C James

Wow, everyone, thanks! I'm sorry I haven't replied to your posts yet, but I will try soon. Here's what happened; I have been fighting with Chapter eleven for days, it was only partially done (and had several false starts). Today I had a lot of real-world work to do, and once done I was tired and despairing getting any writing done at all today, when suddenly the muse struck and I went on a writing jag. I've been writing for close to 12 hours straight (well, I took a few breaks) becuase everything suddenly clicked, not just for Ch 11 but Ch 12, plus something else (More on that later). I'm not a fast typist (understatement alert) and I usually only write a thousand or so words a day. Today, I wrote considerably more than I do in a normal week and I don't think I'm done yet even though it's after 2am. So, my apologies for not replying yet, but when the Muse hits, I tend to put everything on the back burner. I've read every post (I always do) but I just haven't had chance to do my replies yet. Thanks you all VERY much, and thanks for understanding. CJ (who is off to write more before the Muse departs)

But, but, but, I can point you to posts where I've said this before! Surely you can't doubt me so? Next you will be seeking to undermine my precious reputation as as a quiet and shy forum lurker. But surely even you couldn't be that evil?

AAAACCCCCKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! NNNNO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No, no, no!!!!!!!! We don't need any such poll!!! I''d be ineligible anyway; everyone knows I never use cliffhangers!!!!!!!!!

Thanks Altimexis!! And good catch! It hadn't been up many minutes. Heh, I didn't know it was up myself! LoL The way chapters get posted is I prepare the html page and index files and send them to Joe. Joe then loads them onto the server. I don't know quite how; all I know is that to deal with a server you need an extensive knowledge of spells and incantations. Basically, I send them to Joe via e-mail. He then sends me a mail back when they are uploaded. However, Joe may or may not be online when I send 'em, so once they are sent, there is no way for me to know when the files will go live. Today, once I sent 'em, I had to go do some work offline, so I had no idea they were online until I turned on my computer and there was a message from Joe. BTW, we all owe Joe a huge "Thank you!", because he has been absolutely spectacular about uploading the files as soon as he is online and gets them. Thanks Joe!!! CJ

Does that answer your question? I believe in reading between the lines, so this is actually what I read: Awwww... Is it my fualt that my nerves are so freyed over this looming grave injustice to our anonymous beta reader that I simply couldn't concentrate on HTML? Awww.... What a thing to imply about sweet, innocent me... But, somehow, in spite of my stress, I managed anyway... the HTML is done, converted to php. bundled with the amended chapter index file, and ready to send. So, I've done my part in spite of the looming grave injustice to Shadowgod... So, to those who haven't voted, I beseech you, go vote for him as :king: King of Eeevil Cliffhangers :king: . Shadowgod needs your support! Don't let our anonymous beta-reader down! Now, as for future chapters; what if Shadowgod loses and become depressed, so depressed that he can't beta, or is, at least, slower. We would be looking at severe delays in posting as a result, and it would be entirely out of my hands. Save Shadowgod's Title!

Well, Shadowgod is still at 50-50. SAVE HIS TITLE!!! What to do, what to do... OK, here's the deal: If Shadowgod is ahead, I'll mail in the chapter at 2pm, Arizona Standard Time. If he's not ahead, I'll withhold it until 1400 hours, Arizona standard time. BTW, when it actually goes online depends on Joe's very busy schedule (and we are very fortunate that he usually does this the same day, thank you Joe!) ; he usually does the posting in the evenings.

Do I actually mention any delay in the posting of the chapter?

Sometimes, a lurkers gotta do what a lurkers gotta do... In this case, helping Shadowgod retain his title for a nefarious attempt to have his title runneth under, as in down under... The voting is back to 50-50... I'm really stressed out over this horrible injustice to Shadowgod...

Come to think of it, so do I! Spider Robinson's "Calahan's" series is superb! I also loved "Hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy", the original TV series (Never saw the recent movie, so no comment there from me). I'll have to look at some of the ones on your list, they sound great!

Blackmail? It's not blackmail.. It's merely a heartfelt appeal to the readers to help do the right thing, and save Shadowgod's title from the prickly forces attempting to de-throne him! So, please vote YES and help the deserving Shadowgod retain his title!!!

Folks, I'm fighting for Shadowgod's (our anonymous beta reader) title, his high honor of :king: King of Eeeeevil Cliffhangers :king: Please join me in this worth endeavor and help Shadowgod retain his title! As I write this, it's close; 50-50. I'm so worked up over this nefarious challenge to Shadowgod's hard-earned title that I may have difficulty formatting LTMP 9 into HTML for posting... However, if Shadowgod pulls ahead, I think I'd be releived enough to have no problem at all... Help us defeat the prickly forces of darkness and save Shadowgod's title by going HERE and voting YES on question #1. Vote how you feel on the remaining questions, but please help us stave off this dire threat to Shadowgod's honor! :2hands:

My main Sci-Fi tastes are towards "hard" sci-fi, or sci-fi that attempts to be realistic (such as obeying the laws of physics). I watch very little on TV or in the movies; I found Star-trek, after the original series, to have way too much moralizing drivel for my tastes, not to mention the realism issue (is it really wise to build exposives into the bridge control panels? They sure seem to keep exploding). I did however like the 2010 (the sequel to 2001,) very much indeed.

Welcome to the GA forums, Shadowfire!!! And thank you! I'll keep the chapters coming. Yes, see Graeme? I'm not the only one to acknowledge Shadowgod as the king: King of Eeeeevil Cliffhangers :king: EMOE!!!!!!!!!!!! How could you say such a thing? My own editor, tarnishing my precious reputation as a quiet and shy forum lurker... I'm shocked, shocked I tell ya! But, but, but, being a lurker, doesn't it follow that I spend almost no time posting in the forums? But I *AM* a shy, quiet, innocent lurker... Ack! An Australian plot, and now more tar&feather plans, including from Aussie postaholics such as yourself? Yipes, it's not easy being a goat who writes! I think I need armor... :2hands:

What? And deprive us of our weekend fun? Ah yes, some fine eye-candy there. Hrmmmm, the ACT is roughly analogous to America's District of Columbia. (DC). However, The ACT is not limited to Canberra and its environs, but also includes Jervis Bay on the coast. I suspect a conspiracy.

What? Don't you, as a lurker, want to side with you fellow lurker (me)?

Hrmmm, I guess the way someone walks might be a clue, albeit a small one, and only in some cases. I generally rely on my wonderful gaydar to ferret out subtle, hidden clues, like the guy talking about his coming out party, the big rainbow flag sticker on his car, etc. My gaydar is good enough that after a few subtle clues like that, i might get an inkling.

Thanks! This is very much a team effort, but the real cause of delays is me; if I was as many chapters ahead as I should be, things would run a lot smoother. But, I'm running slow. Glad you liked the pictures! I tried on the description, but the only way I could get it accurate was to make it exceedingly verbose, so much so that it didn't fit the context. As for Jerry, yes and no. I decided early in FTL (about a year ago) that I'd want a character named Jerry. Jerry was already in LTMP (which I began years ago) but only in the outlined part. He had been tentatively named "Clarence" but I didn't like it, so I changed it to Jerry when I got to that chapter (past chapter 8, LTMP is new, prior to that, it's a re-work of previously written stuff) I admit, the emoticon played a part in that choice of name. And yep, when we had that discussion back in Ch 1, I knew there would be a Jerry. You got me!

Emoe is known to take bribes, but then again, so am I. As for the post count, yes, you are now soundly in the double-digit range. I'll be calling you a postaholic in no time. Now, I'd best get back to my lurking... Bondwriter!! That 234 years comment could be read to imply that you are questioning my precious reputation as a quiet and shy lurker? Surely you wouldn't do such a thing? One thing I can say about RS, is when they do a "nude" cover, it's G or PG rated; no full-frontal nudity becuase they'd lose most of their circulation in the US were it otherwise; they'd lose their rack space in most distributorships. And I'll definitly be being more specific on their sound in future, but for now, rest assured that they are not a boyband; that genre is usually considered "pop", and recall Helen's comment about Brandon's pop song: Somethign along the lines of "Burn it, we're a rock band, not a pop band; you'd be laughed off the stage". 17, but a far more mitigating circumstance applies; he's blond. Some of this has already been mentioned, so I can say that it's been mentioned that they've been very isolated. There will be more on this issue in Ch 10. Iguazu is indeed a fantastic place. I spent six days there a few years ago. The brick jetways are indeed real, as is the farm tractor for towing the airplane. So too was the washed-out walkway and the view from the Sheraton (it looks up the canyon at the falls). It is also very true that the area is well known for it's smuggling and international intrigue. (Brazil and Argentina meet Paraguay just down the canyon of the river, about seven miles downstream) What I thought might be greeted with incredulity was the small boat dimitri mentioned; appraching the TOP of the falls in a rowboat with an old outboard motor. If the mother conks, he's right, you'd get a very spectacular view as the boat was pulled over the falls. I wasn't too worried about it though, becuase although it's far-fetched, it's quite real; that was the case when I was there, and I took that boat ride to get to the platform. That's a very good point on their audience! True, but always with the "bits" covered, so no full-frontal nudity.

Thanks BK!! Ieshwar, I love it! Ok, the vote is very close, and it seems like everyone's voted. I therefor have a proposed solution to our situation; how about, we have BOTH! Capricans, and The Herd? The reader themselve gets to pick. \ Or, we could call it a combined entity, the Caprican Herd, with two warring factions? Of course, anyone can be what they want to be, so be it Minion, or even "reader of atrocious fiction" that's ok.

Thanks FrenchCanadian! He did, sort of. Yep, though not for a few months. You still don't like sweet, lovable eric? Very true, and I agree. However, in this case the fault in mine; I ended the epiloge (which appears only on my hosted site) with "The End... ?" The eFiction chapter ending is "The End.. Maybe?" I don't like it either, but it's part of the software. However, there are no worries regarding my stories and your last point regarding cliffhanger endings; as we all know, I never use cliffhangers.

I can't answer some of that as it deals with future events (and I fear your anti-spoiler spines), but I can say that RS was going to do an article on them. It never was said to be a cover story. Just an article with photos. And then the whole publicity storm from Gabe's arrest happened, and RS requested something that Helen agreed to. Now, I'd like to ask about the Iguazu scenes. Graeme, it was indeed on your list. It never occurred to me that a search on "The Devil's Throat" would turn that up. Good thinking! Question: Did the photos help? Or were they superfluous? I tried to describe it, but found my descriptions lacking. I tried elaborating, but it just got wordy and convoluted. Another question: Dimitri's comment about much of the walkway being washed out on his prior visit, and having to shuttle to the viewing platform in a small boat near the TOP of the falls. Did anyone find that far-fetched? Or the Brick jetways?

Hmmm? Does this mean you are becoming a lurker? I'm sorry, but you have far too many posts to be a lurker like me.. Good one, Bob! What? Blue balls, in one of my stories? Never! Hi FrenchCanadian, and welcome to GA!!! I can't comment on the plot, except to say that all will be explained. Hi Graeme!! Well, umm, yes, there are a lot of gay dads out there <CJ stares at the Echidna's member title> As for Jerry, we now have a reason to use that least-used of GA's emoticans; :jerry: As for the Papparazo; I'm not saying you don't have a point there, but you would be hard pressed indeed to find a celebrity who has a kind thing to say about them. They are hated and reviled; they stalk and harass their targets. A reporter and a papparazo are two very, very different things. Had I had one of the guys say something redeeming about them, I felt it would have been fake, and I also couldn't think of anything at all good to say about them. Hi Steve!! Personally, I thought Eric gave the show away on what they're hiding.

Done! I edited yours. Well, it is the status of the actual announcement! The good news is that the announcment is now up for your reading pleasure! I hope having the chapter itself to read eased the waiting.

How about I re-nane your temp thread and use it? I love the discussions in it!

Wow, some good predictions here! Kudos to all those who did well! For those who didn't do so well, if it's any consolation I'd probably not have done so well either before writing the recent chapters; my stories tend to change on me as I write. BTW, Joe posted this about an hour before you found it, Bob. Good catch!!!!!!!!