Sunday, 22 December 2024

23 December: Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith, founder and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormons, was born on this date in 1805. 10 facts about him:

  1. He was born in Sharon, Vermont and was one of eleven children.

  2. Through his mother’s line, he is related to George W. Bush, Winston ChurchillHenry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mitt Romney and Richard Nixon.

  3. At seven, he had to have major surgery on his leg to save it after an attack of typhoid fever.

  4. When he was 14, there was a lot of religious activity and many dominations to choose from in his home town and the young Joseph couldn’t decide which of them was for him. So he took himself off into the woods to pray about it in private. While in prayer, he would claim, he was visited by God the Father and Jesus Christ, who advised him not to join any of them.

  5. While praying one night in 1823, he claimed he was visited by an Angel named Moroni. Moroni told him where to find some golden plates and other artefacts buried in a hill. He found them, but the angel prevented him from removing them. Over the next four years, he tried once a year, but wasn’t successful until the fourth time, when he took his wife with him.

  6. His wife’s name was Emma Hale, and he met her while boarding at her family’s home. Her father didn’t approve of the match as he didn’t think Joseph had the means to support Emma and thought he was "careless" and "not very well educated." So the couple eloped and married on January 18, 1827. They had eleven children, two of which were adopted, and only five of which lived past infancy.

  7. Emma, it seems, had a lot to put up with. Not only was there the polygamy (which Joseph claimed he didn’t want to embrace at first but eventually gave in because an angel appeared to him and told him if he didn’t get on with marrying more wives, the angel would kill him) which to Emma was an ‘excruciating ordeal’, but she also had to ban him from her garden, because so many of his followers would crowd in just to be near him that they would trample all the plants; and when he held meetings with other men, they’d all smoke and spit Tobacco on the floor, which poor Emma would have to clean up. One day she emphatically said to Joseph, “It would be a good thing if a revelation could be had declaring the use of tobacco a sin.” In the end, he had about 40 wives ranging in age from Fanny Young at 56 to Helen Kimball, who was 14. Emma is said to have approved of about four of them in later years, but many of them she never even knew about.

  8. He liked Dogs and owned two. Their names were Major and Baker.

  9. He was tarred and feathered in Hiram, Ohio, and during the ordeal, he chipped a tooth causing him to speak with a slight whistle for the rest of his life.

  10. The persecution didn’t end there. He was eventually assassinated by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, at the age of 38.



A Very Variant Christmas

Last year, Jade and Gloria were embroiled in a bitter conflict to win back their throne and their ancestral home. This year, Queen Jade and Princess Gloria want to host the biggest and best Christmas party ever in their palace. They invite all their friends to come and bring guests. Not even the birth of Jade's heir just before Christmas will stop them.

The guest list includes most of Britain's complement of super-powered crime-fighters, their families and friends. What could possibly go wrong?

Gatecrashers, unexpected arrivals, exploding Christmas crackers and a kidnapping, for starters.

Far away in space, the Constellations, a cosmic peacekeeping force, have suffered a tragic loss. They need to recruit a new member to replace their dead colleague. The two top candidates are both at Jade and Gloria's party. The arrival of the recruitment delegation on Christmas Eve is a surprise for everyone; but their visit means one guest now faces a life-changing decision.

Meanwhile, an alliance of the enemies of various guests at the party has infiltrated the palace; they hide in the dungeon, plotting how best to get rid of the crime-fighters and the royal family once and for all. Problem is, they all have their own agendas and differences of opinion on how to achieve their aims.

Not to mention that this year, the ghosts who walk the corridors of the palace on Christmas Eve will be as surprised by the living as the living are by them.

Themes 
Christmas; superheroes; reunions; parties; life choices; shocking surprises; mistaken identity; kidnap and rescue.

Reasons not to read it

  • It's a bit short. You could probably read it in one sitting.
  • Most of the action takes place at a Christmas party. In a palace.
  • It's all about Christmas but there doesn't seem to be a schmaltzy moral message.
  • There are a couple of babies and some small children in it - and one nearly gets eaten.
  • Santa appears in it, but he isn't really Santa.
  • Superheroes. Again.
  • Not to mention a whole bunch of super-villains. Again all new ones and not the ones we know from Marvel or DC.

Available from Amazon and Amazon Kindle


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