TED NUGENT опубликовал видео исполнения композиции "Lovejacker" с концерта, состоявшегося в 1995 году в Walnut Creek Amphitheater, Raleigh, NC.
#Ted_Nugent #TedNugent #HardRock #Hard_Rock #Hard 'n' Heavy #_Hard 'n' Heavy
Видео: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c5vA3O8nTo

My son Cole, pictured here as a goofy kid many years ago, is now six feet six inches tall and in college. Cole needed a letter of recommendation recently so he turned to an old family friend who, in turn, used ChatGPT to generate the letter, which he thought was remarkably good. As a guy who pretends to write for a living, I read it differently. ChatGPT’s letter was facile but empty, the type of letter you would write for someone you’d never met. It said almost nothing about Cole other than that he’s a good kid. Artificial Intelligence is good for certain things, but blind letters of reference aren’t among them. The key problem here has to do with Machine Learning. ChatGPT’s language model […]

12 ноября на полках магазинов Великобритании появится новая книга о Формуле 1, которая обещает стать бестселлером. Называется она «Внутри Mercedes F1»...

Серхио Перес продолжит выступать за Red Bull Racing в 2025 году, – об этом пишет испанская газета Marca, ссылаясь на свои источники...

На прошлой неделе сотрудники FIA побывали на базе Red Bull в Милтон-Кинсе для детального изучения внутренней системы регулировки высоты подвески.

В Alpine F1 подтвердили, что с 2026 года на машинах команды будут стоять двигатели и коробки передач производства Mercedes...

Мексиканец признался, что отказался от предложений двух других команд ради продления контракта с Red Bull.

Have you ever found something you started writing but never finished? Here's something I started in October 2014. I've just rediscovered it in July 2020....

The first volume of Eden of Witches releases on Nov. 12.

The Small-Animallike Lady is Adored by the Ice Prince is a brand new romance manga from Yen Press. This first volume takes us to a familiar setting where there's a royal arranged marriage involved, and some frozen hearts are melted along the way!

Dark Horse Comics has announced a six-volume Madman Omnibus release featuring Michael Allred's classic character, slated for release in 2025.

#54-Enlightenment - Waking Up from Our Dreamed Life

The post #54-Enlightenment – Waking Up from Our Dreamed Life appeared first on Enlightenment Podcast.

#56 Enlightenment - The Effortless Living of an Enlightened Life

The post #56 Enlightenment – The Effortless Living of an Enlightened Life appeared first on Enlightenment Podcast.

A Next Leader competitor is in an extremely fortunate position. A Next Leader is a competitor or product that offers much better than industry standard performance for a low price to a specific subset of industry customers. While offering better benefits to some customers, it may reduce benefits for others. But all Next Leaders offer low prices. The Next Leader can do this because it has a very low cost structure. (See “Video #22: Definition of Next Leaders” on StrategyStreet.com.) Next Leaders do not appear in many industries. When they do appear, they can change an industry, whether the industry is in manufacturing, retail or service. For example, Toys R Us invented the Toy Retailing Category Killer, a Next Leader product. Home Depot has done much the same in hardware retailing. Other Next Leaders include the early Apple personal computer, Intuit personal financial management software, Jiffy Lube in auto services and Domino’s Pizza.

We have studied many Next Leader competitors. Our study has suggested there are two kinds of Next Leaders products: Reformers and Transformers. A Reformer product is a type of Next Leader that reduces the benefits for the user while increasing benefits for the buyer, compared to the industry’s Standard Leader product. Jiffy Lube and Domino’s Pizza would both be Reformer Next Leader competitors. The second type of Next Leader competitor, Transformer products and companies, increase the benefits for the user of the product but offers, at least initially, fewer buyer benefits than the Standard Leader product. Toys R Us and Home Depot are two examples of Transformer Next Leader competitors.

Direct Edge is an example of a Transformer competitor. It offers its customers very fast securities trading on virtually any platform, from computers to smart phones. It is a young electronic stock exchange and it is having a big impact on securities trading. Its first noticeable impact is in market share. As recently as five years ago, the New York Stock Exchange accounted for 70% or more of the trading in the stocks listed on its exchange. Today, the stock exchange handles 36% of those trades. (See “Audio Tip #85: Evaluate the Company's Success in Penetrating each Price Point in the Market” on StrategyStreet.com.) Twelve other public exchanges, several electronic trading platforms and many “dark pools” command the rest of the market share in NYSE listed stocks.

Direct Edge came into existence during 2010. Several brokerage firms and other financial players formed Direct Edge to offer a counter veiling power to the New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq. Direct Edge now owns 10% of stock trading in the United States.

Direct Edge is not only big and fast-growing, but inexpensive as well. It has ready access to the share trading of its brokerage house and hedge fund owners. It operates many banks of state-of-the-art computers in warehouse-type facilities in New Jersey rather than in more-expensive New York. And, despite its size, it has fewer than one hundred employees.

The evolution of these non-traditional exchanges has resulted in declining trading costs and much faster trading times for all customers. Next Leaders do that.

Over the last several years, we have studied many examples of cost reduction initiatives to improve productivity and create economies of scale. In simplest terms, there are four actions that improve productivity and economies of scale. First, reduce the rate of cost you pay for an input. Second, reduce the inputs that do not produce output. Third, reduce unique activities or components in products and processes by redesigning the products and processes. Fourth, spread fixed cost activities over new product output. The cellular telephone carriers are introducing measures to reduce their costs by redesigning the product.

The wireless carriers use cellular towers to broadcast their signals. The cellular product design offers signals traveling long distances, primarily for voice and for relatively low data speeds. A cellular tower is expensive but capable of sending a signal for several miles.

This cellular technology worked well until the evolution of the smart phone. The growth of the smart phone has put very high demands on the cellular tower infrastructure because of the heavy data usage it brings to the market. Since 2010, data has taken over the majority of network traffic from voice communications. Now the carriers and, in particular, AT&T with its Apple iPhones, is having difficulty keeping up with the growth in demand.

AT&T today and, likely a few others in the future, has found a potential innovative solution, adding Wi Fi access points. These Wi Fi access points are ideal for heavy data traffic sent at high speeds over relatively short distances. Wi Fi access points transmit signals over a few hundred feet. The Wi Fi access points are smaller, easier and cheaper to install than are cellular towers. This low-cost approach appears to make sense in areas with high density of users. AT&T has placed them in New York’s Time Square and Rockefeller Center, in downtown Charlotte, North Carolina, in neighborhoods surrounding Chicago’s Wrigley Field and in San Francisco’s Embarcadero Center.

But there are some drawbacks to Wi Fi access points. Sometimes, a user has to take several steps to connect to a Wi Fi access point. Signals from the Wi Fi access points may interfere with one another, if signals come from multiple networks. Some smart phones do not have Wi Fi capability. These disadvantages have, so far, held back Verizon Wireless’s adoption of this apparently low-cost approach to providing service.

AT&T is leading this cost-saving innovation experiment. Their network strains force it to be creative and experimental. AT&T saves costs by redesigning the product itself using a less expensive technology with some shortcomings. If the AT&T experiment proves both cost effective and acceptable to cellular customers, every other wireless carrier will be forced to adopt it. And since a Wi Fi access point is largely a fixed cost, the wireless carriers with the highest density of membership within the Wi Fi area will have the lowest cost per unit. In most areas of the country that is likely to be either Verizon or AT&T. They will end up getting a unit cost advantage over their smaller competitors…if this works.

Something a little more out there… this one is the most fun through headphones. ????

The post The Medusa appeared first on Stuck in Customs.

How To Get Ripped Fast

By:  Vince Delmonte

• Training sessions should last less than 45 minutes, for skinny guys;
• The main focal points should be on compound movements, rather than isolated movements, for skinny guys;
• There should be a five percent increase in strength every two weeks for skinny guys;
• One to two forced reps are the maximum a skinny guy should do to avoid wasting energy;
• At max, skinny guys should split body parts into a three-day program;
• If you’re a bulky guy, you can train for 1 hour to 1½ hours to burn extra calories;
• Unlike a skinny guy’s workout, bulky guys can utilize isolated movements to burn calories;
• Maintaining strength is a vital aspect of guaranteeing you will not lose muscle, when you’re a bulky guy;
• Drop sets and pre-exhaust work well for extra energy expenditure, for bulky guys;
• As a bulky guy, you can spend an increased amount of time on each muscle group, and you can split up body parts over a five-day period.

• A skinny guy should consume approximately 15 times their own body weight in calories to increase muscle mass;

• Eating at least 1 gram or even 1.5 grams of protein per pound can be beneficial for skinny guys to bulk up;

• For skinny guys, carbs should be eaten at a 2:1 ratio of carbs to proteins;

• As a skinny guy, you should include high-quality fats every time you eat a meal;

• Workout nutritional drinks are an excellent source of calories that skinny guys should be drinking

• For skinny guys, your largest meals should be consumed at breakfast time and before and after a workout;

• Potatoes, whole grains, oatmeal and rice contain beneficial nutrition for the skinny guy, and should be consumed in large quantities;

• For bulky guys, your caloric intake should be equivalent to 10 times your current body weight;
  
• As a bulky guy, you should eat about 1 to 1.5 grams of protein for each pound of lean muscle mass you have;
  
• A ratio of 1:1 should always be followed. This means bulky guys should eat 1 gram of protein for every 1 gram of carbs;

• If you’re a bulky guy, you should eat healthy fats only. This includes olive oil, avocados, nuts and flax oil;

• Bulky guys should never eat solid carbs during a workout. Liquid carbs are the way to go;

• Carbs that come from fruits and vegetables are the best source of nutrients for a bulky guy.

• If you’re a skinny guy, only do cardio if your calorie intake is in a 1000-calorie surplus;
  
• As a skinny guy, your cardio workout should be as far away from your weights as possible;

• Skinny guys need less than 20 to 30 minutes of cardio per session;

• When you’re a skinny guy, you should only do cardio two to four times each week;

• Prior to doing a cardio workout, skinny guys should always consume enough calories to have a full stomach;

• A protein-carb workout drink is ideal after a skinny guy works out;

• Long endurance training should be avoided, for skinny guys;

• As a bulky guy, you should do cardio directly after your weights;

• Bulky guys should combine long, slow and interval cardio;

• If you’re extremely bulky, you may want to consider doing cardio seven to 10 times per week. Don’t exceed this recommendation;

• In order to lose fat, bulky guys need to do cardio on an empty stomach to lose weight quicker;

• Sipping on a protein drink will help bulky guys avoid muscle loss.

Alright, today we're going to cover some common questions you may have
about the Stage Shredded Status DVD's before
they sell out...

==> Click here to learn how this transformation went down...


If you've seen the video but have some questions before ordering:

Question: Is SSS a documentary of Vince Delmonte's transformation or is there an actual program included?

Answer: Yes, SSS includes an entire program (covered on 3 of the 8 disks) and it was filmed with former NFL lineman and NPC level bodybuilder Ryan Watson! They are both pretty jacked up in this workout so it's pretty motivating too!

What Vince is going to do for anyone who orders is send you the printable workout sheets of the Stage Shredded Status workout program! Just email him your receipt to the help desk for proof of purchase!

You'll love this program because it relies on a variance of rep ranges to target, specifically, the Type 11a & Type 1a muscle fibers which create the training effect of
hypertrophy and strength-endurance. The combos generate a lot of lactate to boost growth hormone levels to assist in fat loss. You don't do super heavy loads because heavy lifting does not involve enough mechanical stress to promote fat loss.
Plus, you would not normally lift super heavy when you get leaner because your joints have less fluid and fat to protect them from the bigger forces.

Question: What if I have more than 50 lbs to lose?

Answer: Heck, Vince had 30 lbs to lose so you're programming
is going to be no different than his. The only difference is that you have an extra 8-10 weeks to travel. Let's go!

==> Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!



Question: Is SSS for a complete beginner?

Answer: If Vince only cared about selling his DVD's I would say yes but if you have less than one year experience in his crazy fitness world, you'll probably find his approach a little too hardcore for now. Sit this one up unless you're absolutely intrigued to see how this goes down.

The weight training program is far too advanced and you would be better off learning the nutritional principles in No Nonsense Muscle Building, which focuses on a balanced approach to eating. You need to master a balanced
approach before implementing some of the more advanced things they did.

Question: I noticed you had an ENTIRE cupboard full of supplements.
Am I supposed to take all of those?!?!

Answer: When it comes to supplementation, that's a personal choice.

In the DVD's Vince explains WHY he takes what he takes and encourages you to just sit back and consider it an educational experience. Then, as you choose, start to add one new supplement a month and measure
the response. There are SO MANY supplements he's interested in trying himself but he likes to add one new thing at a time so he will get there when he gets there.

Question: What if I only have 10 lbs of fat to lose?

Answer: Again, the same principles apply and you'll learn how Vince adjusted his cardio intensity and frequency as he gets closer to the show to ensure he does not lose muscle the last few weeks.

You'll see EXACTLY how he changed his diet from phase to phase (He changed it three times throughout the 16 weeks) and you'll see some creative ways to switch around your macros and food sources
that assist with fat loss, WITHOUT dropping your calories.

==> Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!

Question: Is Ben Pakulski in any of the DVD's?

Answer: YES! The first 2 DVDs start off in Toronto when Vince is looking pretty bulky and they get 2 hours of coaching on the gym floor with Ben & Intentions! If you bought MI40 then you already have this footage but it's worth reviewing and owning it on hardcopy. I know that every time I watch this footage, I re learn something new and then BOOM, I have a better workout!

If you don't have this footage, heck, the first 2 hours is worth 3x the price of the DVDs because Ben bills $150 an hour! This is the kind of information that propelled him into the ranks of the top ten bodybuilders in the world this past month!

Question: How long are the DVDs on sale?

Answer: It depends... we have about 550 left in stock now and the $50 off sale ends Sunday night or whenever he sells out... Whatever comes first.

Trust that helps and THANK YOU for your interest in Vince's work. This is, by far, the best fat loss resource he's ever released. Grab it while you can!

Here is the $50 Off Discount link to get your DVDs shipped right now!

Get 6-Pack Abs By Summertime!


P.S. Vince ships all over the world!

Today my family is getting out this stuff they call Christmas decorations and I'm helping. There's even a little tree just my size in the room where I sleep!



It's kind of exciting, but this decorating thing can make a girl tired!
-Grace

Surviving the 2012 Transition involves dealing with loads of uncertainty and requires continuous adaptation.

There is no avoiding it. The only constant anymore is constant change.

This is something our forebears didn't have to worry about. For hundreds of generations, nothing much changed. They could mosey along with their noses to the agricultural grindstone, doing the same thing their parents and grandparents and greatgrandparents did. We have it in our genes to like things this way (mostly).

But that's not the reality any longer.

Surviving 2012 calls for a different approach, because life is different... even from 10 years ago!

Changes that took millennia in the beginning of time, half a millennium around the time of Christ, and decades in the 1900's are now occurring at 20 day intervals! We can't see anymore where we're going or what's coming next -- the only certainty is that it's coming fast.

And we have to change the way we live, to live with the change.

The more you hang on to what you already know, what you're comfortable with, the harder these times will feel and the more difficulty you'll have surviving the 2012 Transition. We are all being called to immense rapid change. It's natural to want things to slow down... but they won't.

And the more you resist it, the more suffering you create for yourself.

So let go of resistance.

Practice letting go easily and flowing with the tide of change.

I call this Dancing Lightly On The Edge. If you're standing on ground that keeps shifting underfoot, you just have to stay light on your feet.

It's kind of like levitation. 

I read one guidebook on levitation said it's a matter of switching your gravitational "pole" -- instead of being held by the gravity of Earth, you are held by the gravity of the Sun or Moon or stars. Then you naturally "fall" upward.

If you can shift your "polarity" from worldly-existence to Divine-process, you will be upheld by that energy.

What I mean is by worldly existence is holding onto ideas like... "I have to look out for myself first" "It's work work work that makes the world go 'round" "I must stay in control in order to survive" "I want things to go back to the way they were" "I already know who I am, and all I need is better stuff and a more obliging lover to make me happy" "All that spiritual mumbo-jumbo is pure fantasy; the world is made of dead rock, man is at the pinnacle of evolution, and the physical world is real enough for me!"

This is a recipe for not surviving the 2012 Transition! It's a recipe for a very hard, unpleasant life!

The more you can switch to Divine process, the more easily, successfully, and beautifully your life will flow.

That means working from ideas like... "The more I help others, the more I ultimately help myself." "It's love that will save me, and compassionate kindness that will save the Earth." "I rest my life in the hands of the Divine, and so I am perfectly safe." "I am part of the most wondrous evolution ever experienced, and I am thrilled to allow it to flow through me." "I am Divine Light; I am Divine Love; I need nothing else: I am One with everything." "The only real reality is Consciousness."

Surviving 2012 is do-able. It may even be easy, depending on how well you master this skill.

In fact, it could very well be the best thing ever, as the entire planet is uplifted to this more beautiful state of consciousness!

With Bright Blessings,

REVISION #1

Dear Query Shark,

I am writing to you seeking representation for my 122,000-word adult fantasy novel THE CROSSOVER.

This is better than the 137K you had the first time, but paring down to under 120K is a good idea.

The last thing you want is an agent seeing the word count and swiping left without reading another word.

When ELENORE and BENAIAH

don't cap character names.

 inadvertently stumble across a portal to another world.

 Elenore just wants to gather evidence of their strange discovery to prove it to her university colleagues.

None of this matters, not really.

The story starts when they arrive in Swordlandia.

Let's refocus to make that clear.

Driven by her curiosity, she

Eleanora and Ben find a portal and of course, they want to see where it leads.

She leads Ben, her horse, and her dog through the portal.

Not to pick nits but did you notice the dog is never mentioned again?

Having your dog with you in a strange land would be comforting, no?

And does the dog get superpowers too?

They pop popping out in an entirely different universe.

This is a big moment in the query. Making it a separate short sentence gives it power and drama.

You want to stay in Elenore's point of view here, so let's revise this:

Two sword-bearing forces arrive with one obvious goal:

They're met by two, separate sword-bearing forces.

Let's add separate here so the reader doesn't think these are two platoons of the same company.

capture the strangers from another world.

We don't really need to know what the SBFs want. They're not the important antagonist.

 Elenore is captured by the king's brigade, and Ben is captured by the resistance movement. against the king.

Let your reader do some of the work here. If you say resistance movement, the reader will fill in that they're resisting the King. 

From their captors inform them that they learn that when they entered the portal, they passed through “the pathways” and  coming through the portal developed gave them abilities  that allow them to wield energy from the space between worlds.

Out of desperation to

Desperate to reunite and return home, Elenore and Ben accept separate, yet similar deals.

So, you learn you have superpowers. What's the first thing you want to do?

Give them up and go home?

Really?

Cause if you told me I had superpowers, I'd want to know what they were, and how I could use them to do fun stuff, like fly (Sharknado!), or eat ice cream without sacrificing my svelte sharkly silhouette, or get the world to quit using the phrase safety deposit box (it's safe deposit box, and yes this is a hill I will die on.)

But here you have her using her abilities (still unspecified) to do something that she doesn't have a stake in. Why would she do it?

When we're puzzled by why a character acts in what seems to be an illogical or unrealistic way, we're NOT engaged.  You want your readers to engage, to care what happens to Elenore (and the dog!!!)

Elenore agrees to use her new abilities to help the king recapture the same city where Ben is held, and Ben agrees to use his powers to aid in the movement  resistance and to dethrone the king who captured Elenore.

These two characters don't seem to have much depth or personality.

It's ESSENTIAL that your characters be interesting and right now they seem lacking in imagination or sense of adventure.

 As part of the deal, Elenore gains a vast understanding of the nature of time, reality, and mortality from the space between worlds.

Well, that's nice but what can she DO?

 Despite that knowledge, she doesn’t realize the danger they are in.

Of course not. What's the fun of that.

VICTORIA, Elenore’s mentor,

wait, what?
Who the heck is Victoria?

And WHERE is she? As in which side of the portal.

Introducing a main character this late in the game is confusing.

has no idea that she is fated to inadvertently catalyze the end of the universe, causing it to be wiped from existence layer by layer. 

Ho hum.

If a character is fated for something they don't have any choice in the matter.

The essence of a good story is what choices the characters face and what path they choose.

Ben’s captor, the leader of the resistance movement against the king, might be the only one with information on how to prevent the destruction of the universe and has no intentions of sharing it. Unaware of their larger role, Elenore and Ben are sure their hardships will come to an end if they can manage to avoid manipulation and survive long enough to see the deal through, but it is only a matter of time before Victoria finds a way to seize power from the king, setting the unraveling of the universe into motion.

Ok, who's the antagonist here?

You've got (as you did in the first version) too much going on.

You don't need as much world building as you think.

You need to focus on Elenore. She seems to be the main character.

What does she want?

Make sure what she wants makes sense to us the reader.

You're in an alien world with superpowers! What would you want to do?

Then give us a sense of the dilemma she faces

There must be some sort of conflict or there's no plot.

You do need more three-dimensional characters and we must have a better sense of choices and stakes.

The style, tone, and characters of THE CROSSOVER will appeal to readers of are most comparable to A.K. Larkwood’s The Unspoken Name meets and Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library.

Here's the description of The Unspoken Name

What if you knew how and when you will die?

Csorwe does—she will climb the mountain, enter the Shrine of the Unspoken, and gain the most honored title: sacrifice.

But on the day of her foretold death, a powerful mage offers her a new fate. Leave with him, and live. Turn away from her destiny and her god to become a thief, a spy, an assassin—the wizard's loyal sword. Topple an empire and help him reclaim his seat of power.

But Csorwe will soon learn—gods remember, and if you live long enough, all debts come due.

Notice there is almost NO world building.

There's one sentence of set up.

The choices the main character faces are clear, as are the stakes.

All in fewer than 100 words.

This is your goal.

You have 380 in the query.

It is intended to be the first installment of a series that I hope will span 3-5 books.

It can stand alone but I envision it as the start of a series

new paragraph for personalization

(Insert personalization here).

I am querying you because you like kale and I like rabbits (or whatever.)

Thank you for your consideration,

Focus.

Pare down the events and increase character development.

There are a million portal stories in my inbox.

Show me (don't tell me) how yours is better, faster, more enticing.

I'd start with the dog.

That's interesting.

******

Initial query

Question/Concern:

I have been submitting queries to agents since May of 2022 and have only received kind rejections so far. I have decided to blame this on my query letter for now, and so I come to you with my struggle after reading the archives. I have a complex first installment of a fantasy series in progress, and it seems impossible to include the necessary information in a concise manner. I have left many important characters unmentioned, and I have failed to include the aspect of my plot that involves the protagonist's impending trek through the infinite layers of an infinite universe in a war of fate and freewill. In addition to that, I feel that some of the appealing aspects of my book, like the presence of ghosts and alternate timelines, alternating chapter perspectives, intricate arcs, and relatable societal problems can't be included without getting to a 1200 word query letter.

Dear Query Shark,

 I am writing to seek representation for THE CROSSOVER, which is a 137,000-word new adult, fantasy fiction novel.

For starters, your word count is high. 137K is an auto-pass for many agents.

Your category, new adult, is one that you might see referenced on Goodreads etc., but isn't all that useful for queries. New Adult started as a way to categorize books for readers above the YA age range (that tops out at 18.)

All too quickly it morphed into porn light. Think 50 Shades of Grey.

Now it's trying to make a comeback but in a query you want to use the most solid description you can. Your book is fantasy. You don't need to say fiction, cause fantasy is not non-fiction. (Current events not withstanding.)

And fiction novel is an instant pass for a lot of us.

So: The Crossover (137,000 words) is fantasy.

Except when you start with this, it just gives agents permission to pass without reading another word.  That's why I suggest you put this at the close of the query, NO MATTER WHAT.

(Personalize for agent here).

Personalization goes below as well. So many writers botch this up that it's just safer not to lead with it.

Comps go at the end too.

And you can NOT use Stephen King as a comp. He is in a category by himself. People read his books just cause he wrote them.  You don't have that advantage yet.

THE CROSSOVER is most comparable to Stephen King’s newest novel Fairy Tale mixed with Leigh Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone.

Shadow and Bone was first pubbed in 2013. It's too old to be an effective comp.

ELENORE (23), a curiosity-driven student of science,

This is not a police blotter, or a newspaper article. Don't put the ages in parenthesis.

and BENAIAH (Ben, 22), her grumbly companion with a heart of gold,

heart of gold is a cliche.

Agents are looking for things that are fresh and new.

inadvertently stumble across a portal to another world on their rental property in Indiana.

Elenore’s desire to prove their discovery compels them to enter the undulating void despite a vague, menacing message found graffitied on their wall promising death to Ben should they go.

What?

What does prove their discovery mean?

Also, try this without all the modifiers.

Elenore’s desire to prove their discovery compels them to enter the undulating void despite a vague, menacing message found graffitied on their wall promising death to Ben should they go.

A lot easier to understand without all the descriptors.

Over-modifying is a common flaw in early work.

Watch for it, and pluck out everything you don't need.

And you don't need anywhere near as much filigree as you think.

After entering the portal and becoming separated by the sword-bearing forces in the Kingdom of Corva, Elenore and Ben are informed that when they entered the portal, they passed through “the pathways” and developed abilities.

This sentence is 35 words long.

That means you've got too much information for your reader to readily absorb.

Short form work like a query usually means you want short sentences.

Other people have some abilities, but allegedly, none can wield the pathways like those that walk through time.

The construction of this sentence seems to convey that pathways walk through time.

My guess is that's not what you mean.

An easy fix is just to change out that for who.

Other people have some abilities, but allegedly, none can wield the pathways like those who walk through time.

According to the warring rulers, Elenore and Ben are potentially the most powerful in the kingdom. Out of desperation, Elenore and Ben accept similar deals by agreeing to help in the conflict that envelopes the kingdom in exchange for help returning home.

At this point I'm utterly befuddled.

Unbeknownst to Elenore, Victoria, her mentor and advisor to the misguided King Gael, has a vicious ambition to seize power. Despite the knowledge Elenore gains on her journey, she doesn’t realize the danger they are in. Opal, the scheming, untrustworthy leader of the resistance movement that captured Ben, is the only one who understands the extent of the danger they are in, and she intends to use the knowledge to bargain for her life when Elenore and the king invade the city she holds. Meanwhile, Victoria  has no idea her antagonistic actions will eventually lead to the collapse of the infinite layers in their cyclical universe. Even worse, Elenore, Ben, a dog, and several other friends are the only ones that stand a chance of altering fate enough to prevent it. They must decide between risking their lives for a foreign universe or living with the guilt of doing nothing to prevent its demise.

There's so much information here it's impossible to follow.

In a query you don't need anywhere near this much detail.

 What you need is:

What does the main character want?

What's blocking them from getting it?

What choices do they face?

What's at stake with those choices?

That's all you need.

I have been writing for as long as I can remember.

This may be true. It's not useful to say so in a query.

The ideas that shaped this novel often surfaced in the night, causing me to leap out of bed and take notes on a post-it stuck to a book next to my bed.

Also not useful in the query.

Now, as a 25-year-old high school English teacher with a Bachelor of Arts in English Education, I finally had the tools to sit down and finish it.

Also not useful

The manuscript is complete and ready for review.

I hope so, cause if you're querying an unfinished book, its an automatic pass.

In other words, no need to  state the obvious.

And review means something else. You're submitting your ms for consideration. But you still don't need to say so.

Agents do not generally care about how long you've loved to write or your process.

 I truly appreciate you taking the time to read my query,

Don't sound like I'm doing you a favor here.

I'm not.

I'm reading your query with the idea of becoming extremely wealthy by the sweat of your brow.

and I look forward to the possibility of hearing from you. 

Yea, my colleagues are notorious for no response means no which I find highly objectionable.

But let's not give them leave to do that by acknowledging it. Let them sauté in their own shame.

Thank you for your consideration, 

Unfortunately you've got a novel that has all the aspects of every other portal fantasy, and nothing that makes it distinctly your own.

That's the challenge to all writers. Fresh and new doesn't mean stories we've never seen. It means a different take or a different approach.

First Blood is essentially a fresh look at Beowulf.

Clueless is a new way to tell the story in Emma.

Every Jack Reacher novel is a Western, really: A stranger comes to town, shakes things up, then leaves.

A Western with no horses, no six-guns, no cattle rustlers. In other words, a fresh take.

So the problem here isn't the query. It's the novel.

Time to think about what you can change to put your own distinct spin on a portal fantasy.

 Think about what prompted you to write this. What do you want to say that hasn't been said before. 

As for your question: The problem is not lack of detail. It's too much detail. Agents don't expect to know everything about the book from the query. The query is the introduction, a brief taste of the meal that is the book.

You need to pare down here, but also figure out what makes your book distinctive, and get that on the page.

Revision #1

Dear Query Shark:

Lily Carter has hid her singing voice away for years for fear of rejection.

Lily Carter has hidden, not hid.

These kinds of mistakes can fell your query before you know it.

If grammar and syntax aren't your forte, it's ok. It's not a sign of bad writing, or low character.

Just recognize that it's a stumbling block and make friends with Miss Picklepuss, the copy editor from hell. She'll help you remove these gremlins. It might cost some money, but this is something you do want to invest in.

Her best friend (now ex-best friend)

you don't need both of these.

Your reader will intuit that they were once best friends if she's now the ex-best friend.

Watch for this kind of over-writing.

made it clear she should never sing in public if she can help it.

Suggest taking this last part out just to give the sentence more drama.

So Lily sings only when she's sure no one else can hear her. Imagine her embarrassment when the new kid in town catches her in the act.

Imagine her embarrassment takes us out of the narrative.

You're telling, not showing.

Avoid that.

She's embarrassed.

But embarrassed is such a tepid word for the plot point that's driving the narrative.

Here's a good place to get out the Thesaurus and dig around for more vivid words.

mortified

humiliated

(and there are others, take your pick)

Already at odds with Jack Sutton after an encounter with him at school, Lily expects nothing but scorn from him.

Again, pare out what you don't need.

This is the meat and tater tots of revising. Early drafts are almost always too long. Pare out everything you don't need.

But instead of making fun of her, he compliments her, throwing all her preconceived notions about what a terrible singer she is into question. 

It's NOT a preconceived notion, is it? It's what someone told her (someone with some sort of malevolent agenda it sounds like.)

Internal conflicts in a query are huge red flag. It tells me you don't have a handle on the plot, and the full manuscript may not hold together very well. Again, here's where Miss Picklepuss can be of great value.

Suddenly, the aggravating yet undeniably charming Jack keeps is popping up all over the place. At school, at church, and then there’s the real icing on the cake. It turns out that Jack is the brother of her new best friend.

Do we need to know any of this?

This next sentence connects to the previous one more directly.

With a musical background himself and a dogged belief that Lily has talent, Jack makes it his mission to get Lily back on the horse. Or the stage, so to speak.

Consider:

Jack has a musical background himself, and seems to think Lily has talent.

He makes it his mission to get Lily back on stage.

There's a LOT to be said for starting your sentences with the subject, not burying it in a clause.

As Lily spends more time with Jack and his spirited sister Cat, a self-consciousness Lily didn't even realize she had developed begins to mend.

She didn't realize she was self-conscious about her singing?

Are you serious here? That just doesn't make sense unless Lily is blindingly un-self aware.

She's literally stopped singing outside of the shower.

She even gets up the courage to enter the high school talent show thanks to a little prodding from Jack and his agreement to help her prepare for the show. When Jack starts giving her singing lessons, Lily slowly begins believing in herself again.  

But Lily has a few obstacles to overcome. Like that pesky stage fright thing. Or the ex-best friend who unexpectedly resurfaces and tries to sabotage Lily’s chances. Or the growing feelings she’s developing for her best friend’s brother. Lily must rely on her friends, her family, and her new-found confidence in order to get ready for talent show day.

You've got a lot of stuff going on here, but not very much plot.

What's the problem here?

Lily has been told she shouldn't sing in public.

What problem does that create?

Then Jack comes along and tells her she does have a singing voice.

What problem does that solve?

TAKE A DEEP BREATH is a young adult novel complete at 60,000 words

You don't need to say it's complete.

That's assumed.

And this just doesn't feel YA to me. There's no sense of Lily or Jack learning to navigate in the real world. There's no real romantic element.

that portrays the sarcastic, yet vulnerable Lily along with her lovable family and kindhearted friends.

Sarcastic?

Not in these pages she isn't.

A story of personal growth with a touch of romance, this novel is similar to Maybe This Time by Kasie West or Eyes on Me by Rachel Harris.

I am a small town Minnesota gal, where a person can go from wearing a sweatshirt and wool socks one day to a tank top and sandals the next. This is my first novel.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

you've got a lot of concept but not enough story.

You need more plot on the page. The problem Lily faces, and the choices to solve, and what's at stake.

It will help if we see those things for Jack too.

You've only got 60K here so you've a got a LOT of room to add more depth.

******

Original query

This query is a completely revised one from the one I started with as that one got me a couple of partial requests, but nothing serious. Now, since I've started using this query, I haven't even gotten a nibble. 

In the first  53 words you have two problems that could lead to an immediate pass.

While agents aren't actively looking for reasons to pass if you give them two in short order, that's what's going to happen.

My first query was succinct but a bit commercial in my opinion. So I tried to offer a quirkier approach with this one.

 A bit commercial isn't a bad thing. Agents are looking for things they can sell (ie commercial).

 I did beef up my bio after reading your archives. 

141 words is about 100 too many. See notes below. An extensive bio doesn't make up for problems in the query so lets focus on that.

You also stated in the archives that queries should have at least 2 comps. Is it okay to comp an author instead like I did?  

 No, see notes below

Dear Query Shark:

People are creatures of habit. They take the same route to school every day, they buy the same brand of soap they always do, and they listen to the same radio station, day in and day out. And they also sit at the same school desk every morning in first period English class.

When I read this, I have no idea if you're querying for fiction or non-fiction.

That's a big problem when agents are getting dozens of queries a week.

Big problem = pass.

It's more effective to start with the character's name and what problem she faces

At least, that’s what Lily Carter used to do.

Consider instead:

People are creatures of habit.

Lily Carter is a creature of habit.

They take the same route to school every day, they buy the same brand of soap they always do, and they listen to the same radio station, day in and day out.

She takes the same route to school every day, buys the same brand of soap, listens to the same radio station, day in and day you.

 And they also sit at the same school desk every morning in first period English class.

And sit at the same desk every morning in first period English.

But when you revise like this the real problem becomes very clear.

You're describing someone who doesn't sound very interesting. In fact, she sounds dull as dishwater.

That's DEATH in a query, particularly in YA.

Death = pass.

Now, if there's a reason Lily is so methodical in her daily life, that would give her some depth.

Is this how she feels safe?

Did she read Gustave Flaubert and take his advice to heart: "Be regular and orderly in your life, so that you may be violent and original in your work."

Let's give Lily some context here.

 Until Jack Sutton just waltzed in and stole it right out from under her. The gentlemanly thing to do would have been to give it back. Instead, he refused to acknowledge her rightful claim of dibs and in the process managed to ruffle her feathers, push her buttons, flip her lid, and get her goat. If you know what I mean.

Because he sat in her chair?

Does this seem like a very intense reaction to something that's essentially not important?  It's not like he said her mum wears army boots.

So, Jack is the last person on earth that Lily wants witnessing her humiliating attempt at singing.

There's no connection here between Jack stealing her seat in English class and witnessing her humiliating attempt at singing.

How is it that Jack is in her life at all?

Lily has been very careful to keep her voice under wraps after receiving rejection at the hands of a close friend.

What was Lily trying to do that a close friend rejected her?

Specifics are much more compelling than generalities.

You don't want to be awash in too much detail, but you need more than you have here.

Surprisingly though, Jack challenges her belief of mediocrity. 

What he actually does is challenge her belief that her singing is mediocre.

You need razor sharp, precise sentences in a query.

He actually begins to make her question a lot of things. Like the idea that the talent show is out of her league. Maybe, it's not. Maybe, she could even win it.

Although there is the small matter of that pesky stage fright thing…

So far, there's nothing interesting about Lily, and she sounds rather like a basket case. This is a HUGE problem in YA that is character driven.

As Lily gets closer to Jack and his spirited sister Cat, a self-consciousness Lily didn't even realize she had developed begins to mend. Thanks to a little prodding from her new friends, Lily signs up for the talent show. 

 What does Jack see in Lily that he's investing time and emotional support in her?

But someone from Lily's past is determined to see her fail. 

This is absolutely out of left field. With no context it's like a big ink blot on the page.

Let's give the antagonist some more page time.

Lily must rely on her friends, her family, and her new-found confidence in order to overcome the obstacles in her way. 

What obstacles? I thought there was an antagonist trying to thwart her.

Take a Deep Breath is a young adult novel complete at 60,000 words that portrays the sarcastic, yet vulnerable Lily along with her lovable family and kindhearted friends. A story of personal growth with a touch of romance, this novel will appeal to fans of Kasie West.

You need to use titles, not authors. Those titles need to be recent, no earlier than 2019.

Your bio is 141 words. Given a query should be 250-300 you've spent a larger percentage of your word count on your bio and not your book.

I am a small town Minnesota gal, where a person can go from wearing a sweatshirt and wool socks one day to a t-shirt and sandals the next. With a penchant for staying in every night with my two cats and a DVD collection to rival a Blockbuster store (are there any of those in existence anymore?) one might be tempted to call me an introvert. If it weren't for my extroverted husband, I just might be. Kudos to him for getting me out of my comfort zone and making friends with the outside world. Who knew I would enjoy things like pickleball and Korean BBQ? (not at the same time, for heaven's sake). This is my first novel and

 I'm looking to team up with an agent who can help an eager, wide-eyed newcomer navigate the ropes of the literary world.

This kind of statement is counter-productive.

Agents see this as code for needy and naive.  Even if you are these things, they're not something you'd put in your bio.  Remember a query is also about the agent assessing if you're someone they want to work with. Someone who clearly will need a lot of hand holding is less likely to get a nod. Just leave this kind of statement out.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

This does not have enough edge to be YA.

It sounds middle grade to me.

There's no sense of Lily coming to terms with the larger world, or figuring out her place in it.

It's all character development and very light on plot.

There's not enough story on the page.

Please visit In Memoriam: Janet Reid for more about the late great Shark. 

REVIEW – If you spend any time with a vehicle in the outdoors, you’ll encounter a need for a shovel.  It can be for digging out of a snowbank, cleaning out a fire pit, or for me most recently, seeing an awesome patch of wild roadside black eyed susan and bee balm (wild flowers) to […]

REVIEW – 3D printing is fun and challenging. You can download countless free files from sites like Thingiverse and Printables, Cults 3D, and Thangs, or create your own using Fusion 360 TinkerCAD. It takes time, patience, and a love of tinkering, but it can be great fun. Many 3D printing enthusiasts will agree that incessant […]

Just two more sleeps until The Spellshop comes out and book tour begins! Over the next week and a half, I'm headed to Vermont, Atlanta, Brooklyn, Phoenix, Knoxville, and Chapel Hill! I'm so excited I could burst! Please come join me!

http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/appearances.htm

Very excited for San Diego Comic-Con!!! Here's my full schedule. Hope to see you there!

I'm off to Glasgow, Scotland, later this week for Worldcon (the World Science Fiction Convention)! Very excited!!! Here's my full schedule. Hope to see you there! 

COVER REVEAL!!! So over-the-moon excited to share with you the cover of my next cozy fantasy, THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE! Gorgeous art by Lulu Chen and design by Esther S. Kim. With cool mint sprayed edges!! Coming July 2025 from Bramble!

THE ENCHANTED GREENHOUSE is set in the same world as THE SPELLSHOP. It's about Terlu Perna, the librarian who created Caz and was transformed into a wooden statue as punishment. That should have been the end of her story. Yet one day, Terlu wakes up...

I am so absolutely in love with the cover, and I can't wait for this book to be out in the world!

Now available for pre-order!

http://www.sarahbethdurst.com/EnchantedGreenhouse.htm

Tomorrow (Wed 10/16) at 7pm!!! Very excited to be part of this panel at the fabulous Ripped Bodice in Brooklyn! Hope you can join us! (Tickets required.)

https://www.therippedbodicela.com/brooklyn-events

Very excited for New York Comic Con!!! I'll be there on Thursday and Sunday. Hope to see you there!

Had a wonderful time at The Ripped Bodice last night!!! Excited for NYCC today!

We’ve had our eye on Clank! Legacy: Acquisitions Incorporated since its debut in 2019 from Renegade Game Studios. In our house, we love legacy games and we own most of the other Clank! editions, so it seemed like a good fit.

Boy, was it ever! We finally got the game a couple of weeks ago, and immediately fell for it so hard during the first few minutes of the game that we played it nearly every day with our 11 year old twin sons, Max and Locke.

In Clank! Legacy: AI, designed by Andy Clautice and Paul Dennen, players take on the role of employees at a small organization. At the beginning of the legacy campaign, the organization is in the process of applying to become a franchise of Acquisitions Incorporated, a megacorp famed for its for-profit adventuring services. We loved the narrative and appreciated the touches of authenticity,  like the franchise charter agreement.  We’ve played through other legacy campaign games over the past year where the narrative fell flat at times (I’m looking at you Aeon’s End Legacy), but Clank! Legacy: AI doesn’t suffer from that problem. Every game session (mission) introduces new and compelling twists in the ongoing storyline and is able to hold our interests. And the gameplay - including choices, restrictions, and goals-  makes sense within the narrative universe Clautice and Dennen have constructed for us. We found that the narrative so captured our kids attention that they were better about staying in the game each mission long enough to explore the terrain to everyone’s satisfaction as compared to their more typical race to the finish behavior when playing the standard edition of Clank! .  I was very pleased with that aspect of this edition as I really enjoy exploring the far reaches of the board.

The game mechanisms here are based on those in the base game (primarily deck building and point to point movement), with players descending into lower depths on the central board, tasked with obtaining rewards and escaping to safety before the game ends. But the legacy edition of this midweight strategy game introduces additional non-player characters, rewards, perils, and side quests as play unfolds. Spaces on the board have narrative icons indicating passages, from the Book of Secrets, which are to be read when a player lands on the space for the first time. These passages will often direct players to apply stickers to the game board, cards, or the rule book.  They may also reveal new game components such as additional cards or tokens. Clank! Legacy: AI  also utilizes both sides of the central game board, providing a lot of real estate for legacy modifications.

I didn’t notice a lot of analysis paralysis during our plays of Clank! Legacy: AI. The requirement to play all cards each hand coupled with the movement restrictions on the board provided only a few reasonable options to choose from each turn in terms of movement. Occasional delays were seen when players selected cards to recruit using skill points, but even then, it was never more than a few moments of hesitation. Each game session wraps up in a couple hours or less.

The components (the central board, the cards, cardboard tokens, etc) are of average quality for the price point. Our franchise board (where you deposit clank, hold market items for purchase, track dragon rage, and track player damage) arrived slightly warped and seems to have warped further as it has sat out on our game table (we’ve had some wild temperature swings here in snowy Iowa), but otherwise everything arrived in and remains in excellent condition.

The artwork (implemented by a full team of artists, including Clay Brooks, Anita Burrell, Derek Herring, Raul Ramos, Nate Storm, and Alain Viesca) is on point. It reinforces the narrative, is kid-friendly, and is generally unobtrusive, which is just what I’m looking for in this price range. It also blends seamlessly with the artwork in the base game, so when the legacy campaign is finished and players want to mix components of this game with the base game, it works visually.

The rulebook was generally clear and we didn’t need to look up much online, although we did have a few questions about some of the language on the cards that we didn’t feel the rulebook addressed (and we also couldn’t find a clear answer online, so it might just have been a brain block unique to us).

Every aspect of Clank! Legacy: AI  has been well planned and executed by Clautice and Dennen. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed playing this edition with my family and I’m hoping they’ve got additional legacy campaign expansions in the works for this IP as I can’t wait to see what they come up with next. Solid storytelling, from start to finish.

   -------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Players: 2-4 (We played with 4)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 90 minutes per game
Game type: deck building, point to point movement, legacy, campaign
Retail Price: $75-100

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.

During the early reign of King Charles III (Charles the Simple) in West Francia, the area was besieged by Viking invasions, while the memory of the previous and frequent Saracen incursions was still fresh in the minds of the general populace. The Saracens were Muslim - mostly Berbers from Africa – and had only let up on the Franks because they’d been pushed back by the Vikings. The local nobles were left largely to fend the Vikings off on their own.

In Paladins of the West Kingdom, players assume the role of these unnamed nobles (most likely Dukes), working to keep the region safe and spread their faith (historically: Christianity).  I really enjoy this theme, and in fact, playing the game nurtured my interest in the historical kingdom of West Francia.  That’s why I can tell you that while the rulebook notes that the King lends his Paladins to the nobles to aid them in their quest, I’m giving all the credit for the loan to the designers, Shem Phillips and S J MacDonald.  Paladins are a fictional group of knights in French lore (think of them as similar to the Knights of the Round Table in British lore),  or alternatively, a translation of the Frankish royal title of Palatine Count, which was a noble that focused mostly on judicial and governing matters and was not known as a knight.

I’ve won a few and lost a few games of Paladins. It’s a worker placement game that incorporates card drafting.  At the beginning of every round, players draw the next three Paladin cards in their deck and choose one to play for the round, one to put back on top of their Paladin deck to draw during the next round, and one to put at the bottom of their Paladin deck. Each Paladin boosts faith, influence, or strength (usually more than one of these), and also provides a special benefit. If you’ve got players prone to analysis paralysis, this is where they may get stalled, especially in the first few rounds. After Paladins are selected and put into play, workers for the round are selected by each player and put into their personal resource supply. You have many stations on your player board to place your workers during the round,  and when you do so, your moves are independent and walled off from your opponents (they cannot tamper with your player board or placement of your workers on it). However, there is one area on the general board (the King’s Favour card area) where you can also place your workers and those spots are competitive. Also contributing to player interaction – some of the stations on your player board where you place workers allow you to move resources (monks and outposts) from your player board to the main board, consuming a competitive spot that provides a placement reward. And all the resource cards on display around the main board – the townsfolk you can hire, the walls you can build, the outsiders you can attack or convert, the tavern cards you draw workers from, and the suspicion cards you gain $$$ from, are all lucrative items for which players must compete. So we’ve got a good mix of independent action and player interaction in Paladins.  There are not a lot of opportunities for  “take that” behavior in this game, other than perhaps timing your draw of suspicion cards to trigger an inquisition when you know your opponents will suffer a penalty and be forced to take on more debt.

Giving the game more intellectual weight, worker placement on your board and the actions workers trigger often have additional requirements beyond number and types (i.e., colors) of workers. The actions triggered by worker placement may be constrained by your strength, faith, or influence level. And some spots or actions triggered by placing workers in those spots require money or provisions. All of these prerequisites can be gained as rewards from prior actions triggered by various worker placement, so much of the game is finding the most efficient ways to obtain prerequisites associated with the series of actions you’d like to take as the game progresses. I worried this decision making would be a weak point for analysis paralysis (I’m a pretty good candidate for testing potential AP, as I’m prone to it) and while there can be a bit of that during the game, nothing excessive was logged during our plays.  

The artists (Shem Phillips on graphic design and Mihajlo Dimitrievski on illustrations) have printed helpful indicators next to each placement location on boards and cards to identify any prerequisites as well as rewards. It’s an example of how the designers have worked with the artists to layer meaningful game information into the layers of artwork. In fact, all of the symbols implemented across the game components are really quite helpful. Bonus: once you familiarize yourself with them in one of the West Kingdom games, you’ll have learned them for the entire series as the artists reuse the same symbols in all three titles.

Beyond the iconography, the illustrations and other artwork are lovely. As with the iconography, the same style of artwork is implemented across the entire series and it carries the theme well. There was a good mix of cisgender representation, but not a lot of racial diversity, especially as would be suggested by the historical setting of the game (for example, Berbers in the area had skin tones ranging from light to to dark brown).

The components for Paladins of the West Kingdom are well made.

There are wooden meeples, an assortment of foldable boards constructed from cardboard, and various plastic coated card decks. We found the rulebook to be clear and direct, and there weren’t any items we had to look up online. It would have been nice if the designers included a player aid in the components, but I was able to compensate for the oversight by downloading a detailed player aid another user uploaded to the forums on BoardGameGeek.com.

Paladins of the West Kingdom is my favorite game of the West Kingdom series. All of the worker types and available actions make sense within the context of the theme, the mechanisms (worker placement, card drafting) integrate tightly with the scoring system to provide opportunities for building a victory point engine, and the game is complex and interesting yet still accessible for new players. The game is also a great value at its price point (approx $50) given you’ll get dozens of multiplayer games in before even a hint of same-o same-o creeps in. Many games with comparable replayability and complexity are double the price of Paladins. There’s also a solo play mode, which provides an additional way to explore the game.

-------------------------------------------------

Publisher: Renegade Game Studios
Players: 1-4 (We played with 2)
Actual Playing Time (vs the guideline on the box): About 2 hours per game
Game type: card drafting, worker placement
Retail Price: $50

Rating:

Jenni’s rating scale:
OUI: I would play this game again; this game is ok. I probably would not buy this game myself but I would play it with those who own it and if someone gave it to me I would keep it.
OUI OUI: I would play this game again; this game is good. I would buy this game.
OUI OUI OUI: I LOVE THIS GAME. I MUST HAVE THIS GAME.
NON: I would not play this game again. I would return this game or give it away if it was given to me.