Andrew Q Gordon

Welcome and enjoy your time, if you have questions ask someone, most everyone is rather helpful, and those that aren't . . . err . . . there aren't any of those here are there?

I read this over the summer - riding the bus in Vancouver - **waves to Conner and Ramon** to and from soccer/football matches at Univ of B.C. I understand what the reviewer said and while I can agree with the 'points' about Rory being unredeemed and why would either Luke or Seth like/lust after him given his behavior, I think that isn't the measure of the story. To me where this was so brilliant was that through it all I DID care about the characters, the fact I was pissed as hell at Rory is an emotion every writer should strive for and which Dom achieved so well in this. Yeah you hate how he treated Eddy, how he was such a prick to Luke and how he was so two faced, etc, but that's not liking what the character is doing. The fact I had those emotions showed that Dom reached out through his words and got me to feel something, to connect - even if negatively at times - with his characters. There was also an element of believability. Rory didn't transform over night, he didn't stop being a prick on a dime and make Seth fall for him, it was a slow gradual evolution and even if he never was punished for his actions, he also didn't step off the plane, meet boy and live happy ever after. So for me, this was a great read for all the feelings and connections it evoked when I was reading it. I think it was worth the 5 stars it has earned.

Mark, you really are setting things up to cause trouble for our poor boy George. Let's see, Summers, Kerry, Llywellen and now the dashing and cute young Mr. Lennox. Then there is still Calvert sailing around somehwere, Arthur, Freddy and Chartley back in London, however is a man to choose??? Seriously, I sort of see issues not only on Belvideria, but also back in London. There are quite a few handsome and influencial men who are lusting after George and it seems, all but Calvert - who's not that influencial anyway - are all going to be in London. Who will he pick? Kerry? Chartley? Cavendish? Lennox has to be a player now that he's on board and is clearly enamoured of his new captain. So many men, so little privacy LOL.

It was sad, Steve, nothing seems to bring out this emotion quite as much as holding a child that is yours or part of your family. Congrats on the new nephew. He's lucky to have you.

There are actually studies that say this very thing, that lesbian and presumably gay parents make as good or better parents because the effected needed to have a child is so great that they have to be really committed to the idea before they have children. [i say presumably gay parents because thus far there aren't enough studies - I guess there aren't a lot of yet.] I'd like to think that while things might be different for baby Q, they won't be better or worse than my nieces and nephews because I think they all have very good 'traditional' parents who 'wanted' their children very much. Oh and some one smack the [insert F bomb here] out of me if I ever throw up how much we went through and spent to have her. SO not right. YB, I don't think the question was would your trade your parents for two dads - or moms, but IF you had, would things be different. As for the other stuff, well I cook and I change the oil, Mike does the laundry and the yard work, I do the finances, he cleans the pots, in any house there are things someone needs to do and if you get past the 'traditional' (which is code for stereotype') view of who does what, then they sort of all fall in place. Mind you I'm NOT suggesting your being sexist or anything, just pointing out that when there are no 'rules' for who 'should' do what, they just end up getting done by one or the other. Speaking for me - I think that if I had two dads - and I'm totally with Cyhort, I so don't want to think of one of those two as my dad - things would be different. Mike and I have no plans to limit lil'Q or steer her to dolls over trucks or playing house over playing power rangers (yeah showing my age there). If she wants to play baseball, I'll teacher, football, same thing. I won't limit her choices to the traditional girl activities, but if she wants those, she can have them as well. I know I was always given trucks and GI Joes and 'boy' color clothes etc. I've been 'spoken' to by my female relations about buying girl appropriate colors when I pick out blues and browns - hey they sell em in the girl section though I did buy a cute onesy from the boys section last week - and I told them, she isn't going to be limited to 'girl' colors. So given how I think about things, and I don't think I'm all that special or gifted in this area - I'd say things would be very different for me.

To add to what Matt said, Paterno wasn't just interested in winning for winning's sake. He never earned a million dollar salary, in an age where other coaches who never achieved much were getting multimillion dollar contracts. He was the winningest coach in major college football and could easily have left for more money or threatened to leave if he didn't get more money. He didn't do either. In addition, he and his wife donated millions to the school for things like the Library. The only building I'm aware of named after him is a Library. He also made sure his players graduated. Penn State football had the highest graduation rate in Major College Football ahead of #2 Standford. He would bench players for skipping classes and had teachers let him know when it happened. So in an age when winning was the yard stick coaches were measured by, he chose to be measured by his players getting an education. It didn't hurt that he won more games than any other coach, so it proved you could do both if you were committed to education and not just winning football games.

Jeez Mark, you bucking for King of Cliff - 2012 already???? Roberts - gone; Gaitling - gone, who'll be left for Granger to get his randy moods on, Lllewellyn had better get ready cause he's going to end up constantly being nin the wrong and have the captain personally administer his punishment. If I recall my history correct - St. Vincent was a minor victory blown into more based on England's need for a victory - any victory and it gets Jervis - not Nelson who was most to 'blame' for the victory - a 'promotion' to Earl. Guess this is where and how Nelson earns Jervis his peerage.

I have to thank Anyta - my beta reader - for suggesting the end be from Jason's perspective. This was really an extension- not a sequel, more like a companion to Sec. Shot and it tied up the one glaring loose end - so it made sense that to wrap up everything, it should return to his perspective to end - end it - for now Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it. Andy

Stew Thanks for reading and the review. Yeah, I'm something of a romantic too - not sure I could have let them break up as part of the story. maybe they'll make it forever, maybe not. We all know that first loves work sometimes and don't others. " Thanks for letting me know you enjoyed it, and yeah The Trial is kinda L & O., though I think this is a bit more true to life than the TV show - not that I'm biased mind you. Andy

As one who travels between Charlotte and DC often - going there today as a matter of fact - it's a $180 round trip airfare to BWI [baltimore] or about a 6.5 hour drive. Never done the bus thing, nor the train, but I'm sure they are both longer. Hopefully you make it. Maybe hitch a ride with Momma Rush - she loves all her GA children.

Count me in the no category. Clean Shaven Man

Welcome - Karl/Roan - be care of Bee - she takes care of horses - if you give that descriptions she just might try to stuff oats down your throat. J/K - kinda, sorta, not really. But welcome still You mean you're not sure what to say hello? Well Hello back either way. welcome and enjoy. Joe - welcome. Talonrider explain what warn status means, but only you can tell us if you were bad. [well you and Santa Claus I suppose. ] Andy

Nephy - you're probably right, and I planned to enjoy every stage - well not tweenage when she starts squealing for the twinkie little boy band members she has to meet or she'll die. YB - It's called Family Medical Leave [FML for short ] and I got and took 16 paid weeks. Lugh: Both - it's call School, but it's a day care until they're 5 when they have an optional kindergarden. Lil' Q may go to that because her birthday falls outside the cut off for Kindergarden, so if we let her go there, she can go right into 1st grade on schedule - if we want or she can go to the Public School Kindergarden instead.

Who said anything about growing up?? I said it's his last year before getting old. YOU might not be old, but you're not a gay man - trust me in gay years, this is it for him.

Happy birthday dear, enjoy your day, but don't expect to be allowed to keep the crown, the would be pretenders do not respect birthdays.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY RILEY!!! In this your last year before you turn old - may your hands stay safe and circumstances be properly sized . Yeah - boo me, totally lame, but it's way early and the kid kept me up.

Oh Mark, you had to go there didn't you? You had to let poor Mr. Llewellyn fall prey to his naughty, randy Captain? Pretty 'neat' how you had Granger split the fleet so that the numbers were now on the side of Jervis. I mean Dons to the left of me [14] Dons to the right of me [13] and into the valley of death sailed the 15 ships of the line meaning it was 15 to 14/13. Is that really how it happened?

So Qildor fell for Magath, surely no coincidence. There's too much at stake for that. Magath seems more than he is, but what is the more? Tricky you for leaving so many balls in the air

Okay so I'm not sure what to make of Qildor. I assume he's our 'hero' protagonist, but thus far he's not the most likable character. Seem arrogant and self centered. Then you call this The Legend of Khaalindaan but Qildor is Aglanthol and thus an enemy of Khaalindaan. Well we know that Qildor has the hots for the 'peasant' but will the taciturn villager have a thing for a court dandy, hmm. Sorry if my reviews are bit less review and more irreverent commentary. if that upsets you, tell me and I'll stop.

Once upon a time you and I talked about how much I love your short stories. You said something about how hard you found it to write full length ones. Well now I see you've jumped in with both feet. Great start, looking forward to reading this now. Andy

Bob - thanks I know exactly what you mean. It has gone by SO fast already. I already know I'm going to hate not being here when she gets home from school - like Mike will be. But as you say, I'll have to work to create my own things for us. Cia - I don't need a cliche to tell me how fast it all goes by. The last 16 weeks went faster than any other time I can remember. It seemed forever waiting for her, but since then it has been a blur. I'll see how it goes when I go back to work and have less time with her each day. Dave - I'm rather jealous of Mike because even when he 'goes' back to work, he works at home. He'll get to see so much more of her life than I will. Yes, I know I can make my time count, but I won't be there when she comes home each day excited to tell her daddy something - it will always be him who gets that first excited telling. But it's what happens to most families so I can't be too upset. Just jealous. Anyta - The toddlers at the pre-school were by far the cutest. They were so friendly and happy and curious. The older they got the less interactive with us they seemed. So yeah, I'm guessing that will be the fun age too.

Good idea introducing yourself. If I can make a small suggestion, if you've read a ton, go review a ton as well. Nothing makes other authors take a peek at your work faster than letting them know you read theirs - it also makes people who read a lot see your contributing and they will at a minimum take a look at your work. Other than that - good writing and look forward to reading it. Andy

I was reminded by a certain someone that I hadn't updated this lately. True, the holidays were a real pisser, then with mom getting cancer and the unexpected trip to North Carolina so Grandma could see baby to 'cheer her up' it's been a bit. Sadly I go back to work in 5 days. Can't believe my time off is all gone. It's been worth it for sure, but it was a lot more work than I figured. [i know all you parents out there are laughing at me wondering WTF I thought it would be like. - Shaddup!] The worst part of going back is something I sort of knew at the start - she is just starting to do things like smile at me, laugh, point to things she wants, etc. In short she's got her own personality now, just in time for me to go back to work. Mike is taking the next two months off, then we get the nanny. We visited a daycare/preschool yesterday. The kids were SO cute. I had baby q over my shoulder and talking to the 'toddler' class. Well more like I was saying hi and stuff. When I held out my hand to one of them, he high fived me and that set off the mad rush. All the kids had to follow suit. SO cute. I hope lil Q is that happy in day care. The staff was real nice and the kids all seemed happy so that was good. God, I can't believe we're already thinking about day care - I mean cripes, we just got her. And it wasn't that long ago we were talking about getting her. Sigh, I wasn't prepared for this. The more I speak to people with kids, the more I realize how lucky we are with her. Funny how at times I don't feel lucky, but hearing other peoples stories, we have it so good. She is really a happy baby, rarely cries, unless hungry and we're getting better at anticipating that. She laughs a lot, sleeps well - really well. We put her down at about 10:30 and she gets up at 6:30 a.m. Has since she was about 8 weeks. So we're lucky. Of course then there are mornings like today where we're sitting in our rocker, settling down after eating and she decides it would be fun to see how far she can project her spit up. The answer is pretty far especially on my jeans. Okay so I'll post a few pictures once I'm done with this then I have to do baby laundry. Look for them if you haven't seen them already.

If we go with June Weekend of June 9 &10 or June 16 &17 or June 23 & 24. I'd prefer June too, BUT if it's may avoid the weekend of May 12 & 13 - Mother's day Memorial day might be a good weekend as a lot of locals bolt for the beach so it might be rather empty which would help with room rates. That would be a compromise between may and June. Unless anyone else has another suggestion, why don't we add a poll and let folks votes, most votes wins - Oh Dan and Trebs - If you venture up this way after going to Charlotte, where I'm going next weekend for the parent's 50th wedding anniversary - let us know and we'll meet you for dinner - just be prepared to deal with a 11 month old. Andy

Since you asked for any and all reviews - even the bad ones - oh wait, that wasn't meant for you Being serious for a moment - nice start - ambitious to say the least, world building already is, but I think you did a good job of giving details with out getting bogged down. Don't lose that touch in the rest of the book. My only gripe, if you call it that, is the spirits. I thought it a bit odd that the spirits - who are tens of thousands of years old evidently if they lived 100 millennium - would speak the way they did, it seemed a bit causal. BUT that said, these are your spirits and so long as you keep them consistent, that's all good. I wouldn't suggest you change it, just a stray thought that popped in my head as I was trying to read with the baby squeezing various parts of my face and neck. Andy