Benji Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Ben, the key word in Conner's statement was "the" not "a". Conner, if the author has no morals, and the bribe is sufficient, he can be induced to kill any character. That said, CJ was insulted at the amount of money I offered him. Meh, I didn't think TheBitch
YaP Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Regarding the Yap/ Tiger discussion about serials, I must say I really like it this way. It's a feature of popular literature to have serials and cliffhangers, and from the interaction with readers this creates, this compares to the 19th century's writers and the mail they got. Conan Doyle had to revive Sherlock Holmes whom he had killed because of the readers' pressure. We can get our way if CJ actually kills Helen. Readers of CJ's stories, unite and take over! Well, of course I love CJs writing too much to really wait for a story to be finished before I start reading it. I don't think i could withstand even if i tried ;-). Not only torturing us with cliffhangers (and yes, I agree, its a very valid rhetorical device, and I can't really blame CJ for using it), but teasing us with misleading announcements (about posting late after a really steep cliffhanger) and rather evil "peek previews" is a bit excessive... Regarding Helen: It would be great if she would survive. I agree, she is the "fighter type".. and maybe she can make it. Pretty please CJames, let them all survive . I would like to meet them all again in the sequel YaP (Yet another Pete ;-))
Benji Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Well, of course I love CJs writing too much to really wait for a story to be finished before I start reading it. I don't think i could withstand even if i tried ;-). Not only torturing us with cliffhangers (and yes, I agree, its a very valid rhetorical device, and I can't really blame CJ for using it), but teasing us with misleading announcements (about posting late after a really steep cliffhanger) and rather evil "peek previews" is a bit excessive... Regarding Helen: It would be great if she would survive. I agree, she is the "fighter type".. and maybe she can make it. Pretty please CJames, let them all survive . I would like to meet them all again in the sequel YaP (Yet another Pete ;-)) ............The former corpman had looked her over and slowly shook his head, the type of injury Helen substained is too major for survival. Stronger men have succumbed to lesser injuries.
Puppster Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 (edited) I don't like how the bad guys keep getting away. Dimitri keeps escaping to easily. Someone, anyone, just kill his a** already! If I have to sit through one more of his assassin monologue thoughts I think I'll kill MYSELF. Edited June 17, 2008 by Puppster
Benji Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 I don't like how the bad guys keep getting away. Dimitri keeps escaping to easily. Someone, anyone, just kill his a** already! If I have to sit through one more of his assassin monologue thoughts I think I'll kill MYSELF. ........But Dimitri is a trained KGB assassin and serial killer to boot, his instinct for survival is extraordinary high. I'm not sure how long he spent in the cabin, had the boys not been armed, Dimitri would have killed them all and escaped before the bikers knew what was happening. The precious time he lost as a result of the boys intervention barely allowed the time to get out with a hostage. On that note, I thought the bikers response was extremely slow, the spotters should have the seen Dimitri kill the 1st deputy on the porch and shot at him. That would have at leeast alerted everyone inside.
YaP Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 ............The former corpman had looked her over and slowly shook his head, the type of injury Helen substained is too major for survival. Stronger men have succumbed to lesser injuries. Yes, but don't forget that it is CJames who wrote this . He made us think (especially with that evil peek preview) that Eric was hit badly.. but it only was a minor injury.. and the former corpman may be wrong in is assessment. Helen is a strong women.. some of those that can endure even more than strong men ! I don't like how the bad guys keep getting away. Dimitri keeps escaping to easily. Someone, anyone, just kill his a** already! If I have to sit through one more of his assassin monologue thoughts I think I'll kill MYSELF. I agree its about time Dimitri is caught.. but I don't think we will have to wait too long for that to happen. He is trapped. If Chase can get away somehow, or the bikers can get a free shot at him without risking to it Chase, he is history.... (but well, one never knows what CJames still has up the sleve for Dimitri..)
Benji Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Yes, but don't forget that it is CJames who wrote this . He made us think (especially with that evil peek preview) that Eric was hit badly.. but it only was a minor injury.. and the former corpman may be wrong in is assessment. Helen is a strong women.. some of those that can endure even more than strong men ! .....Actually it was written in as a minor injury, a major one doesn't trickle out of you. Helen was gut shot and bleeding profusely. I agree its about time Dimitri is caught.. but I don't think we will have to wait too long for that to happen. He is trapped. If Chase can get away somehow, or the bikers can get a free shot at him without risking to it Chase, he is history.... (but well, one never knows what CJames still has up the sleve for Dimitri..) ...........I'm curious about Wildes as role as a rock climber in the forthcoming chapter.
Site Moderator TalonRider Posted June 17, 2008 Site Moderator Posted June 17, 2008 Now we know why CJ brought The Shadows to the ranch. He wanted them for their rock climbing abilities.
jfalkon Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Great chapter CJ! ...but if you are going to write a sequel you can't kill ALL the characters unless of course you plan to make them into zombies for Halloween. Somehow I don't think you would like gay zombies. Would you?
GaryK Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 Now we know why CJ brought The Shadows to the ranch. He wanted them for their rock climbing abilities. Yep! That's why I mentioned earlier about how much forethought CJ puts into his stories. The rock climbing scene earlier on in LTMP seemed unnecessary at the time. Now we know it was just more of the master's foreshadowing! As mad as we pretend to get at CJ sometimes I never lose sight of what a superb and thorough author he is.
Site Administrator Graeme Posted June 17, 2008 Site Administrator Posted June 17, 2008 On that note, I thought the bikers response was extremely slow, the spotters should have the seen Dimitri kill the 1st deputy on the porch and shot at him. That would have at leeast alerted everyone inside. I have to disagree with the last bit. The spotters are unlikely to be keeping a constant watch on the house itself. They would have noticed the police vehicle showing up, but then ignore it on the reasonable assumption it was just the change of shift. The shade of the porch would have also partially obscured the ability of anyone watching to have seen what happened. It was possible they saw, but quite realistic that they didn't notice. Remember the first killing was quick and quiet.
Benji Posted June 17, 2008 Posted June 17, 2008 I have to disagree with the last bit. The spotters are unlikely to be keeping a constant watch on the house itself. They would have noticed the police vehicle showing up, but then ignore it on the reasonable assumption it was just the change of shift. The shade of the porch would have also partially obscured the ability of anyone watching to have seen what happened. It was possible they saw, but quite realistic that they didn't notice. Remember the first killing was quick and quiet. .........That's plausible, but given the mistrust of the cops and the bikers, which Dimitri used to his advantage in killing off "Barney". You would have thought they would scrutinized the house until seeing the shift leave. But your right, they were busy looking elsewhere....Damn Dimitri is lucky!!
MikeL Posted June 18, 2008 Author Posted June 18, 2008 Yep! That's why I mentioned earlier about how much forethought CJ puts into his stories. The rock climbing scene earlier on in LTMP seemed unnecessary at the time. Now we know it was just more of the master's foreshadowing! As mad as we pretend to get at CJ sometimes I never lose sight of what a superb and thorough author he is. Also Eric's rock climbing injury in chapters 19-20 was necessary for Jerry to smuggle the kryton (sp?) switches into Australia.
Site Administrator Graeme Posted June 18, 2008 Site Administrator Posted June 18, 2008 Also Eric's rock climbing injury in chapters 19-20 was necessary for Jerry to smuggle the kryton (sp?) switches into Australia. Not necessary, but it certainly made it easier for him
Site Administrator wildone Posted June 18, 2008 Site Administrator Posted June 18, 2008 but SPiCH just doesn't have the same ring.... I wonder what other acronym we can come up with that ends in CH Okay, since nobody else bit at this one , I'll give it a stab Brotherhood to Impede & Thwart Cruelty to Helen Hopefully that works for ya Steve, I know it will for Gary . .........Sorry, I think it is too late to save Helen, besides some of the 'readers' almost demanded her death, seems she is more misunderstood than Jerry was. But it would have been fun to have found an acronym to save her. Not too sure if she is a goner or not. A few years back a friend was cut with a hockey skate straight across the inside of his elbow and cut an artery. With direct pressure on a spurting cut, he eventually passed out from shock and loss of blood. The ambulance arrived and rushed him to the hospital with just a saline drip. By the time we showered, changed and got to the hospital they were discharging him. CJ really has only given us a former medics personal opinion, not that of a doctor or current paramedic/medic. I'm sure all is going to work out for our favourite girl character and she'll be back in no time flat. Steve
GaryK Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Okay, since nobody else bit at this one , I'll give it a stab Brotherhood to Impede & Thwart Cruelty to Helen Hopefully that works for ya Steve, I know it will for Gary . I will you forever and ever Steve! Erm, wait a minute. That doesn't work for me at all! Brotherhood to Implement Torture of the C*** known as Helen There. That works much better for me.
AFriendlyFace Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Now we know why CJ brought The Shadows to the ranch. He wanted them for their rock climbing abilities. Good point! HAHA, Steve, I love the new acronym! Good chapter, looking forward to the next!
Benji Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 (edited) Okay, since nobody else bit at this one , I'll give it a stab Brotherhood to Impede & Thwart Cruelty to Helen Hopefully that works for ya Steve, I know it will for Gary . Not too sure if she is a goner or not. A few years back a friend was cut with a hockey skate straight across the inside of his elbow and cut an artery. With direct pressure on a spurting cut, he eventually passed out from shock and loss of blood. The ambulance arrived and rushed him to the hospital with just a saline drip. By the time we showered, changed and got to the hospital they were discharging him. CJ really has only given us a former medics personal opinion, not that of a doctor or current paramedic/medic. I'm sure all is going to work out for our favourite girl character and she'll be back in no time flat. Steve .......I would highly value a former Vietnam medic's opinion, especially on gunshot wounds. They have seen too many wounded and are apt at seeing foregone conclusions. BTW I think BiTCH is perfect!! Edited June 18, 2008 by Benji
C James Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Poor Helen... She takes a bullet for Eric and she's still derided. BTW, the "c**t" remark concerns me; from what I understand, some may see that as similar to a racial epithet. It's also one of our filtered words on the forums, so please, don't use it here. Thanks. Okay, hrmmm, good points about Dimitri's assault; I should have been clearer. I just re-read that part and muttered "oh, Crap!" I remembered to say that the lone outside deputy was not visible from inside THE house, but I neglected to say that his post was not clearly visible from the Biker's location (the Jacobs Ranch, a few hundred yards to the south). It says he was sitting on a log beside (so at the side of) the house, and was the front faces the road (to the east, per the text) he could either be on the north or south side. I thought i had said "north" at some point, but I didn't. It would be the most sensible location; it would cover the area blocked to the biker observers yet also cover the driveway. However, I SHOULD have specified it. I hate to change posted text for anything other than typos, but I'm considering doing so in this case. My apologies for the ommision; that was sloppy on my part. Unless anyone comes up with a good reason not to, I'll make a change to the posted text and make it clear that the exterior deputy is on the north side of the house. (I took pains to specify, more than once, that the Jacobs ranch is to the south, for that very reason, and here I go and goof up the thing I was doing that for. Duh!) The Biker's response time was due to the distance. A couple hundred yards (per the text) means Dimitri was right; if his plan had worked, he'd have had time to get out. His plan was high-risk, but workable *IF* nothing went wrong (but it did). Dimitri's attack was a classic asymmetric strategy; rely on assumptions to get to the target, bypassing permiter defenses instead of going force-on-force. As for the Air Force, did they goof? Yep! They made bad assumptions. They assumed that the threat was over after the first attack because, firstly, the attacker was dead, and secondly, the reason for the attack was gone; the information had been transfered. Did they overlook the glaring fact that a second attacker might be out there and not know the attack was futile? Yes, they did. That might seem like an outrageous mistake, but it isn't. It;s called operational chaos. During an emergency, things like that happen all the time. For example, the two F-16's scrambled out of Langley on 9-11 headed over a hundred miles out to sea instead of heading for Washington (or guarding the naval facilities at Hampton roads) because no one thought to give them a heading after takeoff? Well, it actually happened! There are countless examples of such mistakes (by no means limited to the US military, or any military for that matter). Things like that happen in an operational environment all the time. I had them goof mainly because, in real life, both the good guys and the bad guys make mistakes. Dimitri and The Scar have made some, and so has the military, and so has Instinct. Also, bear in mind; the Air Force already has what it needs from Instinct, so they are no longer a national security asset. Under those circumstances, I think arranging for a protective detail plus the fact that they were protected by a small army made sense. The only other option would be to sequester them on a military base somewhere. (and having civilians on a military base during a DEFCON 1 would be problematic in and of itself). The normal option would be to stick them in the Federal Witness Protection program, but Instinct's fame precludes that option. And now I can finally explain why Chapter 19 had an, errr, somewhat tense ending. (The reported death). Think about it.... had it not, would the Shadow's rock-climbing ability have been as well remembered? I needed something to drum home a few things, their rock-climbing being one. There was another long-term thing too, but that you haven't seen it yet. CJ
GaryK Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Going back and making changes in the posted text is fine with me. I'm sure there are way more people who have yet to read LTMP than have already read it. They should gain from what you've learned via posting it and getting feedback from your fans. As for your last line all I can say is you're being a tease as usual.
C James Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Going back and making changes in the posted text is fine with me. I'm sure there are way more people who have yet to read LTMP than have already read it. They should gain from what you've learned via posting it and getting feedback from your fans. As for your last line all I can say is you're being a tease as usual. Who? Me? a tease? OK, I did some editing on Chapter 43... Just to one sentence, which now reads; The man, sitting on a log beside the north side of the house and foolishly out of sight from within the building
GaryK Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 Who? Me? a tease? Yes, a tease. And one who is standing way too close to the edge of a cliff for his own good cause I'm in the mood to give you a hard kick in the behind and see if goats can fly.
MikeL Posted June 18, 2008 Author Posted June 18, 2008 The man, sitting on a log beside the north side of the house and foolishly out of sight from within the building
Benji Posted June 18, 2008 Posted June 18, 2008 I keep wondering why some of the bikers were not around (closer to) Instinct's house. I understand that no one knew that a threat remained and that the cops and bikers did not play well together, but if the situation required three cops in and near the house, why not some biker patrols around the outside of the house? Why not some bikers at the entrance to the drive? Many of them are ex-military; they know about perimeter security. ......Poor goat!! this simply won't go away!!
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