ColumbusGuy

I'm with Geron and the others in pleading for a sequel to the sequel--I mean if Hollywood hacks can do it with worthless plots, surely a talented artist with the Queen's English can do it with a truly zany idea! Gotta wonder if George's predicament would apply just to this story or others he might concoct....

Yep, gonna be a messy day tomorrow...queens aren't known for being at their best during mating flights, so let's hope the dragons' natural instincts keep things a bit more separated when the time comes. I feel sorry for M'rell because he's truly in need of consolation, but also stuck in the middle of an ongoing struggle between D'gar and S'brin over what their bond truly means. I like the young bronze rider...hope he doesn't get injured before he's reached his full potential....

I love the details they are discovering in Jmames' cottage! My house had a great wood and tile mantel which had had a 40s gas insert put in rather than the original gas logs, so I took that out and found a new set small enough to use, but had to find a replacement for the cast iron pieces that originally covered the rectangular opening. I got lucky and found them in an antique shop and the three pieces fit just right. The lower two are horizontal about ten inches high with vertical spindles, while the top piece is a square with a pierced decorative pattern .... I had to refinish them to match the remaining original iron surround, but that worked out fine and it all looks original now. I really hope Craig screws up his courage and makes the move quickly to live the life of a country gentleman.

Well, the old adage 'Nice guys finish last' seems as true on Pern as in our own world. Truly, I find no fault with M'rell as he needed someone to support him, and unfortunately that had to be S'brin rather than someone more stable. Will D'gar now wish to alter the new status of his and J'rud's relationship?

Mawgrim, this was an amazingly spooky tale! I'd like to think that, despite my love of old houses, I'd have run from that one like my tail was on fire. Stories like this are so much better than what passes for horror these days which universally depend on violence and gore to shock their audiences. Perhaps that's why monster movies never really scared me as a teen, though I might go from light to light on my way to bed after watching one in case something jumped out at me... Pop in a ghost or some aspect of the supernatural and I'd hide my eyes at the scary bits; I think the worst scene I can recall was in the old movie 13 Ghosts where the canopy bed's top came down and smothered the occupants--it took me more than one tv showing to finish watching that movie!

Just found this while checking Threadfall's page, and the similarity to Fellow Travellers title had me look in. I'm glad you've continued their story!

Thanks Mawgrim for the reminder of the timeline; as said above, for some of us it's been a long time since we read Dragonflight...for me, it was 10th grade in 74/75, and I read them all religiously in order as the later ones came out. It's amazing what your tales bring back to mind after almost 50 years! I'm not sure how many books Todd wrote as I gave up after he seemed to be deviating too far from the feel and plotting of the series, so I may have missed two or three final ones without seeing a list. Got through the Landing colony, visiting the ships and F'nor's trip to the Red Star, and some stories on the Southern Continent. and even reading how the dragons were developed.... I will miss S'brin when the end of his flight nears, but perhaps he might later settle in with J'rud? Not sure if we had a hint of that possibility or not--I know when I lost my partner back in '07, I decided not to seek another since my age would have made it difficult to find another even without the limitations of transport my vision made necessary. Hoping for more great adventures to come!

Man, you had me sweating bullets with Wayne's disappearance! I'm so glad he came back with a renewed sense of himself and his future being made a part of Ethan's exposure to the lands of the Comanche which means so much to our hero. It makes perfect sense that their first 'joining' should be in a place totally accepting of their bonding and is a first step in both of them becoming more aware of Wayne's culture which had mostly been denied him in that hellish Texas town. I can imagine the two of them later on in life perhaps settling down somewhere and becoming part of a Native community....

The school board doesn't surprise me at all, self-serving political wanna-bes. Here's a link to a song about it from when I was a teen--highly relevant though it's a bit countryish:

You packed so much into this one that it amazes me. The list of words seemed quite difficult to me, yet you managed it perfectly. I was reminded of my own fondness for typewriters reading this--one I had was a portable Remington from the fifties I think, and the other was an LC Smith Prothers Nr. 3 possibly from 1908(?) I used for a while to type homework papers on in high school before getting an electric model in college. I still have the Smith, though the Remington disappeared in a move somehow. I need to check the Prompts more often so I might get in touch with my Muse again...I keep getting ideas for my chapters, but somehow they don't make it to the doc template when I sit down to read. I'd like to see more of this guy too, my dear Ivor!

Actually, now that I think about it, I had an 8mm film camera that took small cartridges I had to take to a shop to be developed like a Photomat. I could then show the film on my projector and screen. I still have both, though I can't remember the brands--Kodak maybe since that's what the film cartridges were? It also had a big light that looked like a small automobile headlight that was blinding but vital for indoor filming and generated tons of heat! I still have a couple reels about ten minutes long I shot in color, and some sci-fi films I got that had highlights of the big releases like First Spaceship On Venus.

Hmm, my soapbox seems to be empty, so too weak to stand on for a long oration.... Okay, if it's 80s, then a film camera is most likely as videotape ones were bulky and expensive, so Jackson will need a place to have the film processed unless he can do it himself or has a trusted friend to do it since the content verges on pornographic. Thank goodness there's no internet around to post to! Without a copy of the film, just having the camera itself will prove nothing as it could be justified as being for home movies and was illegally obtained from his office.... I wonder if Wayne's father knows his son's sexuality? His grandmother seems to, and it isn't a problem for several native cultures.

This was another amazing adventure with our beloved boys! Horace finally got a taste of off-planet drama, and we met some new friends as well as old ones. I loved finally learning who the creators of Engris were, and the Madracorn are a great addition to this universe. Eseffa and Jorli are wonderful characters, and the only sad part is that they can't go with the group on other journeys. The poor Moth just can't seem to understand that they really ought to amend their ways, but at least the Cooee is safe from their roving arrogance. I have to grin and admit that my greatest laugh came in the market on Engris when Rick appeared in his 'invisibility' suit! I'm fondly reminded of my late Siamese Genghis who loved to hide in my bath tub behind the shower curtain, convinced he couldn't be seen even though his tail stuck out at the bottom... :) I hope Durapar and Sefton enjoy our little fireworks display, and I hope to see our other friends sometime in the future--maybe Mike is in Oz for his own vacation?

I can somewhat excuse R'mart's inaction due to being inexperienced as a weyrleader and having had one who was so out of touch with reality as an example, but Bedella's grief as an excuse? I'm not buying that one as a bit less than a very small part of the truth. She clearly has a personality that will brook no opposition to her wishes, or even believe that any opinion other than hers is of any consequence whatsoever. She lives for the power her position has given to her in an otherwise limited society for women. Reason and logic exists in her world only if it supports her own desires, and I wouldn't doubt that it was her attitude that kept the point system going so long after it wasn't needed as she likely ran her late husband's life with an iron hand. I hope the status at Telgar will be reported back to the other weyrs once this group goes home, and that any future riders seconded be delayed or denied unless assurances are made that changes have been made. At least we now know why visits to other weyrs was forbidden.

Much as I'd like to believe going to the School Board and Principal would do some good, we are forgetting two things: first, the Principal is an acknowledged non-entity who has abandoned any role in the running of the school, and second, without some serious threats like a lawsuit, the Board will uphold the policy and excuse the infractions as 'misinterpretations' or 'simple errors' that will be corrected. The culture of the town and the history we have seen almost guarantee no serious actions beyond a dsciplinary note in the files without more drastic measures on the behalf of the boys' families. Sorry guys, but this is small town rural life in the 80s, not some big city love-fest. :)

Seems to me I recall an ancient phrase 'Evil will out'...schools are not known for maturity among the denizens, and adults don't always exemplify the better natures we often expect of them. All it takes is one or two precedents, and the semblance of justice vanishes like fog in the heat of day. Given that most schools depend on sports for fund raising, it's a common practice to let infractions by athletes slip by unless they are too extreme to sweep under the rug. We can't blame all athletes for this going on, but there are always those who will abuse their 'status' for their own purposes, and it becomes easier the more this practice goes on without repercussions.In today's schools in the US, such things have become more covert as 'cyber bullying' and it's now acceptable to 'shun' someone if they don't hold the common beliefs of their peers. For teens the big offences used to be drinking, smoking or overt making out, but now all those are acceptable while disagreeing with anything but Liberal views can lead to ostracism and even job loss for adults. This weekend, we celebrate 245th anniversary of our Declaration of Independence, and it has never looked to be more in danger of disappearing than now thanks to a silent media and the indoctrination of our young people from their earliest school days to despise unity, a colorless society and the right to think for oneself. Our media is touting the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party's Revolution, and decrying anything patriotic from our own history....

You can't expect our current pc lovey-dovey attitudes to be the norm in all areas even today, and I must say here that we have gone too far away from holding people responsible for their own actions today. It's always 'society's' fault if someone hurts another person or breaks a fundamental law that is supposed to protect all of us, and in many places now even violent criminals are set free on one pretext or another. When did the concept of law and order become a suggestion rather than a vital part of holding communities together? I find it sad that so many supposedly intelligent people swallow the agendas of progressives and extremist groups without even questioning the logic behind these movements. I was lucky to grow up in a school environment where we learned to actually think rather than just parrot an ideology fed to us by instructors at all levels. I'll always be eternally grateful to my 1st grade teacher I had after failing the first time because she paid attention to my vision problems and worked with me so I learned to love reading and finding out new facts ever since. She was a second year teacher I think, because she is about only twenty years older than I am today. Back to the original point: you cannot judge the past by today's standards--even today, my high school district's student handbook has no mention of sexual orientation in any categories to be protected--hes, ethnicity, religion and race are there, and have been since I attended in the 70s, but nothing about gays, let alone any other category of the alphabet soup that now divides the gay community into competing factions rather than unite all of us. Swimming team? Not for me--deathly afraid of deep water after falling into a pool as an infant, though I used to go boating with my family as a teen and even went on my senior class canoe trip wearing a life jacket of course. :)

I hate to say this, but unless the seconded riders do more than complain, nothing will change. Having them all go back to their home weyrs until changes occur is the only viable solution. Talk implies a pseudo democratic system, and it's obvious Telgar is nothing of the sort.

I really want to see Jackson and Reynolds get their just desserts...come on, Ivor, don't let us down! As in days past, the Native Peoples get almost no attention from our so-called Progressive Liberals on the Left, deciding their concerns aren't as vital as those who think they are a gender different from that of their own body. Many indigenous people live in extreme poverty and nothing is done as they are confined to reservations supposedly under federal protection and their own loaws--so long as they don't discover something valuable on those lands when the majority can step in and gain control over those resources using obscure provisions in unfair laws. Our liberals are far more concerned that a male who decides to become female is allowed to compete in female sporting competitions where their bodies give them an advantage which they couldn't have against better male athletes...and it is now policy to allow puberty blocking drugs to kids 12 and under so they won't develop breasts or signs of male physiques depending on what they think their chosen gender is. We won't allow children that young to drink, vote or do drugs, yet a doctor can cater to a vague whim to become the other sex before they even fully mature into an adult capacity to understand the world around them. One state has now banned the procedure until adulthood, and even the original hospitals in Sweden that used to do this procedure now has banned it as harmful to children. Sorry for the rant, but it shows how misguided our concerns are when truly important matters such as the continuing plight of Native Americans is virtually ignored for more esoteric matters that affect at most a few thousand people who can handle their problems on their own but get government action better used for other causes. Glad to see Ethan and Wayne becoming closer with more friends, and I hope things work out for them in the end--no pun intended. :)

More is definitely needed my dear Ivor! Rather than add to this, which might be simpler, how about a new story titled 'Whispered Conversations'? I was surprised about the 'no jewellery' clause in the manual...that wasn't in mine even back in the 70s. If Wayne picks something relevant to his heritage, perhaps that could be a legitimate challenge to the rules? Either way...get writing!

Interesting how Telgar names it's wings; I'm a bit surprised that the name Campbell has survived after almost 2,000 years since Landing while personal names have altered so much....

I don't know about the status of corporal punishment other than it was in use in elementary school in my small town in the 60s, and even into middle school in the early 70s. When I entered 9th grade, we had a new principal, and I was the first one to see him, which was a rarity as I never really got into trouble. Some dick had knocked my books from my hands before the first bell, so I pushed him, and heard a teacher shout 'Okay, you who got pushed, and the one who did it--report to the Office now!' Having not been seen by the teacher, I nevertheless knew someone would tell, so I 'fessed up and went. We got a lecture, and since it was our first day and his too, the principal let us go, but said he didn't want to see either of us again. :) If I recall properly, the Navajo Windtalkers were a huge asset since our encryption machines were a risky factor as they could be cracked as we'd done to the Japanese ones early in the war, and with the German Enigma machines too via Bletchley Park. Navajo had limited speakers, and as far as I know had not been a written language unlike Cherokee since the late 1800s. Hmm...not too surprised to see a little 'spanky' going on. :)

I'm really hoping this is going to be a long story with an intro chapter as good as this one is! I come from Ohio which is a mix of Northern and Southern dialects historically, so they tend to even out, and all I can say is that in some parts of the South I've visited as a teen, it was hard to understand some of them with little warning. And dare I mention grits? My first encounter with those was in a diner somewhere in Georgia one breakfast..."what the heck are these things?' was my first words on seeing them. My mom laughed saying they were good, coming from Kentucky like she did. Let me say, I don't care how many ways you can fix them--they were disgusting and I never tried them again. Same thing went for cornmeal mush my father made once. I far preferred his potato cakes his mother taught him to make...only ones I've had that came close were in a German restaurant here called Schmidts. I am curious to know how Marion Morrison fits in here...it was hilarious if you know who he was in later life!

Love the saying, Tim! I have to admit this couldn't have happened to a nicer guy... :) Could it be that J'rud has found the only likeable Benden transfer?

I hope S'brin grasps his weyrmate's point of view before too long...I think he does love D'gar a lot, but just has trouble expressing it the right way without letting others interfere. If he waits too long to understand, then the risk of losing D'gar grows greater, but maturity comes at its own pace for everyone. Ground Duty would be the most frightening I'd think, with the lessened agility of being afoot and the delay of getting between. I'd prefer forest duty to open fields as the burrows would be deeper with a bit more reaction time available....