Thanks, normally I can judge my work, even when it is based on a dream. But this is not based on a dream, it is a near perfect narration of what I woke up screaming to - so really cant self-evaluate anything on this one. And yeah I know that dream narrations are the stories you make up as you wake up, but still a difference between grabbing of bits of one, and writing down what feels like a close and fairly complete narration. Zero distance. Zero ability to judge.

Zero distance. Zero ability to judge.

Dreams are weird that way. You wake up in a total cold sweat, but when you look at it later your brain is kind of WTF? Part of your brain is going "dude, it was a dream" and the lizard part is just going "aaaeeeyyyeeee."

Typo - really nice vision. Except for the waking up screaming. You got it on paper though; that's something.

Both backseat and green prompts are now closed.

This week's prompt is barter.

The barter prompt is now closed.

This week's prompt is slick.

Possibly of interest to our writers:

"Live Long and Marry" is a fannish auction going on right now to benefit equal marriage rights.

[link]

In addition to all the fanfic and fanart that's on offer, there are many other things, including critiques by published authors, signed copies of books by Jo Graham and Pamela Dean, and other entries I'm still paging through.

"The auction will raise money for the fight against the California initiative which will legally destroy existing same-sex marriages and ban any further ones. If the initiative passes, it will write discrimination into the state constitution, annull existing marriages, and make Mr. Sulu cry."

I'm arguing that single payer health would not only provide care for the currently uninsured, it would save money and improve care quality for everyone, even people who currently have good health insurance.

The concluding phrase I use to summarize this is: "We can do well by doing good".

Is this phrase clever or lame?

Variations have been used a lot [link]

Well yeah. I stole it from a Hawiian friend of mine. But someone complained not that it was unoriginal, but that it was clumsy. Hmm, but following the link it is really a cliche, so maybe lame from overuse rather than clumsiness.

So, this is kind of tumbling around in my head:


It started in California.

The elders would say it started in New York, or New Orleans, or even Chicago. Cities steeped in tradition and lore. The historians might even trace it back to Eastern Europe, or the jungles of Haiti. The places where traditions begin.

But this? This started in California. Specifically, it started in San Francisco, home to transients and romantics, most vibrant at night, where no one will look twice at anyone else, no matter how lurid or outlandish. It spread through the underworld and spilled up into the bars and clubs, places packed with beautiful people looking for the next fun thing.

It's so easy to disappear in San Francisco. Easier than you think.

No one knows how it started. It could have come from the Jiang Shi, from the mandurugo, or even from Camazotz. It could have been here all along, in the form of Jumlin. San Francisco’s history as a port means that many origins are lost in time. All that is known is that they are faster, stronger, better than their Eastern brethren. The first time the children of the East came out here, they were laughed at for their weakness, for the effete way they feared to walk abroad on a foggy day, for their single-minded view of humans as prey.