There seems to be some anxiety from Conrad fans that the ending might change based on unfounded and made up rumours of how S3 is going to play out. I think most Jeremiah fans have accepted the endgame (and are either just going to ignore S3 and pretend S2 is the ending or are bracing themselves and already coming up with arguments about why S3 sucks and unearned and blah blah blah - but of course there's some who just want to watch the show to see how it actually ends regardless if they get their happy ending or not.)
But it has got me thinking - let's say Jeremiah and Belly do end up together by the end. Let's pretend we're in a parallel universe where this happens. What has the show done so far to set up that ending? How has show positioned Belly and Jeremiah's characters by the end of S2 so them being together in S3 is a satisfying payoff? What has been set up so far that will pay off in S3 for Jeremiah and Belly to be together?
Because there's dozens and dozens of set up and foreshadowing for Belly and Conrad (so many that I'm not going to name any here because we'll be here all day.) And the character journey that they are going on just seems to obviously point towards a certain ending - not to mention that if Belly and Jeremiah were to end together then why make a season 3?
I think Conrad fans rely too much on Jenny Han quotes and the book to argue that Belly and Conrad are endgame where it's just obvious from the actual text of the show itself.
But maybe is the fact that it's too obvious that will lead to a Jeremiah and Belly endgame (but is that subversion in the spirit of the show?) The point I'm trying to make is that the text of the show is pointing towards a certain ending which is why Conrad fans shouldn't be worried...
...but let's say that Jeremiah and Belly did end up together. Has the show done a good enough job setting that up? What scenes/moments/motifs/themes are in the show that set up that ending? Is it equal to the number of set ups that Conrad and Belly have?
Does set up and careful planning actually matter in a story like this? What is the show saying with a Jeremiah and Belly endgame vs a Belly and Conrad endgame?
That's a lot of questions I know but they all come in good faith and I'd really love to hear all your thoughts, no matter what ship you're in.

I discovered Rezi on my last job search in 2021/22. Working on my resume is an activity that is always difficult to start but Rezi made that step feel so much less daunting. It’s not just words on a page, you walk through refining each piece and get those helpful realtime tips as you go. It found plenty of opportunities to improve that first resume and the end product was so much better.
I was at a job that I was miserable at, but wanted to get into a different industry which was really difficult to do since my experience was not an exact match to what other industries were looking for.
From that point I committed to using Rezi, got a pro license and started applying to at least one job a day. I got into a great rhythm with Rezi and would always copy/paste the job description to check keywords and spent a few minutes changing some phrasing to hit more keywords and to get to a resume score of 100.
I also used the AI cover letter tool to get a really good cover letter started which I ended up using with minor adjustments throughout my job search. I still did some rewriting and adjusting myself but much like the resume, it took away that blank page feeling by giving me a structure and it made it approachable.
Ultimately I kept up this effort for a few months. One resume a day every day for over 100 days. That’s over 100 tailored resumes sent out and the interviews started rolling in.
Getting more interviews proved I was getting past the ATS automated resume screener and actually making it to a person which was my main goal. The person may not hire me but I needed to make sure my resume was at least being looked at and now it was. I kept my foot on the gas and continued applying every day until I got an offer.
In the end I got 3 solid offers which helped me negotiate and ended up at the perfect fit job at a Fortune 500 company in a completely different industry than I had ever worked. I fully believe that I got this job because of my vastly improved and tailored resume from using Rezi which got my resume to the hiring manager. If I had continued sending my old resume I honestly don’t think I would have most of the interviews I did.
I recommend this to everyone I know and just used it again yesterday to give my resume a refresh. What I love is that this helps you represent yourself the best way possible and gives you a leg up getting through the automated resume screener at companies. It feels like having a resume coach walking through each resume with you and suggesting small tweaks to give you a better chance. You never have a chance if your resume never makes it to a person. With Rezi you can put the best version of yourself on paper and get through that screener to get more interviews. And with more interviews you’ll get better at those too and have more and more chances to get the offer.

F50, SW 225, CW 194, GW 145 (3 months in, started on M, moved to Z, now on C - NO differences between them).
I learned these things over the course of the last 3 months the hard way. Hopefully this will help someone.
On day one, be prepared with a few things that will make your transition using this med a whole lot smoother for you.
Hydration, protein, and fiber are essential. If this med affects your sleep (it does me), see below.
ELECTROLYTES: Get yourself some electrolytes that you like and will take daily. I don’t like sugary things, and use ‘HRDWRK (electrolytes powder that is sugar free with magnesium, potassium, and sodium)’ once or twice a day. I discovered how essential this was by getting dizzy 2 times to the point of nearly passing out when trying to garden. It was my own fault because I hadn’t eaten enough and plain water wasn’t enough. Electrolytes stopped my dizziness completely (was even happening just bending over) and occasional headaches. I take this first thing in the morning before I do anything else. Sometimes, if I had a super busy day, I will drink another glass of it in the evening.
PROTEIN: After thinking I could possibly get enough protein through food (hardheaded know it all syndrome 🙄😂)only for 6 weeks, I finally gave in and got some readymade protein drinks. I use ‘Lean Body’ strawberry and vanilla (others taste too sweet to me). This has really helped with my weight loss and not losing muscle. I drink them for lunch only now (with some fruit on the side), which frees up my lunch hour to go to the gym. Never in a million years did I think that sentence would apply to me!!!
FIBER: Constipation for many on this med is a daily reality. Get a good fiber routine. I use ‘NOW: psyllium husk powder’ once daily in the evening and it helps tremendously. Fruit and other things help, but I still find I need the supplement daily.
SLEEP ISSUES/INSOMNIA: I have always had sleep issues, but had finally gotten them worked out before starting on this journey. That ended with the first shot. After several types of trial and error and 4-5 hours of sleep for 6 weeks (!!!!), I finally found the combination that works for me - Magnesium with Zinc combo that also has Vitamin D for absorption PLUS a TIME RELEASED melatonin. I took regular melatonin before and woke up like clockwork at 3am. The time release changed everything. This has helped me get back to 7+ hours of sleep consistently. I take the Magnesium supplement in the morning and then take the melatonin (3mg) when I’m completely ready for sleep…not just getting in bed, but turning everything off and going to sleep. I also got a blue screen protector for my phone because I like to read on my phone for about an hour while in bed. These things have been a game changer for me in the sleep department.
My last suggestion is to set a weigh and measure day each MONTH (with photos, because it’s an amazing transformation). I see so many posts on here where people weigh every single day and get discouraged because the scale goes up a couple of pounds. This happens naturally in our bodies depending on so many factors. None of us need any discouragement when it comes to getting healthy. It’s a process that is individual for each of us. I will say since starting I have not one single time been discouraged or disappointed when seeing the numbers on the scale after a month of waiting. The number is always less…and that is a HUGE win!
I hope this helps someone - best of luck to all of you. I really enjoy seeing everyone’s progress and stories. It’s how I end my night every day, seeing how great everyone on here is doing and I especially love the transformation photos. These posts really keep me encouraged and positive!!

I am just tired of my family for hounding me about my actions. I just want to know if I should forgive or go no contact because I am tired if arguing for 12 years. So this happend to me when I was 15. I was a sophomore in high school and I was dating a girl we will call (L), so me and L have been going out for about a year and I figured all was great between us. Her family liked me and my family liked her. I figured this is the girl I mind spend forever with. Just wanted to give a little back story. On the day of my birthday me and my little brother we will call (J) shared a birthday we were born 2 years apart but almost on the same day me the 17 and him the 16 of August. It was a good celebration we were all having fun my friends and his friends were attending and the family was there everything was in full swing. L and myself got separated after awhile and I was talking to the guests and sharing jokes and other discussions. I figured L went to my bedroom as she didn't like large crowds. After some time one of J's friends came to look for me and ask were J was. I haven't seen him in awhile either. So I went to search the house. I didn't find him on the main floor or even the renovated basement so I went to the second floor and was hearing thumping sounds. At first I checked my room and no one was in there and J's room was right across from mine. Then I heard a moan. I step up to J's door and opened it. It didn't take long for me to see what was going on. I saw my brother the person I trusted most, the guy I thought always had my bad screwing my girlfriend. I screamed and J and L tried to explain but I walked away. I went outside to get some air and the party was silent at this point. My grandpa asked what happened and I told him everything. He looked sad but said nothing. While I was outside L tried to talk to me and I told her it was over and she is a cheating whore and knew where I stood on cheating. Then she told me something else that crushed my heart even more. She told me that she used me to get to J and they have been screwing around since the 3 month of our relationship. I was devastated, I wanted to hurt my brother. To give a little bit of size difference I was 6ft 260 mostly muscle and boxed alot. My little brother was 5'11 athletic fram but didn't have the same strength I did. So I went inside and wanted to hurt him I was seeing red I didn't care what happened. My grandma stepped in front of me to stop me. My grandma told me if I hurt him I should pack up and leave and the whole family was on her side. I was so mad, I was the one who got hurt and betrayed and now this is happening. So I couldn't do anything as it was my only home. I felt I was left out and the family didn't help my pain either. The. J and L started openly dating. Everyday was a slap in the face to me and my family condoned this kind of behavior. After I hit 18 I moved out keeping low contact and haven't been to abother family gathering since. Of course J and L didn't last and they broke up about 2 years later. J would become a serial cheater and everytine one of his girlfriend would reach out to me ask me why I wasn't around I would always ask if they are J's girlfriend and tell them to leave because he is a serial cheater and will hurt them. Now fast forward the last 4 months everyone in my family wants me to rejoin them and say they miss me or some other crap but I can't get over what happened and how little I felt in that moment and how they all condoned his behavior. I have changed my number 6 times and somehow they keep getting ahold of me. They don't know where I live thank God but I am starting to get worn down. The last time any of them saw me was when my grandpa passed away and I left right away after the funeral. So reddit I am here to ask should I forgive and try again or just keep my peace and move on from them.

Throughout my 15-year career, I've often been frustrated with acceptance criteria. But at my current position, I've been especially frustrated with the fact that I, an IC, am writing all of the acceptance criteria for the projects I work on.
Here's my current role in project planning:

1. PM comes to me with an idea and asks about feasibility.
   
2. Later, PM comes back with a basic PRD and a design and asks for a gut check estimate (i.e. small/medium/large).
   
3. PM and designer take design to the rest of the product and design team for feedback.
   
4. PM and designer incorporate feedback into design. PM then creates an epic with a Spike ticket, which is assigned to me and pulled into the next sprint.
   
5. I thoroughly review the PRD and designs and make comments right in Confluence or Figma to ask clarifying questions. I may schedule time with PM and designer so we are all on the same page.
   
6. I write the JIRA stories and add acceptance criteria and estimates (the expected outcome of the spike).
   
7. In Sprint Planning, PM determines the team's capacity and asks me to pull into the upcoming sprint a specific number of points from the project (there are usually multiple projects in flight at once, plus some additional bugs or "quick win" stories as well).
   
8. PM prioritizes the sprint, and during the sprint, team members take tickets off the top of the queue. So, while I am the project lead, I may not be actually completing the tickets. Engineers complete stories according to the acceptance criteria I have written.
   
9. When stories are completed, the ones tagged for QA are picked up by the QA engineer, who determines if the work completed matches the acceptance criteria. If not, they add bug tickets to the epic, which I then review and pull into the sprint to fix.
   
10. Once all stories are completed and have gone through QA and all of QA's bug tickets are completed, the PM then takes a look at the feature themselves and turns on the feature flag.
    

I have a number of issues with the way this goes, but the biggest one is this: the acceptance criteria in the PRD are generally very sparse. If the feature is for adding a new page for viewing a report on contact activity, the acceptance criteria might just say "As an administrator, I can view contact activity on the new report page."
It is then my responsibility to come up with specific acceptance criteria by combing through the design, reading comments, looking through various Slack threads, etc. So what other engineers and what QA is basing this project on is coming from me, not from the product owner.
The PM generally does not review the tickets in the epic. They do not look at the acceptance criteria I have written to ensure all of the work is encapsulated there. They barely review the project as it is in flight. It is up to me to self-report on how the project is going.
The result here is that after the project is released, the PM often comes back and says, "Why does this work like this?" and "Why doesn't this do this thing?" and it really frustrates me because all I really had to go off of what the designs, which don't always include everything. It's up to me to remember to include things like empty states, error states, loading states, and other unhappy paths. Additionally, a lot of the time certain parts of a project will just be summed up with "Make it work the same way as this other feature does", but of course there are always nuances with older code. Plus, that means that when I write acceptance criteria, I have to comb through another feature's UX and code and try to document everything it does so other engineers and QA know how to implement and test it.
Is this the way things go for you? Is there a better way? Should I be expecting more from my PM or is this just what I have to deal with?

Yesterday I posed the question, "What is overeating"? The reason for my question was to point out what I consider an extremely important factor in overcoming the addiction to overeating:
Everyone with recovery from compulsive overeating measures their daily food in one way or another. Moreover, that measurement is implicitly related to calories.
Why do I point this out? One reason is that I have 14 years of recovery from overeating by limiting the calories I consume per day to less than 2500 (an amount that's considered normal calorie intake for a male). But invariably, whenever I share this with people in OA, they tell me that what I'm doing is just a diet and has nothing to do with the real OA program.
Hence my question "What is overeating"? All the responses I received to that question agreed that overeating is eating more food than is normal. Responders also shared their particular strategies for not overeating. Some have a very precise meal plan based on portion control, while others rely more on an awareness of how much they are eating. Either way, everyone used some kind of yardstick of measurement related to the number of calories they eat. They're not explicitly concerned with calorie counting per se, but given that they're assessing how much they eat -- they're still essentially counting calories.
The assessment of how much one eats, with a limit to how much, is precisely what I've been doing for the past 14 years with great benefits both physical and mental. I just prefer to be more exact with that assessment of how much I eat, which is why I believe tracking calories with a daily calorie limit is an eating plan that could help the overeater find recovery.
And if I might not so humbly add, help OA greatly increase its effectiveness in an overweight world that desperately needs it.

In today's digital age, a robust online presence is essential for childcare centers to attract parents and foster trust. Here's a quick guide to the must-have content for effective Childcare Center Websites.

1. Engaging Homepage

• Visual Appeal: Use eye-catching graphics, warm colors, and welcoming images to reflect a nurturing environment.
• Intuitive Navigation: Ensure easy access to key sections like programs, about us, and contact details.
• Key Information: Clearly present the center’s mission, values, and unique selling points.
• Interactive Elements: Incorporate sliders, videos, and other interactive features to enhance engagement.
• Testimonials and Awards: Display testimonials and recognitions to build trust.
• Upcoming Events: Keep content fresh with announcements and events.
• Responsive Design: Ensure the site looks great on all devices.
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Guide visitors to take actions like scheduling tours or contacting the center.

2. Informative Program Pages

• Program Overviews: Outline age groups, curriculum structure, and focus areas.
• Curriculum Highlights: Detail educational philosophies and key subjects.
• Daily Activities: Describe a typical day, balancing education and play.
• Enrichment Opportunities: Highlight extracurricular activities and unique offerings.
• Teacher Profiles: Introduce educators with their qualifications and experience.
• Facilities Showcase: Use images and videos to present learning environments.
• Parent Involvement: Emphasize collaboration through updates and events.
• Testimonials: Include experiences from parents to add authenticity.

3. About Us Section

• Our Story: Share the history and journey of the center.
• Vision and Values: Clearly define the center’s philosophy.
• Team Showcase: Introduce staff with profiles and photos.
• Center Facilities: Use visuals to show classrooms and play areas.
• Educational Approach: Explain teaching methodologies and curriculum.
• Parent Testimonials: Add real-life experiences to build trust.
• Awards and Recognition: Highlight achievements to reinforce credibility.
• Community Engagement: Showcase involvement in local activities.
• FAQs: Address common questions about enrollment, safety, and policies.

4. Blog and News Updates

• Expert Insights: Share educational trends and parenting advice.
• Highlighting Events: Celebrate milestones and achievements.
• Parent Testimonials: Feature success stories and positive experiences.
• Educational Resources: Offer materials and activity ideas for home use.
• Community Initiatives: Highlight local engagement and partnerships.
• Policy Updates: Keep parents informed about changes.
• Interactive Features: Use polls, surveys, and Q&A sessions.
• Regular Posting: Maintain a consistent schedule for updates.

5. Testimonials and Success Stories

• Authentic Voices: Share real-life perspectives from parents.
• Establishing Credibility: Highlight children's achievements and milestones.
• Community Strengthening: Foster a sense of belonging through shared experiences.
• Personal Touch: Humanize the childcare experience with heartfelt stories.
• Child Development Impact: Illustrate the center’s positive influence on growth.
• Transparency: Build trust with honest communication.
• Diverse Experiences: Reflect inclusivity in testimonials.
• Feedback Loop: Encourage parent feedback to continuously improve.

6. Virtual Tours and Multimedia

• First Impressions: Offer a visual introduction to the center.
• Navigating Spaces: Let parents explore classrooms and play areas.
• Showcasing Facilities: Use high-quality visuals for transparency.
• Interactive Exploration: Engage parents with clickable hotspots and 360-degree views.
• Addressing Concerns: Visually reassure parents about safety and cleanliness.
• Inclusive Representation: Show diversity in activities and participants.
• Enriching Content: Include videos of daily activities and special events.
• User-Friendly Design: Ensure easy navigation and accessibility.

7. Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

• Purposeful Navigation: Guide visitors to key actions like scheduling tours and enrollment.
• Streamlining Enrollment: Make it easy for parents to inquire and apply.
• Event Participation: Encourage community engagement with event CTAs.
• Contact Information: Facilitate communication with easy-to-find contact details.
• Newsletter Sign-ups: Build ongoing relationships through updates.
• Social Media Engagement: Expand reach with social media follow prompts.
• Support Initiatives: Encourage donations and support.
• Emergency Information: Provide clear access to urgent resources.

Conclusion: The Digital Frontier of Childcare Marketing

A comprehensive digital presence is essential for childcare centers to attract and connect with families. By integrating these key content elements, childcare centers can build lasting relationships based on trust and shared values.
In today's digital age, a robust online presence is essential for childcare centers to attract parents and foster trust. Here's a quick guide to the must-have content for effective Childcare Center Websites.

1. Engaging Homepage

• Visual Appeal: Use eye-catching graphics, warm colors, and welcoming images to reflect a nurturing environment.
• Intuitive Navigation: Ensure easy access to key sections like programs, about us, and contact details.
• Key Information: Clearly present the center’s mission, values, and unique selling points.
• Interactive Elements: Incorporate sliders, videos, and other interactive features to enhance engagement.
• Testimonials and Awards: Display testimonials and recognitions to build trust.
• Upcoming Events: Keep content fresh with announcements and events.
• Responsive Design: Ensure the site looks great on all devices.
• Call-to-Action (CTA): Guide visitors to take actions like scheduling tours or contacting the center.

2. Informative Program Pages

• Program Overviews: Outline age groups, curriculum structure, and focus areas.
• Curriculum Highlights: Detail educational philosophies and key subjects.
• Daily Activities: Describe a typical day, balancing education and play.
• Enrichment Opportunities: Highlight extracurricular activities and unique offerings.
• Teacher Profiles: Introduce educators with their qualifications and experience.
• Facilities Showcase: Use images and videos to present learning environments.
• Parent Involvement: Emphasize collaboration through updates and events.
• Testimonials: Include experiences from parents to add authenticity.

3. About Us Section

• Our Story: Share the history and journey of the center.
• Vision and Values: Clearly define the center’s philosophy.
• Team Showcase: Introduce staff with profiles and photos.
• Center Facilities: Use visuals to show classrooms and play areas.
• Educational Approach: Explain teaching methodologies and curriculum.
• Parent Testimonials: Add real-life experiences to build trust.
• Awards and Recognition: Highlight achievements to reinforce credibility.
• Community Engagement: Showcase involvement in local activities.
• FAQs: Address common questions about enrollment, safety, and policies.

4. Blog and News Updates

• Expert Insights: Share educational trends and parenting advice.
• Highlighting Events: Celebrate milestones and achievements.
• Parent Testimonials: Feature success stories and positive experiences.
• Educational Resources: Offer materials and activity ideas for home use.
• Community Initiatives: Highlight local engagement and partnerships.
• Policy Updates: Keep parents informed about changes.
• Interactive Features: Use polls, surveys, and Q&A sessions.
• Regular Posting: Maintain a consistent schedule for updates.

5. Testimonials and Success Stories

• Authentic Voices: Share real-life perspectives from parents.
• Establishing Credibility: Highlight children's achievements and milestones.
• Community Strengthening: Foster a sense of belonging through shared experiences.
• Personal Touch: Humanize the childcare experience with heartfelt stories.
• Child Development Impact: Illustrate the center’s positive influence on growth.
• Transparency: Build trust with honest communication.
• Diverse Experiences: Reflect inclusivity in testimonials.
• Feedback Loop: Encourage parent feedback to continuously improve.

6. Virtual Tours and Multimedia

• First Impressions: Offer a visual introduction to the center.
• Navigating Spaces: Let parents explore classrooms and play areas.
• Showcasing Facilities: Use high-quality visuals for transparency.
• Interactive Exploration: Engage parents with clickable hotspots and 360-degree views.
• Addressing Concerns: Visually reassure parents about safety and cleanliness.
• Inclusive Representation: Show diversity in activities and participants.
• Enriching Content: Include videos of daily activities and special events.
• User-Friendly Design: Ensure easy navigation and accessibility.

7. Clear Calls-to-Action (CTAs)

• Purposeful Navigation: Guide visitors to key actions like scheduling tours and enrollment.
• Streamlining Enrollment: Make it easy for parents to inquire and apply.
• Event Participation: Encourage community engagement with event CTAs.
• Contact Information: Facilitate communication with easy-to-find contact details.
• Newsletter Sign-ups: Build ongoing relationships through updates.
• Social Media Engagement: Expand reach with social media follow prompts.
• Support Initiatives: Encourage donations and support.
• Emergency Information: Provide clear access to urgent resources.

Conclusion: The Digital Frontier of Childcare Marketing

A comprehensive digital presence is essential for childcare centers to attract and connect with families. By integrating these key content elements, childcare centers can build lasting relationships based on trust and shared values.

Keep your bio short, sweet and lighthearted. Avoid things and statements that can be used against you. You don't need something special or extravagant and having a bio that's too long or in depth can look as too tryhard. Instead work on your pictures, because in the end those will decide if someone swipes left or right on you regardless of what they say... because only once they decided that you are cute enough they will open up your bio
Tease slightly. Be humorous. Tell them how good your life is without directly saying it. And pictures pictures pictures. Each picture needs to be high quality. Bio doesn't have the same strength as decent pictures.
Write something that tells me about you--what you like to eat, do in your free time, watch on tv, last cool place you visited or want to visit next, whatever. The worst is guys who write nothing or just their IG handle, FFS. If that's all the time and thoughtfullness you can put into a profile, I'm going to assume that's what I'll get from you in a relationship. Also, is it laziness or complete lack of self-awareness? This is why writing even a little bit about yourself can be really important in this context.
Every girl is gonna be attracted to something different and the character limit blows. Just be yourself
OK, so, you officially downloaded Bumble, picked out your best dating-app-friendly photos, and brushed up on some Bumble openers. Now, it's time to create the best Bumble bio. But where do you begin?
Creating a good Bumble bio that stands out may sound like an intimidating task, but it's super important you don't half-ass this step. According to Bumble's US data from April, "those who added a bio to their profile experienced an increase in their average number of monthly matches than members who didn't," a Bumble spokesperson says. Clearly, it's important for a better dating experience.
But just because crafting the best Bumble bios sounds intimidating doesn't mean it has to be. Really, it starts with thinking about all of the things that make you you. With the help of a Bumble spokesperson, here are some tips and ideas on how to craft the best Bumble bios to score quality matches.
Tips on How to Write the Best Bumble Bio
Complete your entire profile first. Before deciding on what to include in your bio, Bumble recommends filling out the rest of your profile. Add to your "Interests," "Basics," and "Lifestyle" badges, which will give people an idea of who you are and what you're looking for. Then, take a look at your profile and decide what about yourself is missing from it. Per the Bumble spokesperson, some of the most popular Bumble profiles included information on a user's dating intentions, exercise interest, and zodiac sign.
Highlight the things that matter to you. The Bumble spokesperson said this will help to make sure you're matching with people who share similar interests as you. For example, if it's important you match with a fellow dog-lover, make sure you mention something about your own dog (or the type of dog you want). To stand out from the billion other profiles that mention a dog, don't be afraid to add some spice to your profile. "Try to jazz your bio up a little by exaggerating your statements or cracking a joke," the Bumble spokesperson says. Just remember, you don't have to say too much — brevity is key.
Focus on the positive and not the negative. Bumble data shows that positivity is one of the most important traits for Bumble members worldwide, according to the spokesperson. Instead of listing out what you don't want in a partner, hone in on what you do want. "Focusing on what you do like can be a much better way to find someone who ticks all your boxes," the rep says. In other words, don't use your bio to list out things you're not looking for in a dating-app match.
Ask those closest to you what makes you special. Ask your friends or family what key things they think a date should know about you, the Bumble spokesperson suggests. "They won't overthink it in the same way you might."
Once you're ready to write your bio, here are some ideas to get the juices flowing. Feel free to copy and paste, or tailor the below to your individual preferences and needs.
Funny Bumble Bios
"Would do dirty things to [insert the name of your favorite sports team's coach] if it meant the [your favorite sports team] would win."
"If you're not messing up the lyrics to 'Fergalicious' with me, I don't want it."
"My definition of loving me unconditionally is always giving me the last mozzarella stick."
"As an English major, you will 1,000 percent make my day if you prove you know the difference between your and you're."
"Always hungry, and I mean, physically hungry — not hungry for success, or anything."
Best Bumble Bios
"If you're down to rave with me, you have my heart."
"Looking for someone who also has an adventurous palate!"
"I'm DTF. Yes, that's down to food — always."
"If attending a Saturday morning SoulCycle date is your idea of 'fun,' I'm yours."
"What's your most controversial opinion?"
Sexy Bumble Bios
"Ice cream is my second favorite thing to eat in bed."
"In the mood for a glizzy, and not the hot dog kind."
"Looking to cook my famous lasagna in exchange for you showing me your favorite bagel spot the next morning."
"Nothing will turn me on more than a match who knows their Harry Potter."
"My favorite summer activity is playing sand volleyball, so you could say I'm pretty good on my knees."
Good Bumble Bios
"Team sweets over salty. Don't agree? Give me your best argument."
"Tell me about your next tattoo or piercing."
"I would sell my soul for an unlimited supply of my mom's homemade dumplings."
"Must know your thoughts on Beyoncé's new country album."
"If you like Pizza Hut breadsticks, Taylor Swift, and drinking way too many espresso martinis, we'll get along just great."

At the beginning of the Holy Order's seizure of power in America, the majority of the Royal Navy was recalled to Europe and Africa to protect the motherland and the Europan African colonies, given the great maritime power of the new enemy, this left the Dutch, Indonesian, Japanese, British forces and those of its colonies not protected against the Holy Order navy in the Pacific which, however had been reduced in size given that many of the fleets engaged in the Pacific Ocean were now used for the Atlantic, even if in the period 1945-46 clashes with the Holy Order in the Pacific area had occurred very rarely, the problem of one of the most important oceans devoid of allied naval forces except for the Soviet Pacific Fleet which was not equipped with a large number of cruisers and destroyers nor in their totality of battleships and aircraft carriers to think of countering the Holy Order Fleet in a single skirmish and the Australian and New Zealand navies with some addition of Japanese ships that managed to escape the nuclear holocaust that Japan had become that they were incapable of blocking in a serious way the Forces of the Holy Order if they had mounted a serious offensive remained, and this made an already difficult situation even more desperate given that the Royal navy was engaged together with the Soviet Arctic, Black Sea and Baltic Fleets and what remained of the Marine nationale against the Atlantic Fleet of the Holy Order which began to make more and more sorties arriving even near the Portuguese coasts. This situation could not continue and after a raid by the forces of the Holy Order which hit both Singapore and Java hard the Dutch government asked for help from the only navy that was still intact and with numbers that could rival the weakened Holy Order Pacific Fleet the Italian Regia Marina, It wasn't a bolt from the blue however, given that some under-the-table meetings had already taken place and the Royal British Navy, under orders from the Admiralty, was helping to modernize, repair and finish the various ships that formed the Italian Fleet in secret. Thus the Pacific fleet left Taranto towards the ports of Singapore and Batavia. More to come (This is just the beginning of an idea that I have had in mind for some time, the composition of the allied fleet in the Pacific will be done on another date)

During all the confusion of student loan payments starting again, my loans were moved from Great Lakes to Nelnet. Back in August ‘23 I submitted all of the necessary paperwork for them for my IDR, which was all processed through studentaid.gov. My application was approved and I have been paying on my loans this entire year. Suddenly, I get an email saying my application was closed because they have been trying to contact me to get more “documents.” First, I have had zero communication from them about this. Second, it doesn’t make sense that I would be paying some arbitrary number on my loans this entire year if my application wasn’t complete. I called and they told me I have to redo my entire application with them because some “documents” weren’t given. Nobody could tell me what these mysterious “documents” were. After talking with someone for 90 minutes they said they could reopen my application and I just need to send in my proof of income. I verified with them that I do not need to redo my application three times. I sent those in and thought all should be fine because it still shows I owe them money within the first week of June. My spouse now makes more money so if I redo my application my payment would nearly double. Well, joke’s on me, just received another email saying I need to redo my entire application. Someone screwed up on their end and now I have to fix it for them.

Im 13 and in year 8 and had the homework task of writing a paragraph about how Boxer from animal farm progresses throughout the novella and here it is! I know it’s not good so I would really appreciate feedback. I know it’s really long sorry
Throughout the novella, Orwell depicts Boxer as a selfless and sympathetic worker while simultaneously portraying him as gullible, and exposing the manipulation he suffers due to his naïveté and lack of literacy. Napoleon, after successfully exiling Snowball, decides that the building of the windmill will in fact go ahead, requiring the animals’ input. In an attempt to inspirit the animals, Squealer is then tasked with giving motivational speeches to them, yet it was often the sight of Boxer ‘toiling up the slope inch by inch, his breath coming fast, the tips of his hoofs clawing at the ground and his great sides matted with sweat’ that filled everyone with motivation. The use of listing emphasises the substantial amount of strength and vigour exerted by Boxer while working on the farm. Concurrently, it also creates a vivid image of travail using figurative language, which causes the reader to feel sympathetic for Boxer. The verb [toil] implies prolonged and fatiguing labour, uncovering how much he sacrifices for the farm and revealing Boxer’s altruistic and heroic character. Alternatively, it also connotes exploitation, with employees being forced to work unjust, strenuous hours with little to no return, exposing how his willingness to drudge is leveraged by Napoleon. Despite enduring all these struggles, he never complains or protests and in fact regularly states ‘[he] will work harder’. Boxer’s frequent repetition of this maxim reveals how devoted he is to the animal’s cause and his unwavering dedication to Napoleon’s regime. It also demonstrates how he is a vital and key part of Animal Farm’s revolt, as he already works more than any other animal on the farm yet still endeavours to give more, shown by him reducing his sleep hours. His constant desire to ‘work harder’ is what has led to him becoming one of the most respected animals on Animal Farm, a quality Napoleon manipulates to promote his ideology towards the other animals. The first person personal pronoun ‘I’ depicts the accountability Boxer feels and through this, we are able to infer that in the face of adversity, he finds faults in himself, rather than in Napoleon and his governance, hinting at his indoctrination; he is convinced that Napoleon, as the leader of Animal Farm, can do no wrong, and any problems on the farm are a result of his own shortcomings, illustrating his naïveté. Alternately, ‘I’ could perhaps elucidate how he sacrifices himself to ameliorate the lives of the other animals on the farm, conveying his self-abnegation. This is not the only motto Boxer adopts, as after Squealer diminishes Snowball’s accomplishments in the Battle of the Cowshed, Boxer has the chance to think things over, and comes to the conclusion that ‘Napoleon is always right’. The use of the simple sentence betrays Boxer’s innocence, as well as his lack of intelligence, as he is not able to deliberate complex pieces of information. Furthermore, this quote demonstrates that he believes everything told to him by Napoleon, uncovering the degree to which Napoleon reveres and follows the Pigs, indicating how he has been indoctrinated. This is further emphasised by the use of logical fallacy; it is impossible for Napoleon to be right all of the time, implying that this statement is false. From this, we come to acknowledge that Boxer is tricked and manipulated into assuming an argument that, with logic, can be easily dismantled, uncovering how it is lack of literacy that is allowing Napoleon to abuse and terrorise him and the other animals. Boxer is an extremely strong, large horse, as well as the most powerful on the farm, meaning he could easily take down the Pigs with brute strength, but as he isn’t able to realise the corruptness of Napoleon’s regime or speak out against him, he ends up suffering. The adverb ‘always’ implies the fact that there is no room for dissent against Napoleon and emphasises how absolute his power is. It also suggests continued faith and devotion to a leader, and this devotion keeps the animals passive towards Napoleon and his abuse. Boxer, due to his lack of intelligence, is constantly at the receiving end of this abuse, contrary the fact that ‘Nothing on the farm could’ve been achieved without [him], whose strength seemed equal to that of all the other animals put together’ The use of the declarative sentence asserts Boxer’s significance on the farm, and shows that his strength was essential and critical to the farm’s development. By emphasising Boxer’s brawn through comparison, Orwell, while conveying his notably immense physical strength, prompts you to consider the fact that he is still just a subordinate worker, due to his stupidity. Additionally, the phrase might allude to how Boxer, as arguably the most influential character on Animal Farm, is used by Napoleon to control and manipulate the other animals: by indoctrinating Boxer with his corrupt ideologies, Napoleon is able to sway the others, meaning without Boxer and his influence, Napoleon would not have been able to dominate and command Animal Farm, exhibiting his role as a pawn in enabling Napoleon’s regime. The pronoun ‘nothing’ exaggerates the extent to which the farm requires Napoleon’s input, by suggesting that absolutely nothing could have been achieved without him, indicating his prominence. Contrarily, ‘nothing’ also connotes insignificance, which exposes how despite everything Boxer does for the farm, he is a mere tool utilised by Napoleon to further his agenda. Orwell has arguably presented Boxer this way to reveal how without the benefit of learning and the ability to express themselves, people are susceptible to being exploited by their ruthless leaders, despite their strength in number. Boxer serves as an allegory for the Russian proletariat, who helped to oust Tsar Nicholas II and establish the Soviet Union, but were eventually betrayed by the Communist government under Stalin. His sympathetic character alludes to how the proletariat were abused by Stalin unjustly, and is a result of Orwell’s intent to prompt pity for the Russian proletariat from the reader. By characterising Boxer as gullible and naïve despite his immense physical power, Orwell uncovers the ease Stalin had in enforcing his power over the numerous proletariat and manipulating them due to their lack of literacy and simultaneously criticises Stalin’s tyrannical rule of the people powering his nation.

Phil Aston: Hello and welcome to the Now Spinning Magazine podcast with me, Phil Aston. And in this episode, I’m absolutely delighted to have with me Tony Martin, one of the UK’s most underrated rock vocalists. You’ve had a really varied career, but what we’re going to talk about today specifically is Black Sabbath and the new “Anno Domini” box set. So, welcome, Tony. Thank you so much for joining me.
Tony Martin: Thank you. And thank you for having me on the show. Very cool.
Phil Aston: A bit of context, because I think this is kind of helpful for you. My son is 30 now, but when he was 15, he set up a Facebook group, kind of saying, “One day, please can we have the Tony Martin Black Sabbath albums released?” That was 15 years ago. He was still at school, half his lifetime ago. And I think in the early time when he set this up, he may have reached out to you and you might have said something like, “I don’t think it’s gonna happen, Dan.” And here we are, all these years later, and it’s not only happened, but it comes out this Friday. How does that feel to know that these albums are now going to be available again?
Tony Martin: Well, first of all, well done to your son. It took 15 years, but he got it done. To be honest, there’s been a few periods when I didn’t think it was happening. In fact, about a year ago, Tony Iommi’s manager called me and said, “You know what, this is just so complicated. I don’t think we can do this.” So I was resigned to it not happening myself. It’s all to do with band politics, really. There are so many people involved or have their fingers in the pie that they all have to be on board. And there were allegiances changing all over the place, left, right, and center. So in the end, it was getting a bit tiring, but well done to Tony Iommi and BMG. My God, the patience they showed to get this thing together and actually get it out there. Wow. But how does it feel? It feels brilliant, to be honest. I’m very excited. I haven’t actually had these albums in my own hands physically for the past 25 years. I gave all mine away thinking I’d be able to get some more, and I didn’t. They just stopped making them. So to actually physically hold them again is really cool. What a great job they’ve done of it. So I’m thrilled and excited. And I’m helping out now because I’m not in the band, obviously, anymore. So I just offered my help to promote it and they said, “Great, let’s do it.”
Phil Aston: Isn’t it amazing? Because I’ve done quite a few reviews about Black Sabbath box sets and stuff, but this one, within about 12 hours, there’s literally 12,000 views of the review. The love for this period of Black Sabbath is actually huge. It’s grown. It almost feels as if the profile is higher now than it was at the time.
Tony Martin: Yeah, there is a kind of reason for that. Partly people have got over the “it’s the new guy” thing, and also it’s been 25 years since. So now we’re reaching out to a whole other group of people, in addition to those that were already there. But to the outside world, it looks like there was a huge gap, and to me it felt like a huge gap. But actually, the fans were always there. I’ve been waiting myself as well to get this back out there. And it’s just band politics, really. That’s all it is.
Phil Aston: Because you had that period when it was almost as if this part of Sabbath’s history was hidden because of band politics. None of this really happened, which I think probably stirred up more interest and kind of people wanting to find out more.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it could be. It’s an old famous thing, you know, if something ain’t around for a while, people start talking about it. But yeah, it’s a strange thing, the music business. You’re either in fashion or you’re not. But I am just thrilled that they’ve got around it. Just the patience they’ve shown to actually put this together. At one point they were just saying, “We can’t do it.” But I’m really chuffed anyway.
Phil Aston: I imagine there’s been compromises along the way. Lots of fans probably don’t understand how complicated the politics and all the different licenses and everything that goes on over the years, they become more and more entangled. People say, “Where’s Eternal Idol?” But of course, that was a different record label. Different people own it.
Tony Martin: Yeah, absolutely. It’s owned by somebody else. And also Eternal Idol, or “Eternal Idiot,” as we call it, was kind of reissued not that long ago. Really.
Phil Aston: That’s right. With the two CD version, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. So they were kind of thinking, “Well, there’s no real panic because that’s already been done and let’s just move on.” Because that would have wrapped them up in contracts for centuries, I think. I can’t even think that they’ll ever get them to let that go. But they were struggling to get the people involved with these four albums to make up their minds and do stuff. I’ve been all for it all the way along, I have to say. Obviously, because it’s my career, my history. It’s not just the band’s history. It’s ten years of my life that went AWOL. So, yeah, I’ve been up for it all the way along, but some people don’t and it’s taken them a while to get on board.
Phil Aston: I think it’s fantastic. The first one was Headless Cross. You joined one of the biggest rock bands with all that history behind it. You were an established singer with the Alliance. But this was a chance, as you say, with Eternal Idol, you went in and it was already prepared. You sang it, but this one was where you could really put your mark on it, your personality lyrically as well as musically. Can you remember what it was like actually being at the beginning of that? Did you feel comfortable around Iommi and Powell and thinking, “Right, what kind of lyrics am I going to do by Headless Cross?”
Tony Martin: Yeah, I was comfortable by then. Well, kind of. The thing is, with Eternal Idol, if I can just backstep a little bit. The Eternal Idol wasn’t the first call up. The first call up was in 1986 when they were doing the Seventh Star with Glenn Hughes. And that scared me to death because I can’t sing like Glenn Hughes. Nobody can sing like Glenn Hughes. They put me on standby back then, so I’d sort of tentatively had an introduction to Tony Iommi. Then in ’87, they got me in for the audition, and that was the next introduction to Tony Iommi. But because Eternal Idol was already written, that gave me a whole year plus a bit more to find out what this thing was. What the hell was I supposed to do? So just doing Eternal Idol like that was fine by me because I didn’t have to discover anything myself back then. It gave me a chance to get my feet in. So by the time it got to Headless Cross, now I know all the guys, and I kind of know what’s expected of me. I still had to find the “me” that I needed to find. I went around it the only way I could, by focusing on things I was interested in. I couldn’t do the lyrics and melodies that Geezer was writing for Ozzy because that was a generation before me. The stuff that Ronnie was doing was fantastic, but I couldn’t get inside his head. So I had to think about what I was going to do. I had an interest in the old gothic death stuff, like Dracula and Frankenstein, Mary Shelley type writing, and of course, in England, we have Shakespeare. Nobody speaks English like that anymore, that old English text. I thought, “Old English text, gothic death, and Black Sabbath. That might work.” So I put them all together and came up with Headless Cross, which is where I lived. I lived in a village called Headless Cross.
Phil Aston: Yeah, you put that on the map. They weren’t pleased about it. The most recognition I’ve got is my name on a bus stop. And Cozy Powell thought the album needed more death, didn’t he?
Tony Martin: Oh, that’s true. That’s actually true. We were recording “When Death Calls,” and he was in the studio playing, and he suddenly stopped. We went, “You alright?” He went, “Yeah, just remind me, what’s this song called again?” I said, “It’s called When Death Calls.” He said, “I don’t think there’s enough death in it.” And he carried on playing. So, okay, maybe he’s taking the piss, but isn’t it such a great sounding album? As Tony Iommi says, he never left Black Sabbath. So when people criticize him, saying, “You should change the name or whatever,” he never left. So it was still Black Sabbath. The riffs, the guitar sound was reaching new peaks of excellence around this time.
Because when it was just him and Ozzy, for example, it was guitar, that was it. When Geoff Nichols joined during the Dio period, it introduced a few more keyboard things. That allowed Iommi to play solos against those keyboard pads and chords. And then you come along and start sticking 50 tracks of vocal harmonies on it, like in Anno Mundi and stuff like that. It just kept developing. Sabbath isn’t really known for vocal harmonies and keyboards, but underneath that was still Tony Iommi. And it still sounded like Sabbath. We were happy to do that. We just wanted to make Tony happy and do the best for him. It was his band. So we were happy to seek out that Sabbath sound and make sure it did what it said on the tin. A couple of times, like with the Seventh Star thing, he ventured a little bit away from it. Songs like Heart Like a Wheel don’t really make the Black Sabbath sound, but it’s still good stuff. I have great respect for all of the eras that went before. I had to sing all of the songs. So I do have great respect for it. And it’s been an honor, you know, like being part of the whole story. But he was the only one that stuck it out. And we respected him for that. You’re right, they did ask him to change a couple of times. He said, “No, I can’t change now.”
Phil Aston: The next one, if I pronounce this right, it’s Tyr.
Tony Martin: Yeah.
Phil Aston: Because when it came out, me and my friends, actually, because there was no Internet back then and nowhere to go and check it, we did call it Tyr. To be.
Tony Martin: Yeah, Tyr.
Phil Aston: Watch you find in Birmingham. You know what I mean? So it actually rhymes with beer, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It is, yeah. Actually, it’s Tiw, which is Scandinavian for the son of Odin or something.
Phil Aston: Well, this is almost as close, probably, to Sabbath getting into almost a concept album. Isn’t it? This is a collection of songs that in another time and space you probably as a band would have gone out and performed the whole thing.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it wasn’t meant that way, but they were struggling to find a name for the album. We were recording and getting towards the end and the management called us up and said, “We really need a name for this album.” And Cozy said, “I’ve got one. Let’s call it Satanic Verses.” We went, “What, like Salman Rushdie thing?” He said, “Yeah, it would be great publicity.” We said, “Yeah, but we’ll all be dead.” So we did struggle, but they happened across the artwork. We’d done Anno Mundi, we’d done Gates of Valhalla and all that sort of stuff. They went, “What if… Tyr?” It was fine by me. So it took on the Viking sort of theme. By that time, I was thinking, once I’d done Headless Cross and started to have an interest in the Vikings and stuff. As you know, the Vikings haven’t been particularly good for us. They came over and stole all our women and sheep and whatever. But I had an interest in them as well. So I was thinking, every culture, every religion has its dark side. There’s always a devil type in a god type. I thought we could go around the world and I could do this. You could pick up on all sorts of cultures and pick out the dark side of various things. But it was the last kind of… I still did that with various other songs and various other artists. But Tyr was leaning towards that theme.
Phil Aston: It’s an excellent album. Then of course, the strangeness of the politics in Sabbath. Dehumanizer comes along and Dio re-enters the scene. You obviously had an opportunity because every cloud has a silver lining. You can go off and do your solo album at this time. But you did kind of like… It sounds like it was almost a forced relationship, the way that he was and he wasn’t. I mean, how was that period for you? Because you did demo some of the tracks, didn’t you?
Tony Martin: Firstly, it was a shock. I didn’t see that coming at all. Literally just walking out the door to the next writing rehearsals. My managers called up and said, “They don’t want you to go.” From what I recently found out, although I had my suspicions, Tony Iommi said the record label just wasn’t supporting it. They weren’t getting behind us at all. Then they started banding about all different names and stuff, and Ronnie’s name came up. They thought they’d give it a go. He said it was all on and off all the time. After they let me go, it wasn’t too long before Tony called me back and said, “Can you come back?” I said, “No, I can’t. I’m doing my solo album.” More time went by, and he called me back again and said, “Are you sure you can’t come back?” I said, “I’m doing my solo album. I really can’t.” He said, “Do you want to come down and try?” So I did. I went down and tried putting my voice on some of the songs, but it would have meant rewriting everything, and they weren’t going to do that. So I said, “The best thing is if you finish this with Ronnie, get this done and out of the way, then maybe we can talk again later.” So that’s kind of what happened. By that time, I’d done my solo album, which I wanted to get as far away from the Sabbath thing as I could at the time. I went back to doing what the Alliance and some of the bands I’d been with, that middle-of-the-road AOR type stuff. But when they called me back to Sabbath, Polydor dropped my solo album like a brick. They said, “We can’t do this if you’re going to go back with them.” So that got stopped. It’s so confusing. By the time I got back with the guys to Cross Purposes, it didn’t feel that much of a gap for me, because I’ve been talking to them and working with them through the Dehumanizer thing.
Phil Aston: Stylistically, that album, because it was on the IRS label, I know some people have said, “Well, it should be in there.” Stylistically, musically, it’s very different. I mean, you take it out. These four albums in this set, excluding Eternal Idol, they sound like a progression. Dehumanizer sounds like a kind of sidestep. Even the way the riffs are done in the songs, it’s changed. You take the vocalist out, but the music continued. You took you out and it was very different.
Tony Martin: I suppose it does a bit. If I go back and think over it, I guess that’s what it was. It was kind of an interruption into the flow of things. When we were doing Tyr, I thought we were doing really well. I thought we were onto something. Dehumanizer, in that sort of respect, does feel a little bit like an interruption. But there was some good stuff on there. Ronnie’s always been a good singer. I don’t quite know how they feel about it, but it was kind of nothing to do with me. I just let them get on with it.
Phil Aston: After that, Cross Purposes is probably, out of the four albums in this set, my personal favorite. Geezer’s back in the band now, so you’ve got his bubbling bass in there. And again, lyrically, it’s all you. Did you feel any kind of, “Oh, Geezer’s back. Will he want to help out?”
Tony Martin: I did ask. He just said, “No, you can do it.” So I just carried on.
Phil Aston
The reason why I love this album is that it’s varied. A lot of people think of Black Sabbath as the Godfathers of heavy metal, and heavy metal is always heavy metal. But if you think back to albums like Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the seventies, they weren’t all heavy metal. There were all sorts of things on there. There were keyboards and light and shade. This, I felt, connected to that album, because you had light and shade on it. So there were more dynamics in the lyrical delivery and the song delivery, in the way that Iommi is weaving his riffs around the melodies. What are your thoughts looking back on this album now?
Tony Martin: I think you’ve just summed it up. It did sort of shift up a notch. Not only that, but the sound they were getting with Leif Mases producing it, it sort of grew up. It lifted somehow out of what they’d done before. It felt like, “Oh, this sounds good.” The songwriting and the exploring we were doing with the songs and stuff. At the time, Geezer Butler said that’s the best album he’s ever been on. He never said that again, but he said it at the time.
Phil Aston: I can imagine him saying just that.
Tony Martin: But it was good. Having Bobby Rondinelli in the band as well. Technically amazing. Brilliant player. His drums close in, and he plays with his wrists. Very technical. Whereas Cozy’s drums are stretched out far and wide. He’d lean over and hit them. But great to have them both in. What an honor. I mean, it’s Geezer Butler as well.
Phil Aston: When you got to South America, Bill Ward was in for a few gigs, wasn’t he? That must have been quite surreal. Bill Ward and Geezer playing songs like Headless Cross, which they had nothing to do with.
Tony Martin: They had nothing to do with. We were kind of weird because once we’d started to get Geezer and Bill back in, they wanted to start doing more of the older songs. That just makes you look, read between the lines going, “What’s going on? Where’s this going?” Once it’s happened to you, you know it. Then you’re reading between the lines. You start to feel it. Then you go, “Ah, right.” You can feel it. They’re clearing up. I did ask if they were going to do a reunion with Ozzy. Iommi was always denying it. Said, “No, no, we’re not doing that.” But I didn’t mind. The reason for that is because I knew what I could do in the future then. I thought, “Well, if they just tell me, that’s fine. Cause then I can plan.” The first time it was a shock and I didn’t know what to do. But I was kind of keyed up for it the next time. But he kept going. They got Bill in. I love Bill. I think he’s brilliant. We did some shows with him. But for some reason, and I don’t know what it is, I mean, I can tell you Iommi loves Bill. He regaled so many stories about when they were out there and how funny it was. I never understood why they never gave him time to get back in it. When you think of Def Leppard, they made a drum kit for a one-armed drummer.
Phil Aston: Yes, very true.
Tony Martin: Surely they can find time to get Bill settled back in. Whatever problems they’ve got. I mean, come on.
Phil Aston: You would think, yeah, very true.
Tony Martin: Get on with it. I thought, “Right, this is going to go south again.” But it didn’t. We carried on with Forbidden, and then Cozy came back after his accident. It was really up and down. Confusing. People in and out. During the time I was in the band, there were eight different lineups.
Phil Aston: It was very much a revolving door, wasn’t it? Before we move on, I just want to ask, because I know a lot of fans ask this. In the booklets in these box sets, there’s an image of Cross Purposes Live. That was a VHS tape and a CD. Is there a reason why that wasn’t included in some way? Is that game politics?
Tony Martin: I did ask about that, and they were just keen to get on with it. They said, “Come on, let’s go, let’s do it.” What they told me was that they’re going to take their time now to see what else they can gather and do an additional thing to this along the way with more of that in it. With the Cross Purposes Live and some other stuff. There’s a track that I recorded with them when Eddie Van Halen came and did Evil Eye.
Phil Aston: Yes, yeah, Evil Eye, wasn’t it?
Tony Martin: Yeah. I used to take the track out. I had it everywhere. Writing sessions, recording sessions, rehearsals. I just happened to be there. I didn’t even know who was coming. Iommi just turned up with Eddie Van Halen. I went, “Holy hell, it’s Eddie Van Halen. What’s he doing here?” He did some rehearsals with us and then disappeared. Never saw him again. But I got the recordings of the rehearsals that we did.
Phil Aston: Oh, wow.
Tony Martin: So I sent them to Tony Iommi. I said, “Use these. Get these on.” He said, “No, no, we can’t.” The reason they said was anything that has the slightest newness about it looks like a new Black Sabbath track or album track. They’re not allowed to release anything new under the Black Sabbath name. So even if it’s historical, they couldn’t allow it. It’s really weird.
Phil Aston: That means there must be lots of live stuff recorded. More bands were recording live stuff from the nineties onwards that you just couldn’t work on because it would go out under the Black Sabbath name.
Tony Martin: Not just live stuff. I’ve got about eight tracks that we never released. Just from the writing sessions and rehearsals and stuff that we used to do. They just can’t get out. They just won’t allow it.
I don’t understand. Well, I kind of understand. When you’re trying to protect your name, your mark, your image, your everything, which is where the band politics comes in, they won’t allow you to do anything that they think. And there’s all kinds of… Everybody from Ozzy to Dio to everybody. They don’t want their thing to be diluted or taken away. I do understand that. There are people involved all along the way that have an objection of some kind or another.
Phil Aston: But I guess, hopefully, this box set’s going to sell out really quickly and will show there’s a demand for this material and for this part of Black Sabbath history. There’s a lot of love for it. A lot of people worked really hard within it, like yourself. They’re great albums, wonderful songs. If there’s other music waiting in the wings, whereas we all get older, thinking through the eyes of the fan, it would go down so well, wouldn’t it? But I am, as you are, very grateful that these four albums have arrived in a box.
Tony Martin: Yes, it’s an important thing for me. It’s an important thing for the band, and it’s a great thing for the fans. I’m thrilled. It’s been an honor to be part of the story. I love the fact that it’s out there now. They did say there is no limit to the box sets. They have sold out on day one.
Phil Aston: I’m not surprised.
Tony Martin: They said the way they do it is they tend to poll the outlets and stuff and say, “How many do you think you can sell?” And they put their numbers in, and they’ve gone way past that. So now they’ve got to go back and produce more. There’s no limit to it. I love what they’ve done. There’s more in the box set than just the albums. Posters, programs, and everything.
Phil Aston: And then Forbidden. I’ll be honest, Tony, when I heard this for the first time back in the day, I didn’t like it. I tried, but I didn’t like it. My son liked it because I think probably because his dad didn’t. But now the remix, it’s as if someone’s released the drums and the guitars. It sounds like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Tony Martin: It does. It’s brilliant. I love the fact that they’ve dismantled it and put it back in a way that they couldn’t or didn’t with the other three. Forbidden needed it for all kinds of reasons. It was done under a sort of cloud where a lot of us weren’t really into it very much. But it was also an attempt at trying to give Sabbath a kind of acceptable twist to the youth. It didn’t work.
Phil Aston: The nineties were weird, weren’t they? The nineties were strange for heavy rock.
Tony Martin: The problem was we were fast heading towards great new bands like Nirvana and eventually Green Day and Metallica doing stuff. We were going and they were trying to change the sound to fit in. It didn’t work. We didn’t think it would. But there are people out there that love Forbidden as it is. I said that to Iommi. Last time I saw him, there are people out there that love it. He said, “They’ll probably love this version now.” But shaking the chains, guilty as hell, rusty angels, forbidden. And of course, “Loser Gets It All” is a great track. That wasn’t even on the album originally.
Phil Aston: It’s brilliant.
Tony Martin: Yeah. Strange. I absolutely love it now. It does sound like a Black Sabbath album. It sounds like it should be there in amongst the others. They’ve done a great job. Tony and his engineers have really pulled it together. It’s slightly more guitar and slightly less keyboard. They’ve done Cozy’s drums. Fantastic job on those.
Phil Aston: They’re just unleashed, aren’t they?
Tony Martin: Yes. They haven’t changed anything. They’ve mixed it and given it a new attitude, which is brilliant. They’ve given it more space. It sounds bigger. I just love what they’ve done to it. I’m really proud of it now. I didn’t like it then. There’s still a couple of tracks where I would love to have gone back in and…
Phil Aston: Yeah, you know.
Tony Martin: I thought at the time, because I was that off it at the time, my head just wasn’t quite there. A couple of tracks I thought I could have done better. I did sort of say when they were doing it, “Can I go back in?” They said, “No.”
Phil Aston: I suppose because that might edge towards it being a new recording then.
Tony Martin: Yeah, tricky. I’m not going to tell you which tracks it is, but there were a couple in there that I wasn’t quite happy with. But on the whole, it’s a great job they’ve done.
Phil Aston: Because when you were playing live, there were more songs from your period in Sabbath coming into the set, weren’t there? You were a unique vocalist in many ways for the band. You could cover Ozzy, Dio. You probably could have done Ian Gillan. Anything. You could have the ultimate set list, really, going through every era.
Tony Martin: That was a bit of a mistake. I told them I could sing anything, really. They thought, “What can we give him to sing?” They threw all sorts of stuff at me. I had a shot. Fortunately, I’ve got the kind of voice that can get around most things, and that’s a result of being in so many different kinds of music. I’ve been involved in everything from reggae to rock.
Phil Aston: Who were your key vocal influences growing up? As you say, outside of this Black Sabbath badge, your voice can go in any direction. So who were your influences? Was it blues, soul, rock?
Tony Martin: It kept changing. Everything I listened to, I thought, “That’s good. That’s good.” Each couple of years, something else took my attention. I’d really pour my soul into it. When I started off with reggae, believe it or not, I worked with Musical Youth and Dexys Midnight Runners in the studio. I was a guitarist back then. Then I loved blues. I got into prog rock bands like Yes, King Crimson, Jethro Tull. Then it shifted to Emerson, Lake & Palmer. That led to Rush and bands like that. Then I had to come down out of that prog rock technical stuff because Sabbath is much more honest and basic and straightforward. To a point. When you’re in the band and you find out how he does it, it’s stunning. I never even gave it a thought. I thought, “It’s got to be easy.” It wasn’t easy at all. Iommi can put seven, eight different riffs into one song, and each one of the riffs could be a song on their own.
Phil Aston: Very true.
Tony Martin: So, wow. You get your head around it. It’s weird. Plus, the time signatures he was throwing at us. There was a 14/4 and a 15/8 or something he was throwing at us. How he gets his head around it, I just don’t know. When I saw him a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a really good job on this.” I said, “Thanks, man.” He said, “I actually don’t know how you sang over some of this stuff.” I said, “Neither do I.”
Phil Aston: Just mad, isn’t it? You could try anything. I might have thought, “That means you might be able to put some of the songs in that Ozzy couldn’t do into the set. Or I can try something that I’ve never been able to do before because Tony says he can do anything.”
Tony Martin: It’s because I showed willing. I told them I’d have a go. And I did have a go. I did put into it. The songs, the writing, the live shows, whatever. I kind of made a rod for my own back in some ways because it was hard flicking between all of the different vocal techniques. But I did my best. It sort of came across okay. The problem is when you try to do stuff like that, it can sound a bit like a tribute act. But we got it nailed, I think. Especially having people like Cozy Powell, Geezer Butler, and all those guys in the band. We were willing to seek out that Sabbath sound, and we were conscious of it. So we were all aiming for the same thing. From outside, it might have looked like a chaotic mess. But on the inside, it all had a focus. We were all willing to give it a go. That’s what I think they saw in me. I knew they liked my voice, but I think that’s what they saw, a willingness to have a go and see if you can make it work. All those different time signatures and riffs that I had to go, looking back, to me, it’s Black Sabbath. Like,
Phil Aston I’m a Deep Purple fan, and every lineup of Deep Purple is still Deep Purple. I know Black Sabbath, there’s lots of politics in the way some of the fans look at it. But I think, which is why they had Heaven and Hell later on instead of Black Sabbath, because of the politics. But listening to these four albums, one after the other, you brought to life Viking mythology and song. More death. Just your passion and the way you projected the lyrics and your phrasing makes these albums unique. An important part of the Sabbath story. Finally, do you feel like this outpouring of love for this lineup is validating everything? Any doubt that might have been back then?
Tony Martin: Yeah, doesn’t it just? The biggest validation is from Tony Iommi himself. It wasn’t regarded that highly until he sat and listened to it without the bickering going around. When I went down a few weeks ago, he said, “You did a great job on this. There’s fantastic songs on here.” I said, “I know.” It’s just that validation that he gives it. The fact that the fans are returning to it. The fact that we’ve got new fans coming to it. Whole new record labels. I think it’s Rhino in America. It’s BMG in the UK, Europe. The record labels are coming back to it and getting behind it. They see something in it. The management sees something in it. So it’s all coming together. Which is a shame because I’m not in the band anymore.
Phil Aston Who knows? Maybe you and Tony will think, “It’d be great if some of this other stuff can come out at some point and we don’t have to wait another 25 years.”
Tony Martin: If he was going to do that, he’d say, “Let’s just write some new stuff.” But from what I’ve been told, Tony’s touring dates are done now. He won’t be going out on the road again. That’s probably out of the question for writing. I did tell him I was interested if he wants to do something. But he’s got so much going on. He’s still busy. Doing stuff. He had that ballet, the Black Sabbath ballet.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that’s true.
Tony Martin: Never saw that coming. No, he’s working on all kinds of stuff. He’s writing new material for something else now.
Phil Aston: So what about you, Tony? Have you got any plans for another solo album?
Tony Martin: I never actually stopped. For the past 25 years, my career took me into the studio and writing for people. My voice appears on 89 albums and projects now. It’s been good for me. I owe everything to Black Sabbath because that’s how the world got to hear my voice. People know what they’re talking about when they talk to me. “Can you write, can you sing on this?” They already know what they’re hearing or expecting. I always try to make it better than what they give me in the first place. A lot of that is me in the studio, and I’m happy, and I still am, happy doing that. But I do tend to choose what I do these days.
Phil Aston: Yeah, that makes sense.
Tony Martin: So I’m still doing the odd thing for people now. I did have a solo album a couple of years ago called Thorns.
Phil Aston: Great album.
Tony Martin: Yeah, totally unknown guitarist from America, Scott McClellan. I only met him because he kept badgering me on Facebook. He kept sending me stuff. I was like, “Go away.” He said, “Listen to this. What about this one?” In the end, I listened to it and it was brilliant. So I gave it a go and it turned out really well. But then Covid interrupted that and we couldn’t get out there with it. Some countries were saying, “Yeah, you can come,” and other countries were saying, “No, you can’t.” It all got distracted. I haven’t finished with Thorns because they wanted to do a vinyl for it. They said we had to take some tracks off to get it to fit on the vinyl. I don’t want to take any tracks off.
Phil Aston: Make it a double.
Tony Martin: Yeah, make it a double. Write some more. I wasn’t prepared for that. I’m pacing up, trying to write some new songs. Scott has sent me loads. We’ve got enough tracks for Thorns 2, but I haven’t finished Thorns 1 yet. I’ve got to come back to that. I do want to finish that off and get that done. Then if we can do the next Thorns thing, who knows? We’d like to try and get it out on the road. Getting out on the road for me is so different to the Sabbath thing. The Sabbath machine is huge. They only have to mention it and all the cogs start turning all at the same time all the way around the world. It all starts fitting into place within days, within weeks. On your own, it’s different. I can’t do that. I have to hire other musicians to go out on the road and rehearse the whole thing and start again with a brand new show. It’s a lot harder for me, but I would love to get back out there. My career took me into the studio, so I’ve got more to do. But I just tend to choose now.
Phil Aston: If people want to get Thorns, is it DarkstarRecords.net? Is that the best place?
Tony Martin: No, Battle God. They are the main label. Darkstar were involved and they’re still there, but they’ve had some troubles in the past couple of years. They were on board and I did two versions of it from between the two territories. I liked that. But mostly now, Battle God is the label to grab hold of it. It’s still available and I’m still signing them. People send me the stuff to sign.
Phil Aston: But I haven’t finished yet, so there’s more to come.
Phil Aston: Brilliant. Well, thanks very much, Tony, for all of your time today. Everybody, make sure you go and get a copy on CD or vinyl of this Black Sabbath Tony Martin years box set, “Anno Domini.” It’s absolutely superb.
Tony Martin: Yeah, it is good. I’m just smiling. I think it’s brilliant.
Phil Aston: No, that’s it, isn’t it? Whatever anyone thinks, these albums are available again. People can hear just how awesome this time for Sabbath really was.
Tony Martin: Thank you. Thank you very much.
Phil Aston: All right, take care, and hopefully I’ll talk to you again in the future.
Tony Martin: Thank you. All right, Phil, thanks, mate. Cheers.
Phil Aston: Well, a huge thank you to my guest, Tony Martin. That was fantastic. I’m almost lost for words in knowing what to say to sum up that interview because I know a lot of you are really interested in this box set, “Anno Domini” by Black Sabbath, which is out on CD and vinyl. Just as I thought, it’s sold out already, but there’s going to be another pressing. I was able to ask some of the questions I know some of you have been wanting to know, like why weren’t there extra tracks? Why wasn’t the live Cross Purposes included, etc. So now you know. Some of it is really exciting because it means there might be a companion set with some outtakes or live stuff as well. That’s really exciting.
Tony Martin is a fantastic vocalist, really passionate, really imaginative with his lyrics and his vision of how he writes his music. These four albums are essential. They’re Black Sabbath albums, okay? That’s what they are. They sound like Black Sabbath albums. Wasn’t it interesting that Geezer Butler said Cross Purposes is the best album he’d ever played on? It is a truly remarkable album. But they all are: from Headless Cross, to Tyr (which I can now pronounce correctly), Cross Purposes, and Forbidden, which has been given a new lease of life. Seriously, it is incredible. Just stunning.
Thank you again to Tony Martin for joining me here on the Now Spinning Magazine podcast. Please keep spinning those discs, whether they are vinyl or CD. Check us out on the podcast. We’re on every platform you can think of, from Apple to Spotify to Amazon. Of course, we’re on YouTube. Please subscribe and check out the website at nowspinning.co.uk. Remember, music is the healer and the doctor. So take care and I’ll see you all very, very soon.
Watch the full interview here
Phil Aston Now Spinning Magazine

F50, SW 225, CW 194, GW 145 (3 months since starting)
Hopefully this will help someone. I was hardheaded the first month and thought I knew it all 🙄 …I absolutely DID NOT!!
On day one, be prepared with a few things that will make your transition using this med a whole lot smoother for you. I learned these over the course of the last 3 months the hard way.
Hydration, protein, and fiber are essential. If this med affects your sleep (it does me), see below.
ELECTROLYTES: Get yourself some electrolytes that you like and will take daily. I don’t like sugary things, and use ‘HRDWRK (electrolytes powder that is sugar free with magnesium, potassium, and sodium)’ once or twice a day. I discovered how essential this was by getting dizzy 2 times to the point of nearly passing out when trying to garden. It was my own fault because I hadn’t eaten enough and plain water wasn’t enough. Electrolytes stopped my dizziness completely (was even happening just bending over) and occasional headaches. I take this first thing in the morning before I do anything else. Sometimes, if I had a super busy day, I will drink another glass of it in the evening.
PROTEIN: After thinking I could possibly get enough protein through food only for 6 weeks, I finally gave in and got some readymade protein drinks. I use ‘Lean Body’ strawberry and vanilla (others taste too sweet to me). This has really helped with my weight loss and not losing muscle. I drink them for lunch only now (with some fruit on the side), which frees up my lunch hour to go to the gym. Never in a million years did I think that sentence would apply to me!!!
FIBER: Constipation for many on this med is a daily reality. Get a good fiber routine. I use ‘NOW: psyllium husk powder’ once daily in the evening and it helps tremendously. Fruit and other things help, but I still find I need the supplement daily.
SLEEP ISSUES/INSOMNIA: I have always had sleep issues, but had finally gotten them worked out before starting on this journey. That ended with the first shot. After several types of trial and error and 4-5 hours of sleep for 6 weeks (!!!!), I finally found the combination that works for me - Magnesium with Zinc combo that also has Vitamin D for absorption PLUS a TIME RELEASED melatonin. I took regular melatonin before and woke up like clockwork at 3am. The time release changed everything. This has helped me get back to 7+ hours of sleep consistently. I take the Magnesium supplement in the morning and then take the melatonin (3mg) when I’m completely ready for sleep…not just getting in bed, but turning everything off and going to sleep. I also got a blue screen protector for my phone because I like to read on my phone for about an hour while in bed. These things have been a game changer for me in the sleep department.
My last suggestion is to set a weigh and measure day each MONTH (with photos, because it’s an amazing transformation). I see so many posts on here where people weigh every single day and get discouraged because the scale goes up a couple of pounds. This happens naturally in our bodies depending on so many factors. None of us need any discouragement when it comes to getting healthy. It’s a process that is individual for each of us. I will say since starting I have not one single time been discouraged or disappointed when seeing the numbers on the scale after a month of waiting. The number is always less…and that is a HUGE win!
I hope this helps someone - best of luck to all of you. I really enjoy seeing everyone’s progress and stories. It’s how I end my night every day, seeing how great everyone on here is doing and I especially love the transformation photos. These posts really keep me encouraged and positive!! And thanks to all the amazing people on here who have shared all of this information with me through their posts. This is such a supportive community.

I was thinking that London is great, but it seems far too large to explore. Granted, I don't live in London and haven't spent much time there outside of being a tourist who lives about an hour away by train from the place. I haven't been to many cities in the UK, but I've also been to Norwich, Bristol, Brighton, and Leeds. I would like to visit Glasgow and Edinburgh at some point, along with Newcastle and Liverpool. However, I tended to prefer the cities like Brighton, Bristol or Norwich where I could see a lot of stuff without it feeling like a maze. The sheer number of people in the large cities makes them quite frustrating too. But then again I am a little socially anxious so maybe it's just me. I like London for the sheer amount of free stuff to do, but the number of human beings there makes it a bit uncomfortable a lot of the time. What are your thoughts?

Below, I am posting the list of everything I've read in the last few years, organized by author. Please, help me find something new. An author I don't know, a fresh take on an established subgenre, an exceptionally well written piece, something I just missed somehow, or a unique story/perspective I haven't seen yet. I've been on a bit of a sci fi kick lately and want to come back to horror. I'm currently reading Carrion Comfort by Dan Simmons and Fairy Tale by Stephen King. Should be done with both pretty soon. Your recommendations will be added to my queue! Thank you in advance!
Author Title
Agustina Bazterrica Tender is the Flesh
Alex White Alien: The Cold Forge
Andrew Shanahan Before and After
Ania Ahlborn Seed
Anne Rice Interview with the Vampire
Ayn Rand Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand The Fountainhead
Benjamin Franklin The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin
Bram Stoker Dracula
Bret Easton Ellis American Psycho
Brian Hodge The Immaculate Void
Brian Hodge I’ll Bring You the Birds From Out of the Sky
Brian Hodge Skidding Into Oblivion
Brian Hodge The Darker Saints
C. S. Humble All These Subtle Deceits
C. S. Humble The Crusade of the Black Cross
C.S. Lewis The Magician’s Nephew
C.S. Lewis The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
C.S. Lewis The Horse and His Boy
C.S. Lewis Prince Caspian
C.S. Lewis The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
C.S. Lewis The Silver Chair
C.S. Lewis The Last Battle
Carlton Mellick III The Big Meat
Carson McCullers The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
Cassandra Khaw Nothing But Blackened Teeth
Catriona Ward The Last House on Needless Street
Charles Bukowski A .45 to Pay the Rent
Christopher Buehlman Between Two Fires
Christopher Buehlman The Lesser Dead
Christopher Buehlman The Suicide Motor Club
Christopher Buehlman Those Across the River
Christopher Covello HowExpert: Guide to Obstacle Course Racing
Christopher Golden Ararat
Christopher Priest The Prestige
Chuck Palahniuk Fight Club
Chuck Palahniuk Lullaby
Cixin Liu The Three-Body Problem
Cixin Liu The Dark Forest
Cixin Liu Death’s End
Clay McLeod Chapman Whisper Down the Lane
Clive Barker Books of Blood Vol. 1 to 3
Clive Barker Imajica
Clive Barker The Damnation Gam
Clive Barker The Hellhound Heart
Clive Barker The Thief of Always
Clive Barker Weaveworld
Clive Barker Coldheart Canyon
Clive Barker The Scarlet Gospels
Clive Barker Books of Blood Vol. 4: The Inhuman Condition
Clive Barker Books of Blood Vol. 5: In the Flesh
Clive Barker Books of Blood Vol. 6: Lord of Illusion
Clive Barker Mister B. Gone
Cormac McCarthy No Country for Old Men
Cormac McCarthy The Road
Dan Simmons A Winter Haunting
Dan Simmons The Terror
Dan Simmons Summer of Night
Danielle Vega The Merciless
Dave Pelzer A Child Called “It”
David Duchovny The Reservoir
David Foster Wallace Infinite Jest
David Goggins Can’t Hurt Me
David Goggins Never Finished
David J. Lieberman You Can Read Anyone
David Seltzer The Omen
Dean Koontz Darkfall
Douglas Adams The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
Edgar Allan Poe The Raven
Edward Lee Teratologist
Elan Gale You’re Not That Great
Emily Brontë Wuthering Heights
Erich Maria Remarque All Quiet on the Western Front
Ernest Cline Armada
Ernest Cline Ready Player One
Ernest Cline Ready Player Two
Ernest Hemingway For Whom the Bell Tolls
F. Scott Fitzgerald The Great Gatsby
Franz Kafka The Metamorphosis
Fyodor Dostoyevsky Crime and Punishment
George Orwell 1984
George Orwell Animal Farm
Gerald Brom Lost Gods
Glenn Beck Common Sense
Grady Hendrix My Best Friend’s Exorcism
Grady Hendrix We Sold Our Souls
Grady Hendrix Horrorstör
Grady Hendrix The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Gus Moreno This Thing Between Us
H.G. Wells The War of the Worlds
H.G. Wells The Invisible Man
H.P. Lovecraft The Alchemist
H.P. Lovecraft At the Mountains of Madness
H.P. Lovecraft Azathoth
H.P. Lovecraft The Beast in the Cave
H.P. Lovecraft Beyond the Wall of Sleep
H.P. Lovecraft The Book
H.P. Lovecraft The Call of Cthulhu
H.P. Lovecraft The Case of Charles Dexter Ward
H.P. Lovecraft The Cats of Ulthar
H.P. Lovecraft Celephaïs
H.P. Lovecraft The Colour Out of Space
H.P. Lovecraft Cool Air
H.P. Lovecraft Dagon
H.P. Lovecraft The Dunwich Horror
Herman Raucher Maynard’s House
Hideaki Sena Parasite Eve
Hunter S. Thompson Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
J. M. Barlog God of War
J. Sheridan Le Fanu Carmilla: A Vampyre Tale
Jack Ketchum Off Season
Jack London The Call of the Wild
Jason Arnopp The Last Days of Jack Sparks
Jay Anson The Amityville Horror
Joe De Sena The Spartan Way
John Grisham The Firm
John Langan The Fisherman
Jon Robson The Psychopath Test
Jonathan Janz Exorcist Road
Jonathan Janz Exorcist Falls
Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
Jules Verne Journey to the Center of the Earth
Jules Verne From the Earth to the Moon
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 0.5: The Hospital
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 2: Safari
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 3: Hellifax
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 4: Well Fed
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 5: Make Me King
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 6: Mindless
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man: Prequel
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man: 2nd Prequel
Keith C. Blackmore Mountain Man 7: Skull Road
Keith R. A. DeCandido Alien: Isolation
Kristina Streva The Inked
Kurt Vonnegut Slaughterhouse-Five
L.I. Albemont A Haunting: The Horror on Rue Lane
Lauren Beukes Ungirls
Lee Mountford The Demonic
Lee Mountford The Mark
Lee Mountford Forest of the Damned
Leo Tolstoy The Death of Ivan Ilyich
Mary Doria Russell The Sparrow
Mary Doria Russell Children of God
Mary Higgins Clark I’ve Got My Eyes On You
Mary Shelley Frankenstein
Michael McDowell Cold Moon Over Babylon
Michael McDowell The Elementals
Mitch Albom Tuesdays with Morrie
Neil Gaiman American Gods
Neil Gaiman The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Neil Gaiman Coraline
Nick Cutter The Troop
Nick Cutter The Deep
Nick Roberts The Exorcist’s House
Patrick McGrath Asylum
Paul Tremblay A Head Full of Ghosts
Peter Straub Ghost Story
R. L. Stine Red Rain
Ray Bradbury Fahrenheit 451
Rex Stout The Golden Spiders
Richard Laymon The Traveling Vampire Show
Richard Matheson A Stir of Echoes
Rick Poldark Primordial Island
Rick Poldark Return to Primordial Island
Rick Poldark Cryptid Slayer
Robert Browning Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Robert Louis Stevenson Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde
Robert Masello The Night Crossing
Ronald Malfi Black Mouth
Ronald Malfi The Night Parade
Ronald Malfi Come With Me
Ryan James Girdusky They’re Not Listening
Ryu Murakami Audition
S. E. England Father of Lies
Sara Gran Come Closer
Scott Kenemore The Grand Hotel
Shirley Jackson The Haunting of Hill House
Silvia Moreno-Garcia Mexican Gothic
Stephen Graham Jones The Only Good Indians
Stephen J. Dubner Freakonomics
Stephen King The Shining
Stephen King Doctor Sleep
Stephen King It
Stephen King Everything’s Eventual
Stephen King The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition
Stephen King On Writing
Stephen King Hearts in Atlantis
Stephen King Salem’s Lot
Stephen King The Mist
Stephen King The Dark Tower 1: The Gunslinger
Stephen King The Dark Tower 2: The Drawing of the Three
Stephen King The Dark Tower 3: The Waste Lands
Stephen King The Dark Tower 4: Wizard and Glass
Stephen King The Dark Tower 5: Wolves of the Calla
Stephen King The Dark Tower 6: Song of Susannah
Stephen King Insomnia
Stephen King The Talisman
Stephen King Black House
Stephen King The Dark Tower 7: The Dark Tower
Stephen King The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole
Stephen King Pet Sematary
Stephen King Quitters, Inc.
Stephen King In the Tall Grass
Stephen King The Dark Half
Stephen King 11/22/63
Stephen King Under the Dome
Stephen King Rage
Steven Pressfield Gates of Fire
Sun Tzu The Art of War
Susan Hill Dolly: A Ghost Story
T. Kingfisher The Hollow Places
T. Kingfisher The Twisted Ones
Tess Gerritsen Vanish
Theodore Sturgeon Some of Your Blood
Thomas F. Moneleone The Resurrectionist
Thomas Hardy The Return of the Native
Thomas Harris The Silence of the Lambs
Thomas Harris Hannibal
Thomas Harris Red Dragon
Thomas Harris Hannibal Rising
Thomas Olde Heuvelt HEX
Tom Wolfe The Bonfire of the Vanities
Truman Capote Breakfast at Tiffany’s
V. Castro Goddess of Filth
Vladimir Nabokov Lolita
Walter Tevis The Queen’s Gambit
Washington Irving The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
William Peter Blatty The Exorcist
William Peter Blatty Legion
William Shakespeare King Lear