éric

Musings on Psychopathy

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I read this article and it made me think and my professions. (I’m stretching the definition of profession here.) Civil Servant is tenth on the list but both Layout Artist and Fiction Writer aren’t. As far as Layout Artist goes, there aren’t that many of us and there could easily be a large amount of Psychopaths in the business.

Fiction writing however isn’t on the list and I don’t think it would be on the top 1000. I could be wrong but every fiction writer I’ve met has a strong empathy and understanding of emotions and others. From my exhaustive research. It seems that “antisocial personality disorder” (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders) or “dissocial personality disorder” (World Health Organization) is a condition that limits or prevents someone from being empathic and emotional.

Empathy and emotion are two attributes that every political alignment of author seem to have in spades. Writing a character is intensely empathic, you have to think differently and feel differently. Its can sometime, in extreme cases, cause and author to break down.

I don’t think there are no psychopaths in the fiction writing world but I think it’s they are rare.

If you’re interested in fiction staring a psychopath check out the The John Cleaver Series By Dan Wells. It’s both intense and amazingly well written. The protagonist has to deal with his own Psychopathy and a real psychopath killing people.

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What do you make of it? Was your profession on the list?

Éric

Coffee Rebranding

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Hello,
About a year ago I decided to research how to roast and flavour my own coffee. So far it’s been an awesome and fun road. I think it might be time to give it an official name and rebrand it to make it a little more distinct from the other Products in JenEric Designs.

For this I need your help. Please answer the following three questions:

What should be the name of our Coffee sub-business

  • JenEric Geeky Gourmet Coffee (38%, 8 Votes)
  • Gourmet Coffee by JenEric (24%, 5 Votes)
  • JenEric Gourmet Coffee (19%, 4 Votes)
  • JenEric Geeky Coffee (19%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 21

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What colours should represent the brand?

  • JenEric Blue and Chocolate Brown (56%, 10 Votes)
  • Bright Yellow and Chocolate Brown (17%, 3 Votes)
  • Dark Brown and Light Brown (11%, 2 Votes)
  • Retro Orange and Light brown (11%, 2 Votes)
  • Chocolate Brown and Light Pink (6%, 1 Votes)

Total Voters: 18

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What do you think of the current branding of the flavours

  • Geeky Names are great. Don't change them! (89%, 17 Votes)
  • Geeky names are ok but maybe have a few regular for non-geeks (11%, 2 Votes)
  • I really don't care (0%, 0 Votes)
  • Geeky names are stupid and I'd rather have normal names (0%, 0 Votes)

Total Voters: 19

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All this will lead to us actually selling the coffee beans on the website (eventually) and maybe at more events.

It’s been a great ride and I’m looking forward to what happens next.
Éric

Random Musings June 16th, 2015

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

I hope you enjoyed Part 3 of Only Human, last week. I’m enjoying getting into the head of this character. She’s an interesting combination of awkward and intense.

Today’s going to be a random set of musings. Feel free to skip to headings that are more your taste

Critique Group

I was asked to join a Critique Group. My first reaction was utter panic. I’ve heard terrible things about writers groups in general; all kinds of horror stories about people critiquing the wrong things or just tearing you down for fun. Yikes.

Then I heard who was in the group. One is a writing coach, at least two are published authors, and all of them have a lot more experience in the writing community than I do. Double Yikes.

I dithered and waited and then finally decided to join and see how it was. (I could always run away arms flailing in fear in needed.) Turns out I had nothing to worry about. We had our first session last night and I read the first 2000 words of Everdome. They seemed to really like it which gives me hope. They were supportive and super friendly. (They could be holding it all in to pounce on me later… Naw…?)

Sometimes it really pays off to get out of your comfort zone; especially as a genre writer in Ottawa. The people here are fantastic

Time and Writing

I spent three months thinking about and planning Parasomnia before I started writing it. Then I took ten months to write it. Two months for the first edit. Then there were the Weditor and Beta readers 1 and 2 (All super-fast) and my further edits. I’m not over a year and a half into this novel and I’m almost ready to send it to Beta Reader 3. Once they’re done I’ll have another full edit and another pass by the Weditor.

If all goes well I’ll have something to pitch and submit by end of October which will mark 2 years of working on the book. That is an immense amount of time and energy and all that is before I start submitting it to agents and publishers.

Oh and that’s nothing compared to A Study in Aether (Which started as The Mitten Wizard) I started writing that in November 2009. It’s gone through 3 titles, 1 complete re-writes and a dozen readers. Heck one publisher still hasn’t gotten back to me and I submitted it almost 2 years ago. (My rant at the complete and utter lack of professionalism of that publisher will have to wait for another day. Let’s just say I will NEVER submit, or buy, another book to/by them.)

It just takes a lot of time.

New Sci-Fi Television

Dark Matter

I watched the first episode of Dark Matter last night and I enjoyed it. It’s not an action Sci-Fi but the action in it is really good. The characters are interesting and likeable. (My wife and I had fun naming the Firefly/Stargate archetypes)

It shows promise and has a good mix of humour, intrigue, and special effects. I’ll definitely be watching next week

Killjoys

Speaking of next week, I’m really looking forward to Killjoys; a new Sci-Fi about space bounty hunters by the creative crew of Orphan Black. (Awesome!)

Check it out:

Gaming

I’m just finishing the Emerald Spire Superdungeon with my players and it’s been fun. It’s a giant dungeon written by some of gaming’s best designers. It feels a little light on story but it’s a lot of fun.

This weekend I’m starting Character Creation on a homebrewed setting I’m calling the Pandora Archives using my custom made system FADDS (Four attribute Dual Dodecahedron System). I’m totally Nervouscited!

I NEED THIS GAME!!!

Ok! There’s roughly 36 hours before the Kickstarter A Match Made in Austin is finished and they’re $400 away from their goal.

I’ve already pledged at the $45 level that would get me a hardcopy book and a copy of the game. Seriously how many times can you say you’re getting a game and a book for $45.

If you want just the physical game it’ll be $25 (Seriously an awesome card game for $25???)

Please GO SUPPORT IT! (I want my copy…)

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That’s it for today.

 

Go Support A Match Made in Austen… NOW!

Éric

Only Human (Serial Story) Part 3

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Part 1 | Part 2

Standing in the middle of a street party at Monsters University, Rachel was surrounded by people. Currently she was watching a Cyclops by the name of Al toss a smart car towards her.

Thankfully for Rachel, Al was a terrible shot and the smart car flew over and into a large brick building. Neither were damaged, the car bounced off the building and landed on its wheels in the yard.

“Wow. I guess depth perception really is important,” Rachel giggled.

Al’s eye grew wide and for a moment it looked like he was getting angrier, then he just laughed. His friends slowly joined in, unsure if they should.

“You’re funny,” said the large Cyclops. “I like you. What are you?” Anywhere else in the world that question would be rude. Here it seemed common, like asking what major you were in.

“Demi-God, and before you ask, I didn’t know my parents,” she said popping out one of her hips trying to look badass, but feeling awkward. She really hoped he didn’t ask her to prove it in some way.

“Probably not Greek, they never had much of a sense of humour.” With that, the gang of Cyclops walked away.

It mustn’t have worried the rest of the crowd; no one had paid attention and the music hadn’t even stopped. She guessed the combination of growing up around monsters and being at a university party made them completely unflappable. This would come in handy.

It was time for her to stop concentrating on being accepted and get to work. Almost exactly as she thought it, she heard a scream coming from down the street. It must have been extremely loud to be heard over the music. The crowd ignored it.

The scream was coming from two streets down between the wall of the football stadium and a row of small houses. There was no light in the grassy area but the moon. When she turned the corner she saw a small figure in a wheelchair screaming. The figure was the size and shape of a child.

Hovering over the child like figure was a tall beefy man with a long bushy beard. It wore a baggy plaid shirt and jeans. The shirt was snitched at the waist with a metal chain.

“Leave the kid alone!” She yelled as she ran towards them.

The man looked up at her and his eyes were glowing red, his teeth were sharp and brown from dried blood. His hands had long metal claws. “This child is up after seven. He is mine.” The man spoke an archaic form French that Rachel barely understood. “I am the Seven O’clock man and I always get my meal.”

Standing less than a few feet from the nauseating creature, Rachel grabbed a silver dagger with her left hand and one carved with Enochian runes in her right.

“Not this time,” she growled and dove at the monster. She really needed to work on her quips they were terrible.

The man was surprised at her attack and didn’t react fast enough to stop her from cutting his arm from shoulder to elbow. He screamed and tried to slash her with his good arm. She grabbed it and pulled him forward. As he was off balance, she sidestepped behind him and cut his throat. When that didn’t seem to kill him she plunged both daggers into its head.

She quickly cleaned her weapons and turned to the child. He had a beard. “Are you ok, kid?”

“I’m a graduate student in Metaphysical Transfiguration. I’m a Gnome, not a kid.” He watched her hands as she finished the ritual movements of cleaning her daggers. “I guess I’m next?”

“Why would I kill you? I just saved you.” She asked confused.

“I recognize a Huntress when I see one. Go ahead, kill me.”

“I’d rather not kill you,” she said.

“The last time this campus had a Huntress there were over a hundred deaths before she was caught and killed. If you don’t kill me, I have to tell the authorities that we have a batshit crazy killer running around.”

“I’m not a serial killer, I’m a demi-god,” she hoped that the lie would work. She didn’t want to kill the child-sized man in a wheelchair. “I only killed that thing because it was trying to eat you and I could hear your screams from two blocks over.”

“Oh. Sorry. My current condition makes me a little paranoid.” He pointed at the chair.

Having cleaned her weapons and then her hands with holy water, she reached out her hand to shake his. As they shook she said, “Rachel, Cryptozoology major.”

“Mind walking me back to my dorm? Looks like this party is attracting all kinds of attention.”

* * *

Hunting at night was easier after the first time. There wasn’t always a party and she often slipped into town to try and protect the locals. Her classes were another story completely. They were difficult and her teachers gave a lot of homework.

Every week she had six mandatory two hour classes, two four hour labs, and one optional class. For her optional class she had the choice between Magical History, Forgotten Mythology, and Divinatory Theory. She took the last one, hoping it might help her find what had killed her sister.

The teacher was a Hag, a race of women who were extremely ugly and had impressive amounts of magical power. They were what a Halloween witch was made to look like. Her matted grey hair and pointy chin bobbed up and down and she talked, “If you’re here in the hopes that I can teach you to get divinatory powers you’re sadly mistaken. This class will concentrate on the theory and history of divination, not it’s practice. Only one in a thousand have any sort of divinatory power and most of those only get gut feelings.”

That’s when Rachel saw someone sitting on a chair next to the teacher’s desk. It was the boy who’d almost gotten her killed. Dowan saw her looking at him and looked a little surprised before he winked at her. His eyes twinkled with mischief.

The teacher walked to the front of the class and stood in front of the chalkboard. Dowan followed her and stood next to her. A girl from the front row stood and joined them.

“Lift your hand if you see me,” the teacher ordered. Everyone lifted their hand and a few people giggled awkwardly.

“Lift your hand if you see me,” said the girl who was standing next to the teacher. Only half the class lifted their hand this time. There was some murmuring and confused giggles.

“Last but not least, lift your hand if you can see me in all my glory,” ordered Dowan. He obviously knew he was attractive.

Rachel rolled her eyes and lifted her hand. Looking around she saw that she and one other person had lifted their hand in a class of two-hundred students.

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Call the Midwife – Recommendation Tuesday

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Hello My Imaginary Friends,

Is there any feeling worse than having a TV show you want to marathon and life getting in your way? If you answered NO! than you get me.

My wife and I just discovered BBC’s Call the Midwife. It’s just up my alley. I have a soft spot for shows that star strong, capable women.

More importantly I have a HUGE soft spot for good writing. Each character is thoroughly likeable and human. They have their good days and bad. It’s funny, touching, and sometimes sad. More than anything it’s hopeful and I can’t help but love that.

I haven’t been this engrossed in a non-genre TV show in years.

If you haven’t checked it out. Go do it now.

 

Have you seen Call the Midwife? What do you think?

Éric

Recommendation Thursday – Prose in the Park

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prose in the parkBoth parts of JenEric Designs will be attending Prose in the Park this Saturday.

If you like reading, writing, or being around books… this is the place for you. A lot of awesome authors will be there go check out the Programme. I’m particularly excited for the Imagine (Fantasy Panel).

It looks like the weather will cooperate.

Hope to see you there!