29 Comments
Apr 3, 2023Liked by Justin Deming

I think I remember reading this one when you first wrote it, Justin. Sorry you have a stomach bug on your spring break. But maybe it's good that you can take your time getting better, and you don't have to worry about school!! I don't really love fantasy, but right now I am reading a really good book called The London Seance Society by Sarah Penner. I read her first book, The Lost Apothecary, which was interesting and maybe a bit of fantasy. This new one takes place in Victorian England. Feel better!!

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🤣🤣🤣🤢🤢🤢 We need lighthearted stories like this for entertainment, even if they are more ridiculous than normal! Thanks for the recommendation of the fantasy series. I'm going to check it out. I hope you feel better soon!

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The burning branch line reminds me of a film i watched yesterday on the ten commandments - interesting reading here - well done :)

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That was great! You had me envisioning the poor guy and laughing. Of course if I were in his predicament I wouldn't be laughing or smiling. But I like how you wrote this story to be an awkward student who learned that he had the power to be somebody even though everyone else looked down on him. Nice work.

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Is it weird that I wanted to read this BECAUSE the editorial people said it was "a disgusting reading experience?" You should use that as your pitch next time you submit this story somewhere. 😊

Hope you're back on the side of "life" now.

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What a great story! This is a story written for readers and not editors! Everything about it is pitch perfect!

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Good one, Justin! Hope you get better soon.

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Apr 4, 2023Liked by Justin Deming

Hey Justin, hope you feel better. I like bathroom humor now and again.

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I had an experience similar to Howard’s in Egypt. I was in shabby lodgings on the beach. Woke up with something deeply wrong in my guts. Grabbed my headlamp a d the nearest thing to hand—a paperback edition of something Faulkner wrote that was t holding my interest. Two steps from my hut I dropped the headlamp. Did I mention there was no moon? I stumbled toward where Ibremembered the bathrooms to be clutching my guts and Faulkner. Fell over a fence. Found the bathroom which was every bit as gross as yiur would expect a bathroom in a cheap camp in Egypt to be. Went in. It was even darker inside. I felt around in vain with my feet for the hole in the floor. Then decided it wasn’t worth rhe risk of my foot slipping in. Then my guts made rhe decision for me. It took about 50 pages of the Revelators or whatever that book was called to clean up.

I think this Howard story could be the start of a longer story. The hell with that editor who didn’t like it.

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Apr 3, 2023Liked by Justin Deming

I've never read The Goldfinch, even though it was on the best seller list for a long time as I recall. I think you would enjoy the book I'm reading. There are some quirky characters and the Victorian England setting is very atmospheric. I am going to reserve The Goldfinch! Thanks for the recommendation and glad that you're feeling better!!

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Apr 3, 2023Liked by Justin Deming

PS I will order that book you recommend. I am generally not a reader of fantasy, other than Tolkein. AND twenty years ago I read Gabaldon's time-travel book, Outlander, and ended reading ALL of her books, several times over right up to today. A marvelous series!

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"Howard floated between life and death" 😂😂 that really got me. Being sick is the worst!! I hope you get better quick! I haven't read any fantasy books lately, but "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor is on my TBR list. I've heard nothing but good things about it!

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Apr 3, 2023Liked by Justin Deming

Eeeuuuuw! You gave a fair warning, but I read it anyway. Let's just say the best part was where he had a bathe in the river and cleaned himself up, poor lad. Ha Ha Ha. So sorry to her you are ill, my friend. Me too. Three days of it. Must be something going around. I am finishing my coffee and going back to bed.

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author

I’ve returned, thank you! 😂

Ha! I don’t think it’s weird at all. Oh, I don’t know if I’ll send this one out again...maybe at some point. Do you think a separate editorial team would read it at all if given that information? Or would they just click reject and move on? Tough to say!

Thanks for reading, Meg!

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