frosenblum

Carlos didn't say it would be a U.S. president. Could be from another country. Or a university president.

That sentence is a mini cliffhanger. I wonder which president it will be.

I thought it odd you stuck the highfaluting word "adumbration" in the middle of the chapter. However, "adumbration" exactly expresses my feeling about what happened in this effing chapter, it' is "a dumb ration", totally unacceptable. Please go back and rewrite it.

Being a whore is quite a strenuous and dangerous occupation, so hooray for special vitamins.

Bullies generally are insecure and lack confidence, that's why they bully others.

That's unfair to whores to compare them to Hortaimin.

I vaguely remember that the bringing in of candidates so early before the Hatching, and training them, was started by F'lar and Lessa quite recently. Traditionally, candidates were brought to the Weyr just prior to Hatchings.

I'm with you, Carlos. Orson Scott Card (boo, hiss) wrote How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy. In it, he opines that there are three types of SF/F fiction: Plot-driven, character-driven, and world-building. What I most enjoy are character-driven stories. Examples of world-building are The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. They contain many side-stories (almost interludes) and characters that are memorable and endearing but irrelevant to the main story line. Those help to create such a magnificent universe. You can find examples of plot-driven stories on best-seller lists -- and for sale in airports -- you can't put the book down once you start reading it, but the characters are all cardboard cutouts. The stories Carlos writes are character-driven. the characters are so alive and fully drawn that they seem real. BTW, Scott Card (boo, hiss) mentions that on a couple of occasions he'd written himself into an impossible and frustrating corner. As he wrote a novel, the story developed and grew in a way that there was only one inevitable outcome, the main character would do "X" and save the day; anything else would not be satisfying for readers. His problem was that the main character had taken on a life of its own, had developed and grown and made moral choices throughout the novel and become a person who would never, ever do "X," they just weren't that type of person and readers would not be satisfied.

I wonder how CJ will do that. Government bloat is like rot inside your bathroom wall, the only fix is to tear out the wall completely.

Oh, Yay! Stevie Northman as Secretary of State. Foreign governments won't know what hit them.

Mind-boggling. No wonder the federal government has become dysfunctional no matter is "in power."

It's a good thing I'm already a Premium member

I'm adding myself to that long list of thanks for a Friday story and for this particular story. Ditto to everyone's comments. I don't remember Brion being mentioned in HTTC. I have a couple for his government job during CJ's presidency: the President's Press Secretary (his major was Communications) or the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

And Carson Tueller has a hot body. 😜

A Christmas story revolving around baseball. I can hardly wait to see how you pull that off.

A fascinating chapter. Granger truly knows how to mentor his subordinates, something all great leaders do well. And he don't take no shit from no one, another characteristic of a great leader.

Knowing how sneaking Quokka can be, I wonder if the VIPs are Jordan's parents.

Interesting chapter. Lots of information. The candidates are like modern athletes training for the Olympics --- major building up of their bodies, and lots of training over and over for their tasks during Fall, starting with being able to throw the bags of firestone.

Yes, definitely. Also, Elijah has led a fairly sheltered life and only recently come in contact with evil people. He doesn't yet really understand how much danger he's in. And that this danger might extend to Tyler and his family.

Or from some other new devilment @kbois is cooking up to shock us.

Wow! It's all wrapping up nicely. Looking forward for the next bunch of surprises in the next chapter.

Take care in the heat, Anton.

Thanks for the reminder, CindyKris. I'd forgotten about that, so reread end of the previous book.

Oops, somehow I posted that before I was finished. 🙂 I'm curious about something Kadin said: ‘Germessont’s doing well for someone his age.’ How would he know that? Did Kadin have experience teaching before his father died and the family had to move to the mountain hold?

Sweet chapter. D'gar is a good teacher. I'm curious about something said: ‘Germessont’s doing well for someone his age.’