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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 18, 2013 16:47:15 GMT
Stefan Dziemianowicz, Robert Weinberg, and Martin H. Greenberg (ed.) - 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories (Barnes & Noble, 1995)I'll always have a special place in my heart for the series of instant-remainder "100" anthologies that Greenberg and company edited for Barnes & Noble back in the 1990s (including 100 Wild Little Weird Tales and 100 Twisted Little Tales of Torment. I've read almost all of them, but I've been saving this one for now--my wife and I recently welcomed a new addition to the family, and it's nice to have a book of very short stories to read as we adjust. Contents and commentary to follow if I ever find the time . . .
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Post by dem bones on Jun 18, 2013 18:18:28 GMT
my wife and I recently welcomed a new addition to the family, and it's nice to have a book of very short stories to read as we adjust. Delighted to hear this, CB. My warmest conratulations to Lady Cauldron and yourself. Will be raising a glass (well, can) to the new arrival very shortly.. |
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Post by Craig Herbertson on Jun 18, 2013 20:15:55 GMT
my wife and I recently welcomed a new addition to the family, and it's nice to have a book of very short stories to read as we adjust. Delighted to hear this, CB. My warmest conratulations to Lady Cauldron and yourself. Will be raising a glass (well, can) to the new arrival very shortly.. I'll support Dem's can with a wee dram of Glemorangie (pilfered from a sample stall) Congratulations CB |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jun 19, 2013 16:01:30 GMT
Delighted to hear this, CB. My warmest conratulations to Lady Cauldron and yourself. Will be raising a glass (well, can) to the new arrival very shortly.. I'll support Dem's can with a wee dram of Glemorangie (pilfered from a sample stall) Congratulations CB Thank you, gentlemen. I could use a dram or two myself. As for the book, so far it's a mixed bag--much like the same crew's 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories. Both include mostly original stories along with a few reprints. There are probably twice as many misses as hits; even so, that makes for a fair number of hits (and the misses don't wear out their welcomes). Best reprints so far: Ramsey Campbell's "Conversion" and T.E.D. Klein's "Camera Shy." Best originals so far: Mark Kreighbaum's heartwarming Young Adult-ish "And By a Word, Immortal," about a teenage vampire girl who drinks, not blood, but stories from the school library; Donald R. Burleson's creepy "And To See Him Smile," which features a singing vampire who is "face all the way down." Best punchline: Edward Bryant's "Aqua Sancta," in which a priest armed with nothing but a full bladder manages to defeat a vampire with some unconventional holy water. Best example of a painfully dated 1990s-era techno vampire: Richard Parks's "Coffin.Nail," in which a modern day Van Helsing wields an ASCII art cross against a computer virus vampire. No, seriously, this is all it takes to stop it: 0001100 0001100 1111111 0001100 0001100 0001100 0001100 I'm curious to see how the originals by Hugh B. Cave and Karl Edward Wagner are. |
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Post by cauldronbrewer on Jul 11, 2013 17:48:10 GMT
As for the book, so far it's a mixed bag--much like the same crew's 100 Wicked Little Witch Stories. Both include mostly original stories along with a few reprints. There are probably twice as many misses as hits; even so, that makes for a fair number of hits (and the misses don't wear out their welcomes). It turns out that 2-to-1 was generous; 7-to-1 is more like it. The reprints are mostly good, but the originals are mostly gimmick stories (but then what would one expect in an anthology of short-short stories about vampires, I suppose?). |
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Post by bobby on Oct 15, 2016 16:03:22 GMT
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Post by dem bones on Oct 16, 2016 18:04:52 GMT
Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz & Martin H. Greenberg - 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories (Barnes & Noble , 1995).
Stefan Dziemianowicz - Introduction
Donald R. Burleson - And to See Him Smile
Mike Ashley - The Witness
Ramsey Campbell - Conversion
Norman Partridge - Apotropaics
T. E. D. Klein - Camera Shy
Lois H. Gresh - Snip My Suckers
David Langford - Blood and Silence
Mark Kreighbaum - And by a Word, Immortal
Robert Weinberg - The Kwik- Mart Vampire
Martin R. Soderstrom - Forever Young
Scott A. Cupp - Moving Day
Edward Bryant - Aqua Sancta
David Drake - Something Had to Be Done
Michael Skeet - Chains
Nancy Holder - Blood Gothic
Brian McNaughton - Child of the Night
Richard Parks - Coffin.Nail
Rick Hautala - Setup
Gary Jonas - Single White Vampire
Lawrence Watt-Evans - Worthy Of His Hire
Mike Baker - Night Flight
Fred Chappell - The Flame
Hugh B. Cave - First Love
Jay R. Bonansinga - The Need
Ben P. Indick - The Rose Cavalier
Darrell Schweitzer - The Lady of the Fountain
H. Andrew Lynch - The Shape of Turmoil
Adam-Troy Castro - Crucifixion
Greg Cox - Bingin’
Dan Perez - Slice of Life
Adam Niswander - Charity
Billie Sue Mosiman - Antidote
Jedediah Elysdir Hartman - All Through the Night
Thomas Marcinko - The Dark Nightingale Returns
Gregory Nicoll - Up in the Air, Junior V- Men
Brad Strickland - Cross Examination
Hobey Widmouth - It All Comes Out in Analysis
Steve Anable - The Early Decision
Peter Cannon - Blood Brothers
C. Bruce Hunter - Hunting the Vampire
Thomas Ligotti - The Heart of Count Dracula, Descendant of Attila, Scourge of God
Don D’Ammassa - Misapprehensions
Karl Edward Wagner- Prince of the Punks
John Maclay - Entrapment
Lois H. Gresh - Cocci’s Blood- fueled Feud
Christie Golden - One Good Bite
John Gregory Betancourt - Miss Vampire New Mexico Meets Her Dream Date
Peter M. Spizzirri - Angels, Strange Angels
David Niall Wilson - Another Saturday Night
Benjamin Adams - Icing Up
Remy de Gourmont- The Magnolia
Steve Rasnic Tem - Vintage Domestic
Ron Dee - A Little Night Music
Wayne Allen Sallee - Sometimes We Come Back
Benjamin Adams - Acts
Richard Parks - Revival
Pamela D. Hodgson - Crumbs Under Thy Table
Robert M. Price - Blood Atonement
Billie Sue Mosiman - Back in the World
Charles Garofalo - The King’s Return
Ramsey Campbell - Jack in the Box
Steve Rasnic Tem - Mouths
Michael A. Arnzen - The Blood Ran Out
Jeff Gelb - The Last Victim
Nina Kiriki Hoffman - The Biting- a- Hologram Blues
Don Herron - Life After
C. Bruce Hunter - A Frenzied Beat of Wings
Brian Stableford - The Exploration of Inner Space
Simon MacCulloch - The Nine Billion Names of Nosferatu
Karen E. Taylor - VampWare
Yvonne Navarro - The Best Years of My Life
Lois Tilton - The Wet- Nurse
Tina L. Jens - A 12- Step Program (for the Corporeally Challenged)
Tim Waggoner - Supernaturally Incorrect
Joe R. Lansdale - Bar Talk
Lawrence Schimel - Exodus
Cynthia Ward - The Longest Night
George Zebrowski - Fire of Spring
Janet Berliner Gluckman & George Guthridge - Fantsilotra
Nancy Kilpatrick - UV
Will Murray - The Skull in Her Smile
Mort Castle - Upstairs, Downstairs, and All About Vampires
Dawn Dunn & Judy Post - Foul Weather
Yvonne Navarro - Folds of the Faithful
Joel Lane - Just Enough
Nina Kiriki Hoffman - Family History
Kathryn Ptacek - Moving Day (Night?)
Robert M. Price - Hemo Gobblin’
Jill M. Morgan - Paying the Fine
Manly Wade Wellman - The Devil Is Not Mocked
Adam-Troy Castro - Ragz
Lisa Lepovetsky - Cross Your Heart
Jean Lorrain - The Glass of Blood
Stephen Mark Rainey - Angels of the Mist
Mollie L. Burleson - The Reappearance
Miroslaw Lipinski - The Travelling Coffin: A Tale of Trembling Horror in Three Parts
Michael Scott Bricker - The Darkness in Her Touch
Connie Hirsch - Year’s Turning
Hugh B. Cave - The Law
Alan Brennert - Cradle
Have long had my fill of just about all things fang-faced and yet ... despite, or probably because of Cauldron Brewer's negative verdict (and my gut instinct telling me that he's called it 100% correct), curse it all, I'm wavering ...
Somebody tell me to be strong, resist!
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Post by dem bones on Oct 28, 2016 16:31:21 GMT
Here's the alt-cover photo. Robert Weinberg, Stefan Dziemianowicz & Martin H. Greenberg (eds.) - 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories (Barnes & Noble, 1995)  CorbisNot a Weird Tale in sight. Acquired on the off-chance that it might just include a film-crew-in-peril or, better still, slimy fans story. Couldn't resist a dip, but rest will have to wait until I'm done with Ghastly Ghosts and Creepy Creatures. C. Bruce Hunter - Hunting the Vampire: Geoffrey and Marcus enter Dracul's lair in the cellar of the ruined abbey. Only one will emerge alive. Hope for all wannabe Van Helsings when faced with the might of the undead. Even if you lose your stake, a mallet can do plenty damage if you aim for the right place. Karl Edward Wagner - Prince of the Punks: Grouchy Inspector Blount and DS Rollins accompany "senile fool" Dr. Hoffman, another of these vampire "experts" on a search and destroy mission in the ruined cemetery at Battersea, S. London. There have been six unsolved teenage murders in two months and the cops are under increasing pressure to bring the culprit(s) to justice. Blount suspects Satanic youth gangs, Hoffman knows killer is Black Sorcerer, Giles Ashton, 1830-1878, "May he rest forever." Story positively reeks of a Does a Wankyr Walk in H**hg*te influence. Best not go there. Joe R. Lansdale - Bar Talk: Space vampire short. A Martian walks into a bar looking for some lonesome soul to bother with his stories from back home. Unlucky recipient of his attentions finds the experience a drain. Hugh B. Cave - The Law: An Eastern European republic. A copy of Robert Weinberg's novel, A Plague Of Magic, falls into the hands of somebody important who takes the novel's premise to heart ("supernatural creatures only exist because people believe in them"). Destroy the belief and no more vampires! A law is duly passed prohibiting vampire lit., film, art, comics, the Count Dracula Joke book, etc. Any work that references the fang-faced ones is destroyed. Ferenc and Peder, two young State Police offers, pay Dr, Dozsa a visit. Peder likes the Doctor, who has been his family's GP for years, but the kindly old timer is suspected of possessing a work of vampire non-fiction. Should this prove the case, they will have no option but to arrest him. Ferenc turns up a thick Polish volume on the undead through history. Peder is fascinated by a portrait of the Doctor's wife, Theresa, as a very beautiful young woman. He recalls how, some years ago, she died after falling ill on a visit to Transylvania .... Fifty years on from Death Calls From The Madhouse and HBC still had it. |
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Post by dem bones on Oct 29, 2016 3:11:41 GMT
Okay, so now it's three 100 ... volumes on the go. Mike Ashley - The Witness: Leigh, an artist commissioned to provide cover artwork for a book on the battlefields of Europe, visits the Somme for inspiration. The picture is coming together until he's persecuted by a terrifying scarecrow. Robert Weinberg - The Kwik-Mart Vampire: Sergeant Gilmore, boorish slob, torments Rick with gruesome updates of the Kwik-Mart vampire's activities. Over past two months, a half-dozen teenagers like Rick working nights at the convenience store, have been drained of their last drop of blood. Gilmore thinks this is swell. He hates teenagers. Rick just wishes Gilmore would piss off so he can get on with reading Anne Rice's latest, but the obnoxious cop ain't nearly done with his night's business. Best punchline: Edward Bryant's "Aqua Sancta," in which a priest armed with nothing but a full bladder manages to defeat a vampire with some unconventional holy water. : Father Callaghan (!) versus the Notre Dame vampire. As described by CB. Method only works if slayer is celibate. It doubtless says something appalling about my "taste" but have liked them all so far. Still, plenty of time and book for that to change. |
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Post by dem bones on Oct 29, 2016 10:48:31 GMT
John Gregory Betancourt - Miss Vampire New Mexico Meets Her Dream Date : The A Gala Of Ghouls TV show hosts the Miss Vampire USA Beauty Pageant. Narrator takes a shine to one particular contestant and invades her dressing room. Appearances are deceptive and he's dreadfully disappointed when Miss Vampire New Mexico removes the plastic fangs and fright wig, washes away the corpse paint. She's .... she's not undead at all! Not yet, anyway.
Gary Jonas - Single White Vampire : Kevin can't believe his luck when Virginia, his blind date for the night, contacted via a dating magazine, turns out to be the hottest looking babe he ever set eyes on. There just has to be a catch - and there is. She's on the run from Big Nate, the vampire who turned her, and he's sent two of his goons - one of whom is an undead Elvis impersonator - to bring her home.
Adam Niswander - Charity: When Giuseppe, the last vampire in the USA performs a noble act to save the life of a child you can bet there's something in it for him.
Mort Castle - Upstairs, Downstairs, and All About Vampires: A trio of posey vampire wannabes chain up a vampire in the cellar, and torture him to reveal how they can become the same as he is. The three sisters don't like hearing that they can't.
Nina Kiriki Hoffman - The Biting-a-Hologram Blues: It is THE FUTURE yet again. Robots perform most of the arduous, tedious work and technology and prosthetics are so advanced that these androids are easily mistaken for humans. Robots and holograms perplex Willy, a novice vampire and total dimwit who requires constant surveillance from Mitch while he adapts to this new un-existence.
Nothing "bad", mostly the kind of material E. F. Bleiler was prone to damn as "routine commercial fiction."
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Post by dem bones on Nov 29, 2016 13:39:37 GMT
Tina L. Jens - A 12-Step Program (for the Corporeally Challenged): A Vampires Anonymous meeting in a Midwest Synagogue. A commendable werewolf presence among the thirty - good to see you guys planning for the future. Brief disturbance when a handful of angsty Goths gatecrash the event, lured by the tricked-up posters promoting an amateur poetry reading. The light refreshments have arrived.
Brad Strickland - Cross Examination: Ditched by her promiscuous vampire Romeo, Miss Myra Quattlebaum files a sexual harassment claim against Count Wolfort Rokosh who has been around since before the Civil War but wears it despicably well. The Count is not quite so complacent when the lawyer for the prosecution is done with him.
David Langford - Blood and Silence: Hi tech video surveillance of a public convenience captures footage of a vampire feasting on his victim. A second tape reveals that, when snared in a silver man-trap, an undead can afford to hack off a foot as it will swiftly regenerate. Further findings; they rarely speak on account of their tongues are bloated to the size of a space hopper, and, as the legends insist, they never noticeably age. If this goes public everybody will want to be one.
A smarmy Professor who, as group leader, gets to write a paper on the phenomena, delivers a lecture to his minions who seem curiously subdued. They're probably just sulking that the smug, self-serving old coot is stealing the credit for their diligent work as usual.
Wayne Allen Sallee - Sometimes We Come Back: (Back Brain Recluse #16, 1990). An author postulates long and hard that his kind are the real vampires, soulless sponges, leeching their ideas from the tragedy that is humanity in a quest for personal immortality. Sceptical colleagues debate the matter at his graveside.
Hugh B. Cave - First Love: A Slavic community in the Appalachian Mountains. There's a vampire loose in the community. Young Vladim, Lasloc and cronies abduct their school friend, sixteen-year-old Marya Cochenko, force a gag in her mouth and lash her to a bed to await the arrival of the Professor, who'll know how to deal with her (all that Spicy pulp training paid off). Poor Marya cannot account for her whereabouts nights without letting on she's taken up with a boy her father disapproves of. Speaking of Bela, she wonders where he's got to?
Benjamin Adams - Acts: Until a recent dramatic change in circumstances, Father Casey Casemore of All Saints church administered to the problem waifs of Haight-Ashbury. That was before one of their number, Tina, a vision in ripped denim, put the bite on him. Since clawing his way out of the grave, the Holy man has had to entirely re-evaluate his beliefs. Tina reassures him he's not damned, but blessed, and it's true, he still has his needy flock to attend.
A decent story either made or completely murdered by last line.
Pop culture references stacking up, most of them courtesy of Messrs Sallee, Adams and Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Nirvana, Kurt Cobain 'He died for us' t-shirts, Tool, Lard, Bikini Kill, Riot Grrrls, River Phoenix, Brandon Lee, The Crow, Deadheads, Badfinger on the radio, zillions of 'nineties Goths. "SWEDEN BEAT ARGENTINA IN WORLD CUP, read the screen. FOR SCORE AND DETAILS ENTER CREDIT .... I had never thought sports mattered when I was alive and they surely didn't matter to me now"
Hard to disagree with Mr. Brewer's verdict on 100 Vicious Little Vampire Stories. It passes the time, but several stories adopt a pun-laden/ "humorous" approach which grates when you catch too many on the spin.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 25, 2017 9:39:28 GMT
Greg Cox - Bingin’: Rox picks up tonights victim at a Bloodsnares concert, takes him home and does what comes natural. Conscious about her weight, she routinely downs a garlic bulb after feeding to keep the pounds off. With no means of checking her reflection Rox can only hope she doesn't look as perma-bloated as she feels ..... Best originals so far: Mark Kreighbaum's heartwarming Young Adult-ish "And By a Word, Immortal," about a teenage vampire girl who drinks, not blood, but stories from the school library; Donald R. Burleson's creepy "And To See Him Smile," which features a singing vampire who is "face all the way down." : He comes in the night in the pale moonlight, He comes when the cold winds sigh. He comes from the gloom of his terrible tomb, and to see him smile is to die. Lloyd Bailey, the new guy on Ipswich Avenue, where his fellow impoverished keep themselves to themselves. Lloyd first hears the folk ballad from decrepit gumster Old Mrs. Day - what a horrible song to cackle at little kids! Neighbour Jack insists that, not only is the legend true but he's among several tenants to catch a fleeting glimpse of 'him', who looks and dresses like a wino and conceals the lower half of his face behind a scarf. Lloyd finds work as a dishwasher. He thinks his luck might be changing and it is. Walking home when his shift ends leaves him vulnerable on the street after dark. Thomas Ligotti - The Heart of Count Dracula, Descendant of Attila, Scourge of God: The King Vampire of the Undead has gone to the dogs. Robert M. Price - Hemo Gobblin’: A body-hoping vampire inadvertently saves the life of terminally ill Marie when it's current host is critically injured in a police shoot out. Particularly taken by the Donald R. Burleson and Greg Cox stories (the latter almost qualifies as mummy fiction). Didn't go a bundle on T. Ligotti's brainy prose poem.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 26, 2017 13:44:11 GMT
Nancy Holder - Blood Gothic (Charles L. Grant [ed.], Shadows 8, 1985). Another lonely, impressionable Anne Rice casualty is suckered into the myth that 'vampyres' are magnificent, romantic, misunderstood, much nicer than people, hot stuff in bed, dress like Liberace on acid, etc. Story also appears in Stephen Jones' Mammoth Book Of VampiresMark Kreighbaum - And by a Word, Immortal: Cauldron Brewer so nails this. Ellie must be mighty pissed off at invention of Kindle, eBooks & Co. Michael Scott Bricker - The Darkness in Her Touch: Carmilla the vampire brings respite to an Alzheimer sufferer and his pal in the old folks home. Ron Dee - A Little Night Music: A bargain bin I Am Legend. Melvin, the last man on earth, is nightly besieged by vampires. It's a lonely non-existence: "All he had to live for was to keep from becoming an undead. How long can the human spirit prevail? While there's nothing "bad" (whatever that is) about the stories, wish Dziemianowicz, Greenberg & Weinberg had stayed with the Weird Tales-heavy format of 100 Ghastly Little Ghost Stories/ 100 Creepy Little Creatures format.
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Post by dem bones on Feb 27, 2017 12:14:56 GMT
T. E. D. Klein - Camera Shy: ( Crypt of Cthulhu #56, 1988). Mr and Mrs Melnick receive a nasty shock when their daughter's wedding album arrives and the groom, Laszlo, is missing from every shot. Lawrence Schimel - Exodus: The Vampire opts to sit tight and wait for the ten plagues of Egypt to pass. Kathryn Ptacek - Moving Day (Night?): When Peter, a compulsive curtain-twitcher, insists the new neighbours are vampires, wife Cordelia really should listen to the nosey bastard. Jedediah Elysdir Hartman - All Through the Night: Each night party-loving vampire trio Cherna, Ilya and Mika compete to outdo each other in name conquests. Anything to add a little spice to the tedium of eternal life. Martin R. Soderstrom - Forever Young: Max blows his cover to rescue whiny little girl from the path of a speeding train. Smart "vicious vampire" he turned out to be. Of a sudden, this hideous compulsion to revist Terror Of The Seven Crypts for some proper fang-face action.
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Post by dem bones on Mar 2, 2017 6:15:00 GMT
Simon MacCulloch - The Nine Billion Names of Nosferatu: "We alone have instant access to the extant canon in its entirety." The Arcane Order of Nosferatu have monopolised vampire literature. Soon their Gibbous Moon logo will adorn every book and paper ever written on the subject while their computers will generate all future product. John, a mercenary computer whizz-kid, hired to troubleshoot the software, is approached by a representative of arch rivals, the Royal Transylvanian Order Of The Undead. They are prepared to reward him handsomely in return for sabotaging the program. We learn that "the ultimate vampire story" is a tedious piece of crap which, frankly, should surprise nobody. Jean Lorrain - The Glass of Blood: ( L'Écho de Paris, 1892. This translation by Francis Amery, 1995). The daughter of Russian peasants, 'La Barnarina,' the universally acclaimed Opera diva, is adored by her public and courted by aristocrats. At the height of fame, she relinquishes the stage for love of her fourteen year old pupil, Rosario. The girl fades fast under La Barnarina's kisses until there is no other option than that she join the consumptives who daily visit the abattoir for a glass of fresh blood. Also appears in Brian M. Stableford's Moral Ruins: The Dedalus Book of Decadence (1990). Adam-Troy Castro - Crucifixion: After long decades of agonising failure, a suicidal vampire finally hits upon a foolproof means of "taking the easy way out." Suicide ain't painless, flash torture-porn, etc. Fred Chappell - The Flame: How come Andrea Greenleaf such a vampire magnet when she can't attract human boyfriends? The undead have dubbed her 'Flame' for a reason. Peter Cannon - Blood Brothers: It's Vampire Appreciation Week at James Buchanan High, and Jake Valkie, rookie English teacher, is keen to impress upon his eleven year old pupils that Vampire Americans are due the same respect, dignity and tolerance as any other minority group, ethnic or otherwise. We have come a long way! Authentic Undead Dan Leslie's angry plea for tolerance, Blood Brothers, is now the standard text. ".... Nonvampires, even a novelist as emphatic as Anne Rice, couldn't really begin to understand the vampire experience and hence had no business in the multicultralist classroom." Only David Bowie in The Hunger is exempt. The week is a surprise success. It's so gratifying that the kids should remain attentive throughout, the sole exception being Quentin, the class troublemaker, who seems more intent on disruption than ever. Jake will have to keep him behind for detention.  Chrissie Demant
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