Canuk

What Applazon is proposing could be done by US Postal service if the dead foot of Congress was removed. Added advanced would be preserving post offices in small towns while allowing those small towns to participate in online trading. A nude retreat. Interesting. Could be very interesting. As smart as jj is, that he has found a ceo that copes with his genius is even more amazing. Great read. Thanks

Great chapter, lots happening. I must admit as my two sons are now over 35, the scenes with their daughter just make me grateful its all behind me! One issue. And this is my own hobby horse. It's private philanthropy. I know people can run off a million things that have benefited human kind all due to private philanthropy. Then I see this " “Penn State? What made you give them money?” “Cody White. He’s an archeologist we met in Tulum. We bumped into each other at the gym, we mentioned we were touring the Mayan ruins that afternoon, and he offered to go with us.” " end quote. So this bloke gets funding for what may very well be a great project, because he met a bloke in a gym changing room. I firmly believe in both merit and the common good. Handing money to a project because a person with money meets a cute arsed bloke, with good teeth, flat abs and a smile, doesn't quite reach my criteria of how projects should be funded. Yes there's the "it's his money" argument. How did he get that money? Ignoring any illegality, this money was earned because they lived in a peaceful, well ordered, largely well maintained society where the rule of law is paramount and formal governance structures exist. These all cost our ancestors to build and develop and they cost us to maintain. If money is able to subvert all this and be dished out on the basis of people we meet in locker rooms, how long before the carefully built structures start crumbling? Rant over! Thanks.

The whole Scouts thing. Back in the day (ie a period that they now study as "history" that was when I was a Scout) the whole tone of a troop was what the leader wanted. And I recall at some "Jamboree" we couldn't believe how some were run like a military platoon. Young love, first hand job, blow job; so wonderful!

I am not sure how I would cope with my partner being shot. In fact, I do know... I wouldn't cope at all! Aside from that, carbon sequestration.... sigh.... I'd never heard of the dry-ice option, however it and all other options seem to me to be time bombs waiting to go off. I have always hoped we could work on the climate disaster by supercharging nature rather than subverting it.... but that's me, frankly anything that works has to be good. Again that Shapiro woman... if she was responsible for the shooting, she'll need a few of the fur coats she undoubted has when I bury her in one of those cubic kilometres of dry ice.... Great writing! Thanks

Shapiro is an amalgamation of quite a few usually male business leaders, usually in Neanderthal industries. Their combination of ridiculous amounts of money and ignorance is truly scary. Shapiro is unfortunately not a caricature. Great writing, interesting plot and characters.

Great beginning. Jazz is disappointing, but "fly me to the moon" is at the better end of disappointing. Love the effect of hormones.... glad hero Jake keeps his under a modicum of control. Looking forward to see how he manages this newly gay bloke. Not easy at all.....and in Calgary.

I am reading this as I truly want to see if true love can end up in Calgary. My two years there were not the greatest time of my life despite meeting a few interesting people..... so keen to see if our hero does meet with his forever lover, despite the location 😁

Obviously this is neither time nor place to discuss the ins and outs of tax policy, however JJ is in the position that he could buy the property himself (and presumably incur some sort of tax liability) or engineer a situation where a corporation buys it avoiding a liability. Its this ability of segments of society to be able to engineering such breaks that annoys me. Hopefully in his political career he will find some way of establishing a public good test to such policies. I wish him well!

Great chapter, and amazing that JJ is so good with media. It can be daunting Annoyed in the brief para on his purchase of a property he looked at buying it through a corporation "to reduce tax". Yes legitimate, but it's that attitude by billionaires that has the US where it is today. The sooner people with money know that it costs to live in a civilised society, and they benefit most from that society being civilised, therefore taxes need to be paid.

Kennedy...Lincoln....same same! Oops.... but still...I have tried and yes there is some jazz that I find....tolerable, but my version of hell is syncopated jazz without end!

The entire season of Jazz at the Kennedy centre? I would want to be kidnapped just to avoid it!

In this story and the one that proceeded it, we didn't really get to meet Jordan Colmar. What we knew of him was all through his actions against our two heroes. However we did learn a little about where he came from. And I suspect if there is the smallest modicum of sympathy for Jordan, it comes from growing up with a father like his. Of course Jordan is 20, "daddy made me do it" just doesnt run, however however the character you created in Jordan, the angry, hate filled, violent young man didn't just spring from no where. It came from the man who was prepared to manipulate, lie, cheat, perjure and bribe to get his way. Jordan got a 65 year sentence because he committed hideous crimes. Sadly the path towards that jail/gaol was set by his father. Really well written. A great read. Thanks, much appreciated.

Well, AQG, you have created one of the truly hideous creatures in literature! Saint Barbara is one hell of an untamed shrew. You have to wonder what Royston sees in her apart from $; with attitudes like that she can't be that great in bed.... Again, great writing. Thanks.

My thoughts too. While I could almost accept the "keep it from your grandparents" (almost), the "no Pete near Dean" is insulting, demeaning and damn near defamatory. With some thought I would have thanked him for the job offers and indicated that the car repayments will be made as previously agreed. I realise that there's a plot line here regarding his mother, but those conditions are sadistic. Great read. Not sure how I missed this series over the last decade! Thanks!

Rereading the 7 books to the end of this one over the comparatively brief period of a fortnight or so really does highlight the genius of our beloved author. Maintaining characters (real and imagined), storylines, tension, levels of sexual and political intrigue while maintaining your readers interest is an outstanding feat. The way, Mark, you use language that befits a character, and yet doesn't descend into confusing and impenetrable 18th/19th century jargon is awe-inspiring. Picturing "the young gentlemen" as they each first appear, some terrified, some bombastic, others childlike and niaeve, their speech all appropriate and then they each in their own way grow and become (usually but not always) competent midshipmen. The depiction of the various sea lords and admirals with their innate born to rule attitudes that sometimes results in brilliant, sometimes petty leadership. I could go on, but suffice to say the whole setting of the stories enhances and is enhanced by the control over the characters so rarely if ever do they do things that jar. A real writing tour de force. I know in comments Mark, you often said that your readers comments are your reward for writing. Sadly far too often I have been so engrossed in that writing to provide you with the return you so deserve. Anyway, thank you for providing me with a decade's entertainment. I look forward to the next decade! I will try and provide comments as a reward for your effort, as meagre reward as that is!

A little sucking face, I'd I imagine....😉 I still do not like Calvert... he's almost the only one of Mark's amazing panoply of characters that I have a truly guttural and intestinal dislike for.

Mark Rereading this a decade later... I have been Canuk on this website for as long as i recall(well, 2011!), however this post was not mine in any way shape or form. In fact it represents the sort of hypocritical revisionist view of history I truly detest. I was truly astounded to read it.

Almost 10 years later.... A real lesson in how time shines a different light... Yes I agree George's involuntary bandage and rape is shocking and horrendous. But time may shed adifferent light. Which brings us to the question re analysis of events; when is it truthful and honest to decide an event? It's not just "ends and means" stuff, it understanding what in the hell is going on what drives people. There is no right answer, but just an acknowledgement that there are always possibilities. I'd love for this situation to be discussed in an ethics class.... great writing, Mr Arbour!

Belated response Usually the body would be wrapped in old sailcloth and weighted so it would sink. A trail of bobbing corpses wouldn't be a good look. Once settled either on the bottom or at the point of equilibrium, I dare say small fishes would start work with larger predators sensing any decay arriving soon after.

I still dislike Calvert.... (Nothing like carrying a grudge for 10 years over a fictional character!)

Even rereading this a decade later, this is the most emotional scene. Losing one's first love is hard, losing him after the journey these two have been on is traumatic. Even knowing it was coming as a re read this, it didn't take the emotional punch from Traver's death. Sign of a bloody good writer. The signs were there then that this story and these characters would continue, could continue as they are so real.

I do dislike Calvert.....

I have been re reading this saga, in part because it's so good. But this chapter raises an issue for me. Caroline sees it, others see it, acorrespondent with his Lammert grand father sees it, even our hero himself acknowledges it; his relationship with Calvert is a liability, and yet even after acknowledging it, he still returns to thinking that Caroline is the wicked party. I realise true love is blind, but in this Grainger is being uncharacteristically blind stupid.

"Same shit different country" "Fuck you oz" "Okay!" These two men have really great understanding of eachother. Great read. Thanks.

I don't know...the image of a "full blown cantor" is rather ....interesting!