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<channel><generator>iloblog 1.0</generator><title>Steve Chats Feed</title><link>http://stevechats.stevensavile.com/</link><description>I don&#039;t claim to be prolific, deep, or particularly interesting. Most days I sit in a local cafe and work on the new novel, listening to music and reading updates on Facebook. I keep promising myself I&#039;ll try harder to connect with readers. This is another version of that promise.</description><item><title>Crossing the Streams</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=22</link><description><![CDATA[  Okay chaps and chapesses (is that even a word? tis now)     You like free stuff, right? I can see you nodding from here. Okay, so, here's a rare and special treat...“Crossing the Streams,” is a gargantuan, nay a huge, a humungous, fantastical multi-author book giveaway! Yep. Me and bunch of other sf writers–mostly novelists, but some comic writers as well–have thrown in together to create something huge for our readers because, you know, we love you. Without you lot, our lives are pretty hollow... Empty even. We're like the tree that falls in outer space that no one can hear scream...  Here’s how it’s going to work. Each individual author is running a contest on his/her own site, and each contest has its own rules. Each contest will also have TWO winners who will both receive ONE signed book, free, from that particular author. So, for instance, if you win here, you’ll win one of my books. If you win on Ari Marmell’s site, you’ll win one of his books, and so on.  Second, and even more exciting…(okay drum roll, coz this is the big prize) once the individual contests have ended, all the authors involved will get together and choose one single “SUPER WINNER” from all the entries on all our sites combined. This one lucky individual will receive a signed book, free, from each and every one of the authors involved.  You read that right. Somebody out there’s going to win over a dozen FREE books!  You can only enter each author’s contest once, but you may enter multiple contests. So you could enter here, on Nathan Long’s site, on Eugie Foster ‘s site, Howard Jones' site, you get the idea. Hell, go wild, you can enter on everyone’s site, if you want (and I really think you should, because these are some great books we’re giving away)! And even if you aren’t selected as the “SUPER WINNER,” you could very well win more than one of the individual contests. You never know.  You can find a complete list of the authors involved, as well as links to their sites, below. But first…     How to Enter MY Contest     Mine’s going to be simple. All you have to do is reply to me here on my website or e-mail me at steve@stevensavile.com answering this question: "What is the one book you think I should read next – and why?” Note that it can be anything, in genre or out, it could be a classic, it could be an ebook indie original... you name it. That's the whole point. And yes, I will read the winner's choice.  Your answer can be as long or as short as you like. Just make sure you reference “Crossing the Streams” when you enter, so I know you’re officially entering.  I will select TWO winners: one for the answer that makes me really want to read the book, and one at random. That way, even if you don’t think your sales pitch is very interesting, you’ll still have a shot at winning. And of course, everyone who enters is also in the running for the big “SUPER WINNER” prize at the end of the contest.  Entries must be received (via one of the methods mentioned above) between February 1st and February 29th, 2012.  Easy, right? My two winners, and the “SUPER WINNER”, may choose any ONE of the following prizes.     London Macabre (ARC signed - brand new as yet unreleased and as rare as it gets)  Black Chalice (paperback)        My Partners in Crime     As I said, there are over a dozen of us involved in this. You can find names, and links, here. But do me (and yourself) a favor. When you go to enter their contests, don’t just look at the contest page. Everyone involved in this contest is a great author or artist. If you like my work, you’re sure to like at least some of theirs. So take a few minutes. Browse a bit and see if anything catches your eye. Then, you know, maybe take a risk on a writer you've not read before? I know they’d all love you forever for it, just like I do.      Ari Marmell    Aaron Rosenberg    Keith Baker    Jon Sprunk    Nathan Long    Kevin Hearne    Joshua Palmatier/Benjamin Tate    Matt Forbeck     Marsheila (Marcy) Rockwell    Jason Bradley Thompson    Howard Andrew Jones    Paul S. Kemp    Eugie Foster    Scott Oden    Katherine Kerr    Elaine Cunningham  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:39:47 +0100</pubDate><category>Books</category></item><item><title>Guest Post - David Farland</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=21</link><description><![CDATA[ This week I was invited onto David Farland's Author Advisory to chat about genre hopping... something I do an awful lot of. You can check it out  here . I chat for about 90 minutes about all sorts really, books, life, the upcoming series, moving agents, you name it. I thought it was only fair to invite David back here to do the same. So, without further ado, in his own words: 
















   Genre Hopping  

    If you’re a writer, there may come a time in your life when
you think, “You know, those romance [or insert any other genre here]   writers sure have it easy. All they have to do is write that crap, and
they make money hand-over-fist!” 

 Well, some people in every genre make big money—romance,
Westerns, thrillers, horror, mystery. 
But I don’t think that writing in any field is “easy.” The competition is just too tough. 

 A few years ago, in fact, a professional science fiction
writer was grousing to me about fantasy authors. “All they have to do is  make up  that crud!” he said. 
“Anyone can do that!”  

 As an author who has made his living in dual genres for 20
years, I knew better, but kept my mouth shut. 
A few months later the author wrote his own fantasy novel. Afterward he said, “You know, that was the
hardest thing I’ve ever done. It looks
easy, but you have to keep that stuff consistent!” 

 I know. I’ve written
children’s picture books, and, man, are those hard. Writing with a world-class ear for poetry, at
such a short word count, while trying to imagine what the illustrator will come
up with? That’s work! 

 I recently spent two years researching for a historical
novel. I thought that would be easy, since
I would just be relating a true event, but it was toughest piece I’ve ever
tried. (Won an award for Best Novel of
the Year, though, so it was also gratifying.) 
 

 I’ve tried writing in the thriller genres, and that wasn’t
easy. Plotting a thriller is an art
form. 

  Now I just completed
my first big young adult novel. Though
I’ve trained a number of YA authors who have gone on to become New York Times
Bestsellers—including Brandon Mull, Brandon Sanderson, James Dashner, and
Stephenie Meyer—this was the first time that I’ve ever written in the genre.       

 So here’s my advice about genre hopping: Don’t do it for
money. If you try writing for money,
you’ll find that it’s all just hard work. 
If you write for pleasure though, you’ll have a career that you’ll love. So if you want to write in two or three
genres, write out of love. 

 The truth is, you can’t just write a novel in a genre that
you hate. One literary agent, Richard
Curtis, once tracked the novels that he sent out from authors who wanted to go
genre hopping , and he found that 90 percent of the time, the author failed to
break into the second genre. 

 There was one decisive factor in whether the author
succeeded: you have to love both fields. 
 

 You have to be acquainted with both of them. You see, with each field of literature, there
is a “secret language” for that field, a group of terms and tropes and artistic
standards that one picks up subconsciously. 
It takes years of study in any given field in order to treat it with the
respect that it’s due. 

 So I’ve written in several fields, but only in the ones that
I love. I began reading YA when I was in
college, some 20 years ago. So I
understand the field. I began reading
historical novels as a teen, before I even began reading fantasy and science
fiction. For the past ten years, when I’ve
read for pleasure, I tend to read thrillers. 
 

 I have several fields that I love, and some that I don’t
read at all. I’ve read a couple of
romance novels, but I’m not generally a fan of the form. The same can be said of Westerns, mysteries,
and horror. Those are arenas that I
just won’t step in to. 

 I've read and studied young adult fantasy for over forty
years, and though I'm an international bestselling fantasy writer, I’m just now
introducing my first big young adult series,  Nightingale.   

 It tells the story of a young man
named Bron Jones, who is abandoned at birth. 
Raised in foster care, he’s shuffled from home to home. At age 16, he’s kind of the ultimate loner,
until he’s sent to a new foster home and meets Olivia, a marvelous teacher, who
recognizes that Bron is something special, something that her people call a
“Nightingale,” a creature that is not quite human.  

 Suddenly epic forces combine to
claim Bron, and he must fight to keep from getting ripped away from the only
home, family, and friends that he has ever known. In fact, he must risk his life to learn the
answers to the mysteries of his birth: “What am I? Where did I come from? Who am I?” 

 This is a big project, an enhanced novel with illustrations
and animations from half a dozen talented illustrators. It has a sound track by the head of the
National Composer’s Guild, James Guymon, with a dozen professional musicians
and vocalists. We’re releasing the novel
in several formats, as an enhanced novel, a normal e-book, an audiobook, and as
a hardcover. 

 But we did one last cool
thing. The enhanced book was designed
for the iPad, though you will also be able to read it on just about any other
pad or smartphone. But we had our programmers
create a web app so that you can enjoy the book on your computer—read a few
chapters, take it for a test drive, or simply buy it for reading online. You’re free to go check out the results at  www.nightingalenovel.com . If you like it, remember to “Like” us on
Facebook. Better yet, re-post our site
info and tell your friends on Facebook. 

 Oh, and while you’re there, check
out our short-story contest, where you can win $1000. 

 Getting back to genre hopping,
I'm really trying to show that the money's always greener in another genre, but
you're unlikely to be successful if you hop for money. I believe the reason
I've been successful is that I've hopped because I loved the genres I was
moving to and it's the passion for what I'm writing, coupled with my dedication
to produce something original and superior. Now I'm taking that passion and
moving not only into a new genre, but into a new form of novel, a new zenith of
publishing altogether.  

 I'm loving it. I'm not afraid of
failure. I'm giddy at my prospects. That's what genre hopping should do for
you. 

   
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:13:54 +0200</pubDate><category>Randomosity</category></item><item><title>Roundabouts and Swings</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=20</link><description><![CDATA[ Lots of odd little bits to report, first up, another audio adventure is underway with Andrew Randell reading it, so that's two of my old horror novels finding a new lease of life thanks in the main to the wonders of the ebook. Sufferers, oddly, is the only novel of mine that's never actually lived as a book-book. Maybe one day.     Talking of stories that live in the ether, the co-written Sally Reardon Supernatural Mysteries got a little freshen-up from the brilliant Stan Tremblay to coincide with the release of Deadlines, the third volume in the series.                      Deadlines is available in the UK  here  and in the US  here  for those of you electronically inclined.  It's a bit of a bargain, running 25,000 words (100 pages approx) for the measly sum of 99c or 86p depending on your poison.      What's this one all about?     The city remembers, even if the people forget, and its high stone walls and strips of wasteland scattered throughout the urban renewal have a long, long memories. Sally Reardon, on doctor's orders, is spending a little time away from it all visiting her sister in the Big City, but it's anything but restful thanks to a chance encounter over too-expensive coffee in a trendy café. Sally finds herself swept up into a gristly medical scandal. The ensuing investigation spans seventy years and takes her into one of the darkest times of London's past, a time steeped in personal tragedy, both for Londoners and now for Sally.             And while we're talking about collaborations, Monster Town, my previously only available in the very fancy flip book hardcover from BadMoon Books, is now out on the kindle too, right  here  in the UK and  here  in the US.             
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 21 Aug 2011 00:02:47 +0200</pubDate><category>Books</category></item><item><title>Gabriel Rush Comes To Life</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=19</link><description><![CDATA[ Delighted to say that the tremendously talented  Peter Bishop  -- not the chap from Fringe -- has just signed up to narrate the audiobook of The Last Angel.     When people ask what is my favourite book or story it's always a tough one to answer, but I have a huge soft spot for Gabe. He was the star of my first published novel, Secret Life of Colors, which went through several incarnations before it came out via DarkTales in the US, giving me *all* of the experiences a young writer (I was barely 20 when I finished it) could ever imagine from the highest highs to the lowest lows, and all the way along that journey never failed to make me proud. Last year thanks to the Kindle Gabe was given a fresh lease of life and put out by  Crossroad Press  under the original title  The Last Angel . And it really has had a fresh lease of life, selling far more copies than the original print run did 12 years ago when it first came out. People's taste for serial killers never seems to dry up.     I had the absolute joy of listening to the first rough cut of Peter's opening chapter today, and it's fanflippintastic. Normally I can't bear to listen to my own stuff, but this was GOOD.        Ironically, Gabe's story is set in New York, written by a Brit... Peter's a Brit living in New York. A match made in heaven?        
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 10 Aug 2011 16:47:44 +0200</pubDate><category>Books</category></item><item><title>The Novel Blog</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=18</link><description><![CDATA[ There's a massive interview (5000 words+) with me this month over at  The Novel Blog , which was conducted by Rachelle Gagne, in which I talk about everything from walking out of my day job as a teacher (transformed into a possibly exaggerated play), the day to day of writing, new stuff, old stuff, and just stuff.     I've just finished final revisions on London Macabre and turned it in to the Limited and Deluxe leather lettered edition publisher, so that ought to be the next bit of news coming up, and very soon will be talking in detail about a new graphic novel project with  Joshua J Stewart , Rapture, and will be showing off some pages, as well as talking about two new YA projects, Moonlands and Latchkeys...      But for now... back to Gold.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sat, 06 Aug 2011 02:13:58 +0200</pubDate><category>Randomosity</category></item><item><title>Now For Something Completely Different</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=17</link><description><![CDATA[  My Unnatural Life 

 By  

 Steven Savile 

   

 Okay, we’ll start with a confession: 

 I am not like
Fox Mulder – I don’t  want  to believe. 

  I
don’t have this built in need to think there is something  more . Some big reason, some great reward. 

  Actually,
I think the idea that there is nothing after this is rather comforting.  

  I
am, or at least I like to think, a rational kind of guy. Intellectual.
Sensible. Give me cold hard empirical evidence and a few hours to come up with
arguments to refute it and I am a happy chap. So, ask me to my face and I will
tell you I don’t believe in ghoulies, ghosties and sundry other things that are
supposed to go bump in the night. 

  So
with that out of the way, let’s talk about why we came here, shall we? See, I
might not want to believe, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t but then, that
one word ‘want’ has always been pretty fundamental to the argument.  

  I
have had too many strange things happen during my short life to still be
ignorant of the possibilities. 

  For
instance, when I was four years old we used to live in this Victorian semi in
Denton Burn. The house was actually built beside a strip of the old Roman wall
built by the Emperor Hadrian. It was surrounded by history. All you needed was
an active imagination and it would come alive for you – and what four year old
doesn’t have an active imagination? 

  I
would lie awake at night, waiting.  

  They
always came – a boy and a girl, dressed like something out of The Railway
Children. I don’t remember their names. I am not sure I ever knew them. But
even today I think I could close my eyes and with near-perfect recall bring
back their faces and their peculiar clothes. 

 It was always
the same, every night. I’d know they were there because he would start playing
with my toys. Matchbox cars would crash into each other. Action Men would fall
from the dresser. My old tin rocking house would rock. He told me that they had
no toys so they liked to come and play at my house. I remember that as clearly
as though it happened last night. 

 Here’s a little
personal history for you. I was spoiled; instead of a functional family I had
weekly guilt gifts so my toy chest was stuffed to bursting.  

 At one time I
had sixty seven action men, with the necessary headquarters, helicopters,
training towers, dinghies, and trucks to wage my own private war. I had just
about every Tonka toy imaginable. TCR and Scalextric with booster kits so those
tiny electric cars could fly around the room, changing lanes and spinning off
the track. I had every football kit for the first and second division, so when
we kicked the ball in the yard I could pretend to be Trevor Francis one week,
Glen Hoddle or Brooking the next.  

 He’d always
start playing with the cars first and she would colour and arrange things
because I loved mess even then and never cleared away the Lego or the colouring
books. This was every night, like clockwork. When I was four it was fine. It
was fun. They were my imaginary friends, only they were so vivid, so real, that
I really could play with them for most of the night. And I did. Our friendship
lasted until the day before my fifth birthday. For some reason I couldn’t turn
around. They frightened me. I’d never been frightened by them before. I lay
with my face pressed against the wall, crying, sure that if I turned round I
would see bones. They were there, I knew they were, and I didn’t want them to
be. I said five words, and that was that.  

 “Go away. Leave
me alone.”  

  They
did. I could feel it immediately, the difference in the room. 

  And
for so many nights I wanted them to come back and play but they never did.  

  It
was odd. They left a gap in my life, these unusual children who somehow found
their way into my bedroom. 

  Now,
as an adult, I can rationalise it. I have. Imaginary friends. Over-active
imagination. Too many toys. Like I said, I have never exactly been receptive to
the idea of the afterlife, trace memories and all of that stuff. But just
because I refuse to believe in it doesn’t mean that it refuses to believe in
me. 

  Then
there was Sonja, a girl from the Rock Society who was dating a friend of mine,
or not dating him, it was all very confusing. I was supposed to be with Liz,
but Liz was peculiar. I don’t think she liked me very much. Like I said, it was
all very confusing. I was 19, pumped up with hormones and looking to get as
lucky as possible every time I went out. A regular Shallow Hall. So, this one
night after a drinking session Sonja invited me to crash at her place, an old
Tyneside Flat in Fenham, just outside of Newcastle. My first thought was: score.
Like I said, shallow. So we go back to her place and fool around a bit, nothing
serious though, because not only was I shallow I was a coward around girls (a
great combination, let me tell you). Come lights out I wind up crashing in the
spare room – and wake up ice cold in the middle of the night to see a woman in
white, a Victorian wedding dress, at the bottom of the bed just watching me. I
assumed I was drunk, rolled over and proceeded to snore loudly. That’s how much
the woman in white impressed me. 

  Come
breakfast, we’re busy burning toast as only students in lust can, and Sonja
jokes: “So, did you see the ghost?” and goes on to describe what her sister
claimed to have seen when she stayed in the same room the week before, a woman
in a white Victorian wedding dress. I lost my appetite. 

  About
a month later I met Julie, my first great love. We were together for seven
years. Her father had died several years earlier, a heart attack in the chair
downstairs while she went out to see her friends. The first time I stayed at
her house I woke up in the middle of the night to see Jimmy standing at the
bedside, again, just staring at me. I was asleep, fog-brained. I mumbled
something to the effect of: “I won’t hurt her.” And he left. I never saw him
again. Of course, the rational part of my brain knows that it was nothing more
than susceptibility and suggestion. I was in the house where he died. I was
sleeping with his daughter and feeling pretty shitty about it, to be honest. So
my mind worked its mojo. Who’s to say I even woke up? 

  In
fact the one thing all of these have in common is that I’ve been asleep and
woken into the experience – that in itself leads the sceptic in me to ask some
pretty telling questions. 

  But
– there’s always a but isn’t there? – then there’s Mr Boots’ girl. I don’t know
if you are familiar with the legend of Mr Boots. He was a bad man, a pimp in
the time of Burke and Hare who used to run the underground of Edinburgh’s
vaults. A couple of years back I went there with Marie, because we’d seen it on
Most Haunted and it looked fun. So we talk the ghost tour with a bunch of
nervous girls and cocky boyfriends, going down beneath the streets of the city,
hearing all about the evil spirit of Mr Boots, hearing rocks being scattered in
the distance. One girl screamed, claiming she felt a small warm hand slip into
hers at one point. I was enjoying it, I thought it was fascinating stuff –
especially about Mr Boots, who was a pretty reprehensible character, beating
the girls, murdering them if they tried to leave his employ. A first class
misogynist.  

  The
last room we come to is Mr Boot’s chamber. I’m leaning against the wall, away
from everyone, cold and tired, and amusing myself with a weird electrical
phenomena which makes the air spark and crackle when you take your mobile phone
out, when a hand reaches down and gropes my arse. I figured it was the
girlfriend, but she was ten steps away. There was no one near me – certainly
not in groping distance. The room was oddly hot compared to the rest of the
vault, but the wall where I was leaning was ice cold. 

  It
happened twice more. Both times I was very much alone. I could feel the fingers
digging in, getting a good grip. It was  very 
sexual, believe me. 

 A few minutes
later, our guide produces a photo someone has taken, of a face – they believe
it is Mr Boots. 

 When the photo
came to me, I looked at it, and I could have been looking at a grainy picture
of myself, so close was the resemblance. 

 And then I
realised that Mr Boot’s girl obviously thought she had been making nice with
her old boss... and this time I wasn’t
asleep.        *This article originally appeared in Doorways Magazine in 2006. 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:56:05 +0200</pubDate><category>Randomosity</category></item><item><title>The Decloaking of the Tortoise and the Hare</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=16</link><description><![CDATA[ I'm thrilled, delighted and otherwise chuffed, to announce that long-time friend and mentor, Kevin J. Anderson, and I have sold a collaborative novella/novelette pairing Tortoise and Hare, to Arc Manor for release in hardback, paperback and ebook later in the year. Another little landmark of pride is that the incredible Mike Resnick is serving as series editor, so working with two of my favourite people in SF... better not screw it up.    And in the spirit of good news, I've just heard from the British Fantasy Society that one of my stories has been picked for the BFS 40th Anniversary anthology FULL FATHOM FORTY coming out this September to celebrate the society's midlife crisis. It'll be driving a big red Porsche next. 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Sun, 03 Jul 2011 12:13:08 +0200</pubDate><category>Secret Projects</category></item><item><title>Fantastic TV and the British Fantasy Award Shortlist</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=15</link><description><![CDATA[ I was delighted to hear today that my big old book of tv shows, Fantastic TV, made the short-list for the British Fantasy Award. It was very much a labour of love, taking about 4 years from start to finish, but it's a lovely book, and Plexus did a wonderful job of making it look so sexy...              Fantastic TV is an illustrated celebration of five decades of sci-fi and fantasy series. Featuring interviews with writers and creators of each of the classic shows covered, offering a unique insight into the impact of genre TV from the men and women who brought their visions to life on the small screen. Interviewees reminiscences and the author s loving tributes describe the importance and/or uniqueness of all these different shows; how they relate to the world of genre fiction; how video truly did kill off its radio star predecessor, and how these shows continue to influence the writers and artists of today.     The full BFS short-list is available  here , and there are a lot of familiar names on it.      My very sincere thanks to everyone who thought FTV was worthy of nomination. I'm humbled by your consideration. 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jun 2011 19:03:52 +0200</pubDate><category>Randomosity</category></item><item><title>Vivisepulture</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=14</link><description><![CDATA[  Not long ago I was asked by Andy Remic to write something for his new Anarchy Books digital imprint, for an anthology that's got a Kafkaesque vibe, so I sat down and wrote METAmorphosis, a 12,000 word novella in which I am the star... erm. Yes. It's about me, characters I've written and characters I haven't written. It's quite possibly barking mad. Andy himself was terribly kind in describing it as, "A really unique idea, superbly executed, tightly written. And the ending was beautifully written. You creeped me out, which is a rare thing."   I'm not 100% sure of the release date, but it's coming SOON... and personally I think it's quite possibly the best (what a subjective word that is) novella I've ever written. It's certainly the most... peculiar. I can't wait to hear people's response to it.              And there's a stellar line-up of contributors including: Neal Asher, Lauren Beukes, Eric Brown, Ian Graham, Vincent Holland-Keen, James Lovegrove, George Mann, Gary McMahon, Stan Nicholls, Andy Remic, Jordan Reyne, Ian Sales, Steven Savile, Wayne Simmons, Jeffrey Thomas, Danie Ware, Ian Watson, Ian Whates, Conrad Williams, as well as funky artwork by Vinny Chong. What's not to love? 
 ]]></description><pubDate>Thu, 09 Jun 2011 15:17:23 +0200</pubDate><category>Books</category></item><item><title>Coffee Shops and Mumbo of the Jumbo Variety</title><link>http://iloapp.stevensavile.com/blog/stevechats?Home&amp;post=13</link><description><![CDATA[ Steve Lockley, my collaborator on the Sally Reardon supernatural mysteries, opened his blog up to strangers for July... I'm Mr July 3rd. I talk about, among other things, coffee... and writing. You'd be forgiven for thinking I am obsessed.     You can check it out  here.  
 ]]></description><pubDate>Fri, 03 Jun 2011 01:14:37 +0200</pubDate><category>Randomosity</category></item></channel>
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