Resources to Help You Dig into the Bible in 2022
Treasuring the Word of God in 2022
There is nothing more important than getting our hearts and minds in the word of God on a regular basis, and the new year provides a wonderful opportunity to do just that. Consider the following resources to help you as you commit to pursuing biblical truth this year. Of note are the new ESV Concise Study Bible; the ESV Bible, Read by Kristyn Getty; and our ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Artist Series.
ESV Concise Study Bible™
Inspired by the best-selling ESV Study Bible, the ESV Concise Study Bible offers fresh content for new believers and seasoned saints alike, explaining difficult phrases, defining key terms, identifying important people and places, and highlighting links between biblical passages.
ESV Student Study Bible®
David W. Chapman, Lane T. Dennis, Wayne Grudem, Thomas R. Schreiner, Barry J. Beitzel, T. Ryan Buchanan, Bill Deckard, J. I. Packer, Leen Ritmeyer, C. John Collins, John D. Currid
The ESV Student Study Bible, adapted from the ESV Study Bible, contains 12,000+ study notes, book introductions and timelines, 80+ maps and illustrations, 120 character profiles, 900 "Did You Know?" facts, 10 topical articles, and more.
ESV Women's Study Bible
The ESV Women’s Study Bible features study and devotional content along with elegant artwork from artist Dana Tanamachi to help women in all seasons of life pursue a transformational understanding of Scripture.
ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Artist Series
Celebrating the beauty of Scripture, this edition of the ESV Single Column Journaling Bible, Artist Series features captivating cover artwork by Christian artist Ruth Chou Simons.
ESV Scripture Journal
The ESV Scripture Journal: Old and New Testament Sets pair the entirety of every book of the Bible with lined pages opposite the Bible text, allowing readers to take notes directly beside passages of Scripture.
The Bible Read Aloud
ESV Audio Bible, Read by Kristyn Getty
The Bible is made up of 66 books that tell the magnificent story of God’s redemptive work in Christ. In this new audio recording of the full Bible, that story comes alive in a fresh way through the voice of award-winning modern hymn writer Kristyn Getty.
In this 10-week study of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, learn how to find peace in Christ through challenges and press on for the sake of the gospel. Part of the Flourish Bible Study series.
Be Thou My Vision
Designed to be read in 15–20 minutes a day, this liturgical devotional guide will give readers focus and purpose in their daily quiet time while teaching them historical prayers, creeds, and catechisms that point them to Christ.
Bread of Life
Abigail Dodds invites readers to ponder and celebrate God’s spiritual and physical provision in Christ through the hands-on art of bread making.
In the Lord I Take Refuge
Dane C. Ortlund
In the Lord I Take Refuge invites readers to experience the Psalms in a new and refreshing way, featuring devotional content written by Dane Ortlund.
Featuring 40 Scripture selections coupled with easy-to-understand introduction paragraphs, Unfolding Grace helps readers grasp the overall storyline of redemption as it unfolds throughout the Bible.
ESV Expository Commentary
Six experienced Bible teachers walk through some of the richest but more challenging books of the New Testament, helping Bible readers understand what they say about Christians’ hope for the future.
Preaching the Word
Written to help Bible teachers better interpret and apply the message of Scripture, this 19-volume collection of commentaries on the entire New Testament is a multipurpose resource for anyone who loves to study God’s Word.
For Kids and Families
Unfolding Grace for Kids
In Unfolding Grace for Kids, young readers are invited on a guided journey through 40 select Scripture readings to uncover the unifying message of God’s Word.
Exploring the Bible
This simple, gospel-centered, 365-day Bible reading plan guides children ages 6–12 through the most important passages of the Bible, helping them see and appreciate the big-picture storyline of Scripture.
Meeting with Jesus
This reading plan introduces children ages 6–12 to Jesus Christ over the course of a year, working through the 4 Gospel narratives and what they have to teach about the Savior of the world.


Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects millions of people worldwide. It is characterized by high blood sugar levels due to either the body’s inability to produce insulin or its inability to use insulin effectively. Over the years, researchers have been exploring various treatment options to manage diabetes, and one emerging solution that has gained significant attention is cannabidiol (CBD).
Understanding Cannabidiol (CBD)
CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant. Unlike its counterpart, tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD does not produce a “high” effect. It interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), which regulates numerous physiological processes, including metabolism, inflammation, and immune response.
The Relationship Between CBD and Diabetes
Recent studies have shown promising results regarding the potential benefits of CBD in managing diabetes. Several mechanisms contribute to its effectiveness in this regard:
1. Anti-Inflammatory Properties
Chronic inflammation plays a crucial role in the development of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. CBD possesses anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce inflammation throughout the body, including the pancreas, which is responsible for producing insulin. By reducing inflammation, CBD may indirectly improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
2. Regulation of Insulin Production
Studies suggest that CBD may influence insulin production and secretion. In a 2016 study published in the scientific journal Autoimmunity, researchers found that CBD treatment significantly reduced the incidence of diabetes in non-obese diabetic mice. The study concluded that CBD may protect against the development of diabetes by enhancing the immune system’s regulatory actions.
3. Prevention of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders
Obesity is a significant risk factor for the development of diabetes. CBD has demonstrated potential in preventing obesity and metabolic disorders. A 2018 study published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry found that CBD reduced the expression of genes involved in fat accumulation and increased the expression of genes associated with fat browning. Fat browning converts white fat, which stores energy, into brown fat, which burns energy. By promoting fat browning, CBD may help prevent weight gain and metabolic dysfunction.
4. Reduction of Diabetic Complications
Diabetes can lead to various complications, such as neuropathy, retinopathy, and cardiovascular disease. CBD’s antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties have been shown to alleviate these complications in animal models. For instance, a 2010 study published in the journal Molecular Vision reported that CBD reduced retinal inflammation and oxidative stress in diabetic rats. Such findings suggest that CBD could potentially mitigate the long-term complications associated with diabetes.
How to Use CBD for Diabetes
When considering using CBD as a complementary treatment for diabetes, it is essential to consult with a healthcare professional who is knowledgeable about CBD and its potential interactions with other medications. Here are some points to consider:
1. Dosage and Delivery Methods
CBD can be consumed in various forms, such as oils, capsules, edibles, and topicals. The appropriate dosage and delivery method may vary depending on the individual’s needs and preferences. It is crucial to start with a low dosage and gradually increase it while closely monitoring the effects. Consulting with a healthcare professional can help determine the optimal dosage and delivery method for each individual.
2. Quality and Legality
When purchasing CBD products, it is essential to ensure their quality and legality. Look for products that have undergone third-party testing to verify their potency and purity. Additionally, check the legal status of CBD in your jurisdiction to ensure compliance with local regulations.
3. Potential Side Effects
While CBD is generally well-tolerated, it may cause some side effects, such as dry mouth, diarrhea, and changes in appetite. These side effects are typically mild and temporary. However, it is important to be aware of any potential interactions between CBD and other medications. Consulting with a healthcare professional can help assess the potential risks and benefits of CBD for an individual’s specific situation.
Although further research is needed to fully understand the potential benefits and mechanisms of CBD in managing diabetes, the existing studies provide promising insights. CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties, regulation of insulin production, prevention of obesity, and reduction of diabetic complications make it a compelling candidate for further exploration. However, it is crucial to approach CBD as a complementary treatment and consult with healthcare professionals before incorporating it into a diabetes management plan. Proper dosage, product quality, and potential interactions should be carefully considered to ensure safe and effective use.
Q: What is cannabidiol (CBD)?
A: CBD is a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant that does not produce a high effect. It interacts with the body’s endocannabinoid system (ECS), which regulates various physiological processes.
Q: How can CBD help manage diabetes?
A: CBD has shown potential in managing diabetes through various mechanisms. It possesses anti-inflammatory properties that can reduce inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, and glucose metabolism. It may also influence insulin production and secretion, prevent obesity and metabolic disorders, and reduce diabetic complications.
Q: Can CBD reduce inflammation in the pancreas?
A: Yes, CBD’s anti-inflammatory properties can help reduce inflammation throughout the body, including the pancreas, which is responsible for producing insulin. By reducing inflammation, CBD may indirectly improve insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
Q: Does CBD have any effect on weight gain and metabolic dysfunction?
A: Yes, studies have shown that CBD has the potential to prevent weight gain and metabolic dysfunction. It can reduce the expression of genes involved in fat accumulation and increase the expression of genes associated with fat browning, which converts white fat into brown fat that burns energy. By promoting fat browning, CBD may help prevent weight gain and metabolic dysfunction.


Chang'e flew to the moon to tell the story of Chang'e flying to the moon after she had taken the medicine of immortality and finally became immortal.
The Goddess Chang's fly to the moon
Legend has it that Chang'e is Hou Yi's wife, because Hou Yi has made a contribution by shooting off nine suns. The Queen's Mother has given Hou Yi an immortal medicine. After taking the immortal medicine, he can become an immortal and live forever. But Hou Yi, reluctant to part with his wife Chang'e, hid the medicine in a treasure box. This eventually let a disciple of Houyi know that this person is a fengmeng, he thought of the immortal medicine and then become immortal himself. On August 15, Hou Yi took his disciples out, but when he pretended to be sick, he stayed behind. In the evening, he rushed into Hou Yi's house with a sword and threatened Chang'e to hand over the elixir. He turned the box upside down and found the elixir. Chang'e swallowed the elixir at the critical moment.
After Chang`e took the medicine, she suddenly flew up and flew toward the window. At last, she flew higher and higher to the moon. Hou Yi came back to see his wife Chang'e disappeared and went out to look for her. He saw only a bright moon in the sky. Suddenly, A Jade Rabbit jumped down from the moon. Hou Yi looked at the moon and called his wife's name.


I found the following two textbooks to be very helpful in panel data analysis: panel data, fixed or random effects as for fixed or random effects,. A short review on panel data econometrics fixed and random effects in linear panel data models 2 econometric analysis of panel data started with mundlak. Xtdpd linear dynamic panel-data estimation xttobit random-effects tobit xtlogit fixed-effects, random note are to books on panel data analysis or on the use. Studies, but the first uses a fixed-effect analysis and the second a random-effects analysis these plots provide a context for the discussion that follows.
Received stochastic frontier analyses with panel data have relied on traditional fixed and random effects models we propose extensions that circumvent two. Department of economics office: two step analysis of panel data models 12 random parameters, random and fixed effects in nonlinear models,. Panel-data models are extensions of standard regression models that take into account group (or panel) effects as an example, consider a. Introduction fixed effects random effects two-way panels tests in panel models coefficients of econometric analysis of panel data and by hsiao: analysis of.
Explaining fixed effects: random effects modeling of time-series cross-sectional and panel data his article challenges fixed effects. Hi all, i am trying to select which models i should use to conduct panel data analysis random vs fixed effects in order to make a choice between random effects. Analysis of panel data, third edition this book provides a comprehensive, coherent, and intuitive review of panel data methodologies that are useful for empirical. Models for longitudinal and clustered data has relevant logs under ‘panel data models’, including an analysis of data on verbal 23 fixed versus random e.
Practical guides to panel data analysis hun myoung park 05/16/2010 1 which effect group vs time fixed vs random panel data models examine cross-sectional (group. About econometrics academy panel data models provide information on individual behavior, (pooled model, fixed effects model, and random effects model. This article suggests random and fixed effects spatial two-stage least squares estimators for the generalized mixed regressive spatial autoregressive panel data model. Panel data analysis is at the watershed of time simulation-based random effects approaches for panel data including a fixed effect r/i and a.
Hi, this is my first post here and i'm relatively new to stata i'm doing some panel data analysis and my fixed effect, random effects and pooled ols results are. The random effects approach although fixed effects or lsdv model can be expensive in terms of degrees of freedom if we econometric analysis using panel data ,. Explore limdep & nlogit's fixed and random effects linear models for panel data.
This example shows how to perform panel data analysis using fixed effects panel model with concurrent correlation potential city-specific fixed effects,. Longitudinal and panel data: analysis and applications for the social sciences brief table of contents 92 random effects models 9-9 93 fixed effects models 9-13. Not a purely random effects model, as it introduces fixed-effects terms analysis of panel data how to conduct a meta-analysis: fixed and random effect models.
Panel data analysis fixed and random effects using stata (v 42) oscar torres-reyna [email protected] december 2007 . In a random effects i consider fixed effects methods for data in which the dependent the traditional approach in fixed effects analysis is to assume that. The group means could be modeled as fixed or random effects in panel data analysis the term fixed effects steps in fixed effects model for sample data. A tutorial for panel data analysis with stata fixed-, between-, and random-effects, and population-averaged linear models gls random-effects model.Download fixed and random effects of panel data analysis`


The family Bible story book, Wondrous Works of God is a companion volume to Starr Meade’s popular first family Bible story book, Mighty Acts of God that released in 2010. Except Wondrous Works of God “…retells a different ninety stories.”
Starr believes God uses Bible stories to reveal who He is and what He has done throughout recorded history. Yet, because God can’t be seen attributes of His character, His love for His children and creation are easier to understand in story form, especially for children. She also believes “…Bible stories must be read in context and not as isolated units…a random chapter here or random page there…”
Instead, she writes, “…we must think in terms of the whole, wonderful story of God’s salvation…every Bible story must be told in light of this big wonderful story…” found in Christ.
Starr’s chronological collection of Old and New Testament Bible stories feature fifty-five Old Testament and thirty-five New Testament stories. Stories reveal how God stepped into human history in the past and His plans for the future of mankind. Stories, many of them not well-known, teach about God’s character, not just about morality or heroism. She begins with God’s creation of Eve in Genesis and ends with Jesus and the dragon found in Revelation 12.
Accounts include familiar stories such as, “Hagar and Ishmael, Serpent on a Pole, Balaam and the Donkey, the Sun Stands Still and Moses Sees God’s Glory.” However, other stories not commonly found in children’s Bible stories include “Job Suffers and Trusts God, Ezekiel’s Vision of Dry Bones, Elijah and King Ahaziah, Elisha Raises a Boy from the Dead and the Dragon and the Baby.”
Ninety exciting stories, penned in lively, easy-to-understand language contain summary statements of Christian truth and faith highlighted in red from a reformed perspective. Most stories are three pages in length, feature an illustration, scripture reference and questions and suggestions for personal application called, “…as for me and my house…”
The suggested age group, age’s four to ten, depends on children’s maturity. Some youngsters might understand more about age seven although they will enjoy the stories. The book is hardbound for durability and ease of use, designed with growing families in mind.
The Bible contains great adventure, sweet romance, and is a grand epic of good and evil played out on the stage of human history against the backdrop of God’s love, His grace and overall plan for humankind.
Starr’s imaginative writing, often compared to the writings of C.S. Lewis and Paul Bunyan, communicates abstract truths with clarity and simplicity in words readers can understand, especially children. Wondrous Acts of God is an excellent choice for family devotions and the New Year’s is a wonderful time to start this family tradition. www.crossway.org/blog
‘Wondrous Works of God: A Family Bible Story Book’ by Starr Meade, illustrated by Tim O’Connor, Hardcover, Crossway, 2012, 978-1433531583, $24.99
Back Cover Copy:
“Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
for his wondrous works to the children of man!”
We want our children to know the God we love and worship, but communicating abstract truths about God can sometimes be difficult. It’s good for us and for our children that God wants to be known. So he doesn’t simply tell us what he’s like; he shows us in the stories of the Bible.
As the sequel to Mighty Acts of God, this volume tells 90 more stories from the Bible, beginning with the account of God creating Eve and ending with the epic visions in Revelation. Each story highlights an aspect of God’s character and includes a helpful discussion guide to help the whole family see and understand the wondrous works of God!
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The next time the children came to Mahuika to hear a
story she started by telling them that this time it was a story about the moon.
Once again Hekeheke had picked up the smallest child and sat with her on her
lap. Mahuika immediately thought again that the teenager needed to find a boyfriend. The little girl that Hekeheke cuddled sat contentedly with her and
the Mahuika thought she may have to talk to Hekeheke’s mother discreetly. So
then she began her story:
Once there was
a blind woman who had four daughters, the youngest of whom was named Hina. Hina
loved walking at night and would be the first to rise when one of her family
said “We are out of water”. She would take the calabash and wander into the
night and relish the world of darkness with the owls hooting and the creatures
scuttling underfoot the whisper of the ferns and the silvery light of the moon
bathing the world in a loving embrace as she refilled the water container.
daughters had boyfriends and often when Hina went walking in the dark she would
meet her own friend by accident and they whispered and fondled each other in
were seen by Marama the bright moon shining high in the night sky overhead or
perhaps watching half hidden by the trees if he was rising or setting in the
sky. Marama he thought Hina was so beautiful that he wanted her for
One night as
Hina waited for some excuse to wander off into the night to meet her lover, he was
in fact was busy fishing as the tide was high and the fish were biting. She
listened to hear any movement close to their hut but none came so she decided
to go anyway and try to find him. She casually picked up her calabash and
wandered off into the night.
Marama the moon
was just rising and saw straight away that Hina had left her home and made sure
that as she walked there was always enough light for her to walk safely and not stumble. He knew too that her boyfriend was fishing as he had seen him at sea and
thought perhaps he would speak to her himself. Marama then took human form and
came down to earth and walked along to the stream where she fetched water. When
she saw Marama her mouth dropped open as she stared at his beauty. He walked
up to her and said “Hina, you are so beautiful, let me help you fill you
calabash and then we can talk together.”
Hina shook her
head doubtfully “But I have a boyfriend already and he will come for me soon.”
and said “He is not coming, he is fishing as the tide is full and my light attracts
the fish, come with me as I want you with me.
Hina looked at
Marama, “You are beautiful too and are as stunning as the moon that I love. How
is it I have never seen you before?”
again and boldly said “Oh Hina, come with me, I am the moon, live with me and let us
delight the people of the earth with our loving light when the sun has fled. Stay
with me always, those you leave behind will grow old and die but you will be
with me forever.”
Then Hina said
“I do want you but I should not leave” so she held on to a tree trunk as he
clasped her around the waist and leap into the sky to return to the moon. She never
let go of the tree but such was his strength that it too was pulled out of the
earth as he took her back to the Moon
believe that it really was the moon that had come for her and as he flew up
with her she reached up to touch his shining face then she knew she just had to
be with him. So she nodded to him and then returned to the moon with him shining so
brightly in the sky that night.
Just at that
time her lover returned from fishing and searched for her by the stream. He
couldn’t find her but was still wandering about as the dawn finally broke and
the moon disappeared from view still thinking that she was calling out to him.
Which she was as she looked back down at the earth.
So Hina settled
down with Marama and was a good and loving wife to him but after a some time she
said “I miss my family, Marama”. As he looked with love at her. “And do you miss your old lover too?” he asked.
She blushed and
nodded. He shook his head sadly. “Time is different for us we are in no hurry
but for those on Earth it rushes by. If you see him he will have aged. Do you
still want to see him?”
She nodded. So
Marama went to fetch her former lover and brought him back. He was an
old man, his hair was white and his face was wrinkled with age. He smiled at
Hina with remembrance and love and she nursed him as he grew weaker. Eventually Marama said to
her, “Hina I must return him to the Earth so that he can lie down with his
So Hina rubbed
noses with her old lover for the last time and Marama returned him to Earth and
Hina never thought of going back down to the Earth ever again.
When Mahuika had finished the story, she looked over
to Hekeheke who was still holding the little one. Hekeheke was crying openly
and the little girl in her arms was reaching up to wipe away the tears.
Later, when the children had gone, Mahuika and
Hekeheke said “Isn’t it strange that two stories
about the moon taking women from the earth are so similar but so different.
This one you just told us was all about love but the one about Rona is quite
different as she was being punished.”
Mahuika nodded. “They probably started off as one story but pexpect one woman storyteller decided to put a gentler touch into the Hina story." She paused then said, "I am going to Black Sands again
soon. Will you come with me this time?”
Hekeheke looked into Mahuika’s eyes to see if she
could read her thoughts but in doing so she realized that she herself was
showing the older woman what she thought about her desire to find a boyfriend. So
they both laughed and Hekeheke nodded eagerly.


Hundreds of years have passed since the world we know has ended. The Disastrous End came and went in the blink of an eye, and while the human race was targeted, some survived. At first, they were scared and isolated from one another, but over time a need for survival became far more likely in groups. So the Clans of the New were formed.
Fifteen-year-old Tenley Bright is a mischievous member of the Forest Clan, and while she would rather be climbing trees than doing her chores, her pride in her people know no bounds. On the day guests were supposed to arrive, she gets caught by nearby Marauders and attacked, but saved by Spencer Yu of the River Clan: her clan's biggest enemy, and the one they were at war with.
Despite her fears and her hatred towards the River Clan, Tenley and Spencer uncover an ancient secret beneath the world, that may change the course of the New and their entire lives.


Nothing is bigger than action, only action is great and it is spirituality, it is the way of living that is true happiness and that is humanity
Effect of karma on mind
Karma is the religion of man, which is very necessary for the spiritual progress of life. Spirituality is the art of living the life of man. Life is the art of learning of high ideals. Here the mention of spirituality in the form of three knowledge is sattvik, majestic and tamasic, whatever may be the mental state. A tamasic person who walks on the path of knowledge in the right way can make progress in his spiritual upliftment. It can be known that a lot has to be done to change the mind, that is the medium, doing karma convinces the mind a million, but he does not believe that there is a change in the mind only by doing good deeds, the mind of those who do good deeds are filled with joy and gaiety. It happens that happiness is established through giving happiness to others.
Mind is transformed by karma
Suppose if we do any bad work, then our mind gets disturbed by it, when instead of doing bad work, we do good work for the good or service of whom, then the mind becomes happy, no matter how bad we are or When we say chili, it seems spicy when sugar seems sweet, similarly, doing good deeds on good service by a bad person makes that bad person happy for some time or for a few moments, so with selfless service. The mind becomes more cheerful as it does something good for the society or a particular person, but it should not be imaginative to achieve any subject matter inside the mind, then selfless service definitely results.
With continuous effort, the mind becomes calm and concentrated in which happiness, cheerfulness, courage, courage, ability to strive for any work, firm determination, ability to work continuously
The mind is swelled up slowly, this effort should be continuous, by talking to the children, they are pleased with the blossoming of something sweet, even if one's mind is pleased by seeing a lovely child. Service, by completing one's work on time, laziness is removed, to remove laziness one has to work continuously, which creates a feeling of loneliness, which gives the ability to maintain any work or service for a long time. It is attained which eliminates laziness completely. The virtue of firm determination develops. Spiritual progress increases through selfless service, due to which happiness, cheerfulness increases in the mind, which gets real happiness in the mind, negative feelings start ending, positive energy spreads in life, selfless work, service gets progress in life. Recognition increases in people, fame and work is achieved, due to which that person becomes great. That is what is actually called a human being.
Karma: Good worship, Positive work of life without any profit, thinks which do for people good service without any gain or The good and bad deeds of the individual in this and previous state of existence.
Rajasi: Majestic, Causing Great, Admiration, Respect
Tamasic: Darkness of life, Evil mind effect, Bad manner effect, Negative mind effects.


Delivery devices that allow remote, repeatable, and reliable switching of drug flux could have a marked impact on the treatment of a variety of medical conditions. An ideal device for on-demand drug delivery should safely contain a large quantity of drug, release little or no drug in the """"""""off"""""""" state, be repeatedly switchable to the """"""""on"""""""" state without mechanically disrupting the device, and be triggered non-invasively to release a consistent dosage demanded by a patient (e.g. local pain relief) or prescribed by a doctor (e.g. localized chemotherapy). Despite the clinical need, few such drug delivery devices have been developed and none are available for clinical use. The goal of this application is to develop such a device, that could provide tunable on demand drug release from a reservoir that could be deep within the body, with near-infrared light (NIR) as the trigger. In the near term, this device could be used to treat chronic pain. Our proposed device will consist of a composite membrane containing a disordered network of temperature-sensitive polymer nanoparticles and gold nanoshells. We hypothesize that when the device is irradiated with NIR light at the appropriate wavelength, the gold nanoshells will heat and cause the polymer nanoparticles to collapse, opening pores in the membrane. We intend to validate this design in three phases. First, we will examine both the """"""""on"""""""" and """"""""off"""""""" state permeability of the membrane to a number of compounds, including tetrodotoxin (TTX), saxitoxin (STX), bupivacaine, and dexamethasone. Second, we will examine its biocompatibility both in vivo and in vitro, through cell culture assays and histological analysis. Finally, we will incorporate this membrane into drug reservoir capsules, and assess the ability of the device to locally deliver anesthesia at the sciatic nerve in a rat model. We will deliver numerous formulations, including cocktails that have been used to achieve sensory-selective nerve blockade, with efficacy assayed using standard techniques to measure numbness in the hind paw of the rat. Taken together, these experiments will help us to assess the clinical applicability of our proposed NIR-triggered membranes.
We propose to develop a biocompatible, implantable capsule capable of releasing drugs on demand, with the patient or physician determining the timing, duration, and size of the dose delivered. Drug release will be triggered by an external light beam that penetrates harmlessly through skin and tissue. One example of an application is chronic pain: the patient could determine when to obtain relief and for how long, as well as the intensity of that relief.
|Timko, Brian P; Kohane, Daniel S (2014) Prospects for near-infrared technology in remotely triggered drug delivery. Expert Opin Drug Deliv 11:1681-5|
|Monteiro, I P; Gabriel, D; Timko, B P et al. (2014) A two-component pre-seeded dermal-epidermal scaffold. Acta Biomater 10:4928-4938|
|Timko, Brian P; Arruebo, Manuel; Shankarappa, Sahadev A et al. (2014) Near-infrared-actuated devices for remotely controlled drug delivery. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111:1349-54|
|Mizrahi, Boaz; Shankarappa, Sahadev A; Hickey, Julia M et al. (2013) A Stiff Injectable Biodegradable Elastomer. Adv Funct Mater 23:1527-1533|
|Timko, Brian P; Kohane, Daniel S (2012) Materials to clinical devices: technologies for remotely triggered drug delivery. Clin Ther 34:S25-35|
|Dvir, Tal; Timko, Brian P; Brigham, Mark D et al. (2011) Nanowired three-dimensional cardiac patches. Nat Nanotechnol 6:720-5|
|Hoare, Todd; Timko, Brian P; Santamaria, Jesus et al. (2011) Magnetically triggered nanocomposite membranes: a versatile platform for triggered drug release. Nano Lett 11:1395-400|
|Dvir, Tal; Timko, Brian P; Kohane, Daniel S et al. (2011) Nanotechnological strategies for engineering complex tissues. Nat Nanotechnol 6:13-22|


Viral pathogens that might play a role in the decline in wild bumblebees may be transmitted from managed honeybees through flowers, according to a study published June 26 in the open-access journal PLOS ONE by Samantha Alger of the University of Vermont, and colleagues.
The decline of many bumblebee species has been linked to an increased prevalence of pathogens caused by spillover from managed bees. RNA viruses, which may be contributing to the observed declines in bumblebees, are suspected of moving from managed honeybees into wild bumblebees through shared floral resources. However, the degree to which viruses can be horizontally transmitted, with flowers acting as a bridge, remains poorly understood. To address this gap in knowledge, Alger and her colleagues examined if RNA viruses spill over from managed honeybees, the extent to which viruses are replicating within bumblebees, and the role of flowers in transmission.
The authors found that the prevalence of two RNA viruses -- the deformed wing virus (DWV) and the black queen cell virus (BQCV) -- was higher in bumblebees collected near apiaries, where beehives are kept. Active infections with DWV were also higher in bumblebees collected near apiaries, whereas no DWV was found in bumblebees where honeybee foragers and honeybee apiaries were absent. Moreover, the researchers detected viruses on 19% of flowers, only from sites within apiaries. Taken together, the results support the hypothesis that viruses are spilling over from managed honeybees to wild bumblebees, and that flowers may be an important route for transmission. According to the authors, the findings could guide efforts to protect vulnerable bumblebee species.
Alger adds: "The study supports a widely accepted yet largely untested hypothesis: viruses are spilling over from managed honey bees into wild bumble bee species and this is likely occurring through the shared use of flowers."
Citation: Alger SA, Burnham PA, Boncristiani HF, Brody AK (2019) RNA virus spillover from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) to wild bumblebees (Bombus spp.). PLoS ONE 14(6): e0217822. https:/
Funding: Funding was provided by a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship to SAA (DGE-1451866) (https:/
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
In your coverage please use this URL to provide access to the freely available article in PLOS ONE: http://journals.


written by David Steffen
My flash fiction story “Reckoning” is now posted on Stupefying Stories for you to read for free. It’s the tale of southern fire-and-brimstone Preacher Paul and his encounter with Death. This one’s been around for a little while, though I think a recent complete rewrite of the ending is what helped push it over into purchase territory.
The story began from the opening joke:
“The Day of Reckoning is upon us,” Preacher Paul said.
“You reckon?” Jake answered.
I hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave a comment here.


about the book
Purbasari yang menderita penyakit kulit dikucilkan di hutan. Di sana seekor lutung bernama Lutung Kasarung, menemani dan dapat membuatnya sembuh. Saat Purbasari ingin kembali ke istana, Purbararang menghalanginya dengan mengajukan syarat yang berat! Dapatkah Purbasari memenuhi syarat itu? Dapatkah dia kembali ke istana?
DIAN K Information
Dian K has written 69 published books, including children books, novels and nonfiction. She also had written many children short stories and fairy tales, which appeared in many children magazines. Her articles were also published in some adult magazines. Her book, 100 Indonesian Folktales has...
Category: Anak, Cerita Rakyat, Children's Books, Pictures Books, Toddlers
Page: 32 halaman


HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, is delighted to have won, at auction, two books from Chloe Seager. Katie Seaman, Senior Commissioning Editor, acquired UK & Commonwealth rights from Silé Edwards whilst at Mushens Entertainment. North American rights were acquired by Asanté Simons at William Morrow in a significant six figure overnight pre-empt from Ginger Clark at Ginger Clark Literary, with German rights quickly snapped up by DTV.
Open Minded follows Holly and Fliss, two strangers brought together by their relationship woes. After nine years of dating, it’s a question of when not if Holly’s boyfriend Will is going to propose. She’s shocked when rather than popping the question, he suggests they open their relationship and date other people. Meanwhile Fliss, who’s happily been in an open relationship for the past five years, isn’t sure she’s ready to give up on dating other people yet. Fliss and Holly strike up an instant friendship, with Fliss agreeing to teach Holly everything she knows about being in an open relationship, while Holly can help Fliss navigate monogamy. Although they soon learn that there’s no one size fits all when it comes to relationships…
Chloe Seager said: ‘I started this novel during the pandemic when everyone around me seemed to be questioning their lives and thinking about what they really wanted. As a big romance reader, I became keen to write something in the genre that explored the traditional idea of romance, and I’m delighted that it found its perfect home with Katie at HQ and Asanté at William Morrow. I’m excited for readers to meet Holly and Fliss.’
Katie Seaman said: ‘I fell head over heels for this fresh and funny romcom with a twist asking if ‘The One’ is the only Mr Right. Exploring friendship, dating and open relationships, it’s a brilliantly zeitgeisty novel and Chloe is an exciting new voice that readers of Beth O’Leary, Emily Henry and Kate Davies will love.’
Silé Edwards said: ‘As terribly cliched as this sounds, I was hooked from the very first line I read. Fliss and Holly’s voices absolutely leap of the page and Chloe’s zippy, engaging writing style made this book absolutely unputdownable. I am delighted to have found such a dedicated team to bring Open Minded into the world, and with it absolutely lighting up my meetings at the fair, I look forward to seeing it brought to international audiences too.’
Open Minded will be published by HQ in hardback, eBook and audio in February 2024.
Notes to Editors:
About Chloe Seager
Chloe Seager is a children’s and YA agent at Madeleine Milburn and a published author. Her debut YA book, Editing Emma, and the sequel, Friendship Fails of Emma Nash, published with HQ in 2017 and 2018, and her most recent book My Type on Paper published with Scholastic in 2020.
Specialising in commercial fiction, non-fiction and innovative digital publishing, HQ is a young, ambitious, and award-winning imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. It launches debuts, builds brands and publishes Sunday Times bestselling authors such as such as Adele Parks, Linwood Barclay, Sarah Morgan, Erica James and Carrie Hope Fletcher. Debut novels published by HQ, The Family Tree by Sairish Hussain and This Lovely City by Louise Hare, have been shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the RSL Ondaatje Prize respectively. HQ Non-Fiction publishes the Sunday Times bestselling BOSH!, The Batch Lady and The Prison Doctor books, as well as June Sarpong’s award-winning work on DE&I and Caroline Hirons’ record-breaking Skincare. In 2022, HQ published Joe Wicks’ Feel Good Food which was industry Number 1. HQ prides itself on publishing books that are bold, brave, inclusive, and always with a compelling story to tell.
HarperCollins UK is a division of HarperCollins Publishers, the second largest consumer book publisher in the world, with operations in 17 countries. With over two hundred years of history and more than 120 unique imprints around the world, HarperCollins publishes approximately 10,000 new books every year, in 16 languages, and has a print and digital catalogue of more than 200,000 titles. Writing across dozens of genres, HarperCollins authors include winners of the Nobel Prize, the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery and Caldecott Medals and the Man Booker Prize. HarperCollins UK has offices in London, Glasgow, Honley and Manchester and can be found online at www.harpercollins.co.uk.


APPLIED AND ENVIRONMENTAL MICROBIOLOGY, Sept. 2005, p. 5607–5609 0099-2240/05/$08.00⫹0 doi:10.1128/AEM.71.9.5607–5609.2005 Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.
Vol. 71, No. 9
Selenite and Tellurite Reduction by Shewanella oneidensis Agnieszka Klonowska,1 Thierry Heulin,1 and Andre´ Vermeglio2* Laboratoire d’Ecologie Microbienne de la Rhizosphe`re1 and Laboratoire de Bioe´nerge´tique Cellulaire CEA/Cadarache,2 DSV-DEVM-UMR 6191 CNRS-CEA-Aix-Marseille II, 13108 Saint Paul lez Durance Cedex, France Received 1 February 2005/Accepted 3 April 2005
Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 reduces selenite and tellurite preferentially under anaerobic conditions. The Se(0) and Te(0) deposits are located extracellularly and intracellularly, respectively. This difference in localization and the distinct effect of some inhibitors and electron acceptors on these reduction processes are taken as evidence of two independent pathways. Selenium, an element widely distributed on the earth’s crust and required for the synthesis of the essential amino acid selenocysteine, is highly toxic at M concentrations (1). In aerated environments, selenium occurs predominantly in the high-valence soluble selenate (SeO42⫺, ⫹VI) and selenite (SeO32⫺, ⫹IV) forms, while the dominant species in anaerobic sediments is the insoluble elemental selenium
[Se(0)]. Microorganisms are involved in the geochemical cycle of selenium due to their ability to enzymatically reduce Se(IV) and Se(VI) (10). Depending on the considered species, the microbial reduction functions as a detoxification mechanism (4, 6), maintains the redox poise (23), or is part of a respiratory electron chain (2, 9, 17, 20). Oxyanions of tellurium, an element of the same group (XVI) in the peri-
FIG. 1. Microscopic analysis of S. oneidensis MR-1 cells grown in LB medium supplemented with 2 mM selenite (A, B, and C) or 0.5 mg liter⫺1 tellurite (D). (A) Laser scanning confocal microscope, (B) scanning electron microscope, and (C and D) TEM micrograph images. The selenium and tellurium deposits are indicated by arrows.
* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratoire de Bioe´nerge´tique Cellulaire CEA/Cadarache, DSV-DEVM-UMR 6191 CNRSCEA-Aix-Marseille II, 13108 Saint Paul lez Durance Cedex, France. Phone: 33 442254630. Fax: 33 442254701. E-mail: [email protected]
KLONOWSKA ET AL.
APPL. ENVIRON. MICROBIOL.
FIG. 2. Aerobic (A) and anaerobic (B) growth of S. oneidensis MR-1 in LB medium supplemented from the beginning with different concentrations of selenite (open circles, no selenite; closed circles, 0.2 mM; squares, 1 mM; and triangles, 2 mM). Anaerobic growth was performed in LB medium supplemented by lactate and fumarate. (C) Depletion of selenite from an aerobic culture when selenite (2 mM) was present from the beginning or added at different times of culture growth. Open triangles, selenite added at the beginning of the culture; circles, selenite added after 3 h (optical density at 600 nm [OD600] of 0.6); squares, selenite added after 4 h (OD600 of 1.0); and closed triangles, selenite added after 5 h (OD600 of 2.0). (D) Depletion of selenite from LB anaerobic medium amended from the beginning with 1 mM selenite in the presence of lactate.
odic table as selenium, are also reduced by various bacterial species (5, 21). Shewanella oneidensis (formerly Shewanella putrefaciens) MR-1 (22), a facultatively anaerobic ␥-proteobacterium, possesses remarkably diverse respiratory capacities, including the ability to reduce metals like Fe(III) and Mn(IV) and radionuclides (7, 8, 12, 13, 16). In this report, we analyze the reduction process of selenite and tellurite by this bacterium. The liquid cultures of S. oneidensis MR-1 grown either aerobically or anaerobically in the presence of Se(IV) or Te(IV) turned red (18) or black (5), respectively, proving the ability of this bacterium to reduce these oxyanions to their elemental forms. To assess the cellular localization of the reduced deposits, bacterial cells were analyzed by means of three different microscopes (laser scanning confocal microscope, environmental scanning electron microscope [ESEM], and transmission electron microscope [TEM]). In the case of selenite, spherical deposits, identified as Se(0) by energy dispersion of X rays (EDX) (data not shown), were detected in the medium or attached to the cells (Fig. 1A through C), suggesting that selenite reduction occurs at the surface of the cell. Reduction at the cell surface, related to the electron transfer capacity of cytochrome c (11) on the outer membrane, has already been reported in the case of insoluble Mn(IV) and Fe(III) oxides (14). In the case of tellurite, needle-like inclusions identified as Te(0) by EDX analysis were localized in the cytoplasm or near the cytoplasmic membrane
(Fig. 1D) as already reported for other tellurite-reducing bacteria (21). The influence of Se(IV) on the bacterial growth was measured under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions (Fig. 2A and B). Under aerobic conditions, Se(IV) concentrations higher than 0.2 mM affected both the growth rate and the final cell yield. The bacteria appeared to be more sensitive to Se(IV) addition under anaerobic conditions, as shown by the decreases of 48% and 52% in growth rate and the final cell yield, respectively, observed for 0.2 mM Se(IV) (Fig. 2B). While Se(IV) reduction occurred only in the late stationary phase under aerobic conditions (Fig. 2C), this process followed roughly the growth curve under anaerobic conditions (Fig. 2D). Interestingly, the addition of 2 mM selenite to aerobic cultures at different times during the growth was followed by an immediate reduction (Fig. 2C). This observation and the relative fast reduction observed under anaerobiosis suggest that the selenite reduction process was highly dependent on the O2 concentration in the culture medium as previously reported for Stenotrophomonas maltophilia (3). We have therefore determined the influence of the O2 concentration, from 0 to 250 M, on the yield of Se(IV) reduction. The Se(IV) reduction was maximal under anaerobic conditions and decreased strongly in the presence of O2, reaching values as low as 5 to 7% for O2 concentrations greater than 120 M. This Se(IV) reduction capability was induced by anaerobic conditions and not due to inactivation of some electron carriers or
SELENITE AND TELLURITE REDUCTION BY S. ONEIDENSIS
VOL. 71, 2005
enzymatic activities by the presence of O2 as shown by the low yield of Se(IV) reduction (4%), measured under anaerobic conditions, for cells previously grown under aerobic conditions. Under anaerobic conditions, Se(IV) reduction activity was highly dependent upon the nature of the electron donor. The best reduction was obtained for cells incubated in Luria-Bertani (LB) medium or in the presence of yeast extract. Much lower reduction yields were obtained with electron donors (lactate, formate, and pyruvate) and Casamino Acids or Bacto tryptone in phosphate buffer. The best reduction yield [13% of the maximal amount of Se(IV) reduced in LB medium] was obtained with lactate. Se(IV) reduction yield was also influenced by the presence of different terminal electron acceptors (fumarate, nitrate, nitrite, TMAO [trimethylamine-N-oxide], and dimethyl sulfoxide). Addition of these different electron acceptors resulted in almost 95% inhibition of Se(IV) reduction. Se(IV) reduction occurred, however, after a long period of growth, probably after complete reduction of the added terminal electron acceptor. The Te(IV) reduction was also inhibited by the addition of fumarate, nitrate, and nitrite but was not affected by dimethyl sulfoxide or TMAO. The various electron acceptors used are the substrates for periplasmic terminal reductases of S. oneidensis, which are all supplied with electrons by the membranebound tetracytochrome c, CymA (19). We have therefore examined the role of CymA in the oxyanion reduction capability. A mutant from which cymA is deleted (15) is still able to reduce selenite or tellurite (data not shown). We therefore conclude that competition for electrons between Se(IV) reduction and the various electron acceptors tested occurs upstream from the electron carrier CymA, possibly at the quinone pool level. The difference in the localizations of Se(0) and Te(0) deposits (Fig. 1), together with the differential effect of terminal electron acceptors, suggests that the reduction mechanisms of Se(IV) and Te(IV) are distinct processes. Further proof was obtained by comparing the effects of various inhibitors on these processes. For example, 2-n-heptyl-4-hydroxyquinolineN-oxide (HQNO), antimycin A, pCMB, and potassium cyanide inhibited the Se(IV) reduction process, while the Te(IV) reduction was affected only by the two former inhibitors. In conclusion, despite their close positions in the periodic table in the XVI group, the two oxyanions, selenite and tellurite, are reduced by two distinct pathways in S. oneidensis. Clearly, additional work is needed to describe in more detail the molecular mechanisms of the reduction of these two oxyanions by S. oneidensis. We are grateful to M. Lesourd for the contribution to TEM observations and EDX analysis and to I. Felines for the contribution to ESEM observations of S. oneidensis. We acknowledge B. M. Tebo and R. Bencheikh (Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California—San Diego, La Jolla, Calif.) for providing us the mutant cymA strain. We also offer special thanks to G. De Luca for friendly discussions and encouragement. The work was supported by a grant from the “Programme Toxicologie Nucle´aire” of the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA). REFERENCES 1. Conde, J. E., and A. M. Sanz. 1997. Selenium concentrations in natural and environmental waters. Chem. Rev. 97:1979–2004.
2. DeMoll-Decker, H., and J. M. Macy. 1993. The periplasmic nitrite reductase of Thauera selenatis may catalyse the reduction of selenite to elemental selenium. Arch. Microbiol. 160:241–247. 3. Dungan, R. S., S. R. Yates, and W. T. Frankenberger. 2003. Transformations of selenate and selenite by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia isolated from a seleniferous agricultural drainage pond sediment. Environ. Microbiol. 5:287–295. 4. Garbisu, C., S. Gonzalez, W. H. Yang, B. C. Yee, D. L. Carlson, A. Yee, N. R Smith, R. Otero, B. B. Buchanan, and T. Leighton. 1995. Physiological mechanisms regulating the conversion of selenite to elemental selenium by Bacillus subtilis. Biofactors 5:29–37. 5. Lloyd-Jones, G., A. M. Osborn, D. A. Ritchie, P. Strike, J. L. Hobman, N. L. Brown, and D. A. Rouch. 1994. Accumulation and intracellular fate of tellurite in tellurite-resistant Escherichia coli: a model for the mechanism of resistance. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 118:113–119. 6. Lortie, L., W. D. Gould, S. Rajan, R. G. L. McCready, and K. Cheng. 1992. Reduction of selenate and selenite to elemental selenium by a Pseudomonas stutzeri isolate. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 58:4042–4044. 7. Lovley, D. R., E. J. P. Phillips, and D. J. Lonergan. 1989. Hydrogen and formate oxidation coupled to dissimilatory reduction of iron or manganese by Alteromonas putrefaciens. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 55:700–706. 8. Lui, C., Y. A. Gorbi, J. M. Zachara, J. K. Fredrickson, and C. F. Brown. 2002. Reduction kinetics of Fe(III), Co(III), U(VI), Cr(VI), and Tc(VII) in cultures of dissimilatory metal-reducing bacteria. Biotechnol. Bioeng. 80:637– 649. 9. Macy, J. M., S. Rech, G. Auling, M. Dorsch, E. Stackebrandt, and L. I. Sly. 1993. Thauera selenatis gen. nov., sp. nov., a member of the beta subclass of Proteobacteria with a novel type of anaerobic respiration. Int. J. Syst. Bacteriol. 43:135–142. 10. Maiers, D. T., P. L. Wichlacz, D. L. Thompson, and D. F. Bruhn. 1988. Selenate reduction by bacteria from a selenium-rich environment. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 54:2591–2593. 11. Meyer, T. E., A. I. Tsapin, I. Vandenberghe, L. de Smet, D. Frishman, K. H. Nealson, M. A. Cusanovich, and J. J. van Beeumen. 2004. Identification of 42 possible cytochrome c genes in the Shewanella oneidensis genome and characterization of six soluble cytochromes. OMICS 8:57–77. 12. Morris, C. J., D. M. Gibson, and F. B. Ward. 1990. Influence of respiratory substrate on the cytochrome content of Shewanella putrefaciens. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 57:259–262. 13. Myers, C. R., and K. H. Nealson. 1988. Bacterial manganese reduction and growth with manganese oxide as the sole electron acceptor. Science 240: 1319–1321. 14. Myers, C. R., and J. M. Myers. 1993. Ferric reductase is associated with the membranes of anaerobically grown Shewanella putrefaciens MR1. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 108:15–22. 15. Myers, J. M., and C. R. Myers. 2000. Role of the tetraheme cytochrome CymA in anaerobic electron transport in cells of Shewanella putrefaciens MR-1 with normal levels of menaquinone. J. Bacteriol. 182:67–75. 16. Myers, J. M., W. E. Antholine, and C. R. Myers. 2004. Vanadium(V) reduction by Shewanella oneidensis MR-1 requires menaquinone and cytochromes from the cytoplasmic and outer membranes. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70: 1405–1412. 17. Oremland, R. S., J. S. Blum, C. W. Culbertson, P. T. Visscher, L. G. Miller, P. Dowdle, and F. E. Strohmaier. 1994. Isolation, growth, and metabolism of an obligately anaerobic, selenate-respiring bacterium, strain SES-3. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 60:3011–3019. 18. Oremland, R. S., M. J. Herbel, J. S. Blum, S. Langley, T. J. Beveridge, P. M. Ajayran, T. Sutto, A. V. Settis, and S. Curran. 2004. Structural and spectral features of selenium nanospheres produced by Se-respiring bacteria. Appl. Environ. Microbiol. 70:52–60. 19. Schwalb, C., S. K. Chapman, and G. A. Reid. 2002. The membrane-bound tetrahaem c-type cytochrome CymA interacts directly with the soluble fumarate reductase in Shewanella. Biochem. Soc. Trans. 30:658–662. 20. Switzer, B. J., B. A. Burns, J. Buzzelli, J. F. Stolz, and R. S. Oremland. 1998. Bacillus arsenicoselenatis, sp. nov., and Bacillus selenitireducens, sp. nov.: two haloalkaliphiles from Mono Lake, California that respire oxyanions of selenium and arsenic. Arch. Microbiol. 171:19–30. 21. Taylor, D. E. 1999. Bacterial tellurite resistance. Trends Microbiol. 7:111– 115. 22. Venkateswaran, K., D. P. Moser, M. E. Dolhopf, D. P. Lies, D. A. Saffarini, B. J. MacGregor, D. B. Ringelberg, D. C. White, M. Nishijima, H. Sano, J. Burghardt, E. Stackebrandt, and K. H. Nealson. 1999. Polyphasic taxonomy of the genus Shewanella and description of Shewanella oneidensis sp. nov. Int. J. Syst. Evol. Microbiol. 49:705–724. 23. Yamada, A., M. Miyashita, K. Inoue, and T. Matsunaga. 1997. Extracellular reduction of selenite by a novel marine photosynthetic bacterium. Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 48:367–372.


It Ain’t about Christmas
“The Raven” ain’t no Christmas narrative.
It is set in the bleak December, though.
Trapped in a world that he cannot forgive,
The Speaker lets his self-destruction grow
By asking questions that he ought to know
Will twist him into shapes of hopelessness.
The Raven’s simple answers, there for show,
Are, as the reader learns, not hard to guess.
Guy wants to hear his dark guest croaking yes.
Instead, it’s “nevermore” and “nevermore.”
Predictably, our man ends up a mess.
The Raven hangs around above the door.
Mournful remembrance, folks: that’s where it’s at.
Ha! Have a Happy New Year after that!
(Illustration by Gustave Doré.)


November 5, 2019 — Abbe reviews The Other's Gold, hears from author Meg Wolitzer about her latest book, The Female Persuasion, and her mentors (Nora Ephron!) and talks with novelist Christy Lefteri about how the Syrian refugee crisis informs her book, The Beekeeper of Aleppo.
See More 36'28
October 29, 2019 — Abbe chats with Neil Patrick Harris about Gone Girl, the stories he reads with his kids, and his middle-grade series, The Magic Misfits. She talks friendship with How Could She author Lauren Mechling and raves about Normal People by Sally Rooney.
See More 38'42
October 15, 2019 — In the first episode of the fourth season of the Read it Forward podcast, Abbe interviews Deepak Chopra, M.D., about mindfulness and his latest work, Metahuman, reflects on Toni Morrison's novel, The Bluest Eye, and talks with environmental scientist and entrepreneur Summer Rayne Oakes about the benefits of being a plant parent.
See More 38'29
From our TBR piles to your ears: tune in to discover the books you need to read.
Welcome to the Read it Forward Podcast, hosted by Senior Editor, Abbe Wright. She sits down every week to chat about favorite books, alongside authors and other special guests. Abbe shares what she’s reading, asks authors about their books and what titles are in their TBR pile and, above all, gives book recommendations that are sure to please. Listen along when you’re on the hunt for your next great read. Abbe’s busy combing her shelves to bring you the absolute best books out there.
I'd like updates on books, giveaways, special promotions, and more from Read It Forward and from Penguin Random House.


In the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, laboratory diagnosis plays a crucial role by isolating and identifying poliovirus (PV) through the stool samples from acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases. against PV could be determined within 2 days by automated interpretation of luciferase signals without using infectious PV strains. We validated the pseudovirus PV neutralization test with 131 human serum samples collected from a wide range of age groups (ages 1 to >60 years) by comparison with a conventional neutralization test. We found good correlation in the neutralizing-antibody titers determined by these tests. These results suggest that a pseudovirus PV neutralization test would serve as a safe and simple procedure for the measurement of the neutralizing-antibody titer against PV. INTRODUCTION In the Global Polio Eradication Initiative, laboratory diagnosis plays a INNO-406 critical role by isolating and identifying poliovirus (PV) from the stool samples from acute flaccid paralysis (AFP) cases for surveillance of PV circulation. In the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Polio Laboratory Network, PV isolation and identification have been performed at WHO national polio laboratories in a cell culture system (18, 19), followed by differentiation of the isolates into oral PV vaccine (OPV)-related PV, vaccine-derived PV (VDPV), and wild-type PV isolates by several methods at WHO regional reference laboratories (12, INNO-406 19). Surveillance of PV is essential for monitoring the progress of PV eradication in countries where PV is endemic (4 countries as of 2011) and for the maintenance of the polio-free status of countries where PV is not endemic by preventing circulation of imported PVs or VDPVs from countries where PV is endemic through proper vaccination campaigns. In the end game of the eradication program, surveillance of seroprevalence against PV in susceptible populations is essential for monitoring vulnerability to PV circulation in PV-free countries to sustain their PV-free status and the seroconversion rates in countries where PV is endemic to evaluate the effectiveness of vaccination strategies. In laboratories, the neutralizing-antibody titer has been determined by a conventional PV neutralization test (cPNT) using a susceptible cell culture system and infectious challenge virus (20). Characteristic requirements for a cPNT are as follows: (i) use of infectious virus (usually OPV strains are used), (ii) expertise of personnel (for observation of cytopathic effect [CPE] in inoculated cells), and (iii) extended time for results (5 to 7 days of culture). In Japan, FJX1 surveillance of neutralizing antibody against PV has been performed every 2 or 3 3 years since 1974 for serum INNO-406 samples from healthful volunteers (about 1,100 to at least one 1,800 people in six to eight 8 prefectures) in an array of INNO-406 age groups (0 to >40 years) predicated on cPNTs in prefectural laboratories (http://idsc.nih.go.jp/yosoku/Polio/Year-P2009.html) (9). Taking into consideration the experience and INNO-406 biosafety necessary for the check, a PV neutralization check that’s safer and simpler than cPNT will be desirable in the long run game from the eradication system. In today’s study, a book continues to be produced by us PV neutralization check using non-self-proliferating PV pseudovirus, which encapsidated luciferase-encoding PV replicons with PV capsid proteins (2). Inside a pseudovirus PV neutralization check (pPNT), the neutralizing-antibody titer was established predicated on the luciferase indicators in inoculated cells within 2 times. The results recommended that pPNT would serve as a secure and simple process of the measurement from the neutralizing-antibody titer against PV. METHODS and MATERIALS Cells, infections, and human being sera. RD cells (human being rhabdomyosarcoma cells) and HEK293 cells (human being embryonic kidney cells) had been cultured as monolayers in Dulbecco’s customized Eagle moderate (DMEM) supplemented with 10% fetal leg serum (FCS). Vero cells (African green monkey kidney cells) had been cultured as monolayers in Eagle’s minimal essential moderate (EMEM) supplemented with 0.11% bovine serum albumin (BSA) (fraction V; Sigma). RD cells had been useful for the titration of PV as well as for the pPNT. Vero cells had been useful for the pPNT. HEK293 cells had been used for creation of PV pseudoviruses. PV pseudoviruses, which encapsidated luciferase-encoding PV replicons with PV capsid proteins produced from PV1Mahoney, PV2MEF-1, and PV3Saukett A, had been ready as reported previously (2) (discover below for the building of type 2 and 3 PV capsid proteins manifestation vectors and planning of PV pseudoviruses). Human being sera had been collected from healthful volunteers (aged 1 to 76 years) with educated consent..


Happy Friday everyone and welcome to my First Lines Friday post! I love writing these and either sampling the beginnings of books still to be read or re-reading old ones! Today’s featured book is one that is currently on my TBR, or to be read list. Given the science-fiction theme I have been sticking to lately, I figured to share the opening lines of another book from the same genre!
Can you guess what it is?
I love Thursday nights. They have a feel to them that’s outside of time.
It’s our tradition, just the three of us – family night.
My son, Charlie, is sitting at the table, drawing on a sketch pad. He’s almost fifteen. The kid grew two inches over summer, and he’s as tall as I am now.
I turn away from the onion I’m julienning, ask, “Can I see?”
He holds up the pad, shows me a mountain range that looks like something on another planet.
I say, “Love that. Just for fun?”
“Class project. Due tomorrow.”
“Then get back to it, Mr Last Minute.”
Standing happy and slightly drunk in my kitchen, I’m unaware that tonight is the end of all of this. The end of everything I know, everything I love.
Jason Dessen is walking home through the chilly Chicago streets one night, looking forward to a quiet evening in front of the fireplace with his wife, Daniela, and their son, Charlie—when his reality shatters.
It starts with a man in a mask kidnapping him at gunpoint, for reasons Jason can’t begin to fathom—what would anyone want with an ordinary physics professor?—and grows even more terrifying from there, as Jason’s abductor injects him with some unknown drug and watches while he loses consciousness.
When Jason awakes, he’s in a lab, strapped to a gurney—and a man he’s never seen before is cheerily telling him “welcome back!”
Jason soon learns that in this world he’s woken up to, his house is not his house. His wife is not his wife. His son was never born.
***Please note this post contains affiliate links, meaning that I will earn a small commission on purchases made through them. If you like what you read, please consider using these links and supporting a book blogger! Thank you!***
Hi guys! Welcome back to my blog and today’s promo post for Fighting Back by Rachel Churcher! What makes this post all the more exciting is that today is publication day for the book! I am so glad to be featuring it on this first day of the tour.
I shared a promotional post for Darkest Hour, the third book of the Battle Ground series last month as well. If you are interested in the series you might want to check that post out as well!
Living where I do the series is particularly topical. I have a number of other blogging commitments meaning I was unable to read the series for the tour. However, it’s on my TBR to catch up with at a later date!
I hope that today’s post piques your interest in the series. There are a number of fabulous blogs also taking part in the tour so please check out their posts in the coming days for reviews and other feature posts!
Bex Ellman and her friends are in hiding, sheltered by the resistance. With her family threatened and her friendships challenged, she’s looking for a way to fight back. Ketty Smith is in London, supporting a government she no longer trusts. With her support network crumbling, Ketty must decide who she is fighting for – and what she is willing risk to uncover the truth.
The Battle Ground series is set in a dystopian near-future UK, after Brexit and Scottish independence.
Rachel Churcher was born between the last manned moon landing, and the first orbital Space Shuttle mission. She remembers watching the launch of STS-1, and falling in love with space flight, at the age of five. She fell in love with science fiction shortly after that, and in her teens she discovered dystopian fiction. In an effort to find out what she wanted to do with her life, she collected degrees and other qualifications in Geography, Science Fiction Studies, Architectural Technology, Childminding, and Writing for Radio.
She has worked as an editor on national and in-house magazines; as an IT trainer; and as a freelance writer and artist. She has renovated several properties, and has plenty of horror stories to tell about dangerous electrics and nightmare plumbers. She enjoys reading, travelling, stargazing, and eating good food with good friends – but nothing makes her as happy as writing fiction.
Her first published short story appeared in an anthology in 2014, and the Battle Ground series is her first long-form work. Rachel lives in East Anglia, in a house with a large library and a conservatory full of house plants. She would love to live on Mars, but only if she’s allowed to bring her books.
Good morning everyone and welcome to my stop for the blog tour of Ctrl+S by Andy Briggs! Before I get into the details, I would like to thank Alex Layt at Orion Publishing for organising the tour and sending me a review copy of the book! As always with these posts, the views expressed are my honest opinion.
I am really excited to be sharing my thoughts with you on Ctrl+S – particularly to fans of near-future science-fiction novels. If you enjoy this particular genre then you are going to love this book! Equally, I only occasionally venture into the genre and I loved it as well. Ctrl+S is due to be published in a matter of days so if you do enjoy this review, please do consider getting yourself a copy!
Before I begin with my review, please also take a moment to take a look at some of the other reviews shared as part of the tour.
Life in the near future’s NOT ALL BAD. We’ve reversed global warming, and fixed the collapsing bee population. We even created SPACE, a virtual-sensory universe where average guys like Theo Wilson can do almost anything they desire.
But ALMOST ANYTHING isn’t enough for some. Every day, normal people are being taken, their emotions harvested – and lives traded – to create death-defying thrills for the rich and twisted.
NOW THEO’S MOTHER HAS DISAPPEARED. And as he follows her breadcrumb trail of clues, he’ll come up against the most dangerous SPACE has to offer: vPolice, AI Bots and anarchists – as well as a criminal empire that will KILL TO STOP HIM finding her . .
The beauty of this near-future novel is that the premise of the book centres on an improved variety of technology that already exists – SPACE. Imagine augmented reality at your fingertips whenever you want it. Or, you can “ascend” for a limited time and experience virtual reality with your friends. There’s all of the fun and none of the pain if you get hurt or die in a game. That is, until someone finds a loophole.
Those rich enough to pay for the thrill can experience the pain and terror of death without the final blow. Maybe someone wants to feel the thrill of jumping off a building without the splat at the end. Real people are kidnapped and exploited to harvest whichever raw emotion is desired. It puts a sinister twist on the technology’s motto, More real than real. Theo’s mum Ella inadvertently gets dragged into the criminal underbelly after becoming indebted to the wrong people. When she doesn’t come home one day, the dangerous truth hits home.
Theo, Clemmie, Baxter and Milton take centre stage and are supported by a wide cast of varying characters. Their similarity in age to myself (and I imagine a lot of prospective readers) makes them really relatable and easy to invest into as the story progresses. You’ll laugh because I particularly relate to Theo. I didn’t go to University, unlike a lot of my friends, and I worked in a fast food place as my first job too! It’s the little things, right?
The “technology” aspect of the novel is really easy to follow. I can confidently say I think anyone can pick it up and understand the basics. Even from there, I feel that the descriptions of the advancement to today’s version of the technology is explained really well where relevant. Breaking up the information to impart what is necessary at any given time prevents dumping a lot of information on the reader. Some might find that overwhelming but I didn’t find this at all in Ctrl+S. Overall, I found there was a great balance between the action of the novel and clarifying how everything unfamiliar worked. The chapters are nice and concise as well which helps keep the momentum.
As the group of friends find themselves in increasingly hot water having been thrown into a criminal world where anything goes, you really find yourself rooting for them as the underdogs to save Ella and countless others from their emotional exploitation. As the plot unravels our protagonists fight desperately to pick up the clues left by Ella in order to find the mastermind behind the abuse of SPACE. The genre combination of science-fiction and thriller worked really well and is a highly recommended read by me!
It’s Sunday evening again friends, so it can only mean it’s time for this week’s Sunday Summary post! Have you had a good week? Mine has been pretty good. I took a slightly more chilled stance on the blog posting this week in an effort to catch up with some reading. Turns out, I needed that time!
My first blog post of the week was published on Tuesday. For a bit of fun, I decided to take part in the Autumn Book Tag! It’s been a little while since I have written one of these posts and I really enjoyed doing so!
Then, on Friday I published my next Shelf Control post – this week I featured Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan. If you want to check out why Age of Myth is on my TBR then you can check out that post to find out more!
Through no fault of my own, I have had a shift in priorities this week. I began where I left off in last week’s Sunday Summary post with reading Howling Dark by Christopher Ruocchio. This is no small book, so I was hoping to make good progress this week. As it is, I feel I am already behind on my reading.
I then received an email about a blog tour that I signed up for, giving me a week’s notice for my tour date. It was a genuine mistake that I hadn’t had it confirmed earlier. Truthfully, I had forgotten about it too. I received my copy of the book to review a couple of weeks ago. So, I have been reading Ctrl+S by Andy Briggs most of the week! As things stand, I only have 40 or so pages left to read so that is tonight’s job after I publish this post.
As always I have been enjoying listening to my audiobooks and Thunderhead is getting really good right now! I have just less than four hours to go to the end and I cannot wait to see how things unravel. As it happens, I have some time off work imminently so I have more time to listen to this. I basically have my headphones glued in when I am home nowadays, so it gives me an excuse to listen to something!
I signed up to a website called BookSirens about a month ago. As is well-documented on my blog, my thoughts on Netgalley aren’t all that positive. I have no objection to using the site for tours and books from specific publishers, but I don’t really rate it otherwise. In terms of looking for other ARCS, I don’t actively use it.
I signed up to BookSirens as it seemed a lot more user-friendly, looked more appealing and I liked the look of a number of books on there. At the time I signed up I couldn’t commit to reading any books due to blog tour commitments. After a couple of weeks of registering and not signing up to any reviews, they kindly sent me an email to get some feedback from me on whether I had any problems. I explained that I had some other review obligations elsewhere, which was totally fine with them. I actually really like this personal touch – there is no way you would get the same from Netgalley!
Well, this week I signed up to my first review after an email notified me that some books now had a longer window to review them in! I started small with a novella called Fires of the Dead by Jed Herne. I have until February to read and review it, but I would like to get it done sooner if I can!
I have a couple of blog tours to take part in next week, which is really exciting!
I mentioned Ctrl+S earlier in the post, as I have had to hastily read the book in advance of the tour. My tour slot is on Tuesday next week (26th November) and I am really looking forward to sharing my review. If you like the sound of a near-future science-fiction novel about the use (and abuse) of virtual reality, then stay tuned!
A little later in the week, I am taking part in another blog tour post! On Thursday I am promoting the latest book in the Battleground series, Fighting Back by Rachel Churcher.
A First Lines Friday post will be taking its place on the blog on… well, that’s obvious. Friday. I really enjoy writing these posts and I hope you enjoy reading them too!
Hi guys and welcome to today’s Shelf control post! Once again I’ll be taking an in-depth look at the next book on my TBR and telling you why I am excited to read it!
As a refresher, Shelf Control is a meme run by Lisa at Bookshelf Fantasies – a weekly celebration of the unread books on our shelves! Pick a book you own but haven’t read, write a post about it (suggestions: include what it’s about, why you want to read it, and when you got it), and link up!
For more info on what Shelf Control is all about, check out Lisa’s introductory post.
I am using Shelf Control to look in further detail at the books I have added to the TBR and then listed as keepers in my Down the TBR Hole posts. I talk about why I want to keep the featured book; it also acts as a second sweep for anything that I may have changed my mind about. I have actually deleted a few books doing this sweep. I don’t necessarily own all the books (yet), but I will have a reasonable number of them. I’ve also gone on to read a couple of the earliest books on the list, so this mini-series is proving useful!
Since time immemorial, humans have worshipped the gods they call Fhrey, truly a race apart: invincible in battle, masters of magic, and seemingly immortal. But when a god falls to a human blade, the balance of power between humans and those they thought were gods changes forever.
Now only a few stand between humankind and annihilation: Raithe, reluctant to embrace his destiny as the God Killer; Suri, a young seer burdened by signs of impending doom; and Persephone, who must overcome personal tragedy to lead her people. The Age of Myth is over. The time of rebellion has begun.
What interests me about this book is the breaking of a convention that Gods are immortal; untouchable. How the inevitable conflict that will ensue will pan out interests me. This synopsis is pretty short, leaving a lot to the imagination. There’s just enough there to draw a reader in whilst leaving a lot about the plot unsaid. It makes you want to read it and find out!
Age of Myth is an epic fantasy novel. I would consider myself well-read in the genre at this point; anything that even hints at any combination of overused tropes in the genre is a put-off for me – it isn’t new. What I like about synopsis of Age of Myth is that beyond the whole destiny concept, there is nothing else that would allude to other overused tropes. I’ll have to read it to see if there are others hidden in there.
Age of Myth also has some really good reviews, so I am optimistic that taking the plunge and reading a novel by a new author will have a good payoff!
Have you read Age of Myth, or is it on your TBR? Let me know in the comments!
Hi everyone and welcome to today’s post – the Autumn Book Tag. I saw this over on Sara the Bibliophagist’s blog and knew I wanted to take part as a bit of fun! I absolutely love Sara’s blog and quite regularly link to some of her posts in my Sunday Summary posts. So, if you haven’t checked out her blog already, please do! You won’t regret it!
I wanted to take a step back from book reviews for the next couple of days, having published two last week. It has been a little while since taking part in a bookish tag, so I’ll take any excuse to take part in one! They’re a great way to get to know the person behind the screen, so I hope you enjoy this post as much as I will!
It’s going to make absolutely no sense, but I would have to choose a series for this question. Which series? A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin. What’s comforting about a series full of death, debauchery and deceit, I hear you ask? Well, I know that I can always pick up any one of these books and instantly forget about whatever else is going on. The writing is fantastic and the world-building and characters so intricately interwoven that I am absorbed immediately.
Pumpkin Carving – what is your favourite creative outlet?
I have had a good go at quite a few creative hobbies; years ago I used to make my own Christmas / birthday / occasional cards. I still have all the stuff, but I haven’t done it for years now. Maybe I ought to dig it all back out again. I briefly took up cross-stitch but that didn’t catch on very long.
Shortly after I moved into my flat I bought a DIY painting that now has pride of place in my living room. It took me HOURS. I listened to most of the audiobook of The Stand whilst doing it. That means I spent somewhere around 75 hours completing it! I have another one part finished for the spare room, but I haven’t really touched that one for a while. I think I stopped in between paints so fingers crossed what is left hasn’t gone dry…
My latest creative hobby is crocheting. I started small with crochet animals and have gone on to crochet a jumper as well! It’s a good pastime if you want to keep your hands busy.
Falling Leaves – changes that appear bad but you secretly love?
My family think I am a little odd for it, but I love when the nights start drawing in as winter approaches. It makes coming home after a day at work nice and cozy. That’s not to say I enjoy the dead of winter and going to work/coming home in the dark. I’m not that miserable…
Pumpkin Spiced Latte – something you love that others tend to judge
I agree with Sara on this one – I love to stay in. There is nowhere I want to be after a long day at work than at home. Door locked. Peace at last. Sure, going out and catching up with friends and family is fun, but I enjoy coming home to my own space and being unable to unwind in my own way. I have come to need my own space to do my own thing – read a book or listen to music usually. What’s important is that Rebecca is IN and the rest of the world is distinctly OUT.
Bonfire Night – what makes you explode with joy?
Finishing a really good book! In that moment before the book hangover begins, concluding a really good book or series reminds me just why I read so much!
Fright Night – favourite scary book or film
This is definitely going to be a scary book choice because I don’t really get on with scary films… and not for the reason you would expect. They don’t scare me. I learned the techniques film-makers use in my Performing Arts and Psychology lessons to hype up an audience, so I can see it a mile away and expect it. Element of surprise ruined.
I’m much more of a fan of psychological thrillers. With that in mind, I would have to say my scary book choice is Pet Sematary by Stephen King.
Halloween candy – favourite thing to eat
Oh goodness we could be here all day! It’s generally known and accepted that I will eat pretty much anything and everything! If I have to pick something seasonal as my favourite though, the first thing that comes to mind is the tin of Quality Street you buy “in preparation for Christmas” – knowing full well it won’t even see December.
Scarves – your autumn ‘must have’ accessory
My must-have autumn accessory is just that – scarves! More specifically, Kipling scarves. I’m not just a maniac for their handbags and purses, but their viscose scarves as well. I love them because they are so lightweight but do a fantastic job of keeping you warm without the bulk of a thick scarf. They’re also really pretty and smell like your perfume too, so win-win.
I have… one or two of these beauties…
Fire – a book or film that burns your soul
This is actually a really tough question – I have read so many great books that it is hard to choose! I suppose the books I feel most passionately about – and love to talk about – are the likes of The Green Mile and To Kill a Mockingbird. Knowing the injustice served to so many based on the colour of their skin makes me really angry. I like to talk about them as a means of education and to be part of a society that wouldn’t let anything as ludicrous as race be a reason to treat someone differently again.
Toffee apples – a book or film that seems one thing but really has a different inside
When I read War and Peace I didn’t expect the ending to be a philosophical discussion about how things could have gone differently for Napoleon. It’s about the only example I could think of – I am pretty open-minded when it comes to my books. This is the only curve ball I’ve encountered to date!
I hope you have enjoyed this tag and reading a little about me! I’m not going to tag anyone specific to also take part, but if you do, please link me in so I can read your answers.
Hi guys and welcome to a very busy Sunday Summary post here at the home of Reviewsfeed. I had a busy day yesterday with housework and then going out for the evening! In a shake-up of usual Saturday evening activities, (aka reading) I attended The House of Hell event hosted by Nightmare Nights. I went with my mum and dad and we all enjoyed going, despite being underwhelmed by the ‘scariness’. Today, I have spent the day with them again and now come home for a not-very-relaxing evening. Around drafting tonight’s Sunday Summary post, I am baking for a charity cake sale at work tomorrow! Everything is cooling at the moment, so I get some brief respite before I have to decorate.
Aside from the above shenanigans, what have I spent my week doing? Quite simply, work, blogging and reading. The usual! The only thing out of the ordinary has been investing time into restoring the older posts I lost in the recent migration… accident.
The first post of the week was an overdue review of The Chalk Man by C J Tudor. I read this book back in July, so it was definitely time to commit my thoughts to a review. I had to pull the book out and refresh my memory on a couple of things. This is why making notes after I read something would come in handy, but can I do it? No.
I published a second review of Wednesday; Making Magic is a short story written by Allan Walsh. At 32 pages it was a really quick but enjoyable read about the magic of writing and storytelling.
Friday saw the return of my First Lines Friday regular feature and this week I featured Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor. Let’s just say the book choice was inspired by a current read at the time…
In last week’s Sunday Summary post I mentioned that I was indecisively flitting between a couple of books as my next read – Howling Dark and Days of Blood and Starlight. In the end, Days of Blood and Starlight did win and it didn’t take me all that long to read. I couldn’t wait to pick up the next book in the Daughter of Smoke and Bone series and I got back into it very quickly!
Conscious that it was the middle of the month and I had only read two books on the TBR, I picked up the shortest book on my list, Awa and the Dreamrealm by Isa Pearl Ritchie. At around 200 pages, my aim was to blitz this within a couple of days and I did! It makes me feel better going into the second half of the month knowing I am on track. I have read this book as I am reviewing it for the upcoming blog tour starting at the end of the month. It’s a children’s book so I am not its target audience, but I really enjoyed it and I’m not ashamed either! I love the main theme and the topics that this book addresses.
It might sound daft, but in addition to my newfound love of the series, the reason I picked DOB&S over Howling Dark is that the proof copy I have is really heavy! It’s quite a bit larger and getting started has been a little cumbersome. I have started this book in earnest in the last day or two and this will be my current read for the next few days!
I have also been listening to Thunderhead again. There is still six hours to go to reach the conclusion, so I’m going to be listening for a little while yet. The storyline of this one is interesting though and it has really picked up the pace in the last couple of hours!
I have added one book to the list this week after stumbling across a book set where I live… entirely by chance! I was just browsing a few blog posts the other day and read an unsuspecting First Lines Friday post. When I realised that the featured book is set on the Isle of Man I added it to the list! I’ve linked the post below if you want to have a read.
I want to make sure that I keep up with my reading next week. I may be on track but I still have three books to finish; all are over 400 pages long. Combine that with my ongoing project to restore my blog to its former glory, I have decided that this week I am keeping it to three posts.
On Tuesday I am going to take part in the Autumn Book Tag. I saw this over on one of my favourite blogs (again, this is linked below) and I want to take part. It’s a little bit different from the usual material I post here!
On Friday I’ll be tackling the TBR again (one book at a time) by sharing the next Shelf Control post. I’ll be taking a look at the next book on the list and telling you all why I want to read it. These posts have actually given me a kick to start reading some of these golden oldies. I enjoy writing them too. Do you like reading them?
Happy Friday everyone and welcome to today’s First Lines Friday post! If you want to try the opening lines of a book without the bias of a front cover, then this post is for you! Which book am I featuring today?
Once upon a time, an angel and a demon fell in love.
It did not end well.
Walking to school over the snow-muffled cobbles, Karou had no sinister premonitions about the day. It seemed like just another Monday, innocent but for its essential Mondayness, not to mention its Januaryness. It was cold, and it was dark – in the dead of winter the sun didn’t rise until eight – but it was also lovely. The falling snow and the early hour conspired to paint Prague ghostly, like a tintype photograph, all silver and haze.
On the riverfront thoroughfare, trams and buses roared past, grounding the day in the twenty-first century, but on the quieter lanes, the wintry peace might have hailed from another time. Snow and stone and ghostlight, Karou’s own footsteps and the feather of steam from her coffee mug, and she was alone and adrift in mundane thoughts: school, errands. The occasional cheek-chew of bitterness when a pang of heartache intruded, as pangs of heartache will, but she pushed them aside, resolute, ready to be done with all that.
I have just finished reading the sequel to this yesterday and I have loved it just as much as this first book! They are so easy to pick up and get absorbed into. I have read other books by this author as well, and all of them have been brilliant! They are all touching, the characters beautifully human and hilariously funny at times.
Shall we find out what it is?
Daughter of Smoke and Bone – Laini Taylor
Around the world, black hand prints are appearing on doorways, scorched there by winged strangers who have crept through a slit in the sky.
In a dark and dusty shop, a devil’s supply of human teeth grows dangerously low.
And in the tangled lanes of Prague, a young art student is about to be caught up in a brutal otherworldly war.
Meet Karou. She fills her sketchbooks with monsters that may or may not be real, she’s prone to disappearing on mysterious “errands”, she speaks many languages – not all of them human – and her bright blue hair actually grows out of her head that color. Who is she? That is the question that haunts her, and she’s about to find out.
When beautiful, haunted Akiva fixes fiery eyes on her in an alley in Marrakesh, the result is blood and starlight, secrets unveiled, and a star-crossed love whose roots drink deep of a violent past. But will Karou live to regret learning the truth about herself?
Did you enjoy reading the first page of Daughter of Smoke and Bone? Have you read any or all of the series? I’d love to know!
Hi guys and welcome back to my blog! Today’s review is for a short story written by Allan Walsh. At 32 pages, this is a really quick read. If you are looking for something to while away a commute to work or entertain you during a coffee break – this could just be for you!
Alcus wants to be a writer. When he joins a group to have his work critiqued, things are not what he expected. Alcus soon finds himself drawn into a world of wonder. Can his writing compete against real magic?
Short stories are a great way to sample an author’s writing style without the commitment of several hundred-page long novels to wade through. My biggest make-or-break factor when deciding if I am going to like a book is the narrative style. The style of Making Magic is very easy to read and get into. It flows so easily that I read this story in no more than fifteen minutes in one sitting, attention unbroken. From beginning to end the story is consistently easy to follow.
The dabbling in and conjuring of magic allows for a lot of detailed description; at times beautiful, others sinister, as fits the story. The detail in which Allan Walsh describes the spells and conjurations makes it very easy to imagine yourself in the same room. Through Alcus’ eyes, we experience the wonder at the magic and the self-doubt he experiences in being able to match such powerful magic through the power of the written word.
Being able to communicate an idea, an image or story through words in such a way that the reader can visualise the same thing is a form of magic. Immersing yourself so deeply into a story that you don’t notice time passing by is a temporary illusion. Words can also make more permanent changes to a person’s perception.
Who knew the power of vividly hallucinating over dead trees?
Hi guys and welcome back to another book review post! Today I am sharing my thoughts with you about The Chalk Man by C. J. Tudor. I actually read this at the end of July this year, so I had to pull my copy out to refresh myself on some of the details.
I have plenty to say though about this read, so shall we jump into my review?
In 1986, Eddie and his friends are just kids on the verge of adolescence. They spend their days biking around their sleepy English village and looking for any taste of excitement they can get. The chalk men are their secret code: little chalk stick figures they leave for one another as messages only they can understand. But then a mysterious chalk man leads them right to a dismembered body, and nothing is ever the same.
In 2016, Eddie is fully grown, and thinks he’s put his past behind him. But then he gets a letter in the mail, containing a single chalk stick figure. When it turns out that his friends got the same message, they think it could be a prank . . . until one of them turns up dead.
That’s when Eddie realizes that saving himself means finally figuring out what really happened all those years ago.
First and foremost, how does this book only have 3.7 stars on Goodreads?! I demand to know because EVERY SINGLE blogger review I have read has raved about this book. And I get that too, I loved it! I think it’s a fantastic read! That I read this from cover to cover in three days is a testament to that fact. I’m pretty sure I had a good go at enthusiastically ranting about it to my parents too.
C . J. Tudor does a brilliant job of drawing you into the book from the very beginning. The dramatic events in the prologue and an accident at the fair in 1986 occur within the first 20 pages. From there, the story unravels in two timelines; continuing on from the fair in 1986 and the second thirty years on in 2016.
I really enjoy dual-timeline structured narratives. When written well, as The Chalk Man is, they interweave and spur you on to read the next chapter, and the next to see what more you can uncover. It also serves well to keep the narrative fresh. It works as a second perspective, even when you are using the same pool of characters to tell the story. I did not want to put this book down. I was captivated by the story and the unnerving events that haunt Eddie, Fat Gav, Mickey, Hoppo and Nicky from their childhood.
The re-emergence of the chalk men after thirty years is a mystery begging to be solved, especially when the murders begin. It’s a race against time to find the killer. The conclusion of the novel is brilliant and was totally unexpected! I have a bit of a gripe with thriller novels that claim I won’t see the epic plot twist. If you tell me that, I’m going to expect one! Half the fun is trying to follow the clues and make your own mind up without knowing ANYTHING about the ending. If I try to deduce the killer and I‘m wrong, or come up short, then even better! You know you succeeded in your plot twist. The Chalk Man makes no such claim so I had no idea what to expect!
The Chalk Man is definitely up there in my top reads of the year. I’ll be recommending it to anyone in the market for horror/thriller/mystery book recommendations!
If you haven’t read it already, seriously, please do! If you have, tell me what you thought of the book! I would love to hear from you!!


Now, I am seldom out on a really grassy wicket for such a meagre score, and as David and I changed places without a word, there was a cheery look on his face that I found very galling
The Indians sprang upon the animals barebacked, and endeavored to urge them off under a galling
fire that did some execution.
He tried to form the bitter, galling words; but a vision of that lovely face suddenly transformed with horror and disgust throttled the name in his throat.
Then, in addition to being deprived of her forever, he must suffer the galling mortification of her scorn.
I know how cold formalities were succeeded by open taunts; how indifference gave place to dislike, dislike to hate, and hate to loathing, until at last they wrenched the clanking bond asunder, and retiring a wide space apart, carried each a galling
fragment, of which nothing but death could break the rivets, to hide it in new society beneath the gayest looks they could assume.
It is possible, and even quite probable, that but for the mere circumstance of being removed from that plantation to Baltimore, I should have to-day, instead of being here seated by my own table, in the enjoyment of freedom and the happiness of home, writing this Narrative, been confined in the galling
chains of slavery.
on a transplanted Jatropha gossypiifolia plant under the natural field conditions in Bolivia (C).
insects have the ability to manipulate the development of plant tissue and promote its growth (Stone and Schonrogge, 2003) and the development of these structures has been an adaptive strategy of many insects for their food and even protection against predators (Mani, 1964; Stone and Schonrogge, 2003).
insects produce galls by inducing cellular hypertrophy and hyperplasia on plant meristematic tissues (Mani, 1964).
Variations on climatic conditions and water availability affect the host plant phenology, and could therefore alter the life cycle and the distribution of galling
insects as demonstrated by Oliveira et al.
The arthropods, for example galling
insects, are mobile for a short period and usually do not change location after oviposition choice, it becomes visible that colonization of specific leaves or shoots within the host is imperative, since all plant parts can not respond to the insect attack (Burstein and Wool, 1993).
larva achieve higher density, size, and even higher fitness at the proximal portion compared to more distal portion of the leaf due to be the more rapid and efficient interception of plant photosynthates at the leaf base (Auslander et al.