There is something about the fall season that makes me very reflective. I don’t quite know what it is, but lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and my state of mind seems to have calmed and settled. I appreciate the newfound clarity, even if I regret not having it sooner so that I could have handled some things better. But I won’t dwell on my loses, I will focus on creeping you out. Halloween is a couple of weeks away and you know what that means: pretty soon we will have a new president. This election cycle has definitely been a horror show and everyday it seems to only get worse. In the beginning, I wanted to make my political opinions known because I felt a sense of responsibility to educate people who may not know what I know, but I realized that we live in a time where everyone is convinced that they know the absolute truth that others are choosing to be ignorant of. Because there’s a chance that I am doing that very thing, I shut my mouth and I am content to let the chips fall where they may. I won’t make any threats about moving to Canada if Donald Trump wins, but I will say that if he does win, it will be a definite loss for our country. To reward an entitled man like Trump with the presidency will set a dangerous precedence for the future. Say what you will about Hillary Clinton, that she is the mouthpiece of big banks and Wall Street, that she is dishonest and stole the Democratic primary, but at least she has a story that we can tell about working hard and dedicating time to the service of others that culminated in attaining the highest political office in this country. Trump inherited wealth, took advantage of anyone to grow it, contributed to the decline of western society and then stoked the anger and fear of millions of Americans. I pray that he does not win. That would be truly horrifying to me.
I hope you enjoy our horror stories, we have three as well as the continuation of three Vol. II staples. Come back next week for more and in the meantime, stay safe.
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This week:
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The IBF basement is settling into a new groove in the absence of the Alia. Is Maria the new Alia or is she something else altogether?
Made in America (Series 1): “Maria does not regret the journey that brought her to the IBF. Sure, she has spent a lot of lonely days in a room that feels more like a cell with each passing day, but she has learned so much about herself and even about the doctor that she had pursued that led her here. It turns out that she can control the minds of some people, and the doctor himself maybe one of the aliens she encountered as a child. ”
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Kevin can’t just sit on his hands and watch bad things happen to innocent people. And he can’t seem to shake his old patterns.
The Magician (Amazing Elroy, The Magician Bk. 1): “Kevin is already essentially detained at the facility, so his punishment is increased physical training. His trainer is replaced by a man who isn’t as nice as Anish. He sees her one afternoon after a particularly grueling training session. They sit in the cafeteria of the facility where the kitchen staff give him vitamin enriched gruel on orders of the colonel.”
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Today we flashback in a recollection about the first time the old men of our tale ever took a life in anticipation of something that will be truly life changing for one of our characters in the near future.
Old Man Young and the Bronx Avenger: “When a man accepts a life of crime as his life’s work, he is accepting the grim reality that he may one day have to take a life. Some men do so with little reservation; the idea of killing someone is not particularly troubling to every person. For others, it is a reality that they bury until the time comes and they are faced with the hard choice, and depending on the choice they make, they are either able to continue their criminal endeavors, or they seal their own fate and become doomed for imprisonment or death. ”
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Silas and his demon guide have a complicated relationship. They are not friends, but they spend so much time together. Maybe they are the definition of frenemies. I’m sure that Silas would be content to never see him again after this week’s issue
Silas in Hell: “Tonight, Silas comes home after his house has settled into sleep. His wife had called him earlier while he found things to do at the desk in his office and he made the regular excuse that he had too much going on to make it home before midnight. When he does make it home, he creeps to the bed in his guest room where he makes himself comfortable for the journey he is about to make. Lately during his visits to hell, Silas’s demon guide had been making the point that the human notion of sin did not always line up with the metaphysical rules that condemned men and women to the eternal suffering of hell. ”
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You’ve heard the stories about the clowns lurking the woods. Well, we know where they come from and it’s darker than you can imagine.
Illuminatos (Clown Stories): “The clowns are merely symbols. They exist to excite. We deployed them to lurk at the edges, not to threaten, but to nudge the population closer to the brink.”
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The boy who would change his name many times to reflect his stature is back and he is claiming a haunted mansion as his own. Of course he would, man I hate that kid.
The Black Side of Paradise: “If it’s true that a house can have a soul or a spirit, then the house Bradley inhabited after separation from his biological mother had a malevolent one that caused discomfort to most of the foster children who lived there over the years. Bradley did not experience this discomfort, and in fact, he felt a sort of kinship with the house. It was as though both he and the house possessed the same ill temperament that Bradley had honed over years when he never quite learned to get along with anyone and he seemed to revel in the discomfort or unhappiness that he could inspire in others.”
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It’s the PRL Serials Volume II! Check out the PRL Serials website for the PDF Issues and other interesting things to read and enjoy. See you next week!
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PRL Serials 