The Imaginary Realms of

Gilbert M. Stack

On this day (January 20) in 250, Pope Fabian was martyred for refusing to worship the Roman gods. Fabian was an unexpected pope, elected because on the thirteenth day of deliberations a dove landed on his head and his fellow bishops decided that was a sign from the Holy Spirit (often depicted as a dove) that God had chosen Fabian to lead the Church. He had an incredibly successful fourteen years as pope, reuniting Christians after the split in the church caused by the election of antipope, Hi...

On this day (January 19) in 1977, Gerald Ford pardoned a woman known as Tokyo Rose for treason. The woman, Iva Toguri D’Aquino, had never called herself Tokyo Rose—that was a catch all name given to any woman broadcasting for the Japanese during World War II. Unable to return to America during the war and unwilling to renounce her American citizenship as demanded by the Japanese, she suffered persecution during the war and was forced to make radio broadcasts together with American...

At long last I get to unveil the finished map of Winterhaven by amazing artist, Chris L. Adams. Chris split the final map into two so that when it's seen on electronic devices like your e-reader or your phone it will be easier to make out the details. Here it is. 

AND

On this day (January Eighteen) in 1486, Henry VII (a Lancaster) of England tried to definitively end the Wars of the Roses by marrying Elizabeth of York, the daughter of Edward IV. Of course, what really ended the Wars of the Roses is that Henry methodically killed off all of his Yorkist rivals so that they couldn’t contest his claim to the throne. This is one of the reasons I find the theory that Henry VII killed the Princes in the Tower quite credible—it was a move that was clea...

On this day (January 17) in 1377 Pope Gregory XI moved the papacy back to Rome from Avignon, France where it had resided since 1309. Gregory died shortly after the move and the cardinals elected Urban VI at the instigation of a mob who demanded a Roman pope out of fear that another French pope would return to Avignon. The cardinals were then angered that Pope Urban was not pliant to their demands so many of them returned to Avignon where they deposed Urban VI and elected Clement VII. Urban VI...

On this day (January 16) in 27 BCE, the Roman Senate granted the title of Augustus to Octavianus, grandnephew of Julius Caesar. It’s unclear if they understood it, but they had just ended the Roman Republic and founded the Roman Empire.

On this day (January 15) in the year 69, Otho became Emperor of Rome by assassinating Emperor Galba in the Year of the Four Emperors. Otho only lasted three months before losing the Battle of Bedriacum to Vitellius. Otho committed suicide after Vitellius declared himself Emperor. Vitellius only enjoyed his victory until December when Vespasian overthrew him.

On this day (January 14) in 1967, the Summer of Love began with the Human Be-In—a gathering of 20,000-30,000 American young people to listen to the music of bands like Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead and speakers espousing what came be known as the Counter-Culture. The gathering shocked mainstream America by encouraging people to question authority in regard to civil rights, women’s rights and consumer rights.

On this day (January 13) in 1599, Edmund Spenser died. He was one of the greatest poets of the English language and is best known for his epic poem, The Faerie Queen. Yet he also spent much of his life serving the English government in Ireland and arguing for the eradication of all things Irish which certainly mars his reputation today.

Here is a great article which Chris Adams brought to my attention in the Glints and Hints thread of the Goodreads discussion group, Written Gems. It discusses the classic novels that have just come into the Public Domain in 2019. They included books by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Agatha Christie and P.G. Wodehouse among many others. 

Here is the article:

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qvq99b/how-to-download-the-books-that-just-entered-the-public-domain?fbclid=IwAR1bAzSZ...