28 December

10 weird and wonderful things which happened on 28 December:

1. Born this date in 1922 was Stan Lee, writer for Marvel Comics. He co-created Spiderman, the Fantastic Four, The X-Men, Iron Man, the Hulk, Thor, Daredevil, Doctor Strange, and many other fictional characters. He said, "With great power comes great responsibility."
2. In 1932 the actress Nichelle Nichols was born. Her most famous role is that of communications officer Lieutenant Uhura aboard the USS Enterprise in Star Trek. The name Uhura means freedom.
3. A contemporary account of the death of one John Hypper on this date in 1563: "John Hypper was 'playinge Christenmas games' on Boxing Day 1563 at about 6pm with divers other parishioners of Houghton, Hampshire in the house of Thomas Purdew of Houghton, husbandman. While playing he involuntarily crushed himself and injured his testicles so that by reason of his old bodily infirmity he became ill and languished until about 3am on 28 December when he died."
4. In 1937, The Irish Free State became the Republic of Ireland when a new constitution established the country as a sovereign state under the name of Eire.
5. In 1879, three days before the New York premiere of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Pirates of Penzance, Sullivan realised he'd left the music in England! Since they didn't have email or even faxes in "them days", Sullivan had to re-compose the entire opera from memory in time for the performance.
6. In 1917, HL Mencken published a hoax article in the New York Evening Mail to celebrate the anniversary of the Bathtub: a history of bathtubs in America. The essay claimed that Millard Fillmore was the first president to have a bathtub installed in the White House.
7. In 1991, Jack Ruby's pistol, used to kill Lee Harvey Oswald, was sold at auction at Christie's for $220,000.
8. This night in 1170 was the eve of the murder of St Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury. People experienced visions of his impending doom as far away as Normandy.
9. In 1879, M Jolly-Bellin accidentally upset a lamp containing turpentine and oil on his clothing, and spotted the cleaning effect. Dry cleaning was born.
10. In 1987, a 76 year old lady called Kively Papajohn got stuck in a lift. It was six days before she was rescued, setting the record for the world's longest time trapped in an elevator. Luckily, she was on her way home from grocery shopping at the time so she didn't go hungry.

New!!

A Superhero love story.

Sent away to school to get her away from undesirable company, Agnes finds herself homesick and lonely. A brief connection with Jason Warner leads to the teenage crush to end all teenage crushes. Jason is barely aware Agnes exists, but she plans her whole future around him.

It is only when they meet again as adults that the connection becomes mutual; but before it can develop, Jason makes a discovery which rocks his entire world. He needs time alone, away from everyone, including Agnes. When Jason is finally ready to go back to his old life, Agnes has moved on and he cannot find her.

Agnes is now a single parent to the remarkable Seraphina. The Power League want to harness Seraphina's powers for evil before the Freedom League become aware of her. Agnes has no idea her new colleague and friend is a supervillain with his own agenda, and his willingness to babysit is not as innocent as she thinks. As Incendio starts teaching Seraphina to use her powers, the Freedom League intervene. Little do they know that they have found one of their own.

Where to get it:

Paperback

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