Tag Archives: Shelley Struthers^^++++

August 20, 2026 · 1:28 pm

00510312

“The blast verified my theory of the three-dimensional property of Hum energy. If the blast was *two*-dimensional, it would have killed some people still, true, but just in the immediate area — say, ninety people — and probably left a narrow but incredibly deep hole, perhaps only a foot or so in diameter.”

“*Ninety* people?” I responded.

“*Foot* in diameter?” Louise said in turn.

“Yes, *just* that. Instead, well, we have this. Our entire Island blown away, leaving a crater in the ocean. Soon it will be as if we never existed.” And perhaps we didn’t, thinks Roselin to herself, not seeing any sign of it on the globe below them.

“All along, I thought the Hum was just this feel-good sound everyone loves to hear.”

“I wish with all my heart that’s all it was. The Hum always had a dark side, Gordy.” Silence for a long time. Each were contemplating their own deaths and the meaning of their lives just exited. Finally:

“You mentioned a Plan B,” Louise said, trying to recover any spark of hope in the darkness of space.

“Yes.”

—–

I kept running and running along the edge of the tide on the day after I met him, thinking of “The Hmm”, how I would organize it differently from his own book about New Island. Go back to his original blog story set mainly in Hazel, bring in MICHelle from MICHigan City, true, but have them discover a new portal overlapping fantastical and real to extend its untimely end. Right here in Hazel. Right over there in Michigan City. Wormhole. Yes, I have big plans. TBC

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August 19, 2026 · 7:23 am

00510311 (center (old is better?))

“Black men. Taken advantage of. Slaves again, even. Do you want that? Will you follow her… all the way to the grave? These are the things you should be asking, Frank Lynn. As I asked them before.” He waved his arms all around. “We’re in a prison, a white prison, a white *man’s* prison. Mikie and Philip Strevor on either side of you are equally to blame. Good you killed Mikie, good you killed Strevor in that other possible ending. Leaving only me, and you. And, yeah, Nick Barkley (the Eastern European). One for each of the last 3 main versions of the game.”

“Void, huh?” Frank Lynn says, scratching his head but avoiding the temptation to scratch somewhere else. Don’t want to go down that road.

“Beyond,” Karl clarifies. “Worse than anything you can imagine.” TBC

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August 17, 2026 · 2:34 pm

00510308

We began our walk to Samantha’s Wild North in early December. It was almost summer, and the days were getting longer and hotter.

The night before we left, Louise had spread out a map on Jamie’s bed. I listened in as they chatted excitedly about our route while we all loaded our backpacks.

The trip to see Roselin is feeling more and more strange.

Let’s back up, see the bigger picture. Shelley walks on the road to Hazel intent on meeting The Man while avoiding a witch. Soo… take a left just ahead up that driveway instead of keeping straight. I *hate* witches, she thinks. That opinion is going to be hard to change. But maybe The Man can help. Probably will.

—–

“Come in come in!” he said enthusiastically while swinging the door wide. “Glad you made it back. Just working on a painting about you, coinkydinkily enough. I call it… ‘Woman in Red’.” They enter the house where he reveals the work almost 96.725% done. TBC

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August 16, 2026 · 1:08 pm

00510305 (Stranger)

We were suppose to go to Orion together but something happened.

“Apple,” I said, staring at it as the alarms went off. “Something about that apple.”

Meteor! Impach [sic]. Ichelus in effect if Inchelium equals. It didn’t have to be this way.

We plummet down to Planet Q where we weren’t suppose to be.

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August 12, 2026 · 2:53 pm

00510214 (St. Pink)

“If you look at these 2 maps of Jeogeot pre-channel (left) and Jeogeot post-channel (right), you’ll see that the pre-channel version is much more populated. Look at how the map is so busy compared to that later version. Depopulation; deenergizing. Our Second Lyfe was at its peak pre-channel. Winking out the Korean Channel sims one by one by one, Andie is beckoning us back into the spacecraft to a fulfilled past, absorbing the potentially harmful element of blue into her body.”

“Body,” Shelley mutters half to herself, thinking of her own. Pink all around. She’s decided that Silver would do just fine for a name of their fledgling band per Okama’s suggestion. No Mosquitoes atall. They’ve decided to end the buzz to all that. Private is better. They can work in the shadows to succeed in their Earthly roles. TBC

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0051, 0214, California, Jeogeot, Kidd Tower, Nawt Vaya+, NVFS

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August 10, 2026 · 3:35 pm

00510210 (Mousie)

Okama DJ-ing in Tamna to the west of Nawt Vaya. Just a rehearsal for his actual job doing such over in Bulls Bar, but the system here, a KOD4 DJ Shard Booth v2 rev.67, is top of the line, probably thanks to the Mouse money coming in. You know who I’m talking about (see background). Okama also finds that most of the time no one is around, and thus he can practice in peace instead of pieces, unlike for often chaotic Bulls Bar. Only wee dancing fairy Silver here and she doesn’t count. At least he thought so… until tonight.

“Why don’t you call your band Silver,” she somehow whispered over the loud music to him, he with his giant ear of listening activated. “After me.” Silver, he pondered later upon teleporting back to his Kidd Tower home on Nawt Vaya Free State land, dripping sweat from all the bouncing around per usual. He’d bring the idea up to Shelley tomorrow. Which reminds me (swing).

He wants to take control of the girl.

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August 4, 2026 · 6:35 pm

00510205

“I think I’ve entered the punk phase of my photo-novels, er, Wheeler,” I only half joke, also thinking of “Tamala 2010: A Punk Cat in Space”. “Shorter posts, shorter sections. No more long sprawling concept stuff. I’m condensing. Saying what’s real — getting to the real part.”

“Sure,” she said, now wearing a punk outfit herself to match my mood. She spat on the floor beside her, wiped her mouth. No, not *that* punk, I think. Not the violence and anger, just the condensing. Like alchemy.

“Alchemy?” she questioned after I summarized this to her. She dutifully started wiping the floor with one of her kleenexes. That she didn’t have since there were no pockets in her outfit. Maybe later. But still: the wiping. At least for this post. Going on too long…

——

The next thing I found myself telling her was about the dam. Old Catawba River, I explained. The boat… made it and didn’t make it at once. Floating down the perpetual river now in one reality. Mythos.

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July 30, 2026 · 1:55 pm

00510114 (cats and mouse)

Part 02…

It was a tight squeeze but she made it, newly placed crown just fitting under ceiling. Top of the kitty tower, Queen of the Basement. She surveys her queendom and deems it needs cleaning up. Pretty badly. She’s lost control of her 15 year old girl and 4 year old boy, her subjects. Better return to the Room and draw out a plan.

But she looked and looked but couldn’t find her way back. Just walls. She forgot that she was already in the Room. And always had been.

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July 30, 2026 · 6:54 am

00510113 (reach)

“I’m scrapping the whole idea!” raged Biff Carter one night after a particularly bad rehearsal for the band. “I’m going to call us — heck — *Runnynose*. Because that’s what we are. A constant drip drip drip of annoyance threatening to dribble down my cheeks if I don’t stop it, PHEH. Where’s my hanky? I want to blow it all away!” He rubs his hand across his face and then picks up the loaded gun on the table beside him but then puts it back. No need to go down that road, he, thankfully, quickly realized. No more mowing down needed. Let tall grass stand. Weedy. Jennifer not Jenny. She lives! At least in his mind, in his dreams. He can also live with that for a while.

“Here,” consoling Shelley said from the side, replacing him in that role. “Take a hit from my white ass stick instead to cool you down.” And she leans over and kisses his cheek while handing it to him, a promise of things to come. At least for Biff. TBC

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Filed under **VIRTUAL SL, 0051, 0113, Jeogeot, Omega, Rodentia 02, The Cross

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July 30, 2026 · 5:49 am

00510112 (news)

Jennifer Lane had tragically been mowed down by a bulldozer, perhaps several of ’em. This is an archived photo.

“What are we going to do *now*?” I can hear ear of corn clad Karl bemoan from behind his drum kit in the back. “Everything *hinged* on her growing up and appearing before me and beside Chet over there, replacing his screeching, crow-like vocals with her now mature golden warblings, PHEH. Damn you Charles Anson!” Karl assumed it was long time nemesis and former band videographer Anson who was responsible for the mowing down but longer time band manager Biff Carter corrected him from the side.

“Wasn’t him,” he said plainly.

And why won’t *Chet* weigh in on this tragedy? He just stands there in his new Robo Santa costume to pair with Karl’s own corn related one, lead guitar hanging low off his neck.

—–

“Biff,” Shelley says from above, jiggling his shoulder. “Biff Wendell Carter,” she speaks his full name to fully bring him back to reality on the other side. “Band rehearsal in 5.” TBC

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