samjones1

What a nice chapter! It was great to get a glimpse into Darius and his inner workings. Being the only gay person in my rather large family, I absolutely understand where he's coming from. I can't talk to my siblings about anything more than cursory details of my love life, whereas they feel obliged to share every gory detail with me. It's frustrating to feel that you don't even have the option to talk about it your "life" if you want to. I don't always want to, but I'd wouldn't mind having the option. Frankly, I didn't even realize how much it bothered me until I read about it in this chapter and found myself getting irritated on Darius' behalf. I feel like you captured that sentiment perfectly! All in all, it was nice to see these folks beginning their journey toward healing. Don't get me wrong, I still cried a little...but I'm sentimental.

As some others have said, I feel like this chapter was easier to read than the last few. Watching Wade try to cope with the loss was difficult, but I have no doubt that he will emerge stronger than ever. I can't wait to see how he fries his mother's butt this time over the Goodwell claims! Watching Brad reconnect, or starting to reconnect, with his sons is extremely gratifying. I get the sense that everyone truly is going to come out of this stronger even without their missing family members. Their memories won't be forgotten and the survivors are going to be more grateful for their lives as a result. I think like that's how all of us felt after 9/11, IMHO.

Another great chapter. Just a short note I wanted to put here for consideration. How about the moment between JP and Wade. I recognize that they are kindred spirits and that they understand each other deeply. Watching JP almost crumble while taking to him over the phone, however, was surprising and crushing. Anytime a person answers the question "Are you alright?" with "No", I feel surprised. We are almost conditioned to respond in the affirmative to the question despite our real condition. I worry for JP sometimes because he is such a bulwark for the family. Even for Stef, his partner, JP serves as an emotional foil for Stef's sometimes wildly changing emotional state. It is heartening to see that JP has someone he can seek comfort from in a non-romantic way. A confidant. These small exchanges make the entire book come alive in the page...err, screen. :-D

I had completely forgotten about Ella...I'm glad that she came out Ok, at least marginally. Seeing how brave Darius is being is very, to use your phrase from the chapter, compelling. I realize that I don't know a lot about him since he's so guarded; if his family doesn't know his business, why would we, right? I think, however, we will get to know him a lot better...his being thrust into adulthood would seem to be a ripe area for family conflict. I'm fascinated at the shift in dynamic between Will and Brad. Suddenly, Brad is taking the time to express his needs, even if only using facial expressions and short phrases. Will is responding to that vulnerability with understanding and consideration, it seems. Brad, in term, shows something I don't see in him very much: gratitude. Maybe I'm completely misreading that short exchange, but it seems like it's the basis for a potentially solid new foundation to their relations IMHO. You're pushing all these chapters out while the term is starting for you. That's really very brave and selfless of you. I know how tough the new term can be. Not only are you getting these chaptes out quickly, but they are masterfully composed. Each chapter has nuance and small details that could be easily overlooked, requiring us all to be engaged constantly. Though it's a sad turn for the deceased people (I stopped crying, thankfully), reading about their recovery is going to be fascinating. You get the emotional reactions to your writing that are the stuff of authors' dreams. Our expressions of grief are genuine because you have forced us to feel real grief for the day, the loss, and the characters. Whether your readers are whining or crying or laughing at the orgasmic demise of Senator D, they do it out of appreciation for you, the world you have constructed in these chapters, and the real attachment they have to both. I don't care what anyone says, though: these last few books have been masterfully written and the trend is clearly positive. Keep 'em coming!

No real comment today...just tears of sadness. Yeah...that's all I'm going to say. I am crying.

I was a junior in college and it was our first full week of classes. I had a 10:00 class so I was watching the Today Show and ironing my clothes so I could prepare to drive to campus. My brother, who was usually gone by 7:45, came out to the kitchen where I was and we talked a little until the news flipped over to coverage of the first plane hitting. It was confusing, since it was a big plane hitting a big building head on. I kept saying "that couldn't have been an accident..." Then the second plane hit while we watched the news coverage, and of course we knew that it wasn't an accident at all. I remember the chaos of the day. I'm from Rhode Island, so we aren't far from Boston. I had a summer job at a law firm in the Financial District, I'm fact. There was concern, at least locally, that Boston was going to be next...maybe One Financial Center or the Prudential Building. People were frantically trying to leave Boston or find a telephone to contact their loved ones. At school, all of our classes were funneled to a black box theatre in the building so we could just talk and be together. We watched hours of news that day. Our professors were even more rattled. Some of us had been out to NYC two weeks prior for a concert...it seemed surreal. One professor had a husband in Boston that it took her all day to reach because of switchboard issues routing through their NYC headquarters. Another had a son 10(ish) blocks from Ground Zero on Canal St. I was worried about my brother because he had informed us all that, even though he was being discharged from the Reserve, he hasn't received his paperwork yet and they might be able to revoke his discharge and send him off. Waiting for those papers was a pretty tough week, but thankfully he finally got them.

I thought I had prepared myself to read this segment of the story. I was mistaken. My discomfort, like that of many other readers, stems in part from the unpleasant memories of the day that the writing brings to the surface. Being from the Boston area, I vividly remember how Boston got locked down because two of the planes departed from Logan Airport. My brother, who worked in the Financial District in Boston, missed his usual 8:00 AM train and ended up missing the entire day of chaos in the city. Waiting for his final discharge papers from the Naval Reserve which were due the week of 9/11 was the longest week of my life...we had visions of him being sent to Iraq. This chapter makes it all feel so recent...it's cathartic, but disturbing. Of course, I also have a vested interest in the lives of these fictional characters. They are so real to me that I gasped when Stef slipped and cried out when Jeanine refused to go with the rest of the family away from the rehearsal. I've read these stories multiple times each and the thought of some of my favorite "people" disappearing forever is...well, also disturbing. It takes a great deal of bravery to allow some of your characters to perish, however, so I applaud your artistic integrity and fine writing. I'll be on tenterhooks waiting to see what happens. Thanks, as always, for your hard work!

The business school!?!?! I literally just emitted a squeal of joy! I am, like everyone else, on tenterhooks waiting to see how the rest of this story plays out. You've set a brilliant stage and now it just remains to see what you've come up with as a resolution. I'm sure it's going to be, at the very least, thought-provoking and interesting!

This chapter (and most of your work, if I stop to really think about it) reminds me a bit of Mozart. You take a theme, such as the morning jitters before school, and you work it in a variety of ways so that the reader is constantly left wondering what is coming next. I half expected some sort of physical attack based on an expectation of escalating hostility. I must also thank you for the catharsis which has already come from reading this tale. I expect it to continue, just given my reaction to the writing. Your introduction to the 9/11 plot here actually inspired me to do some reading about the day. I haven't ever done that, to be honest. I can remember the day very clearly, as everyone probably can. It was very helpful to have some external focus with which to approach reading about the day without the usual overwrought emotions I would bring to such a tragic event. Thinking about the Crampton/Schluter clan helps me get away from myself a bit and think about what happened and my feelings about it and the aftermath. I bet many other readers feel the same way. Thank you for tackling it on our behalf!

Wow...that's stunning! I mean, I figured that Ferris was tied up in this. Intentionally trying to pass the HPV to Will, though? WTH!?!?!? This is going to blow up pretty spectacularly and soon. Excellent chapter, Mark!

I always pictured Tyne Daly as Tonto...during her Judging Amy years. I'm not nes my computer so I can't post the picture, but here is a link: http://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/tyne-daly/177757

Thank you, Centex, for reminding me about Calvert. I had completely forgotten that he was out there because I was so focused on the drama. Thinking there might be a way out for Humphries has improved my day! Two other comments for Mark: 1. I love how you open the chapter with some internal musings from Humphries that lull us into a false sense of calmness. The action that follows is that much more gripping because of those opening paragraphs. Despite what may have seemed like griping in my review, I love both this chapter and the story overall! 2. Upon edit, I see that you already addressed the Humphries punishments that several other people have mentioned. I agree with you that it's unlikely Humphries would be punished for losing teh ship. After all, Granger was in a similar spot when dawn broke within range of the shore batteries back before he got the Bacchante. Since you're the author, I feel good about agreeing with your conclusions! :-D Also, please note the new signature...your reply to my review made my day even more than figuring out Calvert my come to the rescue!

All I could hear in the back of my head while reading the middle of this chapter was "Iceberg right ahead!!!" Poor Granger is going to be so sad when he learns about what happened. Meanwhile, I'm not sure what to think about Sir Tobias. I'm happy he's gone, of course...don't get me wrong. Even though this chapter was jam packed with action, however, it feels somehow anti-climactic to have him get off so easily. Yeah, I know being brutally murdered by angry natives isn't the textbook definition of "getting off easy". Having seen how others have suffered in these stories, however, it does seem a bit pat. Insanity, disgrace, and exile...all those seem much more awful, at least in an 18th-century context, than just being skinned alive. Take it as a compliment to your continued creativity and imagination that I find murder to be a bit beneath you. :-D

Oh man...of course you'd put him on the Leander. Of course!! For the record, I'm calling cliffhanger on this chapter! I know it's not like we left in the middle of the action, but saying he's going to be in the Leander and then not having them actually get on the boat constitutes a cliffhanger to me. Nicely done, putting in a cliffie and avoiding blame for it. ;-)

I think you are overstating the case a little bit in proclaimint certain readers and reviewers to be suffering from delusions and rage. Is there some anti-female sentiment around here? Probably. It is, after all, a site about gay people and relationships. It's not hard to imagine that's some subset of readers have had negative interactions with women - straight dating can be fraught for young closeted gay men, after all, and anyone might grow a certain distaste for women when their parents are constantly encouraging them to "find a wife" when all they want is another man. I'm not sure that rises to the level of delusion, even if that type of bias underlies some of the comments on those fora. On the other hand, I feel like there is a real case to be made for Isidore being not all she's cracked up to be. When we meet her, we know that she was a fairly simple girl from France who was seeking to protect her child. I really enjoyed her character in that time period since she showed a caring and loving side. During the Be-Rad years, the only real sense of parenting we for was her spurning Brad. We don't see the intervening years, of course, but what real parenting we see (I.e. not much) is done by JP. Isidore, by contrast, is portrayed as being more focused on work and society. Both JP and Isidore have demanding jobs, yet only one seems to parent? We hear about her Junior League activities, for example, but don't get any sense that she's involved in her kids lives in a meaningful way. We know that she has shown a fairly new love for babies. I've always taken that as her trying to make up for some of the lost parenting years. Most recently, she has revealed herself to be a snob. Not only is she a snob, but her only daughter has emulated her example to become a snob just like her. I would say Isidore brought her up that way, but I don't think it was that deliberate because, again, I'm not seeing Isidore as a real parent. What I am seeing here is a downward trajectory in Isidore's personality where she has gone from being a pragmatic young women to a snob. We've also seen a downward trajectory in her parenting where she has gone from a doting mother to one who openly plays favorites with her daughter while mistreating her adopted son and his child. Has she done great things for JP? Absolutely? Does this change her personality or parenting skills? Absolutely not. Personally, any feeling I have toward Isidore is related to her snobbery and poor parenting rather than her gender. I know fathers who I could attribute all those things I mentioned to about whom I feel similarly. PS: I typed this on my iPhone...please excuse any typos I might have missed.

So...having just read Mark's replies to the reviews from the most recent chapter, I am 400% more concerned about this divorce announcement. He basically ignored all attempts to draw him out...which makes me think he has chapter upon chapter of upheaval to throw at us. Am I reading too much into this? I'd be interested in communal opinion on this!

I think Kitt has the right idea below in remarking on where JJ might have learned his bitchcraft...it's from Brad. If you look back over the entirety of Brad's behavior, and Will's description of him as Machiavellian, it becomes pretty clear that Brad is the master manipulation. I wish I could reconcile that level of manipulativeness with his apparent lack of awareness at how that manipulation affects his targets emotionally. I am surprised I hadn't considered JJ learned it from Brad before (Aside: That sounds like the old anti-smoking commercials with the kid telling the dad "I learned it from you!!!"). Am I the only one who views this Will's reaction as an improvement of sorts? No destructive binge, no extreme shouting or insulting (note the word extreme...he couldn't get away without a little button pushing). Instead, he backs away and keeps those who could be the target of his rage at arms length. Isidore...well, that has me a bit gobsmacked. I figured that if she hadn't left her she wasn't going to. Trust you to wait until I'm not looking to plunge the knife in, Arbour. I only want to know what Frank has to say about all this. I can only hope that he doesn't know and refuses to marry her out of loyalty to JP. Either way, she can take a long walk off a short pier...anyone who thinks of her as some sort of paragon is sorely mistaken.

It's easy to forget just how young Granger is in these stories...he's only in his early 20's at this point, if my math works out right. Wouldn't most guys jump on whoever (or whatever) is available at that age?

Holy Crapballs...Travers Sr.?!??!?!?! I just felt my soul leave my body, only to return after two shots of tequila and other sundry ribaldry. Such is my shock!

Gah...so much better than what I thought was coming! It totally jives with both the chip on Kai's shoulder and the maturity that he shows in other non-home areas. I'm so glad that you didn't "play" the Dad as some sort of uni-dimensional vegetable as so often happens in these stories. It's a tribute to your skill and hard work that I can feel the love in the house without it having been written about explicitly. Nicely done!

Since I already left a review for chapter 22, I am going to use my review for this chapter to make a guess as to what Kai is doing on his off hours. Kai is 17 and he's a surfer in Hawaii. We alao know that he has a temper and is gay. Is it possible that he is a dropout and is attending night school? Monday through Thirsday, 6-11, are the exact night school hours for my local program. It makes sense he'd have some embarrassment about it because he's such a proud fellow and because of Will's status. That's my official vote and I'm looking forward to chapter 23!

I agree with the review below from Canuk. The chronology is pretty close for the Battle of the Nile, so hopefully we'll get to see another of your masterful battle scenes play out. Extra points if you can work in the word "lubberly"!!

Twelve?!?!?! I think I just blushed a little bit. I never took the time to count up the variety of partners he has had, but I'm so sad to find that a teenager (albeit a fictional one) has me beat by almost a handful of partners. I need to get out more! It's always great to see your new chapter notices, especially since I'm usually up when you post! I really enjoy these character development chapters as I feel like I learn not only the new stuff, but I also get to reexamine the old stuff in light of new information. Great work, Mark! Thanks for keeping up your schedule when you should be on vacation or off enjoying your summer research time. :-D

Waaaahhhh...Calvert's giving up his heart to Gatling?!? I don't like it one bit. I know he's a little tedious, but something about Calvert has always made me enjoy his relationship with George. Let's hope the answer to that emotional cliffhanger is "No, George still wins". I do, however, enjoy Governor Somers (nice ring to it, right?) and his scheming ways. I also love the story as it's unfolding, as usual. I can't wait to see how all this works out over the next few chapters! Nice work as usual, Mark.