'There is one candidate‚ she has been more assertive lately'

Maybe we just stop using technology and go back to the good ole days?

'heavy hitting Democrats are sounding the alarm'

'It is an absolute nightmare'

A Vancouver Island resident is walking her dogs when she hears an intense cry in the distance. She then receives a 'mind speak' communication that she believes was a female Sasquatch."I'm currently from the Comox Valley‚ Vancouver Island. I'm an active woman who walks with three dogs daily and I've witnessed some otherworldly experiences in these parts. I'm aware and understand that there are many other creatures breaking through the veil. I will not mention where these creatures are ascending from as it will most definitely add some negative attention to the area.Last summer of 2023‚ one of my encounters was on a warm summer eve. My dogs and I hit the trails. It was approximately 7:30 PM. We set forth into a forest. The intensity of this area was common‚ however‚ the dogs needed their daily exercise off-leash. This area is approximately 2 miles of forested cedars‚ alder‚ and a swamp. Well‚ it started with the sounds of children laughing in the distance‚ as I thought we were alone. The sound faded to the sound of something thrashing on the other side of the swamp. The thrashing abruptly stopped. I felt slightly uncomfortable but not fearful. Then a guttural cry came from the direction of the trees where the thrashing had come a few seconds earlier. It's hard to describe the cry as it was otherworldly‚ beautifully executed with a second cry. That went right through my soul. My dogs looked at me with mere confusion. Something telepathically told me to leash up my dogs. As I did I took that as a gentle reminder telepathically. I said we would leave you quietly and so we did. I leashed up my perplexed dogs and walked gingerly in deep thought on our way out on the pathway.It felt like we were ushered out by a presence that made one of the dogs abruptly stop in his tracks. This presence was beside us and intense. I then spoke to whatever it was that we were leaving respectfully with no intentions of coming back and the intensity of the presence ceased. My feelings were that this was a female Sasquatch encounter‚ as I now understand that they are only protecting their kind. We still have these beings tagging us on occasional outings and I gently remind them that we are not a threat. Our encounter was intense but ethereal on a spiritual level.I'll never forget the cries of this creature‚ how beautifully it was composed and woke my being. Yes‚ that sounds hokie‚ but my exact feeling at that moment remains calm. If you're experiencing an encounter‚ mindfully change your thoughts with love. While processing an encounter with these beings you will not impose as a threat to them. They are merely trying to save their kind as we are destroying the world. Just like all wildlife on the Earth‚ we are the worst predators. As the realms unveil there will be more creatures exposed. Some will not be this forgiving.The Comox Valley is definitely a hotspot for supernatural creatures and portals. I know I'm not alone and so thrilled that you're helping others as a messenger."NOTE: The Comox Valley is the traditional territory of the Puntledge‚ E'iksan‚ and K'ómoks peoples. Today the three tribes are known as the K'ómoks First Nation. I believe that this experiencer may be of First Nations heritage. LonTranscribed Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zg01enp8Qg&;t=1294sShapeshifters: Morphing Monsters &; Changing CryptidsCryptid Cinema: Meditations on Bigfoot‚ Bayou Beasts &; Backwoods Bogeymen of the MoviesMonsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots‚ Wolfmen‚ Portals‚ Phantoms‚ and Odd PhenomenaAncient Monsters: An Anthology of First AppearancesCryptid U.S.: Tales of Bigfoot‚ Lake Monsters‚ and More from Across AmericaVoices From the CosmosToward the Light: Rescuing Spirits‚ Trapped Souls‚ and Earthbound GhostsCops' True Stories of the Paranormal: Ghosts‚ UFOs‚ and Other ShiversRegister a SNAP EBT CardTry Audible PlusPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS READING LISTHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonAccess Phantoms &; Monsters Posts on Twitter 'X'-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS-----WEREWOLVES‚ PORTALS‚ &; CRAWLERS NEAR THE LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES - LIVE Chat - Lon Strickler (Host)A Tennessee family‚ who lives near the Land Between the Lakes‚ experiences a variety of unsettling phenomena. As time goes on‚ the husband gives a detailed account of the activity‚ along with updates. I will also detail a very bizarre incident in which the witnesses experienced an abomination while at the Land Between the Lakes Recreational Area.Over the years I have received many requests to post and talk about the strange and unexplained activity in the Land Between the Lakes area. I'll let you decide how dangerous this region is.If you have questions‚ feel free to post them in the live chat. I will do my best to answer each.-----ORDER THE AUDIOBOOK VERSIONORDER THE AUDIOBOOK VERSIONProject Threshold: Finale-----TODAY'S TOP LINKSDolls Seized at Peruvian Airport Upend 'Alien Bodies' Shown to Mexico's CongressIncredibly Rare Tibetan Brown Bear Spotted in India for the First Time EverFAERIES‚ ELVES‚ &; GNOMES - CRYPTID 'LITTLE PEOPLE' - LIVE Chat - Q &; A - Lon Strickler (Host)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS REPORTS &; CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE‚ LIKE &; SHAREThousands Have Mysteriously Disappeared in the Alaska TriangleInmate Found Dead with Heart Missing Per LawsuitPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS READING LISTCONSIDER ADVERTISING ON PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS RADIOLET'S DISCUSS YOUR OPTIONSClick the link for our Media KitCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Spotify**********Your financial support of Phantoms &; Monsters and our other pursuits is much appreciated. Please click the banner above. Thanks.Have you had a sighting or encounter?Contact us by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonAlso available with audiobooknarration by Terry Springs‚CBS-TV Las Vegas affiliate.The Dark Arts of MISTER SAM SHEARON - Original Prints &; MerchandiseThis blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS ® - USPTO #90902480 - Lon D. Strickler© 2005-2024 Phantoms &; Monsters - All Rights Reserved

Starting in August 2017‚ I received a series of humanoid sightings from 3 different witnesses in Mount Vernon‚ Ohio. Are these witnesses describing a crawler or alien humanoid?"The date was 2018-08-17. I had just gotten back to the parking lot down from Mount Vernon‚ Ohio's Wolf Run Park and when I turned on my lights to leave I saw it in the woods. I felt like I was being followed my entire hike and I got a little lost on the way since I was feeling super sketched out so when I saw it I was panicking and super scared. It looked startled as my lights came on and made this strange gargling scratching sound and I felt super sick to my stomach. I don’t really know what it was. Like I thought it was just someone in the woods but its eyes looked weird and it looked smooth and naked. It seemed to vibrate in front of my eyes as I looked at it and I ripped my phone out of my pocket and tried to take pictures but my phone seemed to lag. I have an iPhone 6 Plus and I know my battery is having issues but I’ve never had anything like that. I slammed my car in reverse and got out of there as fast as I could. The noise it made still freaks me out like it was like a Velociraptor from a movie but it made me light-headed and made me feel sick in a strange way I’ve never felt." GLater‚ I received another account from a different witness:"As I was driving home on 31 July 2018 at 01:43 AM on Ohio State Route 13‚ north of Mount Vernon‚ Ohio‚ a 7-8 foot tall‚ skinny‚ humanoid-like creature ran across the road out of a cornfield across into a soybean field (from east to west direction). I noticed the creature in my headlights from 50-75 feet away as I was traveling at a rate of 55-60 mph. As it came out of the cornfield I immediately let off the accelerator. At first thinking it was a deer but then I saw the creature walk upright. It was 7-8 feet in height‚ with a tall slender body‚ arms‚ and legs small in diameter‚ hands and feet looked oversized for its body proportion‚ small neck with an oval elongated head‚ being dark tan to light brown skin tone and had no body hair.The creature slightly turned its head towards my vehicle's headlights and I saw the creature's black eyes and small mouth just open slightly as it continued to run across the road. It barely took 2-3 steps and it was across the road at a tremendous rate of speed. I was in total shock and thought I should check it out at first but then I thought for a second and being uncertain of what I may have just seen I had better get out of the area. I lost sight of the entity due to darkness.I am a 24-year USAF retired aircrew veteran with a top-secret security clearance. Not to be totally bliss but would someone please advise me on what I saw because it still and truly frightened me." DI recently received a 3rd report of a humanoid sighting in the Mount Vernon‚ Ohio area. The eyewitness' daughter contacted me in June 2018:"Hi‚ I am reaching out‚ not as a hoaxer‚ but to let you know that I received a phone call from my mom in Mount Vernon‚ Ohio recently telling me that she saw a figure of what appeared to be an alien come in one side of her basement and go out the other end of the basement. She describes this thing as being tall with long arms‚ and she didn’t see his face as she watched it from a side view but she did say that his head looked just a human'sI wish to have her identity anonymous please if she is not contacted. I thought you might be interested to know that there has been another sighting in this area. My mom said that she wasn’t scared nor did she feel any danger by this presence and that it just came in and left. Thank you." MNNOTE: I contacted the 3 witnesses‚ who all gave me accounts of a humanoid similar to a crawler. These types of sightings continue to be reported worldwide. LonShapeshifters: Morphing Monsters &; Changing CryptidsCryptid Cinema: Meditations on Bigfoot‚ Bayou Beasts &; Backwoods Bogeymen of the MoviesMonsters Among Us: An Exploration of Otherworldly Bigfoots‚ Wolfmen‚ Portals‚ Phantoms‚ and Odd PhenomenaAncient Monsters: An Anthology of First AppearancesCryptid U.S.: Tales of Bigfoot‚ Lake Monsters‚ and More from Across AmericaVoices From the CosmosToward the Light: Rescuing Spirits‚ Trapped Souls‚ and Earthbound GhostsCops' True Stories of the Paranormal: Ghosts‚ UFOs‚ and Other ShiversRegister a SNAP EBT CardTry Audible PlusPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS READING LISTHave you had a sighting or encounter?Contact me by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonAccess Phantoms &; Monsters Posts on Twitter 'X'-----YOUR SUPPORT IS APPRECIATED! THANKS-----WEREWOLVES‚ PORTALS‚ &; CRAWLERS NEAR THE LAND BETWEEN THE LAKES - LIVE Chat - Lon Strickler (Host)A Tennessee family‚ who lives near the Land Between the Lakes‚ experiences a variety of unsettling phenomena. As time goes on‚ the husband gives a detailed account of the activity‚ along with updates. I will also detail a very bizarre incident in which the witnesses experienced an abomination while at the Land Between the Lakes Recreational Area.Over the years I have received many requests to post and talk about the strange and unexplained activity in the Land Between the Lakes area. I'll let you decide how dangerous this region is.If you have questions‚ feel free to post them in the live chat. I will do my best to answer each.-----ORDER THE AUDIOBOOK VERSIONORDER THE AUDIOBOOK VERSIONProject Threshold: Finale-----TODAY'S TOP LINKSDolls Seized at Peruvian Airport Upend 'Alien Bodies' Shown to Mexico's CongressIncredibly Rare Tibetan Brown Bear Spotted in India for the First Time EverFAERIES‚ ELVES‚ &; GNOMES - CRYPTID 'LITTLE PEOPLE' - LIVE Chat - Q &; A - Lon Strickler (Host)LISTEN TO NARRATIONS OF PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS REPORTS &; CASES - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE‚ LIKE &; SHAREThousands Have Mysteriously Disappeared in the Alaska TriangleInmate Found Dead with Heart Missing Per LawsuitPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS READING LISTCONSIDER ADVERTISING ON PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS RADIOLET'S DISCUSS YOUR OPTIONSClick the link for our Media KitCHICAGO MOTHMAN / O'HARE BATMAN YouTube PlaylistPHANTOMS &; MONSTERS RADIO Podcasts on Spotify**********Your financial support of Phantoms &; Monsters and our other pursuits is much appreciated. Please click the banner above. Thanks.Have you had a sighting or encounter?Contact us by email or call the hotline at 410-241-5974Thanks. LonAlso available with audiobooknarration by Terry Springs‚CBS-TV Las Vegas affiliate.The Dark Arts of MISTER SAM SHEARON - Original Prints &; MerchandiseThis blog and newsletter are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Work 3.0 United States License.Registered trademark PHANTOMS AND MONSTERS ® / PHANTOMS &; MONSTERS ® - USPTO #90902480 - Lon D. Strickler© 2005-2024 Phantoms &; Monsters - All Rights Reserved

In the UK‚ farmers are combatting flooding by returning areas of their farms to a more natural state‚ and seeing the benefits not only in wildlife returning but in flood mitigation. James Robinson‚ an intergenerational farmer from Cumbria in the northwest‚ has worked together with the Ullswater Catchment Management CIC to turn a number of […] The post Farmer Combats Flooding by Returning Creeks to Nature: ‘Wildlife That Has Come is Phenomenal’ appeared first on Good News Network.

If you’ve ever noticed your furry friend shaking‚ tremors running through its tiny body‚ you might wonder what’s up with your bunny. Shaking can be quite common in rabbits‚ but sometimes it signals something more serious. Just like people‚ it’s normal for rabbits to experience a whole range of emotions and physical reactions that could...

Laurence J. Peter’s Peter Principle is elegantly simple: “In a hierarchy‚ every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence.” The corollary is‚ of course: “In time‚ every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.” This is because people who are good at their jobs tend to be promoted. Given sufficient time‚ they will be promoted from a position in which their skills‚ aptitudes‚ and experience were applicable‚ to one in which they are not. Having reached that level‚ meritocratic promotion halts. The effect of this principle may be disheartening; it implies that even if one escapes being an example of the Peter Principle‚ one may well end up working under or supervising an example of the Peter Principle. For authors‚ on the other hand‚ the Peter Principle can be the germ of many fascinating plots. Characters can prove their mettle by creatively circumventing incompetent bosses or subordinates… or they can serve as cautionary tales. Herewith‚ five works illustrating the Peter Principle.   Mindswap by Robert Sheckley (1966) Unable to afford the eye-watering expense of conventional space flight‚ Marvin settles for the more affordable option of swapping minds with a Martian named Ze Kraggash. Alas‚ Kraggash is a con-artist who rented the same body to two people. One body can support only one occupant. Marvin would like to go back to his old body‚ but the scoundrel Kraggash fled into hiding while wearing Marvin’s body. Desperate to locate Kraggash‚ Marvin turns to Detective Urf Urdorf. Urdorf is utterly confident that he will catch Kraggash. Why is he so confident? Because Urdorf has failed to solve one hundred fifty-eight cases in a row. “One hundred and fifty-eight failures! It’s a fantastic record‚ an unbelievable record‚ especially if you grant my incorruptibility‚ good faith‚ and skill. One hundred fifty-eight! A run like that simply has to break! I could probably sit here in my office and do nothing‚ and the criminal would find his way to me. That’s how strong the probabilities are in my favor.” Is Urdorf’s unshakable confidence warranted? Everyone familiar with Sheckley knows the answer is no. Too bad for Marvin but huzzah for the readers.   The Big Black Mark by A. Bertram Chandler (1975) Chandler wrote dozens of stories and novels about John Grimes‚ hero of the spaceways. Grimes often irritated his superiors‚ thanks to his bravado and lack of interest in paperwork and other such minutiae. Nonetheless‚ Grimes’ one sterling quality—stupendous luck—has ensured his slow rise through the ranks. Nemesis arrives in the form of a promotion for which Grimes is not at all suited: commander of the Discovery‚ the starship to which the Survey Service consigns its square pegs. While tolerant of eccentricity‚ Grimes does prefer that the starships on which he is living be functional enough to sustain life. Efforts to ensure proper maintenance vex Discovery’s crew‚ who see Grimes as an interstellar Captain Bligh! Contact with a lost colony of voluptuaries proves the final wedge. Unwilling to obey Grimes’ orders‚ the crew resolves to heed the example of Captain Bligh’s Pacific voyage and rid themselves of their officious captain. The Grimes stories made it abundantly clear that at some point Grimes would involuntarily exit the Survey Service he loved and embrace a career in the Rim Worlds. Details of his exit (as noted in various tales) were hazy. This novel provided the link between those two phases of Grimes’ life.   The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers (1983) Magicians Doctor Romany and Amenophis Fikee have a bold plan to make Egypt great again. All that is needed is an arcane magical ceremony far beyond the pair’s abilities. The ceremony is an entirely predictable abject failure. Its calamitous results punch holes in time‚ all the way up and down the time steam. It is under these circumstances that bereaved Professor Brendan Doyle is recruited to provide commentary for an 1810 Samuel Taylor Coleridge lecture. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of the period’s art world‚ Doyle also possesses a remarkable talent for attracting danger‚ whether from his boss (Romany) or other sinister figures inhabiting the English underworld. Good news for Doyle‚ who may now be forced to focus on something other than grieving for his late wife. Many of the schemes in this novel fail because there are many people working at cross-purposes‚ often inadvertently. However‚ the cabal of traditionalist Egyptian magicians repeatedly proves ill-suited for plots of the magnitude contemplated. It’s almost as though clinging to a regressive‚ archconservative worldview can have a corrosive effect on the brain.   Growing Light by Marta Randall (1993) Growing Light was a thriving agricultural software company until visionary George Ashby took command. Under Ashby’s bold leadership‚ Growing Light now provides the world with unwanted‚ unworkable products. To ensure employees do not flee his disruptive management style‚ Ashby has staffed Growing Light with colorful eccentrics‚ each as ill-suited to their assigned roles as they would be unemployable if they quit. Enter widow Anne Monroe‚ whose competence threatens Ashby. Her unpleasant tour as Ashby’s designated enemy is as short-lived as Ashby himself. Alas for Anne‚ local Sheriff Jackson is as poorly suited to his job as any Growing Light employee is to theirs. Many people wanted Ashby dead‚ but Anne is Jackson’s prime suspect after the boss is found dead. If Anne wants to avoid arrest and possible conviction‚ she can’t depend on Jackson to properly investigate. While technically a mundane mystery‚ this contra-Hallmark small-town mystery has SFnal elements. Randall (best known as an SF author) must depict a computer company circa the early Nineties; to do so she must explain computers to readers who might not know much about them. Randall’s approach to the infodumping is very SFnal. [Side note: I was a bit boggled to note the absence of computers in Westlake’s 1984 publishing comedy A Likely Story. I was fairly sure that computers would have been used in offices by then. Even if they weren’t familiar to the masses. Industry insiders assure me I was hopelessly optimistic.]   Severance by Ling Ma (2018) Specta office drone Candice Chen packages expensive Bibles for the religious book market. Her job is boring. Still‚ Chen realizes that she’s better off than many other people—particularly the billions doomed to perish of Shen fever. Not only does Chen avoid fungal zombification‚ she is promoted to keeping the Specta New York office open for the duration of the catastrophe. Which may be as long as it takes for civilization to collapse. Forced to flee New York‚ Chen makes the terrible decision to accompany Bob to the secure location Bob swears is waiting for them. Bob’s self-confidence far outweighs his actual skills. To follow Bob is to forge relentlessly towards failure and almost certain doom. One of Bob’s little quirks is an inability to grasp the difference between fiction and reality. Another is his endearing conviction that other people want to listen to him expound at great length‚ even on subjects about which they are already well informed. It almost feels as if the author had real-world models in mind…but where could she possibly have met someone like Bob in real life? ***   Science fiction and fantasy is rich with plot-enabling characters promoted far beyond the bounds of their competence. Heck‚ Laumer and Sladek novels could keep me here all day. Perhaps I overlooked your favorite (fictional) examples. If so‚ comments are below. In the words of fanfiction author Musty181‚ four-time Hugo finalist‚ prolific book reviewer‚ and perennial Darwin Award nominee James Davis Nicoll “looks like a default mii with glasses.” His work has appeared in Interzone‚ Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites‚ James Nicoll Reviews (where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis) and the 2021‚ 2022‚ and 2023 Aurora Award finalist Young People Read Old SFF (where he is assisted by web person Adrienne L. Travis). His Patreon can be found here.

When it comes to the de-extinction of the mammoth‚ Ray Nayler’s eco-thriller The Tusks of Extinction takes a similar approach to Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park: The Ice Age creatures are dug out of the frozen earth‚ their DNA extracted and mixed with that of elephants‚ the embryos birthed by the last few elephants living in captivity generations after they themselves were hunted nearly to extinction. But no wild elephants have roamed the planet for a long time at the start of this ambitious if overstuffed novella. The next best thing? Dr. Damira Khismatullina‚ the foremost expert on the species. The only wrinkle is that Damira died a hundred years ago‚ brutally murdered by the poachers she attempted to protect the last elephants from. The solution‚ then‚ exceeds Crichton’s resurrection by embedding Damira’s consciousness into the mammoth matriarch‚ so that she might teach the nascent herd at least a fraction of what was long-ago pure instinct. Though this seems like a rather straightforward premise‚ Nayler layers it with several more subplots that simultaneously distract from Damira’s fascinating and noble undertaking yet nonetheless provoke thought‚ making for an expansive yet frustratingly brief tale. The best way to take this story is in context with similar works. For one‚ it’s a lovely companion piece to Brooke Bolander’s 2018 novelette The Only Harmless Great Thing‚ which dances between an alternate-history 20th-century linking Topsy the elephant and the Radium Girls‚ and a future in which humans implore sentient elephants to solve the atomic priesthood problem. Both stories center on an impassioned woman with an expertise in elephants—idealistic scientist Kat‚ versus doctor and anti-poaching activist Damira—begging these wise creatures for the nigh-impossible‚ more for humans’ sake than for their own. Like Harmless‚ Tusks never lets the reader forget that humans will always be at least one degree removed from these magnificent creatures. Kat can only approximate a trunk’s fluid signing in Proboscidian; Damira’s expertise‚ though as rare and treasured as ivory‚ will never transcend the purely academic. At least‚ until the hypothetical becomes the new reality‚ and her lived experience as a mammoth sets a new precedent. But while tapping into ancient herd dynamics falls squarely on Damira’s shoulders‚ it is not her sole responsibility to actually keep the mammoths alive; that is complicated by the human greed that muddies the noble mission of the geneticists that resurrected the mammoths‚ and her‚ a century after her death. Buy it Now That massive time-jump is important to the premise‚ cementing Damira’s expertise‚ but has little bearing on the plot. Far-future Russia seems not that different from near-future‚ in that both have developed thought-related technology beyond our current scope. So think less that it’s Nayler covering such a broad span of time in 112 pages and instead inhabiting two fixed points that happen to be a hundred years apart. In fact‚ that seems to be by design with how the story sets itself up‚ introducing human Damira and mammoth Damira almost interchangeably‚ until you catch on to the different ways in which she inhabits the Kenyan savannah versus the Siberian steppe. The hop-skips of both perspective and timeline are at first difficult to adjust to; there is so much information to impart that it would initially seem more useful to lay it out more chronologically. However‚ it soon becomes clear that this style of semi-free-association—especially for Damira‚ switching between mammoth and human recollections from the barest whiff of scent—mimics the elephant’s memory web. Once you settle into that rhythm‚ Tusks charges ahead‚ albeit in an unexpected direction. While I expected such a slim story to occur entirely within Damira’s consciousness‚ she actually shares about equal space with two other characters: Syatoslav‚ the teenage son of poachers‚ and Vladimir‚ whose rich husband Anthony invites him on a secret billionaire hunting trip—all with the mammoths in their sights. By exploring these young men’s relative dependence on fathers and spouses‚ whether through financial or age-related autonomy‚ as well as their personal ambivalence to the cruelty of hunting‚ Nayler makes these supposed antagonists shockingly sympathetic. After all‚ each is a member of his own particular tribe‚ whether born or married into that family; yet neither has enough control to break away from the herd—at least not before this moment of confrontation on the frigid steppe. Furthermore‚ within all of these pseudo-herds there are tiers‚ based on class disparities and self-perceived issues of importance to history. There are the people like Damira‚ whose memory is deemed important enough to be uploaded to the Moscow Institute’s Mind Bank‚ while her former schoolmate and friend Yelena is just the tech grunt pressing buttons. (Yet let’s not put aside the fact that one of Damira’s most indelible human memories is trading backstories with another elephant activist‚ Wamugunda‚ and her shame at him “coming from somewhere” (his upbringing in Kenya) and her “coming from nowhere” (she loved elephants as a child).) It’s another thing that the intellectual class has in common with the poachers; the latter realize that while they do the grisly work of killing the animals‚ they are merely delivering to their rich buyers what they already own‚ i.e.‚ the tusks that they won’t dirty their hands to get said hands on. This ever-present theme of imbalanced payment grimly illustrates the losing endeavor of the cruelly-named ivory trade; at least one human always loses so that another human may gain nothing more than a trophy. It’s very telling that the key human trait that Damira teaches the mammoths is revenge‚ and that she’s so mystified to discover that they learn mercy all on their own. Nayler withholds some key information about the end of Damira’s human life‚ which will recontextualize the aforementioned teachings and discoveries that mark the next stage for her herd. Similarly‚ he reveals some fascinating bits of worldbuilding via technology that many a reader would likely want another whole novella about: more about the Mind Bank as a system and an archive‚ for one; and a century later‚ the Alexander‚ a seashell-shaped device that allows its wearer to project their thoughts one-way to eager listeners. He’s woven a fascinating web yet dips into so many different pockets that the end result is certainly affecting but feels unfinished. The Tusks of Extinction is available from Tordotcom Publishing. Natalie Zutter is a writer and pop culture critic based in Brooklyn. Talk futuristic mind-bending stories with her on Twitter and Bluesky!