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I wish Saturnalia was still a holiday, the Romans were infamous for this time of year where social norms could be abandoned and wild random male orgies happened with the drop of a denari (Rome silver coin). It was basically Carnival with elements of the Purge and ancient grindr

Merry Christmas everyone! Fun Random Christmas Fact: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer's dad was originally Donner from Santa's original Reindeer team

Of Pride and Power was kind of big and expansive, because European history had a lot going on during this time with the reformation, Renaissance, and early scientific revolution. It's easy to introduce English culture as most people have some perspective on it (we're using English after all as the medium of exchange ), but Japan is a complex mess during this era with nominal warlords operating as independent clan-states, having many different facets with various heroes, rivalries, and factions.

Historical fiction is still on my mind and honestly, I know I've come a long way in writing it. -I do want to focus on Sengoku Jidai within this universe and open the door to explore the Far Eastern conflicts between China, Joseon (Korea), Nippon (Japan), India, and Habsburg Empire (Spain, Portugal, and Austria were in the Far East during the 16th century) -Eli's revenge campaign and the collapse of the Russian Empire might seem like a major problem for history down the road, but in the 16th century, it's not such a massive issue. Turkic people and Mongolian kingdoms would likely re-assert themselves when the central power of Moscow falls (returning the Central and Far Eastern Asian possession of Russian Empire back to the native Nogai and other Khanates). -Takechiyo, aka Tokugawa Ieyasu in our history, will be interesting warlord with a well-known destiny among various power players in Japan. As an Omega, he is a representation of future Edo period concepts with more fluid sexuality than traditional gender roles for males. (Note to self- Explore the Japanese concept of "color" representing sexuality and paths from edo period Japan.) -China and India are the big players in this setting, Historically, the Ming Dynasty unlike other eras in Chinese history had one of the world's largest fleets with gunpowder cannons until an Emperor out of spite sank all the ships of the navy and limited the production of gunpowder weaponry (Chinese confucian Scholar officials and bad blood between father-son). None of that happens and China still has a big naval focus with great ambitions due to their fleet, including colonies in Australia, New Zealand, the Pacific Islands, and West Coast of America. India spread under the Mughal Empire north to Samarkand and East to Vietnam through land routes. -Cast of Characters: The Three Unifiers of Japan Matsudeira Takechiyo (Main character) Oda Nobunaga (Semi-Love interest, intelligent future transplant, rival, partial antagonist/deutagonist) Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Calculating, future transplant, usurper, and antagonist) Famous Clan Leaders (Focus on Central Japan regions): Takeda Shingen (Early-Mid Antagonist) Uesuegi Kenshin (Early-Mid help, Master of Warfare, nickname "God of War", teacher of Japanese concepts, and later opponent) Mori Motonari (Political and military strategist, schemer, "Beggar Prince" nickname for his false impressions, early-mid antagonist) Hojo Ujiyasu (Rival to Uesuegi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen, small-minded, possessive, "Lion of Sagami" nickname, a perfect example of Bushi aka Warrior doctrine in later Japanese culture, a heroic background, early-mid help/frenemy) Hojo Ujimasa (Ambitious son of Hojo Ujiyasu, arrogant due to false family claims of "Later Hojo", sometimes ally and enemy) Side characters, who help Takechiyo and love interests William Adams- Love interest English Military attache to Takechiyo, who starts off as a naval officer (Like his TV counterpart, Japan should also be viewed from his perspective) Yasuke- Love interest, African American Samurai, former slave freed from captivity by Oda Nobunaga. (Yes, he is historically the first black Samurai in Japanese history and he was enslaved by Portuguese from West Africa, then sent off to India and eventually ended in Japan, then freed by Oda Nobunaga). I know I don't write black characters much in my stories, nor do I portray black people as love interests, but in this case, it actually make sense from a historical fiction standpoint. Hattori Hanzo- A lot of legends connecting him to Shinobi (Ninja) will be explored. Historically, he was Tokugawa Ieyasu top general on the battlefield and the head of his clandestined operations. -Story: The founding of this timeline's Tokugawa shogunate and Anglo-Japanese Alliance. Some continuation of the original future timeline and the Guardians of Eternity, who were revealed in Book 1 to be catalysts of the Apocalypse. Whereas Of Pride and Power focuses on large battles determined by firepower and troop tactics, the Japanese armies of this story will focus on squad tactics and small operations that determine success and failures. Any thoughts folks or ideas for improvement?

Thanks, John Adams had a more pro-British interest when it came to policy compared to most Founding Fathers, Ben Franklin and him butted heads a few times as well due to the latter's pro-French stance. His defense of the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre has often been cited by his critics as his less favorable stance to the American Revolution, but his views were much more complicated than favoritism as someone with a process-oriented view of the world rather than an investigative mindset. It is sad, but a lot of teenage kids did die during that era fighting for "the cause", Though I added some extra speculation to make my story, the heart of it is historical. The deaths near the Boston custom house starting with Christopher in February and the others in March set off a wave of popular dissent, fueled by populist like Sam Adams. It was a different era, but some lessons are still the same. I think Charles Dickens highlighted this prospect in his book Hard Times, as well. It's much different society than the one we're used to. The apprenticeship system was not easy and there were a lot of issues trying to train young boys in a profession. Also, it didn't help that a lot of their meager savings was spent in the pubs after work. By the way, Ben Franklin dropped out of my school He's one of my favorite hetero historical male figures, he's an intelligent rogue, who does his own thing and investigates what he likes.

Vampirism in this society is parasitic and scientific, so there's a bit of the elite within. I'm relying more on the Bram Stoker motif of elite noble Vampires (more homoerotic ) than the modern sparkle and drama, where blood transfusion is coerced. I think education isn't really the biggest concern to the "elites" in this society, rather physical well-being, so I went with the farm animal concept for blood livestock. Also remember, this story is post moral-society, if people can achieve immortality by living off the young, it really changes a lot of fundamental dynamics that we have with "fairness" and "equal opportunity" being moot causes. I do think aging up the Protagonist would be good, though the age gap with the others would make romantic subplot impossible. A story without love to me is a story without hope; being gay is more than sex, it's the companionship that you form with others like you, it's what differentiates our fiction from general fiction. It's fine if I were writing a tragedy, but I want to give some hope in this bleak world. Maybe, developing a surrogate relationship will be better. Basically, raising someone just to use and abuse them for profit, it could be an interesting social commentary on the nature of elders vs. youth dichotomy, kind of an anti-Confucian sentiment about the dangers of elders abusing youth.

Well Tux tells no tales just a lot of open-source code

Alright, I'm done with all the stories

Feels like a short noir story about a nightclub arson case. It has this old-timey feel to it that some readers will enjoy.

Enjoyable story, feels like an old noir story with LGBT characters subbing in for principal cast. It's short, but I don't mind as it tells the story it was meant to.

An interesting story about an office prank and some fun interpersonal things between Rob and his colleagues.

Laurie and Rob have this interesting, flirty office thing going for them with this prank war. I've pulled a few pranks before, but folks have become a bit too serious in recent years and I've become a bit too old to plan them out.

A first love and a tragic figure at the heart of the story remembering everything, despite his self-hate. I don't know where the story will go, but I hope John can let go of his internalized homophobia and be happy. No, they were not homosexual communists (Heck, if they saw thing like what happened in Farewell My Concubine, Communists would likely be torturing homosexuals at this point for being bourgeois anti-revolutionaries) PS: Sorry for the triple post, not sure what happened

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