I used to love their Fire & Ice. Because it was cinnamon spicy and then just immediately ended with that cool peppermint. The alchemy blew my mind. And my liver.

It made my list. I never knew sapphic horror was my jam, but after last years reads, I’ll be damned. Plus, that description just sounds so incredible. Immediate add.

Hi Mark, I’m an accountant. Let’s say the average American salary is $70k. 8% of that is $5600/yr. That breaks down to roughly $500/month. When I had ACA with tax credits, my premium was $600. And I paid up to $7500 for deductible. Plus medications and visits.

So yeah, 8%? Sign me the fuck up.

It’s going to look like the inside of an incel’s basement brain. Thousand of videos of Disney princesses getting sexually violated and Jedi going all Anikin in various public places. Look, kids! Darth Maul is disemboweling PS 152 while Goofy and The Mad Hatter run a train on Elsa. Toot toot!

I won’t lie. I’ve gotten into at least 3 fights with neighbors that I had to literally shove hands in pockets so I wouldn’t throw fists. And my wife has to keep yelling at me to not flip people off because they might have guns. My BP definitely spiked. But at least I’m insured for that oh wait fuck

We looked at a couple options. Albuquerque. North Carolina. Pennsylvania. A dear friend made the hard pitch for us to come up to Portland. Ohio won out because we got serious support from family. The bastards lured us in!

I grew up outside Philly. So I meandered on the east coast before heading west to pursue acting. It was fun as hell but I like food and having a roof over my head. So we hit “the savings will last 2 months in LA or 15 in Ohio.” It was a no brainer.

Unfortunately my wife’s family is here so…

When we moved here ten years ago (from LA because $$$$$) it was lovely and purple and houses could be bought for less than $100k. And slowly and surely the vast spectre of numbnuts encompassed everything. Ohio is a clown suit, three blue buttons on red.

What’s super funny to me is the ad banners make it look like the big mystery involves Hershey’s chocolate.

Wait….Reese’s Pieces…ET…

Holy shit.

As your friendly neighborhood accountant, I can answer.

It’s 4.

Four what? Percent? Cents? Dollars? I could explain it to you but you don’t understand the biggly generative…stagflation…affordability index ratios…um, I don’t…

Immigrants Bidened this Obama! Woke will sedition!

It’s 4!

Abso-fucking-lately. The smaller businesses aren’t doing the gouging. I needed a coupon to keep a combo below $10 at Arby’s. Thats what I get for getting Arby’s. I’m in Columbus, OH, which isn’t exactly a thriving Mecca. The small regional chains and the local guys kept things reasonable.

Because while fast food costs $10-18 a meal now, sitting down in a restaurant costs $25-40 for a similar meal. The baffling part will be when inflation/costs go down and the prices still stay this high. Because we’re used to it now.

* All the Birds in the Sky - Charlie Jane Anders
* Not for Nothing - Stephen Graham Jones

There are so many honorable mentions: Nothing by Blackened Teeth by Cassandra Khaw, Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir, The Guide by Peter Heller, Tomb of Dragons by Katherine Addison, and so on.

3/3

* Isles of the Emberdark - Brandon Sanderson
* The entire Dungeon Crawler Carl series - Matt Dinniman (I gave all 7 5* reviews)
* Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn - Christopher Cox
* Eat the Ones You Love - Sarah Maria Griffin
* Sunrise on the Reaping - Suzanne Collins
2/3

I would not wish three genres on anyone especially with how thorough you are. It’s just a testament to how incredible of a job you do. Seriously I think it was like 83 books added.