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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 13h

Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'treat' #BookQW Sedna is disturbed from her rest by an unwanted challenge to duel in otherwise idyllic surroundings. The Murderer's Lament is available now! Links to store pages below. #scifi #spaceopera #mystery #scifibooks #BookSky💙📚

Official Hyatta’s lips drew back from his teeth, his breath hissing. “So be it. Then, Qutro, I demand of you a duel.”
In front of everyone present, Hyatta drew one of the small feather pins from the gossamer scarf around his head and threw it at Sedna’s feet. She picked it up, looking at the exotic feature as Hyatta awaited her reply.
“You are sure you want this?”
“Yes.”
“And how would you have it?”
“To the death. No other will satisfy me.”
“As you wish.”
There was a momentary silence, then the gentle hum of talk as the newcomer barged out to prepare for the duel. Sedna looked at the item thrown at her. Could’ve used something better. The feather had been dyed, and it was so sad and droopy from the heat and a lack of care. Oh, well. A challenge was a challenge.
One of the oldest servants was speaking within earshot to another guest. “Last time there was a challenge here was when a Human guest insulted the planet’s last Feles ambassador, and they ended up in a fistfight.”
“What happened?”
“The Human was taken away with severe lacerations, the ambassador was treated for internal injuries, and the two have been political allies ever since.”
Sedna laughed at this overheard trifle. “Hmm. Seems the old adage about getting friends and allies holds true.”
“What adage?” asked Dudruk.
“First step, engage in mortal combat.”
“That’s not an adage.”
“Well, then it’s a trope. Personally, if I ever engaged an employer in mortal combat, I’d have no employers.”
The joke fell somewhat flat given the circumstances. Indeed, from what her ears caught as she passed back inside, news of the duel subdued even the most ardent and flippant conversationalists.

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 21h

They're all out now. Mystery, intrigue, and two compelling leads in the earlist story of the Cluster Cycle's timeline. #scifibooks #spaceopera #BookSky💙📚

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

"The Murderer's Lament" releases today from Roan & Weatherford! Want a preview? Here's a reading from the first chapter, introducing the contrasting leads Sedna and Ajax. #reading #scifi #spaceopera #mystery #newrelease #BookSky💙📚 www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ycbn...

youtube.com

Preview reading: The Murderer's Lament (Season 4, Episode 6)

YouTube video by Thomas Wrightson

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Are Techbro billionaires discovering their established and tolerated business practice with hardware i.e. 'release the cool thing we developed without bothering to consider malfunction/abusive use, and mop up/hush up real world damage causing bad press later' really does not work with software?

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Narrative Damage @narrativedamagerpg.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Join us at @britfantasysoc.bsky.social's Fantasycon on 9 October @ 9pm for some live late night chaotic D&D as our intrepid group of heroes (played by authors @annasmithwrites.bsky.social, @rtorrubia.com, Dave Wragg and @stewarthotston.com) investigate a mysterious ship moored in Waterdeep Harbour.

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Creative Uncut @creativeuncut.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Fury, Strife, Death, and Vulgrim from Darksiders by artist Joe Madureira. More art from the game: www.creativeuncut.com/art_darkside...

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Gary Erskine @garyerskine.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Ten years ago, Yel Zamor @stillwintercraft.bsky.social and I worked on FRONTLINES: Requiem with Ivan Brandon based on Marko Kloos' novels. Still proud of this series. Today? We are prepping for Murderbot: ALL SYSTEMS RED by @marthawells.com on @kickstarter.com with @ericaschultz42.bsky.social

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New Scientist @newscientist.com · 29/09/2026

Space scientist Maggie Aderin tells Karmela Padavic-Callaghan about these stunning photographs from the James Webb Space Telescope, which feature in her new book

newscientist.com

Maggie Aderin explores stunning images of the universe captured by JWST | New Scientist

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

youtube.com

Preview reading: The Murderer's Lament (Season 4, Episode 6)

YouTube video by Thomas Wrightson

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Jinzee @jinzee.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Question for the cozy gamers amongst us: What's your peak cozy game and why?

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Natacha @natacha.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

The transphobes leading the Labour Party decided to exclude trans women from the Labour Women’s conference. In doing so they excluded a huge number of cis women also; the venue was only 20% full. Labour needs to learn that transphobia harms everyone, including cis women, & not just trans people.

Lots of empty seats at Labour Women’s conference.

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Rainbow Space Magic @spacemagiccon.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It is a week(!!!) until Rainbow Space Magic, so let's re-share this thread of our panels! This year's theme is "building resilient communities" Further details at rainbowspacemagic.org

rainbowspacemagic.org

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Stephen Cox - "funny, raunchy, romantic, satisfyingly twisted" @stephencoxauthor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Looking forward to #Fantasycon in Glasgow. Here's my schedule and come and say hi, Around, Friday 5-6pm reading from “Terror“, Malin Saturday LAUNCH 9.00am (!!!), Orkney Wizards Tower Press Wiz-4 (“the story of my heart”) 11.00 am Death to AI Panel (Panel Room 2) Sunday am, Around #books #SFF

ALT
The Crooked Medium’s Guide to Terror
A striking book cover with the title and author name dominating.
The lettering and detail are pale against a dark and sinister red-brown. The Title is in large Victorian lettering emphasising the word Terror by size of font and red added to letters – not dripping blood! - and framed by gold. Three roundels show icons related to the book; left, a half folded cutthroat razor streaked with red, top right, pearl jewellery with three pearls and a pearl effect locket; bottom right a burning railwayman’s lamp.
The effect is striking and Victorian.

The cover of Wiz-4 a novella anthology from Wizards Tower Press
The book shows the two novellas by dividing the cover into two triangles the line being top left to bottom right corners.
Left is Top Tips for Loving a Lizard. It shows a jolly green Godzilla holding a smaller ginger King Kong, with a big red heart. There’s a definite more than best friends vibe.
Right is Marooned off Ceres which shows a red moon, a space turtle and a female astronaut who is black. It’s not framed to feel like a threat.

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Spotlight Indie @spotlightindie.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT: Announcing our first in-person event for 2027! We're excited to be bringing The Writers Studio: Writer Development Day to Shrewsbury on 27th Feb 2027. We're also thrilled to welcome @annasmithwrites.bsky.social as our workshop leader for the event. TICKETS GO ON SALE SUNDAY!

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Lev Parikian @levparikian.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Been reading about terror birds. They died out about 100,000 years ago, were up to 10 feet tall, 350 kg, flightless, could run faster than an ostrich, and had sharp sickle toes for grabbing prey and huge beaks for jabbing them to death. And people complain about gulls.

A terror bird skeleton. Big head, big feet, long neck.

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Victoria Strauss @victoriastrauss.com · 25/09/2026

New #WriterBeware blog post: If you're a writer, you've probably gotten one (or more) of those AI-generated scam marketing emails or book club invites that make it seem like the sender really read your book. Here's a little peek at how it's done. writerbeware.blog/2026/09/25/h...

writerbeware.blog

How Those Personalized Generative AI Scam Emails Are Built - Writer Beware

One of the things I often hear from writers whose inboxes are crammed with incredibly personalized marketing or book club or editor impersonation emails–you know, the ones that make it seem the sender...

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Emily Inkpen @emilyinkpen.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

It has been a week! From studio directing to day job to listening to fans of The Dex Legacy talk about the show - a terrifying event 😅 happening tomorrow at 2pm 👀 after which I’ll join for a Q&A - this last few days has been real. Tune-in to the Big Indie Weekend here 👇 youtube.com/@spotlight-i...

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Hourly Cosmos @hourlycosmos.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Crescent Saturn - From NASA Marshall Space Flight Center - flic.kr/p/2gLZGS1

Saturn never shows a crescent phase -- from Earth. But when viewed from beyond, the majestic giant planet can show an unfamiliar diminutive sliver. This image of crescent Saturn in natural color was taken by the robotic Cassini spacecraft in 2007. The featured image captures Saturn's majestic rings from the side of the ring plane opposite the Sun -- the unilluminated side -- another vista not visible from Earth. Pictured are many of Saturn's photogenic wonders, including the subtle colors of cloud bands, the complex shadows of the rings on the planet, and the shadow of the planet on the rings. A careful eye will find the moons Mimas (2 o'clock) and Janus (4 o'clock), but the real challenge is to find Pandora (8 o'clock). Saturn is now nearly opposite from the Sun in the Earth's sky and so can be seen in the evening starting just after sunset for the rest of the night.

Image credit: NASA/ESA/SSI/Cassini Imaging Team

Read More

Read more about Cassini

NASA Media Usage Guidelines

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D.N. Schmidt, SF author🪐📚 @dnschmidt.com · 24/09/2026

(Warning: English major attempting math) If Bela Lugosi represents the average vampire’s weight at 180 lbs, then Dracula needs to drink 252 lbs, or roughly 29 gallons, of blood per meal. Assuming 3 meals, that’s roughly 66 people a night, or 1 every 11 minutes. That’s a busy feeding schedule!

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

It's the little things, you know? Little silly things that bring one pleasure. #writerslife #videogames

Screenshot of "Bayonetta", showing the player having achieved the highest "Pure Platinum" rank on the first boss.

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'knew' #BookQW Sedna explains her reasoning behind what on the surface looks like a cold-blooded killing. Will her philosophy continue to stand up to scrutiny? #scifi #spaceopera #mystery #BookSky💙📚

Hyatta’s second came over and checked him, then rose and bowed to Sedna. “You are the victor. The vendetta is settled.”
Sedna bowed in turn, handed her weapon back to the chairman, then quickly walked to the desk to put through a call to cancel her flight to Qaata. Ajax watched her walk away from Official Hyatta’s body, then turned away from the scene with a disgusted expression. In the hall, as Sedna was about to make her call, he popped into her peripheral vision. She faced him head on as he opened with a disdainful remark.
“Pleased with yourself?”
“Yes.” Sedna put on a smile to hide her irritation. “Rather. All sorted out quite quickly. No need to cut my holiday short this time.”
“It was cold-blooded murder.”
“That’s what I do. I’m a Murderer.”
“That is not what I mean. There are Murderers if you insist, and there are also killers. You knew he would miss, did you not? How did you know?”
Sedna gave Ajax a strange expression. “I gave him his chance. Can you say fairer than that? If I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have been in the least fair. And by prolonging it, he would have done himself irreparable personal damage.”
“Fair? What are you talking about?”
“He has . . . Apologies, I must correct myself, wrong tense. He had problems with his depth perception. I’m amazed he crossed the garden and back without running into any of the plants or chairs. I let him take the first shot, but it was a matter of honor. If I’d missed deliberately, he would have insisted on as many rematches as it took, and the whole thing would have dragged on so. Eventually, he would have had to own up and be made to look an utter fool. Better to end it quickly and preserve his sense of honor.”
“What honor is there in cold-blooded killing?”
“Depends on the point of view. Better a cool and disinterested murder that saves lives and reputation than a hot action leading to reprisals and ruination. You deal with the latter type every day, don’t you?”

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'knew' #BookQW #BookSky Dan Mackmain has no idea what made the noise he's just heard. He'd never have guessed the challenges he'll face, way beyond his skills and experience. Did you know The Green Man's Holiday ebook is a Kindle 99p offer now, price-matched elsewhere?

Cover art by Ben Baldwin shows a creature crouching in a low tunnel entrance lined with grey stones and partly hidden by green undergrowth and white flowers. The creature has pale skin covered in sparse black hair and it looks a bit like an ape, a bit like a bear, and completely unlike either of those.

Book extract reads: As well as a folder of information about the cottage for visitors, I saw a shallow wicker basket filled with leaflets. Fin started sorting through them.
‘There’s a lot of ancient stuff around here. A couple of hillforts. A Roman villa. This one has a couple of circular walks we could do, if we fancied looking at standing stones.’
She tossed leaflets for Wookey Hole and the Cheddar caves back in the basket. She knew I wouldn’t be interested in those. I’m too tall to be comfortable in dark, cramped spaces underground.
‘Right.’ I closed my eyes and wondered why it’s so hard to find furniture with a back tall enough for someone like me. I shifted sideways and slid down the cushions until I could rest my head properly. That made drinking my tea awkward, but I felt my headache easing.
I listened to the soft rustle of paper and Fin making faint noises of surprise and approval as she found something interesting. Then I heard something else. I opened my eyes.
Fin was staring at me, concerned. ‘Was that a cat?’

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Leigh Price @bobthepetferret.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Highlighting this again as Control Resonant is out tomorrow, and my Alan Wake 2 analysis video is also a great way to get caught up on the universe that @remedygames.com have conjured up Shares and likes all hugely appreciated too! youtu.be/RB3Zilz84Ok

youtu.be

The Multiverse and The Dark Place | An Analysis of Alan Wake 2

YouTube video by Bobthepetferret

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Big Bearded Spookseller @bigbeardedbookseller.com · 22/09/2026

Just updated this post on Ko-Fi, adding links to all the websites I'm currently working on

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depths of wikipedia @depthsofwikipedia.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I'm really sad about the death of one of my favorite wikipedia editors so here's a thread of some of the greatest articles he wrote

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Serial Experiments Rain Corbyn @raincorbyn.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

Ahh I’m so excited to get to share this at last! I both can’t believe I get to do this with Tenebrous, and at the same time it feels like a completely natural fit. Get ready to cry-hurl, yall

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Ken Burnside @kenburnside.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Meta famously monetized the Rohingya massacre. But objected to this. If you're on FascismBook, you're creating content and viewing ads that further Zuckerberg's ethnic cleansing dream.

theguardian.com

Meta bans ads for Virginia Woolf play in Spain because they relate to feminism

Theatre told that Facebook and Instagram filter out ads mentioning ‘social topics’ such as civil rights or feminism

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

If you missed it yesterday. I don't know if this was fun or tortuous. But I think it was worth doing. #monday #amwriting #books

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Lindsay Ellis @lindsayellis.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Tomorrow I'm uploading to YouTube the project I've been working on almost nonstop for six months, and finally everyone can watch the video that nobody asked for.

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Ness 🎃🇨🇦 @vriccithode.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

it's dog o'clock

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Hello, scammers. I see you, and I'm not impressed. At least buy my book first so you know what the heck it's about. #writerslife #writingcommunity #BookSky💙📚

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Chris McLaren ☢️ @chrismclaren.com · 18/09/2026

Given my previously stated desire for authors to lean into their own special weirdnesses and let their unique freak flags fly, you can perhaps guess how I feel about the idea that the people outsourcing their thinking to spicy autocomplete are contributing to the McDonaldization of culture.

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Wizard's Tower Press @wtpress.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

In our Kickstarted anthology, edited by Roz Clarke & Jo Hall, Welsh communities fight back against oppression with a little help from their supernatural friends. On pre-order: wizardstowerpress.co...

The cover of They Are Still Here (Mae Nhw Yma O Hyd).

The image is of the sorceror, Gwydion, surrounded by wild animals (wolf, boar, deer) in a Celtic knotwork frame. Gwydion's hat is crowned with antlers. He carries an axe in his right hand and an oak twig in his left.

Art by Josh Arklin.

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British Fantasy Society @britfantasysoc.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

BFS Horizons is open for Fiction submissions. Send us your Fantasy, SF and Horror stories, and anything in between! (Guidelines on our website, details in comments below.)

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Wizard's Tower Press @wtpress.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Diwrnod Owain Glyndŵr hapus! Today Wales celebrates one of the country's greatest heroes. Is he in this book? Well no, but there are lots of fairies, giants, coblynau, mermaids, and maybe even a dragon... wizardstowerpress.co...

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Tej Turner @tejturner.com · 16/09/2026

Pre-orders for paperbacks and hardbacks of this anthology are now available on the @wtpress.bsky.social website, and if you order through there you can request a free ebook too. Bargain! 🙂📕

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Book Quote Wednesday's word is 'tree'. #BookQW In an exotic domed garden, Sedna walks among potential allies and enemies as the scene is set for murder. The Murderer's Lament is out on September 29! #scifi #spaceopera #mystery #sample #writingcommunity #BookSky💙📚

Sedna scanned the area before her. It looked stunning. On either side of the open grassy meadow was a rockery, packed with healthy exotic specimens. An artificial waterfall trickled at its far end, where a number of wetland plants were arranged. Under the line of trees were plants that needed more shade, though still firmly within the realms of the tropics. Many plants were in flower, some were on the cusp, some were past their best, and many simply showed off their leaves of a dozen shades in natural glory.
Sedna described the scene, then added, “Is there anywhere for cooler plants to grow, or is it all tropical?”
“Ah.” Sienyd smiled. “I see my environment is a little stifling for your taste.”
“A little.”
Jaques spoke from near the edge of one of the rockeries. “Don’t Ekri like the heat? You come from an arid world, don’t you?”
Sedna chose her words carefully, more than this Human seemed to. “To a degree. But there are limits. Too much heat, or heat with too much moisture, is a great risk for our kind. Some piece of our ancestors may have been cold blooded, but we are not. Nor do we like saturation”
“I see.” Jaques cocked his head contemplatively. “Don’t take offense, but on Ancient Earth, there was a type of creature very like you in appearance. We called them reptiles. In fact, each of the different peoples seem to parallel something from our records of Ancient Earth’s fauna. Quite uncanny.”
Pashai entered into the spirit of the talk. “What do our people parallel?”
The conversation turned on comparative physiognomy. The Feles, compared to “big cats,” with their Human name taken from felidae. The unflattering Kavki parallel to “fish,” “amphibians,” and other marine or aquatic creatures. Pashai’s face appeared taut, but Sienyd didn’t seem offended.

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Thomas Wrightson (he/him) @thomaswrightson.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

One can hope. It's one of the few things left for us poor people on the outside.

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Titan Books @titanbooks.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

A curated in-depth gallery of the concept art, costumes, and script for the cult classic film THE FIFTH ELEMENT. THE FIFTH ELEMENT: A VISUAL RETROSPECTIVE Order now: loom.ly/pwI8fbo

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Juliet E McKenna @julietemckenna.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Seeing positive reviews and ratings for The Green Man's Debt from keen and speedy readers is very gratifying. Don't forget this month's 99p ebook offer for The Green Man's Holiday, on Kindle and price-matched elsewhere if you need to read that first. You could even buy both titles for £5.98... 😁

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Xan @comicsbyxan.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

In recognition of @lillywachowski.bsky.social telling off JKR, here's that one Matrix comic I did The estrogen is a metaphor for being trans

The Xanimatrix

The comic is a parody of the Matrix red pill/blue pill scene, with pre-transition Xan sitting across from Morpheus.

MORPHEUS: You take the blue pill - the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill - you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.

XAN: Okay... um... the red pill represents transitioning, right?

MORPHEUS: Yes. The red pill is estrogen.

XAN: That would be nice... I mean, I would like to be a girl.

MORPHEUS: It would be extremely awesome.

XAN: But... ugh. It's a big decision, you know? Do I have to decide now?

MORPHEUS: That... would be most convenient for the plot, yes.

XAN: What if I spend a decade or so in denial, and then I eventually do take the red pill, and also I regret not taking it now when I was first offered it?

MORPHEUS: Okay, but why would you... I mean, you definitely want...

XAN: Is the red pill even covered by my insurance?

MORPHEUS: YOU ARE A TERRIBLE PROTAGONIST

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