Canuk

Many Happy Returns, may your wishes become reality and your reality be all you can wish for.... with best wishes from the far side of the world.....

Ok Mark , here's a deal - we won't bitch if you post? heh? good one? please...? It has got to the stage where coffee just isn't doing it for me I NEED Granger!!! I am a man in lust..... <sigh> I just hope those students REALLY appreciate you, though I am sure they cannot appreciate you as much as your adoring and dare I say it, psychotic, fans of your writing..... ok, so no posting... back to my coffee, to gaze into it's crema where images of Granger's arse ("ass" in American? - and I am not refering to his horse) come and go...... like I said ...psychotic.....

busy? yes what what about OUR suffering??? My partner is starting to suspect something as I call out in my dreams for this mysterious (to him) "Granger".... dearest dearest Mark , if you could just forget that seething mass of ungrateful, unwashed gits you call "students", just for one day and remember us, us your loyal , devoted (dare I say intelligent?) readers..... please..... Hey! if you need help, I can stick gold stars and elephant stamps on adolescent ramblings as fast as anyone! all I ask is more Granger more of the time.... not unreasonable? <sigh> all the best from the far side of the world......

Mark , I agree. George III, meddled in politics and played a far too active role in the government. His son George IV for all his faults largely left Parliament to function - when he came to the throne he didn't throw out his father's government, as they had popular support. He did get annoyed at what his governmnet did but didn't try and overrule it... so all in all GIV may not be a perfect King, but at least he let the Government of the day govern. Now, it's Tuesday...... (here i Australia anyway....!)...... .

while a few stories ago I would have put JP as my "favourite" character, i like Stef's transformation; JP's transformation has been his losening, Stef's has been from pseudo-rent boy, through mega developer and housewife to a latter day Tonto - making a most interesting character. That said all the characters' "defend the family" attitude to all issues strikes me as a little too Republican for my taste.

BTW, no contest - Travers is the LOHL. Cavendish is pretty, available and willing, but after the great sex who would you rather have a conversation with Cavendish or Travers? no contest, as far as I am concerned.... I'd set up house with Travers and treasure the memory of Cavendish.

latest chapter: bloody brilliant! sex, intrigue and a great ending without being a completely articificial cliffhanger!! Mark , you are a wonder. You do seem to have a predilection for large cocks. the way you lovingly decscribe Cavendish's would imply that you see one like it, often????? i can imagine that Grainger is going to have another success at sea , but Wilcox will interpret it as disobedience and so the drama continues. I love it!!!

without getting all gynaecological, technically it could be possible to be pregnant for that long; if the woman concerned miscarried at the end of the first trimester and then became pregnant again - it could just seem like the first two trimesters were very long...... Now there's a plot twist!

only two??? slacker!!

as far as social rank, of course the Bridgemonts have it over the cavendishes as the Bridgemonts are ficticious, however to be socially "ahead" of the cavendishes at the time would have made them in the top two or three families..... ie bloody high in the social stratum of the day. if this were the case the Wilcox family would have had to be one of those top two or three familes to be able to treat Grainger the ay they do. It would probably make sense if the Bridgemonts are slightly lower (ie top dozen families) but on the up, the Wilcoxes top dozen but struggling and the cavendishes top three/four with no worries..... this "ranking" would give the various struggles and alliances verisimillitude. Mark , thanks again. brilliant. may you become independantly wealthy and so this wretched day-job can be ditched!!!

Oh! I misunderstood - I thought the "sharing forum" was to share information..... I now see it's about sharing other things...... , so Mark , when you're next in Australia......

Ch10 was bloody marvellous!! sexual tension, political infighting, and a decent batttle with significant ramifications. Mark , you are a bloody wonder! agree, Wilcox won't be disgraced by this as he'll have his defence all lined up, but it will be one of those chinks in his armour that people like Bridgemont (and Westminster) can use to further his son`s career. and Cavendish can`t die.... to cute, and as yet unravished!!!! the boy cannot go to his grave without knowing the delights Granger has to offer.....

methodwriter85, you may be right - I sense a tweed coat - even if it's in the closet!!!

you can see from all this they needed a little infidelity to broaden the gene pool...... as far as complex family structures mine is boringly straight (until me anyway). however my partners is deliciously complex - he's done his tree back to the mid17th century and by descent he could have claims on Westchester County(US), Aquitiane (France), and the Duchy of Cornwall(UK) among others. his mob were happy to do anyone anytime! as far as CAP; yep Nick needs his comuppance and having his son turn into a slobbering idiot over JJ would work out well. and of course there would be the inveitable proof that said son was not father by Nick as Nick is impotent, a fact that does not help his political "career". Then who fathered Nick's son???? Obviously Tonto's unknown lover (hmm chronology has run amuck at this point), perhaps tonto's unknown lover's son's the father?

OK, here's my contribution..... What's your favorite color? the colour of my lover's hair..... What's your pet's name? Pierre, oops, that's my partner (same thing? hmmm good thing he doesn't read this...yet. ) Actuall we don't have a animal pet at the moment. I used to have a labrador; Monty (Montgomery, his father was Rommel...). My partner had a cat; Irene pronounced i-rain (with the "i" short-as in "hit") . it was VERY possessive. it hated me when i moved in, but realised i fed it more regularly and so we established a truce. it took about 2 years for it to accept that i had taken its place. Are you single? no (well, not until my partner reads this) Do you like goats? hate them. I grew up on a sheep farm. On second thoughts goat is good: pan fried, neat sauce/gravy, some underdone veg... yep i like goat., What really pisses you off? intolerance and people who do not know how to argue (arguing is NOT a blood sport) Whatever you think of. think? you mean I am supposed to think? hmmm.... I suppose I think a lot about My Boy (ie my partner, dopey arsed bastard that he is - BTW in Australia these are all terms of endearment) and My Boys (ie my sons, I have 2. both great. both treat their old man with considerably less respect than he is owed.

I am sorry, I wasn't going to enter this debate but saying Dallas is plausible ..... it was the greatest load of hokum.... watchable, well-ish acted, a vague plot but plausible? no, no way and not at all. In fact it was about as plausible as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all other soaps/serials from I Love Lucy and Gilligan's Island to Lost. In fact I would go as far as to say that the implausability / improbability level has to be high to turn it from documentry to drama/soap. As no one has offered to film my life or any of the lives of anyone I know (perhaps my social circle over 40 years on two continents is just too small), I'd suggest that our all-too-plausible, day-to-day lives don't make good drama/soaps...... so far this morning the greatest drama has been I forgot to plug in the toaster after doing the ironing..... thrilling drama; no. Plausible; yep. boring; you tell me..... ultimately it's whatever makes your boat float and Mark , your writing floats mine very well!!

Mark , I am Shocked! yes Shocked! You are wasting VALUABLE time posting!! You could be writing: More CAP, More Bridgewater!! while it may be a big ask but perhaps you need to satisfy fewer people with your mouth and more with your pen...... (I suppose there is an alternative: you could satisfy all of us with your mouth...... ) either way - if you keep it up, so, I am sure, will we......

Ivy, I completely agree!! while really enjoy Mark's writing, i do accept it for what it is - a novel, an elegant fiction created by an extremely talented person. the proof: we are all taking time out from RL to discuss/debate/laugh about HIS characters! and if anyone is worried that said characters are "stranger than fiction", then, my boy, you have lead a way too sheltered life!

Mark , continuing with the age discussion, I think you have nailed it describing the changing nature of relationships as the partners age. a person I know classifies people into three groups: 1)wouldn't kick out of bed, 2) would invite into bed, 3) would spend my life with. in my five decades I have met many in cata 1, quite a few in cata 2, but only 1 in cata 3 and it took me 4 decades to find him. CAP covers all three types of characters and the fact that it took Steph and JP a while to make that connection speaks to the realism and truth of your writing. Now; the box - who is it going to crucify? I can't wait!!!

I must admit that as well as CAP is written, the Granger-related stories appeal to me so much more. I am not sure I am going to express this very clearly but I'll give it a go. While both story-lines have well developed characters, in the Granger series they feel they are there for other than their own purpose. The characters are all part of a bigger picture. In CAP its all about the family, the importance of the family, the security of the family and the head issues of the family. This produces a good story in a days-of-our-lives way, whereas Granger stories always feel like they are part of a greater picture. all this of course doesn't make one better than the other, just explains my preference. Mark , I look forward to whatever your amazing talent will produce next. If I had my d'ruthers I'd get you to chuck the day job and just bloody write - you have fans to satisfy, !!!

"More addicted to Cap than Bridgemont" - surely not!! I thought CAP were just the stories that people read while waiting for the next in the Bridgemont series!!!! i am so much a granger groupie that it scares me!

Mark for my first post I'll not go into the need for more/less of Lennox, Walker's sleeping arrangements or any of the other issues addressed above, I'd just like to congratulate you on a wonderful series (I have only read the stories featuring Granger). As far as I am concerned you seem to be able to write bloody well and i am prepared to enjoy it as it comes (so to speak). I look forward to the continuation of Granger's exploits. And just to contradict everything i said above - I prefer Travis' masculine maturity to Calvert's boyish ethusiasm! write on and bugger RL!! Regards C