Topher Lydon

Oh man, you'd not be the first.

Who?

Thank you all. The people who inspired this. Wil, Marty, Allison, Marc-Andre and so many others. It was started and written over a course of three years, it started on a desk in a call center at the lowest point in my life. I think, honestly, those books saved my life. So much of my raw pain is in those pages, and it was healing to write them. I couldn't have written it without the real world people supporting me, stepping in and caring for me like those characters in the book. I've struggled since those books, health and other life reasons. I earned my Professor-title, taught students, been in some of the weirdest, most insane places in the world. I worked for a time for the UN, I've slept in mud huts, and in luxury hotels. Eaten with a king, talked all night with broken souls, and shared bread with whoever needed it. I've raised my own adopted son, Jacob, and am proud of him beyond my wildest imaginings. Been in love and been loved by giants of souls. Made mistakes, cried, fought, lost, and always, ALWAYS got back up again and gave as good as I got. Thank you Prof. Christopher Patrick Lydon. (A scruffy Brit who wears glasses and drinks too much coffee)

Well... you know what I meant. (and I didn't actually know that, so... grrr you for pointing out something I missed)

Canada House, I've been in it.

I am discovering that Blake has a taste for Baptist boys

Official Secrets Act, if Andrew violates it, even for Will, he'd be done and removed from the one place he needs to be. Until he's given permission, he can't break his oath. And given that Will is directly threatened by all this, Andrew has no choice. I wrestled with this very question at the time of writing, I think he made the right call.

Thank you... I've been putting in some work behind the scenes. A rather long weekend of editing on one of the books of the series to finally get it into shape. Minor edits for continuity on other books. The GA site has the most up-to-date versions of these books currently. Thanks I am just re-reading these books myself. I forgot these characters, but they are very raw parts of my personality. So don't judge them too harshly.

I swear *that* is the Mandella Effect at work.

He said it in this chapter. If he went home, he'd never leave it again. It wasn't that he had burned bridges, but the opposite. And as with all the Veterans I have known in my life, the hardest part is leaving people behind. A choice between home cooked meal and love, vs being shot in the sand... West knows he can't resist that temptation, yet.

Yes, I know. This book was written before Shadow. So I do need to go back and re-edit this one at some point. But after the brutal slog that was Duty, my head needs a little down time

You've made me laugh. Thank you.

Yeah I caught that as well, fixing it now.

To be fair, Peter didn't even exist at the time I wrote that book, or the book before. Peter came in the second book of the series which I actually wrote just after writing this one. So It was third or fourth book I actually wrote, I am struggling to remember the exact times I wrote them. I know this book was written just before Shadow was written. Shadow with West's story... man I had to stop writing Recourse to write shadow because I realized one of the key characters needed a back story, and that tied in to Peter's story and yeah... Books evolve, and let me tell you concurrently writing three books at once was not a fun time

Finished... that was... hard. But I think I have gotten the story back to some semblance of... a Carter book. Take it easy on me, again, it was the first book I ever wrote and it shows.

2025 As with all things, mistakes happen. Somethings start out small, and they balloon into an impossible mess of complicated reasoning, excuses, and lies. As Will sat behind his desk trying to finish some notes on a new piece of legislation trying to work its way through the Canadian Senate, he sighed. Rubbing his eyes and removing the reading glasses. When the hell did he get so old, tired, and achy. Forty-seven, going on a hundred. He glanced at the rows of photos ar

There is always a HEA, sometimes it takes a bit of a rocky road.

Some good points, it was probably one of the weakest points in the book. I was approaching it more from an International Charity Organization but can see how I failed to express that in the text. I think I have fixed it now, to tighten that rather frayed story thread.

Again I can feel it. I lacked a certain skill level to get this right. I've been bashing my head on this chapter for the last few hours. I know what I wanted and was trying to say, but it's like beating a piece of metal that's been in a car crash back into shape. No amount of pounding at it is ever going to get it to look right.

I had forgotten that Jeff was the one who broke Will in the end...

Yes you are right on the mother front, fixed it. (again this was written before Micheline was an actual character of her own. So discrepancies and proto-characters that just fit when this all became a series)

No, definitely an editor's gaff. Fixed it now

My god a chapter that didn't require hours of meticulous rewriting. I need more coffee, on to the next.

This character and his #@$#%@# wife. What the heck was I thinking when I wrote these absolute miseries of people. Rafik and Farah, as I recall were two people I knew, heavily edited and kind of defined 2001-2002 for me when I was living in Toronto. Toxic people feeding into an unhealthy situation. Vampires in their own right, draining me by what they thought was friendship.

Good point, I am going to steal that. Thank you Matty, you're now part of the book.