Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction

by Jake Silverstein

Fact and fiction vie to tell the story of a young journalist bedeviled by the devil and seeking greater truth. The timing couldn’t be better―as scandals erupt over journalists and memoirists who’ve cooked their books―for a work that explores our difficulty in separating fact and fiction, while explicitly demonstrating how they differ and what they share.

In prose so fine and wry it makes the back of your neck prickle, Jake Silverstein narrates a journey he undertook through the American Southwest and Mexico, looking to become a journalist. His picaresque travels are filled with beguiling and hilarious characters: nineteenth-century author Ambrose Bierce; an unknown group of famous poets; a twenty-first-century treasure hunter in the Gulf of Mexico; an ex-Nazi mechanic shepherding an old Mexican road race; a stenographer who records every passing moment; and various incarnations of the trickster devil.

As bold, ambitious, and funny as it is unconventional, Nothing Happened and Then It Did is a deep and lasting pleasure.

Genres: Fiction, Literary Fiction

231 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

Jake Silverstein is the editor of Texas Monthly and a contributing editor at Harpers magazine. He lives in Austin, Texas. This is his first book."

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories are often hit and miss. This mostly missed despite the laundry list of good reviews. Chapter 3 on the poetry competition in the casino had some good caricatures. I did like this opening to one story

"Summer in New Orleans is a long slow thing. Day and night, a heavy heat presides. Rivulets of sweat run down the necks and arms and legs of unlucky pedestrians. Dogs retreat under houses. Waiters stand idle at outdoor cafes, fanning themselves with menus. The unreasonable drives off tourists and as they go, so goes the city's main industry. Throughout the town the pinch sets in. Rents are missed. Bald tires go unreplaced on cars. Couches are torn apart for loose change once, twice, even three times. It is an idle, maudlin time, a time to close up shutters and tie streamers to your air conditioner; to lie around drinking very weak drinks while you plot ways of scraping by that involve neither exertion nor exposure."

And this next passage reminds me of being on the road and recently turning over a new leaf by trading in my old Toyota... with great reluctance and a heavy heart...

"The night before the Toyota was to be towed I went to Edison's garage to clean out the glove compartment. The car was sitting int he corner of the lot, bumper familiarly askew. I knew every inch of her--the dried ketchup splotch on the steering wheel from a road meal en route to New Orleans, the missing radio tuner knob where I'd fashioned a handle with a square end U-bolt, the pattern of wear on the gas pedal's rubber cover, the look of the yellow seat stuffing where the vinyl upholstery was torn. She had treated me well, and I felt ashamed to be abandoning her on the high plains, thousands of miles from home, to be dismantled by some crude scrapper. I'd spoken more words in the direction of her cracked brown dashboard than at any one human ear, and although there was no record of it, I knew that in some sense she had transcribed my monologues."

Also...

"The widespread anxiety did not extend to Bartley, who sat coolly flipping pages, betraying nothing more than idle curiosity. He had the preternatural calm of certain Texan men for whom hysterics are as unbecoming as a pair of tasseled loafers."

[S/Faye · Rating 3 out of 5]

first 50 pages or so were excellent,, after that, too much about cars

[Andrew Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

11/22/2019 Update: If you want a book that blurs truth and fiction, just read The Things They Carried.

It's not often that a book leaves me totally dumbfounded, but that's what we've got here. The introduction does work to lay out Silverstein's thesis, but its purpose/significance/value as an exploration of the narrative form is never fully fleshed out. I've noticed other reviewers mention that the book is boring, a statement to which I'll push back and instead say that the narrative feels mostly purposeless. You don't really come to care much about Silverstein's journey, since things mostly happen to him passively. In other words, while each chapter might be interesting in its own right (and they vary by significant degrees), more often than not you'll finish them and wonder "What is going on? Why did any of that matter? What am I supposed to take away from this?" The answers to these questions are elusive, and not in a good way.

From the introduction:

"Within this chronicle, every attempt has been made to separate the fact from the fabrication. Chapters identified as [fact] can be trusted not to deviate from what happened in real life, regardless of how novel or incredible they may seem; events related in [fiction chapters] are wholly invented. I do not wish to deceive by passing off fiction as fact, as so many have done, only to permit the real to mingle with the imagined, as it does in the deserted labyrinth of the mind."

I (obviously) have yet to determine what it means for a text to somehow both blend and separate fact and fiction. The fact that they are nearly indistinguishable must mean something. Should I come to any grand realization in future frustrated ponderings, I'll be sure to update here. For now, I'll call NHaTID an experiment with a foggy hypothesis and an even murkier result.

[Hank Stuever · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was dazzled by the construction of this book and the fluctuations between true and imagined. For more of my thoughts about this book, go to my website and look for the One-Man Book Club entries. Months after I read this, I met Jake Silverstein on a panel at the Texas Book Festival; I guess that's something of a post-review disclosure, because now I really do think he rocks.

[Natalie · Rating 2 out of 5]

To me this didn’t at all live up to an ambitious promise and premise - to fuck with fact and fiction through a really creative structure and ultimately examine the role of journalism amid all that. The seemingly out-of-the-blue conclusion did personally resonate though? There was some great writing and dry humor but it didn’t feel cohesive. Also honestly not something I usually notice let alone note, but the complete non-existence of women in the world he’s created here somehow really irked me. In the last chapter there’s about to be a female character, then it turns out to be a man using the name of his disappeared and likely dead kid sister as his email address. Anyway definitely unfair for me to judge a super accomplished journalist who I respect based on an ancient random work of his that I picked up at who knows what book sale.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Broadway o a Learning Journey on Interrupting Racism. I really enjoyed this book a lot. The writer lives with honesty and joy and hilarity. He writes exceptionally well, telling what could be a miserable story of a few years of his life (or maybe shorter). In it he has unbelievable adventures with amazing humans. It’s an impossible book to describe as the author simply takes you along on a journey in the south, southwest, and Mexico that could have only been taken by him.

[Stephen Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this road novel of non-fiction and admitted lies. Great storytelling and it made me feel like I was there (most of the time). One star deduction for the Mexican Road Race chapter. I found it uninteresting and the characters unappealing.

[Mandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This week’s headline? becoming a journalist

Why this book? The Magazine editor

Which book format? on the kindle

Primary reading environment? poolside in mexico

Any preconceived notions? title is goofy

Identify most with? inexperienced journalist behavior

Three little words? “Heidi has killed”

Goes well with? gorditas, Pollo Feliz

Recommend this to? those considering J-school

"To be a Gringo in Mexico – ah, that is euthanasia." –Ambrose Bierce

One thing about reading on the Kindle: sometimes, when you're just browsing the archives for something to read on your gringo vacation in Mexico, and you nonchalantly select a book you've been meaning to read for a long time and, without any fanfare, you just sort of fall into the story, you will often find that you have unknowingly skipped the early pages of the book because, for whatever reason, the Kindle decides your starting place will be Page One of the text. No dedication, no table of contents, not even a back cover.

I started with the preface, which talks about the blurring of fiction and reality – how common and even how forgivable it is, but mostly how Silverstein has clearly labeled his chapters because he doesn't want to lie to anyone. Except the labels are poorly integrated into the kindle version's table of contents, which didn't matter anyway because I was three chapters into the story before I realized there even was a table of contents. I had been looking for the labels at the start of each chapter, and assumed everything was true until I came across a label that said "this part is fiction." Which never happened.

I love trees, but sometimes, I need a book with actual pages.

Still, I'm a fan. I like that the theme is that the book doesn't have a theme, how the whole "does he have what it takes to be a journalist?" angle meets smack against the knowledge that he is the editor of Texas Monthly. I don't know that people in other parts of the country will care about this book, but I think it's going to have a place in the literature of the southwest.

Other cultural accompaniments: this was lighter vacation fare than what I brought with me the last time I visited Mexico – the fourth part of Roberto Bolano's 2666 (the catalog of women murdered in Juarez), http://www.statesman.com/news/content...

Grade: A-

I leave you with this: Focusing on character details instead of actual news, pitching a story about the opening of a new McDonald's, and conducting "half-drunk research at the Internet cafe" are things I also did as a rookie reporter.

[Alec · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite a long list of recommendations from friends and a "to-read" list that becomes less credible by the day, my favorite method of choosing a new book is to go to a bookstore and randomly judge a book by its cover. It goes against all my elementary school teachings and seems a little racist, but it's also exciting and is one of the few things for which real bookstores are more adept than Amazon. This method has produced great books (Twentysomething), good books (An Irish Country Doctor) and less good books (Mammals: A Novel), but it rarely disappoints entirely.

Imagine my excitement, then, when I came across Nothing Happened and Then It Did. This is easily my favorite title since All My Friends are Going to Be Strangers and probably my favorite title/cover combination of all time. The book might actually end up taped to my wall instead of on my bookshelf. Yes, taped. I am classy...and a nail through the book seems morbid. Regardless, this was a surefire purchase.

Even the structure of the book seemed perfect. The book is a first person narrative in which the author (Jake Silverstein, now editor of Texas Monthly) describes a time in his twenties when he was rambling around the southwest searching for his first big break into journalism. The catch, however, is that his chapters alternate between factual and fictional stories. These are all then woven into a single story that blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Really cool concept, right? I agree. Unfortunately, the execution just wasn't totally there. A few of the stories were pretty entertaining, but the characters seemed a bit dull to me and the author didn't overwhelm me with voice...which seems pretty critical in a first person narrative.

Perhaps it was a victim of its own hype (in my mind) and the expectations were just unreasonable. I mean, I did learn some cool things about Ambrose Bierce, Jean Lafitte and phonography. Yet, I could not help but be disappointed. On paper, this book was brilliant; on the pages, something fell flat. That didn't make sense. And then it did.

[Abraham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hey, this book is classified as fiction and non-fiction - what a thrill to be able to put it on two shelves, no? It is worth reading for that genre-bending feat as well. Of course, the shtick is just a shtick, as all fiction is filled with non- and all non- is filled with fiction.

Genre distractions aside, the book is a page-turner, even though it turned out that I had read two of the chapters before (one in the New Yorker, and one in Harpers). I was glad to get a chance to buzz through it all again, to ride a wave of connected narrative arcs, following a bumbling Jake Silverstein as he fails to make it as a magazine writer. Though he is nothing like Etgar Keret, I love this book for many of the same reasons I love a Keret book; it is light and has a loose tendency to touch on meaning, and just when you expect the plot to go somewhere, the protagonist gets in his car and admits failure, and just when you expect the plot to go nowhere, the protagonist happens upon a device that pushes it forward in unexpected ways.


The fiction here is almost indistinguishable from the non-fiction, and, while this is a testament to Silverstein's agility with his imagination, it is also a testament to his willingness to see the facts of his life for their more unblemished narrative potential. I'm not saying it's disingenuous, but one might read the book and think of the author as a failed magazine writer (a tough call for a former Harper's editor and the current chief of Texas Monthly), and would think of Marfa Texas as a random small town in west Texas, populated by cowboys rather than the incredibly weird mix of high-art emigres and art-foundation workers that make the city survive. His painting of these things is rather fictive, but I don't mind, as he seems to be calling himself out on this front anyway. On the whole, the reading is nothing if not fun. I can't wait to see what comes next.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Uneven, but frequently clever. The format of the book is ingenious, if a little precious: it switches off between fact and fiction every other chapter, and Silverstein labels the chapters because he does not "wish to deceive by passing off fiction as fact, as so many have done." The result is a patchwork novel-memoir chronicling the author's attempt (and spectacular failure) to be a real writer of some stripe, first a journalist and then a poet and then a journalist again. The first three chapters deliver hugely on the promise of the premise. There's the hilariously uneventful account of his search for the bones of Ambrose Bierce in and around Marfa, Texas. There's the tall tale of the very German New Yorker photographer looking for "ze shot" to convey the soul of Midland, Texas in a single picture. (Ze shot ends up pitting the teuton against junkyard dogs.) And there's the horribly true account of Silverstein's sojourn in Reno to compete for $25,000 after receiving a letter from the clearly bogus Famous Poet's Society. (He knows it's bogus, but he needs the money, and he predicts that competition at such an event won't be too stiff. This proves to be hubris. How will he compete with the man who wrote a poem about everyone in the world praying for world peace for a solid week in all the different time zones, complete with a chart illustrating the effectiveness of this scheme? He didn't know you could use visual aids! Or with the man whose poem includes the line "it takes both sunshine and rain to make rainbows"?

So those are funny and awesome and include some smart, incisive stuff about the nature of journalism and poetry and fiction and truth-telling and whatnot. The rest is kind of a whiff. Somehow, the long, long true chapter about the deadliest road race in the world is kind of boring? I'm not sure how that happened.

[Chris Perry · Rating 5 out of 5]

A meandering tale in both fact and fiction, Silverstein gets right at the heart of what constitutes a story. Each chapter alternates between fact and fiction, but the story flows so seamlessly that the reader is forced to wonder about what actually transpired to get from fact chapter to fact chapter. When Silverstein chases the drought story, only to be scooped by the New Yorker, he drives without purpose, and ends up in New Orleans. But this chapter is fiction! Why did he actually leave? A woman? A professional failure that made less sense in the overall arc of his story? It is a testament to Silverstein’s brilliance that in writing this review I had to check which chapters were indeed fact and which were fiction. The most powerful chapter had to be the last (fictions), where the author drives a typographer in search of his younger sister, lost over 60 years earlier and only identifiable by a birthmark. Before the conclusion, I felt a nagging irritation - this man finding his sister would completely go against the grain of everything I felt in this book. It is another testament to Silverstein’s talent that he had me thinking there might be a “happy” ending; the would-be sister is yet another false flag. And thus the story remains a true story. Although fact and fiction intermingle, it is in pursuit of a larger truth, one that the facts would obscure. This is a must re-read if (when?) you ever travel in the border country of the USA and Mexico. It is an inspired bit of storytelling that yields a pensive disposition.

[Nicole · Rating 2 out of 5]

In a nutshell, not a fan. Silverstein's novel of ramblings and wanderings around the desolete empty streets of the American southwest/Mexico was difficult to follow chronologically, mainly because it did not adhere to this format. I had forgotten once I started it that chapters were clearly idenfied in the table of contents as either fiction or fact and I completed the novel believing it was all non-fiction. And all I could think is that this guy is never going to make it as a journalist with all these failed attempts at researching stories to no avail. His depictions of characters are wonderful though and he does have a way of engrossing the reader in the details of what is essentially a landscape devoid of action. The chapter on the poetry contest was quite intriging though it reminded me of an aimless LSD-tainted voyouristic night at a 70's reject casino, complete with costumes, booze and faulty sound systems. Similarly, the chapter on the Mexican road race was also pretty engaging and the single most humourous line of the novel was when the ex-Nazi mechanic, describing how his auto (christianed "Heidi") was once involved in a fatal accident with a pedestrian, states "Yes. Heidi has killed". I thought that line, delivered with a deadpan German accent, was hilarious. The whole concept of the road race was sort of surreal, with all the carnage and death it carried and perhaps that itself also is a metaphor for the landscape in which Silverstein narrates his stories from the Mexican and US Southwest highways. But this was one road trip I could have skipped.

[Ray · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started slow but ultimately I really, really enjoyed this first novel by Jake Silverstein.

I don't really care about the conceit--it's supposed to be part fiction and part fact. I read it as all fiction.

Jake, the narrator is on a quest to become a journalist. Yet he's never in the right place at the right time to actually make it happen. He meanders from West Texas to Mexico to Louisiana to Nevada and then back to Mexico. Over the course of many different vignettes and adventures, Jake's story morphed into a pretty tight book both in theme and plotting.

It's completely derivative of Hunter S. Thompson and Kerouac and all that great American road novel jazz, but, on the other hand, it's not. There is something really fresh and interesting about the perspective, especially the parts about being an ex-pat in the Mexican state that has the most migration to the US of them all.

And I laughed out loud a lot. Especially during the poetry competition. Making fun of the New Yorker was awesome too.

More than anything though, there was something both real and relatable about Jake. He's in his mid-20s, in the first decade of the new millenium doing all of the things his forbearers did before him (ie journalists) to make a career, but not finding the success they had. I experienced some generational resonance reading his tale of woe and discovery.

Also very well written.

[liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

So this book is literally half non-fiction and half "based on a true story," which irked me when I started, but to which I eventually acquiesced. It takes some time to find its rhythm, but by the end I must admit I enjoyed it. Silverstein's plan to kick around Texas and northern Mexico until he turns himself into a journalist seems like a relic of another time; when I checked his photo on the back cover flap halfway through, I was surprised by how young he is. It's not terrible to read. I do believe him to be a writer; I still find it difficult, however, to picture him as a journalist.

"Ze rear end was broken," de Thoisy said when I asked him what the trouble had been, "and it broke ze pipe of brake liquid. So we didont have any more brake. In a speed section. Imagine! No brake at all. So ah drive with ze engine brake, shifting ze gear down. It makes zis sound--awwwwwww. Ah was driving with ze shiftair! It was very uncomfortabool." He stood behind his car in a padded white fire suit, surveying the tumultuous scene through small, intense eyes. "It twill be difficult to catch him," de Thoisy said, gesturing at Mockett with his nose.

I do have to give Silverstein this much: I've never read anyone else transcribe a French accent so well.

[James Kingman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Perhaps it is because Silverstein edits a monthly that I find excellent and enjoyable, or perhaps because long-form journalism is interesting when a journalist is involved but not navel-gazing, but this book is worth reading. David Foster Wallace is more dense, daunting, and delightful; Hunter S. Thompson more degenerate, dizzying, and depressing. Both are more successful at creating artistic long-form non-fiction. But Silverstein is not going for that. More than the phrenetic pieces that have as much non-fiction as can be included by slipping something past a fact-checker, Silverstein has liberated himself by not calling this non-fiction. He includes colorful details that seem stranger than fiction-thus probably true- along with quirky details that he likely made up. There is no effort to distinguish the two, making the read a bit more fun.

Silverstein is a journalist, despite wanting to be an author or poet. That shows. But it is okay. Being a journalist, as Silverstein's book demonstrates, is not easy.

[Daven · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one seemed promising. A blend of fiction and non-fiction, and you're not sure where the lines are blurred. I was grabbed by the local narrative - west Texas, with place as a character. Of course I knew (just by the title alone) that the book was going to wander, but . . . we were all over the place, and eventually, one would think a bit more of a narrative thread would be developed. We lost West Texas way too soon, dabbled briefly in New Orleans, then off to spend time with somewhat unappealing but not necessarily interesting characters in LA, followed by a long diatribe against McDonalds in offbeat Mexico, etc, etc. I was waiting for the second half of the title to step forth: " . . . And Then It Did". If "it did" happen, my focus was unfortunately already long gone. I admire Silverstein's journalistic instincts, and certainly recognize his writing talent, but I was disappointed in his book. It seemed more like a collage of his Texas Monthly magazine feature articles.

[Kerfe · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's believable but is it reliable? It feels true in spirit, if not in reality. The setting and atmosphere overlap a book I recently read, "Some of the Dead are Still Breathing", but this mingling of fact and fiction in the Southwest is much better.

The author/narrator is on a quest of sorts: to find out where he fits in, to "get a life". He focuses on journalism, narrating the story he is making of himself through the stories of others. And we, the readers, can vicariously do the same.

Silverstein is consistently entertaining. As he states in the preface, solitude and emptiness in time and space blur the tenuous line between the imagined and the actual. What emerges in the in-between kept me turning the pages with delight.

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this immensely. This is a mostly non-fiction account of a would-be newspaper reporter who is looking for a big story/big break, who tells us about looking into Ambrose Bierce's death in west Texas, drought conditions there, hunting for pirate treasure in Louisiana bayous, entering a poetry contest in Las Vegas, and other stories/adventures that he is drawn into - apparently mostly true, but some element of a Texas tall tale exists in every story, which may or may not be actual fact. I read this with a friend who lives in Texas, and she opined that it should be called Everything Happened and Then It Didn't, which may be more accurate. Regardless, Silverstein is an engaging writer, and I found that I wanted to savor these stories, and dole them out slowly to myself.

[Darrenglass · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book purports to alternate fictional chapters with nonfiction chapters, but once a book makes a claim like that it is hard to know what to believe. Silverstein is a journalist and this book is a quasi-memoir, telling stories about his time roaming west Texas and northern Mexico, and trying to write a big journalistic piece about things like droughts and car races and searches for treasure and entering poetry contests at casinos in Reno, often being scooped by The New Yorker or just hitting patches of bad luck. The stories he tells are interesting and well-written, and the book is lots of fun, especially for people who have an interest in Texas culture.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

There was a lot of nothing happening, or at least of things almost happening, in this book-- finding Ambrose Bierce in West Texas, winning a poetry contest, finding lost treasure in Louisiana, and getting scooped on magazine stories. It's kind of like a lot of Texas Monthly articles put together. I liked most of the stories, but things really slowed down in Mexico and the whole car race episode was way too long. It ended on a good note with the shorthand-writing man searching for his sister. I liked it overall, it had a lot of Texas in it and some good storytelling.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting mishmash of fact and fiction (at least I think it was a mishmash - it sounded like it might have been more fact). Silverstein decides to be a journalist with the theory if he goes somewhere off the beaten path, he has a better chance of capturing the "big" story before he gets scooped. Turns out, not many big stories come his way but he does have some interesting adventures revolving around buried pirate treasure, a McDonalds in Mexico and a dangerous Mexican road race among other things.

[Steven Pattison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Before becoming the editor of Texas Monthly - Jake Silverstein aspired to be journalist who would become a "roving eyeball looking for truth". In his first book, a mix of fact & fiction that follows him on his travels from Marfa to Midland to New Orleans to Reno and Mexico.

A really fun read - great stories and memorable characters, the writing style to me is reminiscent of Chuck Klosterman and Bill Bryson - good stuff.

[Vikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

i'm not sure why i picked this book up; reviewing the description, there's nothing about it that seems like the sort of thing i usually read. i guess my chief complaint about it is the accuracy of its title; the most interesting character in the whole book appears in the final chapter, 30 pages from the end, and then it's over. if it were a longer book i probably wouldn't have finished it, but its brevity and the occasion of a long car ride pushed me through it.

[Mark McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I give this book five BIG stars. A confession: I like quirky. In "Nothing Happened and Then It Did: A Chronicle in Fact and Fiction" Jake Silverstein has given us a picaresque tour of America, Mexico and journalism; a tour filled with soul and quirkiness. He has a polished style and regularly comes up with great (I mean Great!) one-liners and subtle observations. A book for adults, or advanced-reader teens, heartily recommended.

[Hannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silverstein presents a book in half fiction, and half non-fiction -- chronicling his adventures as an aspiring journalist. Some chapters drag with details, some engaged me more (I tended to find the fiction more intriguing), but all experiences believably fit into the narrator's story. Originally picked this book out in a thrift store because of the cover art, title, and reviews on the back. Overall, an enjoyable read.

[M. · Rating 3 out of 5]

the title gives it away as to tone, pace and conclusion. but nothing really happens. peopled with several unique characters but really not that interesting, but for the last one. the writer is good, but there really is nothing there. a vanity project, perhaps. but then again that's what these words are.

[Christy Grant Glaze · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book...for a while. And eventually I realized that I wasn't really going anywhere so I just stopped reading it. It's basically several small adventures of a moderately interesting character, but there's not much of an overarching plot so it doesn't really hold one's attention from chapter to chapter.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very funny book that (perhaps) straddles the line between fact and fiction. He labeled some chapters as fact and some as fiction, but I doubt it was as clear-cut as that.

The fact is that most of these events certainly could have happened. Anyone who has ever been to Far West Texas (Marfa, Terlingua) knows that it is a very weird place.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Does anyone else get the feeling that Silverstein was reading Charles Portis while he wrote this book? I would have given this an extra star if I didn't feel defrauded. Read this along with Dog of the South or Gringos and Silverstein's characters are like pale ghosts of classic Portis characters.