C James

I look at it this way: ten years ago, had a Baptist Bishop siad this, it would have raised a firestorm. Today, it hasn't. And that, my freinds, is what I call progress. :king:

Hmmmmm.... Those are very good points! The question is: why? I'm wondering now if Sol's excuse for renewing the war will be a Jordanite revolution on Calos???

Hi Daniel!! A belated Happy Birthday BTW! Yes, I see that Trebs and Emoe are leading on the suspect vote right now! I figure it like this: they have access to the inside info, so that makes them suspects for leaking all over Calos! I'm on the fence about Aaron being witting or unwitting. He seems sincere, but it is more Garret's reactions and Maseako's concerns that have me suspicious of Aaron. But if I agree with you, doesn';t that make you automatically wrong? How true, but the same dynamic would apply... Hypocrisy.

Oops. Fortunately for Emoe, I do a spelling check and grammar review before sending him chapters (and things still slip through). It could be worse for him though: I might be Australian and thus have a penchant for putting "u's" in strange places. I like it!!!! Thank you!! I'll also try and keep that in mind when writing. Thanks! Edit: And yes, we've cross posted again. My understanding is that it takes two postaholics to cross post regularly, but I could be wrong.... The fact that my post above was 20 minutes before yours has nothing to do with it. Well, you see it's like this: I post so rarely that it takes me a very long time to post, so the 20 minutes is quite understandable. The most I've ever cut in a re-write is 7000 words. That was in a chapter with 7006 words. I shall at the very least endeavour to keep the number of exclamation points below the number of words.

Hi Graeme! Looks like we cross-posted!! Strange how that only happens to postaholics like you! YES! Much better! Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( <------ umm, speaking of my penchant for over-using exclamation marks... ) Good point. I'll try and cut down. I still like them in highly-charged dialog, but I do think I use way too many. I'll see if I can cut it in half for the next chapter (which is longer). Thanks!!!! ( <---- I only promised to cut done in the story!!!)

I know I've used too many of the things, especially in chapter 2. I did try and take some out. Hmmmm... How about "thanks to you," Steve moved closer, and yelled furiously in Eric's face "you blackmailing piece of s***, becuase if it weren't for you messing with our heads, we would have been together months ago!" I did retain the exclamation mark at the end, becuase I think it is more appropriate there than most anywhere else in the chapter. I do agree thoguh that there were too many in the chapter. Thanks Matthew!!!!!!! I may be wrong, but my own preference is that they are more appropriate in emotionally-charged dialog, so I tend to be liberal with them there (too liberal). I just did a word count and found 29 of them in chapter 3, which is way too much IMHO. As a counter example, chapter 6 of "living in Surreality" had a lot of action and emotion, and has all of two. Telling rather than showing has been a recurring problem for me (as Steve can attest) so this is something I am working on improving. :ranger:

So much different from the previous chapters? LoL, yep things did start off a bit dark. But, ummm, I hope you don't think they will all be lighthearted from now on. I probably shouldn't mention this, but, um, the title of the next chapter is "Necktie party". Fear not! The car will be back in chapter 5!! Thank you Graeme!!! What? You didn't expect me to divulge the plan, now did ya? Poor Eric... Oops!! I goofed there. In fact, I have a nasty feeling that I sent the wrong copy to my editor. I re-worked it a bit after my wonderful beta reader, Shdowgod, read it, and then sent it to Emoe. However, I did it in two stages and may have bungled it and sent poor Emoe the wrong one (with only a few changes). Well, if I suddenly disappear and you hear Emoe complaining about having a freezer full of leftover BBQ'd Goat, y'all will know what happened.... :fire: Yipes! That one really got by me!! Up until about chapter 4, this story is largely based (including some entire passages) on one I wrote years ago. It was written in the present tense. Oops!! I'll add this to my list of things to fix. THANKS!!!!!! Hmmmm... Snakelike? That just doesn't describe what I was trying to convey. Is there a better way to describe someone slowly and casually standing up? Opinions anyone? Please?? Okay... you get the idea... lol Read you cow! --- I like your wording for that better than what I had. Thanks!! I'll see if I can get the revised chapter online tonight. Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ummm, Emoe, you do realize that, by agreeing with me, you are certain to be wrong? I'm suspicious about Aaron, but I'm far more suspicious due to the way Garret behaves around Aaron. That's why I wonder if Aaron was somehow created for this purpose. Look at his preference in clones before he met Garret: the same model. It would also be very realistic irony that the people who consider clones an abomination saw fit to make one for their own purposes.

Chapter 3, which is entitled "Get the Rope", is now up.

Hi Kevin!! Sorry to hear that you have to move. I love your attitude!! You are definitly one of the most "together" people that I know.

I've put up a poll (good idea!!), with my list of likly suspects (including yours!) I added catagories for the caves and Aaron, too. I don't think Masaeko has the connections on Calos to do it, but someone does. Hmmmm. Well, I've put up the poll, so we shall see. :nuke:

From reading chapter25, it looks to me like the "Hand" group had inside info, becuase they knew that Garret would be amenable to going off alone and sent the guide to bring him to them. So, does Garret have a mole in his organization? If so, whom? I've listed the likely suspects (for leaking information, including possibly to Garret's enemies) above, or choose "other" and name the culprit here in the thread. For the second question, the huge caves were mentioned. Will they play a role? If so, how? The third question involves Aaron. Please weigh in with any opinions here! I can add to the poll if need be, too.

Didn't you know? Steve owns stock in a heart-medication company, so these shocks are all part of his get-rich-quick scheme. LoL!!! Good point!!! I don't know though, Jacob would have been hurt very badly by what Matt said. Who knows what is going through his (upper) head? Hmmmmm... Maybe Jacob is just using Val to get to his heart's true desire? I mean, what guy wouldn't fall for a cherry 1965 midnight blue Mustang convertible! Hmmm. I like the "Blame Steve" part!!! Hmmm, I had a clogged fuel filter this morning that I had to fix on the road, and it was a mess. I blame Steve! YEah, I like the sound of that!!!

:king: :king: :king: :king: Happy Birthday!!!!! :king: :king: :king: :king: Have a great birthday!!!!

DoH chapters seem to average around 5500 words, and I just checked on page numbers: A text re-size to a 10 font makes chapter 25 7 pages, and 7*25 is 175. I have no idea what Dan's policy is on printing out his chapters, so hopefully he will weigh in. I'm a big fan of hard sci-fi, and DoH is one of the very best I've ever seen.

That would be me! I live a half mile from my nearest neighbor, and I'm on a 50 acre parcel of land in the national forest. However, before anyone gets impressed, it is in the middle of nowhere and accessible only by 4-wheel drive, so there are a few drawbacks, LoL. For example, my mailbox is five miles from here, and as for Fedex, or getting a Pizza delivered, etc? YEah, right! LoL. The person below me loves living in the wilderness and HATES cities.

3000!!! Congratulations, GA!!!

Howdy, crack pusher! Well, the reason i use labels is plain and simple laziness. I do realize that for a great many "gay" people, there is a potential for some attraction to the opposite sex. I also know that for some people, they can be attracted to either sex. However, it is so much faster to label and categorize, that well, I just do even though it is so often inaccurate. I think you will get your firestorm, though! It just takes a while to sink in. I'm certainly wondering just what Jacob was thinking, if he cares for Matt? Val is Matt's best friend, so it isn't likely that Matt wouldn't find out. Was Jacob trying to hurt Matt to get even!?!?!? I hope I'm wrong here about Jacob, and I'd really like to hear other opinions on this? BTW, You are Eeeevil!

OK, everyone! Two days later and the last post in here is mine!?!?!?!!?? What gives? Do y'all realize the danger here? Yes, I might just start talking to myself! Trust me, if you have never seen a Goat talking to himself online, you don't want to start now! DK mentioned the caves under the city, absolutely enormous caves. I don't think this is a coincidence! I also think that these new contacts of Garret's have a reason for being in the story: Garret will at some point need them. Also, one huge question this chapter raised for me: Who is the mole in Garret's organization? The "hand" group seemed to have some serious inside info on Garret: they somehow knew that their "guide" could get him to go off alone for a meeting. How did they know that? Are Devin or Davin, or one of the other security people, untrustworthy? Or could it be Aaron? I'm thinking that Garret definitly has a mole somewhere, maybe more than one. Anyone have any opinions?

DK, the whole thing about me posting a lot is just a vicious rumor. As for the lack of posts in the "Dreams" threads, I heartily agree!! Come on guys, DK is giving us a fantastic story, so please join in! Besides it's fun!! Graeme, if you ever have the inclination to start a new story, I most highly recommend Dan's "Dreams of Humanity". It's sci-fi, but hard sci-fi and absolutely excelent. But, if Sci-fi just isn't your thing, "The Bully" is absolutely excelent too and it isn't sci-fi at all (at least, not so far). Hmmmm. One sure sign of a postaholic: two sequential posts in the same thread.

I think that there are different circumstances that apply for more experienced writers (like you) or for newbies (like me). For myself, I am still learning the basics and relish every bit of criticism I receive. I don't take all of it, but I value it all, and those who have given it have my undying gratitude. I totally agree! I think this is even more true the less "established" you are. For my current story (For the Love), I built up a buffer of finished chapters before beginning posting so that I could be sure to maintain a weekly posting rate. Well, that was one reason. The other is that I was chicken and seeking excuses to delay going on line!

I am presuming he has personal knowledge of that. That wasn't even one of her more noteworthy pronouncements! Hmmmm, I think I know who my next blog post will be about. :wacko: It wasn't all that long ago that being left-handed was considered something that could and should be "cured". even in the 70's it was common to try and train children to "fix" it. Going back a little further, the word "sinister" is forever tied to the left-handed, becuase sinister, in Latin, means "left". In many cases this and other connections resulted in left-handedness being considered satanic. So, the left-handed faced religious stigma in many cases (sound familiar?) Interestingly, the percentages of left-handed people roughly equate to the estimates of homosexuality in the general population, including a larger incidence in males than females. So, in my opinion, the day isn't too far away when being gay will be as accepted as being left-handed. (and lets face it, for most aspects of life, it is about as irrelevant).

I want that boy's head on a stick! And I tried to make him so endearing.... I keep telling everyone: I'm just a quiet, shy, retiring forum lurker... It even says so in my profile. I can't say more about upcoming chapters (Emoe might find out and hurt me again). But we do learn more about the car soon. Oh, and don't forget Beelzebub, the cat.

I know exactly how that goes, Camy! I have a similar quandry quite often with my story. So, is this where I should start to holler "next chapter! next chapter NOW!!"? I hope we see more of Nick!

Four words of advice to anyone reading this: Go read it, now! It's excelent! Best chapter yet in my opinion! I really loved the subtle touch with some of the details, such as wind whispering. Artfully done, Darkshadow!! The ending had my laughing out loud. It was brilliant!!!!