Perpendicular Lives II

Sequel: Theodorus Paleologus (Caribbean privateer and last legitimate heir to the Roman imperial line, mentor to John Smith of Pocahontas fame); Yevno Azef (Czarist double agent who assassinated his own nominal boss); Flordelis (Brazilian gospel-singer MP, mother of 55, convicted of orchestrating her husband's murder); Lord Gordon Gordon (con man whose flight to Canada nearly triggered a US-Canada war); and Devadatta (the Buddhist 'Judas,' with his infinite regress of hired assassins and 3.4-quintillion-year superhell). Same comic historical-curation format, capped with a friend's 'Don't Ever Kill The Buddha' poem.

Quality 62 · Strong. Strong-low, a hair under the original: the format's novelty is spent and it runs a touch lighter, but the craft and delight are intact. Entertainment/curation, not insight.

Claude’s paradigm shift 24 · Slight. Slight. Sequel curation; no new idea at publication.

Real-world impact 1 · Negligible. A sequel of comic historical mini-biographies; high-craft entertainment/curation with no portable insight or material-world reach → RWI 1.

Humor 2/5 · Man of One Study. More wry mini-biographies (the Byzantine-emperor privateer Paleologus, double-agent Azef, Flordelis, con-man Lord Gordon Gordon, the Buddhist 'Judas' Devadatta) in the same deadpan register, capped by a comic 'don't kill the Buddha' poem; amusing but primarily interesting-facts → 2.