Category: For Readers (Page 1 of 19)

A Dark and Stormy Night

November 20, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

Edward Bulwer-Lytton

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents – except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the house-tops, and fiercely agitating the rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness … Edward Bulwer-Lytton, 1830

These words, penned by Edward George Earle Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton, have long been held up as the quintessential example of overwrought, purple prose. He is even spoofed in a contest bearing his name. Entrants vie to write the worst opening lines they can conceive. In 2024 the winning entry read:

“She had a body that reached out and slapped my face like a five-pound ham-hock tossed from a speeding truck.”

For such a complicated man and prolific writer, — he turned out thirteen novels, two long poems, four plays, a history of Athens, and numerous essays, as well as editing a magazine in one twelve-year stretch– I wonder if it is fair to judge him by one line of awful prose.

He wrote with a social consious and his historical works were well researched. Don’t forget, he was writing at a time that celebrated gothic novels. He was a friend of Charles Dickens — another long-winded writer — who is still respected today.

Our protagonist was a politician as well as a writer. He served as a Whig member of Parliament from 1831 to 1841 and a Conservative from 1851 to 1866. He was Secretary of State for the Colonies from June 1858 to June 1859.

His historical fiction, The Last Days of Pompeii (1834) was a sensation in its day and remains one of Bulwer-Lytton’s two major works still being read. The other, The Coming Race is an early science fiction tale, written years before H.G.Wells and others popularized the genre. It is Bulwer-Lytton’s misfortune that this seminal work is best known as the inspiration for the name of a popular British beverage, Bovril.

Judging from a list of EBL quotes, he seems possessed of some wisdom. Consider “the pen is mightier than the sword.” A quote still in use today but written in 1839 by Bulwer-Lytton in one of his plays. He also coined the phrase “pursuit of the almighty dollar,” and invented the concept of the “dweller on the threshold,” later the title of a Van Morrison song.

Other quotes include these gems:

Genius does what it must, and talent does what it can.
The true spirit of conversation consists in building on another man’s observation, not overturning it.
O be very sure that no man will learn anything at all, unless he first will learn humility.
The easiest person to deceive is one’s self.

His personal life included a tempestuous marriage. At one point he had his wife locked in an insane asylum. She was later released and was seen grieving at his funeral. He had a son, who became a diplomat and a well known poet using the name Owen Meredith.

In our day, social media can make a celebrity or destroy a reputation in a matter of seconds. In Bulwer-Lytton’s day, it took a little longer for critics to sway public opinion but Bulwer-Lytton’s detractors, including Makepiece Thackery, succeeded in turning him from one of Britain’s most popular novelists into a parody of florid writing.

I do enjoy the Bulwer-Lytton contest — terrible writing, done on purpose, is very funny — but I wonder if it isn’t time to give the man a little credit for his other accomplishments.

Agony in Amethyst

October 30, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

I’ve mentioned my friend, A.M. Stuart, on this blog before. She writes the Harriet Gordon series, set in early twentieth century Singapore. Well, she has just published the fifth and final installment, Agony in Amethyst. Perhaps she ran out of jewels. In any case, this tale tidies up a few loose ends left over from Terror in Topaz and brings Harriet and Curran to their HEA –finally!

If you want more background on Harriet and her times, go to A.M. Stuart books. You can see all the books in the series, watch a short video and get a free copy of the prequel The Umbrella, when you sign up for Ms Stuart’s newsletter.

In our splintered world, I often find myself railing against social media for spreading hatred and lies and fomenting anger.

And yet, when I consider my long friendship with an author on the other side of the world — I don’t think one can get farther from my home in Canada, to hers in Australia — I laud the wonders of electronic communication which make that possible.

Twenty years ago I picked her name off a registration list for an on-line course. The instructor wanted the students to pair up as a way of making us accountable. I decided to choose someone from far away. She picked me too and for the same reason. We’ve discovered so many commmonalities, apart from the obvious English language heritage. We’re both married. We both love cats. We both attend church. We share similar outlooks on the state of the world. We write and read historical fiction. We belong to romance writing groups.

We do have at least one difference. She is a much faster writer. When the pressure is on she can settle in front of her computer and churn out the words and storyline much, much faster than I can. I envy her on that front. To even things out a bit, I have a great neighbour and she has issues over the back fence. 😊

Over the course of our friendship we have endured a worldwide pandemic, seen a shift in world attitudes, watched our democracies come under threat, grieved at wars in Europe and the Middle East. We’ve seen the weakening of traditional publishing and the explosion of self-publishing in our industry. We’ve confronted the physical ailments associated with aging. And we’ve seen our friendship grow and deepen — all through weekly letters.

Through the power of words I’ve gained a friend oceans and continents away from me. Through the power of words we’ll keep on sharing our thoughts, our troubles and our triumphs. Through the power of words we have a friend to lean on.

Words have great power — good and evil. The maxim, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” still holds true. Like my friend and I, let us all use that power to learn and grow and understand the “other.”

Generation Gap

June 19, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 4 Comments

doing homework I didn’t post to this blog last week because I had out-of-town company. In fact, I had out-of-province company. It was wonderful to have family come for a visit — a reminder of the special bond of kinship. I was thrilled to discover my great niece is a reader. A visit to my local book store was a highlight of the trip for her. Her brother was more intrigued by the toy store next door. 🙂 Her choices were all unknown to me. In fact, we didn’t have any book references in common.

Co-incidentally I read an interesting paper at Writer Unboxed on the need to “explain” our use of language. The question was whether the reader would “get” the author’s references. I was astonished to learn that a seasoned author presented draft ms to young critique partner only to find the reader didn’t understand the allusion to women in the 1950’s attending university in order to obtain an MRS. degree. That was such a common conception in my day I simply assumed it was part of our collective conscience. Now I question all the idioms I thought were universal. How many people who hear “David and Goliath” know the Biblical story? If a rogue “meets his Waterloo,” does the average reader understand Napoleon’s defeat at that place?

My aforementioned great-niece is a “tween” and very specific about the books she reads. The Baby-Sitters Club is top of the wish list. She’s also keen on mysteries, however, despite high praise from her mother, grandmother and great-aunt, she refuses to read Nancy Drew!

How will our generations talk to each other if we don’t have the same reference points? If coming generations don’t read the classics like Little Women, or Anne of Green Gables, where will we find common ground for conversation let alone for reading? To be fair, I haven’t rushed off to the YA section of my library in search of Dog Man either.

My book club meets today. The book under discussion involves a different culture and contains many culturally specific words. The author made no attempt to explain these terms to the reader, leaving us with the choice of putting the book down while we hunted up a dictionary, or skipping the unknown word and carrying on with the story. The approach did not resonate with me. I would have preferred that the author make some attempt to describe a piece of clothing rather than merely assign a foreign word and put the reader to the trouble of researching the vocabulary. Again, I must review my own writing for references that may be meaningless to some readers.

It seems authors must always be prepared for new challenges. And we must seek the balance between assuming our readers share our background and education and treating them like preschoolers who must have every word explained.

What do you think? Do you want plentiful explanation in your fiction reading or do you just want to get on with the story?

Jane and the Brand

May 15, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

This week my book club meets and we are each bringing a different book by Jane Austen. I chose The Watson’s, which was an unfinished fragment left by Miss Austen when she died. Various members of her family tried to complete the ms using Jane’s notes and her sister’s (Cassandra) recollections. Each of these writers used the original manuscript and then tagged on an ending of his/her own, trying to imitate Jane Austen. The version I read is one completed by John Coates — no relation of the Austen’s — that is a rewrite of the whole book, including the part that Miss Austen left unfinished.

It must have taken considerable confidence to re-write the famous author’s original words, but Coates argues that she left only a rough draft and would have edited it herself if she had ever finished it for publication. The result is seamless. I cannot tell what is original to Austen and what was added by John Coates.

This book was a very enjoyable read, but I felt it hadn’t the depth of Austen’s finished works and lacked the humour and gentle mocking of “society” so wonderfully achieved in the major novels. Still, reading what is essentially a rough draft makes it easier to recognize the main characteristics of a Jane Austen novel.

To use modern terminology, the book follows the Austen “brand.” We have a gaggle of sisters, an ailing father, a great need for husbands, faithless suitors, a worthy but awkward hero, a country ball, gossip, and the many restrictions placed upon young ladies of this age. (If reading about the powerlessness of women of that era, whether rich or poor, doesn’t get your women’s lib passion frothing, you’re missing the point!)

Over the years I’ve read many articles and attended many lectures on “branding.” Often the emphasis is on visual similarity like covers and websites being instantly recognizable as belonging to a particular author. Since Jane Austen’s books were first published, they have gone through many editions and different publishers, so the “look-alike” covers don’t apply. But, I think, her story elements are just as reconizable as production elements like cover-art and author name.

The branding lectures often focus so much on the art, the colours, the fonts, and the back blurb that they overlook what is between the covers. But, when it comes down to it, don’t readers come back to their favourite authors because of the story, the style, the voice, and the reliability of the writer to spin a tale that resonates and satisfies.

Spending my last week in Jane Austen world, I’ve wondered far from the Canadian frontier, and gold prospectors, and building a new country, but it has been fun to take a ” walk on the tame side,” just for a change.

What about you? Are you a confirmed “Janeite?” Do you have a favourite Jane Austen novel? A favourite character? Or are you firmly in the modern world and have no time for picnics and balls and changing your clothes five times a day?

To Love and to Cherish

May 1, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 2 Comments

Why do we read romance novels? For most, it is the desire to experience again that rush of first love — the euphoria, the hope, and the passion. Writers who can tap into that moment meet the expectations of the genre and attract readers by the hundreds of thousands.

And why not? Can anything be better than falling in love?

I’ll betray my age, when I say yes, there is something better. There is living and loving throughout life, sharing all the ups and downs, the heartaches and the joys, with a beloved partner. Living the “for better, for worse” part brings a deep contentment that may not be thought of in the excitement of a wedding.

How many twenty-somethings really imagine living together in old age when they blithely promise “in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, so long as we both shall live?” Youth is blessed with a sense of immortality. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, the young believe that “it won’t happen to us.” We’ll never need a cane, we’ll never lose our figure, our skin will never wrinkle, our strength will never wane. In this case, denial is a good thing. It makes us take risks, it makes us hope, it keeps the human race trying to make a better world. It keeps the human race alive.

There is a subset in the romance genre called “seasoned romance,” that features older characters as the love interest. Some of these books consider thirty to be “seasoned” but I think they miss the mark. It takes a lot of living to be well and truly seasoned. But what a joy when one reaches that stage of life when the bloom of youth is gone, some dreams have been set aside, some ambitions unrealized, to find that even then, you are cherished by a loving spouse. Someone still sees you as beautiful, someone still thinks an hour in your company better than a week at the carnival, someone will still kiss your hurts and make them better.

I love that word – cherish. It means so much more than love. To cherish to to act, to decide, to care for and to support. Love, as an emotion, is fickle, fleeting and unreliable. Cherish is steadfast.

There is a song, “I”ll Walk Beside You,” that sums up this idea. I can’t listen to it without a tear in my eye. I’ve provided a link to a recording by Kenneth McKeller. Bet you can’t listen to the end without a clutch of your heartstrings.

I’ll Walk Beside You

I’ll walk beside you through the world today
While dreams and songs and flowers bless your way
I’ll look into your eyes and hold your hand
I’ll walk beside you through the golden land

I’ll walk beside you through the world tonight
Beneath the starry skies ablaze with light
Within your soul love’s tender words I’ll hide
I’ll walk beside you through the eventide

I’ll walk beside you through the passing years
Through days of cloud and sunshine, joys and tears
And when the great call comes, the sunset gleams
I’ll walk beside you to the land of dreams.

— Edward Lockton and Alan Murray

7 Reasons I Love Heroes

April 17, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

My writers group held a workshop last week on the anti-hero. Most people in the room could rhyme off whole lists of such characters and always with a little sigh, a yearning for the “bad boy.” The anti-hero is a very popular trope in modern day romance, not only in books but also in movies and television.

To create the anti-hero archetype, we needed to look at heroic qualities and then turn them around.

Hero Anti-Hero

Selfless Selfish

Brave Cowardly

Honest Dishonest

Loyal Untrustworthy

Moral Follows his own code

Kind Self-centred

Acts for the good of all Acts only for himself

Of course, these seven attributes are only a partial list of traits of both characters, but I’d choose the “hero” over the “anti-hero” any day of the week. I admit to finding the scoundrel style anti-hero amusing, think Professor Hill in The Music Man, or Bret Maverick but do I really want that man in my life? Could I trust him in the long run? When would his charm become irritating? When would he run off and leave me destitute?

In our cynical world it is fashionable to scoff at the guy in the white hat, but I like my old-fashioned heroes. Matt Dillon in Gunsmoke, risked his life over and over again to keep the town safe. He was loyal. He was honest. He watched out for the misfits. You could trust your life to a man like that.

Now I will outrage Jane Austen fans by suggesting that Mr. Darcy is not a hero. He is arrogant, rude, self-centred. He has no compunction about destroying Jane and Mr. Bingley’s happiness, because of his pride. Where is the kindness in that? Admittedly, by the end of the book he has acted to protect Elizabeth and her silly sister but only because he can’t help himself from loving Elizabeth, not from any innate kindness. It sounds very romantic that Mr. Darcy will sacrifice himself for love but really . . . what kind of marriage lies ahead? Elizabeth will have all that lovely money but will she spend the rest of her life apologizing for her family? For not being the woman he would choose if love hadn’t played havoc with his plans? Will he always look down his nose at her? Will she always be “less than?”

I predict Jane and Mr. Bingley will have the happier life together.

The heroes in my books are definitely “white hat” types. Sean O’Connor in The Man for Her, has set aside his own dreams for years in order to look after his family. He is brave –the rustler scene; loyal — the fist-fight over Lottie’s honour; kind — the way he treats Michael.

In Her One and Only, Grey North has some dark secrets in his past, but he puts aside his own desires to please his mother. He goes out of his way to protect Emma when secrets from her past threaten her life. He behaves honourably when he realizes he has compromised her. He is a community leader in the growing town of Prospect, and he wins our hearts with a lavish gesture to show his love for Emma.

In Her One True Love, I’ve given heroic qualities to two men. Jack Kendal is a mounted policeman, committed to serve and protect, even at great personal cost. Daniel Stanton is a clergyman, his life dedicated to helping and serving others. Louisa has a hard time choosing between these two men because both are selfless, brave and kind. They fit the model of a hero.

In our politically correct world the term “hero” is being replaced with protagonist or main character. Those terms work well for the anti-hero, but they are too wishy-washy to describe the real hero of my romances. I’m old-fashioned enough to want the “good buy” even if he finishes last, over the “bad boy.”

Join the Choir — Live!

March 20, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

Happy spring, every one.

This post is late going out because I’ve been busy with happiness.

This morning the World Happiness Report came out. My country, Canada, ranks 15th in overall happiness and Finland ranks as number one, again. Interestingly, in Canada, the under thirty cohort ranks as the unhappiest group in the country. Researchers suggest that social media is partly responsible. Younger people are on their devices much more than older Canadians. As we all know, social media highlights bad news, anger, outrage and disaster. No wonder constant users are less happy.

Last week, I went to a vocal workshop. I didn’t learn much about vocalizing that I didn’t already know, but the presenter made quite a case for singing in a choir. Since 99% of the particpants were choristers, he was, literally, preaching to the choir. 🙂 He did have some impressive research to back up his message. Singing promotes longer and happier life. For one thing, singing is a physical exercise and requires good breathing technique. More oxygen to the body promotes better physical health and better cognitive health. Singing makes us happy so joining the choir relieves depression.

Singing in a choir is also a social activitiy and that brings me to the point of this post. I haven’t spent a lot of time at the keyboard this week because I’ve been meeting with friends. As we all know, reading and writing, by nature, are solitary activities. Much as we all enjoy losing ourselves in a story or getting really stuck into the writing, we need to take time away from being in our heads and go out and be with others.

As a writer, I keep in touch with a few writing friends — we had coffee together on Monday. Time spent with them keeps me in the writing mindset, but it also opens my mind to other points of view, to news from the writing world and to some hearty laughs over any number of things.

Later today, my book club (readers) meets. We’ll chat about the latest book on our list — another “misfit” story — and discuss if the author was successful at involving us with her characters. If so, why. If not, why not. Kind of like the “compare and contrast” questions on a school literature exam. We’ll also catch up on each other’s family news, lament the state of the world, and find lots to laugh about.

Tomorrow I’ll go to choir practice and the day after that I’ll visit with an older writer friend who has been bereaved. Kudos to her for knowing the value of coffee dates even in the midst of grief.

I can read and write by myself. I can find news in the media or on-line. But I don’t get the sharing and laughter that face-to-face meetings allow. Do you know that loneliness is now ranked as a health risk? That doesn’t mean a person has no people around. The studies refer to the “lonely in a crowd” feeling. Writers and readers might recognize this as a trope in poplular fiction. But, even though it can underpin a good story, it is not good for mental health.

So now you know my excuses for the delay in posting this blog.

Now do yourself a favour and go join a choir!

Why Use a Remote Narrator?

March 6, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

It seems every magazine article, blog post or email I’ve read this week talks about getting readers to “feel” the emotions of your story. Mostly the writers conclude that writing in deep POV is the way to get that emotional reaction from readers. For those of us who’ve been in the game for a while, this is not new advice.

I remember when I was a brand new writer, as yet unpublished, attending a workshop with Lynn Kerstan (Yes, it was a long time ago.). She talked about getting into character when she was writing from a male point-of-view. She said she’d sprawl in her chair in typical manspread style, loosen the top button of her jeans, roll her sleeves up to the elbows and stare at the ceiling while pretending to chew on a cigar.

Remember, this was a long time ago. My apologies to the sensitive males among us who would never act in that way. The point is, she was trying to physically take on the characteristics of her male characater in order to write in his deep point of view.

As I write historical fiction, I often find a visit to a museum or one of the lovely old store fronts in my town help to put me in the right frame of mind for the story. Vintage fashion is a sure key to open the door to women’s lives in the late nineteenth century.

Given all that, I was surprised that the two most recent books I read, set the narrator at a distance from the main characters. The reader was not “in” the story, she was “watching” from the outside.

Why would an author do that?

In both cases, the plot centred on survivors of extreme violence, one a soldier from WWI and the other an officer in a rural police force. One might think that the writer would want the reader to experience the trauma of these characters but perhaps that was too intense, maybe even from the author’s perspective. Perhaps she was afraid that too much gore would turn the reader away.

Also, it wasn’t the actual traumatic event that was key to the story, it was the effect of the event on the characters years later. The retired soldier who could never close his eyes without seeing the battlefield, who could never get the stench of rotting flesh from his nostrils. The police officer who fears for his life every time he knocks on a door or makes a traffic stop.

As might be expected these stories were slow moving. The change that happened occurred largely in the chracters’ minds and in their relationships. Still, the books were memorable. I’ve no doubt the characters and ideas expressed in them will dwell in my mind. I’ll have more compassion for the police officers and others who deal with the horrors of modern society. Every day on the news we hear of a shooting or an accident with deaths. The news stories don’t tell us the gory details.

In the police officer story the narrator relates a bus accident with seniors. The officers spent all day “matching body parts.” And that was only one day. The horrors build on each other day after day, year after year. When you think about it, it’s a wonder any of our first responders manage to hang onto their humanity. During COVID we hailed them as heroes. They are still heroes, even if the pandemic has abated.

The books I read were gifts. I don’t think I would choose a story with a remote POV, but I’m glad I read them. With all the experts shouting deep POV at us, it is enlightening to read from a different perspective.

Isn’t that what makes books so wonderful? You never know what insights lurk between the covers.

This week two books from “observer” narration.

Role of the Story Teller

February 21, 2024 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

One of the happiest times of my week is Saturday morning, when my husband and I listen to a story on CD. Often that story is told by Stuart McLean. I’ve written about Stuart before on this blog. Follow the link if you want to re-read. He died seven years ago this month, and yet, his stories still bring me to tears and make me laugh out loud. What a legacy.

Listening to his tales makes me think about the role of the story teller. As writers I’m sure we’d love to think our tales will touch people years after we’ve gone. If so, what kind of legacy do we want to leave?

If I were a humourist, I’d want to “leave ’em laughing,” as Stuart has done. If I were a crusader, I might like to highlight the plight of the poor, as Charles Dickens did. If I were a classicist, I might hope to retell Greek tales in modern language, like the opera composer Niccolò Zingarelli. or William Walton.

But I am none of those. I am a spinner of simple tales, told to a small audience, who want to read about love and happily ever after and maybe learn about a short period of history in Canada. What legacy can I leave?

I think Stuart McLean teaches me that tales do not have to be told on a grand scale, but they do have to be told with humanity. The characters we create must be relatable. No one is all good and no one is all bad. The “hero” of McLean’s stories, Dave, is about as awkward, and inept, and well-intentioned as a man can be. I don’t think any of the listeners aspire to mimic Dave’s misadventures. I think we do covet his goodness. Dave’s schemes inevitably go awry, yet, in the end, his kindness, his basic humanity, and his affection for both friend and foe shine through. A character worth emulating. A legacy worth leaving.

Lottie, in The Man for Her, is stubborn and headstrong. She rejects Sean’s love because he won’t bend to her will. Someone who has been disappointed in love could identify with Lottie. My hope, as an author and a caring human, is that, in the end, my story will touch that disappointed lover, show her another way, help her give love another chance.

The Christmas short stories I share with my newsletter subscribers are intended to lift hearts, to remind us of what Christmas is about. When we look for light in the darkest days of winter, I want to bring hope, peace, joy and love to my readers.

The story I’m writing now is about an older heroine, who has loved and lost. Perhaps it will help someone learning one of life’s hardest lessons. Grief is universal. None of us can escape death. Our culture tries to deny death, or hide it away, but every human heart will suffer that great loss. If I can tell a story that helps one soul in grief, I have done a good thing.

My legacy will not show up in the history books, but I hope it will touch at least one person. I hope the tales I tell will make someone’s world a better place.

What about you, dear reader/writer? Do you wonder about your own legacy? What is your goal?

Terror in Topaz

November 15, 2023 / Alice Valdal / 0 Comments

Just finished reading Terror in Topaz, the fourth in the Harriet Gordon series by A.M. Stuart. I’ve written about her other books, here, here and here. All three books were set in Singapore in the early twentieth century.

For this adventure, the author takes us away from Singapore and into Kuala Lumpur. Harriet, one of the main characters, does not like KL and neither did I. 🙂 Which just proves the author did a really good job of portraying this less than salubrious place.

As we’ve come to expect from Ms Stuart, the story is rich with local colour and a conviction that comes from the author’s own experience living in this part of the world. Harriet’s story takes place in 1910, during the period when the British Empire was at its height. So, not only do we have the heat and humidity and mosquitoes of the Far East, we have them while wearing Edwardian clothing and trying to maintain a proper English attitude. Kuala Lumpur, smaller and more insular than Singapore, is particularly hot and sticky.

The mystery plot of this story concerns an infamous brothel named The Topaz Club, but there is plenty of intrigue surrounding the “upper class” English establishment as well. Curran’s mission, to investigate the club, is not as straightforward as it might seem. He learns early in the book that there is no one he can trust — except Harriet, of course. The story leads both characters into dangerous situations and, finally, a fight for their lives.

There are quite a number of sub-plots as well — another love story, family betrayal, an unrelated murder, more murders . . . Oops, don’t want to give away too much.

Anyone who has followed the series knows that Harriet and Curran have had a long and complicated relationship. In this, book four, they finally declare their feelings. So, HEA? Maybe. I know the author is at work on a fifth instalment of the series and I doubt she’ll let our lovers have an easy road. At least, for now, the romance looks rosy.

If you love a little mystery in your romance, or a little romance in your mystery, I recommend Terror in Topaz.

Category: For Readers (Page 1 of 19)

A Dark and Stormy Night

Agony in Amethyst

Generation Gap

Jane and the Brand

To Love and to Cherish

7 Reasons I Love Heroes

Hero Anti-Hero

Join the Choir — Live!

Why Use a Remote Narrator?

Role of the Story Teller

Terror in Topaz

Follow Us

Newsletter

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

RSS

Categories

Archives

Privacy Policy