C James

No bullet-proof vests... They are in T-shirts and jeans. However, I'll give one little hint; read the four paragraphs closely. All might not be as y'all assume.

Well, yes! Motorcycles are forever seared in my memory due to their role in the Mother of All Cliffhangers, LiS 26! Blackheart went over that cliff in FTL just a couple of days after LiS 26. That FTL scene featured, not coincidentally, the same model of motorcycle as LiS 26. I almost entitled it "Jacob's Revenge". So therefor, that scene was indeed caused by you. ". LoL!! I love this! I'll be resurrecting this thread at Christmass, too.

Jan, I didn't believe it, until I googled it; goat dressing really is a component of the gay rodeo!

"Eric" is one of my favorite names, of that I freely admit. As for #2, a goat would never, not ever, go anywhere near a cliff! #4 is wrong; I almost never use cliffhangers... #5 is definitely right, though I can't imagine why! I need to hide... #6... Sorry, but Tequila shots, along with good scotch on the rocks, are my favorite party drinks. In fact, when I wrote the short story "three for Jake", I was drunk on tequila, after a new year's eve party... A biker party. I don't know how many shots I had.. I know it was more than ten though. Bondwriter!!! Who, me, of all people, use evil cliffhangers? I'd never do such a thing!!

Huh? But Kevin, I almost never use cliffhangers! Ya know, i saw this post, and forgot all about the "evening" part and went off to post it So. we have Kevin to thank for the posting of those four paragraphs... Oh no, now even the vegetarians want to put me on the menu!! Time to go hide...

Hi! I was just reading Kevin's comments in the 43 chapter thread, and he's right, today is Sunday! (Well, here in Arizona anyway, and no Graeme, you can't say it's Monday. ) OKay, in order to address the bit of tension that many seemed to perceive in the last chapter, I promised to post the first four paragraphs of 44. These are the real paragraphs, no tricks. They also complete the current scene at the house (the following paragraph takes place in Paraguay). This should also serve to dispel any claims that 43 was a cliffhanger... I have a special dispensation from The Echidna to post these, so thank you, oh anti-spoiler Echidna, for making this possible! So here we go; the first four paragraphs of Let The Music Play 44, El Vohzd.

Thank you! And thanks VERY much on the spelling of Leif! O0ps!! This is indeed a long-term interest of mine. I've read numerous books and archaeological reports on it. One of the biggest mysteries is that unlike in the northern area called Western Settlement, the top layers of the southern part of Eastern Settlement (where the last survivors are) have never been archaeologically researched. Thus, we don't know for sure if the final end of the last colonists was starvation, or something else. I hope that one day there is an excavation done. I don't always write stories with gay content... One of my prior anthology stories, "The Muse" has no gay content whatsoever. Much like this, I just felt the story didn't need it, and it would have detracted. Thanks!!! CJ

Great chapter!! I'm normally very leery of the present-tense style, but for this story, IMHO, it really works well. The "grocery elves" scene was hilarious!!! I loved it!!! To be honest, Mick is the most intriguing character to me at the moment. His behavior towards Aaron makes me wonder about him a little... He's an exhibitionist, but totally scared of sex? Maybe he's not straight? Hmmm... Aaron seems to have Bmad on his mind. This could get complicated, lol!! Oh, BTW, I am hereby declaring a CLIFFHANGER! due to the final scene, and whether or not Bmad will call.

I loved this!!! But, I must point out, that is has far more to do with Shadowgod then me. Bikes-a-crashing? Shadowgod... Shadows lurking? Shadowgod... Twelve cliffs a-hanging, Eleven evil endings, Ten villains laughing, Nine plots a-twisting... Yep, Shadowgod!!

Thanks Mike!! If the current changes in the sun do not reverse fast, there will be ample proof of global cooling (and, by extension, that the sun, and not human activity, was responsible for the preponderance of warming observed in the latter half of the 20th century) within 18 months. I made a few posts in the soapbox about this. One is here and gets into the details of solar dynamics and the methods by which the sun affects the climate (it's not just heat and light). Another is here and gets into detail (including charts and records) regarding the sun's effect on climate. It includes a bit about the "little Ice Age" in the story and it's likely cause; the Maunder Minimum. In my opinion, the next year to 18 months will be a critical test of the different climate theories. I also hope that solar cycle 24 gets underway soon, otherwise we're in for some decidedly chilly decades ahead. Thorvald did escape, in a way. He could linger and die of starvation alone, or he could end it quickly. He chose the latter, escaping a slow death. It's not a happy ending for a story, granted, but it was the best guess I could come up with for the Greenlander's final days. My guess is this occurred around 1450. One of the things that inspired Thorvald's story is a fragmentary report, from around 1500, of a corpse being found on a beach in the area, clutching a knife, frozen to death. Could he have been the last of the Greenlanders? Or an Eskimo? The report hints he was in western garb, but does not say clearly. We'll probably never know.

It's basically a cooking pot, unless the ones I saw there many years ago were mislabeled. It's a covered pot with a metal handle like a paint can's over the top (but it can swing). They are used for camping. Over here they would be called a camp pot or similar. They hold about a gallon as I recall. BTW, one thing I wanted to mention and forgot; The way Graeme used different sized fonts to indicate the distant "Cooee's" and enlarging them as they grew louder. That was very innovative and also very effective!

OOPS! Fixed! Sorry, I got the names mixed up. "Tango" is the NATO phonetic-alphabet word for the letter "T". In military jargon, it refers to "target". It's been around a long time, since well before terrorists were a major issue. So, in this title, I beleive it refers to "target", because he's shooting at a "tango". CJ

I too had a hard time figuring out some segments of the story; my best guess is that he attempted to commit suicide, sometime before the "present". The ending though was clear, hope and rebirth, and from the ashes to despair to newfound love. Thanks Kyle! CJ

Very well done, Wrathofmagneto! The military action was well-portrayed, and the set up all too believable. It amazed me that Darren would "take the rap" for Nelson, but it was honorable. Nelson was not. Nelson could have redeemed himself for a momentary panic by coming forward, but he didn't. When Nelson showed up at the store, I feared he'd be "noble" again, but I was delighted that he didn't, and instead gave Neson a small dose of what he deserved. I also think he did the Fiance a huge favor. Well done! CJ

I'm quite useless when it comes to poetry, but I picked up on the difference between "wanting" and "needing". Great contrasting between the two! Well done. CJ

Emoe just called me Old!! Aww, first I'm on the menu, now this? Whatever is a poor goat to do?!?!?!

ACK!!! Sacrificed? Thrown off a Cliff!?!!? EEK!!! Why are you all out to get poor, innocent me? And as for Shadowgod, just look where he's cutting!! ACK!!! I really don't know why y'all are so upset... It's not a cliffhanger!! The chapter does not end with the scene in the house, it ends with the bit about Paraguay.

But, but, but... Okay, so things are a tad tense in the house, and there are dead bodies all over the place, but slaughter? Naw.. it's just a little.. tense. As for the shotguns... Here's a link to a similar weapon; pump-action, single-barrel, with an eight round magazine (plus one in the chamber) You need to pump it (New shells are chambered by pulling the pump handle attached to the tube magazine toward the user, then pushing it back into place to chamber the cartridge) between shots. What others in the thread are thinking of, I think, are double-barreled shotguns, which hold two shots. These aren't those. ACK! BEnji!!! Now, now, let us always remember and never forget LiS 26!!! The Mother of All Cliffhangers!!! Besides, His Shadowyness longs to return to his Cliffhanging throne, though he's too modest to admit it. Ah, ummm, BTW, Speaking of His Shadowyness; "Dead Man's Hand" was his idea! And one I just loved! I originally didn't specify Eric's hand, but His Shadowyness added that, and so i changed the title to reflect it. The original title was "Blood and Sacrifice" but I am using that for the title of 45 instead. ACK!! They carved me up in effigy as it was!!! Yipes!!! Oh, BTW, there's been a schedule change again. Due to the early posting of the anthology (a couple of days early, due to Graeme and Steph's hard work!) posting 44 on schedule would not, IMHO, detract from the anthology. So, with my sincere appologies to those who were looking forward to an extended wait, Ch 44 will be posted on schedule Tuesday afternoon, my time. Okay, they've usually been going up late monday night, but Tuesday's are the decaired "posting day", so Tuesday afternoon it is. Oh, BTW, with the Echidna's blessing, and in order to change the current level of tension many of you found in the last chapter ending, I will post the first four paragraphs of Ch 44 Sunday evening, in this thread. And no, no trickery on my part, they really do cover the remainder of the scene in the house. CJ

Lol! I had little choice but to include Erik the Red; he did discover and settle Greenland, after all. Thanks Graeme! There are so many unknowns about the Greenland Norse... Such as why, when surrounded by fjords teeming with fish, didn't they fish? They did hunt seals, but so far, the evidence is pretty conclusive; they never touched fish. Thanks!!! I've been fascinated by the "Viking Connection" for a very long time. I originally envisioned this as a fictional story set in Greenland, but that would not have covered the scope of time needed, I also wanted it to be non-fiction. Thanks Steve! Please don't assume that everything to know abotu the Greenland Norse is in my entry; it isn't. There are several books that are at least in part about this. One I most highly reccomend is Jarred Diamond's "Collapse", about failed societies. His segment on the GReenland Norse is the best analysis I've seen of their decline, though he too finds their final ending mysterious. There is so much that I only touched on; the Greenlander's expiditions to the North and West; they definitly created Cairns on Baffin island's far north, and possibly some on Hudson bay. Reading the Sagas themselves is interesting... It amazes me that they were dismissed as fiction for so long. The fact I find the most laughable is abotu the grape vines; time and again the historians dismissed Newcoundland, New Brunswick, and MAine as cantidates for "Vinland" because no vines grow there. Yet, they knew the climate was warmer than now when "Vinland" was discovered, and apparently it never occurred to them that plants change ranges as the weather patterns alter. Climate Change is indeed an interest of mine. I often marvel at the fact that so many people assume that, before the industrial age, the earth's climate was stable. Nothing could be further from the truth. Also, cooling is, in so many ways, a more dire outcome than warming. During a cold period, food production is impacted dramatically. Amongst other things, the cold diminishes rainfall; there's less evaporation in colder weather, so less rain will fall on average. I also am fascinated by how many people take man-made global warming as a fact; it's far from it. Indeed, the evidence largely indicates that the warming which was seen, and has since ended, is at least primarily caused by cyclical changes in the sun. The most interesting fact, to me, is that C02 levels in the atmosphere do not track climate (there's a coralation, but about an 800 year lag!) BUT, solar cycles and solar flux definitely do match observed climate changes. I feel that this is of more than passing interest; Right now, politicians are proposing phenomenally expensive (with our money, of course) measure to reduce something that in all probability does not exist. However, there is an even greater cause for concern; look up the current state of the sun. Solar Cycle 24 is late in starting; VERY late, by over three years. (solar cycles average 11 years). Earth's temperature has dropped precariously in the last 18 months; enough to wipe out all the increases seen since 1930! This matches the solar flux... IF the solar theory is right, we'll see incontrovertible evidence within 18 months, and it will be pronounced global cooling. There have been two types of silar minima observed in recorded hsitory; the Dalton minimum, which would cause a cold spell of around forty years, and the Maunder, which was the most likely cause of the "Little Ice Age" that doomed the Vikings on Greenland (and caused the decline of Europe in that era). In all liklyhood, solar minimums come in many different sizes and extreems; but it looks to me like we're in for at least another Dalton. There is also a third, though far less likly risk; interglacial periods tend to run about 10-20 k years, and glacial periods about 100k. Looked at on a chart, you see a fairly regular pattern. Most of earth's history for the past few million years has been glacial eras. Could we be entering a new phase change? It is, at least, possible, and that wirries me; a new glacial era would be far worse than "manmade global warming" even if it was real. And yes, the Greenlanders ate of a lot of goats! Shameful, just... shameful. Greenland is now, as it was then, mostly ice, but with alpine conditions in the fjords on the southwest coast. It was warmer then than now, though not by a great deal. It was, however, enough. It still amazes me that they did so much, crossing the north Atlantic regularly in open boats. Thanks Bob!! I had fun with this... And bingo, foolhardy indeed; Putting a non-fictional story with no gay content at all into an anthology in a gay board was probably not my brightest move, LoL. However, it's something I've wanted to write for a long time. The Lost Tribes are definitely an interesting mystery... As too is the whereabouts or fate of the Ark of the Covenant. Thanks KEvin! I had fun writing about an interest in this way, it was.. different. I've always loved history.

This is all too real; so many times, kids, gay or straight, are picked on and pushed until they can't take it anymore. Cassidy IMHO passed his test; he told Eli, and Eli put that lesson to use. Well done, Tiff!

This story raised an interesting question... Was Maricha merely happy that her husband died? She seemed to have already made arrangements for her son to leave. that means she had forknowledge. That makes this a murder. Thanks Rose! Very intriguing!

I loved the story! It seemed to be heading for a disaster, but Jean and his Grandmother saved the day. I found myself fervently wishing that they 20 litre pot had been used in a slightly different way to get past the father; used to bash his barbaric head in. Sadly, the backward and disgusting practices of unwilling arranged marriages and "honor killings" are all too common, even in our supposedly modern age. One of the reasons I loved this story was that it so skillfully illustrated the horror that it inflicts on its victims. Well done! CJ

A tragedy indeed, well done, poignant. At first, I thought William would die; the odds are long with Pancreatic cancer. Everything seemed to be setting us up for tragedy, yet he pulled through. Then the mention of gunshot wounds.. Uhoh. And then the "bang, bang" and I knew... This is a double tragedy, but especially for William, he beat such long odds at such cost, only to die. I agree with Krista, you are EVIL! Seriously though, well done!

I loved this story. I agree with Graeme and Tiger; alternating first and third person is problematic if not done very well, but this was done very well. One of the things i liked the best was figuring out the backstory as I read; the presentation was well done. The confusion upon reach9ing the landing was quite believable; it's so easy to get disoriented in a fire. However, I soon realized that he had another reason; he'd never been there before. Well done! CJ

This was brilliant!! Subtle forshadowing, that made the reader begin to think that not all was as it seemed. The ending was a classic. I thought it was odd that a killer would leave his journal about, but that ending fit perfectly! You really took the reader on a roller-coaster ride. From terror to relief and laughter in an instant, Bravo!