The ULA PRESS!
April 24, 2009 - New Age -> New Reading -> New Writing!
The ULA is the "Underground Literary Alliance," the world's only literary activist group and literary "folk writing" promoter. And this webpage is the home for ULA PRESS titles. An astounding line of 8 novels is now available!
Here's a truly ... > Read
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HUGE SALE on *Fresh* Literature!
April 22, 2009 - The whole line of max-rockin', original ULA novels is now 30+% off! Check em out! Or buy em all as a Box Set and get 50% off!
[Click the "Literature" link in the Catalog section of the Menubar. Then scroll down to the BOOKS.]
This is bold literature that's full of ideas and fresh content that mainstream publishers can't touc... > Read
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YouTube Song Tribute to Lit-Hero Jack Saunders!
January 06, 2009 - How many writers have songs written about them?
...Writers who are working today?
...Who've never had a book published?
...Who've dedicated their whole lives to the greatness and glory of literature?
Here's a YouTube video by Jack Collins who wrote and performed a nifty song about my literary hero Jack Saunders.
Ja... > Read
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Big ULA Media Impact! --Major excitement over a Micro Press!
October 21, 2008 - OK, I know that anyone who checks out the line of ULA titles sees a line-up of novels and media unlike anything else produced today. And it has to be obvious that underground voices like the ULA are needed to understand the iceberg beneath the glossy tip of media. This is common knowledge in terms of indy film and music---now, wi... > Read
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Why Literary Books at OYB?
October 10, 2008 - OK, OYB is an outdoor sports publisher. So what's it doing publishing and promoting literature? (And philosophy?) Isn't that what NPR people and grad students are into? Isn't that a separate niche?
First off, you people are bright and I know that you read novels! So don't get shy on me. And I know that you ride bikes and paddl... > Read
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ULA Box Set: Get the 8-Book Series 50% Off!
October 10, 2008 - Collect all 8 ULA titles, and get a matching set of AllStar hero-author trading cards, for one low price of...
$58
(I'll throw in postage, too, in the USA.)
Reg. list price $115. So that's 50% off of these NEW titles!
This is a limited time offer. (And I'm actually listing it only as an offer to retailers but any fan...
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Partying for Literature: the ULA at Detroit's "Dally in the Alley"
September 09, 2008 - As you may know, as part of my effort to promote indy culture, I work with the ULA and publish a line of indy novels that seek to break the boring deathgrip that academia and NYC have on literature. This liberation quest is even tougher than my efforts to keep the outdoor sports people hooked up to their roots.
I know that t... > Read
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Chicanery Row: folk writing assumes the mantle
May 19, 2008 - [$15, postpaid in US] Folk writing is the next big thing. Until now it has not even been accepted as a form of folk art (writing is obviously literate and "folk" has been denied literacy). With "Chicanery Row" the mantle of progressive writing and culture (about people whose realities are usually glossed over) is passed from Steinbec...
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The Emeryville War: a real deal "Confederacy"
May 19, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in US] Wild Bill is a folk writer like we haven't seen before. He writes in a seemingly unpolished folk style but actually it's very polished. There's a real voice. One you haven't seen til now. It's like a more real version of a voice that has hints in it of Twain, Faulkner, Melville, the Bible, Kerouac, Castenada and...
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The Texas Gang: a new edition of an outlaw/outsider classic!
May 19, 2008 - [$15, postpaid in the US.] Wild Bill's writing has been called "really great" by the likes of William Burroughs and other Americana writing reviewers. A literature professor called it a "beat western."
It IS great; it's just not well known. Yet. I've been reselling vintage copies of the first edition of this novel for years. So h...
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Wasted Angels: the juvenile novel grows up
May 18, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in US] This is a sassy book from a sassy guy. It's rather an update of the "Catcher" approach to the juvenile "coming of age" novel. More candid, for one thing. Detroit-based, for another.
Kostecke, despite his apparent refusal to have anything said about him on his back cover, is a longtime zeenster who is living i...
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Fat on the Vine -- "Mama says this book is filth!"
May 17, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in the US] 292 pages.
FAT is a truly far-out novel. Transgressive in every way. Yet, yet, yet it's sweet and redeemed somehow. How? Hard to imagine but it works!
Other novels today are tame and fakey by comparison.
So here goes, some description from the back cover blurb...
What would you do if ...
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The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus!
--- a rock'n'roll novel from the world of zeens
May 16, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in the US, 221pp, paper, 6x8]
Author Wred Fright first published the PFE as seven issues of a very popular zine that was much sought-after in the early years of zine frenzy.
The PFE is a very funny novel about a garage rock band in a college town. It's told from the point of view of the band members who are all ...
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Security --- an edgy new form of ex-pat novel
May 16, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in US.] This is a 100-page novella by the exciting writer James Nowlan.
A rocking title from the ULA PRESS series!
From the back cover:
Security is a completely new take on the ex-pat genre. Instead of going on a journey to an exotic land that opens up new vistas we follow a brutal ...
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"Bukowski Never Did This": Jack Saunders' breakout novel!
May 15, 2008 - [$10, postpaid in US]
Bukowski Never Did This: A Year in the Life of an Underground Writer and His Family
The new breakout novel from Jack Saunders!
Book Description
Charles Bukowski is the ultimate underground writer success story. Publisher John Martin gave him an allowa...
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ULA Literary AllStar Trading Cards! ---Collect 'em all!
May 14, 2008 - [$1 ea.] To show the world that literature is an action-packed, hands-on sport, we of the ULA launched a trading card series.
Baseball players haven't seen HALF the existential action that our mighty ULAers have!
Collect 'em all!
This is a generic ordering button. If you just click it, I'll send you a random 3"x5" card. But ...
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ULA Poster in the house!
May 13, 2008 - Clay Ryder, an underground artist from Philly, just worked up a poster to help us splash the message of the ULA PRESS line of novels around the fair bookstores of this land.
It has our "AllStar" theme---and so we'll be including AllStar trading card in with each book sold to shops that display the poster!
Of course anyone can o... > Read
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The Chronicles of Jellyboy the Clown ...an eBook
May 11, 2008 - Step right up and buy your Jellyboy eBook right here folks!
Jellyboy! The wildest clown on Planet Earth...performing for you in person!
He's a one-of-a-kind literary hero clown!
None other like him!
The ULA doesn't mess with knockoffs or wannabes. Here's Jellyboy-the real deal!
It's just $3 for a dandy 35-page story ab... > Read
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Unholy Sideshow Film -- DVD
May 10, 2008 - [$19 postpaid] ULA ACTIVE MEMBERS FDW (FRANK WALSH) AND ERIC BROOMFIELD STAR AS THE EVIL MR. LAZARI AND THE MAD PROFESSOR MALERKUS, RESPECTIVELY. THEN STAR AGAIN AS THOSE TWO DISTURBED CLOWN HEROS OF THE ULA, "THE MASKED PERFESSER" AND "JELLYBOY"! WESTPHILTH PRODUCTIONS' TERRIFYING MONUMENT TO DIY DEDICATION AND CREATIVITY FEATURING...
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DIY Literature: It works!
May 10, 2008 - The DIY revolution has taken over. YouTube talent spreads like wildfire by word-of-mouth and word-of-email. People love looking in on each other's lives via blogs and connecting via MySpace, etc. Reality shows are still big, with regular people doing their area of expertise as well as going nuts for the world to see, a la that choppe... > Read
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Adventures in the Underground -- edited by Jack Saunders
February 17, 2008 - Jack Saunders edited a 200-page anthology of dozens of writers and artists who report on their experiences living and working in the artistic underground. He includes plenty on the ULA here and he ran with (an overly wordy) chapter that I sent him about my own experiences.
What's neat is that Jack weaves his own timeline and... > Read
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Two ULA Petitions, for the Fans and Cause of Reading
February 17, 2008 - The ULA mission is primarily one that's meant to give an unprecedented voice to fans of reading. It's a way for them to rally their voices together for far greater impact and amplification. It really works!
Basically, if you as a Little Person write a letter to the editor of a Famous Journal, first it won't be printed, but i... > Read
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King Wenclas's Blog: Defending the Heart of Literature
November 15, 2007 - King's "Attacking the Demi-Puppets" blog has been running strong for years now. In it he parries and thrusts against the MFA wannabe's who have ruined the literary scene in the USA.
There's more antics and action here than in any other literary blog, I daresay. There are some fancy, chic, clever blogs out there trading gossi... > Read
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It Takes a Special Writer...
November 15, 2007 - ...To evoke the following kind of email...
"To whom it may concern:
My storage was auctioned by the storage
facility and I lost all my books. I am replacing them
by memory, and the ones I most want but can't seem to
find are the books by Jack Saunders that you sold at
one point. They were solid colored small books... > Read
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A Tribute to Kerouac's "On The Road" 50th Anniversary!
October 10, 2007 - As a tribute to the 50th anniversary of ON THE ROAD, we of the ULA and OYB and FIFTHWAY are setting our eBook prices at $3.95, the price of the first OTR edition to hit the racks (probably the hardcover edition).
Are you young and hip and have a computer, laptop, or iPod? You read a lot on them, don't you! Probably even books ... > Read
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eBooks Arrive for OYB, ULA & FifthWay!
September 05, 2007 - Four ULA novels in the Literature section are now available as eBooks!
So is the amazing "MOMENTUM," an XC ski racing memoir by Pete Vordenberg, the young US Ski Team head coach---it's in the Ski book section.
Four life-studies philosophy books from FifthWay Press are also now in PDF format.
I'll be adding other eBooks... > Read
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Want Literary Revival? Show Your ULA Pride!
August 26, 2007 - Here's a hat and a couple of tee's for showing that you care about literature and want to see a revival of robust reading in the land!
The first two items use the semi-official logo as seen on the front of proud ULA media. The third is just groovy.
http://www.cafepress.com/oyb.10437455
http://www.cafepress.com/oyb.1043887... > Read
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The Underground Literary America Tour!
July 12, 2007 - Announcement by Wred Fright...
"NEXT WEEK I'll be hitting the road on a reading tour in the USA to promote The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus. The tour will be with Crazy Carl Robinson, who will be promoting his great novel Fat On The Vine. We'll also hav... > Read
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Find ULA Book Dealers Here!
February 22, 2007 - ULA books are now available at the following fine indy bookstores nationwide:
*Atomic Books! Baltimore, MD. This is a longtime standup bookstore for the indy spirit, hosting many cutting edge literary events. Atomicbooks.com
*Quimby's! Chicago, IL. The best zeenstore in th... > Read
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ZEEN: ULA SlushPile 5 -- "The Protest Issue"
November 20, 2006 - [$5] This huge 80-page issue of SP documents the many protests and activist actions the ULA has launched against the corruption of mainstream lit in recent years. We put the lie to those who say a tiny lit group in the right can't have an effect, that the media monopoly is too big. And also to those who just complain. Each ULA a...
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ZEEN: ULA SlushPile 4
November 19, 2006 - [$4] The new "Slush Pile" #4 is fresh off the boat from Thailand!
Yeah, that's where we get all our xeroxing done. Because that's where our editor lives! Yeah, it makes SO MUCH sense! (I love the briney scent on the box. And the Homeland resealing tape.) Think of how much real world ultra-relevant action your issue has exper...
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The Vital Missing Voice in US Literature?
October 09, 2006 - If you don't know it, US literature is in the tank. Ever fewer people are reading it. Those who are writing it are ever more circumscribed, working to formula, a career formula, in a death dance with their resented teaching positions...irrelevant...nichefied. An astounding dilemma.
That's not discussed.
Except by the ULA.
... > Read
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Stephen Potter: the hilarious classic "One-upmanship"
March 05, 2006 - [$15] "One-upmanship" is a slim, 175-pg send-up of stuffy British clubbishness and the endless ways that "players" have of foiling and impressing each other. [UPDATE: Out of stock on "Up" but I do have a fine copy of "Gamesmanship," also a great read, with a great section on how to win at not paying for lunch.]
Stephen Potter (n...
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New Literary Activist Sticker!
December 07, 2005 - Finally, the infamous ULA sticker is available once again!
The ULA is the world's only literary activist group. I'm a member of it. It's a group of independent readers and writers who want to revive the role of literature in society, a role it desperately wants again, its natural role: that of leader and life-helper.
For...
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Bull Cook...and More! by George Herter, original, Vols 1, 2, 3 usually available...other titles, too!
November 13, 2005 - [$25, "Bull Cook". I also have one copy of BC Vol. 3 and one "Housewife" and two Catalogs. See other order buttons far below.]
The full title of this gem is "Bull Cook and Authentic Historical Recipes and Practices" by George and Berthe Herter.
This is a scarce, hilarious, sincere, amazing book of food info and lore.
...
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Stephen Potter: Hilarious Gambits, Ploys & Hampers
October 05, 2005 - [$20] There's a new movie coming out called "School for Scoundrels" starring Billy Bob Thornton. It's an update of the clever British classic. I suspect it will wallow in exploitation but it might also spark interest in the superb original.
The whole film thing gives me a great excuse to promote the source of it all: the hila...
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BLASTER: The Al Ackerman Omnibus
April 22, 2005 - [$30] Blaster: The Al Ackerman Omnibus Perfect bound, 288 pages.
Out of stock right now---but always looking for more. I can keep your name and let you know.
Published by Feh Press
Amazing, hilarious, astounding stories. Clever, subtle, insane, wacky, over the top: all of this.
Other funn...
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Hear underground legend Jack Saunders read! --free MP3's
January 23, 2005 - I had an old tape of Jack Saunders reading from his work. With the help of guru Ross, I recently figured out how to make digital files of analog media---tapes, vinyl, videos.
So here's some further insight into the unique genius of Jack Saunders.
He's an underground legend because he's been writing at a very high level for ... > Read
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SCREED! by Jack Saunders
January 20, 2005 - [$20, postpaid] SCREED is Jack's first major published work. It was never officially reviewed or stocked in stores. Here's what Ed Abbey had to say about it: "I liked it very much. In fact, I've been reading it aloud to my wife in bed at night. ...In a natural, organic, free-flowing and perfectly lucid style that I much admire."
...
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Tales from the Texas Gang, by Wild Bill Blackolive
January 20, 2005 - [$20. First edition! 1978.] Tales from the Texas Gang by Wild Bill Blackolive, is an amazing, ribald, far-out novel of the wild west, based on our own wild world and a real life gang. Catch a fresh dose of the spirit of Twain, Abbey, Kerouac and Castenada...rolled into one. Like Cormac McCarthy, only more realistic. (Yikes!) Wild...
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Tripping in America, by John Bennett
January 19, 2005 - [$10] "Tripping in America" takes "Charley" and "On the Road" and brings them up to date. There's room for more than a couple road-writers. Bennett wanders America's campgrounds with sixpacks and a manual typewriter, and not just for fun or with grant support or a publisher's advance. For him and his girlfriend at the time it was...
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Vagabond Anthology
January 19, 2005 - [$15] John Bennett wrote "Tripping in America" which I sell here. And he recorded "Rug Burn" which I sell. He's had quite a bit of work published that's highly regarded but no one has heard about. As I said, he's one of the last Beats and he's still a window-washer, but he's been kicking butt for decades now without ever giving ...
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Black Messiah: a Tribute to Henry Miller
January 19, 2005 - A rare tribute to Henry Miller, edited by the unparalleled John Bennett---living Beat, writer, publisher...window-washer.
Includes contributions by Norman Mailer, Erica Jong, Alfred Perles, Noel Young, Jan Kerouac, John Kirch, Jack Saunders, Curt Johnson, John Bennett and others.
Put out thru Bennett's legendary "Vagabond ...
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Great Zeens: courtesy of the ULA (what's the ULA?)
January 18, 2005 - Yes, I'm a member of the ULA, the Underground Literary Alliance. We're the only literary activist group in the nation. We're pushing for the publication of relevant literature once again in this country.
And here below are a bunch of zeens put out in association with the ULA that are meant to be just plain good reading, about... > Read
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ZEEN: Slush Pile 1
January 17, 2005 - [$3] The official zeen of the ULA. The editors of the ULA are longtime literary zeensters and underground publishers. They select the cream of the crop for Slush Pile issues. Contributors include Steve Kostecke, Michael Jackman, Jack Saunders, Bill Blackolive and many others. About 50 pages, 5.5x8.5.
He...
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ZEEN: ULA Finger Card
January 17, 2005 - [$1] This is a postcard of the infamous ULA finger-shot, taken at a bar in Detroit, used in a "Metro Times" article on a ULA event. ...ULA luminaries in attendance.
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ZEEN: Literary Fan Magazine 2
January 17, 2005 - [$2] Karl "King" Wenclas, ringleader of the ULA, has published many zeens over the years. "LFM" is one of his recent efforts. In it he reviews good stuff and trashes the bad. He offers melodious gossip on NYC literary insiders. It's a fun, fiesty magazine that offers far better reading and insights than any stuffy literary mag. I...
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ZEEN: The Pornographic Flabbergasted Emus 1-5
January 17, 2005 - [$2] I have stock of most issues of "Emus" around. I can get more. There are five issues in this serial novel. But really I think one COULD start about anywhere.
It's a well-crafted story of the lives of a buncha college, semi-college and post-college bums. I mean young people. They're living together in a house in their old c...
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ZEEN: The Inner Swine
January 17, 2005 - [$2] "The Inner Swine" is a long-running, highly-regarded zeen about nothing by Jeff Somers, ULA sympathizer (but he can't get off his couch to do anything about it). Each issue is full of Jeff's clever short stories and witty complaining and letters about Jeff. Alcohol is a theme. So is boredom and wretched suffering. But it's ...
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ZEEN: Auslanders Raus!
January 17, 2005 - [$5] This is one of Steve Kostecke's zeens. He's a main doer in the ULA. Even though he lives in Thailand (drinking and teaching English...for years now!). He even edits and produces the Slush Pile! Those things come here on a boat from Asia. Crazy.
Steve is one of the best travel writers today. He writes about real travel. ...
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ZEEN: Azian Kix --- great travel writing
January 17, 2005 - [$3] Steve Kostecke has been living in SE Asia for a few years now. He writes of his travels, jobs, experiences with dating, in exploring the insider sides and seedier aspects of various countries. He's a Michigander. His writing is dry, clear and observant. Doesn't shirk. It's the best travel writing you'll find by a young writ...
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ZEEN: Seoul in Slices --- great look at life in a very big city
January 17, 2005 - [$3] Steve Kostecke, a main activist with the ULA, lives in SE Asia. This zeen covers his time in Seoul, where he lived and worked and partied. Great insights into Korean work culture and dating scene. Very different from ours. Of course it's just as much a comment on America. Kostecke does an interesting job of being an imparti...
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ZEEN: Death Ship---zeen reviews and articles
January 16, 2005 - [$5] One of the 2 or 3 best review zeens published today. Getting equal credit with its reviews and articles is its BEAUTY. It's a hand-made, hand-printed, letterset, silkscreened, large format gem. I forget what all she uses to make it, but it's old machinery, plus several other artforms. No computers. It's a celebration of UND...
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ZEEN: Zine World---the best review zine
January 16, 2005 - [$5] "Zine World" offers about 100 pages of zine reviews from all corners and topics of the world. Plus topical articles on indy publishing, censorship and the free press. It's been around a few years now.
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ZEEN: Oop! --- a fine zeen of whimsical style
January 16, 2005 - [$2] Joey Harrison publishes Oop. He's done maybe a dozen issues. He was one of the first zeensters I ever met. He looked me up in town many years ago---a great piece of investigative zeening, that. We've been pals ever since. His favorite writers are the British stylists. His favorite musicians are the weirdest, like Captain Be...
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