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A Review of Neuro Noir

Book cover for Neuro Noir by Al Hess. Image on cover shows a drawing of about a dozen different eyes that all have black irises and sclera. the one in the centre is red instead!

Title: Neuro Noir

Author: Al Hess

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 1, 2022

Genres: Science Fiction, Mystery, Romance, LGBTQ+

Length: 42 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

Prominent council member. Omniscient custodian of City Entry. Mystery book aficionado. As the oldest A.I. Steward existing within the network of Salt Lake City, Lysander has seen most everything.

When a death in the overcrowded and chaotic subway leaves fellow Steward Beatrice distraught and imploring Lysander to find a way to lessen the odds of it happening again, he’s happy to do what he does best: advise, console, and achieve solutions. But doing so means working with the human council member he absolutely, most assuredly does not have feelings for – no matter how perceptive and charming said council member is. And something about the issue in the subway is giving Lysander the itchy sort of dread he gets when reading his mysteries.

But Lysander’s life isn’t an impartial story plucked from his “to read” pile. As he closes in on the source of Beatrice’s problems, he realizes the situation is far more personal than he’s prepared for. If he isn’t careful, even the wisest and most experienced of Salt Lake’s Stewards will miss the clues, putting himself – and those he cares for – in danger.

This is a 10k word prequel novelette to the queer and cozy wasteland road trip romance, World Running Down.

Review:

Content Warning: mild profanity, threats of violence, and death

Customer service is the most important part of the job…even if you’re not exactly human.

To be perfectly honest, it took me a little while to figure Lysander out because of how different some of his thought processes were from the humans he protected on public transit and at certain entrances and exits every day. This was an excellent thing, though, because of course artificial intelligence wouldn’t react to certain stimuli like we would! Once I figured out why he was more bothered by stuff that many humans would ignore, his thoughts about his role as a Steward became much clearer to me. The process of sorting out his ideas was a rewarding one, and it endeared me to him. On a more personal note, I also enjoyed his reactions to the customer service elements of his position, especially when dealing with people who were not always necessarily kind or rational when dealing with him.

The romance was handled beautifully, and that’s something I’m saying as someone who doesn’t spend much time in that genre. I loved the way this storyline was slowly allowed to build up before it began playing a larger role in the plot. It suited the characters involved in it nicely and gave me plenty of time to understand why they were interested in each other and why they might make a good match.

I was also thrilled with the world building. Obviously, a short story isn’t going to have as much time for this as a full-length novel would, but the author did an excellent job making use of all forty-two pages to show what a city protected, maintained, and even run  to a certain extent by artificial intelligence might look like behind the scenes. It made me curious to see what World Running Down might be like, so the author did a great job of giving this reader a taste of his world here.

Neuro Noir was a wild ride that made me wish it wouldn’t end.

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Second Chances: A Review of Hologram Kebab

Book cover for Hologram Kebab by Phillip Carter. Image on cover shows a robot hand hovering underneath a levitating kebab wrap that’s filled with meat, cheese, and beans. Title: Hologram Kebab

Author: Phillip Carter

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: October 12, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 32 pages

Source: I received

Rating: 2.5 Stars

Blurb:

Anya has the worst hangover in history. Not only has the kebab gone cold, but her cheating boyfriend is back, and he’s a ghost. But that’s not all, he’s convinced that he is alive, and that Anya is dead. Or half-dead. Something terrible happened last night, and now the couple is in techno-limbo.

 

It all started when Keaton sent a naughty picture to Anya’s best friend, and it all ends with a gadget Anya was about to throw away.

Review:

Content Warning: Alcohol use, a hangover, infidelity.

Sometimes relationships can be toughest part of life.

I liked Anya as a person and understood why she was so frustrated with her boyfriend. They’d had some serious conflicts over the years and sadly didn’t seem particularly compatible with one another anymore. It was interesting to see her wrestle with her attachment to him and remember the good times they had shared as she decided whether or not to continue investing in their relationship. She was a sensible person, and I knew she’d think through all of her choices carefully.

The ending left a lot to be desired for me as a reader due to how abrupt it was. In one scene, the plot was chugging head nicely, and then it suddenly ended without tying up the majority of the loose ends that had me so interested in this tale. I desperately wanted to give this one a higher rating due to how much I appreciated the author’s creativity, but the way the last scene was written made difficult for me to justify giving away more stars.

This short story had a playful writing style that kept me engaged with the plot despite my frustrations with certain aspects of it. I appreciated the risks the author took with how he described certain things like Anya eating a leftover kebab or how she reacted to her boyfriend when he suddenly appeared and shared some disturbing news with her. Mr. Carter knows how to write memorable descriptions, and I will be keeping an eye out for his future work.

Hologram Kebab had a fascinating premise.

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Christmas for Everyone: A Review of Snowfall

Book cover for Snow Fall: A Prophecy Series Short Christmas Story by Liz Bullard. Image on cover shows a black woman with an Afro standing outside and looking at a large snowy mountain. She’s wearing a warm, dark jacket and looks cozy. Title: Snowfall

Author: Liz Bullard

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 22, 2022

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday

Length: 54 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Sometimes spreading holiday cheer leads to a bit of disaster…

In “Snow Fall,” readers are transported to a fantastical world filled with elemental magic and mighty warriors. In this short side adventure, readers are introduced to the world of Zodia and the central characters. The Chosen One, Tabatha, longs to share a piece of her native land with a strange world full of fierce warriors, but her naivete may bring about the opposite of holiday cheer. As Tabatha struggles to control her abilities and spread holiday spirit, she must also navigate the path to doing the right thing in a world filled with danger and uncertainty. Will she be able to make amends and save the holiday season, or will her actions lead to devastation and ruin?

The Prophecy Series, a three-part adventure, is set in a fantastical world rife with elemental magic and mighty warriors. This novella, a short side adventure, introduces the world of Zodia and the central characters.

Review:

Hope is essential for a good life.

Christmas isn’t celebrated in Zodia, so Tabatha has her work cut out for her when she attempts to help the people who live there understand the many bizarre traditions like cutting down trees that nobody in Zodia would think to do for perfectly understandable reasons that other readers should discover for themselves. Some of the most interesting scenes were the ones that explored all of the reactions to this holiday, from confusion to horror to curiosity to cautious joy.

I would have liked to more attention paid to a mistake the main character made that had serious repercussions for the village she was staying in. It involved her performing magic without knowing how to properly guide her powers or ensure that they had the right effect on the land. When her actions destroyed some crops, I was expecting her to be in huge trouble. What actually happened was disappointing due to how quickly everyone around her brushed it off. Just because she’s the Chosen One doesn’t mean that everything she does is the correct choice, after all, so I wish those scenes had been explained better.

Speaking of mixed reactions, I loved the way the characters reacted to each other’s opinions about Christmas as well. There was so much kindness in their interactions, and no one was pressured to feel any sort of way about this new experience for them no matter whether their impression were positive, negative, or somewhere in between those two extremes. This is something I wish were more common in our world as the pressure to express nothing but happy feelings about Christmas can overshadow the moments of joy I might otherwise find in it. Kudos to the author for creating such sensitive and sensible characters!

Snowfall was an interesting glimpse into a new fantasy world.

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Reporting to Santa: A Review of Hellf on the Shelf

Book cover for Want to read Buy on Amazon CA Rate this book Hellf on the Shelf: A Christmas Short Story by Rumer Haven. Image on cover shows a ceramic toy elf looking up and over at a Christmas tree behind them.

(If anyone from the Top Ten Tuesday community is reading this, it’s a book I mentioned in a Top Ten Tuesday post last December. I saved it for this Christmas season to review!)

Title: Hellf on the Shelf

Author: Rumer Haven

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 3, 2017

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary

Length: 17 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author

Rating: 5 Stars

Blurb:

‘Tis the season for Santa’s elves to deck the shelves, but this one’s on Mom’s naughty list.

No matter where or how she arranges the toy at night to surprise her sons in the morning, Mom wakes to find it just sitting on the shelf each and every time. Are the kids messing with her? Is her husband a traitor? Or is there more to the grinning elf on the shelf than its package advertised?

As Mom keeps trying to make spirits bright this season, she learns the true mystery and magic of Christmas.

Review:

Christmas magic is anything but effortless.

I adored the message of this short story. Too often the holidays are wonderful because women – and especially mothers – perform hours of invisible, unpaid work behind the scenes to ensure that the house is sparkling clean, the kitchen is stocked with plenty of delicious things to eat, invitations have been sent out for the parties organized by women, and there is a large pile of presents beneath the tree to suit everyone’s interests among countless other tasks. This isn’t to say this work is joyless. It can make amazing memories for everyone, but that doesn’t detract from the point that the labor is unevenly distributed and not always done happily. Keep this in mind while reading because it’s an important part of what plays out for one exhausted and confused mom as Christmas inches closer.

The unnamed family featured in this tale were genuinely nice people who loved each other and enjoyed spending time together. That’s not always present in what I read, so I sighed with relief when I realized that the twist had nothing at all do with anyone being unkind to each other. It was relaxing to get to know these characters better and wait to see what marvelous things might await them.

There was a gentle quality to the storyline that I appreciated as well. Yes, there were fantasy elements to it, but they all seemed like stuff that could occur at anyone’s house at this time of the year if that family believed in elves who watch over households and report back to Santa on what they find. I liked the ordinariness of the magical scenes and thought it blended in well with the sort of metaphorical magic that exists in our world.

Hellf on the Shelf was a breath of fresh air.

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Looking for Monsters: A Review of Forest of Bones

Book cover for Forest of Bones: A Short Winter Horror Story by Jessie Thomas. Image on cover is a close-up photo of someone wearing a black dress and holding the skull of an animal that has two long, mostly straight antlers protruding from its head. Title: Forest of Bones – A Short Winter Horror Story

Author: Jessie Thomas

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 17, 2019

Genres: Horror, Holiday, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 53 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Armed with her well-worn Field Guide to Cryptids of North America and a macabre sense of enthusiasm, Ana’s mission to visit and capture evidence of every known cryptid in the United States puts her on the trail of the elusive Covey Devil. Not many people are willing to spend their winter break looking for monsters, but Ana’s trio of friends seem up for whatever the adventure entails.

Review:

Content Warning: Blood and death.

Cold, dark forests are nothing to fool around with.

I loved the fact that the author chose Christmas time as a setting for this tale. The cold weather and long nights of that time of year in certain climates definitely sets the mood for scary things to lurk in the shadows. No matter how you personally feel about this holiday, there’s something to be said for acknowledging that it isn’t a shiny, happy season for everyone for a wide variety of reasons. I also appreciate the juxtaposition between the audience’s expectations for a Christmas story versus what was actually waiting for the characters in the Forest of Bones.

It was difficult for me to understand why four teenagers who had  only limited camping experience and no self-defence or first aid training so far as I could tell would head into a forest with such a frightening reputation in the middle of the night in December. While the storyline did eventually explain why this happened, I would have appreciated far more details about how this was supposed to look and how all four young women, one of whom was extremely nervous about the trip, were convinced to take such serious risks with their health and safety when they could have just as easily gone on a warm June afternoon with a much larger group of explorers instead.

Speaking of the ending, it was exactly what I thought it might be. It was nice that the author trusted the audience so much to connect the few clues about what was going on. Not everything always needs to be spelled out directly, and in this case it was much more fun to be a little confused at first than to have everything explained before it strictly needed to be.

Forest of Bones – A Short Winter Horror Story made me shudder.

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A Review of When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories

Book cover for When Sam Met Santa by Samantha Moon by J.R. Rain. Image on cover shows Santa flying in his sleigh pulled by reindeer against a full moon.Title: When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories

Author: J.R. Rain

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 12, 2020

Genres: Fantasy, Holiday, Contemporary

Length: 43 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

 

Santa’s surprise visit, a backroom deal, a rare map, and someone’s been really, really bad. Five holidays tales, including an all-new Samantha Moon short story!

“When Sam Met Santa” – When Santa Claus shows up at Samantha Moon’s door, it’s hardly the strangest thing that’s ever happened to her. What happens next, however, is another story…

Also included:

“The Santa Call” – After accidentally forgetting his wife at home during a weekend getaway, ol’ St. Nick returns to discover she’s left him. At wit’s end, Santa turns to a radio talk show for some much needed love advice. But will he win Mrs. Claus back in time to save Christmas?

“The Deal” – Where does Santa get his coal for all those stockings? You’re about to find out.

“The Christmas Map” – Purchased from eBay, one young adventurer is about to discover if this map really does lead to Santa’s village.

“Santa Snitch” – Sometimes the Big Guy has to step in to deal with those who grow up to be really, really bad…

Review:

Content Warning: Life-threatening illness in a child, and a small amount of blood in one story.

Since the blurb already provided brief descriptions of every stories, I’ll stick to sharing my impressions of them in this review. The interesting thing about “When Sam Met Santa” was how it turned many common beliefs about Santa – among other magical beings – on their head. It reminded me of how gossip can take a sliver of truth about someone and wildly distort it into something that is all but unrecognizable in the end. Of course humans would do this to Santa, too!

“The Santa Call” was a humorously accurate snapshot of radio culture and advice programs. Regardless of how you feel about that sort of entertainment, it was well done.  I liked the brusque manner of the Love Doctor as well as how Santa responded to him when he refused to help. The deep dive into Santa’s personal life and problems with his wife and elves was also worth reading.

Mr. Rain tends to write pretty dialogue-heavy stories, and this technique worked especially well in “The Deal.” It involved a conversation between a buyer who urgently needed more coal and a seller who quickly grew more mystified by the details their client was providing. Due to how short this one was, I can’t say much else about it without giving away spoilers other than to note I wish more details had been included as there was a lot more the author could have done with such a concept.

Anything can be bought online, and if you’re a character in “The Christmas Map” it might even be the real deal! I appreciated the fact that the author was willing to write such naive and selfish characters for this one. Those were exactly the personality traits needed to take the Christmas map seriously and try to see if the village drawn on it really existed. With that being said, I did find myself wishing more time had been spent exploring why these characters behaved this way and what might have happened to them in the past to explain it. Not having that information made it harder for me to connect with them than I would have liked to see.

Can I give “Santa Snitch” a little extra credit for using the name Earl for its protagonist? That name is sorely underused in modern fiction in my opinion, and it gives me a thrill every time someone decides to use it. As everyone knows, only good kids receive toys on Christmas Eve. This tale expounded on that idea by introducing readers to a man who had been on the naughty list for many years. This was the darkest instalment in the collection, and I only wish more time had been spent developing  Earl’s backstory and explaining why he was in such big trouble.

When Sam Met Santa and Other Stories was a gentle, playful look at Santa lore.

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A Review of A Winter’s Night

Book cover for A Winter’s Night by Theodore Brun. Image on cover is of an old-fashioned mansion that has a blizzard forming around it on a cold winter’s evening. Title: A Winter’s Night

Author: Theodore Brun

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 1, 2018

Genres: Fantasy, Horror, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 51 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Enter if you dare…
A man driving through a remote part of Denmark is forced to take shelter from a snowstorm in a lonely castle. Inside, he encounters the Count who lives there, a strange old man who begins to talk. And as the Count does, the visitor learns of an ancient legend, of the noble family’s mysterious secret, and of the curse that overshadows them…

Review:

Content Warning: Childbirth and curses.

Old houses remember everything.

As someone who doesn’t know much about Danish folklore, I was intrigued by the descriptions of trolls and how the people of Denmark related to them in this tale. The author did a good job of making some of those old legends come alive in my imagination as he described why those who remembered those stories were so  afraid of the past. They had good reasons to worry about bringing attention to themselves, and I was curious to find out more about how their beliefs were holding strong in the early twenty-first century.

I struggled to understand the ending because of how it seemed to contradict earlier plot and character development. There were certain details about the lives of the Count’s ancestors that were shared about halfway through the storyline in order to show how much this family line had remained the same over the centuries. It was confusing, then, to reach the end and have all of this information turned on its head. I know I’m being vague here, but it’s difficult to share constructive criticism of how things turned out without giving away spoilers. What I can say is that I wish the last few scenes had been developed more thoroughly so that I could understand why everything the audience had learned earlier was suddenly being tossed aside.

With that being said, the setting was a great one for the topic of generational curses. There is something about looking at antiques in a house that many generations of people have lived and died in that makes all of the dark tidbits of information about the past a little scarier than they might have been. I also liked the fact that the author acknowledged how eerie the world is during a snowstorm. While snow is beautiful to look, it also makes travelling treacherous during the winter and can trap people in places they probably wouldn’t have otherwise stayed overnight.

A Winter’s Night is a good pick for a cold, stormy evening.

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Making Good Choices: A Review of Snow

Book cover for Snow by Howard Odentz. Image on cover shows a blue-washed photo of an old man with a white beard who is standing in a snowstorm. There is a hood covering part of his face and not much else can be seen. Title: Snow

Author: Howard Odentz

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 12, 2016

Genres: Young Adult, Horror, Holiday, LGBTQ, Contemporary

Length: 34 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Words to live by: Never steal from a drunk in the woods.

An epic and sudden blizzard is blanketing Mount Tom Regional High School . . . in October. A dangerous man is stalking the hallways, and three teens harbor a secret that may get everyone killed if they don’t figure out how to stop the snow and the rampage.

Review:

Content Warning: Drug and alcohol use, inebriation, bullying, violence, a little blood.

Nothing remains a secret forever.

This is one of those tales where it’s best to avoid all spoilers in advance. Yes, some readers might figure out the twist ahead of time, but I’d hope that everyone else would allow themselves to be surprised if possible. There is something to be said for that in my opinion, especially when reading an author who has taken as many creative liberties with his subject matter as Mr. Odentz has. He did an excellent job of providing a few clues early on without totally giving it all away, and I enjoyed the process of seeing if my first impressions of what I was about to read were correct.

I was disappointed by the way the ending fizzled out. The beginning and middle were so strong that I went into the final scene expecting the same sort of pacing and plot twists. There was so much more the author could have done with those pages, and I would have happily gone with a much higher rating if he’d taken his premise to its logical conclusion.

All of the main characters were bored teenagers who regularly used various substances and refused to obey authority figures. I struggled to relate to them due to how wild they were and how often they tested the boundaries of everyone around them, but I also thought they were accurate depictions of the sort of teens who make these types of life choices. Not every character is going to be lovably and cuddly, after all, and it was interesting to see how they reacted once the dangerous man arrived at their school.

Snow was a fun autumnal read.

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Lucid Dreaming: A Review of The Dreamcatchers

Book cover for The Dreamcatchers by Ignat Drozdov. Image on cover is a painting of a blue-skinned, blue man who has a lightbulb installed in his head. You can see a cross-section of it and his head. The lightbulb is emitting a yellow glow, and the man has a pensive expression on his face. Title: The Dreamcatchers

Author: Ignat Drozdov

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: January 10, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 10 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

On Jay’s first day at a new job he’s thrown into the murky business of lucid dreaming. He feels that it’s a fresh start and a chance to get away from his own nightmares, but not everything is as it seems.

Review:

Content Warning: Assault, battery, needles, and injections.

Imagine the joy of reliving the same dream as often as you wish.

Being able to control your dreams sounds incredible to me. I was eager to discover what this process would be like from the perspective of workers who were paid to medically guide clients through it without fully understanding the science behind it all. Most stories tend to write such a thing from the point of view of the scientist who invented it or the person experiencing it. Allowing characters who are only slightly more knowledgable about the topic than the reader was to narrate it opened up so many opportunities for extrapolating what might happen next or trying to piece the limited number of clues together before the twist. It was enjoyable for me as a reader to have this time to compare my perspective to that of the main character, and I’ll be keeping my eyes out for more from this author.

I would have liked to have more opportunities to explore Jay’s difficult past given how important it was to who he was when the audience first met him. There were hints about what sorts of bad memories he might be trying to avoid as he adjusted to his new job, but it would have been helpful to see them coalesce together more firmly by the final scene.

With that being said, the ending made me gasp. I ended up rereading the entire tale over again to see if could find additional clues about what happened in that final scene and why Jay ended up with the fate he did. Science fiction thrives when authors take risks with what they write in my opinion as both a reader of and writer in this genre, so I commend Mr. Drozdov for putting so much faith into his audience’s ability to figure out what was happening without overloading us with clues about what was to come.

The Dreamcatchers was creative and thought provoking.

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Winter Worries: A Review of Driving in the Dark

Book cover for Driving in the Dark by Jack Harding. Image on cover shows a dark country road from the perspective of someone driving on it at night. You can just barely make out the road, the pine trees on either side of the road, and the starry night sky above. It is all very, very dark as if this is set in a very rural area where few people drive. Title: Driving in the Dark

Author: Jack Harding

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 6, 2021

Genres:  Psychological Horror, Paranormal, Holiday, Mystery, Contemporary

Length: 24 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, and 29 year old analyst Riley Coupland has just wrapped-up work for 12 whole days. There’s something in his bag. Something silver, something shiny and glittering with hopes and dreams of a bright and beautiful future. The only thing standing between him and his soon to be fiancée Emma is his arduous, mind-numbing drive home.

But something isn’t right. His phone, his hearing, the music, the traffic, everything just seems out of sync and off, and Riley can’t quite put his finger on it.

All he has to do is keep his eyes on the road…

All he has to do is take it slow…

In this brooding and deeply moving short story by Jack Harding, buckle up and settle down for a journey that will stir your senses and pull on your heart strings, keeping you guessing right until the end of the road.

Review:

Content Warning: Car accident.

There’s no better feeling than finally getting to rest after weeks of hard work.

Riley’s character development was handled nicely. There were times when I connected with him and other scenes when I was irritated by how distractible he could be. Yes, it’s understandable to lose focus on a long drive home after working all day, but as an experienced driver he knew that this was one of his faults and that a cold winter night is not the best time for daydreaming. Characters don’t have to be perfect to be memorable, though, and I’ll certainly remember him for a long time.

I thought there were too many clues about what was going on during Riley’s long, lonely ride home as his Christmas vacation began. Anyone who is already familiar with certain horror tropes will probably figure out the twist pretty early on. As that was a major part of what made this story so interesting, I would have loved to been challenged to figure it out with less foreshadowing. This was especially true near the beginning when there was a throwaway line that all but told the audience exactly what to expect.

With that being said, this was a great example of why psychological horror can be so effective at frightening its audience. Sometimes all you need to feel fear is to imagine driving down a quiet winter road at night when hardly anyone else is out and the night sky looms overhead menacingly. There are plenty of ways such a journey can go wrong without any classic horror antagonists showing up, and I though the author did a good job of showing how sometimes the most ordinary experiences in life can also be the most horrifying ones.

Driving in the Dark was chilling.

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