A FANTASTICAL EXCURSION INTO THE PLANETS (1839) – Written by an unknown author. The anonymous narrator of this novel is taken on a visit to assorted planets and other celestial bodies. The figure who transports him is a winged, rainbow-colored sprite whose face and body constantly change slightly, allowing no lasting impression to be made out.
MERCURY – The narrator discovers Mercury to be a sunny but not scorching planet of pleasantly aromatic meadows and trees. The inhabitants are beautiful, angelic creatures of indeterminate gender whose light-weight bodies permit them to virtually float around like feathers.
These beings devote all their time to frolicking, singing and making music on other-worldly stringed and wind instruments that the narrator compares to lyres and flutes. The closest thing to actual labor that the Mercurians do is to cultivate flowers then weave them into chaplets and garlands with which to adorn themselves.
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VENUS – Next our narrator and his winged guide visit Venus. This planet is covered with roses, myrtles, amaranths and asphodels plus alien flowers flaunting colors unknown on Earth. The flatlands are all covered in short green grass which smells of lilies and violets.
Trees are plentiful, the air is tropically balmy and the rivers and streams sound like music. Birds sing during the daylight hours, birds which sound like doves and nightingales but are of Venerean species (the narrator says “Venerean” instead of “Venusian”). Our main character proves unable to catch any of these winged creatures to study them more closely.
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For what it’s worth, here are my current thoughts on the ongoing situation regarding the attempt to kill populist folk hero President Donald Trump. There are countless articles out there praising his courage under literal fire and condemning the loathsome conduct of Trump-haters, so I’m covering a different angle right now. 
Well, the Democrats, their media outlets and their unhinged narrative that de facto Third Party President Donald Trump is the new Hitler finally got the result they’ve been wanting … almost. Clearly they would rather that Trump was dead. I will have more to write about this in a day or so. 
Longtime readers of Balladeer’s Blog know that when something huge happens I like to wait for the initial fog of mistakes and incorrect reports by the media to clear up before I do a lengthy blog post. In the meantime, obviously, I’m glad that Trump – who kept us out of any new wars, was the greatest president for the working class and the poor during my lifetime and the man most feared by the absolute garbage called career politicians in the United States – survived this attempt on his life.
FANTASTIC FOUR Vol 1 #166 (January 1976) 
THE ALASKANS (1959-1960) – The gold rushes in Alaska during the late 1890s and early 1900s provided the usual tableaus of boom towns, claim-jumping, gambling and gunslinging. Unlike such rushes in the Continental United States, the frigid temperatures and monumental snows of Alaska added unique twists to the wild west feel of gold-seeking. 
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RIN TIN TIN (1918-1932) – Here at Balladeer’s Blog, I’m even fonder of dogs than I am of silent movies, so this post will combine the two topics. Sadly, most silent films have become so little remembered that few people even realize that there actually WAS a real Rin Tin Tin, adopted by American soldiers during World War One. 
To make up for their stupidity they jump to the wildest, most unrealistic assumptions and seem absolutely convinced that their delusions are real. We share a country with these panicked imbeciles. 
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