My Agent Told Me To Make A Blog

This was for another informal contest, where the prompt was to write about someone summoning something from a ritual. Most of the other entries involved gruesome horror, evils, and darkness, so I wanted to write something more unusual. --- Jotharu scurried across the marble tile with his head bowed and a forbidden book clutched under one arm. The vast, silent hall seemed as dormant as ever, but the ethereal alarms would already be alerting the other Protectors. He stopped at the central fountain. Gray marble columns supported a glass-domed roof overhead, and the gurgle and tumble of water bounced through the open space. Water was key. Jotharu glanced over his shoulder before shifting the book forward and lifting the cover. It creaked with age and dust. He imagined his sister’s voice admonishing him: the other Protectors would know. They’d sense his defiance the instant he tugged on the ether. Contacting the Other Side was a crime that could cost him his life. “Life,” what life? Endless...

More than half of my clients proudly tell me they've switched their pets' food to "grain-free." This is often in conjunction with a bit of puzzlement at how the pet's allergic skin or intestinal issues haven't resolved yet. Even my mother's vet told her to try grain-free for their little dog's weepy eyes. Guess what? It didn't help. Because it doesn't help. Because it doesn't matter. There's no science-based evidence that grain has effects on pets. It's a big fad in humans, and anyone with Coeliac disease will tell you how aggravating it is that healthy people cling to it as this trendy superfood type deal (though it's also made gluten-free products much more mainstream and available, so that's a plus). So already, the benefits of grain-free are largely exaggerated even in humans. In pets? Nada. In the grand tradition of vet students, I slightly threw out all but the most essential of my notes, so I no longer have specif...