C James

But.. But.. But... Shadowgod really is the King of evil cliffhangers! I never use 'em, but he almost always leaves his readers dangling by their fingernails! And Shadowgod's title was bestowed by a special GA comittee, convened for the purpose by the head of writer support.

Sorry, it's not ready yet; I needed to make some changes. I've been falling behind on lots of things; I have tons to do to catch up with work (not to mention having to replace my water heater) and to top it off, it seems I bought back a souvenir from my trip, most likly from the plane ride back; a stomach bug or flu. It's mild as flus go, but not much fun (I don't recommend it as a recreational passtime..) Feeling better today, so I'll see if I can get 16 sent in sometime within the next 48 hours. And Benji; Yep propane... Though I am hooked to the power grid, electricity is the only utility available here. Also, due to the road in being an old mining trail, I sure can't get propane (or anything else) delivered, so I haul it in myself. The electric runs the well so that gets me my water, and I usually heat with firewood so that's not an issue (I live in a forest, so there's plenty, which i chop myself).

Ack!!! Frosty!!!!!!!! I've been gone for a month, and I almost never post even while here... I'm a lurker, I tell ya!!

Shocked is right.. I mean really... Queen? Me? ROFL!!!! And as for cliffhangers, it's been said many times that I never use 'em... Why, I doubt I'd even know how to write one. And google-busting! I'm shocked, shocked I tell ya, that anyone would stoop to the level of hanging a cliffhanger title on someone and then google-busting! I can't imagine where that idea could have come from... I'm afraid I must decline said title, due to being manifestly unqualified on several fronts... Also, it detracts from the reigning (long live the King!) :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers:king: Shadowgod. He did, after all, write the mother of all cliffhangers in LiS 26, leaving us all thinking that Jacob was dead... (he said "last and final time" when Jacob was being put into the ambulance... Now that was just EEEvil...). Now, I know some of you might be inclined to raise the spectre of a few tense chapter endings, especially in FTL, but remember Shadowgod's role of anonymous beta reader; he sneaks in cliffies during the beta, or punches up slightly tense things to make them cliffhangers. All hail the :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers:king: Shadowgod.

Francois my friend, I am so sorry, even though I know from my own expiriances that "I'm sorry" just doesn't fit a cicumstance like this. Nothing really does, though the only solace I can offer is that time, while it may not heal all wounds, does indeed dull their sting. My sincere condolences to you and your family.

See? Dimitri cared enough to look after the employee even after he was no longer working for him... Poor, misunderstood Dimitri. How was Dimitri, a non-native speaker of English, to know that "terminated" had multiple meanings in different contexts? The Scar doesn;t like to leave loose ends... He's just a very tidy person. Thanks everyone regarding the lyrics. Well, the background there is a bit complex... The fact is that as a reader, I strongly dislike song lyrics in a story, especially real ones along with the copyright (that really takes me "out" of the story). I'm not critisizing anyone who does this, its just a personal taste issue on my part. However, I felt I needed them for this scene. I'm awful at remembering lyrics, so I had no clue what song might fit, and in any case I hate the whole copyrighting credits issue (which would be especially glaring in a story about a band that writes their own stuff). Therefor, I never gave it much thought; writing my own seemed the only way to go. They fit better IMHO and avoided some of the other issues. I could also use just the bits I needed, instead of a whole song. I've been vauge on instinct's sound so that the reader can to a degree fit in their own preferences. It's mentioned in the narration and dialog that they are rock, not pop, and there are some clues such as a hard-driving beat, and the fact there is no keyboardist. Lots of drums and electric guitars, and a hard-driving beat. CJ

I was a little swamped with real-world stuff, but today should be better than yesterday, I hope. I think I'm back on track. I will indeed post about the trip, as some interesting things happened. In fact, I'll do so later today. Thanks for the warm welcome back everyone!! Oh, and Graeme? Me, leaving y;all hanging? But, surly you know that I never use cliffhangers? It must have been Shadowgod again...

I've been fairly silent too; I've had tons to do in the real world (including with work) after being gone for a month. I had to replace the water heater yesterday, for example; it sprang a leak while I was away, but fourtunatly I had my water system off so no major mess. It takes me over an hour to get to a store large enough to sell water heaters, so that took time, and then I had to wrestle it in here, move the old one out, and start soldering pipes, hooking up the propane lines, etc. I'm also working on LTMP 17, which I promised myself I'd get done this weekend. I'm also working on some posts about my trip. And I do want to add that when i logged in from Venice and saw that the forum was not only not dead, but VERY active, it really meant a lot to me. I'd long feared that it would die off while I was gone (And I didn't ecpect to be as totally offline as I was) and not recover. Thank you all. CJ

Hrmmm... Ok, now I'm back, I must take measure to correct this injustice to Shadowgod... Shadowgod is, of course, the reigning cliffhanger monarch, as is clearly indicated by his title of :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers. :king: Shame on y'all for trying to userp Shadowgod's title, which of course was awarded for life (so if he were to abdicate, we'd have to, well, you know...) Besides, its well known that I never use cliffhangers... And google-busting?!?!? For shame! Who would ever have thought of such an eeevil trick!

Hrmmm... You should be safe then, Steve... Unless of course I find out that you started the "queen of evil cliffhangers" polling thread. I do hope your gunsmithing skills are up to Dimitri's standards... But if not, no worries; I hear he's often generous enough to transfer people to the fertilizer project... :ranger:

Good catch Graeme, on the walk home from the mall. You're right, I did build the tension for that, but I also wanted to show that there are ways the guys can have a somewhat "normal life", and little things like that mean a lot to people who are in the public eye. I also wanted to show Brandon bonding with Eric and Jon; sort of getting over the whole mess caused in prior chapters. There were also a few clues in the chapter regarding some upcoming events. Oh, and we must thank Shadowgod for not putting in too many cliffies while I was away. However, I suspect he'll soon be back to adding them. CJ

Yeah, but, there were combo VHS/Betamax players. I saw one.

I went grocery shopping, but that's it. LoL I tried the Black Friday shopping last year; it was interesting, but crowded. There were people lining up an hour before the 6am store openings!

Congratulations, Colin and Doug!

A belated happy thanksgiving! I spent my T-day on airplanes, so no T-day dinner for me, either!

Belated Congratulations, Jan!!! Looking forward to the next 1000!

My belated congratulation to Graeme!!! Thank you for all that you do, both for your sage wisdom and for the humor, you make GA a far, far better place. Of course, I'm astounded that this isn't a thread for his 5000th post, as I was quite sure he'd be closing in on 6k by now... :blink: :blink: :blink: Huh? Steve, don't fall for it!! I have it on very good authority that his avatar is a self-portrait!! So if that's a disguise, it's a darn good one!

I had a great time! Oh, BTW, Ieshwar, I see that you now have three votes! Umm, I would have voted for Kevin, but he'd be my vote for the most-prolific, or maybe Graeme... But this is for the second most prolific. which was harder without knowing who the most prolific is...

I was wondering id anyone would catch the "or so he mistakenly thought". All I'll say is, that it's more than one person who noticed. Shadowgod usually adds cliffhangers, so his hints about a cliffie in 16 are yet another cliffhanger by him; he's left us all hanging, again! BTW, somebody mentioned that he's trying to abdicate as King of all Eeevil Cliffhangers? Well, umm, as that's a life-long title, that means our task is clear should he do so... Oh, Dimitri...

Cliffhangers?? But I never use cliffhangers!!! BTW, I hereby declare yet another Shadowgod Cliffhanger... He left us all wondering what kind of mayhem he'd raise in this forum whilst I was away...

Wow, thanks everyone!!! Thank you all so much for keeping the forum active. I love this forum, and I honestly did think it would die off while I was gone. Emoe has the next chapter (I managed to e-mail it from Venice before my conection croaked). So, hopefully, we can get back on track for a posting schedule soon. However, the next chapter isn't written yet, and I'll see if I can get it done in the next 48 hours... I didn't have chance to do any writing at all on the trip and I missed it a LOT. (and I missed all of you, too!!!) Now, all I have to do is read all the posts and figure out who was behind this whole "Queen" thing. I'm thinking of a reward... Maybe a nice job offer, in sunny Australia, with Dimitri... He's not a bad guy to work for, really.

ACK!!! I'm not a prolific poster! I'm a lurker, I tell ya! I also haven't posted hardly anything in over a month!! (and this is true!) Btw.. I'm back.. (soon as I've had some sleep, anyway..)

ACK!!!! I never use cliffies, I tell ya... That's Shadowgod's domain... But yuppers, I'm back, sorta... I'm home. I haven't slept in 48 hours, so I won't be doing much until I do. Lol.. But yuppers, I'm here and lurking..

ACK! Oh, no! But...but.. but.. I never use cliffhangers! That's Shadowgod's specialty! And my internet connection is croaking.. Ack, no time! And QUEEN?!?! ACK! I suspect a conspiracy!

I only have a couple of miniutes... I'll reply to all PM's as soon as i can. I'll be back online nov 23rd. My laptop battery died, and internet access was hard to find at all in rural italy, or in the Greek islands, or in Turkey. (yep, I went to Turkey, and driving there was.. inbteresting.) I also drove in Croatia and took a wrong turn... Ended up in Bosnia. That was a story I'll tell when I get back, yowza. Lol. I'm a hundred yards from the Camianelle in St. Marks square Venice as I type this, having a cappucino. I MAY be able to log in a few more times< but if not i"ll be online full time again when i RETURN TO THE us NOV 23RD. tAKE CARE EVERYONE! I miss you all. CJ